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LIBRARY
1
MAS23^ .r^TTS !
c^m t^mmiw^'
THE
V-...1. ^:^;-'
NEW ENGLAND FARMER:
A MONTHLY JOURNAL,
DEVOTED TO
AGEICULTUEE, HORTICULTURE,
AKD THEIR KIXDRED
ARTS AND SCIENCES,
AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NUilEROUS BEAUTIFUL EXGRATIXGS.
THB PBiaCE FKiyCIPIXS OF AGBICCLTUmE.
1. The soil ought to be kept dry; or, in other words, fixe from all superfluons moistnre.
2. The soil ought to be kept clean ; or, in other words, free from noxious weeds.
8. The soil ought to be kept rich ; or, in other words, every particle of enriching material which can bo
collected ought to be applied, so that the soil may be pieserved in a state capable of yielding good •rops.
Fessejtdes.
SIMON BROWN, EDITOR
VOLUME XV.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY NOURSE, EATON AND TOLMAN,
103 TTASIII^rGrXON' STREET.
18d3.
Per
N444-
1 1 3 /;,
A
I*N^DEX TO THE FIFTEENTH V0LU3IE.
Abortion in cows, . . . 113, 240,321, 270
Academv, Westfonl, 31
Accounts, importance of keeping, . . .67
Agriculture in common scliools, 13, 15, 23, 35,
58, 77, 88, 190, 221, 244; knowledge of, 54;
college for in Penn., 89 ; the great intei'cst,
126; in the State of Maine, 130; delegates
of State Board of, 131 ; as an employment,
221 ; honored by the Chinese, 303 ; depurt-
mcm of in Washington 323
Animals, kindness to, 31, 388 ; choice of, for fat-
tening, 373 ; have they reasoning power, . 376
Appetite, instinct of, 331
Apple, facts about the, 37 ; crop of 18G2, 83 ;
12 l)est, 119; the River, 132 ; value and prof-
it from the, 179, 182 ; trees, decay of in Illi-
nois, 184 ; for a name, 243 ; names of, 251 ;
keeping the, 347 ; price of, 368
Aqueduct, about laj-iug an, 97, 122 ; of pine
locrs, 120; cement for, 121 ; how to make an, 178
Artichoke, the Jerusalem, . . . .188
Ashes and night-soil, 180 ; leached, . .193
Asparagus, how to cultivate affd how to cook, 132
Auctioneer, a witty, 321
Barn, how to estimate capacity of, 25 ; hints on
bui ding a, 115; about a, 146 ; how shall I
build a,' 187; a corn, 171, 183, 190, 238 ; wash
for a, 191 ; cellar under a, and water for, 326
Bar, Irish, in olden times, . . . .312
Bark, hemlock, 344
Barometer, a clieap and truthful, 175; use of
the, 193 ; a new, ..... 305
Bath and bathing, 28
Battle song 359
Beans, Lima, 130 f still running, . . 338, 370
i?e.avcr, habits of the, 50 ; near Sacramento, . 142
Bec'iuanas, child-life among the, . . . 138
Beer, sap, 1 10 ; liow to make, 13! ; how to make
corn, .231
Bees, wintering, 55; must be looked after, . 103
Beet, as a forage crop, 179 ; turnip, culture of
the, . " 323
Birds of New England, 26 ; setting up, 158,
210 ; and insects, 312 ; divorce among, . 359
Births, premature, 82,113,240,321,370
Book, herd, American, 120 ; new, 143, 140, 156,
17(1, 202, 253, 275, 284 ; lessons without, 173;
from reiiresentativcs to constituents, . .193
Bone, pure flour of, 147: savi^ the, 149, 174,
207 ; the b -st way to u<e, 235 ; pulverized, . 293
Boots, care of, 122
Boy, stick to the farm, 305 ; a dull, . . 347
Bread, good brown, 120 ; making, . . . 156
Brooks, John, death of, 1 89
Brown, Simon, letter from, 219, 226, 230, 2-15,
231, 258, 283, 293, 311, 324,332, 340
Buckwheat for orchards, . . . .177
Bugs, melon, remedy for, .... 230
Building, farm and fences, . . . .25
Bushes in mowing fields, .... 336
Butter, brain in, 107 ; worker, a new, 206 ;
summer, 307
Cabbage, about, . . . 292, 347
Calendar for January, 9 ; for February, 41 ; for
March, 73; for April, 105; for May, 137;
for June, 169 ; for July, 201 ; for August,
233 ; for September, 265 ; for October, 297 ;
for November, 329 ; for December, . . 362
Calves, how to raise, 155, 174, 203 ; sick, 3»6 ;
bad ti-eatraent of ;«., 363
Cattle, exhibiting liCrJs of, 15; why eat tlicir ,
cribs, 70, 92 ; remedy for gnawing bones,
103; breeder's convention, 125; warts on,
153 ; soiling, 193, 304; how to make breachy,
235 ; r.o market for in California, 255 ; our
best, and sheep, '-'Ai; Alderney and Jersey,
344 ; show of, . . ."..■. 354
Caterpillar, destroy the, .... 206
Cents, spccu'ation in, ..... 184
Charcoal, preservative power of, . . . 96
Charlton, sketch of town of, . , . . 371
Cheating, fashionable, 203
Cheese, heavy turning of, .... 382
Clicrry, comments on the, .... 291
Chiccoiy, culture of, ..... SB
Children, speak kind'y to, at night, 320 ; and
their memories, ...... 322
Climat.?, remarks on, ..... 259
Clover, cultivation of, ... 60, 107, 255
Club, farmers', 54, 75, 84; in Harvard, . . 348
Coal, how it is formed, . . . . .117
CofT.^e, ill 1664, 171 ; native, . . . .321
College, T.Iichigan agricultural, . . 162,331
Cold, care for, 147 ; catching, . . ' . 240
Colt, tr-'atmont of, 53 ; teaching a, to back, 161 ;
how to break, .S69
Copperas as a deodorizer, .... 207
Cotton in v/ar of 1812, 203 ; in Illinois, 280; in
Afri'^!. 300 ; in Egypt, . . . .303
Corn f.Mldcr, in the fall, 91 ; and barley, rela-
tive value of, 152; bam for, 171, 183; cul-
ture of Indian, 196, 207; rejected, 203; cost
of raising in Illinois, 239 ; gas tar for seed,
307, 32r>'; fodder, how to cure, . . . 327
Cov,-, abor.io-.i in the, 113, 240, 321 ; a kicking,
l.iO, 174, ISo, 202; and a pig, 180; congh
in a 2.53
Crab, eye of tlic 24
Crop, what is the most profitable, 172; av-
eracre of, 227 ; harvesting the, 228, 314 ; of
1863
Cucund)er, jjickling the, ..... 267
Cunaut, culture of the, 180
Cuttings, how to .'end, 155
IV
INDEX.
D
Dahlia, hints about the, 307
Dairies in Maine, 122; American and Scotch
compared, 302
Dariinjrton, Dr. William, death of, . . .189
Date, the, as bread, 254
Days, luckr . .• ^^
Developmeat of resources the parent of civili-
zation, 281
Dictionary, farm, 356
Disease, obscure sources of, ... • 222
Draining, . . 52, 186, 267, 270, 334, 379
Dog, guns, and rods, 114; fidelity of a, 143;
save the, 186 ; law in Vermont about the, . 222
E
Eagle, old in the nest,
Education, physical, 44 ; agricultural.
Egg plant, - . . , .
Electricity for plants, ,
Elm, dignity of the.
22
56
181
38
380
F
Fair, farmers', 177; Vermont State, 298, 348, 354
Farm, the, as a manufactory, 255 ; shall I buy a, 285
Farmer, and the war, 65 ; profession of the,
106 ; wife of, overtaxed, 141, 153; our north-
ern, 144 ; New England, for April, notes upon
the, 186; frauds on the, 277; vs. mechanics,
286 ; women, 287 ; one-horse, 308, 311 ; walks
and talks with Essex county, 345 ; the work-
ing, and the Illinois, 352 ; the, a manufacturer,
381 ; why discontented, .... 386
Farming, profits of, 17 ; Beecher's book on, 47 ;
book, 119 ; in New Mexico, 275; in Florida,
282 ; by steam, 304
Feet, warm, in cold weather, 38 ; take care of
the, . . 52, 157
Felon, remedy for a, 155
Fence, Smith's patent, 33 ; on railroad, . 98,190
Field, battle, how nature covers up a, . . 346
Flax, barley, wheat, 28 ; culture of, 42, 62, 81,
126, 171
Flesh as food, 211
Floor, echoing, 152; painted, . . . .347
Flour, how to select, 296
Flowers, how to preserve in form and color, 280 ;
on the table, 3U6 ; a growing love for, . . 375
Fly, Hessian, the, ...... 312
Fodder, save the, 93 ; increase the, . . .102
Food, cooked and uncooked, .... 208
Forest, a Brazilian, ..... 306
French' economy in the, 21 ; Judge 11. F. 69, 109
Frost in tiie tropics, 356 ; and drought in Illi-
nois, 380
Fruit, year of, 1 9 ; keeping through the \vintcr,
34. 128 ; culture and profits of, 170, 274 ; how
to keep, .302 ; crop of, 314
G
Garden, work in the,
Gardening, woman's,
Girls, healthy.
Glanders in the horse.
Glue for ready use,
Gooseberry bushes, how to prune.
Grain, production of.
Grafting and wax for.
Grape, culture of the, 14, 85, 112 ; a
diseases, 20 ; a new, 38 ; and peai
a cure for
Sj 46 ; new
173
61
75
225
30
141
18
186
varieties of the, 275 ; culture, wines, and wine
making, 309, 317, 336, 349 ; Rogers' Hybrid,
and others, 356 ; for the million, 356 ; trellis
for the 372
Grass, Hungarian, 57, 96, 97, 107, 158, 311,
316 : foul meadow, 180; best time for cutting,
243 ; land, top-dressing, 294, 378 ; millet, 311 ;
blue, in Kentucky, 314 ; crop, importance of
the, 341 ; a large crop of, .... 345
Grennell, James S 19
Guano, adulterated, 220
H
Ham, how to preserve, 238
Hands, chapped, cure for, 66, 218; and feet,
how to cure blisters on, . . . .95
Harness, how to take care of, . . . .110
Hay, harvesting, cost of, 303 ; field, thonghts in
the, 305 ; salting of, . . . 339, 351, 389
Haymaker, city, 288
Hai-vest, the, 377
Health, vinegar, wood fires, cooking, 50 ; in hot
weather how to preserve, . . . .310
Hedge, as a shelter, 171 ; what kind is best, . 180
Heifers, time for them to come in, . . , 138
Herring, use of the, 22
Hills, letter from the, 366
Holdfost, in cattle, 379
Home after business hours, 22 ; love of, . . 382
Hong Kong, China, . . . . .11
Ho nev, large deposit of, . . . . .31
Hop, crop of the, for 1862, ....
Horse, and man, compared, 10; to cure crib-biting
in the, 21 ; grooming and feeding the, 54 ; in-
telligence of the, 63 ; the army, 74 ; film on
the eye of a, 95 ; dry meal for the, 120, 152 ;
a sick, 180; poll-evil in the, 195 ; shoeing the,
205 ; a lame, 2§7 ; ring-bone on the, 248 ;
founder in the, 269 ; medicine for the, 273 ;
heaves m, 280 ; number of the lost in battle,
287 ; warts on the, 289 ; sand-crack on foot
of the, 336 ; a roaring, 353 ; northern and
Eouthera compared, 355 ; scratches in, . . 391
Horse-hoe, or rotary spader, .... 272
Horticultural notes, . . . 290, 338, 366
House, farm, and outbuildings, 274 ; school, . 289
Husk, corn, paper from, 202
Hydropathy in veterinary practice, . . . 385
Icelandic " skier," 183
Idc, Timothy, death of, . . ^ . . .219
Insanity, decrease of, during the war, . . 295
Itch, barn 152
Ivy, cure for poison by, 255, 305 ; caution about
use of, 335
Japanese, oddities of the.
Kerosene oil, in a fluid lamp, .
Ivitchen, hints from the, .
Kohl-rabi, culture and uses of, .
205
. 38
. 378
. 225
Z>abels for fruit-trees.
147
INDEX
Labor, two systems of, 211
Ladies' Department ; Origin of the Moss Rose,
and training the child's body, 135 ; patching
and darning, 199 ; the baby walks, 231 ; dress-
ing with taste, 231 ; keeping company with
flowers, . ♦ 263
Legislative, agricultural meetings, 100, 111, 123,
152, 158, 164
Leominster, sketch of, 350
Letter, an up-country, 315
Life, how to be fitted for, 140; art of success
in, • . . . ^ 243
Lime, its uses and action, 33 ; superphosphate
of, ... . . .71, 146, 157
Linseed, and its oil, 195
Lithographers, an hour with the, . , .197
Locust, yellow, 92
Love, youthful, 307
VM
Machinery, among the, 185; farm, 247, 307;
for binding grjiin, 364
Manures, 64; top-dressing with, 98, 119; haul-
ing out in winter, 120; fermentation of, 148;
spreading from the cart, 255 ; preparing and
applying, 276 ; quantity and quality of, 278,
318; oyster-shelk as a, 349; skill in man-
aging, 357; importance of, 377 ; covering of, 381
Mare, in foal, ....... 368
Market, cattle, report of, for December, 40 ; for
January, 72 ; for February, 104 ; for March,
136; for April, 168; for May, 200; for June,
232; for July, 264; for August, 296; for
September, 328 ; for October, 360 ; for No-
vember, 392 ; going to, .... 238
Marsh, salt, 121
Martynia, or unicorn plant, . . . .181
Meadow, an old hassock, reclaimed, 293 ; a
puzzling one, . . . . . .321
Men and horses compared, 10 ; mar^'els of, . 379
Meteorology, record of, for January, 133 ; for
February, 157; for March, 194;' for April,
299 ; for May, 231 ; for July, 267 ; for Au-
gust, . 263
Microscopic writing, 272
Milk for butter, 38 ; boiling, why it foams, 60 ;
how to keep sweet, 86; business, 119; low
price of, 121, 161
Milking, patience in, 225
Millet, culture of, 71,311
Jlill, portable, 345
Mole, ground, and gopher, .... 367
Jlountains, Green, among the, .... 175
Muck, 66, 146
Muffins, com, how to make, . . . .91
Mulching, 173
Mushrooms, how to cultivate, . . . .117
N
Xails, why called <en/3€nny, &e. • . .181
Nashua, cattle show at, 330
New England, sketches of, . . . • . 354
Newspaper controversy, 64 ; and books, errors in, 77
Nile, supposed discovery of source of, . . 255
Notes of the season, 183 ; horticultural, 290,
338, 366
Nuts, cultivation of, 75
O
OflBce, Patent, brief history of
. 266
Oil, coal, 312
Onion, the best to sow, 113 ; and an ox, 13l|
152; maggot in the, 180
Opinion, diversity of, .... . 146
Orchard, tilling the, 26, 89 ; apple, 86 ; old ap-
pie, 39; planting an, 112, 171: no faith in
an, 113 ; the, should be drained, 128; reclaim-
ing an old, ....,., 146
Oxen, shoeing of, 205 ; trained, « , .388
Paring and burning land, .... 364
Pasture, how to renovate an old, . « 207, 253
Peach, pickles of the, 299 ; borer, . .312, 356
Pear, origin and improvement of the, 78 ; dw£uf,
122; best for Massachusetts, 127; a late,
187; seedling, 333, 369
Pennies, how saved, . . . , .175
People, young, what they should know, . . 64
Pickles, about, 321
Pine, white, about pruning the, . . . 379
Pitchfork, horse, 171
Plants, how to water, 257 ; how they absorb
moisture, 296
Plaster, beds of, in Michigan, .... 255
Pleuro pneumonia, 74
Plow, the Holbrook, 121 ; and side-hill, 121 ;
about the, 338
Plowing, cross, 36, 59, 205 ; depth of, 257 ;
about, 338
Plum and curculio, 353
Pomological Society, American, . . s. 89
Post, how to preserve, 235
Potato, how to boil the, 91 ; sweet, culture of
the, 99, 172; for planting, 171; disease in,
174, 243, 268, 301
Poudrcttc, use of, . . . . . . 147
Poultry, disease among, 83 ; profits of, 91, 110,
111, 212, 140; Brahma Pootra, 158; chick-
ens, how to feed, 239; incident about, 270;
food for fattening, . • . . .313
Pox, small, how to prevent pitting, . . . 301
Premiums at cattle shows, .... 389
Produce, preparation of, for market, . . .87
Producer, non, 269
Providence, city of, 241
Pump, a good one, 126 ; "West's improved, 344 ;
Wood's, 356, 363
Pumpkin, growth of, 322
Punctuality, 58, 219
Putty and paint, solvent for old, . . .32
Q
Quince borer, .
Quittor, in horse's foot.
Rake, horse,
Rain,
Railroad, Fitchburg, 94 ; of Massachusetts,
Raspbcny, culture of the, . . . .
Rat, stories about the, 2^0 ; in the drain, .
Recipes, domestic, 72, 91, 120, 135, 156, 231,
295,299,321,327,
Ringbone, on the horse's foot,
Road, making a,
Roots, for sheep , .• ^*®'
Rye. seeding with, in summer, 204 ; cultivation
* "of, 27G ; how to raise,
350
257
188
227
138
les
374
353
248
68
171
391
VI
INDEX
99
118
140
29
195
241
194
270
314
345
191
376
95
382
93
Salt, why healthful,
Sand, account of,
Sap, boiling inaple,
Sawdust for stables, . • ...
Schools, in the last century, 189; visiting the,
Scene, a rural,
Sea, mining iinder the,
Season, hints for the, 133; and prospects, 214,
313,
Seed, sowers, 67; of vegetables, age of; 158,
313, 318; quantity to be sown per acre, re-
quii-ed, 204, 205 ; saving of, 280 ; how to send
by mail, 281 ; selection of, 337 ; heavy appli-
cation of,
Sexes, disproportion of,
Sheep, a Cotswokl buck, 16 ; grub in head of,
35; winter management of, 45, 85, 117, 213,
227; about, 47; diseased, 70, 180; sore
mouth, and remedy for, 91, 83, 188 ; profit of,
102 ; Spanish Merinos. 103; sales of in Ver-
mont, 131 ; eating wool, 120, 131, 147; ex-
citement about, 147 ; best time to feed gram
to, 160 ; roots for, 171 ; in Kansas, 189 ; rec-
ords of, 207 ; husbandry, 216; shall they be
washed, 218; portable feeding rack for, 248;
wool and lambs, 280; shed room for, 291 ;
best, and cattle, 344 ; at the World's Fair in
Hamburg, 347 ; damage to, .
Sheldon, Asa G.,
Sleep, get enough,
Snow, winter,
Society, North Franklin, Me., 25 ; Am. Pomo-
logical, 28; Essex County, 29; Vermont
State Ag., 71, 298 ; H.ampshirc, Franklin, and
Hampden, 93 ; Middlesex, 94 ; Mass. Horti-
cultural, 119; Merrimack River, at Nashua, 330
Soil, renovation of the, 59 ; preparation of for
an orchard, 146; exhaustion of the, 256;
clay, fertility of, 317 ; cost of analyzing the.
Spirit, a cheerful, 71,
Squash, excellent, 209 ; pure, 218 ; custard, .
Stables, ventilation in, 93 ; old folks of the, .
Starch, potato,
Stock, fine, 42 ; expenments in feeding, 57 ; cut-
ting food for, 58 ; for our fai-ms, 83 ; winter-
ing, 97 ; feeding meal to, 143, 198 ; farm in
Maine, •
Stones, ........
Strawberry, culture of the, 167, 373 ; growing
on a tree,
Stove, cooking,
Stump puller, a novel,
Sugar, maple, how to make, 69, 101, 129, 151,
Swallows and gull.'?, .....
Swine, dry food for, 10, 139 ; sick, 62, 92, 96,
146; fine, 63, 82, 91, 120, 152, 171 ; salt aud
cold water for, 68, 374 ; pumpkins and npplcs
for, 70 ; cooked and uncooked food for, 77 ;
experiments in feeding, 90, 160; sweet ap])lcs
for, 91 ; and meadow hay, 113 ; how to feed,
191 ; profits of, 212; ashes for, 301 ; breeds,
and management of, 371 ; why eat ashes,
r>7G
207
241
114
21
242
288
260
151
48
203
358
383
Tea, culture of in California, ....
Tillage, good, is manure, , . . . .
Trees, pruning forest, 30 ; g'rowth of forest, 38 ;
apple, renovation of old, 59 ; for shade, orna-
ment and profit, 145 ; what to plant, 146 : ap-
ple, dec.iy of, in Illinois, 184; protector, a
new, 194; cherry, 207; and vines, roots of.
267
212
208; plum, salt for, 224; wash for, 235;
pear, re-rooting on quince stock, 240; fruit,
when to trim, 255 ; planting, 359 ; apple, sand
around, 377
Toad, about the, 32
Tobacco, in Hampshire coaftty, 358 ; and
wheat, 375 ; shall we raise, .... 377
Tomato, plants, how to raise, 181 ; com cakes,
288 ; training the, 292 ; need of sunshine on
the, •.347
Turkey, bronze, 158
Turnip crop, how to raise a, . . . * 70, 97
Typo setters, wicked, 144
U
United States, triumph of.
347
Vegetable, growth, 14, 139 ; garden, seeds of, . 204
Ventilation, 214
Vermin on colts, calves, and cattle, 63, 82, 120,
199, 248
. 298
. 50
. 311
. 361
146
Vermont State Fair,
Vinegar,
Visitor, a pleasant, .
Volume, our next, .
W
158
281
389
61
253
Warts, cure for, 18 ; on cattle.
Water, about raising, ....
Weather, the, 93, 188; signs of the,
Webb, Jonas, death of,
Weedcr and sower, Harrington's,
Weeds, killing by law, 280; fighting them reso-
lutelv, 370
West, affairs at the, . . . .217, 249
Wheat, culture of, 155, 177; winter, 289; crop
in Southern Illinois, 292 ; show of at Roches-
ter, N. Y., 294 ; after sorghum, 301 ; premium
on winter, 32) , 326 ; of my own raising, . 365
Whiskey and newspapers, . . . .33
Wives, farmers', overtaxed, . . . 141, 153
Wine, elderben'ies for, 390
AVood, how to split, 129; to prevent the rotting
of, 216
Wool, in Micliigan, for 1863, 90; grower's or-
gan, 106; influence of food upon quality of,'
108; sheep-eating, 120, 131; growing, 132,
150, 163 ; board of trade in, 213 ; deception in
sale of, 250 ; growing in Michigan, 278 ; im-
portation of in 1802, 307 ; large load of, 313 ;
grower, experience of a, 318; in Boston, 326 ;
price of, 305 ; goat's
Women, with rakes .and spades, 161 ; English,
176; true, 179; mission of, 199; farming,
229, 287 ; who arc the patriotic, 239 ; what
they can do, 267 ; long skirts of the, .
Worm, canker, 250 ; cut, 251 ; a new.
379
376
278
Yankee, the universal,
Yarn from milkweed,
Year, new, duties of the, 43 ; a happy new.
Yokes, about the use of,
Youth's dep.artment, a game for little boys ;
why the sea is salt ; a boy's letter ; weeds and
flowers,
353
141
80
95
134
INDEX
vn
ILLUSTRATIONS.
A Beautiful Cotswold Buck, .
R. A. Smith's Patent Farm Fence, .
Two Beautiful Cotswold Ewes,
Whittemorc's Patent Vegetable Cutter,
Schoolcy's Patent Iceberg Refrigerator,
Training the Tomato,
American Purple Egg Plant, ,
The Martynia, or Unicom Plant,
Four Pure Cotswold Lambs, .
The Buckeye Mower and Reaper,
Excellent Winter Squashes,
A Horse Pitchfork, .
176
16
33
49
81
161
177
181
181
184
192
209
216
An Undcrdrain Outlet and Trap,
The Horse with a Cold, .
The Custard Squash,
Ringbone on the Horse's Foot,
Quiltor in the Horse's Foot,
The Horse Hoe, or Rotary Spader,
A Horse with Warts,
Sandcrack in the Horse's Foot,
Roaring Horses,
South Down Buck, Archbishop,
Eaton's Premium Sheep Rack,
224
225
241
248
257
273
289
337
353
368
385
POETRY.
Aatumn and Winter, . . . ... 19
Trust, 30
Old Winter is Coming, 51
A Snow Storm, 58
A Song of the Wind, 60
The Inner Calm, 69
God Speed the Plow, 103
The Old Farm House, 142
If we Knew, ....... 158
God's Plan, 184
A Song of May, 191
Delicious Spring, 194
The Baby Walks I The Baby Walks 1 . .231
New Grass, 235
The Guide Post, ..,,,. 242
Clover, . . . .,*•#. 254
Sunset after a Shower, * ^ '-^i- » . 287
Summer Beauties, ...#.,. 295
Nature's Music, . .<■»•». 301
My Field, . . . ► ^ » .311
The Back Bam Door, . . , . .316
Our Village at Day Break, . i ■, . 322
In the Fall, 327
Mother Earth, . 373
The Husbandman, 380
Weather Signs, 389
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUKE AND ITS KIHDBED AKTS AND SClEA'UJiJS.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, JANUARY, 1863.
NO. 1.
NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, Proprietors.
Office... .100 Washington Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editor.
HENRY F. FRENCH, Associate Editor.
JANTJAKY.
"The wintry West extends his blast,
And hail and rain do blow ;
Or the stormy North sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snow.
While tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars from bank to brae ;
And bird and beast in covert rest
And pass the heartless day," Burns.
HE New Year comes
again to us laden with
blessings and duties.
We have passed once
more the annual cycle,
and another chapter
of life is written and
stamped with its final
seal. How important
it is, at this time, that
we pause and review
the past. It speaks to
us from its tomb with
a voice both of warn-
ing and encouragement, and points, with its dead
finger, the pathway through the fields of the fu-
ture which we, as rational beings, should pursue.
What lessons can be more important or impres-
sive than those of "dead Time ?" More eloquent
than the preachings of Melancthon or a Luther,
are the prelections and sermons of the vanished
months which died like saintly (but mistaken)
nuns, breathing out their balmy life in the still-
ness and quiet of cloistral solitude, with the rosa-
ry, and badge of salvation upon their breasts.
Although we cannot now, as in the bloom and
flushing spring and summer, or amid the purple
and golden glories of autumn, wander "o'er bank
and brae," or on the "sloping hillsides," drinking
in the inspiration of the poet, and dreaming dreams
of rare enchantment and beauty, yet we are not
destitute of ample means of enjoyment within the
circle of home engrossments ; and while the skies
are veiled in "thick clouds," and the loud winds
howling their paeans through the dismantled trees,
we can draw around us the great and good of
every clime, and hold familiar intercourse with su-
perior minds upon the various topics which con-
cern us, and the interests of the little world of so-
cial life by which we are surrounded, and of which
we are the protectors and the heads.
It is one of the rarest immunities of our social
system, that, amid the desolation of this season of
the common year, Ave are at liberty to enjoy the
fruits of our labors unannoyed by the cares and
perplexities which abate the happiness of the mart
of more worldly and sordid aims. Peace reigns
within the farmer's domicil, and contentment —
the greatest blessing that the human mind can en-
joy— crowns him with perennial delight, while the
merchant, whose canvas whitens every sea, is
plunged into distress by perils of war and the
waters, or by every change in the markets not
favorable to his wishes, and made miserable by
every mutation in business and the price of stocks.
With the close of the vegetative year, he can close
his doors upon care, and isolate himself effpctually
i from its annoyances. Surrounded by his family
and a few select fi-iends, he can devote his mind
to study or mental recreation, with the assurance
that in the acquisition of useful knowledge^ he is
not only gratifying an imperative and heaven-in-
stituted want of his nature, but actually contribut-
ing to the happiness and well-being of the world
around him, as contemplated in the results which
his acquisitions are calculated to promote. .
Wisely has the poet counselled :
"Sow, though in days of gloom, the seeds
Of manful toil and generous deeds.
Of stern self-sacrifice, that heeds
Little the world's behest ;
Cast out the lying thought that pleads
'Enough, now take thy rest.'
"That which was sown in the wintry air
Shall blossom and ripen when skies are fair,
Though thine should be many an anxious care
10
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
Ere the harvest is pathered in—
Be stout to toil, and steady to bear —
The heart that i3 true shall win,''
It is by the hearthstone of the farmer's home
that the education of the young mind that is to be
trained to the pursuit of agriculture, and its kin-
dred branches, should be commenced. Better
there than elsewhere can be laid the foundation
of future usefulness and success in ife; for there
the youthful student will be surrounded by the
influences which serve to attach his personal in-
terests and sympathies to the pursuit, and secure,
from surrounding objects, that healthy stimulus to
exertion which is always so essential to success.
Here he sliould read the writings of those who
have labored long, and, in too many cases, thank-
lessly, for the benefit of the husbandman, and
whose works are the richest legacy, if properly ap-
preciated, that they could have bequeathed to man.
AVhat would now be regarded as a fair equivalent
for the volumes of Von Thaer, or, in our own
country, of Prof. Johnston, or the eminently
practical volume of Judge BuEL, on common hus-
bandry, or of Judge French, on drainage, by
those who properly estimate the value of such
works in assisting the development of mind?
And Jtjstus Liebig has given to us, in his pub-
lished works, a legacy of wisdom for which em-
pires were, in truth, but a poor exchange !
Whoever can teach us the art of causing two
blades of grass to grow, profitably, where but one
grew before — who can instruct us in what way we
can most easily and economically redeem the pu-
trid swamp, tenanted by loathsome reptiles, and
noxious plants, and cause it to teem with nutri-
tious herbage, is a benefactor, whose achievements
entitle him to the highest praise, and whose name
deserves to be kept in remembrance by those for
whom he has "plied the task," and reaped the
sheaves whose golden glories gladden the earth
and strengthen the spirits of theu' fellow-men on
the battle-field of life.
The good seed they scatter will spring up
"in spite of cloud and blast,
And sullen rain descending fast,
And pnow-wreaths thickly o'er it cast,
And thunderous, darkening skies j
The very tempest roaring past,
Strengthens it as it lies."
So, let us begin this Nev^t Year with honest
intentions, with cheerful hopes, and with deter-
mined energy, notwithstanding that wicked men
ai* spreading death and ruin over the land, and
ever remember that if we
"Be stout (o toil, and steady to bear.
The heart that is true shall win."
FOKCE— MEN AND HORSES COMPARED.
Uesagulier's Experimental Philosophy gives
much information on the subject. The horse
draws Avith the greatest advantage, when the line
of direction is level with his breast ; in such a sit-
uation he is able to draw 200 lbs. eight hours a
day, walking about two miles and a half an hour.
This, of course, does not relate to the weight of
the wagon, or load, but to the amount of force
he exerts upon the shafts. If the same horse be
made to draw 240 lbs., he can work but six hours,
and cannot go so fast. On a carriage, where fric-
tion alone is to be overcome, a middling horse
will draw 1000 lbs. If a weight be suspended in
a well by a rope, passing over a pulley, a horse
will lift, when attached to this rope, but about 200
lbs. His feet cannot hold on to the ground with
a force any thing equal to his own weight operat-
ing against his line of travel.
Five men are equal in strength to one horse,
and can with as much ease pull the horizontal
beam of a mill occupying a circle of nineteen
feet, while three men will do it in a walk forty
feet wide.
A horse employs much less force when required
to draw up hill ; if the hill be steep, three men
will do more than the horse, each man climbing
up faster with a burden of 100 lbs. weight, than
a horse that is loaded with 300 lbs. This is due,
of course, to the position of the parts of the body
being better adapted to climbing than those of the
horse. In a horizontal direction the quadruped
has the advantage over the biped. Thus a man
v/eighing 140 lbs., and drawing a body along by
means of a rope coming over his shoulders, can-
not draw above 27 lbs., or exert above one-seventh
part of the force of a horse employed for the
same purpose.
The very best and most effectual force in a man,
is that of rowing, wherein he not only acts with
more muscles at once for overcoming the resist-
ance, than in any other position ; but as he pulls
backward, the weight of his body assists as a lev-
er for continuous labor.
The horse is enabled to do more work on a sur-
face of variable figure, than in a very level coun-
try. Horses do not wear well if all the roads
they draw upon be on an inclined plane or a fixed
gradation. Every change of figure in the sur-
face, brings into action another set of muscles, so
that all the muscles of the horse are in turn called
upon to act on the varied surfaces, whereas those
of a continued figure appeal to one set of muscles
alone. — Working Farmer.
It costs a great deal more to be miserable than
to be happy.
Dry Food for Hogs. — A correspondent of
the Country Gentleman says : Many hogs are
kept comparatively poor by the high dilution of
their food. They take in so much water that
there is not room for a good su])ply of nutriment.
Hence the reason that those farmers who careful-
ly feed undiluted sour milk to their hogs, have so
much finer animals than those who give them slops.
The hog has not room for much water ; and if
food which contains much is fed to him, it makes
him big-bellied, but poor." Hogs, as well as all
other animals, should be allowed all the water they
will drink, but it should not be mixed with their
food in excessive quantity.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
11
For the Necc Ensland Farmer.
HONG KONG, CHINA.
My last letter I was obliged to bring to an a1)-
rupt close in oi-der to complete arrangements for
leaving the next day for Canton.
On the morning of Saturday last, accompanied
by several friends, I embarked on the steamer
"White Cloud," then ready to start for Canton
river. The morning was delightful, and the pure
sea air proved wonderfully invigorating after the
exhausting process of a week's residence in Hong
Kong. I went early on deck to take a look at the
scenery on shore, but it was quite two hours be-
fore we had fairly entered the river, and until then
I saw very little to interest me. High, barren
hills obscured all inland objects, and M'ith the ex-
ception of here and there a fisherman's hut on the
narrow beach and an occasional junk sailing by,
with its huge fanlike sails extended to the light
breeze, few signs of life were visible. I own I
was disappointed ; the tropical vegetation which 1
had led my invagination to expect did not seem to
be here ; neither were there many evidences of
that industrious agricultural skill, which I had
supposed peculiar to the Chinese, to be seen ;
but the rapid progress made by our fast boat
soon opened to our view a region of country high-
ly cultivated, and tropical in its luxuriance.
As we glided along, the captain pointed out the
famous Bogue Forts, but only enough remained of
them to exhibit the unskilfulness of the Chinese.
The position for defence was remarkably well
chosen, and needed but the aid of good engineer-
ing to make it impregnable.
Large paddy (or rice) fields stretched away
from the water, and along the dikes built to pre-
A'ent an overflow of the laud, were planted rows of
the Lychee tree, whose leaves of greenish hue in
contrast with the lighter shades of the blossoms,
were objects of much beauty. From this point to
Whanipoa, the country presented a panoramic
%"iew of surpassing novelty. There our stay was
short. Small boats, or sampans, flocked around
the steamer, and literally covered the river sur-
face. Girls managed them, with consummate skill,
and seemed to enjoy the rocking motion of their
diminutive craft as our steamer glided by.
The hills back of the town were terraced to their
summits, and had the appearance of grave-yards.
A pagoda of some seven or eight stories was here
a conspicuous object. Beyond Whampoa, further
up, the river was swarming with boats, seemingly
countless in number, and of every size and shape.
A number of government junks, with immense
goggle-like eyes staring from their bows, were
mooi-ed in the stream.
Canton was reached early in the afternoon, and
while waiting an opportunity to go on shore, we
had ample time to view the city as it appears
from the river. Scarcely a trace is now to be
seen of the splendid hongs, or mercantile houses,
which formerly stood outside of the walls and
were occupied as residences and places of business
by foreign merchants.
The hong boat, as it is called, now came along
side, and the passengers from the "White Cloud"
were quickly landed. I was hos]ntahly received
at the great commercial establishment of Messrs.
. A spacious room was kindly placed at my
disposal, and having brought along with me the
necessary appendage of a China boy, I found no
difficulty in making myself comfortable.
The sky was still overcast. It had rained since
noon and I made up my mind to remain within
doors, especially as the view from the verandah
gave me an excellent opportunity to watcli the
movements of the innumerable sampans, flower-
boats and various other craft, which stretched
away as far as the eye could reach. At the stern
of most of these was a huge scull or sweep, inva-
riably managed by females, while the less indus-
trious males worked a light stroke oar at the side
or stem. Little children toddled about on the
decks, with gourds strapped to their backs, —
some were tied with strings — to protect them from
harm in case of being lost overboard. What with
the hoarse, guttural cries of ])eddlers, floating lei-
surely by, and the noise and din on shore from
beatings of gongs, chin-chinning, joss, and the
explosions of fire crackers, confusion seemed to
reign with undisputed sway.
The next day, Sunday, we did not attend church
for the very good reason that there was none to
attend. It was apparent that the blessings of a
Christian Sabbath M'ere unknown here, and that
the native population still r'unain immersed in the
darkness of idolatry. In the afternoon, accompa-
nied by a friend and resident of Canton, I crossed
the river to visit the Shahmeen site, a large
piece of land ceded, at the termination of the late
war, to the English and French. It is separated
from the adjoining shore by a wide canal, extend-
ing around to the rear, the front facing the river.
A substantial granite wall, reaching from the wa-
ter by numerous flights of steps, is built around
the whole. But few buildings as yet have been
erected. This spot is more favorably situated
than the old site ; it is a delta in the river, nearly
opposite the Macao passage, and is regarded as
quite healthy.
On our return, we wandered out among the
shops, making, however, no purchases. The shop-
men were very civil, invariably saluting us with
"chin chin," and on our announcement that we
were merely "makee look see," replied, "can do,"
and politely displayed their wares.
Monday morning, taking open chaii's with us, we
crossed the river in the hong boat to visit the city.
Procuring four coolies to each of our chairs, we
set out, immediately after lauding, under the
guidance of a boy, to make our way through the
narrow and crowded streets. Our sedan beai-ers
kept up a sharp, incessant cry to warn foot pas-
sengers to make way. Above our heads, depend-
ing from every shop, were numerous long signs
inscribed in Chinese characters. The shops were
so small and our coolies walked so rapidly, that
we could catch but a slight glimpse of their con-
tents. Some shoe stores that we passed had their
goods displayed and arranged precisely as at
home. As we were being whirled along we met
a mandarin in a chair, and the street being tor)
narrow to allow us to pass him, our coolies backed
us into an opposite building, thus affording the
dignitary an o|)portunity to proceed.
We had started with the intention of visiting
the temples or joss houses. We were first con-
ducted to the "Temple of Five Hundi-ed Joss."
This temple was entered through an outer build-
ing or lodge, in which were two colossal images,
one representing Peace and the other War, both
12
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan,
painted in grotesque and fantastic hues. Thence,
passing through a yard, we were admitted to the
main edifice. A priest, with shaven head, under-
took our guidance through the intricate passages,
and soon we were in the presence of five hundred
idols.
Throughout the room, these idols were ar-
ranged upon long platforms, in sitting pos-
tures. They were all gilded, and although exces-
sively Chinese in a])pearance, were not expres-
.sionless. In front of each idol was a vase of arti-
ficial flowers and a leaden vessel of peculiar shape,
to receive the ashes of the joss stick offered as a
sacrifice. The building containing the idols was
exceedingly plain both in its interior and exterior.
Giving our attendant a cumshaw, we proceeded
on our way, visiting several buildings similar in
character to the one we had just left. In one of
them we were shown a fine model of a pagoda,
constructed of porcelain, and, at least, thirty feet
in height.
Still following our guide, and having mounted a
great number of steps, we found ourselves at the
summit of a high hill, from which we obtained, for
the first time, an excellent view of the city and
the White Cloud mountains in the distance. The
buildings in the city were nearly equal in height,
and, with the exception of several pagodas tower-
ing above the common level, few objects met our
gaze, and we saw little else save a vast plain of
roofs extending on either side to an immense dis-
tance. A small temple, containing several gilded
images, was the only structure on the hill. On
ray way down, I had the curiosity to count the
steps that we had passed over, and found the
number to be three hundred and seventy-five.
Desirous to be in time for tiffin, we commenced
our return, the coolies walking at a rapid pace.
On passing through the gates of the city to the
suburbs, I had an opportunity to examine the
walls. They seemed to be made of bricks nearly
thirty feet in height, and half as thick at the base.
It was here that I was repeatedly reminded of the
fierce contests between the Cantonese and the
English a few years since. Traces of fire — dilap-
idated and ruined houses lining whole streets —
vacant spots in the midst of once thickly-populated
districts — gave unmistakable evidences of the ter-
rible bombardment to which the city was subjected.
Having returned to our quarters, we discharged
our coolies, paying them for a four hours' tramp a
quarter each, with which they were entirely satis-
fied.
The next day I was shown the establishment of
Hipqua, the most famous manufactory of lac-
quered ware in Canton. The buildings in which
this beautiful work is done Avere in a very filthy
condition; the rooms all small, and crowded with
workmen to such an extent as scarcely to admit of
easy elbow-room. The first process I was allowed
to witness consisted of the coating of the numer-
ous articles with a material resembling flax, de-
signed, as I was informed, to give elasticity to the
.sul)sequent coatings of lacquer, the number of
which being less or more accoi-ding to the intend-
ed quality of the work.
After passing through a drj-ing process, the
work is first varnished, then polished, and after-
wards submitted to artists for embellishment
This process is the most curious of all, and not-
.-.•.v.»^„,i;r,r, mnnv of the designs are grotesque,
such is the skill with which they are executed that
many of them are really beautiful. The patterns
are first traced with a pencil of chalk or marked
out by rubbing a white powder over a paper sten-
cil. They ai'e then painted in Vermillion, and gold
dust is thrown over to bring out the design.
In the afternoon I visited the Honam Temple.
This I found to be more extensive than any simi-
lar temple I had seen. Before the hideous idols,
women were worshipping, bowing and kissing
the ground, rising frequently to light fresh joss
sticks which they kept burning in a leaden vase
before their god. Great numbers of priests were
domiciled here, one of whom conducted me into
the kitchen and dining hall. It beingdinner hour,
they were seated at long benches, devouring their
"chow chow," placed before them in small laowls.
The cooking was done in large iron boilers.
Here too I saw the famous sacred hogs. They
were confined in a stone pen, kept quite cleanly,
and had the appearance of great age. Some of
them were very large, their bellies actually drag-
ging upon the ground. They are never slaugh-
tered, and of course, die natural deaths. As por-
cine specimens, they come far short of what I had
been taught to regax^d as at all desirable ; having
large, bony heads, coarse frames and skins thick-
ly coated with long bristles.
Extensive gardens were connected with this in-
stitution laid out and cultivated in beautiful taste
and order. Dwarf pear and other fruit trees sim-
ilar to those found at home, were to be seen here,
and it was astonishing with what skill and inge-
nuity they trimmed and trained trees and plants
into imitations of pagodas, boats and even ani-
mals. Flowers were interspersed throughout the
grounds, and the whole had a most pleasing effect.
In the afternoon I accompanied a party of gen-
tlemen to the celebrated porcelain manufactory of
Ushing. On our passage through the streets the
inhabitants flocked to the doors to see us. Many
of the younger married women had their cheeks
and lips painted a violent carmine, giving them
the appearance of wax dolls.
We found the factory divided into small com-
partments similar to those seen at Hipqua the
day previous. The ware of the establishment is
made and baked in the country, and brought here
to be painted and otherwise decorated. Tiie col-
ors when first put on are destitute of brilliancy,
but after having undergone the process of another
baking, are very beautiful.
In the evening we made a tour among the flow-
er boats. As these are institutions ])eculiar to
China and the Chinese, it may be well to state
that when a rich man or successful merchant de-
sires to give an entertainment to his friends, he
hires one of these boats for an evening. Here,
conveniences for smoking opium are furnished.
Young girls are in attendance, and music and
mirth resound. The boats are highly ornamented,
and lighted by numerous glass chandeliers, chiefly
of European manufacture.
An entertainment was going on in one of the
boats we visited. Around a small table, on which
was spread a variety of preserved fruits, were
seated a number of beautiful gii'ls, their heads and
hair bedecked with fragrant flowers. Their cheeks
and lips were painted, and they seemed to be oc-
cupied, some in eating melon seeds, others in
self-admiration before small min-ors. Several
1863,
NEW ENGLAND FARMEIL
13
musicians strummed on instruments resembling
banjoes, and a "sing song girl" screeched in loud
falsettoes, making together tlie most diabolical
noises I ever heard. It is hardly necessary to add
that these boats or places of amusement ibrm the
demi-monde of Cliina.
Any ordinary description of a Chinese city or
of Chinese life will convey to the reader but an
im])erfect idea of either ; but I am told that by
seeing one city, a very accurate impression may be
formed of every other. F. E. V.
Fur the New England Farmer.
AGRICULTURE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
Mu. Brown : — For more than twenty years we
have been the advocate of introducing agriculture
as one of the branches to be tauglit in common
schools. Our reasons for assuming this position
are, that all agricultural operations are performed
on principles of science, whether farmers will ad-
mit the fact or not, and are successful just in pro-
portion as these principles are carried out. Sci-
ence is truth, nothing more or less, and the better
truth is understood, the more easily we can follow
out its dictates.
It has been a pleasure to us, to read the discus-
sions that have been going on in your iKi])er for a
few months past, on this subject. They have
shown that the minds of individuals, at least, are
waking up on this subject, and this waking up we
consider a bright herald of a noble future action.
AVe are glad that those who see lif)ns in the way,
whether those lions are real or imaginary, have
the generosity to show the danger.
It was said, by one of the ancients, when asked
what were the most proper things for boys to
learn, * Those things they are to practice when
they become men," and this saying has been held
in so high estimation, that it has been regarded as
a proverb ever since. Admitting it to be true, ag-
riculture and its kindred sciences are among the
studies which have a demand on the attention of
young farmers. How are a majority of them to
obtain this knowledge, if they do not acquire its
rudiments in common schools ?
In the discussions alluded to, in the commence-
ment of this article, Mr. Goldsbury very honestly,
we have no doubt, brings three reasons, which to
his mind are conclusive, to show that it cannot be
introduced without doing more harm than good ;
we differ from him in opinion, and give our rea-
sons for doing so. His objections are :
"First, It would injure the schools by diverting
the attention of the scholars from their other ne-
cessary studies." Here we should have been
obliged to Mr. G. if he had defined what those
other studies are, for, as the case now stands, he
has ta'»^n a wide field, bearing a variety of crops.
Some hold one study important to education, while
others differ in opinions, and give preference each
to his favorite. We once knew a teacher who con-
sidered Latin and Greek the two essential studies
to be pursued to secure all needful knowledge.
And we have heard a learned professor of geology
remark, that if he were to commence his education-
al course again, he would pass over those very
studies ; that he could acquire enough knowledge
of them for his purpose, without spending months
of toil to obtain it. Which was ritrht, or whether
either, we don't decide, nor do we know what Mr.
Goldsbury's "necessary studies" may turn out to
be. He has left the game in the dark, and invites
"More Anon" to shoot at it. Indeed, he seems
to claim victory until "More Anon" does so. We
don't know as we blame "More Anon," if he does
not waste his ammunition until he sees something
to shoot at.
For ourselves, we are not in search of game ;
Mr. Goldsbury has set forth his opinion, in his
own way. We differ from him, and will give our
reasons, which if we are wrong, it will be our
pleasure to have Mr. G. correct.
U'hat are the necessary studies of the common
school ? Those of first and greatest importance,
(as we view the subject,) are reading, siielling,
M-riting, arithmetic, and a knowledge of our lan-
guage. Tliese, the fathers of New England held
to be important, and each successive generation of
their sons has added new seals to their testimo-
ny, and it is with regret, that in our day we have
seen them gradually growing out of the" repute in
which they once were held. Our oljservation is
limited, we admit, but we question whether New
England can furnish a larger number of good read-
ers, correct spellers and finished penmen now,
than it did twenty-five, or even fifty years ago !
But we hold these to be the necessary studies, the
corner-stones on which the progress of the scholar
in all other studies rests. What next ? Geogra-
phy. An excellent study, and one that can be
made very useful, even in agriculture, but not as
necessary as many topics that come directly in the
sphere of the practical operations of the farm. It
is of small consequence when the rivers of Siberia
freeze, compared with the adaptation of crops to
our soil and climate. Algebra has become so pop-
ular a study in schools, that scholars almost leave
their abs to go into it. Yet of what use is it in
practical life ? Where is the iiulividual who
adopts it in preference to common arithmetic in
business operations ? How many leave it in the
school-room where they found it, or take it away
only to forget it. Some of our common schools
glory in their Latin classes ; we have heard chil-
dren going over with their hie, hoc, dec, who did
not read plain English so as to make it intelligi-
ble, much less effective, across the school- room.
Of what possible use can the smattering of Latin,
so acquired, be? But, for argument's sake, we
will give these studies, and any others Mr. Golds-
bury may claim as necessary, a place in the school-
room, and we have one nook left which agricul-
ture may occu]n' as a study in the school, without
interfering with these necessary studies, (if he
holds them as such,) to wit, wliat better or
more interesting reading books can be found
than the "Manual of Agriculture" l)y .Mr. Flint,
or the series of "Family Readers" by Marcius
Willson ? If he can give us no wider berth, we
hope he will allow us to introduce them as read-
ing books, and our scholars will, without interfer-
ing with other studies, be on the high road to ag-
ricultural knowledge, and before he is aware of it,
there will be an elbowing for room to introduce
something more of the same sort of knowledge.
'^Second, Our teachers are not qualified to teach
it, and have no means of exjjlaining it." Within
our remembrance it has been said a railroad could
not be built to connect the harbor at Boston with
the Hudson. There were no men qualified to car-
14
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jaw,
ry on the work, and no means to do it. But the
thing lias been done for a score of years, and in a
feu- more years, this same road will be one short
link in a chain of roads connectins? the Atlantic
vith the Pacific. Agricidture will be taught in
o.ir common schools. If we have not teachers, it
IN no fault of the cause. Let them be called for,
a-id they will come up, a host innumeralile. The
people are beginning to demand such teachers.
Let I'Ur Board of Iviucation and Normal Schools
so far yield to the call of the people as to see that
a f dl supply is provided.
'•And, tliirdhj, are not old enough to understand
it, and have no time to devote to it, without neg-
lecting their other studies." Here Mr. Goldsbury
assumes another undefined position, to wit, "our
scholars generally are not old enough to under-
stand it." At what particular age this power of
U'lderstanding comes, he does not enlighten us by
saying. The love of natural objects is inherent in
children. Flowers and fruits are early subjects of
their admiration. Animals are also petted in early
life. 'J'hey begin their little farming operations as
an amusement very young. We have seen chil-
dren four and five years old, planting their little
patches in out of the way places, and imitating
their fathers in their little hay and harvest fields.
Are they old enough to understand the principle
when they do the thing ?
They are not "old enough to understand it," and
yet we have shown in many of our schools, schol-
ars were led forward in other studies quite as in-
tricate and much less useful. Again, many of {he
winter scholars in our country schools spend their
summers in practical farming, and are good help
to their parents. It is a gross libel upon tliese
boys to say they are not old enough to understand
the science of firming.
Last summer we noticed several well arranged
gardens on the grounds of scliool-houses, worked
by the scholars, male and female. They dug the
ground, did the setting out, sowed the seeds and
kept the i)lants clear of weeds. Were these schol-
ars incapable of understiinding all about the sci-
ence of these things ? "They have no time to de-
vote to it without neglecting other studies." We
consider this objection fully answered by showing
that we have several studies in our common
schools of far less practical utility than that of ag-
riculture, and these ought to give way to it, in so
much as the less important should yield to the
more important. That if it cannot he tolerated
furtlier tl".v;n that, books like those we have named
should be introduced as reading books, through
which much practical knowledge would be gained,
without interference with other studies, and a vast
amount of knowledge would thus be acquired.
Here we leave the subject for the present, hoping
Mr. Goldsbury and others will pursue it with their
pros and cons until public opinion shall be reached,
and public action follow as the result.
William Bacon.
Eichmond, Nov. 10, 1862.
Grape Cultuke. — Marks & Miller, lessees of
Fowler's High Gap Farm, in this county, have
developed a new feature in the rich resources of
our climate and soil. We refer to the culture of
the grape. From less than four acres they have
this season sent to market no less than seventeen
tlwiiftand pounds of luscious Catawbas. They sold
the entire crop to an enterprising fruit dealer at
Chicago for T-i cents a pound.
Mr. Marks, who has a life-long experience in
the business in one of the largest vineyards of Cin-
cinnati, has purchased a small ftirm a few miles
below the city, and will enter largely in the culture
of the grape. — LafaijeUe Courier, Iowa.
Fur itie ]Sew England Fanner.
VEGETABLE GROWTH.
Mu. Editor : — I sometimes wonder that the
science of botany, teaching as it does so- many cu-
rious and interesting matters concerning the
structure and growth of plants, is not more stud-
ied by farmers and their families. There is no
branch of knowledge that gives us higher ideas of
the wisdom and goodness of the Infinite Architect.
Such varieties of structure, such changing forms
of beauty, such wonderful adaptation of means to
ends, such bountiful provisions for the supply of
animal food, are shown in the vegetable kingdom,
tJiat we cannot but be filled with reverence when
we think of Him whose wisdom has devised and
whose hand has wrought all this beauty and use.
If we attempt to read from the book of Nature
the history of a single plant of our common Indi-
an corn, we shall soon find how little we know,
and shall wish to know more even of that plain,
every-day thing. We cultivate it year after year,
we have studied how to make it grow, we know
what kind of soil it likes, what manure is best
adapted to increase the stem and leaf, and Avhat
will give us larger returns of grain. But there is
much beside this in the history of the plant that
should interest us.
Let us take a grain of coiti and plant it. We
know that when it is deposited in the moist earth
it soon begins to swell, and ihen pushes out a lit-
tle white root, which runs down into the ground ;
next a small Avhite shoot starts up towards the
surface, becoming green as soon as it gets above
ground. Now how is this done ? Who can tell
why the rootlet always takes a downward course
and the plumule reaches upward ? What subtle
influence of the air or light changes the plumule
from white to a rich green ? How does it gi"ow at
all ? We see that the plant daily becomes taller,
daily increases in thickness, soon shows other
leaves pushing out, then a stout stem is built up,
on the top of which what we call the spindle pres-
ently shows iteelf, soon to hang out its pollen-
bearing stamens ; side bi'anches strike out at the
axils of the leaves, and a soft thread-like cluster
of long pistils apjjears at the tips of the branches
to receive the pollen from the staminate flowers
above and convey its magic influences to the
germs on the young ear, causing them to enlarge
and in time to harden into the ripe seed. These
are some of the more appai-ent ojierations of na-
ture while producing this invahiable grain.
Now would it not be interesting to all who
labor to assist the corn to grow, to study the
mysteries of vegetable growth ? Would we not
like to know the elements of which the seed is
composed, what chemical changes take place in it
during germination, how the plant draws nourish-
ment from the earth seemingly in the form of
mere water, but that water containing in solution
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
15
the elements of nutrition ; how the vital chemis-
try of the plant changes the liquid and gaseous
material to solid sujistances ; how the various
organs select and distribute the suitable material
for the different parts ; how the selected atoms
are arranged one by one to enlarge the stem, the
leaf, the staminate and pistilate flowers, and the
seed ? The study of these wonders of nature
seems to me to be peculiarly ap]iropriate to the
farmer. He has the most favorable opportunities
to investigate them ; he is constantly in the great
school-room, and his books are ever open b;fore
him. He needs but to use his faculties of obser-
vation, with such aids as are easily accessible.
His thoughts can be active while at his labor, and
the contemplation of the various wonders l:)efore
him will assist him to forget the back-ache and
general fatigue that often trouble him. He will
find objects of interest in the very weeds that ho
is hoeing up, and sometimes be strongly tempted
to preserve some rare weed, that he mav study its
history and character. He will thus find jjlea-
sures mingling more and more with his fatigues,
and may in this manner receive compensation for
many of his discomforts. M. p.
Concord, Nov., 1862.
For the New Ensland Farmer.
AGRICULTUHE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
Mr. P^DITOR : — It is generally admitted that
brevit\ and perspicuity are prime qualities in Eng-
lish composition. I intended to convey this idea
in my last communication, but unfortunately I
made use of so bold, so startling and so unusual a
figure of speech, that you did not see fit to print
it. "More Anon" appears to be earnestly engaged
in reviewing and correcting the opinions of others,
while, at the same time, he has no clear and defi-
nite ideas of his own.
But to the question at issue : It is a sufficient
answer to all that has been said, and to all that
can be said, in favor of introducing the study of
agriculture into our common schools, to say that
the thing is simply im]n-acticable. It cannot be
done. As our schools are at present constituted,
agriculture cannot be taught or learned in them ;
and for this ])lain reason, because they are desti-
tute of all the necessary means of teaching it.
They have not the tools, the implements, or the
materials to work with. They cannot teach by
example all the different kinds of farm work, and
the correct use of every kind of form tool or im-
plement. They can teach none of these things,
simply because they have not the means. This
would be especially the case in the winter, when
the frozen ground, the bleak winds, and the drift-
ing snows, put a full stop to out-door farm opera-
tions, and render all practical instruction in agri-
culture vain and useless. And the attempt would
not be much better in the summer, as the instruc-
tion would have to be given almost exclusively by
young female teachers in the open field to children
between the ages of three and fifteen years, a
large proportion of whom are females.
Again, it is a sufficient answer to all that has
been said, and to all that can be said, in favor of
introducing the study of agriculture into our com-
mon schools, to say that it would be the means of
diverting the attention of the scholars from all
their appropriate and necessary studies, to the
great injury of the schools ! For instance, while
the teachers were giving instruction in "whoa,
haw, gee buck," that is, teaching how to drive and
manage a team; or on the composition of ma-
nures; or on plowing, planting and hoeing; or on
the sowing of the didferent kinds of grain' ; or on
the curing of hay and grain ; or on the making of
butter and cheese ; or on the rearing, feeding and
fiittening of animals ; or on any other to])ic con-
nected with good farming, all the otlier important
appropriate studies of the schouls would be en-
tirely neglected. There would be no progress
made in spelling, reading, writiti.s,, grammar, geog-
raphy and arithmetic, while the teachers were
vainly attempting to give practical instruction in
farming without the means of doing it.
Again, it is a sufficient answer to all that has
been said, and to all that can be said, in favor of
this question, to say that there is no more reaso.n
why agriculture should be taught in our common
schools, than there is; that all the various mechanic
arts should be taught there ; or that military tac-
tics, or law, or divinity, or medicine, should be
taught there. These are all useful branches of
knowledge, and ought to be thoroughly taught
and well understood, in order to bo skilfully prac-
ticed. But this is no reason why they should be
taught in our common schools which were estab-
lished for the ]mrpose of teaching other branches
of a more general and rudimental character, and
of universal application and necessity — of leaching
the young of both sexes the common branches of
a common school education, so as to prepare them
for other studies and qualify them for any business
or pursuit. JouN Golusbury.
Warivick, Mass., 1SG2.
Remarks. — Our correspondent will observe that
we have omitted a few expressions M'hich had no
bearing upon the points in issue, and which, it
seems to us, would tend to irritate and confuse.
Far the Netc Enqlaud Farmer.
EXHIBITING HERDS OP CATTLE.
I hope the suggestion of "Mass.," in your pa-
per of the 25th of October, will be fully elaborat-
ed, by some one ex])erienced in keeping and rear-
ing of cattle. I know it is easy to tlicori/^e on
such topics, but a few facts, well attested, are
worth all the speculations imaginable. The best
cattle show I ever attended, occurred a few years
since, at Hanvers Plains, E^scx county, when a
herd of twenty milch cows, selected from (ii'ty
kept on the Burley farm, in Beverly, then owi-.ed
by the heirs of William Burley, Esq., were exhib-
ited. These were a fine s])ecimen of what is con-
sidered the New England breed of cUtle. Tiiey
were all of a deep red color, of medium si<?e, of
an age from six to ten years, and excellent milk-
ers, not giving an extravagant quantity, but yield-
ing through the season at least two gallons ])er
day. An exhibition of half a dozen herds like
this would be worth looking at. Let the herds
be compared ; their manners of being fed and
kept, and their products; this would be a cattle
show, indeed ; not such as is usually seen at our
exhibitions. Essex.
October 28, 18G2.
16
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
^'^§0:i
V^ RJ^S>^
A BEAU'i'iiTUIi COTSWOIiD BUCK.
The accompanying illustration is a portrait of a
Cotswold Buck, owned by Mr. P. W. Jones, of
Amherst, N. H., from the imported stock of Geo.
C. Hitchcock, Esq.
The culture of sheep has been greatly neglected
in New England for many years. During the
same period, the demand for wool has largely in-
creased, and so has the taste for good mutton.
Why, then, has wool and mutton growing been
constantly on the decrease ? Many a New Eng-
land farmer could answer this question in sorrow-
ful replies, who has found his pet flock dwindle
away night after night, by the act of some fell de-
stroyer that no power of his own and no arm of
the law could then reach. This has been, in our
opinion, the principal cause of reducing the num-
ber of sheep in the New England States to about
one-fifth of what it was at its highest point.
Some other causes undoubtedly existed, — but
their destruction by dogs was the principal one.
Now there is a better state of things, the strong
arm of the law, and a better sense of justice, have
come to the aid of the farmer, and he is encour-
aged once more to see if he cannot meet some-
thing of the demand made for wool, and thus keep
at home the piles of gold that are sent abroad for
it, and gratify the taste that has grown up for good
mutton, rather than for so much beef and pork.
These things are constantly awakening attention
to sheep husbandry, so that numerous inquiries
are made as to the best breeds for wool and for
mutton, for rapid growth, docility, hardiness, and
every thing that affects them as profitable ani-
mals.
But opinions are divided, and we believe with
entire sincerity ; as locality, and the manner of
feeding and tending a flock, would have a decided
tendency for or against the profits. Some persons
of large experience declare for the Spanish merino,
while others greatly prefer the Cotswold or South-
down, and perhaps even a few for the Saxony.
Then, there are grades of these that are esteemed
by some as even preferable to the pure bloods of
either class. It is proper for him who has a de-
cided preference for any one variety, to hold it in
high estimation, and to speak earnestly in its
praise, — but it would be folly to denounce other
breeds as worthless that may have failed with him,
but which have often succeeded well with others.
Location and management seem to have a more
direct and visible influence upon sheep, than upon
any other of our domestic animals.
We are glad to find our farmers giving more at-
tention to sheep husbandry, and believe that in
proper localities they will find it more profitable
than the raising of milk now is. If the culture of
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
17
sheep were more general, a less number of persons
might be engaged in producing milk, and conse-
quently, the price of that article become fairly re-
munerative.
In his late address before the Wool Growers'
Convention in Vermont, Col. Needham says the
estimated cost of keeping sheep in different sec-
tions per year, is, — in Illinois, 60 cents ; Iowa, 75
cents ; Michigan, 83 cents ; Virginia, 60 cents ;
New Jersey, 60 cents ; Pennsylvania, 50 cents ;
Maine, $1 ; California, 65 cents, and Vermont,
$1,30.
We hope our experienced correspondents will
furnish some practical articles for the Farmer on
Sheep Husbandry.
The Cotswold is the subject before us now, —
and many, in these days of inquiry, will ask,
" What is a Cotswold sheep ?" Mr. Robert
Smith's report on the stock exhibited at the late
show of the Royal Agricultural Society, says : "It
is a bold and commanding animal, with finely
arched neck, broad, straight back, arched ribs, and
length of quarter, carrying an enormous weight of
carcass upon clean legs. The fore-top on the fore-
head of no small dimensions is a strong character-
istic of the Cotswold breed. These animals have
always had strong enemies to contend with — wind
and weather. They seem to have trampled over
every obstacle, and bid defiance to the other
breeds for weight of carcase, wool and quality
combined. We will not venture to inquire how
these are produced at so early an age, but content
ourselves with the oft-told stories of 50, 60 and
80 pounds per quarter, and from 10 to 18 pounds
of wool."
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER.
The Paris Pays publishes an extract of a letter
■written by Gen. Cluseret, a French officer now in
the service of the United States, in which he says
of the soldiers under his command : —
"After two months of campaign and sufferings
such as I never endured, even in the Crimean war,
where we never were in want of food, nor exhaust-
ed by long marches, I can speak to you knowing-
ly of the American soldier. During all that time
we have been marching night and day, oftentimes
without bread, with half of our men shoeless, ex-
posed to a chilly rain, without shelter, tent or vil-
lage. We have thus walked between 150 and 200
miles. But that which, in my estimation, makes
the American soldier the first in the world — the
equal of the French soldier — is. that I never heard
him utter a complaint or grumble. I never was
compelled to inflict a punishment upon him.
When I ordered a straggler to fail in, he used to
show me his naked feet and hurry on as much as
he could. I have but a word to express my opin-
ion of the American soldier : he is an admirable
soldier. He adds to the qualities of the French a
patience and resignation which I did not think it
possible for a soldier to acquire."
J'or the Keu> England Parmer.
"HO"W IS IT, THEN, THAT FARMERS
GET ALONG?"
Friend Brown: — Owing to some unaccounta-
ble delay in your Halifax a,!>;ent, I have not ob-
tained a monthly since April. So to supply the
place of new matter, I have been re-perusing the
old ; especially "Pinkham and his criticisers" on
farm profits. One writer, "J. A. A." although
insisting on the profit, yet says he has looked in
vain for an answer to the above heading. Now if
the subject is not worn threadbare, you will per-
mit me to try for an answer to this very important
query.
We all know of instances where a man has be-
gun with nothing, as we say, and in a few years
has paid for his farm, stock, &c., besides support-
ing his family ; but we wish to know how it has
been done. I have had, lately, some httle expe-
rience of the income and outgoes of farming, hav-
ing kept a minute farm account for several years,
and I have thus far succeeded in obtaining a sur-
plus, entirely within the farm, and have also im-
])roved it yearly, though I have had my share of
bad luck in cro])s and herds. lie might express
the term, "bad luck," more correctly, if not so
concisely, in nine cases out of ten, thus : — the
natural result of carelessness and ignorance.
Before going further, I will mention the five es-
sentials of farming, to make it profitable, wichout
going to the wood-lot or selling the corner-lot, as
Mr. P. urges, and he will agree that they are all
important.
I find the first requisite is Prudence; and I
would like space to give a list of the many differ-
ent themes that cluster around it. The second is
Capital, even if it only lies in liealth and strength
of body and mind, vrith skill and knowledge. The
third, Honesty, or else thejjrofits might arise from
overreaching, instead of farming. The fourth,
Permanence of occupation, either by long leases
or ownership, as that will enable the farmer to
adopt all necessary rotations, ])lan ahead, and
work out a system peculiar to his land — as there
are scarcely two contiguous farms in this valley
that require exactly the same system ; and lastly,
over all, the Blessing of the Creator ; with these,
and a market, any man can bring the balance on
the right side of account.
Now, as I said above, I have found farming
profitable, and my general farm account ])roves it ;
but when I try the figures, that cannot lie, on the
cost and value of single crops, or the raising and
fattening of cattle, swine, Sec, a la wnde de Pink-
ham, I generally get the like result as he, and
here lies the difficulty, and here also stands the
solution. Mr. P.'s accounts — see Vol. XL, i)age
563, .V. E. Fanner — are not jn-operiy farmers' ac-
counts: they may be a tailor's or steveiiore's mem-
orandum of what it cost to obtain an acre of land
and hire labor, and buy manure, &:c., for a crop of
corn, or to get a calf one day old, and buy every-
thing for it till it is a cow. This is not real farm-
ing. It may be amat'^ur farming, and it is as in-
nocent a way of money-spending, as going to the
watering-places, or patronizing t!ie race-course.
The prudent farmer don't l)iiy his labor and ma-
nure ; he does his own work, collects and spends
his manure, Avithout cash oatlay, or any outlav,
but his time and stren''th ; in a word, liis time is
18
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
devoted to his land ; cutting wood and poles in
winter; then fencing; then in spring, planting
in hope ; cnltivating, haying, composting, &c.
through the summer; reajjing the fruit of his la-
bor in autumn ; while his sales all the year round
bring in the dollars, and the difference between
his cash outlay and his cash receipts is his profit,
and yet our farmer is a stay-at-home man ; he
don't hire out on the road, or go about hewing, to
get money to ])ay his taxes ; for the old proverb
teaches, that "The foot of the owner is the best
manure." There is always enough to do on his
own land, by which his future work will be easier
done, with greater profit.
lIo])ing to recur to this subject again, when I
will enter into figures bearing upon the first and
fourth requisites, as above, I remain as usual,
Annapolitan.
Clarence Centre, Nova Scotia, Oct. 18, 1862.
PRODUCTION OF QRAIIf.
We compile from WelWs Produce Reporter,
published in Chicago, a few figures relating to the
amount of grain received there at different periods
of the year. Total receipts of wheat for the week
ending" October 25, 18(52, 4:36,091 bushels, of the
value of >?;}91,144 ; previously, since January 1st,
10,184,481 bushels, of the value of $8,755,385.
Of corn there was received during the week end-
ing October 25, 1862, 951,140 bushels, of the value
of §31.'3,751 ; previously, from January 1st, the
whole amount was 26,677,877 bushels, of the value,
in toio, of $7,858,511.
Look at the amount of grain, and then look at
its value ; and these are but two staples out of
four or five great ones. Rye, oats and flour we
have not quoted at all. Up to October, 25, 1862,
grain to the amount of 30,862,358 bushels, of an
aggregate value of $16,613,896, passed through
one poi-t of the great grain-growing countries of
the West.
In connection with these figures, examiwe the
quantity produced in Iowa, as compiled from a
journal published in that State. The yield of
wheat is estimated at 20,000,000 bushels this year ;
being 1,750,000 bushels more than the crop of
1861. There have been 1,325,000 acres of corn
cultivated this year, which will yield 76,250,000
bushels, or an excess over the crop of last vear of
16,000,000 bushels. Oats will reach 10,000,000
bushels ; hay, 1,000,000 tons ; sorghum syrup,
3,000,000 gallons ; and potatoes double last year's
q\]antity. What arc the fables of the valleys of
diamonds and mines of rubies and gems, compared
wich such solid and substantial wealth as this ? —
Scientijic American.
A CfUK Foil Wakt.s. — Apply nitric acid (aqua-
fortis) to the centre of the wart, till it begins to
become painful ; then rub it over with sweet oil
or any other, and in two or three days the wart
will come ofl".
Another. — Dissolve as much common washing
.soda in a tablespoonful of water as the water will
take up ; wash the warts with this for a minute
or two, and let them dry without wiping. This,
repeated, is said to destroy the ugliest warts in a
short time.
For tfie New England Farmer.
PUNCTUALITY.
I noticed in the Farmer of Nov. 1 an article
from "vSarah," entitled "Being in Season." The
beneficial results of promptness cannot be ques-
tioned. But 1 do question whether a farmer's
wife can be so strictly and unwaveringly punctual
as Sarah recommends. Many a wife has "tried
it ;" indeed, nearly every young wife commences
housekeeping very systematically, but soon finds,
to her sorrow, that "rules will not work." Could
she be suppfied with all the assistance which she
needs, but which so few young farmers can afford,
— and could she also receive the sympathy and
co-operation of her husband, I have no doubt
there could be perfect success. But the fact is,
men, as a class, do not believe in punctuality ; at
least, they do not show their faith by their works.
Suppose that twelve is your appointed dinner
hour. After a morning of unceasing toil, perhaps
with a fretful, teething baby in your arms, the nice
dinner which is to go so far toward keeping the
love of your husband, is all prepared just as the
bell i-ings for noon. You smooth out the wrinkles
of care and weariness from your face, the "pleas-
ant smile and kiss of welcome" are all ready, but
the "lord" comes not. Five minutes pass, — ten,
— the steam from the roast meat and potatoes
grows thin and vanishing, — fifteen, and potatoes
and pudding are placed in the oven "to keep
warm," while you snatch a book or paper to fill up
the spare moments. Half an hour passes, and the
wrinkles return in spite of all your efforts to "pos-
sess your soul in patience." You are glad of the
time to read or tend baby, but you cannot help
thinking how the washing or ironing, which was
left unfinished, might have progressed in that half
hour, and how the afternoon which you depended
upon for sewing must be shortened and broken.
No. "Better" 7iot "wait fifteen minutes yourself,
than cause your husband to wait five." Why isn't
a woman's time as valuable as a man's ? Why
must she be the soul of punctuality, or be met by
her husband "on his pinnacle of sternness," while
he waits without reproof to finish just that bit of
work before he leaves it, or to talk over the last
war news with the neighbor who is passing?
Will it do to excuse yourself to morning callers ?
You have no girl, and answer the ring of the door
bell yourself. You meet a friend who has few
family cares herself, and does not know or realize
yours. You really value her friendship, and a
half hour's chat with her would do your soul good.
Now, will you inform her that she interferes with
your domestic arrangements, that husband expects
his dinner at twelve o'clock precisely, and will
take no excuse if it is delayed, and therefore she
will oblige you by going her way? How many
friends would you have? And how comfortable
would you feel ? "Invite them into the kitchen."
I, for one, do not want my visitors in the kitchen.
They are in the way there. Just so surely as I
continue my baking or ironing before the criticis-
ing eyes of a caller, the dough adheres provokingly
to the moulding board, and the iron to the shirt-
bosom, until I am M'orried into a fever heat, and
seek relief by inviting my visitor to her proper
station, the parlor. In my humble opinion, the
man who will take no excuse for an occasional late
1 meal, and who will not patiently and cheerfully
1863.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
19
■svait for his wife as often as he causes her to wait
for him, ought to be excluded from the ranks of
civilized society. He is a tyrant ! Let the gen-
tlemen take a few lessons in punctuality (and also
in patience) and I have not the slightest doubt
that their wives will "be in season." Margie.
Remarks. — Capital,
sides to the question.
There are evidently two
AUTUMN.
Autumn 1 Forth from glowing orchards stepp'd he gaily in a
gown
Of warm russet freaked with gold, and with a visage sunny-
brown ;
On his hc;id a rural chaplet, wreathed with heavily drooping
stapes.
And broad shiidow-casting vine leaves like the Bacchanalian
shapes.
Fruits and berries rolled before him from the year's exhausted
horn ;
Jets of wine went spinning upwards, and he held a sheaf of corn ;
And he laughed for very joy, and he danced from too much
pleasure.
And he sang old songs of harvest, and he quaffed a mighty
measure.
But above this wild delight an overmasteriug gravene?3 rose.
And the fields and trees seemed thoughtful in their absolute re-
pose ;
And I saw the woods consuming in a many-colored death —
Streaks of yellow flame down-deepening through the green that
lingereth.
Sanguine flashes, like a sunset, and austerely shadowing brown ;
And I heard, within the silence, the nuts sharply rattling down:
And I saw the long dark hedges all alifiht with scarlet fire,
Where the berries, pulpy-ripe, had spread their bird-feasts on
the briar.
I beheld the southern vineyards, and the hop grounds of our
land.
Sending gusts of fragrance outwards nearly to the salt sea
strand ;
Saw the windy moors rejoicing in their tapestry of fern.
And the stately weeds and rushes that to dusty dryness turn.
WINTER.
In a foggy cloud obscurely, entered Winter, ashy pale.
And his step was hard and heavy, and he wor« an icy mail :
Blasting all the path before him, leapt a black wind from the
north.
And from stingmg drifts of sleet he forged the arrows of his
wrath.
Vet some beauty still was found, for when the fog had passed
away.
The wide lands came glittering forward in a fresh and strange
array ;
Naked trees ha4 got snow foliage, soft, and feathery, and bright.
And the earth looked dress'd for heaven in Its spiritual white.
Black and cold as iron armor lay the frozen lakes and streams ;
Round about the fenny plashes shone the long and pointed
gleams
Of the tall reeds, iceincrustcd ; the old hollies jewel-spread
Warmed the white marmoreal cUiUness with an ardency of red.
Upon desolate morasses stow! the heron like a ghost ;
Beneath the gliding shadows of the wild fowls' noisy host ;
And the bittern clamo-ed harshly from his ne.«t among the sedge
Where the indistinct dull moss had blurr'd the rugged water's
edge.
James S. Grenxell. — We learn through the
newspa])ers that this gentleman has been appoint-
ed by Mr. Commissioner Xewtox, to the chief
clerkship in the Agricultural department at Wash-
ington. We know Mr. Grenxell well — know
him in the social relations of life, and as connect-
ed with agriculture, theoretically and practically,
having been associated with him in the Massa-
chusetts State Board of Agriculture, ivhere there
were excellent opportunities to learn his tastes,
powers and energy in the great subject, and we
do not hesitate to say that we beheve the ap-
pointment a most judicious one. Mr. G. has
youth, health, an ardent temperament, sound
learning from books and institutions, together
with untiring energy, integrity, and miic'.i i)ersonal
acquaintance and experience on the farm — all of
which combined give him qualifications for the
position with which he has been entrusted, which
few can expect to possess. We congratulate the
Commissioner, in his wise selection, and have no
doubt but Mr. Grennell will relieve him of a vast
amount of labor which might embarrass him in the
general management of the Department.
For the JS'ew England Farmer.
THE TEAK OF FRUITS.
Probably no year in the history of this country
has produced so large a supply of fruits — particu-
larly apples and pears — as the current season of
1862. Unlike most other seacons, where a scarci-
ty in one section has been supplied by profusion
in another, the crop has been large throughout all
the Northern and Middle States. Here in Mas-
sachusetts, and particularly in the immediate
neighborhood of this metropolis, the largely in-
creased attention paid to the cultivation of fruit
trees for the last ten or fifteen years, has culmi-
nated in a supply of aj)ples and pears out of all
proportion to former years, if not, indeed, out of
all proportion to the demand. I am myself one of
the victims to this abundance ; for almost every-
thing I have in the shape of fruit tree has this
year insisted upon bearing ; and so far from hav-
ing a market for the surplus, (having natural
scruples against wasting it,) I have exerted myself
about as much in giving it away, as I should, un-
der ordinary circumstances, in marketing double
the quantity. If such is my experience, with only
a garden of half an acre, what must be the fate of
those who count their j)ears by hundreds, and
their apples by thousands of bushels !
But let not the fruit-growers be discouraged.
The causes which have led to the extraordinarily
low prices of fruit this season are numerous, and
will not be likely to occur conjointly again. In
the first place, there is an over-production ; in the
second place, a large class of consumers have gone
to the war ; in the third place, the scarcity of
small change has interfered greatly with the retail
trade at the numerous fruit stands in ihe cities
and large towns ; and in the fourth place, though
the quality of fruit — pears in particular — has been
unusually fair to the eye, it has greatly lacked
that high and delicious flavor which has distin-
guished it in less productive reasons. Tliis la.->t
peculiarity has been a subject of general remark,
and I attribute it not to the over-production, but
to the excessive moisture of the season, which has
caused the fruit to grow large and fair, but de-
prived it of the better qualities of richness and fla-
vor. Some few varieties indeed there arc, which
seem not to have been afl'ected in this way ; but
out of some fifty varieties which I have tasted this
season, not more than half a dozen have come up
to the usual standard of excellence. The Rostie-
20
XEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
Jax.
zer was the only early pear which answered to its
established reputation, though I have a pear near-
ly as earlv, which I purchased at some auction
under the 'label of Sou\Tain d'Ete, (Sovereign of
Summer.) which I have not found in any other
collection, and has made with me a very high rep-
utation. Then there is the Langelier. the SieuUe.
the Suzette de Bevay, and another for which I
have '-no name :" they are all that came up to
the standard of what I consider pears ought to be.
My own experience in this matter, I find, has been
more or less that of other and larger fruit-growers,
and I think I cannot be mistaken in attributing it
to the cause before named. Fruit-growing upon
cl.ivev soils has been most injuriously affected in
this wav ; but even upon sandy or gravelly soils
this peculiarity has been marked. Indeed, I think
for the last four or five yeais, the quality of pears
has been injuriously affected by the moisture of
the weather before and at the time of ripening.
Of course, after such a season of plentv^ in the
fruit culture, we must expect the next to be one of
scarcity ; and so far as my observation extends,
very few fruit buds have formed for next year's
development. This remark does not apply to the
cherrv ; for the crop rf that fruit having been to a
great extent cut off the present season by the
damage to the fruit spurs, occasioned by the se-
vere frosts of the spring before, they are now
showing a profusion of fruit buds beyond any-
thing I ever witnessed. Of grapes and quinces
we cannot judge, as their fruit-buds are formed
upon the new wood of the same season ; but it is
reasonable to suppose that, the crop ha%-ing been
large this j'ear, they have exhausted something of
the fruit-bearing energy, which will tell upon the
fruit crop of the next. The currant bushes also
appear to have exhausted themselves somewhat
by their late exuberant crop, and their promise
for the next season is light. We have only to
"wait and see." E. c. P.
Somerville, Mass., Nov., 1862.
these circumstances, apples are selling at a rate
that affords the farmer a profit equal to an aver-
age realized on his other crops. The present
causes of low price cannot long exist.
THE GKAPE CURE.
Remarks. — Our correspondent has given four
causes of the low price of fruit this autumn, and
they are all correct. There is another cause,
however, for the low price of fruit which has pre-
vailed— namely, the unhappy and unnatural re-
bellion of our Southern brethren. Some of the
consequences of this are the derangement of trade
extending through all the circles of business. In
former years, when fruit has been plenty, a large
amount of it has found its way to the Southern
States, in exchange for oranges, sweet potatoes,
and many other articles of traflic. It was not
shipped in large quantities by a single vessel, but
made up a portion of the freight of numerous
coasters that were constantly plying between the
New England ports and those of nearly all the
South. Autumn pears, even, could be sent in
some of the swift steamers to many of the South-
em ports, all of which made a demand which has
not existed this year. In consequence of the gen-
eral derangement in business, we have reason to
believe that the shipment of apples to Liverpool
has been less than usual this year. Still, under
The grape cure lasts for from three to six weeks.
The regular season commences, on an average,
about the middle or the first week in September,
and lasts to nearly the end of October. Every-
thing depends on the state of ripeness of the
grapes. The amount of grapes daily taken by per-
sons undergoing the cure, varies from about four
and a half to seven or eight pounds : in some
cases even as much as nine pounds is eaten. They
are taken three times a day, at the same hours at
which mineral waters are usually drank in Germa-
ny— before breakfast, at eleven o'clock in the
morning, or two hours before dinner, and at from
five to six in the evening. Persons generally com-
mence the cure with from two to three pounds a
day, and advance daily in quantity till the larger
limit is reached. The skins and the seeds should
not be swallowed. The largest portion is usually
consumed at eleven o'clock.
Some doctors do not allow their patients to take
any other breakfast than the grapes, accompanied
by a roll of bread. The usual plan, however, is
to permit them to take a breakfast of tea or coffee
with bread, but no butter, after the grapes, A
strict diet is universally prescribed : all fat, sour
or spiced meats and pastiy are forbidden ; a small
quantity of white light wines is pennitted, but red
wines, beer and milk must be avoided. The eve-
ning meal should be a very light one. The system
, pursued at Durkheim is the same as the one fol-
■ towed at the other places where the grape cure
, goes on ; and the grapes which are used in the
'. cure both at Vevay and Montreux, are, as at
^ Durkheim, for the most part, the Gutedal and the
Austrian varieties.
The disease in which the grape cure is consid-
ered by the German doctors to be the most bene-
ficial is in affections of the mucous membrane of
the respiratory organs. The secretive powers of
this membrane are roused, and it is enabled to
throw off obstructions which have assumed a
chronic form. Cases of bronchitis and pneumonia
are said to have been often cured, even in patients
\ of a scrofulous constitution ; and much benefit is
said to have been experienced by persons affected
. with tubercular consumption in its earlier stages,
j Where spitting of blood has set in, much caution
must be used as to the amount of grapes taken.
' Persons affected with any of these complaints are
in the habit of coming to Durkheim yearly from
, all parts of Germany.
A well-known grape-grower in New York some
years ago put forth a theory of curing disease by
' the use of grapes, but he never carried his theory
: into practice beyond the circle of his own family.
j At Durkheim they do it on a larger scale.
! Lucky Days. — The Anglo-Saxons deemed it
: highly important that a child should be bom on a
lucky day, on which the whole tenor of his life
was supposed to depend ; for, in their opinion^
, each day had its peculiar influence upon the des-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
21
tiny of the newly-born. Thus, the first day of
tbe moon was preferred above all others, for the
arrival of the little stranger, for tbey said, "a
child bom on that day is sure to live and pros-
per." The second day was not so forttmate as the
first, as the child bom on that day '"would grow
fast but not live long." If he was bom on the
fourth day of the moon he was destined to become
a great }>olitician ; if on the tenth, a great travel-
ler ; and if on the twenty-first, a bold marauder.
But of all the days of the week on which to be
b-im, Sunday was by far the most lucky, and if it
fell on the new moon the child's prosperity was
destined to be unbounded. Friday was an un-
lucky birthday, not only because it was the cruci-
fixion of our Lord the Saviour, but because, ac-
cording to Anplo-Saxon calculation;, Adam ate
the forbidden fruit on Friday, and was also ex-
pelled from Paradise and died and descended into
hell on that day. — Thrupp's Anglo-Saxon Home^
POTATO STABCH.
It is not so generally known as it should be,
that starch made from the common potato fur-
nishes an excellent substitute for arrow-root, as a
wholesome, nutritious food for infants. It also
makes a good cheap pudding for the table, if
cocked like sago, and as it has not the medicinal
properties of arrow-root, it is much to be preferred
as an article of daily food, except for children who
are subject to diarrhoea or summer complaint.
The process of making the starch is so simple,
and the time required so short, as to put it into
the power of every one having the n^ans at hand.
Wash any quantity of potatoes perfectly dean,
and grate them into a tub half full of dean cold
water ; stir it up well ; let it settle, and then
pour off the foul water : put the grated potato
into a fine wire or coarse hair sieve ; plunge it
into another tub full of dean cold water, and
wash the starch through the meshes of the sieve
and throw the residue away ; or wash it again if
any starch remains in the pumice : let it settle
again, and repeat this process until the water
comes off dear ; scr^>e from the top any remains
of the pumice ; then take the starch out and put
it on dishes to dry, and it will be fit for use inune-
diately. 'U'hen wanted for use, thtt as much as
may be needed in cold water, and stir it into boil-
ing milk, or water, if preferred, and it requires no
further cooking.
It also makes a stiff and beautiful starch for
clearing thin muslins or laces, and is much less
troublesome to manage than thit made of wheat.
— American AgricuUurist,
Remedies for CME-BrTrsG. — I- - --—ex m-
per, there was an inquiry for the cure oi a cnb-
biting horse, and I have looked for answers, and
as yet have seen but one. and that was to buctie a
strap around the neck. I owned a crib-biter ooce,
and was told to try the strap, and the effect was
to cut the mane out, but the hone would crib
when the strap was off and almost as c^ten when
on — keeping in a stall withoot rwdk <x manger,
and taking the fix>d to the bosses in boxes at
feeding time, or soaping the parts thickly with
sot"\ sc»?.p on the spots he v==- ' — ^ "r'
fact ail parts rea'"''"'»l '
HO'W THE TRESCH. ECONOMIZE.
There are few American faaatit* who know ex-
actly the eipenwa of a year ; tfaej all know, prob-
ably, that it eoets abont ao manr bondred or thou-
sand dcJIars oa the wholes Bat ereij Eaxopeaa
I famfl J knows the expense of eretj fear, <rfcTeTy
i month, day, or hoar — the exact cost of erery din-
ner, supper or break&st, of erery monel th^ eat,
of every drop they dnnk. Every Geiman or
French hoosewife knows not only bow nnidt
the meat, potatoes and bread of any meal may
cost, bat also the water in which she' has cooked
them, and the coal or wood die has homed to
, boil the water. It is infinitdy «■»»■■«■ ng to an
' American to observe sodi a wtamffe.
In Paris there b no aqoedoct, die fimntaiiw oi
the dty belra^ to the government, and the water
is sold by barrels and paHs foil to water-earricn,
who solely families at so modi a galion. In •
boose rji five stories, there are two fewnKp* on eaA
'< floor, making ten who ascend the same ill ili i ■■ ,
i ap which aU aitides £ar bimly use moat be car-
ried. It is a rule that watCT, coal, and all faearf
anides most be taken op befcne noon, as aboot
that time the concierge deans the hall and staaa,
and they must be kept dean for calkxs in the af^
temoon. In every kitdien is a receptacle fi» wa-
ter, coQsistzng of an oblong bos, eontuning two or
more pails foU, aeeoxding to die means of the fioB-
ily, aiM their ideas of HeanKnesa. In one comer
of the box is a smaQ portkm of ponms rtoM,
which serves as a filter, nid to wlach is a aepante
' fauceL The portemr brings two kfige pails fidl of
water for three cents, and comes every monmg:.
It is, therefore, very easy to know how much tibe
water costs in which the dinner is boakd.
In the same kitchen » a box for coal, wbidi
contains the quantity for wfaidi they pay Ibr^
cents, and they know exactly bow many meals eaa
be cooked with tius quantity. If they have guests
to dinner, they ose an extra quantity of water and
coal, and know how many cents worth are devot-
ed to eadi guest, and then of cooise they know H.
they can a^rd to invite anybody ^ain !
They know exactly how mnch of every aiticie
is used every day. The streets of Pans are ned
with small grocefies, where everything is puirbawd
by the cent's worth, and are certainly rezy eoB-
venient for people who earn only a few cents per
day. K a femfly comes into the ne^b(»hood who
does not patronize these small diop-keepeis, it is
considered a great injustice, and we have known
them to commence a regular puseuUioB of saeii
a family, annoyii^ them in every possQite w^.
Toey keep coffee, baznt and gnxmd, sogar, pow-
dered and in ImBps, tobacco, Jiqiaars, and ereij
hoooebold aiticie in infinitely amdi qoantities.
The momiii^ meal in every French Cuotiy is
Ivead and coffee, what they call ea/« «■ Ini^ aad
is made of equal portioBS of cofiee and dnckatr
placed in a b%giii,apoow)acfa bat water is poared
SO long as it runs uuougfa black. Of tins they
take two qwoofids to a faalf^puit of boifing miSk.
Three or five cents' worth of coffee is pardaaed
everv dav, and the milkman and baker of ooone
come everv mom in.?.
The aeoood meal is at noon, thoqg^ it b called
break&at, and bmoelya hmcheon, cold, or the
remmtnts of yesterday's dinner. For these two,
no doth b put npoo the table, and aQ eeiemoay
22
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
The dinner is at six, and consists of meat and
one vegetable, and something as a salad. _ I have
seen a piece of meat, cooked without onions and
garlic, and swimming in gravy. The salad is
dressed with oil and vinegar, the rule being a
spoonful of \-inegar to three of oil, with pepper,
salt and mustard, and also a little onion and gar-
lic. The conmienceraent of dinner is, of course,
soup, as this is invaluable in every continental
familv. There are also soup shops, where a pint
or a quart can be purchased every day, between
four and six. But as often as once or twice a
week, they have a boiled dinner, what they call
pot ail feu. In America the liquor in which meat
and vegetables are boiled for such a dinner, is
thrown away. It must certainly contain the best
juice of the meat, and be very good and nourish-
ing. In Europe it is every drop saved and eaten.
They fill an earthern pot with meat and vegeta-
bles, never omitting the onions, and let it boil
away one-half. For the soup, they season it with
pepper, and sometimes with sorrel, parsley, and
other herbs and spices, and thicken it with ver-
micelli or crumbs of bread. Whether it is deli-
cious or not, it certainly seems too good to throw
away. American housewives, who may be obliged
to practice economy, can at least try it. Children
may be taught to like it, and must not be told it
is an institution of economy merely.
The dessert is almost invariably bread and
cheese in ^vinter, with a little comfiture. I do not
mean to say that every family lives in this way,
but I have been in many, and seen little difference.
One is expected to take a bit of cheese about an
inch square, and a tea-spoonful of comfiture. The
little shop windows are also lined with jars of pre-
serves, which are sold in quantities of two or three
cents' worth, like anything else.
Cheese in the same way, a bit a few inches
for dinner. The pepper and salt are no exceptions
to the three cent rule, little three-cornered papers
being the only receptacles for them. Cinnamon,
cloves, nutmeg and similar spices have no location
in a continental family, where they never make a
pudding or pie, or cake of any description, and
where they would consider it the greatest extrava-
gance to eat such things. We are talking of fam-
ilies who have a regular income of $600 or $800,
$1000 or $1,500 a year. Such a femily does not
allow the whole expense of the table to be more
than $8 or $10 a month each person, and we know
those who limit it to $5 or $6, and yet who live
very comfortably. — Cot: N. Y. Com. Adv.
What is done with Herring. — The editor
of the Calais (Me.) Herald, in noticing the large
"catch" of herring this season, saj's : "Owing to
the low ])rice of smoked herring, converting them
into oil is just now a more profitable business,
Three hogsheads of fish make a barrel of oil,
which is worth about $17. In some of the weirs
100 hogsheads are caught at a time. A boat load
constitutes from five to ten hogsheads. They are
salted before being boiled ; the salting occupies
about twenty-four hours, after which the fish are
put into kettles which hold about 70 gallons each,
and placed over the furnace, the boiling process
usually occupying one hour. Fourteen hundi-ed
gallons of fish can thus be disposed of in a day in
one establishment. This would make forty gal-
lons of oil. The pressing process occupies but
a short time and the oil is immediately fit for use.
At present the oil commands a high price, mak-
ing it much more profitable thus to dispose of the
fish than to sell the smoked herring at 35 cents a
box."
OLD EAGIiES AWD THEIK NESTS.
The Girard (Pa.) Union gives the following in-
tersting account of a couple of old eagles, their
troubles and their constancy. It says : Sixty
years ago, when the township was first settled, a
pair of eagles, the white-headed or bald species,
had a nest in a tall tree on the farm of Mr. Kel-
ley. They were not disturbed, and for twenty
years they occupied the nest, annually rearing and
sending forth a brood of eagles, when a violent
storm overturned the tree, and of course destroyed
their habitation. They then rebuilt their airy
house on a lofty and inaccessible sycamore, on the
farm of Richard Pettibone, adjoining Mr. Ivel-
ley's, and enjoyed perfect happiness for forty
years longer, raising to eaglehood two or three
chicks yearly. A few weeks ago, a high wind
wrenched off a limb containing the nest, and threw
it on the ground with such energy that it was torn
to atoms, and a very young, and very bald eagle
killed. The nest was very large, being made of
about ten bushels of sticks and leaves. This aged
and persevering couple are now making a third
nest on another sycamore near the one lately de-
stroyed. How old these birds are, is not known,
but that they are the same pair found there by the
earliest settlers, there is no doubt. They are so
long familiar with the presence of men, that they
can be approached within a few feet ; and their
great age, constancy and friendliness, have given
them the respect of the neighbors, who would turn
out and mob the unlucky sport Avho should at-
tempt to shoot or despoil this royal family.
HOME AFTER BUSINESS HOURS.
The road along which the man of business trav-
els in pursuit of competence or wealth, is not a
macadamized one, nor does it oi'dinarily lead
through pleasant scenes and by well-springs of
delight. On the contrary, it is a rough and rug-
ged path, beset with "wait-a-bit" thorns, and
full of pitfalls, which can only be avoided by the
watchful care of circumspection. After every
day's journey over this worse than rough turnpike
road, the wayforer needs something more than
rest ; he requires solace ; and he deserves it. He
is weary of the dull prose of life, and athirst for
the poetry. Happy is the business man who can
find that solace and that poetry at home. Warm
greetmgs from loving hearts, fond glances from
bright eyes, the welcome shouts of children, the
many thousand little arrangements that silently
tell of thoughtful and expectant love, the gentle
ministrations that disencumber us into an old and
easy seat before we are aware of it ; these and
like tokens of aflPection and sympathy constitute
the poetry which reconciles us to the prose of life.
Think of this, ye wives and daughters of business
men ! Think of the toils, the anxieties, trie mor-
tifications and wear that fathers undergo, to se-
cure for you comfortable homes ; and compensate
them for their trials by making them happy by
then- own fireside. — Exchange.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
23
For the New England Fanner, i
KETROSPECTIVE NOTES. j
Agriculture in Common Schools. — In the
November issue of this journal, we have as many
as five communications upon this single topic, as ]
may be seen by consulting the contents. It may ;
be reasonably inferred from this unusually large
number of articles upon one subject, in one single
issue of the Farmer (Monthly,) that there is a ,
very general interest felt in the settlement of the
questions which have been raised in connection
wuth this topic. The fact that a considerable num-
ber of minds are having their attention directed :
towards such subjects as the best practicable em- 1
plojanent of the time our children usually pass in ,
school ; the best adjustment of their studies ; the [
elevation of the business of farming from a
thought-shunning following of tradition and rou- '
tine, to a system of operations continually under-
going investigation and im])rovements ; the eleva-
tion of farmers as a class from clod-fated drudges, j
who can give no reason for doing as they do ex-
cept that their fathers or their neighbors have al- 1
■ways done so, up to the rank of Men of Mind, \
who direct all their operations by the lights de- j
rived from science and experience, and who can
always give most satisfactory reasons for every
item of their management ; — the fact, we repeat,
that a gi'eat many minds among the readers of the
N. E. Farmer are directing their attention to the '
subjects above-named, and to others of a similar
nature, and are beginning to inquire what they
can do for their sons by giving them good oppor- '
tunities for acquainting themselves with every de-
partment of knowledge from which light may be '
gathered to guide, and improve the multifarious
operations of the farm, is a fact of most cheering
omen, and one that must be gratifying to the |
heart of every one who is made cognizant of it, if :
possessed in any fair degree of a patriotic or phil- 1
authropic, or reformatory and progress-loving I
spirit. j
From this we may justly augur many beneficial j
results. As one of these results we may ex])ect ■
that the conviction will become established in a '
great man}' minds that the business of farming !
can be elucidated and improved by contributions
from a knowledge of geology, chemistry, botany,
animal and vegetable physiology, natural and me- !
chanical philosophy, meteorology, and other phys-
ical sciences, and that the most efficient method
of securing aid from all these sciences is to make
the minds of our youth acquainted with their 1
rudiments and more practical truths, while yet
these minds are fresh and docile, and eagoj-ly in ;
quest of information as to the facts and phenomena |
of nature, and of explanations of these facts and
phenomena. This conviction once firmly estab-
lished in the minds of parents will lead to benefi-
cial changes in the education of the rising genera-
tion, and, through these changes, to an improved
condition of farmers and of farming, as also of all
the other business and employments of human
life.
Considerations such as the above lead us to
hope that the best minds in New England, and in '
other districts of our country visited by the N. E. j
Farmer, Avill become interested in the discussions
just inaugurated as to school education, studies,
and employments, and rs to the best methods of j
preparing the young, who are likely to become the
agriculturists of the next generation, for becoming
a more intelligent, a more efficient, a Ijetter in-
formed, and a more respected and influential class
in society, than their fathers or any who have pre-
ceded them.
In looking back over the several communica-
tions which have so far appeared in the columns
of the Farmer, a discriminating observer would
probably perceive that the remarks which have
been made were rather than otherwise such as
might be appropriate enough if addressed to an
assembly of school officers or of a legislature
gathered together to determine by legislative au-
thority Avhether or no agriculture might be intro-
duced into the schools of their State, or those un-
der their jurisdiction. Now as no such assembly
for such a purpose is ever likely to be convened,
it seems that for the future the remarks of those
who feel interested in agriculture and school
studies would assume a form at once more practi-
cally useful, and more to the point, if they were
directed towai'ds the determination of a specific
case, such as may really occur in connection with
the general topic.
It would be exceedingly interesting to the writer,
and doubtless to many othei::, to be informed as
to the particulars of any case which has actually
occurred, in which there was opposition ofi"ered to
the introduction of this study into any common
school. Meanwhile, until we shall have the de-
tails as to the actual introduction of agriculture as
a study in some existing school, or the details as
to an attempt to introduce it, with the success or
failure of such attempt, we would suggest as a
case most likely to occur, and as one. to which
writers might usefully direct their remarks, one
substantially as follows : In a district of the State
of , some resident of the same, having one
: or two boys old enough to help him on the farm,
I and intending to fit them for farmers, thinks they
I might study some agricultural text-book or other
j manual with more interest at school, in company
j with some other boys of their own age, than they
■ would be likely to do solitary and alone at home.
' He, therefore, goes to some other farmers, as also
! perhaps to a farmer's widow, having boys from
fourteen to eighteen years of age, and makes
known his plan. They like it, and agree to join
! him. He then goes to the teacher to ascertain his
mind as to the matter, and finding him acquainted
with farm operations and farm literature, being a
farmer's son, and perfectly willing to take charge
I of a class in agriculture, he calls a meeting of the
district to allow him the opportunity of hearing
; objections, if any, and of answering them, or, in a
I word, of vindicating and defending the innovation
; he ])roposes to introduce. Now, here is a case
such as seems the most likely to occur of any case
that we can think of; and now, if those who may
write on this subject would make their remarks
applicable to such a case as this, it seems that they
would be more practically useful, and more to the
point, than if of a more general nature, or having
no specific case of actual or probable occurrence
in view. Let those who may feel disposed to ob-
ject to the introduction of agriculture as a study
in schools, write out the objections they would
make to the plan of those who favored it in the
case we have just sketched, or any similar one,
and they may find that what they supposed of
24
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
great weight and validity when stated generally, is
but of little force or weight when sought to be
made applicable to a specific case, actual or quite
likely to occur.
The objections which have been advanced with
80 much confidence and complacency by a gentle-
man who has had thirty years of "pedagogical
drill,'' will be found to vanish into thin air, and to
be void and of no force whatever in such a case as
we have just sketched. For example, take his
first objection, and it is obvious that the attention
of the boys composing the class in agriculture
would not be diverted from any studies more use-
ful, for thoy would probably have finished at their
ages, fourteen to eighteen, all the studies named
by the objector as the only proper school studies ;
and if not, eleven-twelfths of each school-day
might be devoted to Avhatever other studies might
be desirable, as their recitation in agriculture need
not occu])y more than half an hour, and seldom as
much, any day of the term. Then again, his next
objection as to the incompetency of teachers is, in
this case, as it would be in a majority of cases,
utterly invalid and inapplicable. And his last ob-
jection as to want of intelligence and want of time
does not apply at all to the case supposed, as the
boys have already mastered all the usual school
studies, and are devoting their last winter's attend-
ance at school, perhaps, to the study, with their
mates, of the facts and principles of chemistry and
other natural sciences which serve to explain or
elucidate the operations to which they intend to
devote their lives.
Should this article come under the eye of any
teacher who may be requested to take charge of a
class in agriculture, we would suggest to him that
in addition to recitations from a text-book, he
would give interest to his instructions if he would
go over all the principal operations of a farm in
regular order, and explain the reasons for the
more common pi'actices or methods adopted.
Moke Anon.
P. S. — The time at my command has compelled
me to write with less fullness than seemed desira-
ble, not only on the present occasion, but on sev-
eral others, as, for example, in my first notice of
Mr. White's article on Mental Culture. On
looking over what I have written above, I have felt
that my eff'ort to make future discussion as to
school studies and agriculture as a school study
more pointed, practical and profitable, might be
more sure to accomplish the object, if the ques-
tions or points at issue were more plainly stated
than they are in the case which we have sketched
as one quite likely to happen. Let it be observed,
then, that the questions of the greatest importance
in such a case would be these two :
1. Would it be wise, proper, expedient or other-
wise, if certain of the parents in any school district
should desire and request that their sons, after
completing the usual course of school studies,
should unite as a class and recite in agriculture ?
Would not such a study be more useful than that
of algebra or astronomy, or geometry or rhetoric,
or some others attended to by the more advanced
pupils ? Is there any good reason Avhy such a de-
sire should not be entertained, or such a request
be made ?
The above questions are for the parents them-
selves to determine. Having determined that a
class in agriculture might be proper and profitable,
and having found a qualified teacher, the proposed
innovation would bring up this question, for the
school officers or the whole of the patrons to de-
termine, viz. :
2. Is there any good reason why the proposal of
a class in agriculture should be objected to or op-
posed by any portion of that school district?
Why should not half an hour be occupied with
agriculture as well as with algebra ?
THE EYE OP THE CRAB.
A creature that depends upon its own exertions
to capture the active prey upon which it feeds,
must necessarily be furnished with powerful eyes,
which are capable of extending the faculty of vis-
ion over a very large field. These eyes are seen
on the front margin of the crab, placed on foot-
stalks, and having a peculiar nacreous lustre on
their grey-brown surfaces. On examination with
a good pocket lens, the eyes are seen to be com-
pound, i. e., formed of a great number of facets,
each possessing the power of vision, and all com-
municating with their common optic nerve. The
delicate raised lines caused by the serried ranks
of these compound eyes are the origin of the pe-
culiar lustre just mentioned. It will be seen, too,
that the visual portion of these organs passes par-
tially round the footstalks, so that when the crea-
ture pi'otrudes its eyes, it can see objects on all
sides with equal ease. Now, replace the crab in
the water, and watch it as it exhibits the instinct
which has been implanted in its being by its Mak-
er. Advancing with the flowing tide, and ever
remaining within a foot or two of the edge, the
crab keeps its eager watch for food, and suffers
few living things to pass without capturing them.
The whole nature of the animal seems to be
changed while it is seeking its prey. The timid,
fearful demeanor which it assumes when taken at
a disadvantage wholly vanishes, and the appar-
ently ungainly crab become^ full of life and spirit,
active and fierce as the hungry leopard, and no
less destructive among the smaller beings that
frequent the same locality. — Once a Week.
Little Hungry Minds. — If there is one les-
son we would impress upon parents, it is this :
Don't stifle your children's desire at proper times
to ask questions. This involuntary self-educating
process of the child's is of more importance to its
future than many parents are aware of. It some-
times, nay, often, costs an eff'ort to break up a
train of thoughts in which you may be interestedly
occupied, but it will pay. Like the sticks and
straws which the winged "bird bears long distances
in its bill to construct its nest, these tender twigs
of information may be worked into a structure
which will afford comfort and protection from
many a life-storm, a safe retreat for quiet reflection
when the spirit of evil is prowling about for care-
less sti-agglers, who are beating the air because
there is nothing else left for them to do. Don't
turn your child away with a lazy, fibbing, ab-
stracted "I don't know." Rouse yourself, and
give him food for thought in your answer, or that
spirit of evil may take posses^ii"", of the r.uvtment
which you are ti^ '
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
25
For the New England Farmer.
NORTH FRANKLIN (Me.) AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY'S SHOW AND FAIR, 1862.
Mr. Editor : — Perhaps some may think that
the shows and fairs of a society out of your State
do not come within the cu'cle of those to be no-
ticed by you, but as your organ — the Farmer —
claims to belong to New England, so here is a
general notice of our society, in short ; but first, a
fevf words on sundry agricultural topics.
There are croakers and growlers all around who
do not take any active part in agricultural socie-
ties, do not try to aid and encourage those who
do, but cry out against them, saying they will all
run down ; and in every way, almost, try to dis-
courage the farmer's festivals, by the cry of wasted
and wasteful appropriations, yet are ready to draw
a few dollars out of the treasury, when opportuni-
ty occurs, so freely thrown out.
On account of the inconvenience of driving
stock twenty to forty miles to the Franklin Soci-
ety, ten years ago a wing was dipt off, and the
North Franklin Society was formed, to be held,
alternately, at Phillips and Strong. At the or-
ganization there were but one hundred and fifty-
seven members ; but little of the improved stock
of all kinds, and but little desire for, or apprecia-
tion of, any particular kind. Oxen at maturity,
girding six feet, six inches, were considered more
than an average. Sheep shearing two and a half
to three pounds were satisfactory, whether it was
wool or hair.
But the influence of this society, and others, has
been such that, right in the midst of this terrible
war, we have had one of the best shows yet. It
has been a continual improvement from the first,
except when the weather has been unfavorable,
and then the signs of improvement could be seen.
Now, oxen, to be good ones, must be well mat-
ed, kind, smooth, handsome and plump ; seven
feet at four j-ears old ; and sheep to be called a
good flock, must average over four pounds, lambs
and all, of good, fine, well washed wool, while
some are set down at seven pounds ])er head right
through the flock. Said an extensive wool buyer
to me, the average of the fleeces are more than a
pound more than ten years ago, and he had
bought for over twenty years in the same towns.
Mr. A exhibits a fine calf, cow, bull, oxen,
sheep or buck with his half-dozen lambs, which
every one wants to buy, and Mr. B sees that all
are going to look at Mr. A's, and the committee
award the society's first premium with a thank you
for introducing such valuable blood stock into the
limits of the society, and he goes and procures
some kind of valuable stock, and in return re-
ceives his thanks.
The good things growing out of agricultural so-
cieties, where peace and unity prevail, are so rap-
idly multiplying in my mind's eye that this notice
must be at once brought to a close, lest an enu-
meration of some of them should be attempted.
O. W. True.
Elm Tree Farm, Franklin County, Me.
season. With their wool, constantly soaked, and
frequently fi-ozen, it is impossible for them to
thrive, no matter how well they are fed. Warm
shelter will save a vast amount of food. Stuck
well protected from the storms and cold does not
demand near the amount of food that it would, if
exposed. Life is from heat, and just in the meas-
ure that warmth is withheld, just in that measure
is life stagnated, and when it is entirely absent,
death supervenes. But not only do sheep need
shelter, but they demand good shelter. It must
not be close or damp — it must be airy. In this
climate, we believe that sheds for sheep would be
best, and on high ground, and without having the
sides enclosed at all, or if any, only on the most
exposed side. — Oregon Farmer.
Farm Buildings and Fences.— If any of our
stock need shelter during the winter season, it is
our sheep. It is almost a crime to withhold from
them a good ample shelter during our inclement
ESTIMATING THE CAPACITY OF BARNS.
Very few farmers are aware of the precise
amount of shelter needed for their crops, but lay
their plans of outbuildings from vague conjecture
or guessing. As a consequence, much of their
produce has to be stacked outside, after their
buildings have been completed ; and if additions
are made, they must be put up at the expense of
convenient arrangement. A brief example will
show how the capacity of the bam may be adapted
to the size of the farm.
Suppose, for example, that the farm contains
100 acres, of which 90 are good arable land, and
that one-third each are devoted to meadow, pas-
ture and grain. Ten acres of the latter may be
corn, stored in a separate building. The meadow
should aff'ord two tons, per acre, and yield 60 tons ;
the sown grain, 20 acres, may yield a correspond-
ing bulk of straw, of 40 tons. The barn should, .
therefore, besides other matters, have a capacity
for 100 tons or over one ton per acre as average.
Allowing 500 cubic feet for each ton, (perhaps 600
would be nearer,) it would require a bay or mow
40 feet long and 19 wide for a ton and a half to
each foot of depth. If 20 feet high, it would hold
about 30 tons. If the barn were 40 feet wide with
10 feet p'fsts, and 8 feet of basement, about 45
tons could be stowed away in a bay reaching from
basement to peak. Two such bays, or equivalent
space, would be required for the products of 90
well cultivated acres. Such a building is much
larger than it usually allowed ; and yet, without it,
there must be a large waste, as every farmer is
aware who stacks his hay out ; or a large expen-
diture of labor in pitching and repitching sheaves
of grain in threshing.
In addition to this, as we have already seen,
there should be ample room for the shelter of do-
mestic animals. In estimating the space required,
including feeding alleys, ike, a horse should have
75 square feet ; a cow 45 feet ; and sheep aljout
ten square feet each. The basement of a barn,
therefore, 40 by 75 feet in the clear, will stable ."iO
cattle and 150 sheep, and a row of stalls across
one end will aff'ord room for eight horses. The
30 acres each of pasture and meadow, and the 10
acres of corn fodder already spoken of, with a por-
tion of grain and roots, would probably keep about
this number of animals, and consequently a barn
with a basement of less size than 40 by 73 feet
would be insufficient for the accommodation of
such a farm in the highest state of cultivation.
26
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
TILLING OHCHARDS.
The question is often asked, "Ought orchards
to be tilled ?" Our reply is, Yes. The principal
objection, we believe, is, that no crop will remun-
erate the cost of cultivation, and that the time and
capital expended upon it is nearly a dead loss.
Corn, and even potatoes, which require sunshine
and a free circulation of air, generally fail in pro-
ductiveness when planted in orchards, and as they
are strong feeders, have rather an exhausting ef-
fect upon the trees ; but there is no doubt that
the loosening and stirring of the soil is a great ad-
vantage, as it lets in the dews and rains, and tends
to augment the supply of nutrimental matter con-
tained in the soil.
Some persons have recommended cultivating
orchards in peas, oats, turnips, cabbages, beets,
&c., and in many cases wTiich have fallen under
our observation, these crops have succeeded well.
The primary object, however, is to impart new
energy to the trees. All the farmer realizes from
his crops in this case, should be set down as clear
gain — as a recompense for the labor bestowed
upon the soil for the benefit of his trees.
Allowing orchards to become swarded over with
a thick set and vigorous turf, and to remain in
this condition for years, while at the same time,
perhaps, the tops are neglected, is a most effectual
mode of ruining them. No grass should be al-
lowed to grow for any considerable length of time,
around the trunk of any tree, fruit or ornamental,
if health, fruitfulness and a good development
are desirable.
Where trees have not been liberally manured,
it would be about as good policy to sow grass seed
in the corn field as in the orchard. But vthere
manure has been liberally applied and the trees
have made a rapid growth of wood, but do not
fruit, laying the land to grass for two years will
check the exuberant growth of wood, and bring
the trees into bearing. At the end of two years,
a shallow plowing, and the land again seeded with
clover, will be a profitable operation.
Lime and ashes, with a horse load of clay to
each tree, if the soil be of a light or sandy texture,
will be found an excellent top dressing for most
fruit trees.
There is danger of manuring apple orchards
too much. If green manure is applied in large
quantities, the trees will be forced into a rapid and
unnatural growth ; they become tender, the wood
is not fully ripened, the bark turns a reddish-
brown color, is separated in some places from the
wood, and in a few years the whole orchard dies
prematurely of the gout ! If apple trees make an
annual average gi-owth of ten to fifteen inches, it
is enougli. AVhen that is the case the new growth
will be thoroughly ripened, and the whole action
of the tree will be natural and healthy, and the
orchard will be established with a permanent and
prolific character.
For the first ten years, — if we are contented
with a moderate and healthful growth, — the land
may be cropt so as to pay a fair profit on all the
labor bestowed to produce it, and also on that
given to the cultivation of the trees. It should
not be devoted to the small grains, however, but
to any of the hoed crops, corn, potatoes, beans or
roots. Under this practice the cultivation of an
orchard is done at little or no cost.
For tlte New England Farmer,
THE BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND— No. 25.
SNOW BUNTINGS — SPARROWS.
Snow Buntings— Lapland Longspur — Savannah Sparrow— Bay-
winged Sparrow — Yellow-winged Sparrow.
The Snow Bunting, {Pledrophanes nivalis,
Meyer,) is a not uncommon and often familiar
winter visitant from the North, inhabiting the
whole northern part of the continent, fi-om the At-
lantic to the Pacific, and spreading far south-
ward into the United States in the snowy season.
A few stragglers are sometimes seen in this State
before the close of October, but they are not gen-
erally observed in numbers till after the fall of se-
vere snows, when small roving parties are seen
gliding over the country in search of food, flying
in close bodies, and whirling, with amazing swift-
ness, from field to field. Many remain in the
New England States throughout the winter sea-
son, visiting such places as best suit them, being
abundant and familiar in some sections, gather-
ing the crumbs about the farmer's door, while in
others they are comparatively rare, shy and dis-
trustful. In summer they are chiefly confined to
the regions near the Arctic Circle ; and being com-
mon to both continents, in winter, millions de-
scend southward over portions of Europe and
Asia, where many are killed for food by the in-
habitants.
Nuttall says, "In the dreary wastes of Green-
land, the naked Lapland Alps, and the scarcely
habitable Spitzbergen, bound with eternal ice,
they pass the season of reproduction, seeking out
the fissures of rocks on the mountains in which to
fix their nests, about the month of May or June ;"
and it is in these barren tracts, he says, that they
"waste the sweetness of their melody, unheard by
any ear but that of their mates." A few breed in
New England, their nests having been repeatedly
found among the declivities of the White Moun-
tains in New Hampshire. The food of this spe-
cies consists of seeds chiefly, and various species
of insects.
The Snow Bunting is seven inches in length,
and twelve in alar extent. In summer, the colors
of the adult are pure black and white ; in winter,
varied with black, rufous, and white.
The Lapland Longspur, (Plectrophanes
Lapponicus, Selby,) like the bird just described,
is a common inhabitant of the extreme northern
parts of both continents, in winter migrating
southward, at which season it often enters the
United States ; but it is much less common than
the Snow Bunting. It is a beautiful species, and
in habits nearly agrees with the bird above de-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARIMER.
scribed. Richardson believed many of those in-
habiting America spend the winter along the
shores of Lake Huron and Superior. "They
breed," he says, "in the moist meadows on the
shores of the Arctic Sea." The nest is placed on
a hillock of moss and stones, and composed of dry
grass interwoven to a considerable thickness, and
lined with deer's hair. The eggs, generally seven
in number, are pale ochre yellow, spotted with
brown.
Head, throat and breast, black ; lower parts,
"white ; a collar erf chestnut back of the neck ;
rest of the plumage, above, yellowish white,
streaked with dark brown. In winter, the colors
are much less pure. Size a little less than that of
the Snow Bunting,
There are four other species of Snow Bunting,
which have more western habitats, embraced in
the fauna of the United States.
The next sub-family of Baird, Spizellance, in-
cludes the greater part of our common Sparrows.
The Savannau Sparrow, {Passercvlus savan-
na, Bonaparte,) is a toleraldy common species over
a large part of eastern North America. It arrives
here early in spring, and remains till late in Oc-
tober, many passing the winter in some of the
Middle States. It is partial to the vicinity of the
sea-coast, especially in winter, but in summer is
sparingly distributed over the interior, many re-
tiring as far north as Labrador, where Audubon
found them in abundance." In the spring and
fall I have taken them in the western parts of the
State of Massachusetts, in dry, elevated situations,
but have found them most abundant in the
marshes along the sea-coast, in the latter season,
where they run rapidly along the ground, hiding
among the grass, and when flushed will 'fly but a
short distance, seeking safetj' by concealment. Its
song is low and short, but agreeable, though no-
wise noteworthy. Wilson first introduced this
species to the notice of the public, but Audubon
has given us a more complete account of its histo-
ry. He says its nest, which is formed of dry
grasses, is placed on the ground, at the foot of a
bush or rank tuft of grass ; that the eggs are four
to six in number, of a pale bluish color, slightly
mottled with purplish brown.
Length five and a half inches ; extent, eight
and a half. Upper parts streaked with blackish-
brown, rufous, and gray; beneath white, breast
and sides spotted and streaked with brown ; strips
over the eye, and shoulder of the wing, pale yel-
low.
The Bay-wixged Sparrow' or Grass Finch,
{Pocecetes gramineus, Baird,) is a verj' common
summer inhabitant of our dry fields and pastures,
arriving from the Southern States, where it spends
the winter, in April, and remains with us till late
in October. It has an agreeable song, somewhat
similar to that of the Song Sparrow, but less
clear, loud and sweet, of which it is not at all
sparing during the months of May and J une. Fre-
quenting plowed and cultivated fields, it is a com-
mon and well-known associate of the farmer
throughout his summer toils, breeding on the
ground in the pastures, mowing-lands and corn-
fields, unmolested, except by skunks and preda-
cious birds, which are a great check to its in-
crease. It is eminently worthy of being esteemed
a friend, and protected as such, being in no way
prejudicial to the interests of the farmer, but feed-
ing itself and young through the summer months
on the cut-worm and other destructive insects, sub-
sisting at other times on seeds. It raises two or
more broods in a season, laying four or five flesh-
colored eggs, which are thickly marked with
blotches of several shades of brown.
This species, commonly known as the Orass
Bird or Ground Bird by fiirmers, is six and a
quarter inches in length, and about ten in alar ex-
tent. Above, light yellowish-brown, each feather
centred with darker; beneath, yellowish-white,
breast and sides streaked with brown ; lesser wing
covert a light chestnut brown ; outer tail feathers
white. Its habitat extends from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and far to the northward.
The Yellow-avixged Sparrow, (Cotumiculus
passerinus, Bonaparte,) is an interesting and un-
obtrusive little species, and like the one last de-
scribed, is a common inhabitant of our dry fields
and pastures, and though perhaps less known, is
hardly less abundant. It seems somewhat pecu-
liar and original in its habits, and I have found it
exceedingly interesting. It arrives here about the
second week of May, from the far South, and it
seems a little remarkable that at the time Audu-
bon wrote its history, in 1835, it had never been
seen during its passage through the Southern
States, if it passes there, as it seems it must. In
the Middle and Eastern States it is generally not
uncommon. Its flight is low, short and tremulous,
performed by short, rapid strokes of the ■wings.
Its song, which is low, and almost like the feeble
chirping of an insect, is repeatedly uttered from a
fence rail, dead weed, stone, or hummock of earth,
and resembles the syllables ch' chee'e'e'e'e'^e'e,
prolonged for several seconds. What it lacks in
melody, it strives to make up in frequency and
enei'gy of repetition, and is not at all sparing of
its little ditty from the time it arrives in May till
July, saluting every passer through the fields as
soon as he appears and while he continues in
sight, drooping the wings and tail, and erecting
the feathers of the back, exerting apparently every
power for musical efiect. Particularly is this its
habit while the female is sitting.
Its nest is composed of dry grasses, and con-
cealed on the ground under a tuft of grass or briar
bush ; the eggs, four or five or number, are near-
ly white, sprinkled with ferruginous specks. Two
broods are probably raised in a season, as I have
found the young in June and eggs freshly laid in
August. The nest is not so often found as that of
some other Sparrows, though the bii'd itself be
equally numerous.
Length, five inches ; extent, eight and a quar-
ter. Above, brownish, each feather margined with
ash ; beneath yellowish white ; band of the wing
yellow, the lesser coverts yellow olive.
Cambridge, Mass., 1862. j. a. a.
Morxixg Air, — It is a common and favorite
notion with many that the morning air is the pur-
est, most bracing ; but the very opposite is the
fact. The air is more full of dampness, fog,
miasm, at about sunrise, which the sun, however,
soon dissipates. Before engaging in anything
like exercise or work in the early morning out-of-
dooi-8, it is conducive to health to take a warm
cup of coffee, if breakfast is not to be had.
28
XEW ENGLAXI) FARMER.
Jan.
For the Nfiv England Farmer.
FLAX — BARLEY — WHEAT.
Mr. Editor : — I noticed in your last Farmer an
article on the subject of Flax. In 1860 my atten-
tion was called to this subject, in reading your
paper, and in the spring of that year I sent to one
of the seed stores in Boston and procured one-
half bushel of the finest looking seeds desirable,
at the cost of about three dollars, with all expens-
es. Trusting to the good looks of the seed, I pro-
ceeded to sow it, which I did on the 4th day of
May. Whether it was in the quality of the seed,
or owing to the coldness of the weather, as the
ground was frozen a very little after that time,
not one particle of it ever came up. Should 1
ever "try again," I would not sow until the 20th
of May. I might have had two or three quarts
of seed of a neighbor, which I knew was good,
but as I was in for it, I would try a big gun at se-
cession, and so only had a flash in the pan.
The ground on which I sowed my flax was a red,
clay loam ; afterward, on the 14th day of June,
finding the seed had failed, I sowed the same land
with oats for fodder, which did well.
There seems to be no question but that flax
may be grown on light or gravelly land with the
use of plastei'. That plaster is good for potatoes
and clover on such land we know. You do not
tell us whether the flax must be pulled to get two
tons of straw per acre, or whether it may be
mown, or may be threshed in our common thresh-
ing machines, and the straw baled up like barley
straw or hay, and then, where we may readily
sell it.
The prospect of a scarcity of field help another
season may induce many to plant less and sow
more. Barley is now the crop here ; more than
two thousand bushels are raised within two miles,
while not one-quarter of that is grown of other
sown crops. Barley sold in Sept. for sixty-seven
cents, delivered at R. R. stations, (three miles or
so.) I raised this year twenty bushels of wheat,
on land which was last year in corn. Used lime
and plaster on the wheat, put the plaster on the
dryest part, and lime on the low places. Wheat
did best on the low part, which was tile drained
last year. J. W. Brown.
Kensington, N. H., Nov. 17, 1862.
Remarks. — We gave all the information we
had on the subject of flax. Will Mr. Allen,
or some other person having the facts inquired
for above, communicate them to the Farmer ?
American Pomological Society. — Those
persons who attended the annual meeting of this
society in September last, will be glad to learn
that its Transactions for the year are to be pub-
lished, and that they will contain new catalogues
qffruitsjiogethev with a list of the various States
and districts to which they are best adapted. The
society, however, is dependent upon the receipts
from members for the funds to publish its Trans-
actions, and it is important that they should be
numerous.
v^n hive a circular before us which states that
"all persons who are desirous of obtaining these
Transactions, are respectfully solicited to become
members of the society, by forwarding to Thom-
as P. James, Esq., Treasurer, Philadelphia, or to
Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, at Boston, the requi-
site fees. Ten dollars constitute a Life, and two
dollars a Biennial membership. Life members will
be furnished, as far as possible, with the back vol-
umes of the society's publications.
Persons desirous of responding will please do
so immediately, that their names may appear in
the forthcoming volume."
The society is doing an excellent work, and we
hope many persons will find it a pleasure to Eud it
in its laudable eS'orts.
BATHS AND BATHING.
A cold bath is 75° and under ; temperate, 75°
to 80°; tepid, 85° to 95°; warm, 95° to 100°; hot,
100° and over.
The temperature of the body in health is nine-
ty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. For purposes of
cleansing the skin, a hot bath is the most efiicient,
but it should be indulged in only occasionally, and
for a very few minutes at a time, as it rapidly ex-
hausts the physical powers. It opens the pores
of the skin, and increases the activity of the cir-
culation for the moment, but if followed by an in-
stantaneous cold shower-bath, an invigorating ef-
fect is produced. A hot bath excites, a warm
bath soothes and tranquilizes ; it makes the pulse
slower, and causes more equable breathing.
A vapor-bath is of steam, instead of water, and
is applied inside as well as out ; its first efiect is
a feeling of oppression, but soon perspiration is
induced, and delightful sensations ensue. To
prevent taking cold, the person should pass from
the steam-chamber into a tepid bath for a single
moment, then wipe dry briskly, dress and walk.
No kind of bath ought to be taken within an
hour before a regular meal, nor sooner than four
hours after ; sudden death has often resulted from
inattention to the latter. The best time for bath-
ing is immediately after rising in the morning, as
then there is greater power of reaction, without
which there is no invigoration, no benefit.
The sponge-bath is the application of water to
the surface of the body by means of a sponge.
When persons are feeble, one portion of the body
should undergo the process at a time, then quick-
ly wiped and dried, and covered, before another is
exposed. There are few persons indeed who would
not be greatly benefited by the following proce-
dure every morning, wdnter and summer : Wash
the hands first in a small amount of water with
soap, for if but little is used, a teacupful, it is
warmed by the hands, and thus becomes more
cleansing, without the trouble of preparing warm
water ; then rinse them well ; afterwards wash the
face in a large basin of cold water just drawn or
brought into the room, for all cold water becomes
filthy in an hour or two, if kept standing in a sit-
ting or sleeping apartment. After the face has
been washed plentifully, throw the water up to
the elbows, then a little higher at every dash with
the hand, until the arms, neck, throat, behind the
ears, arm-pits and upper portion of the chest have
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
29
been deluged with water ; next (except women
with long hail*,) wash the whole scalp abundantly,
rubbing the water into and about the roots of the
hair with the ends of the fingers ; then wipe with
a towel, absorbing as much of the dampness from
the hair as possible with an extra dry cloth, and
dress, leaving the arrangement of the hair to the
last, so as to give it an opportunity of drying
somewhat ; for if it is wringing wet, it will not
dress well, and besides will keep the head cold by
its evaporation. In dressing the hair after such a
washing of the head, the comb should be passed
through it in the gentlest manner, so as to make
no strain upon the roots, nor break any hair in
disengaging the tangles. The hair thus dressed
in the morning will remain so the whole day, or,
if not, can be easily re-dressed with the advantage
of perfect cleanliness, which cannot be said of the
filthy practice of using hair-oils. — HalVs Journal
of Health.
HO'W THE TURKS SMOKE.
The Turks undoubtedly understand how to
smoke better than any other nation. They do not
seem to be harmed by it, since they live to healthy
old age in the constant use of the weed ; but
whether harmed or not, they evidently excel all
other people in the luxury. We have already
remarked that the Turk uses a clean clay pipe.
He also uses a long wooden stem. This is the
important characteristic of the chibouk, and the
theory of the thing is this : All woody fibres in
burning are decomposed, giving off quantites of
water, or of oxygen and hydrogen which compose
water. This water passes off in steam or vapor,
having in solution the nicotine and other compo-
nent parts of the tobacco. What is commonly
called the "oil" in a pipe is ninety-nine hundredth
parts water. It cannot but be evident that this
hot water or steam, passing as it does directly
from the fire to the mouth when one smokes a
short pipe or a cigar, is uncomfortable if not un-
wholesome. A long wooden stem, three to five
feet in length, with a large bore, is therefore ad-
vantageous in this respect, ithat it permits the
smoke to rest in the tube some time before it is
taken into the mouth. It deposits its steam, and
a large part of the nicotine, in the wooden tube,
and the smoker takes into his lips a dry smoke.
The Turks clean these stems daily with strong
coffee. They prefer the wood of the jessamine or
the wild cherry to all others, although they make
pipe stems of every wood. Indeed, it is not un-
common for a luxurious Turk to send out for the
branch of a large rose bush, have his servant bore
the stem with the ever ready gimlet and string,
and then hand the pipe to his guest blooming with
fragrant roses. Jessamine and cherry stems cost
in the Turkish bazaars from one to ten and even
fifteen dollars each- It is on the stem and mouth-
piece that the expense is wasted. The amber
mouthpiece is itself costly, choice amber, milky
and delicate in color, being worth almost its
weight in gold in Oriental countries, and the
mouthpiece is ornamented with jewels, according
to the wealth of the proprietor. Thus a mouth-
piece worth ten or twenty thousand dollars may
he frequently seen, while the bowl of the pipe is
worth but a tenth of a cent. — N. Y. Journal of
Commerce. i
For the New England Parmer.
ESSEX COUNTY SHOW.
As your correspondent "Georgetown" has done
me the honor of so conspicuous a notice in your
paper of the 22d inst., it may be expected that I
should make some re])ly. I confess to have been
misled, at the first glance, by the signature to the
article. But on a re-examination, it savors so
strongly of the shore of the sea, that I am confi-
dent it never could have originated from the
heights of G. Far be it from me to under-rate
any of the advantages of this locality ; remem-
bering it as I do for many years, I am satisfied it
is not a desirable place for our Show. My only
desire is to secure such a place as will best advance
the general object of the Society. And least of
all, do I want its exhibition near "my own house,"
never having had "any axe to grind on such a
stone."
"Georgetown" will probably modify his remarks
when he learns that I made no assertions what-
ever about the Show, but only gave impressions.
My impressions of the field used for plowing were
derived from the report of the committee on sin-
gle teams, the chairman of which, (and no one
will question his competency tor judge of it,) said,
it was the worst field he ever knew used for such
a purpose. My own impressions were taken from
this remark, and what I saw standing on the grav-
elly knoll spoken of. As to the animals exhibit-
ed, or the fruits presented at the hall, I confess I
did not see either of them, nor was I present when
the report spoken of was adopted.
The Trustees of the Society have determined
to hold their show at Andover the coming season.
They saw no good reason for deferring a show.
They beheve the demand for the products of the
field and the stall are as great now as at any oth-
er time ; in fact, greater, as the number of labor-
ers are diminished, by the number of those called
away to the field of battle, all of whom have to
be fed by what is grown at home. Some have
speciously argued it was no time to cultivate the
arts of peace, when war is raging. I look upon
war as a grievous calamity, the influences of which
should not be extended beyond the narrowest pos-
sible bounds, especially the domestic strife that
now prevails, originating in the basest of purpos-
es and continued for the vilest ends. My best
hope from it is, the absolute annihilation of invol-
untary servitude, even if its abettors have to share
the same fate. P.
Essex County, Nov., 1862.
SAW-DUST FOR STABLES.
One of the papers reports Dr. Dadd as object-
ing to the use of dry saw-dust as a litter for stabled
horses, on the ground that it ahsorbs the natural
and healthy moisture from the hoof, and renders
it brittle and dry, and so leads on to cracked and
contracted feet, to corns and similar diseases. I
had supposed this "eminent veteriuaiian" too sen-
sible to hold such an opinion.
If the pores of a horse's foot were open and
coarse, say like a piece of sugar or a sponge, the
saw-dust might absorb moisture from them injuri-
ously. If I lay a sponge on my hand, it does not
take up its moisture. If I spread saw-dust on my
hand, it will absorb whatever perspu-ation or other
30
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
Jaw,
wetness there may be on the skin, but it will do
nothin<? more. So saw-dust will take up what-
ever liquid manure there may chance to be on the
floor of the stable, but it will not suck moisture
out of the horse's hoofs. In my own practice, I
have long used saw-dust to keep the horses' feet
moist, though I do not, for this purpose, use the
dust in a dry state. I spread it over the entire
floor, two inches thick, sprinkling that which is
under the fore feet with water, just enough to keep
it moist. The dust under the hind feet gets mois-
tened in other ways. By this means the hoof is
kept soft and moist, almost as much so as if the
animal were running at large in a pasture. Of the
valuable liquid manure saved in this way, I need
not now speak. — American Agriculturist.
PAPIEB MACHE.
Papier mache is not always strictly mashed pa-
per— however it may be occasionally — neither can
it be uniformly designated as a composition, es-
pecially in the production of finer ornamental ar-
ticles. When consisting of the pulp of paper,
boiled with glue or gum arabic, &c., the cheaper
articles are made from it, but the better ornamen-
tal work is made by causing sheets of paper to
adhere, or to be consolidated together in any re-
quired thickness. The pulp is rendered nearly
water-proof by uniting with glue a preparation of
sulphate of iron ; and almost total incombustibili-
ty is secured by combining Avith the water-proof
pulp, phosphate of soda and borax.
All present diversities of papier mache manu-
factures may be comprehended and classed under
five divisions : 1st, fibrous slabs made only with
coarse fibre mixed with earthy matter, then, after
the addition of a cementing size, the whole is well
kneaded together with the aid of steam — with the
proper ingredients, the substance is made fire-
proof; 2d, sheets of paper pasted together upon
models ; 3d, thick sheets of boards produced by
pressing paper pulp between dies ; 4th, carton
pierre, prepared from paper pulp, or paper mixed
with whiting and glue, pressed into plaster piece
moulds, backed with paper, and when sufficiently
set, hardened by drying in a hot room ; 5th, Mar-
tin's cei'amic papier mache, consisting of paper
pul]i, glue, rosin, sugar of lead and drying oil,
mixed in certain fixed proportions and kneaded
together. It can be kept in a plastic condition
for half a year by keeping the air away, and
kneading the mass occasionally. The composition
was patented in England in 1858.
For the New England Farmer.
TKUST.
'^Perfect love casteth out fear." — IST John 4: 18^
In the arms of my Father
As a child, trustingly I'll lie.
For I know He careth for me.
He will listen to my sigh.
He is like a tender mother
In his gentle, watchful love ;
"He is nearer than a bi'other,"
While He bears my soul above.
When the storm clouds darkly gathe?.
And the thunder mutters deep.
Then I'll think how great a Father,
Condescends to guard my sleep ;
And I'll nestle closer to Him
While the forked lightnings gleam.
And serenely lean upon Him
While I watch their fitfiil beam.
He'll not cast me from Him moumingy
For "He hears the ravens cry ;"
He'll not leave me sorrowing,
For He stoojM to such as I j
And unless His love permits it
Not a harm can come to me.
So why should I not trust it
When He such a friend can be ?
O, how sweet to trust all with Him,
Both the future and the past.
Knowing while earth's loves grow dim.
His win brighten to the last ;
Light us through the narrow valley,
Cheer us up the sleep ascent,
Help to make the millions rally
O'er the path the Saviour went.
Harvard, Sept., 1862.
Glue for Ready Use. — To any quantity of
glue use common whisky instead of water. Put
both together in a bottle, cork it tight, and set it
for three or four days, when it will be fit for use
without the application of heat. Glue thus pre-
pared will keep for years, and is at all times fit for
use, except in very cold weather, when it should
be set in warm water before using. To obviate
the difficulty of the stop])er getting tight by the
glue drying in the mouth of the vessel, use a tin
vessel with the cover fitting tight on the outside
to prevent the escape of the spirit by evaporation.
A strong solution of isinglass made in the same
manner is an excellent cement for leather.
PRUNING FOREST TREES.
In some notes of "an Agricultural Excursion"
by the editor of the Maine Farmer, we clip the
following item :
"Near South Paris we passed a wood lot of sev-
eral acres in extent which had recently been
trimmed and pruned. The pruning of forest trees
has not been so largely practiced in this country
as in England, and many of our farmers are op-
posed to the plan. But it is evident that trees
are weakened by growing in a crowded situation,
and thereby become more liable to decay and to
the attacks of insects, and if thinned out the air
and sun are admitted and a more hardy and vigor-
ous growth is obtained. We know of several
wood lots Avhere it is the practice of the owners,
not only to cut for fire-wood in the fall such trees
as are being crowded in their growth and are be-
ginning to decay, but to prune in the spring such
trees as need to have their superfluous limbs re-
moved. By these methods the wood-lot gains in
value, while an annual supply for the fire is cut
out each year. Some experiments tried in Eng-
land to illustrate the advantages of early and an-
nual priming of forest trees, gave most gratifying
results. An oak of three feet in height planted in
1805, had in 1832 (a period of growth of 27 years)
attained a circumference of 21 inches ; a beech of
3 feet 9 inches high, had a girth in the same period
of 27 inches ; an elm of 3 feet 10 inches had in-
creased to a circumference of 32 inches ; and an
Italian poplar of four feet, reached a girth of 44
inches.
1863.
NEW j:XGLAND FARMER.
31
WESTFOBD ACADEMY.
The autumnal term of this old and time honored
institution closed witli the examination on Tues-
day, 2i5th ult., and sustained the reputation which
it has so long held for thoroughness in whatever it
undertakes. One of the pleasing features of this
examination, was the recitation of a class in agri-
culture, the first we have seen. The class had
gone over but a few pages of the Manual, but
brief as it was, the class had stored up more ideas
that will aid in the practical duties of life, than in
any other recitation to which we listened of four
times its length. We believe this study will
prove something like the introduction of music
into our schools. It is so pleasing, that, like some
healthful condiment with one's dinner, it will aid,
rather than retard, other studies.
Westford Academy was founded in 1792, with
the object "to encourage the means of all useful
science and literature, and render the instruction
of youth as free and little expensive as possible."
It has a fund of some $30,000, the income of
•which is employed to meet a certain portion of
its expenses, so that the cost to pupils is compara-
tively low. "The Academy is located in Westford
Centre, eight miles from Lowell, on a height of
land commanding an extensive prospect of beauti-
ful natural scenery. The town is remarkably free
from everything which can tempt the young to
evil habits and neglect of studies ; and is easy of
access from all directions, by railroad." Every
study necessary to fit pupils for college is taught
in the school, and it probably has as many gradu-
ates who are useful and influential persons of both
sexes, as can be found from any other similar in-
stitution in the State.
Below we give a list of the present
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
JOHN WRIGHT, Esq., Lowell, Peesident.
JOEL ADAMS, Esq., "
Hon. SIMOX BROWN, Concord.
JOSEPH REYNOLDS, M. D., Concord.
Hon. JOHN S. KEVES, Concord.
Rev. CHARLES BABBIDGE, Pepperell.
Rev. EPHRAIM ABBOT, Westford.
J. W. P. ABBOT, Esq., Westford, Treasurer.
BENJAMIN OSCJOOD, M. D., Westford.
ZACCHECS REED, "
EDWARD SYMMES, "
EDWARD PRESCOTT, "
SHERMAN D. FLETCHER, Westford, Secretary.
LARGE DEPOSIT OF HONEY.
A somewhat singular discovery was made in a
house in St. Louis. The Argus gives the follow-
ing account of the story ;
The inmates of one of our largest up-town man-
sion houses, a few days since were surprised to
find a lai-ge number of bees flying about in two of
the upper rooms. As the little fellows continued
to occupy the places, a bee naturalist was sent for
to investigate. On entering the rooms he ex-
claimed : "You have honey somewere here," and
proceeded to seaixh for it. On removing the fire-
board, he discovered that one flue of the chimney
was full of honey-comb, which was hanging down
into the fireplace, and the honey dropping from
it ; proceeding to the top of the house to sound
the chimney, he found it the same j one flue of
the chimney was full, and the bees were industri-
ously at work there also. These flues of tlie chim-
ney had never been used; they were plastered
smooth inside, and were perfectly dark, a stone
having been placed on the top of each flue. The
bees had descended the adjoining flues, and found
small holes about ten inches from the top of the
chimney, leading into the closed flues, and through
these holes they had made their way in and out.
They have, as is sujjposed, occupied' these places
for three years, having been kept warm in the
winter by "the heat from the adjoining flues. On
removing the fire-board, the bees, seeing the great
light which had broken in upon them, descended
to the room and gathered on the windows, until
they were covered to the thickness of tin-ee inches.
It is estimated that there are in the two flues from
40,000 to 50,000 bees, and from 2000 to 3000
pounds of honey.
For the New England Farmer.
KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.
It is pleasant to notice the increased attention
paid by farmers generally to the comfort of stock.
And at this season, when flocks and herds are
gathered in from the hills and meadows where they
have been grazing in comparative independence,
and for months to come must be thrown on the
tender mercies of their owners for subsistence, it
is a relief to know they will be in general well
cared for. Snug shelters and warm stables await
them, and the prospect of exchanging green pas-
tures for winter quarters is any thing but dismal.
Their food, too, is so contrived as to make the
change less violent than it used to be. Milch
cows, for example, are not compelled to reduce
their suj)plies for want of something to promote
their milky secretions ; but the transition from
green to dry fodder is made easy and natural by
roots and the like. The mild, sunny pasture-sea-
son is almost prolonged till the time of the year
for it comes roimd again, by liglit, cozy stalls,
where they can ruminate and wax fat without
kicking.
Does not the faithful beast of draft and burden
especially appreciate the kindness of his master
during the season when he is usually most at
leisure to enjoy it? How he "feels liis oats" and
the curry-comb, and how genially he whinnies re-
cognition of the familiar step and call. And when
led out for a drive, he can hardly contain himself
for joy at the chance of thus serving his kind ]^ro-
prietor. But the yoimglings are naturally tlie pets
of the farm, and at the dosing in of the c(>ld term,
almost any heart will warm toward them. It is
not one cosset calf or lamb that is to be singled
out, but all come in for their share of the comforts
provided. One may be scrawny, anotlicr hack-
ward in development, but it is more his misfor-
tune than fault, and so he shall not be slighted
and abused for what he can't help. On the other
hand, such cases sometnnos call out the more sym-
pathy, and it is curious to see how the poor, little
lagging ones pick up pluck and flesh, now and
32
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
then, under careful treatment, and even come out
first where they went in last.
Every farmer finds, sooner or later, that it pays
to care kindly for his live stock. He realizes that
there is less waste of fodder when it is intelligent-
ly adapted to the animal's wants, and less required
to supply them when comfort is consulted. He
has not to keep piling up fodder to enable his
horse and cow to thaw the cold out, for he had
early taken the precaution to let as little of it in
as possible.
A merciful man, however, is not invariably mer-
ciful to his beast. But the exceptions result more
from thoughtlessness than deliberate intention.
You may find a good, clever fellow, who would no
more think of violating the statute against cruelty
to animals, than that against housebreaking. He
Avould no more be seen knocking down his horse
than his neighbor, and yet, were his dumb beast
gifted like a certain one we read of, he might as
plainly rebuke his master. The man perhaps has
been in the habit of thinking ,from his childhood
up, that domestic animals, like wild ones, can
shift for themselves — or he may imagine that some,
besides chameleons, can live on air — or that oth-
ers, besides those starved army hordes which i-e-
cently are said to have devoured a thousand dol-
lars worth or so of lumber, can subsist on "post-
fodder."
Then, again, no doubt, there are some naturally
kind persons who live under the delusion that
kindness to brutes of any sort is like pearls cast
before swine; they won't appreciate it. But
the same rule applies to their own species. They
will find certain of their own fellow-mortals, who
are no more susceptible, apparently, to the 'law of
kindness than so many brutes. But the trouble
is, such have been so neglected or maltreated, at
one time and another, that they have come
to understand only the language of hard knocks
and frowns ; and it is somewhat thus with their
fellow-unfortunates a little lower in the scale of
creation. Cannot both, however, be won over by
patient, kindly painstaking ?
The skinflint, who grudges himself and family
the food and raiment they need, will of course be-
grudge his other live stock their necessaries of
life and health, but, as has been before intimated,
he stands in his own light, for kindness, as well as
honesty, is the best policy all round. And what
shall be said of the absent-minded man, whose
thoughts and wits are anywhere and everywhere,
but about their owner ? He bowls ahead like Je-
hu through thick and thin, holding the reins, and
laying on the lash mechanically, until some sudden
splash or jolt rouses him to consciousness of his
whereabouts, and he makes what amends he can.
When he gets home, he unharnesses the reeking,
jaded nag, and if he don't forget to feed and wa-
ter him, it is very apt to be because the hungry,
neglected brute makes his wants known so loud
and strong, that the absent one is recalled to his
sense of duty in spite of himself. Then it is real-
ly comical how repentant and apologetic he is
sometimes to the offended beast, and promises
never to be so overtaken again — only he can't stick
to the pledge.
It is a significant fact, that two most popular
foreign authors of the day are specially noticeable
for their fondness of animals. And another equal-
ly eminent, though perhaps less popularly known,
has gone so far as to discover in every animal's
eye some intimation of humanity. Beecher, also,
said in a recent sermon, that "beasts are much
more moral than men generally are ;" and, indeed,
there seems to be a growing disposition to accredit
animals with something higher than mere instinct.
Is not this, after all, the surest and strongest
claim they have to our kindness ? Whatever be
our speculations, like brutes they will ever live
and die, but their conditions of life and death will
be much relieved in proportion as they are appre-
ciated.
It is also an encouraging circumstance that pub-
lic sentiment bears down with almost the force of
law upon the cruel master, whether of man-servant
or brute. The wilful transgressor in this respect
will surely have the finger of scorn pointed at him,
if not a sharp stick thrust nearer. And the un-
conscious, careless off'ender will be pitied almost
like the man who needs a guardian.
The cosset lamb may be a plaything for the
child, and the sucking calf or pig its natural pet,
but no man need be ashamed to own his pets of
the farm, nor think it but boy's play to encourage
their caresses. And in studying their comfort and
enjoyment, he is but obeying the will of Him who
causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and feed-
eth tlte young ravens when they cry. \v. E. B.
Longmeadow, Nov., 1862.
A WORD ON THE TOAD.
The beautiful eye of the toad is proverbial, re-
deeming the ungainliness of its general aspect,
and having in all probability given rise to the fa-
bled jewel within the head. Bright and richly
colored as is the eye, with its round, bold, fiery,
chestnut hue, it is without the least vestige of ex-
pression, and retains its full brilliancy long after
the animal is dead. As to venemous powers of
the toad, they are not to be found in his mouth,
as is popularly imagined, but in two rather large
glands on the sides of the head, which project
boldly, and are plainly visible. If one of these
protuberances be squeezed between the fingers, a
whitish creamy-looking liquid will be ejected, and
perhaps to some little distance. While perform-
ing this operation it will be well enough to hold
the toad in such a manner that the secretion may
not be shot into the eyes, as in that case it would
cause severe pain, and might probably produce
violent inflammation. Still, it will not be ejected
without the employment of considerable force,
and is never injurious to human beings. Briefly
to sum up the character of the toad — it is not
pretty, is entirely harmless, extremely useful,
easily tamed, and worthy of being cherished by
those who pi'efer deeds to outward seeming ; it is
a creature of curious and interesting habits, and
affords a rich field to any one with time and op-
portunity, for clearing up several imjjortant but
disputed points in physiology. — Once a Week.
Solvent for Old Putty and Paint. — Soft
soap mixed with solution of potash or caustic
soda ; or pearl ash and slaked lime mixed with
sufficient water to form a paste. Either of these
laid on with an old brush or rag, and left for some
hours, will render it easily removable.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
33
B. A. SMITH'S PATENT FARM TENCB.
No. 1. No, 2.
No. 3.
We have frequently during the few past years
had occasion to call the attention of our readers to
some new plan of farm fences, and this week we
present one patented in March last by Mr. R. A.
Smith, of Newburyport.
We have only seen it in model, and cannot,
therefore, say as much as we might of its practica-
bility. The cut gives a good representation of it,
and scarcely needs any description. The fence is
made entirely of one kind of stock, the uprights
being of the same size as the rails.
The alternate sections lean in opposite direc-
tions, causing the fence to spread about two or
two and a half feet on the ground, but giving it
great strength and stability. It seems to possess
these qualities in a great degree.
We give a description of its construction, and
for fuller information refer the reader to an adver-
tisement in the columns of this paper.
The above cut represents three sections of the
fence set up. In section No. 1, the letters a a a a,
represent the rails as fastened to the posts b b b.
The mortise for the cross-bars are shown at c c.
To set up the fence, take two sections and set as
represented in the cut, at such an angle that the
upper and second rails shall interlock each other
on opposite sides of the uprights as at e ; then
press in the lower ends of the uprights, and put
in the cross-bar d. This cross-bar, which is made
to pass from mortise in section No. 1, to mortise
in section No. 2, if properly fitted, holds the bot-
tom of the sections from spreading, as when the
fence spreads the lower and second rails bear on [
the cross-bar edgewise, so that the cross-bar holds
the sections, and the sections hold the cross-bar,
making a complete dove-tail, — thus making a
strong, light and cheap portable fence.
— it fires the brain, sharpens the appetite, derang-
es and weakens the physical system. On the
same sideboard upon which this delicious beverage
is served lies a newspaper. It is covered with
half a million of types — it brings intelligence from
the four quarters of the globe. The newspaper
costs less than the glass of grog — the juice of a
few grains of corn ; but it is no less strange than
true that there is a large portion of the communi-
ty who think corn juice cheap and the newspaper
dear !
Whisky and Newspapers. — A glass of whis-
ky is manufactured from perhaps a dozen grains
of corn, the value of which is too small to be es-
timated. A pint of this mixture sells for one
shilling, and, if of a good brand, is considered well
worth the money. It is drank in a minute or two
LIME— ITS USES AND ITS ACTION.
Many farmers appear to doubt the utility of
lime in agriculture. Yet no fact is more incon-
trovertibly demonstrated by science, than that
lime is indispensably necessary to tbe develop-
ment and even existence of both animals and
plants ; and as it is detectable in the organized
structure of the latter, there is a necessity for its
existing previously in the soil, or for its being
supplied, artificially, as manure.
Chemical analyses have demonstrated that in
every one thousand pounds avoirdupois of the
following materials, the quantity of lime is as fol-
lows :
Wheat. Barley. Oats. Potatoes. Turnips.
%Vu'nan?'i 1 1-0 0-9 0-3 0.8
The very limited quantity of lime, however,
which these vegetables contain, ought by no
means to be regarded as a criterion in determin-
ing the quantity to be applied to the soil. The
action of this important mineral is to be developed
in other ways than that of merely aflbrding a
necessary ingredient to plants, and is cognizable
in a variety of modes, both as regards its effects
upon the mineral and vegetable substances con-
tained in the soil, and, indeed, upon the pliysical
character and construction of tlie soil itself. When
applied to tenacious clays, it induces relaxation,
renders the soil light and friable, and corrects its
acidity by its alkalescent action upon the native
34
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
acids, which it neutralizes and converts into man-
ure. On sandy or arenaceous soils, its action is
strongly binding ; rendering the texture more
compact and compressible, and neutralizing the
salts of iron which generally operate as a noxious
influence upon both the soil and its produce.
By the action it has on the vegetable humiis,
and other organic substances, it generates soluble
compounds, and fructifying gases — carbonic acid,
ammonia and other soluble products — all of
which assist the vegetable action either by being
absorbed by the moisture contained in the soil,
and thus entering the circulation through the me-
dium of the saj) in conjunction with the humate
of lime, and other principles, or by being absorbed
by the leaves and stalks in a gaseous or volatilized
state.
It possesses also the power of decomposing al-
kaline silicates, with several valuable and highly
efficient salts, and by this means of rendering
them appropriable by plants, — also of supplying
alkalies to the sap, without which, in some quan-
tity, the vegetable would cease to grow, and even
to survive.
Again, lime disposes the soil to absorb oxygen
from the atmosphere, and by its strong chemical
affinities, it effects a variety of useful combinations
and decompositions, thus inducing chemical ac-
tivity, and the evolution of electricity, one of the
most efficient and powerful agents known in na-
ture.
In all composts there should be more or less
lime used, according to the character of the soil
to which it is to be applied, — but used in a mild
form, unless applied to heaps of crude materials.
KEEPING FKUIT THROUGH WINTER.
How to ripen fruits, is a branch of pomological
knowledge as important as how to grow them ; yet
it is one very little understood. It is questionable
whether this knowledge can be taught ; for expe-
rience shows that no rule is applicable to all vari-
eties alike — for some apples and pears are im-
proved by being taken off the trees before they
are ripe, while other kinds are best when left on
the tree as long as possible.
With regard to applesand pears — kinds of fi'uit
most generally understood when we talk about
preserving fruits — the fall fruits, for the most part,
are best gathered a few days, or, it may be, a week,
before they would drop of their own accord from
the tree ; while others ripening at the same sea-
son are best left on until they will scarcely bear
their own weight without falling. The Bartlett
pear, for instance, may be gathered at least two
weeks before apparently ripe, and will mature
well in a cool, shady place, and, to some tastes, be
even better for it ; while the Duchess d'Angou-
leme is ruined by what, in the same instance,
would be called premature gathering. All these
nice points have to be practically determined —
and the only safe general rule can be given, that
when a fruit will part readily from the tree when
gently lifted ; or, when the seeds inside are of a
deep black color, the crop may be gathered and
stored away.
In most cases, by far too many fall-ripening va-
rieties of fruit are planted. If the orchard be in-
"tended to supply family consumption, the crop
will not keep till all is used ; and if for market
purposes, many will rot before purchasers are
found for them ; or more important duties have
to be neglected to give attention to them. Where
a great abundance of fall fruit exists, and it is de-
sii'able to keep theui as long as possible, they
shou4d be gathered before fully ripe, just as the
seeds are changing color, and kept in a cool, dark
room — one not too dry, however — until they can
receive attention.
This coolness and darkness is moreover the
main secret of kee])ing fruit of the winter ripening
kinds through to their proper season ; and it is in
endeavoring to find the exact conditions, that so
many fail. If too dry, they shrivel — if too hot,
they prematurely ripen, and are worthless — if too
damp, they rot ; and if too cold, they are tasteless
and insipid. To just hit the mark is not easy to
a beginner, and yet in practice it is found — not so
difficult as it appears to be. Some house cellars
are so constructed as to be just the suitable thing;
but the majority usually border on some one of
the exti'emes we have noted.
Probably the best plan for the apple, whei*e the
fruit is perfectly sound, is to carefully hand-pick
the fruit, and pack them gently in flour barrels,
being careful not to bruise them in the least, eith-
er in filling the barrels or in handling them after-
wards. In this way they will keep in cool cellars
that are tolerably dry, when in the same cellars,
they would probably shrivel on open shelves.
Where the fruit is subject to the depredations of
the apple moth, or to fungoid diseases, this plan
is liable to objections, as the injured fruit will de-
cay, and is difficult to get at inside the barrels ;
and if not taken out in time, a considerable por-
tion of the fruit will be destroyed by the heat
evolved in putrefaction. The English fruit rooms,
which are mostly constructed more with an eye to
perfect fruit preserving and ripening, than to econ-
omy of arrangement, however, are usually made
expressly for fruit, and all gardens of any preten-
sions, have the fruit- room as regularly as the tool-
shed. They are usually built on the north side of
a wall, or other buildings, in order to secure a
regular temperature. The walls are thick to en-
sure against frost penetrating them, and many of
them have a roof of straw thatch which tends still
more to keep out frost, and a regular natural tem-
peratiwe inside — along all four sides of the build-
ing are tiers of shelves, arranged one above anoth-
er, like the sleeping-berths of a ship, and on these
boards are spread the fruit in thin layers — usually
but one course thick. Some of them have venti-
lation provided both from below and above ; but
those we have seen were not thus arranged, and
there were no means of communication with the
external air, beyond what the doors and windows
afforded. In these rooms, apples and pears- kept
perfectly, ripening in succession, according to their
season, and some of them keeping tUl apples and
pears came again.
The secret of their success undoubtedly is the
keeping up of a natural temperature of between
40° and 50°.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
35
In our climate, this arrangement would not an-
swer. The severity of the winters demand more
protection from a low temperature than the
strongest walls would alone aft'ord. Where a dry
gravelly bank is at command, a room could be
constructed, part beneath the surf\\ce, and part
above — the exposed part covered with the earth
thrown out from below ; which would make a
fruit-room to perfection.
After all, the keeping of fruit on a large scale
is not within the wants of most of our readers, who
have but a few bushels, and in whose eyes a spe-
cial fruit-house would not be warranted by the
small quantity to be kept. There is then no al-
ternative, but to make the best use of the facilities
cellars, rooms, or out-buildings afford ; and for
this, barrels, boxes, cupboards and enclosed cases
must be called into requisition ; being careful to
ensure a temperature of about 40° to 50°, not too
damp or dry, and if somewhat dark, the better. —
Oardener^s Monthly.
For the New England Farmer.
AGRICULTURE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
Mr. Editor : — I propose to ofl'er a few more
reasons, to show that practical and scientific agri-
culture cannot be successfully taught in our com-
mon schools. Perhaps this has been made suf-
ficiently evident already, without any additional
reasons. But I propose to pursue the subject a
little further, and roll the car of reason along the
plain atid smooth track of common sense, in order
to make "More Anon," who manifests a disposi-
tion to tread on the sore toes of others, "Clear the
track when the bell rings."
But to the point at issue : It is a sufficient an-
swer to all that liaa been said, and to all that can
be said, in favor of introducing the study of agri-
culture into our schools, to say, that our common
school-teachers are not qualified to teach it. They
have not the requisite knowledge. And it is no
disgrace or dishonor to them to acknowledge the
fact, because it would be unreasonable to require
them to teach what they do not understand, and
what ought never to be taught in our common
schools. They ought not to be required to teach
agriculture, because it would be requiring them to
teach more than they know, and more than they
have ever had the means of knowing, and M-hat is
foreign to the particular -purposes of common
school education. Not one in a thousand is com-
petent to teach it, and all who attempt it, will
utterly fail in the attempt. The fact is, the sci-
ence of agriculcure is not understood by school-
teachers, and consequently they cannot teach it.
It has a length, and breadth, and depth, beyond
their utmost capacities. It requires a master's
skill — a professor's knowledge — to fathom and un-
ravel its mysteries, and teach it practically and
scientifically. But it should be remembered, that
a large proportion of teachers, both in summer
and winter, are young and delicate females, who
would make sorry work in teaching the science
and practice of agriculture. Their instruction
would be very much like that of the jabbering
monkey in the cheese-room, who undertook to
teach by example the best method of curing
cheeses and keeping them from moulding ; and
probablv they would nut bo any more successful
or entertaining in their uistruciiou than the mon-
key was. It is in vain to tell me, that scientific
and practical agriculture can be successfully taught
by young and delicate females. It cannot be
done, and it ought not to be required of them.
The employment is inconsistent with the dignity
and simplicity of the female character, and with
the modesty and delicacy of the sex.
Again, it is a sufficient atiswer to all that hax
been said, and to all that can Ix; said, in favor of
introducing the study of agriculture into our com-
mon schools, to say, that the children are quite
too small, too yoimg and too ignorant to uniler-
stand it. And yet "More Anon" would like to
have all the teachers stand with the great pitcher
of agricultural knowledge in hand, and endeavor
to pour it into the infant minds of these little chil-
dren, who have not the capacity to receive it. He
will not wait to have their capacities developed,
and their minds prepared for it by previous study.
No ; he would have this knowledge poured into
the minds of these children, while they are yet in
the common schools. Whether they be males or
females ; whether they understand the full force
and meaning of language, or not ; no matter how
deficient they may be in any of the common
branches of a common school education ; and no
matter what is to be their future occupation or
pursuit ; they must all study agriculture, in order
to please "More Anon." Now, as it is always
best for scholars to learn their A, B, c's, before
they attempt to learn to read, so it is always best
to learn those preparatory studies which are es-
sential to the understanding of any particular
branch of science, before entering upon that study.
The opposite course would be reversing the order
of nature, and "putting the cart before the horse."
In fine, it is a sufficient answer to all that has
been said, and to all that can be said, in favor of
introducing the study of agriculture into our com-
mon schools, to say, that the people of New Eng-
land will never permit it to be .done. They have
a vote and a voice in this matter, and they will be
heard ; and their influence will be felt. They are
too wise and enlightened, and understand their
own interests and the interests of their children too
well, to allow of their being cheated out of their
common school education. They understand the
nature, design and operation of common schools
too well to suff"er them to be perverted to other
purposes than those for which they were original-
ly established — the education of all children alike
in the common branches of common school in-
struction. No man nor body of men will ever be
able to persuade, or to drive them from this posi-
tion which they have taken from clear convictions
of truth and duty. In their minds, truth and
falsehood are so well defined, and the cliaracter of
each so plainly traced, and so well understood, as
to be beyond the power of any man to confound
or obliterate. John Golusbury.
Warwick, Mass., 1862.
Grub in the Head of Sheep. — Dr. Dadd, in
a communication to the Prairie Farmer, says the
only way to prevent grub in the head of sheep, is
to put plenty of wholesome "grub" into the stom-
ach of the animal — and that it is a well known
fact, that sheep properly attended to, well fed and
housed, are never troubled with the parasite
known as the grub.
36
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
CKOSS PLOWIIfQ.
Opinions diflFer in regard to the expediency of
cross plowing sward lands, — some contending that
■where the sward is comparatively light, such as is
often found on old pastures or fields that have
been long run out, cross plowing assists in the af-
ter culture of the crop to a much greater extent
than the cost of the cross plowing. We have
thought this to be true in our own practice on
such lands. But there is another point to be con-
sidered, especially when heavy sward lands are to
be wrought. We will state some of the reasons
that occur to us.
Unfermented vegetable and animal matters,
when buried in the soil as aliment for crops, ought
not to be exposed to the action of the sun and
winds until they have completely decomposed.
The gaseous products eliminated by stable ma-
nure and other decomposable products, while in a
fermenting state, always ascend, because they are
specifically Kghter than atmospheric air. They
consequently enrich the soil by which, if properly
inhumed, they are fixed, and thus contribute to
the sustenance and support of plants. K fermen-
tation takes place on the surface, as we think it
will, in some degree, under favorable circumstau- j
ces, the gaseous products will be difi'used and
lost. The quantity of actually soluble matter
contained in an acre of well set sward land is
much more considerable than many would imag-
ine.
An English writer has ascertained that a vigor-
ous sward, inveiled in the latter part of summer,
after the hay has been cut, or in the spring, before
the grass has attained much growth, contains not
less than thirty tons of vegetable matter to the
acre ! This, when resolved to humiis by a well
graduated decomposition, will aff"ord a highly sal-
utary aliment to vegetation, and if permitted to
decompose beneath the soil, will essentially con-
tribute to its productiveness. "We make these
remarks, bearing in mind all the time that de-
composition is comparatively slow on the surface,
and, also, the doctrine and practice, of some Eng-
lish farmers and writers, that nothing is lost in
surface manuring. In that climate there may
not be. In ours, under the scorching suns that
occur even in May and September, we firmly be-
lieve it would be considerable.
When, for the sake of a more thorough tilth, it
is thought advisable to cross plow land, the first
plowing should be deep, and the second, or cross
plowing, shallow, in order that the pulverization,
which is the object sought in the latter plowing,
may be secured without disturbing the mass of
vegetable matter turned down by the first. If
the second plowing be as deep as the first, the
furrow slice, or sward, will be cut, and brought to
the surface, greatly to the annoyance of the work-
men, and perhaps, to the soil and crop. In pul-
verizing the surface of recently plowed green
sward lands, the cultivator, or horse hoe, is far pre-
ferable to the plow. It pulverizes thoroughly as
far as its teeth penetrate, and does not go so far
below the surface as to to disturb the sods.
It is the practice in some sections of New Eng-
land to plow the grass land intended for corn the
next year, soon after the hay crop has been re-
moved in July or August, allowing a few days for
a new crop of leaves to start out after the grass
is cut. It is thought by some with whom we have
conversed, that this practice is an excellent one,
though no reasons were given besides the one
that the corn crop was much better than when the
land was plowed late in the faU, or in the spring.
If such is the fact, it will not be difficult to assign
a reason or reasons for it.
For tite New England Farmer.
ARE APPLE ORCHARDS PROFITABLE
ON ARABLE LAND ?
Mr. Editor: — A few years ago, when the
fruit-tree growing fever was raging at its highest
pitch, when men got rich on unhatched chickens,
and when one of my neighbors estimated his peach
nursery at §1700 in a wakeful dream, I went a
journey into the State of Elaine, laboring some-
what under the same malady in a mild form, to
visit a friend who was a practical farmer, and the
owner of an ajjple orchard. On looking about on
his and his neighbor's orchards, I saw but a few
grafted trees. I said, "Mr. G., why do you not graft
your trees and raise fruit for the market ?" I never
shall forget the expression of his countenance as
he replied to my question. "Why," he said, "it
would be all lost labor, and that their markets
were already glutted with good apples, and that
cider would not pay for making." His remarks
made so strong an impression upon my mind that
my visions of getting rich by raising apples for the
market began to vanish, till my mind, I am in
hopes, was restored to a sound state.
My neighbor, stated above, who valued his
peach nursery at $1700, never realized 17 cents
for his imaginary, inflated riches, and many other
air-castles shared the same fate. As I have trav-
elled over the counties of Essex and Middlesex of
late, I have observed that much of the best soil
was "devoted" to apple orchards, and (I believe
in a true sense of the word "devoted,") many of
them had hardly arrived to a producing state, and
thousands, if not tens of thousands, of unproduc-
tive nurslings are occupying some of the best soil
in the State, to what result the revelations of the
future must decide. Raising apples for the mar-
ket in the vicinity of our seaboard cities, undoubt-
edly, will be a profitable business ; the privilege
of shipping and sending them to foreign markets
will reduce the quantity some, but, in a jilentiful
season, all our market towns consume but a pit-
tance of the quantity grown. I have conversed
w'ith some of the owners of the finest orchards in
the county, (one of them living within a rifle shot
of Lowell,) who told me that their apples did not
pay the labor of nicking and carrying to maricet
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMED.
37
in theii' bearing season, which, as it so happens,
are the even years of late, while on the odd years
these same orchards did not produce enough for
family use.
Now the question is, in what manner can these
surplus apples be disposed of to best advantage to
indemnify the farmer ? All farmers know that cat-
tle, horses and swine are extremely fond of aj)ple9,
but will it pay the way to appropriate our best
soil to raise apples for them? As cider sells,
would it not pay better to make some of them
into cider for vinegar, if for no other purpose ; ci-
der is a much more wholesome beverage than the
factitious wines so much used, and as long as peo-
ple will have something stronger than cold water,
would it not be a good substitute for those allur-
ing counterfeit compounds, called wines. As a
medicine I am practically convinced that cider is
preferable to wine, so far as I have seen it used in
the latter stages of protracted fevers.
Apples are of more value than all other fruits
combined. The pear, the peach, the smaller fruits,
and the foreign fruits, hastily decay, and the a])ple
is the only fruit, except the dried varieties, which
will keep the year around. The war against na-
ture, of attempting to change the producing sea-
son by destroying the blossom, is a task that few
farmers are able or willing to undertake ; fighting
against God is a poor and unprofitable warfare,
and is more hopeless than fighting against rebels.
I have regretted, sometimes, on seeing farmers
select their best arable soils for an orchard, when
their neglected crevices between rocks and ledges
would have been much more appropriate to the
produciion of good apples. Apple trees grow and
bear best upon an elevated, rocky soil — such a
soil has not generally been worn out by constant
cultivation and fleecing — and are much less subject
to injury by frosts and insect depredators, than
apple trees which grow on level plain lands. I
have an impression that good arable land would
be more remunerative to the farmer to raise grass,
roots and grain crops upon, that jiroduce every
year, than the capricious apple and other fruit
trees that are under the control of the evil influ-
ences of frost, curculios and other fruit depreda-
tors, which make their producing season uncer-
tain sometimes and far between.
As far as my observation extends, the level
plain lands are less productive than the high,
mountainous, rocky swells. This present season
I have observed, on travelling the road, that the
apple trees on low ground and sandy plains pro-
duced very sparingly, but advancing upon the ris-
ing, rocky highlands, the trees were burdened
with fruit. Now the question is fairly opened to
discussion, are apple orchards more j^rofitable on
good arable land than the same land used for
some other useful and necessary productions ?
Silas Brown.
North Wilmington, Nov. 25, 1862.
Don't Eat too Mucn. — The celebrated Aber-
nethy once remarked to a friend : "I tell you hon-
estly what I think is the whole cause of the com-
plicated maladies of the human frame ; it is their
germandizing and stuffing and stimulating the
digestive organs to excess ; thereby creating irri-
tation. The state of our minds is another cause
— the fidgeting and discontenting ourselves
about what cannot be helped — passions of all
kinds; malignant passions, and worldly cares
pressing upon the mind, disturb the central action,
and do a great deal of harm."
FACTS ABOUT APPLES.
We have an old apple tree which was revived
by trimming and grafting it with Baldwin scions
fourteen years ago. It had been greatly Tioglect-
ed, and was fast running to ruin when the work
of renovation was commenced. The trimming
and grafting procees was not done at once, but
judiciously continued through three years. Dur-
ing this time the sward was dug up and pulver-
ized, and the soil for a diameter of twenty feet
about the tree was manured and dressed two or
three times with wood ashes. The manure was
slightly dug in when applied. The new grafts
began to bear, moderately, the third year, and
gradually increased, until in 18G0 they gave us
seventeen barrels of apples. In 1861, they yielded
only a peck or two, and the present year, 1862,
twenty-one barrels, most of v/hich were medium-
sized, marketable apples! Another tree, which
had scarcely a sound limb upon it, was renovated
at the same time. This, however, produced the
Hunt jRus.tet apple, and did not need grafting.
The dead wood was cut away, the top thinned a
little, and a mound of good soil raised a foot in
height about the trunk. The ground under the
branches was dressed with ashes and old com-
posts, about every other year for six years. The
tree commenced bearing the summer succeeding
the care bestowed upon it, and has averaged about
two barrels per year since. These apples were
especially valuable, as it was the only tree on the
place that furnished any fit for family tise. By
considerable pleasant care, and a moderate ex-
pense, we have been enabled to gather this year
about one hundred and twenty-five barrels of very
fine apples.
In connection with the above, the Farmington,
(Me.) Chronicle says :
The most important of all fruits that can be
produced in temperate climates, if not the most
important fruit which the Creator has bestowed
upon man, is the apple. Were people generally
in j)ossessi()u of information which would enable
them to form conclusions in relation to the value
of a single apple tree, no one who has a spot of
terra firma large enough for a house lot, would
neglect to plant one.
Hayward speaks of an apple tree in Duxbur>-,
Mass., which was upwards of 100 years old, was
16 feet in circumference eight inches above the
ground, and which produced in one year fruit
from which 10 barrels of cider were made, besides
30 bushels of apples for the cellar.
An apple tree in Natick, Mass., was grafted to
the Porter ap]ile wher. 7.5 years old, and the 7th
year from grafting produced 15 barrels which sold
for 30 dollars.
38
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
The original Hurlbut apple tree produced 40
bushels in one year, and 20 the next.
The original Bars apple tree produced 60 in one
year.
In Orange, N. J., a Harrison apple tree pro-
duced 100 bushels in one year.
An apple tree in Farmington, Me,, produced
16 bushels the 16th year from the planting of the
seed.
Cole saj's he has had fruit from an apple tree
in Plymouth, Mass., when the tree was 200 years
old.
An apple tree brought from England and plant-
ed near Hartford, Ct., produced fruit when 209
years old.
Several apple trees in the United States have
trunks 12 feet in circumference.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
A NEW GRAPE.
In the Farmer of Nov. 8 you say, "we have no
good out-door grapes yet that are sufficiently har-
dy to stand'the changes of our winters ;" we think
we have a grape in progress — a grape for the mil-
lion— a grai)e to climb around the poor man's
cottage as well as on the rich man's arbor.
George Curtis, of the United Society, in New
Lebanon, has the honor of originating this grape,
which is now cultivated in preference to all other
varieties in that village. This grape, which he
calls the "Aromatic," appears to be as hardy as
the oak, is a heavy bearer, and certainly a deli-
cious fruit. An excellent quality in them is that
they commence ripening early in Septembeiv and
continue until frost. They are a valuable keeping
grape. We are not sure that they have been dis-
seminated beyond that village as yet, their appre-
ciation of it i-equiring many vines. It will proba-
bly be brought before the public in due time.
Nov. 10, 1862. _ W. Bacon.
WARM FEET IN COLD WEATHER.
Thinking some of the readers of the Farmer
may be troubled to keep their feet warm in our
cold climate, I propose to tell them how I care for
mine.
I have my winter boots made one size too large
for m.y feet. I then have a pair of slippers made
of sheepskin, tanned with the wool on, or a little
of it. One taken off soon after the sheep are
sheared will have a sufficient length of wool, (and
such can be obtained at almost any tannery.) It
is necessary to have the slipper an exact fit for the
foot over the stocking, or it will wrinkle when the
boot is drawn over it. They can be made of calf
skin, tanned with the hair on, but I think wool is
warmer, and the advantage of this plan over a
lined boot is, that the slipper which will generally
be left in the boot when it is taken off, can be
pulled out and dried e\'ery night, and the boot
will be in much better condition than if it was
lined. You can make a cut from the accompany-
ing drawing and print it with this article ; any one
who sees it could cut his own if he wished to. In
making, the edges should be sewed with what is
called the ball stitch, as that leaves the seam soft
as any other part, and it may be left open on the
instep far enough so that it can be put on with
ease, and will not need lacing up after it is on.
MILK FOR BUTTER.
I know, from actual experiment, that five quarts
of good milk, when the milk-room can be kept at
the proper temperature, will make a pound of
butter.
HOW I BURN KEROSENE OIL IN A FLUID LAMP
IN MY LANTERN.
The only secret is to have the wick very loose.
I use common candle wicking, and have it so
loose that a slight blow of the lantern would jar
the wick down — and to pi-event that I pinched in
the tubes a little near the lower end. It is better
not to fill the lamp more thanhalf fuUof oil — then,
by keeping the wick about level with the end of
the tube, you will get a clear, steady flame. It
requires the least trimming of any lamp I ever
used. When once properly adjusted, it Avill burn
three hours, every night for a week^ without pick-
ing up or trimming. W. I. Simonds.
Eoxbury, Vt., Nov., 1862.
Remarks. — The pattern for cutting the slippers
is very plain — but since the rebellion began, near-
ly all our women have learned to cut slippers with
great correctness and ease.
GROWTH OF forest TREES.
I recently heard a distinguished farmer of Es-
sex county say that his lands covered with young
forest trees were more productive than those
which he planted with corn or any other kind of
grain. The same idea I remember to have heard
put forth by the late Hon. Asa T. Newhall, of
Lynnfield, who died leaving several hundred acres
of woodland. Both of these gentlemen said they
had watched the growth of their trees, and taken
such measurement, from time to time, that they
could tell how many cords of wood their lands in-
creased annually, as well as the number of bush-
els of corn they gathered. If this be so, it opens
a new field of culture ; for nothing is more in de-
mand than good wood, and nothing is more rapid-
ly falling away from our markets. p.
December, 1862.
ELECTRICITY FOR PLANTS.
I have made an experiment with electricity in
cultivation, the past season, and propose to give
an account of my success, for the benefit of others
who may choose to try it.
I made the experiment with some tomatoes, tha
seed of which was planted in boxes and kept in
the sun, by a window, so as to obtain early plants.
In the meantime, I prepared the bed as beds
for other vegetables are prepared; it was 12 by
6 feet, and I enclosed it with a wire which was
buried about three inches below the surface of the
ground, and from the middle of the ends of the
bed another wire was attached to the buried Avire,
and this wire was held from the ground by some
poles ; one was three feet and the other four
feet. At the corners of the bed, there were some
sticks driven down to keep the buried wire in its
place, the wire on the longest sides of the bed ly-
ing due North and South.
When the plants had attained the size for
transplanting, I set a row in the bed, and at the
same time another row in another bed, prepared
in the same way, with the exception of the wires,
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
39
and as the plants in the boxes continued to come
up and grow, I set more into the bed with the
wires, and watched the result, which was most
flattering ; the vines in the electric bed were, at
least, two-thirds larger than the others, and filled
with tomatoes from the bottom to the top.
There were some cucumbers in the bed, and al-
though perceptible, the result was not so marked ;
I consider the experiment a success. The elec-
tricity helps to disseminate the substance in the
soil, and it may also help from the atmosphere.
The idea of the experiment is not original with
me, and I hope that others may try it.
I will add a sketch of the wires, sticks, &c., as
it will help to illustrate the theory. D. B. p.
Scituate, Dec. 1, 1862.
Rejurks. — We thank our correspondent for
his interesting experiment, but cannot give his il-
lustration short of an engraving. We hope oth-
ers will communicate to us freely of such matters
as they think will be useful.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it."
While our friends Goldsbury and Bacon are
disputing about what can or cannot be taught in
our common schools, may we not derive instruc-
tion from the contemplation of the sentiment we
have selected. It is neither more or less than this :
Let boys be taught when young, what they will
have occasion to practice in after life. It is no ar-
gument to say that schools are not properly fur-
nished with agricultural implements to pursue the
science of agriculture to advantage, because they
should be furnished with everything necessarj- for
the benefit of the pupils. It will cost no more to
provide ])lows and shovels, than dictionaries and
grammars ; the one are the tools of the farmer's
trade, the other of the scholar's. In New Eng-
land full one-half of the boys that grow up are di-
rectly interested in the culture of the soil ; there-
fore they should be taught how to cultivate it.
Nov. 29, 1862. _ P.
HOW TO lkL\KE A LEMON TREE BEAR.
Having a lemon tree six or seven years old, I
wish to know what I shall do to make it bear
fruit ? Please answer through the Farmer.
Bristol Co., Nov. 14, 1862. Geo., Jr.
Remarks. — We do not know. Will some one
who does, inform our fi-iend ?
For the ^eic England Farmer.
OLD APPLE ORCHARDS.
Mr. Editor : — There is much said and written
about the management of apple trees at this time,
and much that is erroneous to my mind. One of
your correspondents recommends using a Michi-
gan plow with a strong team to tear the soil to
pieces ; that is the last thing I should do, espe-
cially for an orchard that has commenced bearing.
Now, let me tell my experience. I have had
two farms with two old orchards where the trees
were on the declirte. One of them I plowed and
trimmed off the old and decayed branches, and
left the young sprouts to grow, and in the course
of six years I had some quite thrifty trees. On
the last farm, I have adopted another course, —
that is, I have put in hogs through the spring, sum-
mer and fall, and I find a saving in expense in
keeping, and the advantage to my trees, far great-
er than any thing 1 could do with the plow. They
not only dig round the roots of the trees, but eat
the apples that droj), and destroy the worms. I
have had eight — four old hogs and four jjigs — in
my orchard this season, and am satisfied that the
refuse apples are worth more for them than they
are paying for cider apples.
Jonathan Bartlett.
Northhoro\ Nov. 29, 1862.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
POWER OP THE WILL.
Children often rise in the morning in anything
but an amiable frame of mind. Petulent.'impa-
tient, quarrelsome, they cannot be spoken to or
touched without producing an explosion of ill-na-
ture. Sleep seems to have been a bath of vinegeir
to them, and one would think the fluid had "in-
vaded their mouth and nose and eyes and ears,
and had been absorbed by every pore of their sen-
sitive skins. In a condition Uke this, I have seen
them bent over the parental knee and their per-
sons subjected to blows from the parental palm ;
and they have emerged from the infliction with
the vinegar all expelled, and their faces shining
like the morning — the transition complete and sat-
isfactory to all the parties. Three-quarters of the
moods that men and women find themselves in are
just as much under the control of the will as this.
The man who rises in the morning, with his feel-
ings all bristling like the quills of a hedgehog,
simply needs to be knocked down. Like a solu-
tion of certain salts, he requires a rap to make
him crystallize. A great many mean things are
done in the family for which moods are put for-
ward as the excuse, when the moods themselves
are the most inexcusable things of all. A man or
a woman in tolerable health has no moral right to
indulge in an unpleasant mood, or to depend upon
moods for the performance of the duties of life.
If a bad mood come to such persons as these, it is
to be shaken off by a direct effort of the will, un-
der all circumstances. — Timothy I'itcomb's Les-
sons i?i Life.
RoMPHs'G. — Don't be afraid of a little romping
on the part of your girls, and never punish them
for indulging in it, but thank Heaven, who has
endowed them so largely with animal spirits.
These must have vent in some way, and better
the glow which a little romping imparts to the
cheeks than a distorted spine or a pallid brow.
Health is one of the greatest of blessings, and
only a good share of physical exercise can secure
this to children. Let them romp, then, even if
they do make some noise and tear their dresses
occasionally, and lead you to cry out, "O dear !
what shall I do ?" Yes, let them romp. Sober
times will come by and by. Life brings its cares
soon enough to all ; and let the children be happy
while they are young. God made them to be hao-
py, and why should parents thwart his plans ? We
do not believe in a dull childhood, but in cheer-
fulness in age. — Home Journal.
40
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
CONTENTS or THIS NUMBER.
January Page 9
Force— Men and Horses Compared— Dry Food for Hogs 10
Hong Kong, China H
Agriculture in Common Schools 13
Grape Culture- Vegetable Growth 14
Agriculture in Common Schools 15
Exhibiting Herds of Cattle 15
A Beautiful Cotswold Buck 16
The American Soldier 17
"How is it, then, that Farmers Get Along?" 17
Production of Grain — Punctuality 18
Autumn — Winter — James S. Grennell 19
The Vear of Fruits 19
The Grape Cure 20
Potato Starch — How the French Economize 21
What is Done with Herring — Old Eagles and their Nests 22
Home After Business Hours 22
Retrospective Notes 23
The Eye of the Crab— Little Hungry Minds 24
N. Franklin (Me.) Agricultural Society's Show and Fair 25
Farm Buildings and Fences 25
Estimating tiie Capacity of Barns 25
Tillin? Orchards— The Birds of New England 26
Flax— Barley— Wheat 28
American Pomological Society 28
How the Turks Smoke 29
Essex County Show — Saw-Dust for Stables 29
Papier Macbe — Trust — Pruning Forest Trees 30
Westford Acadelny — Large Deposit of Honey 31
Kindness to Animals — A Word on the Toad 32
R. A. Smith's Patent Farm Fence 33
Keeping Fruit Through Winter 34
Culture in Common Schools — Grub in the Head of Sheep.... 35
Cross Plowing 36
Are Apple Orchards Profitable on Arable Land ? 36
Facts About Apples .37
Extracts and Replies 38
Old Apple Orchards — Ladies' Department HQ
Cattle Market for December 40
REDUCTION IN SIZE.
As we intimated in the December number, we
send out the Farmer, this month, somewhat reduc-
ed in thickness. We have made no change in the
size or style of the page, so that the volume when
completed and bound will be as nearly uniform
with former volumes as possible. This change is
rendered necessary by the large advance in the
price of paper, which, though it may not be sus-
tained for many months at its present high figure,
will in all probability cost us during the entire
year an advance of fifty per cent, on last year's
price. We make as little change as possible in
the appearance of our magazine, and shall restore
it to its old size at the earliest moment we can do
so without actual loss.
CATTLE MARKETS FOR DECEMBER.
The following is a summary of tho reports for the four weeks
ending December 18, 1862 :
NUMBER AT MARKET.
S/ieep and
Shotes and
Lire
Cattle.
Lambs.
Fit's.
Fat Hogs.
November 26.
.. 923
2153
400
1800
December 4. .
. .2.332
4802
300
2600
" 11..
..3173
4420
350
2000
" 18..
Total..
. 2717
4184
200
1250
2000
.9,145
15,559
8,400
The following table shows the number of cattle and sheep
from the several States, for the last four weeks :
H^^ The government is now daily feeding in the
city of New Orleans more than 32,000 whites, 17,-
000 of whom are British subjects, and mostly claim-
ing British protection. Of all this vast number of
poor, only about one thousand are native Ameri-
cans— the rest are made up of the several national-
ities represented here from all parts of the globe.
Beside all this drain upon the generosity of the gov-
ernment, there are 10,000 negroes to feed.
Cattle.
Sheep.
Maine 1497
3763
1105
Vermont 4496
S66S
444
Northern New York 392
577
Canada 361
3564
Western States 805
438
Total, last four weeks 9,145
15,359
Corresponding four weeks, ( - -r,
last year. \ ^'^"^
13,231
PRICES.
Nor. 26. Dec. 4. Dec. 11.
Dec. 18
Beef,^Ib 3J(S63 4 @7 4
@7
4|@7J
Sheep and lambs $2 @43 $3 ©5 $3 ®5i
$2 (g5|
Swine, stores, wh'le... 4 ig4^ 4 ©6 4
@5
4 &bh
» " retail... 4 (g6 4Jia6^ 5
(g6|
4i@€i
Fat hogs, live weight.. .4 (g5 4 (35 5
@
5 @
Remarks. — During these four weeks there have been at mar-
ket 1378 cattle and 2328 sheep more than there were last yea»
for the four corresponding weeks. At the same time the number
of Western cattle and sheep is much smaller this year than last.
Last year we reported 1702 Western cattle and 2328 sheep, and
this year only 805 cattle and 438 sheep are put down as coming
fi-om Albany. This deficiency has been well supplied this year
by Northern and Eastern oxen ; thus distributing among the
farmers of New England probably over seventy thousand dollars
of the sum which was paid out last year for Western stock.
The proportion of oxen has been unusually large during the
month, and that of store and small beef cattle much smaller
than it was in October.
The supply of choice extra beef has been small, while that of
the second and third qualities of beef has been too large for
the market, and some cattle have remained unsold at the close
of the last two markets. Consequently there has betn a greater
advance on extra beef than on the ordinary qualities. Two
year-olds, &c., have improved more than common oxen, for
which the market has been quite dull for the last two weeks.
For some time past most of the sheep which are brought to
market, are engaged to certain butchers before their arrival.
Consequently there has been but little seen or heard of the sale
of sheep. From 4}i to 5J4C #'lb.,has been the range of fair
and good sheep ; a few large and fat at 6c. Comparatively few
however have as yet been sold by the pound, most being taken
at so much per head. The variation of the figures in our scale
of prices for sheep indicates rather the change in qup.lity than in
price. Prices have been pretty uniform during the month,
while the quality has varied much. At the last market there was
a lot of 200 "pelters" from Canada, which sold for $2 per head
or less ; while the two previous weeks we heard of no lots be-
ing sold under $3.
Working oxen have been plenty during the month, and have
been sold at about their value for the shambles.
Milch cows have been in fair demand, and prices remain
about the same as heretofore. Cows and young calves from $25
to $35 — inferior ones have sold for less, and those warranted
superior for more. The average value of cows may bo illustrated
perhaps by a sale outside of the market. In one of the towns in
the vicinity of Boston, the stock of a milk-farm was recently sold,
among which were 65 cows, which were sold, at auction, at an
average price of $28 per head. The stock was regarded as a very
good selection.
Hides, 8c '^ ft. Tallow 8c. CaU skins, 123^0. Pelts $1,75
to $2,00.
<iii^'
^'^^^^^^^^S^^''^^<^^'^^"
i
DEVOTED TO AGRIOULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1863.
NO. 2.
NOURSE, EATOX & TOLIUX, Proprietors.
Office.... 102 WASnciGTON Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editoe.
FEBRUARY.
"And all this uniform, uncolored scene,
Shall be dismantled of its fleecy load,
And flush into variety again.
From dearth to plenty, and from death to life,
In nature's progress, when she lectures man
In heavenly truth ; evincing, as she makes
The grand transaction, that there lives and works
A Soul in all things, and that soul is God.
NEXAMPLED im-
provements in ag-
riculture have been
made in the last
ten years. The
change from the
gloom of winter to
the brightness and
promise of spring,
is, indeed, not
more marked and
obvious than the
transition which
has taken place in
the mind and char-
acter of the farmer.
During this period.
there has been a mental quickening among the
masses — old and inveterate prejudices haA'e re-
laxed and given way to enlightened views, igno-
rance has been charmed from its stupor, and su-
perstition made to relinquish its hold upon the
reasoning faculties, by the light of truth. What
has wrought this change ? The agricultural press,
perhaps, more than any other single instrumental-
ity, yet not exclusively, for while we concede that
the influences of this mighty engine of improve-
ment have had an important share in effecting the
great work, we should, by no means, be unmind-
ful of the other means which have been enlisted
and brought to bear upon the result.
Our agricultural clubs and societies have had
an important share in the work, and so have the
numerous, well digested and well written works
of our native authors. The various arts and sci-
ences connected with farming have been elucidat-
ed, and their relations to it more clearly shown.
Knowledge is contagious. A fact published to-
day in the columns of a paper, will bring out oth-
er facts, perhaps, of equal, if not of greater impor-
tance, from some other locality ; and so on until
the radiance diffused from that one solitary star-
point illuminates a mass of mind which before
had been involved in great doubt, or utter dark-
ness. An improvement — a conjecture — a simple
thought, or shadow of thought, born or developed
in one man's mind, by this law of contagion, or
sympathy, begets forms of beauty and utility in
another. An innovation or improvement an-
nounced in the columns of a journal, is at once
tested throughout the length and breadth of the
land ; it becomes adopted and popularized from
the shores of the St. John's to the remotest West.
The agricultural press is the conductor of intelli-
gence, carrying it from mind to mind — from vil-
lage to village, and from State to State — rousing
inquiry, and inducing effort. Says a late writer :
•'The man who asserts that he can learn noth-
ing from the columns of the ])ress, is supremely
wise, or transcendently arrogant. Grant that we
who write, in knowledge and attainment*, are a
little behind those who do not — but then we ])ub-
lish the best things we know or hear of, and
(though immensely modest) we claim that no one
can lose by leaving off the worst of his doings to
adopt the best of our suggestions. * * * When
the great ajjostle to the Gentiles said — "Woe is
unto me if I preach not the Gospel," he assorted
a general principle, rather than an individual fact.
Whoever can deliver a message of utility is bound
to do it, no matter to what i)art of the wide circle
of human interests it relates."
The farmer, whose labors have secured to him
the possession of ample means, — who cultivates
fields unencumbered by bonds or mortgages, and
who is wise enough to discover the true nature
and means of happiness, enjoys more, or may en-
42
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
joy more of life's blessings, than fall to the lot of
those engaged in most other pursuits.
No man should enter the ranks of agriculture,
lured hither by the sole desire of amassing dollars.
It is a remark of our own great nation's father,
that "Agriculture is the most noble, healthy and
useful employment of man," and it is certainly
the part of wisdom and prudence not to give up
wisdom and happiness for power, A sound mind
in a sound body, is more to be prized than deeds,
bonds and mortgages, and the crust of bread and
the pearly draught in the maple bowl of the stu-
dent of nature, more salutary and refreshing than
the luxuries that burden the table of the epicure.
If content to restrict his wants within the lim-
its of judicious expenditures, the same qualities
of mind and heart that secure success in other
professions, will enable the husbandman to obtain,
if not wealth and luxury, at least a competency,
and cause him to feel that he has not been mere-
ly a cumberer of the ground. One of the results
of a more liberal dissemination of ideas opposed
to the old notions that have so long hampered the
spirit of improvement, and a pleasant indication
of progress, is to be seen in the superior style of
our farm buildings. The new house is generally
better than its predecessor, indicating that the
owner, or his architect, has studied Downing, or
consulted some other competent author in the
construction of his home. And while the true
man is mindful of his own comfort and conve-
nience, he will also be mindful of the comfort and
■well-being of the animals committed to his charge.
"A merciful man is merciful to his beast." Con-
siderations of economy, as well as of common
humanity, should lead to the protection and ef-
ficient shelter, during cold weather, of every ani-
mal on the farm. The barns and stables should
be warm and comfortable at all seasons, and es-
pecially in winter. An ox or cow, properly pro-
tected from the cold, will require much less food
to sustain it in a healthy and thriving condition,
than will be required when the animal is exposed.
"The vital heat must be kept up to a certain
point — about 100 degrees — and this is done by
the food consumed — one use of which has been
compared to fuel burned in the animal organism
to sustain the required temperature. A sheltered
position tends to keep up the animal heat, while
exposure reduces it, or rather renders moi-e food
or luel requisite for its support.
For the New England Farmer.
CULTURE OF FLAX.
You recommend the raising of flax, Mr. Edi-
tor. Will you please to give us some light upon
this subject? In the first place, where can we
get the seed, and at what expense ? What kind
of soil and in what condition is best adapted to it ?
How much seed to the acre, and at what time to
be sown? What shall be done with it when
gx'own ? Shall it be peeled by the hand,
spread and dried upon the ground, bound like
oats, stowed away in the barn, to be subsequently
threshed, and then spread upon the grass to rot,
by exposure to alternate sun and rain ? Or shall it
be cut with a scythe or cradle, and when dried,
the seed threshed out and pressed for oil ? This
is the process in Ohio, where much of il is raised.
Of the stalk no account is made. It iit almost as
useless as tobacco stalks, which poise n the soil
that has nurtured them, while the stems and leaves
are doing a like mischievous office in human
stomachs.
But as the flax, the fibrous covering of the stalk,
is what is now most needed, and modern inven-
tion claims to teach how to make it useful, I sup-
pose the producer is either to be taught how to
reduce the crude material to "flax cotton," or to
be furnished with a market at remunerative prices.
Fifty years ago, flax was thought to be indis-
pensable in the domestic economy of every New
England family. Our fathers knew how to grow,
pull, thresh, "rot," break, hatchel and swingle flax ;
and our mothers knew equally well how to card,
and spin and weave the precious article, manufac-
turing therefrom bed and table linen, and a great
variety of needful and ornamental articles, upon
which good and prudent housewives were wont to
pride themselves.
Now, if you can give such information as is
needed upon this subject through the Farmer, you
will confer a favor upon some who would like to
try the experiment, and may promote the public
weal. K. B. H.
Amherst, Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — We have recently written an arti-
cle on the subject of flax, which, with one from a
correspondent, will fully answer your questions.
A LOOK AT SOME FINE STOCK.
We had a call, the other day, from an old ac-
quaintance, P. M. Jones, Esq., of Amherst, N.
H., who invited us to go and look at a "Icetle pig,"
which he sold to a gentleman in this city about
one year ago. We went with him, and found his
pigship taking a nap after a hearty dinner of sweet
corn meal and water. He did not seem to relish
the gentle pokings of his keeper to get him upon
his legs, so that we might have a better view of
his comely proportions. Aroused at length, how-
ever, and upon his feet, in size he was about
equal to a whole drove of common porkers kneaded
into one ! In shape, he is very symmetrical ; small
head, short snout, ears small, thin, and lopped ;
legs slender, skin soft, and eyes bright and small,
and altogether one of the most splendid candidates
for the bean-pot and a dish of ham and eggs that
we ever heard grunt !
Mr. Jones came into possession of the breed in
1849. He went on board a ship in New York
harbor to look at a freight of railroad iron, and
while there saw a sow pig which one of the sailors
told him he had brought from England, for a per-
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
43
son who had requested him to procure for him a
j)ure blood Leicestershire pig. On arriving in
port, he learned that his friend had died, and he
■was desirous to dispose of the pig. Mr. Jones
purchased, and sent it to his farm in Amherst, N.
H. The hog we looked at, is one of her descend-
ants, is 30 months old, girts 7 feet, and weighs
thirteen hundred and Jiftij pounds! Its mother
is in an adjoining pen, and weighs seven hundred
pounds !
Mr. Jones has the taste, the knowledge, and the
means, to raise stock of a superior character. He
is full of enthusiasm in whatever he undertakes.
He introduced the first Dutch cattle we ever saw,
and he states now, that, after having bred the
Durham, Devon, Ayrshire, Hungarian and Guern-
sey cattle, his opinion is, that the Dutch excel any
other breed as milkers. He is as successful in
horses as in cattle and swine, having recently sold
one to a New York gentleman for $4,309, and
another for about half that sum. We saw his Lei-
cestershire swine at his barn three or four 5-ears
since, and then thought they were the finest pigs
we had ever seen. He is as much distinguished
as a successful /ai'mer as he is as a stock breeder,
and is conferring important benefits ujwn the ag-
ricultural community by his intelligent and ener-
getic labors.
Mr. Jones is just fi-om New Orleans and Baton
Rouge, where he was called by the government to
open one of the important railroad lines from the
Key of the Gulf to the interior. This cannot well
be done until Gen. Banks, with his brave troops,
demolish Port Hudson, and as this will require
some time, he has returned to his farm and his
blood stock to cultivate the arts of peace, in the
enjoyment of friends and family.
For the New England Farmer.
NE\^r YEAR DUTIES.
Another year has gone its round, with its joys,
son'ows, successes an^ defeats ! What change a
single year produces ! How little, individually, we
realize this, especially when its sorrows and ad-
versities, which are constantly taking place, come
to our neighbor instead of us. While the ]ieople
of the Free States have much to be thankful for,
much which should cause them to rejoice in the
kind dealings of their Heavenly Father with
them, yet the wicked rebellion of the Southern
States against its lawful government, and the at-
tending war, has brought sorrow and sadness to
thousands of once happy firesides, and the vacant
chairs all over New England testify to its an-
cient faith and the earnestness with which the de-
scendants of the Puritans kave given their lives to
their countrj' to uphold its laws and maintain its
authority.
The year 1S62 is now numbered with the thou-
sands which have gone before it. History will
relate its doings, of individuals and nations. The
past should instruct us for the future. Change is
written on every day's record, and this has even ■
come over the Neio England Farmer, not indeed
in object, or interest, or icorth to the farmer,
none of these, for there it only changes for the bet-
ter, merely in size ; but 1 have yet to learn that a
small honey bee does not gather as much sweet
as the larger one. I know nothing about the Ital-
ian honey bee, but the Yankee bee I understand
well.
The New Year brings with it most important
duties which the farmer and mechanic should not
suff"er to pass away without attending to. In the
first issue of the year the Editor has referred to
some of these. The farmer is truly a business
man, and like all wise and prudent men of this
class, he should review the past, and lay and ma-
ture his plans for the future, and there is no bet-
ter time to do this than the beginning of the new
year. Especially in regard to money' matters, ac-
counts, &c._ Ail these ought to be squared up,
and everything about them adjusted as often as
once a year. Nothing is truer than that short
settlements make long friends. It is so. Ac-
counts and business transactions are more easily
settled to the satisfaction of each party while all
the particulars are fresh in the memory. No
open account should ever be suffered to remain a
longer time than one year without a settlement
by cash or note. Many a lawyer has grown fat
by a neglect of this rule. Many farmers are
greatly at fault in this particular, and sufler not
only by loss of interest justly due, but frequently
the principal too is lost, by not attending to such
matters when they should have done so.
There is no reason why 'the farmer should not
be as particular in all his business transactions as
the merchant with whom he trades at the village
store. I am satisfied from much observation,
that many persons fail of success, or at least of
that success which their close application to their
b'isiness and the strict economy whicli they prac-
tice should insure them, simply from the neglect
of keeping a correct snd systematic account of all
their farming and business operations, of reducing
everything to a profit and loss account, which
they would find a very easy thing if once put in
operation. It need not be so exact, perhaps, ex-
cept in money matters, as that of the merchant, —
but so exact that the farmer can take his books of
a leisure evening, and by an examinaiion of the
different items, tell somewhere nearly how his
business is progressing, either toward success or
failure.
Within the past few years many different forms
of fiirm accounts have been given to the public.
Perhaps no one of those comes quite up to what
would be found the thing for you, but the idea is,
the farmer should keep a correct account of all his
business and farm operations, and he can do this
in any way which will best answer his purpose,
provided, always, it be such that, in case of Iiis
death, there would be no difficulty in any other
person's understanding it. Read again, my
friends, what the Editor had to say in his New
Year's issue of the Farmer. n. q. t.
King Oak Hill, Jan., 1803.
To CoRRESPOXDEXTS. — Thanks for many val-
uable contributions, which will be given in due
time.
44
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
For the New England Farmer.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION.
It has been truly remarked, by men of learning,
and substantiated by the dearly bought experi'^nce
of others in every age and generation, that educa-
tion is but half completed when the mind only is
cultivated. This idea may seem to some absurd.
But I prophecy that the problematical views en-
tertained in respect to the forms and manners of
education, will yield to the more profound and
praiseworthy forms which our understanding ever
dictates to us, as the world advances towards the
zenith of its glory, civilization and enlightenment.
It should be clear to the mind of every intelligent
being, that where the mind alone is ti'ained and
cultivated to the neglect of the proper treatment
of the body, it must be accompanied with serious
results.
It is necessary that the body, as well as the
mind, should be cultivated and fostered in every
department. Though to a great extent the mind
is dependent on the body, they are so closely iden-
tified that neither can work well without the other
is in health. But the body would suffer less from
an enfeebled mind, than the mind would from an
enfeebled body. Physical education is of the ut-
most importance, and is one of those accomplish-
ments in which the ancients were better informed
than we are.
I hold it as a doctrine, that the mind in its ut-
most perfection, must not be utterly ignorant of
any species of human knowledge, experimental or
artificial, or any salutary accomplishment within
its reach, and that the body, being part of us, has,
also, a legitimate right to its careful education —
for we are not all soul.
This notion is an old one. It is one upon which
the character of the ancient nations was formed.
"The bath and gymnasium which made a neces-
sary part of their existence, served without an ef-
fort to harmonize, strengthen and embellish."
Gymnastics, the art by which physical education
is effected, is a Greek word, which signifies
stripped of clothing, encumbrances, and its purpose
is to impart strength and agility to the human body
by exercise. This is best accomplished by dis-
pensing with all superfluous articles of dress —
hence the appropriateness of the word. In Athens
gymnastics assumed a scientific form, and were
taught in the academic lyceum, and places espe-
cially adapted to the purpose outside the city.
At Rome, as well as iti Greece, gymnastics were
taught as an art necessary to the proper develop-
ment of the entire race. In the middle ages, ath-
letic sports represented a new phase of the old
gymnastics ; and the pastimes of the English were
chiefly those which tended to strengthen and in-
vigorate the muscles.
Physical education is, in our age, regarded as a
science, and gymnastic exercises are founded on
scientific principles. The mechanical constitution
of the human body has been attentively consid-
ered, and its motive agents have been divided
into two kinds ; the bones we call the passive
agents, and the muscles we describe as the active
agents ; yet it is consistent to suppose that the
muscles, lying dormant in idleness and inactivity,
will become almost as passive and inanimate as
the bones ; none can doubt the truth of this for
an instant.
Exercise develops those muscles which are
mainly enlarged by it ; thus the arms of the black-
smith are always found strong and muscular, but
as the bones and muscles of the body are called
into requisition, important results are to be ob-
served in the enlargement of the internal system ;
thus active exercise with the arms expands the
chest, and one of its most valuable effects is, that
it gives freedom to respiration ; breathing, in its
turn, affects the energetic actions of the heart.
Consequently, the blood circulates more rapidly
through the whole body, and thus accelerates and
improves digestion. The body is so diversified in
its composition, that to lay down a multiplicity of
special rules for preserving the health of the two
departments of man, active and passive, would be
needless. The following, however, may be classed
among "the most important," — such as walking,
running, leaping, wrestling and swimming, all
conducive to the preservation of health and expan-
sion of the muscular system. In doing this, we
are not only obeying the mandates of an alhvise
power, but are conferring benefit upon the organic
department, and fulfilling the physical functions of
the body. Athletic games, such as cricket or
football, are highly beneficial ; and while they af-
ford amusement, confer solid good on all those
who practice them. The whole of the energetic
operations of the body have a corresponding effect
on the mind. While they impart activity to the
body, they invigorate the mind.
Cultivate, then, physical exercises — they are
positively useful, yet not to excess, for the mind
or body, Avorked to excess, will be productive of
corresponding evil results. Whether or not we
study gymnastics as a science, let us not neglect
active exertions.
If it is a duty incumbent on us to expand our
intellectual and moral faculties, it is no less a duty
to strengthen and develop our physical organs.
This important part of education should never be
neglected — never caii be neglected with impunity.
Don't tell children that they must remain in
the house and be quiet through the entire day.
Such a practice is pernicious in many respects. It
enfeebles the bodies of children, and renders them
peculiarly liable to be attacked by colds and
coughs. A child should have its feet well shod
with socks and boots, its body well wrapped in
warm clothing, its head and ears carefully pro-
tected from the cold, and then let loose, to play in
the bracing winter air. By this means its body
will become robust, healtliy and strong, and its
spirits be bright and cheerful. Manual labor and
muscular exercises are the great schools of refoi'-
mation needed, and are strenuously advocated by
the most intelligent physicians.
Harkison Bassey.
North Gharlestown, N. H., 1862.
A Young Farmer asked an old Scotchman for
advice in his pursuits. He told him what had
been the secret of his own success in farming, and
concluded with the following Avarning : "Never,
Sandie, never, above all things, never get in debt;
but if you do, let it be for manure."
When there is love in the hpart, there are rain-
bows in the eyes, covering every black cloud with
Horceous hues.
1863.
NEW ENGLAXD FARMER.
45
■WINTER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.
We are aware that, in some sections of New
England, there is an unusual attention called to
the subject of sheep culture, and it is j)ossible, as
in most other matters, that extravagant notions
are entertained, and that prices are asked and
paid that cannot be justified by any past expei'i-
ence. This state of things, however, has not yet
reached Massachusetts, where some of it would
have a wholesome influence both upon our prac-
tice and our pockets.
There are now unoccupied in this State many
localities admirably adapted to the culture of
sheep, where farms are gradually going back to
foi-est, and where sheep may be introduced with
profit. Judiciously managed, they would restore
many exhausted farms to their original fertility,
and furnish occupation and homes to thousands
who are dissatisfied with the meagre returns of
lands that are not adapted to the cultivation of
the grains and grasses.
The Hon. Richard S. Fay, of Lynn, Mass.,
has given great attention to the culture of sheej)
for many years. He is a close observer, discrimi-
nates with sound judgment, deals in facts and fig-
ures, and if he makes a statement, has the facts be-
hind to confirm it. He furnished to the last Pa-
tent Office Report an article on "The Breeds of
Sheep best adapted to Neio England, with sugges-
tions as to their treatment," and we copy from it
that portion which relates to their toin^er manage-
ment.
The first mistake frequently made is to keep the
flock too long at pasture, with no other food than
what the pasture aff'ords. The change from the
pasture to the fold should be gradual ; that is to
say, the sheep should be allowed their usual range
abroad as long as the ground is not covered with
snow ; they, as well as the mowing fields, will be
benefited by an occasional run over them. After
the severe frosts of October, however, the herb-
age, even if abundant, loses a part of its nutri-
tive qualities ; and when this is the case, it should
be made up by artificial food. This period indi-
cates the time of folding at night. Sheep should
then have, before going out in the morning and
on their return, the needful addition to their pas-
ture food. Crushed corn, oats, beans, oil cake, or
roots, in very moderate quantities, will keep sheep
at this period in good condition, aided by what
they get during the day from the field, and pre-
pare them for their regular winter treatment.
The fold is a matter of some importance. It is
a very cheap and simple business to house sheep
in the winter ; at the same time there is a right
and wrong way in going about it. Cold is not so
much to be guarded against as wet. A plenty of
cover, therefore, with yard room, is essential.
They must always have a retreat from snow and
rain. At the same time they should not be de-
prived of the o])en air, when they desire it. There
is scarcely a farm in New England that has not
waste barn floor room in w-hich to winter f(n-ty or
fifty sheep. A yard opening from it is easily and
cheaply constructed. A portion of a cellar under
the barn, o])en at one end, with a small enclosure
attached to it, makes comfortable quarters for
sheep. The manure from the sheep can be left
through the winter where it falls, provided coarse
litter or dry sand, or both, is occasionally sprinkled
over it. Ventilation or fresh air is essential to
the health of sheep. This and dryness are the
two leading objects to aim at, bearing in mind the
old adage: "One-third more shelter, one-third
less food."
Next in importance to proper folding is the
feeding. Here, too, the profit or loss depends
less upon the quantity than in the method of its
distribution. Regularity in the time of feeding,
and variety in tlie food given, are essential.
Sheep should be fed, when in fold, at least
three times a day, and always at the same hour.
No animal knows better than a sheep his usual
meal time, or is more impatient of its postpone-
ment. The appetite comes with the appointed
hour, and the food is then eaten with the greatest
relish and the least waste.
Every observant flock-master knows the fond-
ness of sheep for variety in its food. It has been
said that it cannot exist long upon any one kind
of herb, or root, or grain — not even upon the tur-
nip. Change in food, in order to preserve the
healthy condition and well-doing of sheep, is,
therefore, a necessity.
The following table represents the value of
different articles of food which may be given to
sheep, taking hay of the best quality as the stan-
dard :
100 lbs
hay, best quality, equal to 90 lbs. clover.
" " 102 " afterm
' " « 374
442
195
153
504
276
339
SOS
45
54
59
50
45
45
105
106
45
44
aftermath.
wheat 8tra\7.
rye straw.
oat straw.
bean straw.
common turnip.
carrot.
mangel w<;rtiel.
Swedes turnip.
wheat.
barley.
oats.
corn.
peas.
beans.
wheat bran.
wheat and oat chaff.
linseed oil cake.
cotton-seed oil-cake.
The return in manure, which is not taken into
account in fixing these values, is largely in favor
of the oil cake and other highly nitrogenized sub-
stances.
A sheep should receive daily about three \ier
cent of his live weight in food ; if, however, it
consists of hay and other coarse herbage a lil)eral
allowance should be made for waste. Taking the
above formula as a guide, one pound of good liav,
half a pound of maize and two pounds of oat straw-
would be a fair allowance for a slieep weigliing
one hundred pounds, the three being equivalent
to three pounds of hay, or three per cent, of its
weight. Observation and practice will soon cor-
rect over as well as under feeding, the great ob-
ject being to keep every animal in an improving
condition.
It is not a good jjlan to fold too many sheep to-
gether, and tlie breeding ewes should be kept
apart from the rest of the flock. Thirty or forty
sheep are as many as should be together for health
46
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
and economical feeding. It is not absolutely
necessary that each lot should be kept in separate
buildings ; but the lots ought to be so divided
that they cannot run, feed, or lie down together.
Water should be carefully supplied to sheep, and
a box of coarse salt should be placed in every
fold.
The subject is treated as follows by Mr. Young-
love, of New York :
During the winter, care should be taken not to
allow too many to run in one flock, for the
stronger continually overrun the weaker, picking
out the most delicate portions of the food, and
leaving that less palatable and of inferior quality
to those which should have the best. The usual
mode is to allow from one hundred to one hun-
dred and fifty in a flock. AVhile some keep them
in close yards and water and feed them, others al-
low them to roam over the fields during the day
and bring them to the yard at night. Such as are
allowed a free range usually pick quite a por-
tion of their winter living, but it is of an inferior
quality, and a flock allowed to roam will not usu-
ally keep in as good condition as Avhen they are
carefully yarded, housed, and pro]3erly fed. If
sheep are divided into small flocks of about
twenty-five, and are selected with reference to size
and strength, and kept in close confinement
through the winter, giving them only room enough
to move about, they will require less food than if
allowed more liberty, and allowed to run in larger
flocks ; but Aviiether the increased amount of la-
bor will off'set against the difference in the supply
of food can only be determined by the circum-
stances and conveniences of the grower.
A DISCUSSION ON GEAPES AND PEARS.
At the Concord Farmer's Club, on Thursday
evening, Dec. 12, the subject under discussion was
Fruit Culture and its Profits. The whole even-
ing, however, was exhausted upon two or three
points relating to the grape and pear, and only a
general reference was made to the profits of fruit
culture.
With regard to the grape, the first leading
thought was, that heavy manuring is not only un-
necessary, but that it is absolutely hurtful. 1.
That it forces the wood to a late, rank growth, so
that cold weather finds it in an unripe, juicy and
tender condition, and that it cannot resist the ac-
tion of severe frost, as slow growing and thor-
oughly ripened wood M'ould be able to. This
alone will so weaken the general powers of the
vine that it does not recover the shock, and after
a struggle for a year or two it dies.
2. That an abundance of nitrogenous manure,
worked in several inches below the surface, at-
tracts the roots below, where they are found to
canker and finally rot, and thus cause the prema-
ture death of the plant. It was urged that the
roots should be kept near the surface, where they
would sensibly feel the force of the solar rays, and
that the principal manuring should consist of
ashes, plaster, and lime, spread upon the surface ;
that the plants should have careful and clean cul-
tivation, and only be allowed to fruit moderately,
and that a soil that would bring forty bushels of
corn per acre, was abundantly strong for the
grape.
In our own culture of the grape, we have suc-
ceeded best by training a single plant to a stake
six feet out of the ground, pruning severely in
November, and leaving only two buds on the side
spurs, — then when the new' wood is thrown out
and two bunches of grapes have set, to cut off" the
shoots which grow out, leaving only one vigorous
leaf beyond the fruit. This practice is pursued
all summer, until the fruit has ripened, and se-
cures on each vine some ten to twenty pounds of
large, Avell-ripened and delicious grapes, providing
the frost docs not interfere with our operations.
This is a more simple and convenient mode than
cultivating them on trellises, because one can go
all round them with ease, and look into the condi-
tion of every part of the vine. It is also more
convenient to cultivate and prune them, and as
this must be done several times in the course of
the summer, it becomes a matter of importance to
have them accessible. A thrifty vine will need
cutting back as often as once in ten days ; it has
a wonderful vigor, and will send up shoots en-
tirely above the stake, and lateral ones aD around
it, that will need the pruner's constant care to
keep down. But it is easy and interesting work,
that can be done without interfering with the
stei'ner duties of the farm, or ft may be performed
by the females of the family, who need exercise
and to be interested in the open air.
Two or three speakers of experience in grape
culture stated that deep, rich borders are entirely
unnecessary in the open air culture of our native
grapes, — that they will not produce so abundantly
in them as in more shallow culture, dressed with
mineral manures, and that the vines will not con-
tinue so long in them in a healthy condition. All
this is encouraging, and may lead some to the cul-
tivation of this cheap and wholesome fruit, who
have been deterred from it by the idea that the
process was a complicated and expensive one.
As to the profit of grape raising in New Eng-
land, we have not a doubt, as the demand for
them during the two seasons just passed has
proved that they are appreciated and will be taken
at remunerative prices. Large quantities have
been brought into our markets from Ohio and
Western New York, and especially from one or
two islands in Lake Erie. They were of the Ca-
tawba and Isabella varieties, and when reaching
here in good condition were of excellent flavor.
But notwithstanding this, the Concord grape,
raised in quantity in one or two vineyards in the
town whose name the grape bears, has been sold
1863.
NEW ENGLAXD FARMER.
47
at a price twenty per cent, higher than the Ca-
tawba or Isabella, and we think, when perfectly
ripened, is a better grape than the Isabella. Good
markets for the grape may be found all over New
England, and if the fruit is only equal in qual-
ity to that brought from a distance, our people
must have a considerable advantage in the less ex-
pensive item of transportation.
In regard to the discussion on pears, nothing
especially new was elicited, and no decided opin-
ions were given as to the soils best adapted to
them, or what are the best dozen varieties. The
importance of shelter was acknowledged, and the
great success which is realized in their culture in
villages was imputed, in a considerable degree, to
this advantage. The ripening of the pear was
spoken of, but no definite plan suggested. Our
practice is, to find when the pear should be gath-
ered by the greater or less degree of tenacity with
which it adheres to the tree ; if, on raising it, the
stem parts easily from the tree, we think it ready
to be gathered. AVhen collected they are put into
boxes, barrels or drawers, and then deposited in
the coolest place we can find, and where the tem-
perature will be as even as we can command. In
this condition they will remain plump and fair, re-
tain their peculiar qualities of flavor, and gradu-
ally assume the orange or golden yellow which so
many fine varieties possess in a state of perfect
ripeness. A few days, however, befoi-e they are
■wanted for the table, the number desired for im-
mediate use should be brought into a warm room,
when the chemical change that will rapidly take
place in their flavor is more wonderful, even, than
the change which they undergo in color. By the
observance of these three points, — gatliering, stor-
ing aicay and ripening, fruit of the most delicious
character may be obtained.
For the Netc England Farmer.
SHEEP MAUIA.
Mr. Editor : — What is to be the consequences
of the present excitement of the sheep market ?
The whole world, or at least that portion of it
which is located in this vicinity, is uncontrolably
afflicted with the sheep monomania of the most
violent character. Almost every man, woman
and child who can accumulate sufficient fuiids is
anxious to invest them in sheep. To such an ex-
tent has this been carried, and such fabulous
prices have been paid, that a violent reaction,
sooner or later, must undoubtedly occur. There
are no sheep left in the country that can be bought
at reasonable rates. Everything that grows wool,
coarse or fine, and many an animal that grows
nothing but hair, and that not of the finest tex-
ture, has been most sacredly preserved. This is a
fevered and an unnatural state, and cannot possi-
bly exist for any great length of time.
If the consumption of wool remains as great as
it now is, or becomes much greater, the supply,
being stimulated by the high prices that it now
commands, will soon become more than equal to
the demand when a decline will take place.
Those who purchased sheep previous to the ad-
vance, will undoubtedly make money in the ojjer-
ation. But it is very uncertain whether a ])erson
can now invest money in that way and make it
profitable, unless he is endowed with that fore-
knowledge necessary to induce him to sell before
the tide ebbs backwards.
There are other interests which have been de-
serted by those who have become excited after
sheep, that hold out greater inducements (caused
by the limited supply that will result from such
desertion) than the one under consideration.
Pawlet, Vt., Dec, 1862. Dike.
/'V/r tlie New EnslnnJ Farmer.
H. W. BEECHEH ON FARMING.
Hkxry Ward Beeciier is the author of a very
readable book entitled "Plain and Pleasant Talk
about Fruits, Flowers and Farming," as most of
the community know. I would call him Reverend,
but as he is opposed to all titles, he might take of-
fence. This book is mad-^ up of gleanings from
the Western Farmer and Gardener, which he
edited in Indiana more than twenty years ago.
In theology Mr. Beccher isa "Come-outer," but in
agriculture a corae-inner ! In other words, he
undoubtedly believes that good farming will re-
generate the world more than bad theology. Mr.
B. is certainly a very active, thinking man, and
may be regarded as one of the "Seven Wise Men"
of America. He is a column of many polished
sides, but it would be difficult to say whether it is
hexagonal or octogonal. He was led, he says in
his preface, to read horticulture and agriculture as
a relaxation from preaching. One instance he
mentions of preaching daily for eighteen consecu-
tive months ! If he has changed his oj)inions,
however, we are pained for the long account of
error he must settle. Nevertheless, everything
changes, and we suppose man must do the same,
or suffer his brain to jietrify.
Mr. Beecher must be congratulated on his es-
chewing "D. D.," for we cannot see that Doctors
of Divinity should exist any more than Doctors of
Farming. In fact, we think, as Mr. B. must, that
the latter are far more important, as he himself
has assumed to be one. In any sense we trust he
is no abortion; no mere ignis fatuus, leading
men into pools and ditches ; no dull, false, tallow
light, but a brilliant, oxygenated blaze, leading
men out of all manner of l)ondage. He teaches
men to think for themselves ; is democratic and
utilitarian in all his notions ; a hard-thinking and
hard-figliting, shirt-sleeve preacher, preaching the
sacred and profane word as is most effectual, and
battling with weapons carnal or divine. He
pushes, he pulls, he cuts, he bruises, he tickles, he
crushes, he I)lows, he foams, be storms, he roars ;
and all this he does in inculcating what we must
call — Beecherism ! He believes in the four cardi-
nal ])oints of the moral compass, in original igno-
rance, if not in original sin ; in the Bible as he
understands it, but jjarticularly in man as he is
trying to make him, and of course in himself. He
thinks the laity not all sinners, nor the clergy all
regenerated. He has faith in education and in
progress, regardless of ancient landmarks ; has
48
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
sounded the depths and shoals of the ocean of sci-
ence, and can discourse upon free ammonia as
well as upon free grace ; upon granitic soils as well
as upon flinty hearts ; upon the influence of the
moon on vegetation as well as on man ! Mr.
Beecher is in fact a shrewd, active man of this fast
world — or rather of this fast country — as every
man ought to be ; can do many things conven-
iently ; can drive a fast horse ; drive slow oxen ;
drive a liquor-seller ; drive a slave-holder ; drive
a bargain ; and if the "Lord prosper him," may
yet drive his "coach and six."
But let me change my key. The above is my
"Plai7i and Pleasant TaW about a plain and
pleasant talker ; but one who, should his eye
meet this article, might be after me with "coals of
fire," and from whose wrath I could only defend
myself by that universal insect exterminator, the
fumes of tobacco. I therefore beg pardon, and
proceed to make a few extracts from his book.
Speaking of educated formers, he says :
"Crafty politicians are constantly calling you
the bone and sinew of the land ; and you may de-
pend upon it that you will never be anything else
iDut bone and sinew without education. There is
a law of God in this matter. That class of men
who make the most and best use of their heads,
will, in fact, be the most influential, will stand
highest, whatever the theories and speeches may
say. * * * * If farmers and mechanics feel
themselves to be as good as other people, it all
may be true ; for goodiiess is one thing and intel-
ligence is another."
"Just as soon as your heads are felt as much as
your hands are, that will bring you to the top."
"There is no reason why men of the very high-
est education should not go to a farm for their liv-
ing. If a son of mine were brought up on pur-
pose to be a farmer, if that was the calling which
he preferred, I would educate him, if he had com-
mon sense to begin with. He would be as much
better for it as a farmer, as he would as a lawyer.
There is no reason why a thoroughly scientific ed-
ucation should not be given to every farmer and
to every mechanic."
There is some truth in the above extracts ; but
if its author had been gaining a livelihood upon a
farm all his days — even if he possessed the same
amount of knowledge as now — he would not have
written this, or had the heart to ; for he would
have seen that a farmer has not the opportunity
of exhibiting his talents to the world that the cler-
gyman and the lawyer, or other public men have.
He would have seen that his light was hid under
a bushel, from his private position as a farmer,
and that his head would not have the influence
that his hands had. The possession of knowledge
and the time and means for its public display are
very difi'erent matters. And even now, if Mr.
Beecher were to retire from the bustle of the world
to a farm, in a few years he would be forgotten,
and men in public positions with half his talents
and power of instructing and making fun for the
million, would surpass him iu influence. Learned
farmers, therefore, as such, cannot wield the pow-
er that public men do, who are almost constantly
before the people. Who supposes that Daniel
Webster would have been heard of out of his
county, had he remained a farmer? A good
farmer he might have been ; and if able at his
calling, that may be sufficieut. He could not have
come "to the top," as Mr. B. expresses it. Many
farmers may be scientific in their avocation, but
while they are obliged daily to labor on the soil,
their public individual influence will always be
secondary. The simple fact is, the laboring man
has not time to court public favor, or to seek
"the bauble reputation." Should Prof. Agassiz
now take up -agriculture for a livelihood, and be
obliged himself to labor early and late ; compelled
to pay taxes and perhaps a mortgage debt, and be
harrassed by all the doubts and fears that most of
our farmers have to be, in a few years he would
probably forget the half he ever knew ; he could
not raise his brow for new laurels, and would soon
"find the blessedness of being little." Such seems
to be the inexorable, if not the Divine law.
Another reason why farmers' heads cannot be
felt as much as those of public men, is the jeal-
ousy of those of their own vocation. Here is
learned farmer A, among an alphabet of ordinary
farmers, who shares with them all the toils of the
farm. Upon the question whether he or Mr.
Beecher should deliver the agricultural address
before the county or district, most of them would
vote for the latter, whether in fact he knew so
much about the subject matter as the former or
not. They would say that A was one of their own
class, and knew no more than they did.
Mr. Beecher would give every farmer and me-
chanic a thorough scientific education. Well, why
not give every person in the State the best possi-
ble education ? Would they be any worse for it ?
Would they not be better ? Would not such
learning benefit the housewife as much as the
out-door laborer ? Perhaps it would. But it
would be almost impossible to accomplish this,
and hardly an object. They must get along with
less education and more common sense. But a
proportion of learned farmers and mechanics we
shall always have ; yet the facility by which an
unlettered man can enter upon land and labor to
advantage, or take up some mechanical pursuit,
will always keep these classes of vocations inferior
in intellectual ability and influence. Those igno-
rant persons — the Irish, for instance — must have
work, and as they can turn a furrow or spade a
square rod of land as well as a college graduate,
they will find labor on the soil, and will tend to
push the learned man up or ofl", as men wish to
associate and labor with their equals.
The great influence which money has in this
connection, I forbear at present to discuss.
West Medford, Dec., 18G2. D. w. L.
A Novel Stump-puller. — A writer in the
Bural Register states that he removed a large
stump from near his house in the following man-
ner : In the fall, with an inch auger, he bored a
hole in the centre of the stump ten inches deep,
and into it put about half a pound of oil of vitriol,
and corked the hole up tight. In the spring, the
whole stump and roots, extending through all
their ramifications, were so rotten that they were
easily eradicated.
The Love of Truth is the root of all chari-
ties. The trees which grow from it may have
thousands of distinct and diverging branches, but
good, generous fruit will be on them all.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
49
I I 1
( ' i' 1 '
V,\i •.'■''
,*;)!#.
-■ri
COTSWOLD SHEEP.
In OUT li*st nnmter-WTg gtmrim illustration of a
Cotuwold Buck, and now present the reader an
engraving of two beautiful Cotswold Ewes, and
with them the opinion of Mr. John T. Andrew,
of West Cornwall, Conn., a gentleman well quali-
fied by his long culture of sheep to judge of their
respective merits. He says :
I have selected the Cotswold breed of sheep for
my own cultivation, as combining more desirable
Dualities as a mutton sheep, than any other known
ariety. Its large size removes it from all compe-
tition except with the Leicester. Compared with
them the appearance of the Cotswold indicates a
I'ecent origin, less refinement of anatomy, less deli-
cacy of style, equal beauty of form, less liability
to disease, and that greater vigor of constitution
given by the fresh blood of a new and rising race.
Some of the best of this breed of sheep, arc now
known as New Oxfordshires. I am keeping Ijoth
varieties, and have yet had no reason to regret my
selection.
They are prolific. — After two years of age they
usually bring twins. The lambs become fat, and
are worth in autumn five dollars to the 'outcher.
Selected for breeding, the lambs sell at from ten
to twenty-five dollars each. A gentleman in
Canada who had fourteen of this class of sheep,
informed me that he one year raised from them
twenty-eight lambs, and sold them for seven hun-
dred dollars.
Their icool is prrrfOuble^ — The \\XjtA -of this
sheep, compared with the Merino, is dry, clean,
and less soft. The staple is very long. No other
sheep produce so heavy a fleece of pure wool.
Some washed fleeces have Aveighed as high as
twenty pounds. The lightest fleeces are from
bearing ewes, and these will average seven pounds
each, so that there is no kind of wool selling
higher by the fleece.
These sheep are hardy. — I have kc])t them three
years, and have not had a case of disease among
them. Their long, heavy fleece protects them
from cold, and turns off the storms.
Theij come to early tnafvrify. — They may be
fatted with jirofit when a year old. At two I have
seen them fatted with very little grain, and sold
to the butcher for eighteen dollars each.
They are disposed to become fat. — It is well
known that a given amount of food will produce a
far greater amount of valuable fat and flesh on
some animals than on others. Grain fed to these
sheep, produces more pounds of meat than fed to
swine, and the meat sells higher by the pound.
These Sheep obtain a yrcat size. — A standing
premium of one hundred dollars, for a sheep
weighing two hundred pounds in the mutton, has
been taken by this breed alone. The wool will
pay the expenses of keeping until three years of
age. They have then been flitted to weigh three
hundred pounds, and sold for twenty-five dollars
each.
These sheep are well adapted to small farms,
50
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
and thrive best in small flocks. The farmer of
small means will find that with good care, fifteen
of these sheep will produce as large an income as
one hundred of the common kind, and a much
larger jirofit.
As ornaments to the grounds of gentlemen of
w'ealth and taste, this variety of sheep is unrivalled.
They have no taste for roving, never escape from
their enclosure, are quiet and harmless among the
shrubbery and trees, gentle and even affectionate
and grateful among children. Their great square
forms and fleeces of snowy whiteness are sugges-
tive of comfort and good cheer, and their broad
countenances beam with a quiet contentment and
freedom from anxiety, which a wise man might
well envy.
To many, the humble occupations and quiet
pleasures of rural life appear insipid, but for my-
self, I glory in the sentiment which the great bard
of nature has placed in the mouth of his shepherd —
"I am a true laborer ; I earn that I eat, I get that
I wear, I owe no man hate, envy no man's happi-
ness, glad of other men's good, content with my
harm, and the greatest of my pride is to see my
ewes graze, and my lambs play."
For the New England Farmer.
HEALTH-.-VINEGAR— WOOD FISES AND
COOKING.
Mr. Editor : — Health is one of the greatest
boons that we are permitted to enjoy, but not one
healthy person, hardly, can be found in ten. Why
is it? is often asked. I know not how to answer
unless I say it is produced by disregard of na-
ture's laws. Those laws are not always infringed
with our eyes wide open, but we are deceived.
Take, for instance, the article of vinegar, which
finds a place upon our tables. Nine-tenths of
that used is a deleterious article, made up, for the
most part, of sulphuric acid. Every one knows
the danger of using that; but notwithstanding,
we every day take more or less into our systems.
Now, whilst God has seen fit to give us a large
crop of fruit, why not squeeze out some of the ap-
ple juice and make some pure cider vinegar?
Too much trouble ; cheaper to buy, is the re-
sponse. I say that money is no object, in com-
parison to health. It is not your own health, on-
ly, but that of your offspring is at stake. Pure
cider vinegar will not exceed twelve cents per gal-
lon, whilst those other kinds manufactured do not
exceed two cents. The manufacturer, therefore,
can make a good profit, and sell to the dealer for
less than the farmer can ; but like most cheap
things, it is dearer in the end.
I enter to have a chat of an evening with my
brother farmer, but it is not as of olden time. In
the place of the usual open wood fire, I find a
close coal or wood stove. How is this, I said to
him, that the stove has taken the place of the
open fire ? It costs too much to see the firelight.
He forgets that the air which has been spoilt by
the stove begets disease, and the doctor's bill add-
ed, will exceed the paltry savings. Now I live to
enjoy that which God has seen fit to place before
me. It is a pleasure for me to sit down at the
fireside, to watch the flickering of the blaze, to
inhale the air unburnt, to see the mouldering em-
bers drop away and return to ashes, to eat the
h6t rolls which come thoroughly cooked from in
front of the blazing pile. Those of us who for a
season may be absent amongst "piles of build-
ings," when we return to our homesteads and
partake of that celebrated dish, baked beans, can
well attest their superiority to those cooked in
modern ways. I find that those farmers who top-
dress their fields in the autumn, gather large crops
of hay the next season, and the fruit-grower who
looks and manures around his trees, finds no va-
cant spaces in his fruit bins. The farmer whose
hog-pen is well filled with muck, chaS" and refuse
hay, finds his land producing first rate crops.
Cape Elizabeth, Dec., 1862. s. P. M.
HABITS OP THE BEAVER.
The law of industry among the working beavers
is Avell attested to by hunters. Their dams or
houses are built anew or remodelled every fall,
and in a way to suit the height of the water during
the succeeding winter or spring. The object of
the dam seems to regulate the height of the water
at their houses, where they have two or three
berths at different heights, where they sleep dry,
but with their tails in the water, thus being warn-
ed of any change in the ]ise or fall of the water.
Some houses stand six feet at least above the sur-
face of the meadow covered with mud, and in the
form of a round coal pit, but so intei'sected with
sticks of wood as to be strong, and the weight of
three or four men makes no impression upon it.
A "full family," as hunters call them, consists
of the parental pair and the males of the next gen-
eration, with their mates. When the tribe get
lai'ge they colonize. Some time in the fall, all the
single ones of both sexes congregate from consid-
erable distances, at the deepest lake in tlie vicini-
ty where they choose their mates ; how ceremoni-
ous the nuptials we cannot say ; then they all go
home, the female following her mate, and all go
to work, first putting the house and dam in order
for winter, then laying in their stock of wood, the
bark of which is their winter food. They go up
the streams some three miles for their wood, and
float it down to their houses and then in some
mysterious way make it lie in a pile at the bottom
of the pond, outside of the house, where they
may take it at any time in the winter for use. It
is said that no human hands can disturb that
without its rising and remaining a-float till the
beavers have the handling of it.
But we do not feel quite sure what is fact and
what is conjecture respecting the beaver, whose
works are so much in the night and deep under
water. The fixU of the year is a busy time with
them, and it is interesting to see their new dams
in process of building, as we sometimes find them
across large boating streams ; and not unfrequent-
ly boatmen and river drivers tear away their dams
and get a good head of water for their use. They
usually build at the outlet of natural ponds, and
sometimes they flow large lakes and long pieces
of dead water, but are always moving and recon-
structing. How they keep their teeth in order
for so much eating, when the best steel would
wear out, is a mystery.
Two winters ago some lumbermen encamped
near one of their ponds. One afternoon, they
felled a tree across a lumber road, and before
morning it was cut up by the beavers and hand-
somely piled out of the road. — Aroostook Pioneei:
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
51
OLD "WINTER IS COMING,
B7 MISS UAXNAH F. GODLD.
Old Winter is comini; again, alack !
How icy anJ cold is he !
He cares not a pin for a shivering back,
He's a saucy old chap to white and to black ;
He whistles his chills with a wonderful knack,
For he comes from a cold country.
A witty old fellow this Winter is j
A mighty old fellow for glee j
He cracks his jokes on the pretty sweet miss,
The wrinkly old maid unfit to kiss,
And freezes the dew of their lips, — for this
Is the way with such fellows as he.
Old Winter's a frolicsome blade, I wot ;
He is wild in his humor, and free ;
He'M whistle along for the "want of his thought,"
And set all the warmth of our furs at naught,
And ruffle the laces the pretty girls bought,
For a frolicsome old fellow is he.
Old Winter is blowing his gusts along.
And merrily shaking the tree !
From morning to night he will sing his song ;
How moaning and short, how howling and long !
His voice is loud, for his lungs are strong, —
A merry old fellow is he.
Old Winter's a wicked old chap, I ween,
As wicked as ever you'll see !
He withers the flowers, so fresh and green,
And bites the pert nose of the miss of sixteen.
As she triumphantly walks in maidenly sheen —
A wicked old fellow is he.
Old Winter's a tough old fellow for blows.
As tough as ever you'll see ;
He'll trip up our trotters, and rend our clothes,
And stiffen our limbs from fingers to toes ;
He minds not the cry of his friends or his foes ;
A tough old fellow is he.
For the New England Farmer.
AGRICULTURE IN" COMMON SCHOOLS.
!Mr. Editor : — There are a few individuals who :
seem determined to have a real "wild goose chase"
on the subject of introducing the study of agricul- 1
ture into our common schools. Well, be it so. j
Let them have their way. They will never know '
their skill in gunning, until they try their hand at
the business. It can do no harm. It may do
some good. It will, at least, afford some amuse-
ment for others, if it do not throw any light on
the subject.
The last time the wild geese were seen or heard
from, they were at Richmond, Mass., where Mr.
William Bacon, of that town, blazed away at them
with all his might. But the poor geese did not
heed his "dunder and blixum," but kept on the
even tenor of their way, without being greatly
alarmed at the explosion. Mr. Bacon, if be has
not already, will soon find out, that it is a difficult
thing to kill a wild goose Avith a potato popgun !
But to the point at issue : "For more than
twenty years" ^Ir. Bacon claims to have been an
advocate for introducing the study of agricultui-e
into common schools. And yet, strange to say,
in all this time, he has not seen fit to open his
mouth upon the subject, but has been as silent as
a mouse in a cheese. And after twenty years of
study and thinking, the strongest argument he
has been able to find, is an ancient proverb in an-
swer to the question "what are the most proper
things for boys to learn ?" "Those thiixjs they are
to practice wlieii they become men." Ergo, (there-
fore,) if a boy is going to become a goldsmith, a
silversmith, a coppersmith, a blacksmith, a tin-
man, a cooper, a wheelwright, a shoemaker, a
drummer, or any thing else, he must be allowed
to study and practice any one or all of these in
the common schools. Such is the logic put forth
by your gentlemanly correspondent frcnn Rich-
mond, a worthy man and able scholar, no doubt,
but not a very close thinker or logical reasoner.
It is needless further to point out the absurdity of
his reasoning.
Mr. Bacon is equally unfortunate and illogical
in his attempt to answer my three o1)joctions to
the study of agriculture in common schools. He
first pretends, that he does not understand what
I mean by common school studies ; and yet he
afterward shows, that he is not so ignorant as he
pretends to be, by mentioning with api)robation
all the common school studies except one, that of
geography, which he does not hold in any higher
esteem than did Lord Timothy Dexter, of New-
bury]iort, who sent a cargo of warming-i)ans to
the West Indies. And then, after expressing his
regret at the gross neglect of these common
school studies which, he frankly acknowledges,
are not so thoroughly taught, nor so well under-
stood, as in the days of our forefathers, he more
than intimates that "there will be an elbowing
for room to introduce" his favorate hobl)y of
"more than twenty years" standing. By his lan-
guage, one would think, that he had been trying
his skill of shooting at "game in the dark," a;^ he
says I have tried to make "More Anon" do.
My second objection, that "our teachers are
not qualified to teach it, and have no means of ex-
plaining it," is virtually admitted to be true ; and
yet it is treated very cavalierly and unfairly. "If
we have not teachers," says he, "it is no fault of
the cause. Let them be called for, and they will
come up, a host innumerable." It is an easy mat-
ter to call for them, 1 know ; but the question is,
will they come, at any man's beck or call? It is
an easy matter to call upon "the misty sjjirits of
the vast deep," but they do not often show their
sleek heads above the smooth surface of the ocean.
It is an easy matter to call for well-qualified
school-teachers, but it is not often, even in our
day, that we obtain those who are qualified to
teach thoroughly and well all the branches of
common school education.
My third objection, that "the scholars are too
young and too ignorant to study agriculture lo
advantage," he disposes of in a more summary
way, and in a more magisterial and iin])crial man-
ner. "It is a gross libel upon the boys," says he,
"to say that they are not old enough to under-
stand the science of farming." Now this ends the
whole argument, and puts to silence tdl gainsay-
ers. Who will dare, any longer, to speak of chil-
dren in our common schools, as young and igno-
rant, and openly incur the appellation of libeller?
The tender age and ignorance of the ciiildron were
not pointed out by me as their crime or fiult. l)ut
rattier as their misfortune, tending to disqualify
them for entering upon studies bevond their ca-
pacity and years. John Golushlky.
Warwick, Mass., Nov. 2o, 1862.
52
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
For the New England Farmer.
DKAINING— FALL MANimiJSrG— BOOKS.
Mr. Editor : — I take this opportunity to Avrite,
informing you of some things and asking infor-
mation on others. I saw a little chapter on drain-
ing, by Judge French, in the ISIonthly Fanner,
for November, page 508, which says, "Let no man
flatter himself that any thing less than tile drains
four feet deep is really the best drainage." Now
it happens that all lands worth draining will not
admit of so deep a drain as four feet, but yet may
be drained to profit.
I have a small piece which I have drained,
which would admit of only two feet, in conse-
quence of a running brook through the lot. I
drained it only one year ago this fall, and seeded
down to grass last June; the grass looks finely
this fall. I laid my drain with stone at the sides
and at the top with jjlank, for the want of some-
thing better. After draining it the two feet deep,
as above stated, I plowed it about eight inches
deep, the same fall, (1861.) The land is a piece
of level intervale, of a black, sandy soil. Before
sowing it down, I put on 100 bushels of ashes to
the acre, and harrowed it in well with the seed.
What do you think that I may have reason to ex-
pect from it ? (a.)
Another chapter on page 515, on summer made
manure. I have practiced making summer ma-
nure for several years, putting materials plenti-
fully into the barn cellar until fall, and then draw-
ing out on to the lot where I intended to use the
manure the coming spring. I always plow it in,
sometimes for corn and sometimes for barley. I
use guano in the hill, composted with dirt, about
one pound of guano to one bushel of dirt, and it
works to a charm, giving the corn an early and
vigorous start. I put a good, stout handful of
the compost to each hill. The manure plowed in
makes the corn grow and mature finely. This fall
I drew out the manure from the barn cellar and
plowed it in where I intend to plant next spring.
The land is a strong loam and quite level, so that
it will not wash. This I did to save time for next
spring, as then I should have it to load and haul
and unload again. What do you think of the
process of plowing in manure in the fall ? Will
it be as good for the crop next year as though it
could be plowed in next spring, or will the rains
of fall and winter carry it too low for the plants
to reach it ? (b.)
I have seen the following named books spoken
of in the Monthly Farmer, viz. : A book on
draining by Judge French ; another by Cliarles
L. Flint, I think, on the different grasses ; and
still another by Harris, on insects injurious to
vegetation. I would like to know through the
Farmer the price of the above named books, and
how I could get them, if I concluded to have
them, {c.) Jer. Potter.
Fiskeville, E. L, Nov., 1862.
Remarks. — (a.) With a slight top-dressing of
compost every other year, you ought to get a ton
and a half to two tons of hay per acre for the
next six or eight years. Judge Fi'ench, we think,
would approve of draining, even two feet in depth,
if there were a good outfall, where it is not prac-
ticable to go deeper.
(6.) We think highly of plowing in manure in
the fall ; say to the depth of three or four inches.
The finest crops we have ever succeeded in get-
ting, were on land treated in this way. The ma-
nure is gradually decomposed, and the fertihzing
qualities thrown off from it are taken up by the
soil and held there ready for the roots of plants
to act upon as they need it. And there it is safe.
No miser ever hugs the gold he worships with so
tenacious a grasp as the soil holds on to all sorts
of fertilizing matter that plants require. Where
the soil is properly drained, so that a healthful
action can take place through it from the sun and
air, it robs every thing thai is buried in ii of its
energizing matter, and stores it up for the crops
which we are to place in it, and which are to be
fed by it. With this idea, it becomes of the ut-
most importance to the farmer to increase the
amount of sumrner manure by all the skill and
contrivances at his command. He will find it a
labor more remunerative than any he performs,
and when it is once systematized, may be done in
the warm season, amidst the cultivation and har-
vesting of his crops, without detriment to any
other demands upon him. Besides this, nothing
is more gratifying than to find, in the spring, when
all the work is pressing, a field all manured, and
only requiring running over it with the horse hoe
or cultivator to prepare it for the seed.
(c.) The books you mention are excellent, and
would be valuable to you. The one on draining,
we believe, sells for $1,25, and that on the grass-
es for $1,50. Harris on insects is about $4,00.
TAKE CARE OF THE FEET.
"Of all parts of the body," says Dr. Robertson,
"there is not one Avhich ought to be so carefully
attended to as the feet." Every person knows
from expei'ience that colds and many other diseas-
es which proceed from colds, are attributable to
cold feet. The feet are at such a distance from
"the wheel at the cistern" of the system, that the
circulation of the blood may be very easilv checked
there. Yet, for all this, and although every per-
son of common sense should be aware of the truth
of what we have stated, there is no part of the hu-
man body so much trifled with, as the feet. The
young and would-be genteel footed cramp their
toes and feet into thin-soled, bone-pinching boots
and shoes, in order to display neat feet in the
fashionable sense of the term. There is one great
evil, against which every person should be on
their guard, and it is one which is not often guard-
ed against — we mean the changing of warm for
cold shoes or boots. A change is often made
from thick to thin soled shoes, without reflecting
upon the consequences which might ensue. In
cold weather, boots and shoes of good thick leath-
er, both in soles and uppers, should be worn by
all. Water-tights are not good, if they are air-
tights also ; Lulia rubber over-shoes should never
be worn, except in wet, splashy weather, and then
not very long at once. It is hurtful to the feet to
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARRIER.
63
•wear any covering that is air-tight over them, and
for this reason, India rubber should be worn aa
seldom as possible. No part of the body should
be allowed to have a covering that entirely ob-
structs the passage of carbonic acid gas from the
pores of the skin outward, and the moderate pas-
sage of air inward to the skin. Life can be de-
stroyed in a very short time, by entirely closing
up the pores of the skin. Good warm stockings,
and thick soled boots and shoes are conservators
of health, and consequently of human happiness.
TREATMENT OF COLTS.
The following is part of an article prepared by
Col. H. L. Sliields, at the request of the Rensselaer
County Agricultural Society. We find it in the
Oermantown Telegraph, and commend it to all
■who love the horse.
Farmers are apt to go to one of two extremes
■with their colts — either to halter them and drag
them about through the heat of summer, on roads
of all kinds, alongside their dams at work, or else
to turn them out to run wild during the first six
months of their existence, out of sight and hear-
ing of human beings. Now, we take exception to
both these methods of proceeding — to the fii-st,
because the hmbs and feet of the young animal
are tender, and apt to be strained and bruised by
being compelled to keep up with the dam, even
when walking, for several consecutive miles. The
young colt requires frequent rest, and should be
at liberty to lie down whenever inclination
prompts. When the colt becomes tired it drags
on its halter, straining the cords of the neck, back
and legs. It is also disadvantageous to allow the
young animal to run too long without subjection,
for when the attempt is made he Mill resist with
great foi'ce, and often with injury. At the risk,
then, of some extra work, we advise that the colt
be accustomed to be handled often, until he has
no fear to approach persons, and when they al-
■ways receive caresses, they are very ready to do so.
At two months old, put on the halter ; but allow
the colt to go very much as he likes, occasionally
drawing him towards you and caressing him. In
two hours you will have imperceptibly broken him
to lead. Then, when you tie him. do so with a
halter he cannot break — a short struggle will sat-
isfy him he is conquered. Never sutler any one
to strike or yell at a colt ; one such barbarous act
will cause a day's work to overcome its bad efi'ect.
Wiien first cleaning him, avoid the head — then
approach that part tenderly, and if he resists go to
some other point. In a few moments return, and
so continue till he submits with pleasure, rather,
to being handled and rubbed anywhere and on
any part. Your colt is then half broken. • Wean
the colt at five or six months old, first teaching
him while suckling the mare to eat oats. When
taken from the dam confine the colt closely, and
put them out of hearing of each other for one
week. During the first winter, feed daily two
quarts of oats and all the hay the colt will eat.
This with good warm shelter will kec]) him grow-
ing and improving. Don't turn out in spring till
the weather is settled and warm, and a full bite of
grass. The first year makes or ruins the colt. It
is the most important of his life. Keep him fat
the first year, whatever you do aftei-wards, for
this year decides whether lie is to be a full grown
horse or a mi.->erable pony — no after care can atone
for neglect daring iho first twelve months. Good
pasture (mountain if pos.'iible) the next season, and
plenty of hay the next winter, with a quart of
grain if couveuieitt, will iHing you a finelv formed,
powerful two yenr old. If a horse, alter liim early,
before fn time, and turn to good grass. In tlie
fall begin to In-eak, by bitting gradually tighter
each day — within two weeks you have his head as
high and graceful as nature allows. The neck
should be arched and the face vertical, without
constraint. When the bitting is accomplished,
put on your harness and let the straps dangle
around his legs ; continue this until he pays no
attention to them, but do not fatigue the" colt
either in the bitting bridle or harness. The bend-
ing in of the neck is exceedingly painful, and
should be done by degrees, the work requiring two
weeks. While in the bitting bridle, exercise him
on a circle to the right and left, alternately, the
radius never less than 10 to 15 feet, otherwise he
will learn to step too short. JIake him walk and
walk /(/si while walking; no gait is more impor-
tant, and our Agricultural Society should offer
premiums for fast walkers. AVhile harnessed, ac-
custom the colt to wagons, sulkies, &c., by run-
ning them around and about him. Then harness
to the sulky and lead him several days until he no
longer notices the pushing or jostling of the
vehicle. Then let one get in while another leads,
and so gradualJij get him accustomed to all around
him ; on finding he is not hurt he will soon be-
come quiet. Occasionally harness double with a
steady, quiet horse, but put on no load. Teach
him to back by standing in front and pressing on
the bit — calling out "back," &c. Always caress
when he has done his duty. During the second
Minter, hitch in double, making the other horse
draw all the weight and drive for a short distance
(say one-quarter of a mile at a time) alternately,
fast and slow. Train your colts to three gaits in
harness, the fast walk always, the moderate or
road gate for distance, and the rapid trot. As if
we desired to make a man a good dancer, we
would begin young while the limbs were nimble
and the actions graceful — so if wc desire a fast
walker and a fast trotter too, we must take the
colt while young, and so when pressed, he will
take up the fast trot, instead of the gallop, so nat-
ural in after years. A horse can be trained that
he is to trot and not break up, as well as the boy
can that he is to glide but never jump in the waltz.
We do not pretend that all horses will learn to
trot equally fist more than all the boys dance
equallv well, but all can be trained to exert every
muscle in the trot as weU as in the run. Colls
should never be driven fast for long distances ;
they become leg-weary and cut themselves or "in-
terfere" as it is called. .\t three years old, the
horse can perform very moderate work. At four,
more still, but not until five should he he ex-
pected to do "a day's work," and better yet if de-
ferred until six ; most horses are ruined before
five, by early and injudicious driving or brutal
treatment of "some kind. The /ar/ner can best use
horses up to this age ; all his work can be done by
his brood mares and colts, and leave all his ma-
tured horses for market. One horse thus raised
and trained is worth two such, as we now often
54
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
meet, and so the breeder's purse will prove who
tries it.
GROOMING AXD FEEDING HORSES.
Every horse should be thoroughly cleaned
each day. The bedding, instead of being thrown
under his manger to fill his food, his eyes and his
lungs with ammonia, should be thrown behind
him or out of doors to air. His manger should
be kept clean and once a week washed with salt
and water and salt left in it. One night in each
week he should have a warm bran mash — eight
quarts— generally given on Saturday night, as it
is somewhat loosening and weakening, and the
horse is presumed to be idle on Sunday. Oats
are by far the best food, and ground oats wet with
water is better than whole dry grain. Cut hay is
a great saving, and moistened and sprinkled with
ground oats, forms the best of food. The hull of
the oats is hard and often unmasticated, and
passes undigested through the system, thus taking
away instead of imparting strength and nutrition.
For medium sized horses, with moderate work,
nine to twelve quarts of oats per day and fourteen
pounds of hay are ample. For large draft horses,
eighteen quarts oats and sixteen pounds hay.
Food consisting of one-third corn ground with
two-thirds oats forms strong, hearty, lointer food
for work or coach horses. But corn is unfit for
road or fast horses. It is too heating. Good
beds and good grooming are as important as good
feeding. Horses, like men, want good, dry, warm,
clean beds. In grooming, tie your horse so he
can't bite his manger and thus learn to crib bite ;
and if you find your groom currying and torment-
ing the poor animal when tied, so he is uneasy
and restless, use your stable broom over the
groom's back — it is an excellent instructor to
teach him to be gentle. Let the currycomb be
very moderately used on the body to loosen up
the scurf and dirt, but never permit one near the
mane and tail. Rely mainly on the bncsh and
rough cloth for cleaning. Banish combs from
your stable. They tear out more hair in a day
than will grow in a month, and they ruin all the
manes and tails that are ruined. The tail should
be washed with castile soap and water once every
week, and brushed with a wet brush every day in
the year, holding up the bone of the tail and
brushing the hair from you. Half an hour is
enough for a good groom to one horse, but one
hour's time at the outside, ample to be very com-
plete. City horses on dry floors should have cow
manure put into their feet once a week, to draw
out fever and keep hoofs growing. It should be
put in over night and allowed to wear out of itself.
To conclude, always be gentle about your horse's
body, especially his head — "more haste less speed"
is peculiarly applicable to grooming and breaking.
Use whips as little as possible — use your reason
and exercise patience and kindness, and instil by
precept and example the same useful lessons in
those untutored creatures denominated grooms —
and if you cannot inculcate wholesome truths into
their heads, you can ameliorate the condition of
that much abused animal, the horse, by occasion-
ally exemplifying the power of their own treat-
ment on themselves.
the sun and wind, extend exceedingly in height,
but present at the same time slender and feeble
branches ; their leaves are pale and sickly, and in
extreme cases, they do not bear fruit. The exclu-
sion of light alone is sufficient to produce tliis spe-
cies of disease.
Sunlight and Air. — Shrubs and trees which
are too much sheltered, too much secluded from
For the New England Farmer.
AGKICITLTURAIi KNOWLEDGE— FARM-
ERS' CLUBS.
Mr. Editor : — Your able correspondent, "John
Goldsbury," comes out in strong terms against
the teaching of agriculture in common schools,
while "More Anon" is perhaps as strong an advo-
cate in favor of our schools teaching this branch.
Now, Mr. Editor, it looks to me that this is not
bringing the matter any nearer to a point. What
matters it whether agriculture is taught in com-
mon schools, or schools got up for the particular
purpose of advancing agricultural knowledge ?
Undoubtedly, J. G. would advocate the teaching
of agriculture to our young men, and every word
that he proclaims against the teaching of it in
common schools, through the press, has its bear-
ing on the mind of the young reader. For one, it
would be much more pleasing and interesting to me
to take up the Farmer and read from the pen of
John Goldsbury an article treating upon the ne-
cessity of an agricultural school for the instruc-
tion of our young men in the science and prac-
tice of agriculture. I ^\^ll know that the science
of agi'iculture has never been brought up before
the mind of the farmer as it will be in years to
come, and should have been in years gone by.
If agriculture can be taught in common schools
to advantage in connection with other branches,
then let it be taught there ; but if not, then let us
do all in our power to encourage the establish-
ment of schools for the particular purpose of in-
structing in agriculture. I believe that a thor-
ough knowledge of the combinations of the soil
and its elements, and also those elements neces-
sary for the growth of certain plants, is just as
essential to the farmer as education is to the law-
yer, the minister or statesman, and that the suc-
cess and prosperity of the farmer depends upon
his knowledge of his business, just as much as
the success of the school-teacher depends upon
his qualifications as a teacher.
It has always been considered that the young
man who was unfit for any other business could
be a farmer ; could plant corn with a shovelful of
manure in the hill, and hill up the corn to keep
the wind from blowing it down, because his fa-
ther did so before him ; for tliis he is not to blame.
The agricultural Avorld itself is to be blamed that
it has not ere this waked up to a sense of its du-
ty, and labored with an understanding mind when
it has Cultivated good old mother earth.
I trust the time is not far distant when our
New England hills shall be interspersed with
schools where agricultural knowledge shall be
imparted to the j'oung. Many a man will sneer
at this, I am aware by experience, but let it only
nerve us the harder, and time will show to this
class of farmers, who laugh at book farming, (as
they term it.) whether there is anything to be
gained by a thorough knowledge of our business.
The farmers' club is a fine thing for gathering to-
gether this class, and discussing agricultural top-
I
1863.
NEW EXGLAND FARMER.
55
ics. It creates a good feeling between neighbor
farmers, and what one farmer by his experiments
has found to be valuable will be communicated to
others, and thus all may be benefited. These
clubs are getting to be quite numerous in this vi-
cinity, and I think they are helping along the ag-
ricultural interest very much. Althougli we are
involved in war, and many of our young farmers
are gone to fight for those who stay behind, and
our help is greatly reduced, still, there is no rea-
son why we should falter ; but, on the other hand,
we should feel that much more devolves upon us,
and that the cultivation of the soil is to support
the war. J. E. WiGUT.
Hartford, Dec. 14, 1862.
For the New Ensland Farmer.
■WINTERING BEES.
ISIr. Editor : — To winter bees successfully in
our cold northern climate, is a question of great
moment with the apiculturist. There seems to
be almost as many ways recommended as there
are bee-kee])ers. Having had several years' expe-
rience in this business in Northern Vermont, I
have arrived at this conclusion, that bees should
have for their welfare in winter, a dark, cool, dry,
still place, where the temperature is even as pos-
sible, and about Jioe degrees above the freezing
point, or 35 degrees Fahrenheit. In this tempera-
ture, the bees will remain very still and quiet, and
will require but little honey to what they would if
kept in a warmer place. In the first of my expe-
rience, I was advised to put my bees into a tight
dark room in the house. I did so, and the conse-
quence was, I lost many of my bees before spring ;
during the warm days in the winter, the bees
would become very lively and crawl out of the
hives upon the floor, and if there was a ray of
I light, they were sure to find it, and would there
'- ' perish ; if shut into the hives, they would create
such a heat in trying to get out that they would
melt their comb and become drowned in their own
sweets. This I found was owing principally to
the outside temperature being so changealDle, and
the want of proper ventilation.
Wintering bees out of doors, as practiced
by a lai-ge proportion of amateur bee-keepers, is
always attended with bad results, as nearly one
half the stocks are frequently lost, and those that
are not, are so reduced in number, that they will
not swarm the coming season, there not being
bees enough to permit of it, and consequently are
worth but little to their owners. When bees stand
out of doors, every warm day during the winter
they are inclined to fly from the hive, and thou-
sands of them get chilled and are lost, and where
there was a peck of bees in the hive in the foil, by
spring there may be but a handful left. In the
Middle or Southern States, bees can be allowed
to stand out of doors during the winter with safe-
t)'. In my more recent observations and experi-
ments, especially in the Northern States, I have
found no place to winter bees in, equal to a dark,
dry cellar.
If the hives are rightly arranged, and the cellar
ventilated by opening either a door or window in
the night time, occasionally, there will be no loss
of bees only what die of old age, and the comb
will look nearly as whitf as in the fall previous.
Bees when kept in a cellar of this kind, will no*
make a discharge to soil the comb during the
whole winter, and will consume but a very few
pounds of honey — say about a pound to a thou-
sand bees ; for ordinary swarms it would require
from ten to twenty j)ounds of honey. At this low
temperature, the bees will remain Verv quiet and
still, and if the cellar is kept perfectly dark, they
will remain so during the whole winter, and will
hardly know when spring approaches, which will
not be the case when kept in a room above ground
or out of doors. Bees frequently receive more
injury in being confined in the hive on the ap-
proach of Spring, than they will if allowed to fly
out.
The time to put Bees into Winter Quarters
depends somewhat upon the severity of tlie weath-
er— usually the last of November or the 1st De-
cember ; if the weather is not too cold, thev may
safely remain out until near .Tanuaiy. They gen-
erally sufler more in the latter part than in the
beginning of winter.
Position of the Hives when placed in the cellar.
— If straw or the old-fashioned board Hive, they
should be turned bottom-side up vn\.\\ the bottom-
boards removed. Their animal heat will then
drive all the dampness and mould out of the hive.
The only disiidvantage in turning a hive bottom-
side up, is, all the dead bees and particles of comb
will drop among the combs in the bottom of the
hive. But if there is honey enough there will be
no trouble resulting from it, as when the hive is
carried out-of-doors, and placed right side up, the
bees will readily clear it out. If movable-comb
Hives are used, the cap, boxes, &c., should be re-
moved and the hive allowed to remain right side
up, with the entrance closed.
The time to remove Bees from the Cellar de-
pends in a great measure upon the forwardness
of the spring, and care should be taken that the
weather is warm enough that the bees can safely
fly from the hive and return again, always observ-
ing to never set but a part of the hives out the
same day, and always place them as near as prac-
ticable on the same stand that they occupied the
year previous, to avoid confusion and robbery.
After the bees have all made their excursions,
as they always will do on the first day, and dis-
charge themselves, thousands of bees might then
be saved by setting them back into tiie cellar
again for three or four weeks, and at the same
time supply each hive with a substitute for bee
bread, which is Bye Meal (or common flour will
answer) as bee bread or pollen is the first thing
the bees will visit the fields for, in early spring ;
by supplying them with this useful article the lives
of a large number of bees will be saved which if
allowed to stand out would be lost.
BURYING BEES IN THE GROUND,
is a practice that some inexperienced bee-keepers
have resorted to, and not unfrequently with fear-
ful loss. The object aimed at, seems to be the
low, even temperature that our cellar afi"ords. In
a light, loose sandy soil, if the bees are pro])erly
buried, there are instances where they have lived
through it. I have frequently heard it remarked
by those who advocate this process that the hives
were as heavy in the Spring as they were the Fall
before ; should the bees all perish as I have re-
peatedly seen, this theory might prove time. I
56
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
have yet to learn if bees can be wintered in any
place without consuming some honey ; it is true,
if bees are kept in a damp place, and should they
survive the dampness, the amount of honey they
would consume will be small, the weight of which
would be balanced by the dampness and mould
which the comb will take up, so that the hive
would be nearly as heavy in the Spring as in the
Fall previous. K. P. KiDDER,
Practical Apiculturist.
Burlington, Vt., 1862.
For the New England Farmer,
LITTLE THINGS:
Or a Walk in My Garden,
agricultural education.
Mr. Editor : — Your correspondent, "More
Anon," in his article on agriculture in common
schools, in your issue of Dec. 6, pleases me much,
because it exhibits so much good common sense.
His idea is, that if any parents or boys should
express a desire that the latter should have the
privilege of studying the science of agriculture in
the common schools, it could readily be obtained.
Now this harmonizes with my last article on this
subject. While I believe it not possible nor desi-
rable, at present, to introduce the study into all of
our schools as we would arithmetic, yet his plan
would be an entering wedge for something better
hereafter, and there are numerous cases where his
plan might succeed with advantage. Let two
boys of sixteen or seventeen years take some
simple manual, and, though the teacher may not
be thoroughly versed in agricultural science, they
may still acquire much useful information. Al-
most all great efforts are the result of small means
at the outset. This will prove true in agriculture.
Many of us in our youth had no better advantages,
in other studies, than these boys would have in
their wished-for study. I have an excellent rule
for making a box. I am not much of a house-car-
penter, but I find my rule always works well. If
I cannot make a perfect joint, I make it as well as
I can. So must we do in all our efforts. Do as
well as we can.
Any one who has had much experience in teach-
ing, well knows that there are many schools where
there may not be a single boy in a condition to
study agriculture with advantage ; yet in these
very schools, a winter will come round when they
will be full of boys of the right age. It is by tak-
ing advantage of these circumstances that we are
to succeed, if we succeed at all, in introducing the
subject into the common school. The knowledge
acquired in this way may be imperfect, but a few
important ideas will expand to almost any extent
as they grow older.
It is not to be expected that the present race of
farmers can, as a class, be investigators of science
to any great extent. Nor is it necessary to their
success. They must take the results of the inves-
tigations of scientific men, and put them in prac-
tice. In other words, they must begin where the
scientific man leaves off. This should be kept in
view by all who have an interest in agricultural
education. There is, at the present day, sufficient
material of a practical nature, to occupy all the
energies of the most capacious minded farmer. I
make this special remark here, because I have
often seen intelligent fanners, who seemed to be
dissatisfied with themselves, that they are not an-
alytical chemists, or something else beyond their
reach. It is enough for me to be able to read an
almanac without knowing how it was made,
though it might be very pleasant to do so. It is
enough for me to be able to read a book, though
I may not have the ability to write one. I am
very well satisfied if I can make a good garden,
fat a hog, or cultivate an orchard, though I may
not know a single element in chemistry. It is
safe, however, and right, that every farmer and
mechanic, as well as the professional man, should
learn all he can, in everything pertaining to his
calling, without being restrained by any definite
rules on the subject. The case with boys is dif-
ferent. They can, if profitably taught, learn many
of the principles of things while young, and if
they enjov the advantages for their study, they
will readily put the principles in practice as they
grow older. It is on this point of principles and
practice that so much diversity of opinion seems
to arise in discussing the whole question of agri-
cultural education.
It is unfortunate for our young men, that our
agricultural colleges and professorships are all on
])aper. I should not know where to go, if I had a
desire to do so, where I could find myself in a
school, and in an atmosphere breathing of agricul-
tural science. Public opinion needs to be raised
to the same standard in establishing agricultural
schools, that it has been in founding our charita-
ble institutions. When I read of rich bequests
given to these institutions in Massachusetts, I bless
the donors, but I have often thought what a boon
to humanity would a few hundred thousand dollars
be to the founding of an agricultural school.
There is no concealing the fact that intelligent
farmers are yearning for greater facilities for ac-
quiring scientific knowledge than they now enjoy ;
and there is no doubt that in the progress of
events, this opportunity will be enjoyed. With-
out these schools, agriculture has made astonish-
ing strides dui'ing the last twenty years. It is a
cheerful view of what we may anticipate from the
future, in elevating the condition of the farmer.
Bethel, Me., Dec. 9, 1862. n. t. t.
Remarks. — The views taken above of this im-
portant subject are clear and just, and we com-
mend them to the consideration of every reader.
For the New England Farmer.
INQUIRIES AND NOTES FROM MAINE.
Mr. Editor : — Can you, through the Farmer,
inform me where Mr. George B. Emerson's "i?e-
port on the Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts''
can be obtained ; at what price ; how long ago it
was published, and its size, style and value, or if
not, his address ?
What is the magnifying power of the Craig
Microscope, advertised in the Farmer, and lately
so felicitously noticed upon the fourth page of the
weekly edition, accompanied with an illustration
of the Microscope and a group of joyful young
faces ?
Mr. J. R. True, of Freeman, raised 185 bushels
of the sti'ap-leaf turnips on one-eighth of an acre.
He plowed the land twice in the spring, once just
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
57
befoi-e planting, and harrowed well, using new or
green sheep manure. He thinks this the" best va-
riety of turnips which he has tried, and slieep ma-
nure the best manure a farmer has for turnips,
because it makes the turnips grow well, and is ob-
jectionable to the "bugs," or, at least, it has so
proved with him. He estimated the cost about
eight or nine cents per bushel, reckoning tlie la-
bor by day wages, which was in part work by the
month at a lower rate, actually. The piece was
sod land, sowed to wheat the previous year,
dressed lightly, and then for the turnips at the
rate of 40 ox-cart loads per acre. Plant June 10
to \o, and let grow till there is danger of their
freezing up in the ground.
There has been a much larger importation of
Spanish Merino bucks and sheep this year, than
ever before in one year, and still the inquiry is for
more. The supply was not equal to the demand.
There has been a more general inquiry for the
Spanish merino than for the coarse or middle
wooled, and more so than for a few years past,
yet the Southdowners, Cotswolders and Oxford-
shirers have not been asleep by any means.
Elm Tree Farm, Dec, 1862. 0. W. True.
Remarks. — A few copies, only, of Emerson's
Trees and Shrubs are to be found. Mr. John
Raynolds, of Concord, Mass., has a few copies for
sale at $3 each.
We do not know the exact magnifying power of
the Craig Microscope.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
HUNGARIAN GRASS.
I have heard considerable about the Hungarian
grass, and would like to ask a few questions about
it. 1. Will it do well on new land? 2. Will
other grasses catch well sown with it ? 3. What
time should it be sown, how much seed to the
acre, and what is the cost per bushel ?
A Young Farmer.
East Wallingford, Dec, 1862.
Remarks. — 1. Hungarian grass does well on
new land, if the land is thoroughly pulverized
and a little fine compost manure is scattered over
the field and harrowed in with the seed.
2. We have never known other grasses sown
with Hungarian grass seed, but from the rank
growth of the latter, should doubt whether it
would be advisable to mix them.
3. Sow about the first of June, from twelve to
sixteen quarts per acre. The usual price is about
four dollars per bushel.
TEACHING AGRICULTURE.
Mr. Goldsbury holds on upon his notion,
that agriculture cannot be taught in common
schools, like "a dog to a root." He first says that
our teachers are not qualified to teach it, and next
that our children are not competent to learn it.
Both of these reasons are valid and strong, if
true. What evidence have we that they are true ?
Nothing at all, except the "ipse dixit" of Mr. G
schools as teachers only such as are qualified to
teach, and put upon the studv only such children
as are competent to learn. We do not expect all
boys and girls in our schools to be instructed in
the mysteries of farming, any more than that of
blacksmithing ; but all we would say is, those there
is nothing in the nature of common school in-
struction that forbids the science of culture of the
soil being taught there ; and we believe it would
be more profitable than three-foorths of what is
taught there. p,
December 13, 1862.
HARVESTING IN WINTER.
As I was passing the celebrated Pickman farm,
in Salem, to which was lately awarded the first
premium of the Essex County Society, I?:J0, "for
best farm management," I noticed the" laborers of
the farm engaged in gathering a field of Indian
corn, upon ox-sleds. I hope the learned Secreta-
ry of the Board of Agriculture will inform the
public, in his next volume, the peculiar advanta-
ges of delaying the gathering in of this crop un-
til after the fall of our winter snows. I have
heard of such things on some of the prairies of
the West, where corn is rot worth one-eighth
part of what it is here, but never before in New
England. •
December 15, 1862.
PURE BLOOD, BLACK SPANISH FOWLS.
Can you inform me where to purchase pure
blood, Black Spanish fowls — also the Gray Dor-
kings ? I have bought what w^ere called nearly
full blooded Spanish, and they were the meanest
poultry I ever owned. An answer will greatly
oblige A New Subscriber.
December 9, 1862,
Rejiarks. — We cannot tell. Will some one
inform "A New Subscriber P"
For the Neto England Farmer,
EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING STOCK.
Mr. Editor :— I think a Mr. Johnston, of New
York State, has made a statement to the effect
that it costs no more to keep a large steer, say
three years old, than it does a smaller one of the
same age. I have mentioned this to a number,
and they seem to think that either I was mistaken
as to the statement, or he as to the fact of the
case. That this is so, and that I am not mistaken
as to the statement of Mr. Jolinston, I am more
confident, from reading Boussiugault, who says :
"A very large ox or cow, relatively to its weiglit,
requires less food than an animal of smaller di-
mensions." Actual experiments in this case, as in
all others, are the most satisfactory, though I had
often heard the statement of John L. Lamjjrcy, of
this town, "that it is better to feed swine with
uncooked meal, than to cook it by cither boiling
or scalding." I was much interested in the ex-
periments of Albert Montagurc, of Sunderland,
Mass., who says he fed two pigs, four weeks, with
four bushels of cooked meal, and they fell oflf
eleven pounds. Two others in the same time eat
eight and one-fourth bushels uncooked meal, and
ained eighty-two pounds. He fed the last two,
The remedy for the first objection is, to put into i three weeks, on three and one-half bushels cooked
58
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
meal, and they lost four pounds. The first two
then eat five and one-half bushels raw meal in
three weeks, and gained sixty-one pounds.
I have read also a report signed by Wm. R.
Putnam, on the Michigan plow, who says : "All
agree that the labor in cultivating a crop upon
tough grass knd, is much more than it is when
the common plow is used."
There is considerable prejudice against selling
hay, but if, as is claimed, by some having barn cel-
lars, that the manure from them is worth four
times more than without them ; and if, as I have
seen stated, corn may be raised year after year
on light soil, with the use of muck and lime,
and with the thousands of acres of cold, swampy
land, the soil of much of which might be carted
off, and the land planted to cranberries with ten
times the profit now realized, I think very strong
prejudice, with all this before us, must be very
great folly.
Mr. Jeremiah Tilton, of this town, has a good
young orchard on his best land, but thinks it
would have been more profitable to have had his
land in grass and other crops, minus the trees.
J. W. Brown.
Kensington, N. H., Bee. 15, 1862.
CUTTING PODDEB FOB STOCK.
We are decidedly in favor of it ; not from any
precise and accurate experiments by weight and
measure, but from a close and interested observa-
tion of the spending of cut and uncut fodder, and
from its effects upon the stook that consumed it,
through a period of several years. The difference
in feeding out a certain quantity of hay, cut and
mixed with a given amount of grain, and feeding
out the same amount of hay whole, with the same
amount of grain, has been too great with us, to
admit of a single doubt as to the profitableness of
cutting the fodder. Especially is this the case
with corn fodder. Fed whole, the cattle will se-
lect the husks and leaves, and reject the stems,
wherever the crop is a stout one — but when cut,
mixed with a small quantity of grain, moistened,
and allowed to stand twelve hours, cattle will eat
every particle of it, excepting, perhaps, some of the
rank and hard points of the stems.
In most hay fed to cattle, some portion of it will
be less attractive than the rest, and where cattle
are well fed, they will leave the poorest, which is
quite apt to get under them as litter, or to be at
once thrown through the scuttle to the manure-
heap, or at best, scattered over the yard to be
pitched over again or trodden under foot. This is
the case with much hay that is too valuable to go
to such purposes. When hay is cut, this loss is
entirely prevented, as it is rare to find anything
left but bits of stick or the stems of rank weeds,
if such were on the hay.
That the cutting adds anything to the amount
of nutriment contained in the fodder, we do not
argue — nor does it to the potato we eat, and yet
we find it vastly more convenient in a smaller
form. It may be urged that cattle are provided
with the means of cutting long fodder, and there-
fore do not need it in a comminuted form — but
the buffalo, in his native ranges eats no tall grasses
and rank herbage if he can avoid it, but traverses
over vast plains to graze upon the short, tender
grass, thereby showing a decided preference for
his food in smaller dimensions than is afforded in
corn fodder, or in hay that affords two or three
tons to the acre.
We have cut the fodder for a stock of fifteen to
twenty head of cattle, watching the effect with in-
terest, and came to the conclusion that the process
is an economical one — but tested by accurate
weight and measurement, this apparent advantage
might not be sustained, after all.
A SNO-W-STOBM.
'Tis a fearful night in the winter time,
As cold as it ever can be ;
The roar of the storm is heard like the chime
Of the waves on an angry sea.
The moon is full, but her silver light
The storm dashes out with his wings to-night j
And over the sky from south to north.
Not a star is seen as the winds come forth
In the strength of a mighty glee.
All day the snow came down — all day—
As it never came before,
And over the earth at night there lay
Some two or three feet, or more.
The fence was lost and the wall of stone ;
The windows blocked and the well-curb gone ;
The hay-stack grown to a mountain lift ;
And the wood pile looked like a monster drift,
As it lay at the farmer's door.
As the night set in, came hall and snow.
And the air grew sharp and chill,
And the warning roar of a sullen blow,
Was heard on the distant hill ;
And the Norther I see ! on the mountain peak,
In his breath how the old trees writhe and shriek !
He shouts along the plain, ho ! ho !
He drives from his nostrils the blinding snow
And growls with a savage will !
For the New England Farmer.
AGBICDTiTUBE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
I am glad to find our friend "W. B." correcting
some of the absurd notions of Mr. G., of W. To
say that boys of fifteen years are incapable of be-
ing instructed in the science of cultivating the
earth, argues a want of knowledge of that science.
To be sure, it may not be expected that boys, or
even men, will understand completely the opera-
tions necessary on a farm, without some practical
experience. Where is the difficulty in establish-
ing manual labor schools ? Have we not ah-eady
such in the State, including hundreds of pupils ?
Is it not better thus to educate boys, than simply
to instruct them in some of the arts ; such as the
making of shoes, for instance. Let a boy come
out from some of our public institutions, well in-
structed in the labors of the field and the garden,
as he might be, and ten chances to one, he will
become a valuable citizen. H.
November, 1862.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
59
For tite NeiD England Farmer.
BENOVATIOM" OP OLD APPLE TREES.
In your article aoout apples you speak of re-
newing an old Hunt Russet apple tree by cutting
away the dead wood, thinning the top a little, and
raising a mound of good soil a foot high around
the trunk, dressing with manure and ashes every
other year for si.\ yeai'S. This statement of yours
rectdled some facts that have passed under my
own eye and experience, with this diflerence only,
that no dressing whatever was used, simply filling
up about the trees in all cases save one, which
Avas a very old and large pear tree. I ne\ er could
arrive at the true age of the tree, but sufficient to
■warrant the conclusion that it was from one hun-
dred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years
old. It is over two feet in diameter, and probably
was fifty feet high before filled about with earth,
and cut ofif at the top. In the first place, all the
roots were cut off on the south side within eight
feet of the trunk. The following year the roots
on the west were cut within twelve feet, and the
year succeeding a cistern was dug close up to the
south-west side of the trunk, thus most thorough-
ly depriving it of near one half of its roots. I
filled up around the tree, in grading, over four
feet, with material excavated from the cellars dug
around it ; not having a doubt but it would die
from the severe usage meted out to it.
As there were many dead limbs, I concluded to
cut out some of the principal branches, and all
dead wood. I was surprised the next year after
the pruning, at seeing the vigor of the new wood,
and in succeeding years finding quite a generous
supply of fruit, of greatly superior quality to any
it had produced for many years.
I have not been advised of its present condition,
but two years since it was as vigorous as at any
time since the heroic treatment it had received,
fourteen years previous. One of my neighbors
was grading his lawn, and wished to raise the
grade around a favorite apple tree. To avoid
injury to the tree, he had a wall built the proper
height and several feet from the tree. This wall
remained a few years, and the tree seemed to be
failing, and fears that it would soon die were ex-
pressed to me. I suggested that the wall be ta-
ken away and the space around the tree filled in
with good loam to the grade of the surrounding
ground. This was six years ago. From that
time to the present, the tree has grown vigorous-
ly and borne fruit liberally every year. Four
years since, I graded a lot for a lawn on which
were eight or ten apple trees. The trees were in
and around a basin that we filled up to the depth
of two feet. Four of the trees were filled around
from one to two feet deep. These four trees have
outstripped the others in making wood and fruit.
A few inches of soil were taken from four of the
trees, which effectually finished them up in two
years. Here are facts that may be of practical
use for some wishing to perpetuate old trees.
No extra manure was used in any of the above
specified cases.
So much confidence have I in the results of the
filling around old apple trees with good loam or
muck, or both, that I propose trying it on a larg-
er scale than heretofore in the spring. Having
about two dozen old trees, I am loth to give up
•without an effort to save them. I propose compost-
ing muck and loam around them to the depth of
a foot, with strong faith in the results being ad-
vantageous to them. Such results as you report,
Mr. Editor, together with my limited 'experience
in the same direction, might, with propriety, lead
to the inquiry whether, in many cases, it would
not be more for the present interest of some to
look after their old trees before resorting to young
ones that require so many years to arrive at a
bearing state. o. K.
Rochester, Dec. 20, 1862.
Remarks. — The above contains valuable facts
and suggestions. The writer states that he has
other articles for our columns. We are gratified
to learn the fact, and trust they will come in good
time.
For the Ifetc England Fanner.
RENOVATING THE SOIL— CROSS
PLOWING.
How to renovate soils without the aid of ferti-
lizers, and in the most economical manner, should
be the study of every progressive husbandman.
Many of our fields are so situated that it is next
to impossible to get manure to them, and then,
again, say what we may about increasing the crop
of manure, it must, at the best, be limited.
What brought this to my mind at this time,
was the editorial in the Farmer of the 18th, enti-
tled "Cross Plowing," and more especially, in the
second paragraph, where you refer to "vegetable
and animal matters buried in the soil, as aliment
for crops ;" and again, where you state that the
quantity of decomposable matter turned under (in
summer plowing,) was fully thirty tons per acre.
The system of what may be termed summer fal-
lowing, formerly very extensively practiced in this
region, for the raising of winter grain, was found
to prove highly beneficial to soil in two ways. It
gave clean land, tending decidedly to eradicate
foul weeds, and to keep up the fertility of the soil
without manure, at a cheap rate. The course
usually was, to plow under a crop of grass or clo-
ver in June, and allow it to be undisturbed a
month or more, and then to give one or more cross
plowings previous to seed time, which was usually
the first of September. By this course, a full crop
of winter grain was ordinarily had, and the soil
was in good tilth for re-seeding with the winter
grain. Care should be had, however, to have the
ground thoroughly pulverized by repeated plow-
ings and harrowings, previous to the seeding.
Another course adoi)ted by a neighbor of mine
— successfully, I should judge — was to ])lo\v earlv
in June, as in the other case, and about the 2()tK
of the same month to sow a crop of buckwheat,
with only one plowing, allowing the sward to lie
undisturbed through the season. Buckwheat, as
well known, has a very good effect upon heavy,
stubborn soils, tending to render them more fria-
ble. The succeeding spring, plow as early as the
season will allow, twice — the last time crosswise,
if practicable, and by thorough harrowing and till-
ing, see that the whole is well decomposed, when
it is sown to oats or some other spring crop, and
re-seeded.
The advantage from this last course, is, that a
crop is taken from the soil both seasons that the
60
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
renovating process is in pi-ogress ; while in the
first mentioned, no crop is obtained the first sea-
son ; which is to be preferred, will depend upon lo-
cation, and the situation and certain circumstan-
ces, of which each must be his own judge.
In pursuing this course, we should think it high-
ly important that the first plowing should be in
early summer ; or at that period when the most
vegetable matter is on the surface to be turned
under. This we know, cannot be obtained either
in early spi'ing or in autumn — hence the reason
why summer fallowing is justly considered so ben-
eficial.
But to be of use, the work must be thoroughly
done, and the sward be allowed to become wholly
decomposed, else, when the land is seeded, the
surface will be found lumpy and uneven, and, in-
deed, it may be said to be rather a difficult matter
to effectually subdue a sward field in a single sea-
son without a hoed crop, unless, as previously
stated, by the most thorough and oft-repeated cul-
tivation both by the use of the plow and harrow.
By the way, we have within a few years had an
implement introduced in our locality — Share's
Harrow — which is of great assistance in pulveriz-
ing sward land, acting something like a set of
gang plows. Wm. J. Pettee.
Salisbury, Conn., Dec. 20, 1862.
THE CULTIVATION OP CLOVER.
Now is the time to think over and talk over
the plans for next spring's operations. What
shall I sow, or plant ? what lands plow ? what lay
down to grass ? how much ? and many other things
that should be decided upon long before the swal-
lows come. This plan agrees with that of mer-
chants, manufacturers, builders, artists, and most
of the occupations of life. Why should not the
farmer be equally far-sighted and systematic ?
We have often advocated the culture of clover
to a much greater extent than is now common
among our farmers, and we feel like pressing it
with unwearied earnestness every time we have a
conversation with intelligent farmers, or read the
opinions of those who have given the subject at-
tention.
We find an account of the condition of farming
in Germany in the 17th and beginning of the 18th
century. "The only winter food the farmer had
for his cattle, besides bad and sour meadow herb-
age, consisted of white turnips, carrots, cabbage
and potatoes ; and even of these, there was no
great store, because the fields had ceased to pro-
duce, when unmanured. This scanty food was,
throughout the whole winter, whilst it lasted,
made still scantier by steeping and boiling to eke
it out, and when at last it came to an end, the cat-
tle had to starve on barley, oat and pease straw.
The coming of spring was anxiously awaited to
get a few cuttings of the young wheat shoots, and
the cattle were sent to the commons, whence the
poor beasts returned at night nearly famished."
This is the description, Liebig says, given of the
then state of agriculture in Germany, by JoHN
Christian Schubert, whom the Emperor, Jo-
seph IL, created Knight of the Holy Roman Em-
pire, bestowing upon him the style and title of
Ritter Von Kleefeld, (Knight of Clover Field,) as
a mark of imperial appreciation of the eminent
services rendered by him in the introduction of
the ctdtivation of clover into Germany. This
new culture was hailed with acclamation all over
the Empire. The peasants who grew clover re-
ceived silver "clover dollars," to wear round the
neck, and the good Schubert said — "If you will
grow clover, and will strictly follow my directions,
you will have ample cause for rejoicing, and for
praising the Lord out of the fulness of your heart
for His rich blessings." We believe the assertion
of Schubert will hold good with New England
farmers, and hope they will make the trial and
For the New England Farmer,.
THE WIND.
Thou viewless monarch of the air,
How wide estended is thy reign ;
'Tis felt far down in valleys fair,
On mountain top, o'er fertile plain.
Nor is thy realm alone on land —
The waters, too, thy voice obey ;
E'en oceans move at thy command,
And own thy ever-changing sway.
For how capricious is thy rule !
We feel it in the gentle breeze,
With balmy breath, so soft and cool.
That floats among the 13owers and trees i
And then, in accents stem and strong.
Thy voice we hear 'midst clouds on high.
As thou dost whirl or rush along,
And from thy presence fain would fly.
But thou, 0 wind, who rulest o'er
The earth's and ocean's vast extent,
Must homage pay, and bow before
The great Supreme, Omnipotent. A. 0. Tf,
WHY BOILIKra MILK FOAMS
When milk is boiled its volume is veiy much
enlarged, while water merely bubbles without any
increase in bulk; why is it that the two liquids
under the same circumstances behave so differ-
ently ?
When Avater is gradually heated to the boiling
point the portion nearest the fire first reaches the
temperature of 212°, and the first particle that is
heated to this degree is immediately converted
into steam. As in its new form its volume is
about 1,700 fold greater than in the liquid state,
while its weight remains the same, it floats u])-
ward through the water, being held in a nearly
spherical shape by the nearly equal pressure of
the water against all its sides. When it reaches
the surface it is lighter than air, and consequently
floats away in the atmosphere, and being invisible,
it is lost to our sight. The rapid formation of
these little globes of steam, and their rising
through the water, produce that peculiar disturb-
ance of the liquid which we call ebullition or boil-
ing.
When milk is boiled the same little globes of
steam are formed, but their surface is coaled with
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
61
an exceedingly thin film of the casein which is
one of the constituents of milk, and which has
sufficient tenacity to prevent the bubbles from
breaking when they reach the surface, or from be-
ing separated from the liquid. They consequently
accumulate as they successively rise to the sur-
face, forming the white foam which so frequently
flows over the edge of the vessel into the fire. —
Scientific American.
WOMAN'S GARDENING.
We have often commended "TAe Horticultu-
rist, by speaking of its contents, and for the gen-
eral ability with which it is conducted. We now
commend it by copying from its pages the follow-
ing article on Woman'' s Qardening, with the
remarks made upon it by one of the Editors.
Why may not a Lady write for The Eorticultu-
rist'i Ladies write for other magazines, and re-
ceive applause either for the matter or manner, or
because they are ladies. I claim no applause for
either. Men think that the ladies like compli-
ments, and so they do when deserved, but fulsome
flattery is an insult to the sensible woman. I like
to be commended for my housewifery, cleverness,
and especially for my horticultural efi'orts, but
shall be content if you will allow me to sound my
own praise. Perhaps, too, I may succeed in im-
parting to others of my sex a tithe of the pleasure
it aff'Ords me to cultivate flowers, and fruit, and
vegetables, inducing them to spend more time in
the open air, and while inhaling nature's richest
perfumes, breathe her health invigorating atmos-
phere.
My garden is not large, (about 100 feetjsquare,)
but it yields abundantly with moderate care and
labor. In the spring I hire a laborer for three or
four days to dig and manure it ; the planting and
after care I do myself, with a boy twelve years of
age, who also helps me churn the butter from two
cows, and does the chores. We raise all the veg-
etables we need for a family of six persons, and
the consumption is never stinted. We have all
the approved varieties of fruit, and some to spare,
and we have flowers in profusion during the whole
season. I need not name the vegetables ; you
can imagine that we omit no good ones ; and as
for the flowers, we grow every thing that is pretty
and attainable with a small income, and by ex-
changes with complaisant and admiring neighbors ;
but I can not forbear to name the fruits, among
which are ten varieties of Dwarf Pears, six varie-
ties of Dwarf Apples, seven Grape vines, Straw-
ben-ies. Raspberries, Blackbenies, Gooseberries,
Currants, &c.
I ought to say something of the beauty of my
garden. We keep it cletm ; weeds are tabooed ;
it is a great offence for one to go to seed. We
can not boast of its paths, "streaking the ground
with sinuous trace ;" they arc, unfortunately, all
straight. We claim no originality for laying it
out, but we are proud of its productions : thei/ are
perfect gems of beauty. |
Now, Mr. Editor, don't figufe in your own |
mind a dried-up lady, who cares no longer for her
complexion. I am still young enough to have
color in my cheeks, and this is how I keep it there.
Nor do I neglect my domestic duties. I keep
one servant, who does the cooking, &c., and I find
time to sweep, dust, mend, darn, work the butter,
read the current literature, and entertain a few
friends, besides going to town once a week to do
the shopping for the family. To the oft-repeated
question, How do you manage to do all this ? I
answer, bi/ s>/dem. One thing at a time, and do-
ing that well.
I must not forget to say that I have found time
to get you three new subscribers, and inclose the
names and the money, which I presume will inter-
est you quite as much as the description of my
garden.
[Certainly ladies may write for the ITorticuliur-
ist. Ladies do write for it, though they do not
appear as such. We agree with all you say in re-
gard to "fulsome flattery ;" it is doubly weak ;
weak in the man who uses it, and weak in the
woman who shows herself susceptible to its influ-
ence. We never bestow praise excejjt when it is
deserved, and then we do it heartily. It is a
weakness of some women, however, (and men too,)
to mistake mere j)layfulness for fulsome praise.
You, of course, do not belong to that class. We
can not, however, after reading the account of
your garden operations, allow you the exclusive
privilege of sounding your own praise. There,
you see, you are trenching a little on our domain.
We must help you a little. Some have done well,
but you have excelled. We hope your example
may influence scores of your sisters to go and do
likewise. It would not only benefit them individ-
ually, but the human family at large, and we
should hear less talk about the degeneracy of the
present race. Would that we might do some-
thing, however little, to teach women a practical
love of fruits and flowers. No, we do not imag-
ine you to be a "dricd-up lady;" we know better.
No woman who passes a reasonable portion of
time in the garden ever can dry up. — Ed.]
DEATH OP MR. JONAS WEBB.
We regi'ct to have to announce the quite sudden
death of Jonas Webb, of Babraham, England, un-
der peculiarly melancholy circumstances. Mr.
and Mrs. Wkbb were visiting her brother, Mr.
Marshall, of Cambridge, where Mrs. W., who ap-
pears to have been somewhat unwell for several
weeks, became worse and died Nov. 5th, a day
which had been fixed for her son's marriage. The
shock was too much for Mr. Wkbb. He became
very ill, and died on the 10th, the day on which
the funeral of his wife took place.
Mr. Wkbb had associated his name inseparably
with those of the most prominent breeders in the
history of EngUsh Agriculture. His success, ow-
ing to a rare combination of good business facul-
ties with matchless skill in theim])rovement of his
stock, was productive of very large pecuniary re-
turns to himself, as well as of great benefit to the
Hock-masters of every civilized country. It will
be remembered that the final disposition of the
Babraham South-Downs was decided upon last
year, resulting in a sale in 1861 of all, except the
iambs, for the aggregate amount of £10,926, and
in the sale of the" lambs in 1S62 for £j,72() — the
total selling value of the flock having thus been
£16,646, or more than $80,000. Mr. W. had
been in receipt of a large revenue from the flock
62
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb,
for many years, the annual aggregate of his "Let-
tings" having been from $5,000 to $9,000. He
had also a very valuable herd of Short-Horns, and
a heavy capital employed upon the extensive farms
of which he was the tenant. Death has come to
him at a mature age, when the great labor of his
life is completed, and in the enjoyment of a well
won and world-wide reputation. As one of our
foreign exchanges remarks : "Every one who had
the pleasure of coming into contact with Mr.
Jonas Webb, must have been struck with his
frank and manly bearing; and those who have
had transactions with him can bear testimony to
his strict integrity and undeviating uprightness."
— Country Gentleman.
Mr. John A. Tatntek, another distinguished
agriculturist, died on the 15th of November, at
his residence in Hertford, Conn. Mr. Tainter has
been greatly interested and engaged in the impor-
tation of what are called Jersey cattle, and has
done much to improve the breed of our neat
stock.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
PIGS WITH A COUGH.
For a year or more past, my young pigs have
been troubled with a cough ; at times very severe,
and one or two have died from the effects of it.
I wish to make inquiries in regard to it. It seems
to leave them mostly, after they are a few months
old. X.
Salisbury, Conn., 1862.
Remarks. — It is no uncommon thing for pigs
to have a cough. It is occasioned, we think, in
most cases, by exposure, but probably not in the
case of our correspondent, who understands pig-
raising too well to expose them to any injury.
No animal likes, and enjoys, a warm, dry bed,
better than the pig. He may leave it, and wallow
in the mire the next moment, but if he gets
chilled, will retire to his nest, cover himself up,
and get warm again. Such is his nature. But
suppose he does not have the bed to go to, but
lies down upon filthy straw, with the cold winds
rushing up through the cracks in the floor, will he
not be Ukely to catch cold and have a cough ? It
may be hereditary, in the case of our inquirer.
Let him look to that. We have seen a yearling
colt so afflicted with ringbone, as to be utterly
worthless, — suffering greatly. Warm, moist food,
in small messes, mixed with a little flour of sul-
phur, will generally remove a cough that is not
hereditary or chronic. Where pigs have regular
and liberal feed, and a dry, warm place to retire to
when they please, they will seldom have a cough.
culture of flax.
Although there has been something said of late
upon the culture of flax in your paper, I would
like to inquire, first, whether a sufficient quantity
of seed that will germinate, can be found, to sup-
ply such farmers as are inclined to raise a little ?
Then, again, when a crop is gathered, will paper-
makers be likely to buy the straw, (if that is the
name.) Or is it unfit in its raw state for the pa-
per-mill ? I am a farmer, and know nothing of
the manufacture of paper, but have been thinking^
about it some of late. If raw flax will make good
paper, why will not the seed and straw sell, sO'
that it will pay to raise it ? H. C.
Dec, 1862.
Remarks. — No doubt but a plenty of seed
could be obtained.
In its raw state, flax is unfit for the paper-mills
— ^but means would soon be found out to prepare
it for use. Indeed, a chemical process is already
known for softening the woody portion of the stem,
so that it is easily and rapidly separated by ma-
chinery. We have seen it done in the most eff'ec-
tual manner.
Flax seed is a valuable article of commerce, and
large quantities of it are imported into this coun-
try annually in the form of seed, and that of oil
cake.
TIME TO sow flax SEED.
I have noticed in the Farmer an article on the
subject of flax. I think the 10th of May about
the best time to sow flax seed, although freezing
the ground a little, will not kill the seed after it
is sown. Loamy land is good for flax, and grav-
elly land, in a wet season, bears good flax. It is
the most profitable crop that a fai*mer can raise,
for it is very high at present. The lint is worth
18 cents per pound, and the seed $2 50 per bush-
el. We get from three to five hundred pounds of
lint per acre, and from seven to twelve bushels of
seed. Flax should be sown on clean land, where
it will be free from weeds. It should be pulled,
and the seed whipped off' by hand, or a machine
made on purpose. Such a machine consists of two
rollers, both turning inward ; the heads of the flax
pass between them ; the bolls of the flax are
crushed, and the seed drops out. When flax is
pulled, it should be kept in small bundles, that
you can clasp with both hands, then, after whip-
ping off' the sod, spread and roll it, and then
bi-eak, swingle and tie it up ready for market.
It will sell anywhere in Berkshire county. We
call the barley crop next to flax for profit. Wheat
is a very uncertain crop with us. A. Allen.
Williamstown, Dec, 1862.
PUTNAM'S BUTTER WORKER.
Can you send me any explanation of the plan
of Putnam's Butter Worker ?
Indianapolis, lad., Dec, 1862.
Remarks. — It is merely a plain frame work,
containing a cylinder to receive the butter, and a
follower fitting it, moved downward by a screw
power. In the cylinder there are upright open-
ings, perhaps half an inch wide, and six or eight
inches long, through which the butter and butter-
milk pass out as the power condenses it. When
the inventor gets out a description, we shall be
glad to give it in the Farmer.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
63
FINE HOGS.
I killed two hogs last week, that weighed, after
hanging over night, and without the rough fat,
503 pounds, and 618 pounds. They were hoth
pigs of the same litter and fed together, and were
nineteen months, eight days old, when killed. I
prefer to feed shelled corn considerably when fat-
ting, rather than cob meal, and can do it easier
with Nourse's shelling machines than to go to mill
and lose the toll. A. G. D.
Dec, 1862. _
VEEMIN ON COLTS AND CALVES.
What is the surest and safest remedy for lice
on colts and calves ? c. N. A.
Chelsea, VL, Dec, 1862.
Remarks. — Clean, soft oil, of any kind, rubbed
upon the skin, twice a week, is safe and often suc-
cessful. Unguentum, in the hands of a careful
person, who will not allow the animal to be ex-
posed while using it, will destroy vermin.
COTSWOLD EWES — BRAHMA POOTRA FOWLS.
Where can there be found pure Cotswold ewes,
and Brahma Pootra fowls ? A Subscriber.
Remarks. — We do not know where the sheep
can be obtained. Mr. John S. Ives, of Salem,
Mass., has the Brahma Pootra fowls.
For the Nete England Farmer.
THE HORSE AN INTELLIGENT ANIMAL.
Both ancient and modern writers agree that the
horse is an intelligent animal.
This intellectual development is far greater in
some instances than in others, varying in degree,
according to natural endowment, from a mere pos-
session of instinct to the more wonderful faculties
occasionally seen in a well-trained animal.
I own to a natural fondness of the horse, and
but few objects are more gratifying to my eyes.
Not a high-boned, grisly-haired, coarse-limbed
and high-gaited steed, such as is too often im-
posed upon innocent buyers as a "perfect family"
horse, but a compact, bright eyed, light stepping
nag ; such an one as is pictured by the poet : that
"O'er rocks, and woods, and crappy mountains flies.
And neighing, on the aerial summit takes
The exciting gale.''
Many anecdotes are told of the horse in which
sufficient testimony is adduced to prove that the
principle of affection, also, is latent in his nature ;
that his fondness of and attachment to his master
are often strong and marked.
I think 1 have seen numerous evidences of it in
my own experience ; and, to my mind, it is a mat-
ter of no slight importance to possess the confi-
dence of the horse that one is accustomed to ride
or drive. Not only is he likely to be less timid,
but he will approach objects that appear to him
unusual and strange, and can be managed in cir-
cumstances of sudden difficulty with far less prob-
ability of accident, than a horse that has been
harshly used, and forced to unwilling obedience
by the lash.
It is wonderful how docile he will become under
the frequent caresses of childi-en. Females ac-
customed to ride and manage favorite horses,
have, in times of peculiar danger, been successful
in guiding them after ail eflbrts to do so on the
part of the master had failed.
The case of a little girl, which fell under my ob-
servation several years since, I can cite as an evi-
dence of the power the female voice will have, if
rightly used, in restraining a horse when under
the influence of sudden fright.
On the occasion referred to, this little girl was
left in charge of a span of English, high bred
horses, while the owner, — a generous Scotch i>hv-
sician, long since gone to his account,— could
make a professional call at the house of a sick
neighbor.
The horses were harnessed to a light phaeton,
and, though young and spirited, were (juite gentle.
The child was given the ruins, and duly cautioned,
but the doctor had hardly left the carriage when
the fluttering of a noisy parrot, at a window,
caused the horses to start, and in an instant after
they were off' at a dashing speed. For a long dis-
tance they rushed over the road as if on wings,
avoiding, fortunately, everything in their way.
The child kept firmly to her seat, and by skilful
management of the reins and words uttered in a
kindly and soothing voice, she at length succeeded
in bringing the frightened animals to a halt.
Doubtless, all would have terminated well, had it
not been for the interference of some kind-hearted
peo])le, who, seeing the situation of things, shouted
to the child to leap from the carriage, which obey-
ing, she had the mortification to witness both
horses and carriage flying over fences and ditches
to their complete destruction.
More than forty years ago there lived in ihe
town near my father's farm, an eccentric genius,
widely known as Uncle Tim. At the time to
which I refer, he had u])on his farm one of those
tougli, close-knit animals, which, though without
known pedigree, bore unmistakaljle marks of the
French Canadian breed. Weighing scarcely nine
hundred pounds, and at times faring none too
well, she was always fat, and, as Uncle Tim would
good-naturedly remark, would "thrive on hob
nails without any mixin' o' shorts." The mare
was the chief dependence on the farm, and was
kept almost constantly in harness.
Tugging before oxen all the forenoon, and with
little time to cool ofl", she was, not unfrequently, in
the afternoon, tackled to the old square top chaise
and driven to the "middle of the town," or to
some adjoining village and back again, whe'» she
was sent to the common ])asture to pick up the
little left after an overstock during the day. Tiie
mare had a peculiar aversion to strangers, and w;is
unsafe in harness unless driven l)y one of the fam-
ily. None other could approach very nearly to
her in the pasture, and any trap or device to catch
her would signally fail. It was not in the j)ower
of man to hold her by the bit, for her mouth was
as tough as a rhinoceros' hide, and unpliable as a
smith's anvil ; yet Aunt Susan would manage lier
with the utmost ease, simply by talking to her.
My recollections of the old mare are various, and
some of the most ])leasing incidents of my boy-
hood were due to the frolics I have had while rid-
ing with Uncle Tim, borne along by this faithful
creature.
How often have I seen, packed into an old-fash-
ioned pung, hitched to the old mare, the children
64
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
of the neighborhood, bound on an excursion of
pleasure.
She seemed to understand it all, and as their
merry voices rang a merry peal, she would start
up at a brisk trot, up hill and down, and returning
home, would of her own accord stop at each door,
deliver freight, and so on till the last batch was
disposed of. w. H. F.
West Boxbury, Dec, 1862.
ILLUSTRATED ANNUAL BEGISTER FOR
1863.
This is the ninth number of this excellent work.
It is as full of valuable facts and suggestions as a
good nut is of meat. It has one hundred and
forty engravings, the times, tides, the changes of
the moon, how long the sun shines on us, and a
thousand other things that people desire and
ought to know. It is edited by Mr. J. J. Thomas,
and published by Luthek, Tucker and Son,
Albany, N. Y., who are also proprietors and pub-
lishers of the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.
Read the subjoined articles, and say whether we
have misjudged in our opinion of the merits of
this work.
Application of Manures. — The following
conclusions were adopted at the discussion on
manures, at the State Fair at Watertowu :
1. Manure which consists chiefly of the drop-
pings of animals should be applied as soon as
possible to the soil.
2. Manure consisting largely of straw, corn
stalks, or other fibrous matter, should be first
rotted to become fine.
3. Manure should be applied at or near the
surface of the soil, or should be slightly buried.
4. For hoed crops, and especially for corn crops,
it may be buried deeper than for straw crops.
What Young People should Know. — The
best inheritance that parents can leave their chil-
dren, is the ability to help themselves. This is
better than a hundred thousand dollars apiece.
In any trouble or difliculty, they will have two ex-
cellent servants ready, in the shape of their two
hands. Those who can do nothing, and have to
be waited on, are helpless, and easily disheartened
at the misfortunes of life. Tliose who are active
and handy, meet troubles with a cheerful face, and
soon surmount them. Let young people there-
fore, learn to do as many different useful things
as possible.
Every Farmer's Boy should know how, sooner
or later,
1. To dress himself, black his own shoes, cut
his brother's hair, wind a watch, sew on a button,
make a bed, and keep all his clothes in perfect oi'-
der, and neatly in place.
2. To harness a horse, grease a wagon, and
drive a team.
3. To carve, and wait on table.
4. To milk the cows, shear the sheep, and dress
a veal or mutton.
5. To reckon money and keep accounts accu-
rately, and according to good book-kee])ing rules.
6. To write a neat, appropriate, briefly ex-
pressed business letter, in a good hand, and fold
and superscribe it properly ; and write contracts.
7. To plow, sow grain and grass seed, drive a
mowing machine, swing a scythe, build a neat stack
and pitch hay.
8. To put up a package, build a fire, whitewash
a wall, mend broken tools, and regulate a clock.
There are many other things which would render
boys more useful to themselves and others — these
are merely a specimen. But the young man who
can do all these things well, and who is ready at
all times to assist others, and be useful to his
mother and sisters, will command far more respect
and esteem than if he knew merely how to drive
fast horses, smoke cigars, play cards, and talk
nonsense to foolish young ladies at parties.
For the New Eneland Farmer.
NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY.
"For when disputes are wearied out,
'Tis interest still resolves the doubt."
Every man is morally bound to contend for what
he regards as true ; but when an opponent never
stoops to admit a plain truth from his antagonist,
or condescends to think it possible that he is in
the wrong, it is useless to spend words or ink up-
on him. In entering a controversy, men should
come with a spirit of condescension and accom-
modation ; a willingness to acknowledge error
when it is clearly shown — for truth is the object
sought — and not with an air and tone of infallibil-
ity, which repels all candid and just consideration
of the subject. One may Avell suspect his oppo-
nent's good faith, when he industriously shifts to
meet every minor or weak point, and remains si-
lent upon the great ones. It is hardly worth the
time to remind him more than once, that your
material points are not met. To reiterate it again
and again, as if to provoke him to an admission of
their soundness, would be folly. The best way is
simply to utter them, and let them take their
course, as if you believed in their power of making
their way against all but ignorant, wilful and
prejudiced minds.
"For truth is precious and divine,
Too rich a pearl for carnal swine."
Very rarely do persons enter into public, (or
even private) discussions, with true inquiring
minds. One party, or both, usually have some
interest in their positions, and wish to make a
proselyte of the other party. And when obvious
interest is absent, simple pride of opinion sets up
an adamantine barrier to concession. Controver-
sy thus conducted, is useless, and even worse.
Most of the religious disputes are entered upon
under these circumstances ; and whoever heard of
one party being convinced by the other ? The
result generally is a final belief, if not an expres-
sion, tliat their opponents belong to the species of
braying animals ! Who supposes that two great
pscudo saints, like Brigham Young and the Pope
of Rome, would enter into a polemical discussion
about their peculiar religious tenets with anj'
profit ? Both would be interested or biassed, and
both would be unyielding. The world does not
need learned men so much as honest and fearless
men — men who are ready to be convinced by a
lair process of reasoning, and equally ready to ac-
knowledge that conviction.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
65
In agriculture, the feeling and tone complained
of, is not more uncommon than in other affairs.
Silence is, not unfrequently, better than a struggle
tor the last word. If an opponent shows no dis-
position to accept of truth out of himself, let him
be left to the influence of the moral elements with
his own drapery wrapped about him. D. W. L.
West Medford, Dec, 1862.
Remabks. — Read and ponder.
For the Neic England Farmer,
THE WAR AND THE FARMER.
Mr. Brown : — After ten years' association of
my name with yours, in the editorial depaitment
of the Farmer, the Fates seem to determine that
our pleasant fellowship shall nominally end. I
say nominally, because I intend to claim the priv-
ilege of a correspondent, and to hold some sort of
place, still, in the hearts of the editors and read-
ers of our paper. It would, perhaps, have been
more consonant with the fact, had my name ap-
peared always as a correspondent, but there has
been no harm in the name of associate editor, for
nobody has supposed that any one but yourself
had much to do with editing the agricultural de-
partment.
Pursuits far other than those of agriculture, for
the present, claim my attention, but my thoughts
and reading, and sometimes my pen, will be,
•where my heart is, directed toward the culture of
the earth, and its improvement in beauty and fer-
tility.
I rejoice that the Farmer is not to go down in
the contest which convulses the land, and which
is destroying the lives of so many of the young
and brave, deranging the peaceful plans of life,
and with the rest, sweeping away so many useful
publications. It is said to be darkest just before
the dawn, and although the night has been long
and dreary, I cannot help feeling that the dawn-
ing will begin with this new year. What right
has any American citizen to ask of Him who rules
in heaven and earth, for victory to our arms, in
the name of Liberty, while our government stands
responsible for slavery ? When we ourselves are
in the right, and the decree has gone forth to "let
the people go," we shall deserve success, and that
is much toward its attainment. Truly it cannot
be within the designs of the Almighty, that slavery
shall triumph over freedom, and that the only
hope of the world, as an illustration of self-gov-
ernment, shall perish !
But, beside the duty which the farmer owes to
his country in standing by tlie flag, and the Presi-
dent, who is its representative, he has his peculiar
province of labor. Thus far the boast of the
South that the free labor system cannot maintain
itself against that of slave labor, has been an idle
assertion. There is plausibility in the theory
which comes daily to us from Richmond, that the
North cannot spare the laborers from the larm for
the battle-field, but must either end the war, or
starve at home, while the slave labor of the South
can furnish constant supplies to the soldiers, who
have never been laborers or producers. The fict,
however, that the North has produced abundant
crops for herself and her armies, and for the im-
mense demand of the Old World, while prices ui
the South have reached almost to the famine point,
is, thus far, a significant criticism upon this pro-
slavery idea. But this theory will bear a criticism
beyond the mere facts which have been suggest-
ed. Had tlie whole energy of the North been
heretofore directed to the immediate i)roduction
of the greatest amount of food and clothing, and
a miUion of her laborers been suddenly called to
the war, we shoidd have seen a failure of products
corresponding with this diversion of labor. But
the North has never been so employed. Only a
small part of her labor has been upon the soil.
Of those who have enlisted as soldiers, a great
proportion, how large cannot be stated, did not
depend upon their labor on the soil, for support.
Of those who were engaged in agriculture, per-
haps one-half their labor was usually employed in
permanent improvement of their farms. A new
country diff'ers in this respect from an old one.
Our young men on their new farms, or, in fact, on
any farms, with few exceptions, were not work-
ing, like Irishmen at home on a half-acre potato
patch, to get enough to keep oft" starvation, and
pay their rent. They were permanently investing
their labor, clearing off" the forest, building walls,
draining swamps, erecting buildings, making for
themselves homes. They were building school-
houses and churches, and roads and bridges ; they
were adorning their homes with trees and lawns
and shrubbery ; they were planting vineyards and
orchards ; and all this, not for themselves alone,
but for their children, and for all jjosterity. War
first cuts off luxuries, arrests public improvements,
interrupts schemes for permanent advantage, stops
the construction of railroads and canals and pub-
lic buildings, takes the farmer's time from clearing
and draining and building, and by-and-l)y, if the
pressure is long and severe enough, finds him un-
able to produce his usual supj)ly of food and cloth-
ing. No doubt the war has already done us much
harm, in retarding such progress as has been al-
luded to, but we had, and have yet, thank heaven,
a surplus of strength and energy in Northern
hearts and Northern muscles, and a surplus of re-
sources in our soil, which far more than compen-
sate for "all the wealth that sinews bought and
sold, have ever earned."
The farmer can easily understand this matter.
His son, who was his best helper, has left the
farm, to serve his country. Perhajis, now, the
new barn cannot be built, pcrha])s the meadow
cannot be drained ; certaiidy the now orchard can-
not be planted, nor the grape vines, nor the pear
trees, till the dear boy couies hack ; liut the old
fields can be tilled, and with mowing-machine and
horse-rake, the hay can be housed, and the cattle
and crops can all be cared for ; and it will be long
vears I)efore this will cease to be so.
Besides, there are at the North many willing
hands to labor now, which heretofore have done
little work, many delicate female iiands to knit and
sew for the soldiers, many willing hearts to watoh
by the sick and dyint; in hospitals, to take their
places in shops, aye, in the field, too. if necessary,
while the loved ones are away. Woman's labor
has not been much needed with us in lime of
peace, and many young maidens have looked
about, aliTiost in vain, for em])loyment. In the
war of the revolution the wives and daughters of
our fathers often labored in the field, to keep the
farm going on, while husband and father were in
66
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
the war. There is no lack of just such women
now, with willing, glad hearts to labor, if need be,
for the sake of the freedom of all, wherever duty
calls.
But, in New England, yet, so far as any want
of comfort or luxury goes, we have not felt the
war. Who of us has not had enough, and to
spare, of all that we have heretofore enjoyed ?
England and France have felt the effects of the
rebellion in their starving towns, where labor, in
its best estate, is raised but one step above pau-
perism, but in New England, where republican in-
stitutions, and the real equality of condition which
properly results from such institutions, are best il-
lustrated, want and its attendant sufferings and
crimes, are, apparently, as far off as in time of
profoundest peace.
No ! this contest for law, for the constitution,
for freedom, will not stop, because the farmers of
the North cannot maintain their armies in the
field. The resources of the South have seemed to
us wouderful, but our own seem still more won-
derful, and in modern warfare, the result depends
much, if not mainly, upon the powers of endur-
ance, or in other words, the resources of the com-
batants.
The labor system of the North is substantially
sound and undisturbed ; the large debts which we
have assumed are due to ourselves, and not to
foreign powers ; our taxes in this mighty war are
less than those of European peoples in time of
peace. At last, the slave labor system of the
South, the corner-stone of its rebellious confeder-
acy, has been touched, and the whole structure
trembles. The Belshazzar of the South has al-
ready seen in the Proclamation of Emancipation
the hand-writing upon the wall, and it has required
no prophet to interpret its meaning to be, "God
has numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou
art weighed in the balances, and art found want-
ing. Thy kingdom is divided and given to oth-
ers."
With the confident hope that we shall emerge,
in good time, out of this fearful contest, purified
as by fire, and established more firmly than ever
upon the principles of our fathers, who made our
constitution for freedom, I remain as ever, your
friend, wishing for yourself, the publishers and
readers of the Farmer, a Happy New Year.
Henry F, French.
Borrowing and Lending. — This is poor busi-
ness to both parties. The proverb, "The borrower
is servant to the lender," is now often reversed.
Owners of tools are excessively annoyed by hunt-
ing up what some one has borrowed — often to
more than their value. Never lend a tool, unless
the borrower will pi'omise to bring it back "to-
day." And if he does not, go for it at the mo-
ment it is due. This will show him that you ex-
pect promptness, which will do him a substantial
kindness by teaching him good manners, and you
will have the tool ready at hand the moment it is
wanted.
For Chapped Hands. — Wash the hands, and,
without using the towel, apply a small quantity
of honey and rub in well. Use once a day, and it
will make the hands very soft, and cure as well as
prevent chapped hands.
Apply it in the same manner to a cow's teats.
For the New England Farmer.
BETBOSPECTIVE NOTES.
Muck, and Land inclined to Muck. — As the
opinions expressed in regard to these two subjects,
on page 541 of the volume of this journal for
1862, seem likely to incline some of the younger
and less experienced readers to undervalue these
valuable articles, it may be of service to such to
have laid before them a few of the many facts and
statements which might be collected from various
sources, tending to counteract the misleading in-
fluence of the opinions referred to. To prevent
the necessity of hunting up these opinions which
seem objectionable, they are here quoted, being
as follows : —
"My experience with muck is this — as an ab-
sorbent, and to protect the droppings of stock
from the sun's rays by mixture with it, it is first-
rate ; but for a farmer to cart more than that
quantity is useless. Great value is placed on land
inclined to muck, by many, and they clear it up
at great expense, but I have yet to learn of its su-
periority over other good soils. It looks to me
that a soil washed from neighboring hills, and sub-
mitted to a leach of time unrecorded, is not equal
to the virgin soil, which has in a measure been
protected from the storms of time by the forest,
and enriched by the productions of that forest."
Now, although the writer of the above may
have intended to do some good service by the
opinions he has expressed, and admitting that
there are a few cases in which there has been an
exaggerated estimate of muck, which may have
provoked the foregoing statements in the M'ay of
correcting such over-estimates, still the influence
of the sentences quoted will be, to lead some to
under-value muck and land inclining to muck.
This, we think, would be unfortunate, and there-
fore it has seemed that an effort to counteract this
tendency ought to be made.
Before, however, proceeding to make an effort
to prevent any such under-valuing of muck, and
of land inclining to muck, we will admit that the
writer has mentioned two of the most important
of the uses of muck, namely, its usefulness as an
absorbent of urine and of the liquids of barnyards,
and as a protection of the droppings of stock from
the waste caused by exposure to the sun's rays,
the winds, &c. These are two of the more impor-
tant uses of muck, but by no means all of them.
We will admit, also, that lands inclining to muck
are not always, especially during the first two or
three years of their being under cultivation, supe-
rior to other good soils or to virgin soils. We
will allow, also, that some have been extravagant
in their statements in regard to the utility of ap-
plications of muck, and also in their expectations
of great crops from mucky soils or reclaimed
swamps. For want of good sense and a sufficient
amount of information, individuals here and there
have been so injudicious as to put muck fresh
from the swamps, without any seasoning or prep-
aration whatever, upon lands which would have
been benefited by a similar application of the same
muck after it had been seasoned by exposure to a
summer's droughts and a winter's frosts, or by
being mixed with lime or ashes to correct the acid
condition so common to fresh muck. Some, too,
after hearing or reading t>>at reclaimed swamps
make the richest portion of a farm, have been so
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
67
unwise as put them into a grain crop or some
other improper crop at the very first, or expect
great crops before the land had had the benefit of
exposure to the beneficial influences of the atmos-
phere, and have, of course, been disappointed,
and thus made ready to decry all reclaimed
swamps and lands that are mucky or inclining to
muck.
But notwithstanding these admissions, and ex-
planations, there are abundant reasons for valuing
both much more highly than "S. P. M." — the
writer referred to — seems willing to do. He
seems to have been led to this undervaluing of
muck, in part at least, by what seems to us a
strange idea, namely, that muck and mucky soils
cannot be of much value because they have been
"submitted to a leach of time unrecorded." For-
tunately for those who might be staggered a little
by this suggestion, there are several paragraphs
of an article on "Spreading Manure in Autumn,"
only a few pages farther along, which are sufficient
to neutralize the eff"ect of this notion that muck
and mucky lands must have had everything of
value leached out of them. The whole of the ar-
ticle just referred to is valuable and instructive ;
but for "S. P. M.," and all who may be influ-
enced by his suggestion of the effects of a long
leaching, the following passage, on page 544, may
be a word in season : —
"Thousands of our swamps have been saturated
■with water most of the time ever since the flood ;
yet drain them, throw up the muck, sow oats or
grass seed, and such is the fertility of these water-
soaked soils, that they will yield as heavy crops
as can be grown by the use of farm-yard manure.
The fertilizing ingredients of a rich alluvial soil,
of swamp muck, iir of stable or other animal ma-
nure, are all identical — with this difference, these
fertilizing ingredients in the manures can be
mostly leached out, but not so in the soii."
We regret to find ourselves so near the limits
of the space we usually occupy with these occa-
sional "Notes," before we have accomplished all
that we intended. We hoped to find room to set
forth several of the uses of muck and mucky soils.
This, however, has been so recently, so well, and
so fully done by the editor of this journal, that all
interested may be better satisfied if they should
turn to Vol. 12 for 1860, and find his articles on
muck, by help of the index. More Anon.
SEED SOWERS.
Modern ingenuity has given birth to a great va-
riety of implements designed to economize the
time of the farmer, and diminish the labor without
abridging the profits of his hands. Every imple-
ment designed for such a purpose, and calculated'
in its construction, to accomplish ends so desirable,
should meet with favor. The inventor should not
only be remunerated, but contemplated in the light
of a benefactor, and as deserving of honorable
praise. We have had many instruments spoken
of for acceptance, most of which are admirably
adapted to economize both expense and toil. We
have heard of three men toiling all day to plant,
imperfectly, half an acre of beets; and we have
Been the same extent of surface planted with al-
most mathematical accuracy and precision by a
boy and a machine in less than half a day. With
another "labor saving machine" of somewhat dif.
ferent construction, we have heard of a field of
seven acres planted with corn by a man and horse,
—a small boy driving the latter, — in less than a
day's time; and a patch of turnips sowed, covered,
and the surface uniformly and evenly rolled, by one
man with a seed sower in the same time which it
would have taken six to perform the work by
hand, in the usual way. We have ourselves
planted an acre of corn per hour, with a boy, horse
and corn-planter, and did the work more accu-
rately than it is usually done by hand. Indeed,
on a field of nearly four acres planted with com,
and where there were few obstructions of turfs or
stones, not a half dozen missing hills were found
when the first hoeing took place.
The only objection to this mode of planting is,
that the hills cannot be kept in regular squares,
so that they can be worked each way with the
horse and cultivator. This i& a serious objection,
because where this can be done, and the land is
not weedy, very little work is left to be performed
with the hand hoe.
A good sower for small seeds would be suffi-
cient for a half dozen farms where the buildings
are not remote from each other.
For the Sew England Farmer.
IMPOKTANCE OF KEEPING ACCOUNTS.
Can the importance of keeping accounts be too
often or too strongly urged ? I think not. It is
related of Dr. Franklin, that, wlienever he took
any subject under serious contemplation, he was
in the habit of choosing two sheets of paper, upon
one writing the arguments for, and upon the oth.
er, the arguments afjainst the subject. Following
his example, I will first see what can be said in
favor of keeping accounts.
1 . We should be enabled to determine with ex-
actness, the profit or loss upon any crop.
2. It would settle what crop is most profitable.
3. We could tell what crop is best adapted to
particular soils, for although corn can he made to
grow upon soils not naturally suited to that grain,
yet, if the extra expense exceed the profit, it is
well to kno\/ it.
4. We know what our produce cost, and know-
ing what it cost, we know what we can aff'ord to
sell for.
5. It would save much ill feeling among neigh-
bors, and prevent many law suits, as there would
be a record of many accounts now trusted to mem-
ory.
6. It would, if adopted throughout the land, be
a source of much useful information that we stand
sadly in need of.
7. It would settle many disputed points in agri-
culture.
8. It would he a source of much satisfaction at
the end of the year, and in years to come, to be
able to recur to the various transactions of the
68
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
year, and tell in what you gained, and in what you
lost.
Now, what do we find upon the other sheet?
Nothing ; we have searched for something to say
in its favor, but the sheet is blank, and we fear
must remain so. If, as j'ou peruse these lines,
you feel convinced that benefits would arise from
the system, will you not determine to commence
this year a new era, which shall ever remain upon
the pages of history a bright example of progress
in the nineteenth century ? Do not be deterred
by the seeming difficulties of the task ; they will
vanish as you approach them.
J. Franklin Spaulding.
Nashua, N. H., 1863.
Remarks. — Good advice, brother farmers — do
not fail to follow it.
SALT AND COLD VtTATER FOR SWINE.
It is not a common ])ractice, we think, to give
salt to swine occasionally, while every farmer
would consider it a prime duty to offer it to his
neat stock, horses and sheep, as often as once a
week. To be sure, the swine get a little salt in
the slops from the kitchen, but only a little, com-
pared with the amount given to other animals.
In proportion to their weight, why do they not
need as much salt as the other stock on the farm ?
We find an article going the rounds of the pa-
pers upon the use of salt for fattening swine.
The writer states that "he selected two pairs of
barrow hogs weighing 200 pounds each. One pair
received, with their daily allowance of food, two
ounces of salt ; the other pair, similarly fed, none.
In the course of a week, it was easily seen that the
salted pair had a much stronger appetite than the
others, and after a fortnight, it was increased to
two ounces apiece. After four months, the weight
of the salted hogs was 350 pounds each, while
that of the unsalted, five weeks later, reached only
300 pounds. The experiment was repeated with
almost precisely the same results."
If such should prove to be the general result,
most farmers have not gained all the advantages
they might have done from the food fed out.
From the example cited, there is no indication
that the salt excited a morbid appetite, and px'o-
duced unnatural flesh and fat. Of course, a sound
judgment must be exercised in the use of salt, as
well of grain or any other food.
Another neglect of swine — and sometimes it
must be a cruel one — is that of not giving them a
plentiful stipply of pure cold water. Why it is
supposed that the hog should not need water as
well as the cow and sheep — neither of whom work
— is more than we can tell. They do require it.
When water is not given them, although fed with
Bwill, they will drink heartily of the water collect-
ed in the yard or barn-cellar, after visiting their
trough several times, and finding it empty and
dry. Nothing is more grateful to them in a hot
day than a bucket of cool water, dranli from a
clean, sweet trough. We trust that farmers will
give attention to the matter, and ascertain for
themselves whether our suggestions are valuable
or not.
ROAD MAKING.
To travel over a good road is a comfort which
all appreciate who have ever been jolted over or
dragged through a bad one ; and it is a matter of
surprise that so little attention is paid to this mat-
ter in country towns. If a road is once built in
good condition and according to the principles of
Civil Engineering, it will afterward need little re-
pairing unless it is subject to heavy washes from
rain or carried away by spring freshets.
Our common roads are seldom constructed with
care. The path is staked of the desired width —
which is generally too narrow by one-half — and
the soil turned up with the plow ; sometimes
gravel is hauled on and the scraper used to make
it level. There is seldom any provision made for
drainage, and the washing of the hills is attempted
to be prevented by huge "bars," as they are call-
ed, which are in most cases the most villainous
and destructive things to carriages and comfort
that the perverse ingenuity of a "highway survey-
or" ever invented.
On farms, little attention is paid to the roads
which cross the fields and woods, while the bridg-
es across the runs are dangerous to cart wheels
and the limbs of cattle and horses.
In many places these evils are serious enough
to demand immediate attention, and yet such is
the force of habit that men will drive their rick-
erty hay-carts over the same old bridge or stony
road until the final excursion breaks the camel's
back and the cart goes to smash.
We should set out with the principle that it is
cheapest in the long run to build a good road, and
for several reasons : — It costs but little more at
first ; it needs little repair ; it enables one to
move heavier loads with less strength ; it saves
wear of carts, carriages, horses, cattle, patience,
and many a broken limb ; it is a credit to a town
and a recommendation to any farm if the roads
and paths through it are neat and in good order.
Having thus expressed our opinion, which we
suppose few will be found to dispute, we proceed
to give a few hints on road-making, which may be
of service to our readers.
The best material for road surface is broken
stone two inches in diameter, not much more or
less, covered with a layer of gravel. It should be
made only shghtly convex, the drainage being
provided for at the sides by proper ditches,
where there is a clay soil, the ditch should be dug
in the middle of the road and fiUe withcoarsed up
stones and then the sod and other materials placed
on top of it. On hill-sides, unless the descent is
very steep, bars will only aggravate the difficulty
they were intended to cure. Let the road be pro-
perly graded — if a long hill not all in one sweep
from summit to foot — but in two and three grades,
with levels of a rod or two between ; this will ren-
der the ascent easy and break the flow of water.
The ditch should be well defined and clean each
side, and the surface very slightly convex.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
69
For a side walk or garden path, a foot or so in
depth of stones covered with broken stone or
gravel will give always a firm dry path at all sea-
sons of the year.
Team roads across farms, where much used,
should be run out with the plow, the stones
stumps and roots removed, and lasting bridges
thrown across the runs or brooks. It will be
well to throw down bundles of faggots in swampy
places, over which cart on gravel or soil. Such
a road once made will last for a generation, and
prevent much trouble. — Journal ^Agriculture.
THE INNER CALM.
Calm me, my God, and keep me calm ;
While these hot breezes blow,
Be like the night-dew's cooling balm
Upon earth's fevered brow.
Calm me, my God, and keep me calm ;
Soft resting on Thy breast.
Soothe me with holy hymn and psalm,
And bid my spirit rest.
Calm me, my God, and keep me calm j
Let thine outstretching ^^ng
Be like the shade of Elim's palm,
Beside her desert spring.
Yes, keep me calm, though loud and rude
The sounds my ear that greet.
Calm in the closet's solitude.
Calm in the bustling street.
Calm in the hour of buoyant health,
Calm in the hour of pain.
Calm in my poverty or wealth.
Calm in my loss or gain.
Calm in the sufferance of wrong.
Like Him who bore my shame ;
Calm mid the threatening, taunting throng
Who hate Thy Holy Xame.
Calm when the great world's newa with power
My listening spirit stir !
Let not the tidings of the hour
E'er find too fond an ear.
Calm as the ray of sun or star,
Which storms assail in vain.
Moving unruffled through earth's war,
Th' eternal calm to gain.
Judge French, — On another page may be
found an article from our esteemed friend, and,
for many years, our Associate Editor of the Farm-
er. In the midst of his practice as a lawyer, and
of the valuable aid he was supplying to our col-
umns, he was selected by the Executive of the
State to discharge the duties of an important of-
fice, in the line of his profession, and promptly ac-
cepted its trusts. Under this new demand upon
his time and energies, he declines to bear the
yoke and title of Editor with us longer. But we
rejoice that he will still bear us in remembrance,
and continue to illumine our pages with his sensi-
ble, and always reliable and practical thoughts,
whenever the duties of his profession will permit.
May there be many New Years of pleasant life
and usefidness left to him and his.
MAPLE SUOAB.
We have annually given some account of the
modes of making maple sugar for several years
past, and have incurred considerable expense for
engravings to illustrate the fixtures and manner
of evaporating the sap. An article in the N. II.
Journal of Agriculture, from the pen of Geo. W.
Hammond, of Gilsum, in that State, recalls the
subject, and prompts us to ask attention to it at
this early day, so that our friends may bear it in
mind and make preparations for their work in sea-
son.
Nothing that we eat is more acceptable to most
persons than good sugar. It is not merely pleas-
ant to the taste, but we have the gratification of
knowing that, while it pleases the taste, it affords
actual nourishment to the body. The present
high price of sugar should stimulate the farmer to
produce all he can the coming spring, as it will be
required by our people, and will afford him a
handsome profit. Mr. Hammond says : —
When people once become familiar with the use
of maple sugar for cooking and table use, for tea,
coffee, &c., they prefer it to the best refined white
cane sugars.
We have been in the practice of making annu-
ally, in our sugar establishment, from 25 to 3jOO
pounds of maple sugar ; and when we could ob-
tain from two to four cents per pound more than
the cost of the best loaf and granulated sugars, we
sometimes sold ourselves so short as to be obliged
to buy for home use a barrel or two of the best
granulated sugar.
But much depends upon the manner in which
maple sugar is made. As we have sold our sugar
usually at the highest price — once as high as \o
cents per pound by the thousand pounds — per-
haps the readers of the Journal might be interest-
ed in an account of our process of manufacture.
1st. Our buckets and holders are all thoroughly
scalded and rinsed previous to setting. Our
evaporating pans, of which we use eight, are
scraped, washed and made perfectly clean before
use. We then endeavor to gather and evaporate
the sap as speedily as ])ossible after it has left the
trees, to a consistency a little thinner than mo-
lasses.
It is then strained and set aside until we are
ready to sugar it off. When we commence this
process, to syrup enough to make 40 pounds of
sugar, we add one pint of milk and one or two
eggs well beaten and mixed together. Stir well
together and place it over the fire, and when the
scum rises skim it off into a vessel for future use.
After the skimming is through, remove the .syrup
from the fire and strain it through ihuinel, to re-
move all little curds, which if suffered to remain,
would not only injure the quality, but by settling
to the bottom would endanger burning. Now we
wash our evaporating pan, return the s\Tup, and
place it over a brisk fire, and evaporate as quickly
as possible to the proper consistence. If it is to
be caked, it must be harder than for tub sugar, or
to stir off dry. Keep saleratus and all other
drugs out of your sugar, if you desire a pure ma-
ple taste, and a wholesome article.
•70
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
WTien the season is through, gather your uten-
sils, and scald and scrub every one perfectly clean,
if you wish to continue making good sugar in the
future. In this order, the evaporating pans are
excepted, which should be put away in a dry
place with the glazed coating on them, which is
the best protection from rust.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
WHY DO CATTLE EAT THEIR CKIBS ?
I hereby renew my subscription for the Month-
^rrmer, for another year, and in doing so, I
to make one or two inquiries,
lat makes my cattle inclined to gnaw their
and the corners of the barn, and really eat
■ 5 of dry boards, when they can find them ?
have done so for several seasons, in the lat-
irt of the winter, and in doing so, they lose
appetite for their fodder, and become thin by
ring time. Last year I wintered fifteen head
ttle, of all ages, from last spring calves, to
iws and oxen, and they all incline to do so,
ut an exception. One of my oxen would eat
piece of board as greedily as he would an
f corn. One calf gnawed quite through the
31 of his crib, which was two inches thick,
ome of them are beginning to do so this year.
next inquiry is, what will cure them of this
ler ? If you, or some of your knowing ones,
.ell me, I will be very much obliged. We
pretend to know much up this way, but some
yes, the most of us, know enough to get a
, and by farming, too, and I think if all
take the N, E. Farmer, we should have the
5 of knowing much more than we do now.
Jesse R. Fitts.
idia Village, N. H., Dec, 1862.
MAUKS. — We know of no certain cause, or
y, of the evil our correspondent speaks of,
h other complaints have often been made.
IS often gnaw their stalls, but we have never
1 neat cattle to do so. The cause, we think,
lie in one of two things ; the want of a suf-
'■ amount of nourishing food, or in the ir-
•rity in which it is given. It may not, how-
ever, be either of these. It may be caused by the
quality of the water they drink, or by some lurk-
ing seeds of disease inherited from their ancestors.
When cattle gnaw bones, we give them bone
dust as a remedy. If they gnaw your boards, per-
haps they would relish sawdust, and let the boards
alone. If cattle are fed principally on meadow
hay, it may prove unsatisfactory, and lead them to
gnaw any thing they can reach, until it becomes a
habit which it is difficult to eradicate.
Our correspondent should look at every possi-
ble cause, and when he has found the true one, it
may not be difficult for him to prescribe a remedy.
DISEASED SHEEP.
I am keeping 290 sheep, and many of them are
afflicted with soreness about the mouth, appearing
upon the outer surface of the lips. It is a disease
which, for a life-long experience in sheep-keeping,
I have never before witnessed. Can you, or some
of your correspondents, account for it, and pre-
scribe a proper remedy ? Geo. French.
Sutton, N. H., 1863.
PUMPKINS AND APPLES FOR SWINE.
In your paper of November 1, I find an article,
in regard to the value of apples and pumpkins for
cattle, in which the writer approves of their use,
and by actual experiment proves their value.
The middle of April last, I bought a couple of
spring pigs, of the Mackay breed, at four dollars
each, brought to my door. They proved to be
large eaters, and the milk of my three cows soon
seemed insufficient for them, and for a short time
I seemed undecided what to do, as meal was too
expensive to feed to pigs, with the prospect of
only six cents per pound after they were slaugh-
tered. But the last of August and during Sep-
tember, I made my boys gather all the apples,
both sour and sweet, and I gave them from a peck
to half a bushel per day. The last of September,
my small apples and windfalls growing scarce, I
commenced feeding them with the same quantity
of pumpkins ; neither apples or pumpkins were
cooked, but fed raw, and I will say that I never
saw pigs gain so fast in my life. I slaughtered
one the first of November, which weighed 260
pounds. The second I slaughtered the 29th day
of November, and the weight was 302 pounds.
The article in your paper of November 1, before
alluded to, said that, "some say that the seeds of
pumpkins must be taken out, or they are an inju-
ry to cattle." I would say, in i-elation to this, that
I noticed in feeding my pumpkins to my pigs that
they would eat the seeds first, when not very hun-
gry, and I believe that they are the best judges ot
what they like best, and what is good for them.
Don't you ? J. N. Smith.
South Walpole, Dec. 15, 1862.
Remarks.— Certainly. We have fed large
quantities of both apples and pumpkins to swine,
upon which they gained rapidly. We never suc-
ceeded, however, in making swine eat uncooked
pumpkins to any extent. Boiled and mixed with
boiled potatoes and a little meal, they make nu-
tritious and excellent feed.
A COMPLIMENT, AND A TURNIP CROP.
As I have been a constant reader of your paper
for the last five years, and have received a great
deal of benefit, especially from its cattle and other
market reports, which are worth more, weekly, to
any farmer than the subscription price of your pa-
per, I have noted down a turnip crop that I raised
last season, and what I am going to do with it.
If you think it woi-thy of circulation, please print
it, and I will try again.
HOW I RAISED A GOOD CROP OF TURNIPS.
I procured three-fourths of a pound of English
Globe turnip seed, and the second time of hoeing,
sowed it broadcast before using the cultivator,
then hoed out my corn, and awaited the result.
When it came harvesting time, I found a crop
that looked about right. Harvested them, and
had five hundred and sixty bushels of as hand-
some turnips as I ever saw. I think it a very
cheap way of raising root crops. The cost of
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
il
raising, I think, could not exceed four cents per
bushel.
With my turnips in my cellar, and winter upon
us, I will give my way of disposing of them. I
give my cows and working oxen one peck each,
once a day, and find that my cows increase their
milk, and oxen gain in flesh. The cows and oxen
show thrift so well that I am going to try their
fattening qualities by feeding them to some two-
year old steers, and will give my experience at
some future time. A. J. ll.
Holliston, Dec, 1862.
SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.
I wish to ask if you know how to make super-
phosphate of lime ? If so, Mill you give a receipt
in your paper soon ? T. Glover.
Remarks. — Superphosphate of lime is bones
dissolved by the use of sulphuric acid. When
made in large quantities, all the fatty matter is
first driven out of the bones by heat, and is a thick,
pungent fluid. When cooled, the bones are
ground, the fatty matter returned to the ground
bones in liquid form as it comes from them, and
then a certain quantity of sulphuric acid is added.
This induces a strong heat and ebullition, or boil-
ing, and when this subsides, the mass is spread,
and partially dried, and is then ready for market.
The preparations necessary for this work are
quite expensive, and would only be justified by
doing a large business. Bones may be dissolved
by packing them in pure wood ashes in casks —
but it requires several months to do it.
CULTURE OF JHLLET.
In answer to "A Young Farmer," of East Wal-
lingford, I will say that I once sowed four quarts
of millet on one-quarter of an acre of land, togeth-
er with four quarts of a mixture of herds grass,
clover and red top. I raised one ton of good fod-
der, as good as herds grass hay, and will add, that
the grass seed was as good a catch, sowed with
the millet, as that sowed with barley alongside.
Hungarian grass and millet, are identical. I
•would like to purchase a report that has an article
on draining swamps. S. K. Given.
Kittery, Me.
Re>l\RKS. — Hungarian grass is a different plant
from that of the common millet. It is sometimes
called Hungarian millet, but there is little resem-
blance between them. The seed heads are entire-
ly diff'erent.
Purchase French's Farm Drainage, and you
can soon become master of the subject.
SO-
A Cheerful Spirit. — When the celebrated
Haydn was asked how all his sacred music was so
cheerful, the great composer replied : "I cannot
make it otherwise. I write according to the
thoughts I feel; when I think upon God, my
heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap
as it were from my pen ; and since God has given
me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that I
serve him with a cheerful spirit."
VERMONT STATE AQRICUIiTlTRAIi
CIETY.
The annual meeting of the Vermont State Ag-
ricultural Society, was held at Bellows Falls, on
Friday, the 2d day of January-, 1863.
The Treasurer's Report showed a balance in the
Treasury of about four thousand dollars.
The following gentlemen were elected officer*
for the ensuing year :
President— Vj-Dwis Hammond, of Middlelmrv.
T'jce Presidents— 3 . \V. Coliuun, ol' Spriripficld :
Henry Kkyes, of Newbury- ; D. K. Potteii, of St.
AIl)ans, and H. G. Root, of Bennington.
Correspondintj and Recording Secretary— TtAyi^i.
Nebdham, of Hartford.
Treasurer— 3. W. Colburn, of Sprinjrtield.
Z)/rectors— Frederick Holbrook ; K. IJ. Chase ;
Henut S. Morse ; Danikl Hill ; John Gregory ;
Elijah Cleaveland ; Nathan Ccsuinu; George
Campbell and Henry Heywood.
Mr. Campbell, of Westminster, introduced the
following resolution, which was unanimously
adopted :
Resolved, That the interests of the wool growers of
this State would be greatly ad. -anced by the publica-
tion of a paper devoted exclusively to "the suliject of
wool ; that, as the production of stock, sheep and wool
have become pre-emitiently a leading feature in the
agricultural industry of the State, some such medi-
um of communication among our own people and with
the people of our sister States is imperiously demand-
ed ; that we pledge the inlluence of our State organiza-
tion to the sustaining of such a paper, whether estab-
lished in our own State or elsewhere ; and that we re-
quest the Secretary of this Society, to correspond with
the view of establishing a paper at as early a day as
practicable.
Daniel Needham, Esq., of Hartford, Secretary
of the Society, read his annual report, which was
ordered to be printed. We make the following
extract from it :
"The passage of a dog law, must he regarded
as a substantial advance in the legislation of our
State. The great damage to our sheep by the
canine race can hardly be estimated. Few sheep
raisers but that have suffered some, and many
have suffered a great deal. There is reason to
believe that the dog law came as the legitimate
result of our action at the Wool Growers' Con-
vention. It is estimated that there are seventeen
thousand dogs in our State, at the present time.
That this number will be greatly lessened by the
tax imposed by the new law, there can he no
doubt. It would seem to be a wise disposition of
this money, that the revenue accruing under the
act be allowed to remain in the town treasury of
each town respectively, as a fund to meet dam-
age done by dogs whose owners are not responsi-
ble, or where neither owner or dog can be identi-
fied."
We are glad that our Vermont friends have
taken the initiative to protect themselves from the
scourge by dogs. They have suffered long and
patiently, — the day of deliverance is near.
Fine Porkers.— Mr. William R. Stearns,
of Foxboro', has dressed two Columbia and Ches-
ter county pigs, which weighed at nine months
old, one 300 lbs. and the other 303 lbs.
,72
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Calendar for February Page 41
Culture of Flrix — A look at some Fine Stock 42
New Year DiKies 43
Physical Education 44
Winter Manasement of Sheep 45
A Discussion on Grapes and Pears 4g
Sheep Mania — H. W. Beecher on Farming 47
CotswoUl Sheep 49
Health — Vinofiar — Y7ood Fires and Cooking 50
Habits of the Beaver 50
Old Winter is Coming — Agriculture in Common Schools 51
Draining — Fall Slanuiing— Books — The Care of the Feet 52
Treatment of Colls 53
Agricultural Ivnowledge — Farmers' Clubs 54
Wintering Bees 55
Little Things — Inquiries and Notes from Maine 56
Extracts and Ileplies — Experiments in Feeding Stock 57
Cutting Fodder for Stock — A Snow-Storm 58
Agriculture in Common Schools 58
Renovation of old Apple Trees 59
Renovating the Soil — Cross Plowing , .59
Tlie Cultivation of Clover— The Wind 60
Why Boiling Milk Foams 60
Woman's Gardening — Death of Mr. Jonas Webb 61
Extracts and Replies G3
The Horse an Intelligent Animal 64
Illustrated Annual Register for 1863 — Newspaper Controversy .61
The War and the Farmer 65
Borrowing and Lending — Retrospective Notes 66
Seed Sowers — Importance of Keeping Accounts 67
Salt and Cold Water for Swine— Road Making 68
The Inner Calm — .Uulge French — Maple Sugar 69
Extracts and Replies 70
Vermont State Agricultural Society 71
Cattle Market for January 72
For the Neto England Farmer,
KECEIPTS FOR CAKE.
Squash Breakfast Cake. — Two cups Indian
meal, one cup tiour, one cup boiled squash, thor-
oughly mashed, two cups sweet milk, one egg,
one teaspoonful sugar, one teaspoonful cream of
tartar and one half-teaspoonful soda. Instead of
cream of tartar a tablespoonful of cider may be
used. Bake in a quick oven.
HoLLls Cake. — One half-cup of butter, two
cups sugar, one cup milk, three and one half cups
flour, three eggs, one teaspoonful cream of tartar
and one half-teaspoonful soda. Season with lem-
on. This will make two loaves. The soda should
be dissolved in half the milk and the remainder
of the milk should be beaten with the yolks of
the eggs. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and stir
in just before setting into the oven. A.
Remarks. — The editor returns his thanks for
the receipts — and will not fail to accept the invi-
tation to test them practically, should he ever find
himself in A.'s neighborhood.
It is only the calm waters that reflect heaven in
their breast.
CATTLE MARKETS FOR JANUARY.
The following is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending January 15, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET,
Sheep and Shotes and Lire
Cattle. Lambs. Pigs. Fat Hogs.
December 25.. ..1017 2635 250 2.500
January 1 1100 2328 100 1800
" 8 1229 3066 250 1500
" 16.... 1590 2399 225 1500
Total.... 5, 536 10,428 825 7,3C0
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from the several States, for the last four weeks, and for the cor-
responding four weeks last year :
THIS TEAR. LAST TEAR.
Cattle. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 879 2744 575 666
New Hampshire 667 965 985 1095
Vermont 2046 2017 18.59 3.346
Massachusetts 295 1601 135 2552
Northern New York 224 1692 > , „, 0^7
Canada 81 522 | ^^'^ '^'
Western States 1344 1887 1720 4765
Total 5,536 10,428 5469 12,771
PRICES.
Dec. 25. Jan. 1. Jan. 8. Jan. 17.
Beef, 1st, 2d and 3d qualities.. 4|g6| 4i(S6i 4|@6J 4|@7
" afew e.xtra 7 @7J 7 @7J 1 @1\ 11^1%
Sheep and lambs, ^ lb 43'g5J 4356 6 (B6J SJ/Se^
Swine, stores, wholesale 4|g5J 4§S5J 4Jg5^ 5 @6
" " retail 4Jg6| 4136^ 5 (g6 6|@6|
Remarks. — The advance in prices of beef at the last market
was owing in part to the much better quality of the cattle. For
the four weeks ending December 18th, there were 1378 cattle
and 2328 sheep more than there were last year for the four cor-
responding weeks. But for the past four weeks tlie number of
cattle is 67, and of sheep 2343 less than were reported last year
for the same time, and as will be seen, much less than the aver-
age for the year. These facts should be remembered in re-
viewing the above table of prices.
STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR 1862.
According to our weekly reports the following numbers of
live stock have been sold at these markets during the yearl862,
viz:
For the Average
year. per week.
Cattleofall kinds 98,218 1889
Sheep and lambs 229,198 4408
Veal calves 10,000 192
Fat hogs 55,000 1058
Shotes and pigs 46,000 835
Sources of Shpplt. — The following table gives the number
of cattle and sheep arri^■ing at market, from several States, for
each quarter of the past year:
Quarter cattle.
ending Me. N. H. Ft. Mass. tior.N. Y. Ca. West.
Mar. 31, 1411 1650 4195 1191 508 — 7107
June 30, 333 843 2429 1186 224 79 11039
Sept. 30, 2461 2480 8677 297 821 682 11725
Dec. 31, 8296 4985 15905 986 2050 1124 5534
Total, 12,501 9,958 31,206 3,360 3,603 1,885 35,405
SHEEP.
Mar. 31, 738 3360 9807 7112 461 — 13423
June 30, 660 5483 21689 4193 707 49 2016
Sept. 30, 15141 7963 38170 2910 6282 10S24 2414
Dec, 31, 14630 6140 25829 663 4396 22064 2074
Total, 31,169 22,946 95,495 14,878 11,846 32,937 19,927
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, MARCH, 1863.
NO. 3.
NOURSE, EATON' k TOLMAX, Proprietors.
Office.... 102 'Washinotgn Street.
SraON BROWN, Epitob.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE RE-
TURN OP MARCH.
Sweet are the omens of approaching spring. — Clare.
0\V ADMIRABLY
adapted toour^\-ants
is the change of the
j^j, seasons. We quick-
'^ ly tire of the same
thing. In the win-
ter we exclaim, "O,
!iow glad we shall
be when the spring
■omes ! When the
warm south wind
blows, the brooks
babble and the blue-
birds and robins
sing again about the
house. We long to see the crocus and snowdrops
peeping out from among the dry leaves in the
garden, and hear the lark's shrill note as he
mounts to the skies." So it is with us all, in
greater or less degree. By nature, or by habit,
these feelings possess us, and so the changing sea-
sons gratify, in some degree, this tendency to
cliange and excitement, and constantly inspire us
with fresh hope and courage.
Let us quote a little from William Howitt :
thing in the freshness of the soil — in the mossy
bank — the balmy air — the voices of birds — the
early and delicious flowers, that we have seen and
felt only in childhood and spring."
How delightfully Mr. Howitt writes. What a
charming sympathy with huinanity, and even in-
animate nature. How his mind is filled with
sweet memories of the seasons, stored up in child-
hood and finding expression in later years, to cheer
and instruct us amid the trials of life. Thanks,
thanks, to him, and his amiable and genial wife,
for the kindly influences they have spread broad-
cast throughout the civilized world !
What most of us object to in March, are its bois-
terous winds, whistling and tearing about, some-
time driving snow before them, and then rain, or
hail, or sleet, — banging every unlatched door, or
rattling reproachfully the loose boards that the
farmer neglected to make fast last fall. True, to-
wards the last of the month, these winds some-
times blow mingled with odors of violet and daf-
fodil, that have ventured to
"Come before the bluebird dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.'"
But "even the winds of March," notwithstand-
ing all we may say against them, "are far from
being virtiieless ; for ihey come careering over
our fields, and roads, and pathways, and while
they dry up the damps that the thaws had let
"March," says he, "is a rude and boisterous ! j^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ previous frosts had prevented sink-
month, possessing many of the characteristics of , .^^ .^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_^^^ .p.^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^.^.^^ j.^^.^^^, ^^^
winter, yet awakening sensations perhaps more
delicious than the two following spring months ;
for it gives us the first announcement and taste of
spring. What can equal the delight_ of our
hearts at the very first glimpse of spring — the
first sprinkling of buds and green herbs. It is
like a new life infused into our bosoms. A spirit
words of which, tell talcs of the forthcoming
flowers." * * • "The sap is alive in the seeming-
ly sleeping trunks that everywhere surround us,
and is beginning to mount slowly to its destination ;
and the embryo blooms are almost visibly strug-
of tenderness, a burst of freshness and luxury of' gling towards light and life, beneath their rough,
feeling possesses us : and let fifty springs have ' unpromising outer coat— unpromising to the idle,
broken upon us, //as joy, unlike many joys of time, ^j^g unthinking and the inobservant; but to the
is not an atom impaiVed. Are we not young ? ; ^^^^ ^^^ ^--^^ ^^^^ beautiful, in virtue
rof"L°tS'.h„u^:: iro'.Tuhe'Vaptr™ , o< the „righ.„e». .nd the beauty that they cover,
scenes of all our hapi)ier years ? There is some- ' but not conceal."
74
NEW ENGLAXD FARMER.
March
March, rough as it is, could no more be spared
from the circle of months, than fervent July or
glorious October. It has its duties to discharge
to the plants and the soil, as well as any of its
sister months, and so we must bear its winds, and
wets, and colds gratefully, and during its bluster-
ing days perfect our plans for the active labors of
seedtime and harvest.
During this month, the stock in the barn re-
quires particular care. There often occur quite
•warm days, with south winds, and the cattle be-
come a little dainty after the sharp cold days
which they have just passed through. At such
times they greatly relish a few fodderings of the
best hay, a "nubbin" of corn, or half a bushel
each of roots, sliced for them. They enjoy the
sun highly, and if turned out to bask in it a few
hours, daily, they remain more quiet and better
contented when in their stalls. If they are kept
free from dirt of every kind — and especially their
own droppings — they will thrive the better for it,
and give a more profitable return in milk or flesh,
than if covered with a plaster that has been in-
creasing in bulk through the winter. All ani-
mals, we believe, are naturally neat. The pig
wallows in the mire, to be sure, but he makes
himself all the cleaner for it, when he comes to
"the rubbing post," and removes it again, carrying
with it other objectionable matter nearer the skin.
Preparation for all the spring work should now
be made. Plowing and planting time is too busy
and important a period in which to pause to mend
or make. See, then, that the plows, harrows,
*eed sowers, caits, chains, forks and shovels are
all in order. Also, that the yokes and harnesses
are strong and fit for active service.
The oats, barley, wheat, peas, beans, and all
other seeds needed for sowing, ought to be on
hand, free from all foul seed, and ready for use.
^F" Our friend, Farmer C, must remember
that he forgot to sovf clover seed on the land which
he laid down the preceding summer, so that his
sheep foiled to get their fodderings of sweet clo-
ver hay through the winter. Sow on the last
snow in the last days of March or first days in
April, and you can see just where the seed falls.
The freezing and thawing of the ground make
the surface uneven, so that the seeds fall into the
holes and get sufficiently covered.
If muck was thrown out last summer or fall,
haul home a plentiful summer's supply, — for the
warm season, after all, is a most favorable time to
make large quantities of manure — and good muck
should be the basis of the manure heap.
Get out all the manure you can by sled, attend
■to the wood pile, get seed potatoes ready, and do
many other things that will facilitate the spring
work, and help you to preserve an even and amia-
ble temper !
PliEURO-PNEUMONIA.
We copy the following from the Boston Jaumal :
This insidious and fatal disease continues to
prevail among our herds. From the report of
Messrs. James Ritchie, E. F. Thayer and Henry
L. Sabin, commissioners on contagious diseases
of cattle, it appears that they have found seventy-
three cattle having the pleuro-pneumonia in a
very decided form the past year, and caused them
to be killed. They were found in the towns ot
Dorchester, Milton, Quincy and Grafton, and at
East Boston. Thirty-three were also killed on
suspicion of being contaminated, but proved per-
fectly healthy ; while forty-four that were perfect-
ly healthy, were slaughtered because stock owners
protested against their being removed from Long
Island, in Boston Harbor, where they were placed
in consequence of having been exposed to the dis-
ease. It was believed they would endanger the
whole cattle of the State. The Commissioners
have made investigations in New York and New
Jersey, where they found the disease prevailing,
and as the result of their experience in this and
the above-named States, they conclude :
1. That this disease has never been generated in
this country from local causes.
2. That it is altogether an imported disease.
3. Tliat in general it is communicated by contact
of breath.
4. That it cannot be eradicated by treatment.
5. That those cattle which apparently recover,
are the most dangerous, as they are liable at any
time to come down with the disease a second time.
6. That by care it may be prevented from ex-
tending from one herd to another.
Exemption from the disease in this State can
only be purchased by constant vigilance. The
chief danger of its approach from abroad is by way
of Albany. The Commissioners recommend as a
matter of common prudence that some commission
be kept in existence ready to meet the malady at
its first approach.
The appropriation for the expense of the com-
mission was .$5000. There have been already au-
dited and paid bills to the amount of about 84,800.
The estimated amount of bills not yet audited, is
$900, making in all an expenditure of 85,700, and
leaving a deficiency of $700. This amount is in
additipn to that paid by the several towns where
the disease has existed.
Army Horses. — A Washington dispatch states
that the subject of army horses has assumed a de-
gree of importance not much understood as yet by
the public. The daily loss to government through
the mismanagement of animals is enormous. There
is no doubt that the employment of veterinary
surgeons and skillful farriers would have prevent-
ed much of the great waste from this cause. The
horse hospital receives over one hundred horses
daily. The daily average of those that die, or are
shot, is twenty-six, and thirty per day are sold for
almost nothing, so that the average daily loss is
three thousand dollars or more, in the Quarter-
master's department at Washington alone. The
losses in the field service are also enormous.
I^" The cultivation of the sugar beet, as well as
sorghum, is attracting attention at the West, and
the prospect is, that large amounts of beet sugar
will soon be made.
1S63.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER,
75
Fur the Xeic EnyUtml Farmer,
CULTIVATION OF NUTS.
As the f^rowing of fruits, such as the apple,
pear, grape and others has been engaged in S(j ex-
tensively that there is danger of overstocking tlie
market, it may be jjroper to consider the expedi-
ency of planting the \arious kinds of nut trees as
a source of profit. We have every variety of cli-
mate and .soil, and some kinds of nuts, such as
the filbert, and others wliich are now imported in
large quaiitities, might as well be raised here.
The hazelnut of this region, of which there are
two species, is a true filbert, and no doubt some
of the foreign kinds would succeed equally as well
here. The Madeira nut, or English walnut, might
be grown in the States south of New England. It
will sometimes perfect its fruit in Massachusetts.
My father formerly had a tree, which he raised
from planting a nut, that produced half a bushel
in one sea-son, equid to any imported. It yielded
nuts many years, but the winters M-ere generally
too severe for it, frequently killing the best of
the branches.
There are several kinds of native nuts which are
extensively consumed, and the sale of them con-
stitutes quite a branch of trade. The Pecan nut
of the Southwestern States is a species of the wal-
nut, of which vast quantities are sold annually, and
it is an excellent variety. The shelibark grows in
abundance in many places in this section, espe-
cially on the intervals of Nashua river. A hun-
dred bushels are sometimes gathered on a single
farm in a season, which sell readily at a fair price.
There is a large variety of this nut found in Avest-
ern Pennsylvania, and other i)laccs. Many trees
of the common hickory produce walnuts nearly
equal to the shelibark, but in general they are
much inferior in quality. The butternut grows
spontaneously. In some places in the Northern
States the nuts are consumed to considerable ex-
tent, and are much superior to the fruit of the
black walnut, which, also, is common in New York
State, as well as others. The chestnut is the pre-
vailing growth in many sections. In AVorcester
county it is abundant, forming nearly the entire
growth. In some wood lots, instances are known
where thirty or forty bushels of nuts Mere gath-
ered on a farm in a year. Chestnuts vary much
in size. Some varieties are nearly as large as the
Spanish, others are quite small. The Spanish and
other European kinds, some of which produce
fruit nearly as large as the horse chestnut, might
be grown here in many sections. The imported
walnuts and filberts alone, which are consumed in
the United States, amount to an enormous sum,
and if they can be produced here equally as well,
it would appear advisable to make the effort.
Leominster, Jan., 1863. O. V. Hill.
air. They have drank neither tea nor coffee, nor
lived on any other than plain and simple food.
Their dress has never been so tight as to hinder
free respiration. They have exercised every day
in the open air, assisting me in tending my fruit
trees, and in such other occupations as are appro-
priate for women."
How many there are who would be benefited by
such a course, as well among our farmers as in the
city. The open air is a great panacea for many
diseases. It is cheap and ever present. Don't
refuse to take it. — A'. II. Journal uf Ai/ricullure.
WHAT OUGHT TO BE.
A gentleman travelling in New Hampshire,
within sight of the Monadnock, was struck with the
healthy appearance of a family where he called.
On asking his farmer host what might be the
cause, he receive<l this reply: "The girls are
healthy because! have avoided three great errors.
They have neither been brought up on miwhole-
some diet, nor subjected to unwholesome modes
of dress, nor kept from daily exercise in the open
For the Xeic England Faniur.
FARMERS* CLUBS.
Mr. Ebitor : — Some nine or ten months since
I informed you of the starting of a Farmers' Club
in this place, and gave you a sample of one of our
first discussions, from which I requested vou to
judge, and advise in regard to the advisability of
our " keeping up" the Club ; but as we failed to
receive the advice, we continued our weekly meet-
ings until about the middle of April, when we ad-
journed till fall, with about twenty-five members
to our society. We resumed our meetings again
November 24, and discussed the question whether
farmers' clubs were ])rofitable, after which it was
unanimously voted that they were, and that it was
advisable to continue our meetings this winter.
Several advantages had been derived by the mem-
bers. Messrs. A, B and C had found, to their as-
tonishment, that they were really good " jniblic
speakers," though before this they never so much
as thought of " speaking in meeting." D and E
found that F and G really did know something
after all, and one or two things that they had not
known themselves ! H found that I was not quite
so egotistical and proud, as he had always thought
he was before getting a little jnore acquainted
with him. J and K concluded that they might as
well make up and be friends again, and let that
pesky fence take care of itself through the winter.
L had learned more about raising calves than
enough to pay him for all his ti^ouble in attending
the meetings! M had raised "twice as many"
potatoes on the same amount of land as he ever
did before, all in consequence of the information
received at the club meetings. _N had valuable
experience in " reporting" the doings of the Club,
and keeping the minutes. O, P, Q and R, each
discovered their competency to fill the " chair,"
and enforce parliamentary usage, in the absence
of the President. S was heretofore afraid of his
own shadow, but has now found out that it " won't
bite ! " T has learned that alcohol and water will
make a sow own her ))igs, as U has tried it. and
never knew it fail! V, whom everybody called a
" greeney," has convinced us all that verdancy is
able to hide a real genius. W has found out a bet-
ter way than liis " father did it." X has learned
that there are two kinds of manure deposited >)y
farm stock, of nearly equal value, and wonders
that he never tried to save the liquid before — lias
lost more than ten dollars' worth every year for
forty years ! Y, Z, and some others, just begm
to thiiik it might have been better for tliem if they
had taken and read a good agricultural periodical
for several years past. One man said he didn t
know as farmers' clubs did much good, as far as
76
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
he had observed ; and on being asked how many
meetings he had attended, it M'as ascertained that
he had been present but a few minutes one evening!
Those who have attended the most reguhirly, have
been the most interested, and received and done
the most good. AVe have now fifty members, and
an apparently increasing interest. Some attend
for the agricultural benefit, some for the lyceum
benefit, some for social benefit, some from curi-
osity, and some for pastime. Order is easily pre-
served, and none but pleasant words have ever
been uttered in any of our meetings ; and few
meetings of any description have ever been held
in our village, equally pleasant and useful ; and I
wonder that similar institutions are not in progress
all over New England. I was rather surprised, a
short time ago, to hear it said by a man who
ought to know, as he is teaching agricultural
schools, that just such clubs as ours were in oper-
ation a thousand years ago ! and fifteen years ago
in NeAV Hampshire, and twenty years in Massa-
chusetts, but not one of them in operation now —
all died out. Now I understood this man to say
that he knows more about agriculture than any
other man in the United States ! and of course, he
must know if the clubs are all dead In New Hamp-
shire and Massachusetts ; if they are dead, I am
dreadful sorry, but, if alive and kicking, I am
more sorry that they don't report themselves. Our
Club includes but a small portion of this town, but
I believe the benefits already accruing to the town
therefrom, after only fifteen or twenty meetings,
could not be purchased with one or two hundrecl
dollars, while the cash expense of sustaining it
has not been three dollars. I think there is scarce-
ly a town or village in New England that might
not very profitably sustain a so-called farmers'
club, though it might not be wholly composed of
farmers. In our Club, we can reckon ministers,
doctors, farmers, mechanics, merchants, inventors,
teachers, judges and justices. Our constitution
and by-laws exclude all subjects for discussion
except those directly pertaining to agriculture, so
that there is little chance for quarrelling.
It seems to me that the war almost enthely rests
on the shoulders of farmers, and there never was
a time in the history of our nation, when every
agricultural advantage is so emphatically de-
manded as the present, and Avhat farmer is* there
who does not know, or think he knows, a more
advantageous way of "getting in" this, and "get-
ting out" that crop than his neighbor over the Avay ;
of rearing this animal and fattening that ; what man
has not somewhere seen a better plow, harroAv or
cultivator than his left hand neighbor uses ; and
a better seed-drill, fan-mill or root-cutter, than
his right hand neighbor uses ; and hoM- little etfort
it would cost him to tell all his neighbors about
it, especially if they should ha])pen to be all to-
gether ; and how much good it might do them to
be told. There are those, styled men, who, if by
any means they acquire knowledge of some agri-
cultural improvement, seem to be actually afraid
that their neighbors will hear of it, and so know
as much as they do, and be able to have the same
advantage, but such are not men, but niggardly
pigmies.
If any farmer would " show himself a man," let
him show a cheerful willingness to communicate
a knowledge of the advantages he has in anv man-
ner acquired, to any and all liis neighbors ; let him
take one or more standard agricultural periodicals,
and use his influence to get his neighbors to do
the same, and if they won't, at the first onset, lend
them his pa])er and call their attention particu-
larly to this piece and that article, let him invite
his neighbor farmers to come to his house and
consult in regard to the best way to keep the dogs
away from his sheep, or the midge away from his
wheat ; or to see the operation of his new machine
for cleaning and cutting vegetables, and get their
opinion as to whether it is any benefit to cut them
up before feeding, or to clean them before cutting
up, &c., and thus before he knows it, he has got a
farmers' club all going. And if once going, it will
keep at it for one while, like a steam-engine, as
long as the engineers furnish wood and Avater ;
and they are plenty all along the route. Some
men query in regard to the benefits of farmer's
clubs, but only because of their ignorance, for
they are all benefits, when properly managed, and
no injury. The coming together, for any lauda-
ble object, and remaining together two or three
hours, is of itself a benefit, as it tends to assimi-
lation, sociability, and friendship among neigh-
bors. It is natural for man and all other animals
to consociate together, and, if elevating, intellec-
tual, moral and beneficial objects do not occupy
their attention when together, and stimulate them
to assemble, degrading, sensual, immoral and
injurious objects will. Such clubs, then, are
beneficial in that they tend to keep men from
getting together for worse purposes.
Famers' clubs are beneficial in that they stimu-
late the members to study, research and medita-
tion. The object of a good common school, or
collegiate education, is hardly begun to be real-
ized when the student graduates, or the boy or
girl leaves the school-room for the last time. The
studies they have attended to are of little impor-
tance in and of themselves, only as they have con-
duced to mental development and discipline ; and
he whose mental and moi-a! development and
discipline is the most perfect, is the most useful
and happy man, and the best prepared to meet,
control and enjoy the stern realities of life. Every
facility for the at'tainm.ent of this should be sought
and embraced. The saying, " Knowledge is pow-
er," was never more true than to-day, and " Know
thyself" is a dead letter, without study, energy
and exjjerience.
These clubs cannot be got up and sustained,
without some effort, neither can any useful enter-
prise, but the effort required is not great, in pro-
portion to the value of the object, and is of itself
an actual benefit.
I would give you another sample of our meet-
ings, if you desired, for the encouragement of any
other clubs ; there is also at every meetmg much
information communicated, for us here in the
country, but might not be so to those better in-
formed. There is especial reason for sustaining
farmers' clubs the present winter, in the fact that
it is absolutely necessary, for the safety of our-
selves and our country, that all our farms shall
produce more the next season, in proportion to
the help employed, than ever before, and I have
no doubt that every club sustained the present
season will tend very greatly to that end. Let no
farmer offer as an excuse for not attending clubs,
that he is not a " public speaker " — go right
straight at it, attend the meetings regularly from
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
principle, and you will be a speaker before you
realize it — I know by experience and observation ;
try it, and if you don't find it so, pi-esent your bill
to me, and I will cash it, poor as I am. R. N.
Randolph, Vt., Jan. 1, 1863.
Remarks. — Excelleiit. Your Club is probably
as valuable to the town as the best district school
in it. We shall always he glad to hear from you.
For the Xeic Enylnnd Farmer.
ERROES IN BOOKS AND NE"WSPAPERS.
If books and agricultural newspapers were more
careful in their statements thei'e would not be so
frequent sneers among the common jjcople about
book farming. They often expose themselves to
these contemptuous remarks. Even the Farmer
is not always free from mistakes. In your last
week's paper, you have an article from the Valleji
Farmer, on the sources of plant food, iii which is
an absm-d statement of experiment, from which
it is said has been shown that about two-thirds of
the carbon of plants is derived from the atmos-
phere. This is all well, whether true or not ; but
it adds that in some cases double or triple that
amount. Now consider what portion of carbon
comes from the atmosphere in these cases of
double or triple the usual quantity — that is,
four or six-thirds, besides what is derived from
other sources — a third more or double the whole.
Scarcely is a paper published without containing
just such absurdities from the writers in it. It
reminds me of the remark of the late eccentric
Dr. Ramsay, in pointing out the errors of authors
on anatomy, who preferred writing to working,
and compared them to his servant Donald, who
upset him into the gutter in Edinburgh, and
being questioned, why he did so, replied that he
wanted to cut a dash.
Your correspondent, J. W. Brown, in the same
issue enumerates many amusing so-called experi-
ments on feeding stock. One of Mr. Montague,
to prove raw food preferable for pigs, to cooked.
The two fed on eight bushels of raw meal gained,
while two others kept half-starved on four bush-
els lost. Perhaps Mr. Montague might satisfy
himself on the subject by trpng to fat two pigs
on raw potatoes, and at the same time give tM'o
others the same quantity cooked. The result of
such an experiment, fairly made, Avould be worth
publishing. RuFUS McIntire.
Farsonsfield, Dec. 29, 1862.
ble, should not devote a portion of his time to
the study of agriculture, as well as the one who
intends to be a merchant to studying book-keep-
ing, or the one who intends to be a public speak-
er to studying rhetoric.
It must be remembered that public opinion has
greatly changed within the past fifty years, in re-
gard to the intelligence of farmers. It is not fifty
vears since a Boston paper inquired what right the
farmer had to lay his huge ])aws upon the statute
book, and thought they were better adapted to
the use of the muck-rake and the manure-fork !
But those days are ])assed by, as the increase of
agricultural jjublications will' fully show. I think
that improvements in agricultural implements and
literature must go hand in hand, aiul, if we con-
tinue to progress, we shall take the position in
society which rightfully belongs to us. My main
hope of salvation to the country rests upon the
intelligence of the farmers. They never will sub-
mit to be slaves, and I hope ere long to see more
of them have the control of our public aflfairs.
Thomas Haskell.
West Gloucester, Dec. 12, 1862.
For the New England Farmer.
STUDY YOUR CALIiINQ.
Mr. Editor : — The discussion of the expedi-
ency of introducing the study of agriculture into
our common schools is an open question in the
Farmer at the jjresent time. And as I like to
have a word to say upon subjects interesting to
farmers, I thought I would give my opinion. I
presimie that all intelligent persons will admit
that the practice of a calling can be more readily
learned, if the theory be well understood. I can
see no reason why a boy that intends to be a
farmer, after he has fairly mastered reading, wri-
ting and arithmetic, which I consider indispensa-
For the \ew FngUtnd Farmer.
COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD FOR
SWINE.
Mr Editor : — A short time since you invited
young men to write for the Ntio Fnyland Far-
mer. I belong to that class, therefore I take my
pen to note down a few facts. Much has been
written in regard to feeding cooked and uncooked
food to swine. Exjjeriments have been tried, and
different conclusions arrived at. The decision of
your correspondent is in favor of cooking the
meal. I think it is an established fact, that one
bushel of cooked meal will make as nmch pork
as one bushel and one-half of uncooked meal.
That is, meal that would be worth only fifty cents
per bushel to feed raw, would be worth seventy-
five cents if cooked. According to experiments,
the ])roduce of one acre ground and cooked, will
make as much jjork as the ])roduce of one acre
and one-half fed raw. Pigs will take on flesh a
little faster to feed them raw meal, for the reason
that they eat a larger quantity than they do when
it is made into mush. But the largest ])rofit from
the least outlay, is what suits the true Yankee.
Mr. Sidney Mead, of this town, killed, a few
days since, two small spring pigs nine months old,
which were a good argument in favor of cooking
the meal. They weighed as follows : The heavi-
est one, 400 pounds, fat included. The lightest
one, 35o pounds. I do not admire swine much
myself, but those who do called them handsome
pigs. Our Saviour made swine very useful, and it
would have been far lietter for tiie human race, if
hogs had always been used to drown Devils with,
instead of breeding disease in the human system.
In the Patent ()ftice Report for the year 1847
is an interesting letter, from Mr. Henry L. Ells-
worth, of Indiana, stating the residt of exj)eri-
ments he tried, to test the value of cooked and
uncooked food for swine. After exjierimenting a
long time on four hogs, he came to the following
conclusion : — That raw food is, to the cooked
food, as 66 to 103, making the gahi by cooking
about fifty-five per cent, over uncooked' food j or
78
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
MAKai
corn worth 31 cents per bushel fed raw, was
worth 48 cents per bushel, ground and cooked.
Oliver P. Mead.
Middlehury, Vt., Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — Nothing in the way of flesh as
food looks more inviting to us than a hog that
has been skilfully dressed, — and we cannot join
our correspondent in the opinion that swine's
flesh is unwholesome, when reasonably used. To
most persons, a well cooked sparerib is as wel-
come as any flesh that is brought upon the table ;
but it is so delicious that we are quite apt to eat
too much, and charge the consequences to the un-
wholesomeness of the meat. We know of noth-
ing that will go so far and so Avell in the farmer's
family as a good hog, properly dressed and taken
care of. Scarcely a dinner, all through the sum-
mer months, can be suitably provided without its
aid in one form or another. If all would cook
properly and eat sparingly, less complaint would
be heard that pork is unhealthy.
For the Neio England Farmer.
THE CUTiTUKE OF PEARS.
THEIR ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT.
The pear is a native of Europe and Asia. It
was known to the ancient Romans, as Virgil and
PJiny expressly mention it, but it was quite in-
ferior to our modern pears. Some English writ-
ers, however, claim that it originated in the Brit-
ish Isles, but it is probable that national pride,
rather than the facts in the case, had some influ-
ence in setting up this claim. Like many other
very valuable fruits, pears were originally small,
knarly and bitter. Pliny says, " They are heavy
meat, unless baked or boiled." From a mere
cJioke pear, they have been made rich, melting,
and delicious, by science and art. They are al-
ready among the finest fruits we have upon our
tables, and improvements are still being made in
this important article of dessert by more intelli-
gent and scientific cultivation. The finest pears
the world has yet seen are cultivated in Belgium
and France, and the Northern and Middle States
of this country are not much behind in the pro-
duction of this luxury. Van Muns, of Belgium, is
the Nestor of the pear culture. Whatever i)rcten-
sions Great Britain may set up to the origin of the
pear, she can certainly prefer no great claims to
superiority in the qnalitu of the article she raises.
Like the apple and many other fruits which come
to great perfection in this country, those raised in
Great Britain are confessedly of quite inferior fla-
vor, although they are raised, like gra])es, against
walls which are built expressly for the purpose,
and at great ex])ense. Indeed, the extreme hu-
midity of the British Islands is a serious obstacle
to the ripening of any of the more delicate vege-
tables, and this fact, doubtless, occasioned the sar-
casm of a French writer, Avho says that " no fruit
comes to maturity in England but baked apples."
Within the last twenty-five years, astonishing
improvements have been made in this country in
the cultivation of pears. Most of us can probably
recollect the time when but few farmers had more
than two or three pear trees on then* farms, and
those received but little attention, and bore but
indifferent fruit ; and, indeed, this is too true of
very many farmers at the present day. Others
have made very commendable improvements, and
nothing is now more common than to see the
])remises of professional men, business men, me-
chanics, and the more intelligent farming popula-
tion, well stocked with the choicest kinds of pears.
This is especially true in the vicinity of our cities
and large towns, and it should be the fact through-
out a countiT so eminently adapted to the cultiva-
tion of this important fruit.
WHAT ARE THE BEST KIND OF PEARS?
More than 1,200 different varieties of pears
have been cultivated in Europe, and more than
800 foreign varieties have been tried in this coun-
try, besides many others which originated here.
Col. Wilder, of Dorchester, had 320 different
kinds of pears at the late Pomological Exhibition
in Boston. Not more than 30 or 40 of all these
varieties, however, are worthy the attention of
farmers and common gardeners. Amateurs are
doing the world good service by increasing the
number of pears, experimenting upon their differ-
ent qualities, and thus determining what kinds are
best adapted to general cultivation, and farmers
can avail themselves of the results of their labors
without going through all these long and toilsome
processes at their own exjiense. Farmers should
select only the best varieties, and they should be
those which will produce a regular succession of
fruit from the beginning to the end of the pear
season. With my limited observation and expe-
rience upon the subject, I should say that the fol-
lowing kinds ought to be cultivated, and I name
them somewhat in the order of their ripening :
SUMMER PEARS.
Madeleine, Rostiezer, Tyson, Dearborn's Seed-
ling.
FALL PEARS.
Bartlett, Gansel's, Bergamot, Flemish Beauty,
Andrews', Beurre Bosc, Seckel, Louise Bonne de
Jersey, Buflum, Swan's Orange, Beurre de Anjou,
Urbaniste, Dix, Duchesse D'Angouleme, Belle
Lucrative.
WINTER PEARS.
Beurre D'Aremberg, Lawrence, Winter Nelis,
GloUt Morceau, Beurre Diel, Easter Beurre, Vicar
of Winkfield. 25 in all.
I have nearly all these varieties, and some
others, in cultivation, and most of them in a bear-
ing state, and from some knowledge of their
qualities, believe them to be worthy of general
cultivation. I examined, with considerable care,
all the pears which were presented at the late
Pomologicnl and Horticultural Exhibition in Bos-
ton, and with pencil in hand, took down the
names of those which are not in my present col-
lection, and which, from their apparently unusual
qualities, I thought it desirable to obtain. I find
by recurring to my memorandum that I had noted
down the following, -which I intend to procure
next spring : Beurre Montgeren, Rousselet, Royal
of Pampilius, Sanguine De Belgique, Grosse Ca-
lebasse, Moore's Pound, Beurre De Clairgeau,
Dunmore, and Queen of the Low Countries.
Which of the kinds now recommended should
be upon quince, and which on pear stocks ? This
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
is a question of verj- considerable importance.
Some of them appear to flourish well on either
stock, but others are decidedly best on the quince.
For instance, the slow growin}^ kinds, like the
Seckel, do not grow well on the quince, and hence
they should be double work-ed, as it is called, that
is, a more vigorous kind should first be worked on
the quince, and then the slow grower on that,
which will give it a more ra])icl growth. The
quince stock improves its quality, and the more
vigorous pear on which it immediately stands,
makes it grow more rapidly. The Madeleine will
do equally well on the pear or the quince, but the
Rostiezer and Dearborn's Seedling need a quince
bottom. The Bartlett does well on both, but the
size and flavor of its fruit are much improved by
a quince stock. Gansel's Bergamot, Beurre Rose
and Dix are very slow growers on their o\\ti bot-
toms, and should be double worked on the quince.
The Beurre D'Aremberg will succeed best on the
Virgalieu, wliich has been worked on the quince.
The Flemish Beauty, Duchesse D'.\ngouleme, and,
indeed, nearly all the foreign varieties require
quince bottoms. Cultivators who have but little
land, and who wish to obtain fruit as early as pos-
sible, will generally use only quince stocks, while
those who have abundance of land, and desire pear
trees which will last many years will more gener-
ally emi)loy pear stocks. ' Some cultivators regard
pear trees on quince stocks as mere aj)ologies for
pear trees, on account of their want of durability.
I have, however, seen pear trees in Col. Wilder's
gardens, on the quince, which are twenty-five
years old, and twenty feet in height, and which
are now as vigorous as ever. Downing says their
ordinary duration on a quince stock is about a
dozen years, and on the pear about fifty. But
pears on their own stocks, under very favorable
conditions, will sometimes live several hundred
years. The famous Endicott pear tree is still
flourishing in Danvers, though it wa» planted
there by Gov. Endicott in the year 1G28, eight
years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. The
celebrated Stuyvesant pear tree, originally planted
by one of the early Dutch Governors in the city
of Xcw York, more than two hundred years ago,
is still standing, I believe. It is a summer pear,
like the summer Bonchretien.
"WHAT IS THE BEST TIME AND MANNER OF
TRANSPLANTING PEAR TREES?
Experienced cultivators differ as to the best
time, but I cannot divest myself of the convic-
tion that the Spring is the best season. It is
more in harmony with the laws of nature. Hardy
forest trees may do equally well in the s])ring or
autumn, but the more delicate fruit trees, in my
ownjudg.mcnt, do much better to be planted out
as soon as possible after they are taken up, and at
the season of the year when they can proceed at
once to repair the damage to their rootlets which
are unavoidably occasioned by removal. They
should also be taken up with the greatest care,
not, as many do, by digging a circle round the
trees and cutting off all the roots a foot or two
from the trunk, but by loosening the soil about
the trees, and then with an iron bar lift them out
bodily and gradually, with as many of the small
fibres as it is possible to retain. They should
then be placed, the sooner the better, in holes
previously prepared for the purpose, and at anj' ,
rate a foot or two larger in diameter than the en-
tire roots of the tree after thev have been care-
fully spread out, like so many radii from the cen-
tre to the circumference. The holes should be
dug two feet deej) and at least six feet in diameter,
and the trees set in, and compost of loam. sul)soil
and manure thoroughly incorjjorated together.
All trees on quince stocks should be set so deep
that about four inches of the graft will be below
the surface of the ground, for the doul)le purpose
of preventing borers from getting access to the
quince stocks, and of making tlie graft throw out
new roots into the earth, which it will do. if. with
a gouge, you have made one or two incisions in
the bark just at the bottom of the graft. The
ground about pear trees should be kept under
constant and deep cultivation.
Wil.VV ARE THE BEST MANURES FOR PEAR TRPZES ?
A chemical analysis of the ash of the pear tree
shows that potash, phosphate of lime, carbonic
acid and lime constitute about 88 j)arts in 1(»() of
its qualities. The manures, tlien, that are best
adapted to pears are clearly those which contain
the most of these several ingredients, and in the
proportions in which they art found in the tree it-
self Good stable manure, composted with peat
or mud, is, therefore, generally speaking, the best
manure, but if tlie land is hilly, ashes, salt and
plaster should be added ; but if it is low and wet,
charcoal, bo7ie manure, soap suds, and especially
night soil, should be used. A very ex])erienced
and oliserving cultivator has informed me thit the
contents of sewers, and particularly night soil, are
the veiy best manures for bringing barren ])ear
trees into a productive state. This whole subject
needs to be subjected to the most thorough and
scientific experiments, for the matter of carefully
ada])ting manures to the natures of difl'erent vege-
tables, so as to bring them to the greatest degree
of perfection, is yet but little understood by the
most intelligent horticulturists. Scientific physi-
cians will not prescribe the same medicliu's for
cholera morbus, diabetes, and the toothache, and
farmers should not apply the same manure indis-
criminately to all sorts of vegetables and fruits.
PRINING AND THINNING.
Pear trees require but little pruning, and es])e-
cially but little should be done the same year. A
pear tree is not usually a very handsome tree. An
aj)ple tree can be so gi-afted, ])runed and guided
in its growth as to be made a large, sjjreading,
well balanced, and symmetrical tree. Art can
make it really beautiful. But a pear tree, under
any circumstances, can hardly be called a bcauti-
ftd object. It appears the best when it is young,
but usually becomes more and more unsightly the
older it grows. Some human beings are so ugly
in their apjiearance that, more than others, they
are put upon their good behavior to make some
amends for tlieir homeliness, and they are obliged
to extract all the consolation they can from the
old maxim, " Handsome /s that handsome does."
It is something so with pear trees. "We must put
them u])on their good behavior, and if they will
produce us handsome fruit, we will square tlie ac-
count with them as to the matter of beauty.
Pear trees require less pruning than any of our
common fruit trees, excej)! the cherry. Grapes
grow upon wood wlxich is made the same year,
80
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
peaches on wood which was made the year before,
and pears on wood which is two years old or
more. Tlie pear is naturally a slow grower and
of great longevity, and it therefore has less re-
dundant branches than most other fruit trees.
But under the strong stimulus of modern culti-
A'ation, much care should be taken that they be
properly headed in. This should be done early
in August, both to keep them in a more symmet-
rical shape, and to make them put forth fruit buds
for the next year.
Many cultivators do not thin out their fruit suf-
ficiently. But few trees can bear very large quan-
tities of first rate fruit, and none but fruit of the
very best quality can bring remunerative prices in
an overstocked market, or are wanted on our own
tables. The very powerful stimulants which are
now injudiciously applied to force pear trees into
early and prolific bearing, tend to an excessive in-
crease both of wood and of fruit. This excessive
growth must be met by a considerable reduction
of the wood and fruit, or the fruit Mill be small
and of indifferent quality, and the tree itself of
short duration. This forcing ])rocess is extremely
injurious. If trees are heavily laden with fruit,
and the fruit is not very considerably thinned out,
the proprietor will find himself disappointed when
it is brought to his table or carried to market, and
still further disappointed in the barrenness of his
trees for two or three subsequent years. It re-
quires a very hard heart to reduce overbearing
trees sufficiently, but it must be done if we would
secure the best fruit, and this is one of the very
few cases where a hard heart is at all useful.
HARVESTING PEARS.
It is said to require more skill to keep money
than to make it, and it requires quite as much to
harvest and ripen pears properly as to 7-aise them.
Some kinds ripen best on the tree and others in
the house. Some ripen best in a dark, cool room,
and others in close boxes. Some ripen best
spread out on shelves, and others wrapped in
paper or cotton wadding. Those gentlemen who
are so unfortunate as to have those kinds which
require to be ripened in cotton wadding, will see
a reason, not very often urged in the newspapers,
for the speedy overthrow of the rebellion, that
cotton may be more easily obtained. Some vari-
eties, like the D'Aremberg, will ripen well with
no other care than placing them in barrels in the
cellar, as we do apples. But most of the finer
winter dessert pears should be brought into a
roon> where the temperature is oO or 70 degrees,
some two weeks before they arrive at maturity,
and should be kept covered, or they will shrivel
and become worthless.
MORE WINTER PEARS DESIRABLE.
First rate winter pears are but few in number,
and it is a great desideratum to obtain more of
them, so that we may have them on our tables or
for the market through the winter and spring, and
if possible till the next crop makes its appearance.
Such pears in the spring would command almost
fabulous prices, and would amply reward the
extra care and pains necessary to pre])are them
for market. Indeed, so fastidious is the public
taste, that no fruits will reward the labors of the
cultivator, unless they are of the veri/ first qual-
ity, and tliis demand for fruits and vegetables of
the very highest order of excellence will doubtless
increase, as the country advances in wealth, and
in the means of luxurious living. Pear raising,
and all other kinds of farming, in order to be
successful, must be conducted more and more
upon scientific principles. We are yet quite in
our infancy in these matters, but this Association,
and others of a kindred character, if properly
conducted, will do much towards supplying us
with the requisite information.
But I am well aware that much that I have
said is quite superfluous, as many of the members
of this Association, if not all, are much better
informed on this subject than myself. They maj',
perhaps, make the same objection to the views I
have advanced, Avhich the Irishman made to the
moon : — " Be jabers," said he, " the moon don't
amount to much, for it won't shine except on light
nights, and then it ain't needed."
For the N'ew England Farmer,
A HAPPY NEW YEAB.
A few thoughts in reference to the coming year -^
suggested by the usual compliment of the season,
" a happy new year," may possibly be of some
service, as hints to some one to start on the look-
out for a happy new year — happy in its results to
them and theirs, eventuating in happiness to oth-
ers within the circle of their influence or their
beneficence, or both.
My first thought is, that, in order to have a
happy new year, I must commence with myself,
recognizing the fact that a man's happiness con-
sists not so much in the abundance of the things
he possesseth as in the spirit and temper of mind
he hidulges.
I must not be a churl, a fretful, self-willed man ;
I must not enter my house with a dark and
clouded countenance ; I must not feel, nor act, as
if every ftne and everything around must be sub-
ject to my caj)rice, or whim, or notions of right.
In all of these several particulars, I must be just
the opposite, so far as it is possible for humanity
to be. I must be kindly aflectioned, patient, for-
giving, cheerful, and self-sacrificing. Without
these, I have no reason nor right to expect to be
happy — with them in full measure, every reason-
able ground for it, if coupled with industry and
the fear of God.
Am I prosperous, rejoice therein ; if the re-
verse, I must meet my allotment with resignation,
finding my consolation in the consciousness of
having faithfully looked after my fiocks and my
herds, and availed myself of all the information
within my reach, and the resources of my own
mind, to achieve success.
For the future, no success shall greatly elate,
or failure depress. If I deal my bread to the
hungry, nor hide myself from mine own flesh — if
I honor the Lord with my substance, and the first
fruits of all my increa.se, my barns shall be filled
with plenty, and my presses burst out with new
wine. This is the usual allotment of Providence,
and I will abide therein, with the full assurance
that each returning year will be a happy one.
Bochester, Jan., 1863. o. K.
Indolence is a stream which flows slowly on,
but yet undermines the foundation of every virtue.
186^.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
81
For the Xew England Farmer.
FLAX CULTURE— No. 1.
Mr. Editor : — I notice an article in the De-
cember number of the Farmer, written by your-
self, on the importance of cultivating flax to suji-
ply the place of cotton, and as you very truthfully
remai-k, that but very few ])eople know anything
about tlie cultivation and after preparation neces-
sary to lit it for market, a few remarks on that
suliject may not be inappropriate. As for myself,
I have been in the business for the last fifteen
years, and live in a town which produces as much
flax, I presume, as any town in the United States —
the amount raised tHis year being some over 1,300
acres 1 The counties of Rensselaer and Washing-
ton are said to be the greatest flax growing coun-
ties in York State, and Xew York and Ohio are
the two principal flax growing States of the Union.
In Ohio, it has heretofore been raised for the seed,
exclusively, no use hanng been made of the fibre,
but in this State it is raised fully as much for the
lint as seed. In two or three towns in Rensselaer,
flax dressing machines are as plentiful as saw-
mills in Maine, and just at present, much more
profitable. In your article, you quoted from a
speech of Stephen M. Allen, Esq., in which he
makes some pretty large estimates of the yield of
an acre of flax, estimates Avhich would raise expec-
tations in the minds of the new beginner never to
be realized. Although flax is a profitable crop for
the farmer at any time, and doubly so at the pres-
ent time, and every legitimate means should be
employed to induce farmers to cultivate it, in or-
der that we may have a substitute for cotton, still,
if they ai-e induced to embark in its cultivation by
exaggerated estimates of its yield and profits, they
will l)ecome discouraged with the first exj)eriment,
and abandon it altogether.
I mean no disresjject towards Mr. Allen in re-
viewing his speech a little, for I presume he de-
rived his estimates from the most correct data at
hand, which he, not being a practical flax grower,
had no means of knowing the truth of. lie esti-
mates the yield of lint, or fibrilia, as he terms it,
at 500 pounds to the acre, which he says is a small
estimate, and he also gives 25 bushels of seed to
the acre as a fair yield of seed. I never have
known but very few pieces of flax that would yield
500 pounds of dressed lint to the acre ; 400 ]jounds
is called an excellent yield, and 300 ])ounds is
more than the average. The average yield for the
past five years in this county was as follows, viz. :
in 1857, the best; of all the five, it was 3S7 lbs. ; in
1858, 237 lbs.; in 1859. 323 11)S. ; in 1860, 311
lbs.; and in 1801,238 lbs. The average for the
five years being 29.:> 1-5 lbs. The yields of seed
were as follows, respectively: 12^ bushels, 9^, 13,
8, and 10 ; and the average for the whole time,
10 3-5, bushels, which is rather below Mr. Allen's
estimate.
He also says that the unrotted straw from an
acre is worth .S20 for food for cattle. Now it is
positively impossil)le to make stock of any kind
eat the straw of flax in any shape whatever. They
would sooner eat the bark from trees, broom corn,
potato vines, or anything you might name, than
flax shives. Tons of it may be seen piled uji near
most flax machines, although in some few cases it
is mixed with the manure and put on the land,
and if it was done so to a much greater extent, it
would be a source of considerable i)rofit. It is
valuable for bedding in the stable, absorbing the
liquids, thereby adding to the value of the manure.
When plowed under, it renders tlie soil light and
loose, and for putting around currant, gooseberry,
and all other bushes in the garden, if is unsur-
passed by anything, as it prevents the weeds and
grass from growing, and keeps the moisture in the
soil during droughts. When used in this way, it
has precisely the same eflect on the soil that
leached ashes do, keeping it as light as an ash-
heap, (to use a homely phrase.) They are also
excellent for banking where we wish to stop frost.
A potato hole covci-ed one foot deej) with them,
can be opened at any time during the winter, as
they will not freeze through. In my next, I will
explain the manner of cultivation.
Agriculturist.
Xew York, December, 1862.
WHITTEMORE'S PATENT VEGETABLE
CUTTER.
We have been long an earnest advocate for rais-
ing roots for our neat stock dvring the long period
when they must be fed on dry fodder. Every
year's experience adds to the strength of our con-
'^^■^
victions that they can be raised and fed out with
a decided profit to the farmer. They not only
make uji a certain amount of food for the stock,
but in addition to the actual nutriment which they
supplv, they have an important influence in kec])-
ing animals healthy, and in the most vigorous and
growing condition.
When the roots have been prodMC4.-d. however,
the same economy which suggests raising them,
also suggests that they sliould be projierly pre-
pared before being fed to the cattle. Various con-
trivances are resorted to in order to reduce their
size, so that they can be eaten without danger of
choking the animal. Some persons chop them
with a hatchet, and others with a shovel, but both
82
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
processes are slow and tedious. There are several
machines in the agricultural warehouses for this
purpose, one of the best of which is Whittemore's
Patent Vegetable Cutter. It is capable of cutting
a bushel of turnips, or other roots, in a single
minute, and is provided with two sets of knives,
so that the roots may be cut coarse or fine, as may
be desired, and made suitable for sheep and calves,
as well as cows and oxen.
The cut above will give an idea of the machine.
We have been using the cutter the present winter,
and find it both rapid and efficient. It is man-
ufactured and sold by Messrs. Whittemoke,
Belcher & Co., at Chicopee Falls, and at 40
South Market Street, Boston.
EXTRACTS AND EEPLIES.
PREMATURE BIRTHS.
I notice in your paper a column devoted to Extracts
and Replies, and take the liberty to ask if you, or any
of your subscribers, have been troubled with cows los-
ing their young at this season of the year ? One of
my neighbors lost fifteen calves by premature birth,
two years ago ; others lost from three to ten last year.
This season one has lost six, and others will soon
come in ; another has lost four. The cows have no
appearance of having been hurt, and are apparently in
good health. Some of the young have the appearance
of disease, others have not. Is it a disease, and if so,
is it contagious ? Some think it is caused by herbage
in the hay. I am told that dairies in the State of
New York have suffered, in years past, to a consid-
erable extent in the same way, the cows of some
dairies having all yeaned before spring. If you can
give us any light in the matter it may be of profit to
us. S. L. Lincoln.
South Adams, Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — We sincerely sympathize with our
South Adams friends in their losses. They are serious
losses, as it is not only the loss of the calf, for the un-
natiural process affects the cow so much that some
good judges suppose she does not recover fram the
bad effects of it for years, if she ever does. Losses of
this kind are now daily occurring in other portions of
our State, and inquiries are often made for the cause
and a remedj'.
The subject has been earnestly discussed in the Co?i-
cord Farmers' Club, but without eliciting any reliable
facts as to the cause. Gov. Holbrook, of Vt., was
present at the meeting, and suggested various things
as probable causes, — such as feeding with oil meal, or
too highly of some kind of grain, harsh treatment, or
exposure, or the prevalence of certain noxious plants
in fodder. All these were met by some one or another
of the members of the Club, proving satisfactorily to
all that the real cause of the trouble had'not been sug-
gested. In our own stock, for instance, we had nine
cases of premature birth, and yet our cows ate no oil
meal, and but very little grain, and their feed was uni-
formly the best of timothy and red-top hay, with half
a bushel of beets, turnips, carrots and swedes, cut and
mixed. The water they drank was pure well water,
and they were not exposed to sudden changes of
weather, or confined in a too warm barn. They were
treated kindly, and had no steep places to go up or
down in going into or out of the barn. In short, there
was no apparent cause for such results.
The effect of such a birth upon the cow is a serious
one. It deranges the system, she loses appetite and
flesh, the hair stands out and is frowzy, the milk does
not flow freely, and there seems to be a general dis-
turbance of all the functions of the animal, so that it
requires long and careful treatment to bring her up
again.
At the discussion of this subject, alluded to above,
one of the members, Mr. Joseph D. Brown, who keeps
a large stock of milch cows, stated that he would pay
$'200, annually, to be insured against losses by prema-
ture births among his cows. In attempting to ascer-
tain the number of cases in the town that spring, the
startling fact was announced that 30 cases had occurred
within fourteen days in a single cluster of farms of
less than a dozen in number. These cases took place
among some of the best farmers in the town, — farm-
ers proverbial for the kind treatment and judicious
feeding of their animals.
The discussion of the subject, as we have said, was
an earnest one, — the questioning and cross-questiou-
ing long and searching, and yet nothing was gained
from it to satisfy any as to the cause of the difficulty.
There was a skilful physician in the Club at the time,
and farmers of as acute observation and systematic
practice as can be found anywhere.
The next year the cases were less numerous, and
have continued to decrease annually since, though
they still occasionally occur.
We wish we could throw some light upon the sub-
ject, but have read and inquired in vain. We hope
to hear from correspondents in relation to it
FINE HOGS.
I notice in last week's Farmer, Mr. E. D. Hicks, of
North Yarmouth, Me., brags about a pig he killed, that
weighed 451 lbs. when dressed, at 10 months old. I
wish to say to Mr. Hicks that he must try once more,
as we are ahead of him up here in Vermont.
Mr. David Chase, of Whitingham, killed one 9
months 14 days old, whose weight was 496 lbs. We
claim our blood to be Chester County. Will Mr. Hicks
inform us of what blood his was ?
I had a pair of these pigs sent me in June, 1861,
from W. R. Lewers, Milford, Mass., and they have
multiplied well, having produced 21 pigs at two litters.
I have distributed them in this vicinity, and they prove
to be just what our farmers have long been looking for.
The half bloods have dressed off from 265 lbs. — that
beiny the lightest — to 425 lbs. at from 8 to 10 months
old. T. Cross.
MontpeUer, Vt., Jan., 1863.
TO KILL VERMIN ON ANIMALS.
I noticed in the Farmer, Jan. 3d, an inquiry for the
surest and safest way to kill lice on animals. I have
found by much experience that tobac(?b smoke is a safe
and certain remedy for them. The pipe that I use was
made by taking an inch auger and boring into the end
of a stick of wood six inches, then cut it off eight
inches long, and bore the rest with a small bit or gim-
let ; shave the end down to a point, and fit a stopple to
the auger hole, and then bore through the stopple
with a gimlet or bit. Dry the tobacco and cut it up
fine, fill the pipe and set the tobacco on fire, then blow
through the hole in the stopple.
A Friend to the Farmer.
PURE COTSWOLD SHEEP WANTED.
Will you inform me where I can purchase a few pure
blood Cotswold Sheep .'
Luther L. Robinson.
Portsmotdh, N. H., Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — We are not able to inform our corres-
pondent. Those having them to sell may find a cus-
tomer by addressing Mr, R.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
8S
"WHAT MAKES THE HENS DIE ?
The first symptoms of ailment are swelling of the
head about the eyes, nearly as large as a walnut, on
both sides of the head, above and below the eyes.
They walk about slowly from one to three weeks, and
then die. A number have thus died.
North Charlcstown, X. H., 1863. o. 8.
Remarks. — The disease described above is a catarrh,
the symptoms of which are similar to those in the hu-
man system, namely, a watery or sticky discharge from
the nostrils, and a swelling of the eyelids ; in bad cases
the head is swollen at the sides, and the disease has the
appearance, or seems to run on to true roup, catarrh, or
sicc/k'd head. The cause is generally exposure to
cold and dampness, such as long continuance of wet
weather, or roosting in damp, chilly places, or places
that are open to damp, cold winds.
In simple cases, the treatment may be removal to a
dry, warm situation, and a supply of food rather more
nutritious and stimulating than usual. In severe
cases, the fowl should at once be separated from the
rest. Bathe the nostrils and head with warm water
into which two or three drops of the tincture of arnica
has been placed, and occasionally with warm milk
about the eyes, or with weak, warm soap suds ; and
then rub the head gently with a piece of warm flannel.
Keep the sick fowl in a warm, clean place, with a bed
of hay to sit upon. It is possible that some internal
remedy may be useful. This disease is apcompanied
with intermittent fever, and two or three drops of weak
tincture of aconite would, probably, be useful in allay-
ing it. The poor birds suffer much, and require ten-
der care at such times.
sore mouth in sheep.
I am surprised that your correspondent, George
French, of Sutton, N. H., never before saw sheep
afflicted with sore mouth. It is not a common disease,
but occasionally a flock will have it, and if not at-
tended to immediately, will lose flesh very fast. I
have known of three flocks having it the past season,
which is uncommon for this vicinity. The cause I
ascribe to exposure to wet and cold. For a remedy for
sore mouth in sheep, take equal parts of tar, lard and
sulphur, warm and mix them thoroughly. Apply warm
to the lips. I have known one thorough ap])lication to
cure. Gardner Herrick, 2d.
South Reading, Vt., Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — Mr. James M. Bass, of Williamstown,
Tt., informs us that he does not know the cause of sore
mouth in sheep, but that tar applied to the affected
parts will cure it.
stock for our farms.
For a time, the memory of man runneth not to the
contrary, have I heard this subject agitated, but still
when I go among the farmers I do not find any essen-
tial alteration for forty years last past. Notwithstand-
ing some speculative gentlemen and fancy farmers
have introduced a few animals of what are termed the
improved breeds, the great majority of animals, four-
fifths at least, are of the New England stamp. "Why
is this so ? Have not our farmers intelligence enough
to understand what is most for their own interest ? I
believe they have, and that their continuing to use the
stock to which they have been accustomed, is not be-
cause it is less Jit to be used, but because they think it
best to be used. I would value one fact of this kind
more than all the fancies derived from the finest Dur-
hams, Devons or Ayrshires ever imported.
The first objection to these imported breeds is, the
expense of procuring them. As a general thing, they
cost at least four times as much. When, therefore, a
young man is about to commence farming, and wants
ten cows and a bull to start with, it is quite material to
him to inquire whether he shall pay .$"oO apiece, or
$200 apiece for his stock. In the one case it requires an
outlaj: of SoOO— in the other an outlay of .«2,000—
a ditlerence of S'l.oOO the interest of mdre than SlOO,
the whole of the expected profits of his first year's
labor. For I doubt whether there is more than one in
ten of the young men who start in farming who make
a larger profit than $100 in the first year of their en-
terprise. If they can make $100 the first year, they
can make $12.5 the second year ; and so they can go
on for twenty years, until they get to be worth $5,000
—and then they will have' boys and girls enough
around to enable them to advance more rapidlv. This,
as a general thing, is as much as can be said of the
profits of farming, and this is more than can be said
of any other pursuit. p.
farmer SHELDON, OF WILMINGTON.
1 have read the autobiography of this gentleman
with much interest. It is a neatly printed duodecimo
volume of 37o pages, each of which contains some
striking fact worthy of remembrance. I know them
to be facts, because they are so like the author, and no
one else. 1 know them to be facts, because forty years'
acquaintance with the author has impressed me with
entire confidence in his integrity and veracity. It is
the story of the life of a plain Yankee farmer, told by
himself. Whoever reads it will have reason to think
his time ha» been profitably spent. p.
ANOTHER FINE PORKER.
Mr. Benjamin Town, of this town, recently dressed a
Chester county pig, which weighed, at ten months old,
410 lbs. The leaves weighed 38 lbs.
Montpelier, Vt., Jan., 1863.
WILD GEESE.
AVill you, or some of your readers, inform me, either
through the Farmer, ox by letter, where I can obtain a
pair of full blooded AVild Geese ? Allen Toby.
Calais, Vt., Jan., 1863.
For the New Englaml Farmer.
THE APPLE CHOP.
The apple croj) has been so abundant this voar
that it has been difficult to pet barrels to hold
them. While it is quite as well, perhaps, to keep
them for home use in open bins or boxes, they
can only be propeily marketed in good, strong,
full-hooped, headed-up barrels.
But few of the ai)ples poured into Boston stop
there to be consumed. A late steamer took out
fifteen hundred barrels to England. Mr. Tudor
has just sent five thousand barrels to Calcutta.
There has been a large shipment the whole fall to
the British Provinces.
Now purchasers for these markets, or for any
distant one, require that the apples should not
only be sound and handsome, but that they should
be i)ut up in good barrels. The barrels should be
headed uj). It will pay to do it for all worth tak-
ing to market. Apples to be shipped, of a)urse,
require to be covered. But the purchaser, living
hut a few streets oft", will buy more readily, and
often at a higher ])rice, if he can feel sure that all
the apples he buys will reach his home, as they
will if nailed right up before his eyes while he is
counting his money.
No aj)])les ought ever to be sent to market in
dirty barrels. It is but a single minute's work to
dash in a pail or two of water, and witli a l)room,
too much worn to be worth much in the house,
give it a thorough cleansing. Every nail should
be clenched down. Simple and reasonable as
these directions seem, how often they are neglect-
ed. Barrels are filled which are covered with
84
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Makch
flour and mouldy dirt. Apples are often put in
to be cut and bruised against a dozen or more of
nails. A purchaser of such will be shy of trading
with you again ; while your clean, nice barrel,
good to the bottom, will recommend your next
loads.
It is so easy to pack off everything to Boston,
that some dreadful poor stuff has to be sold there
sometimes. Fairer fruit should be cultivated, and
\ all the ordinary used at home. While so much
■unwholesome vinegar is manufactured, it seems a
/pity that cider enough should not be made from
■ordinary apples to supply the demand for pure
vinegar.
It sliould be remembered that the market is
not easily glutted with fair, elegant fruit.
At the close of the year I can look back and
see where I have " missed it," and also where I
have gained by judicious labor. I trimmed apple
trees all through the month of June, whenever I
could leave other work. On such trees I had
faii'er, and higher colored fruit than on other trees
near by, not so treated. If I live till another
summer, I shall endeavor to let more sunshine
into my thick tree-tops, satisfied that in this way
only can I raise handsome apples. \v. D. B.
Concord, Mass., Nov., 1862.
For the New England Farmer.
ROTARY FARMERS' CLUB.
Mr. Editor : — The formation of a " Rotary
County Farmers' Club," at which the leading
farmers may come together and discuss farming
subjects, is creating a new interest in regard to
the real wants of the agriculturists of Hampden
county. At the first meeting held here, some
thi-ee weeks since, the subject of agriculture, and
its comparative progress throughout this section,
was brought up, and the entire discussion went to
show, that, so far as real advancement was con-
cerned, the farming interests of Hampden county
were sadly neglected, and that a general awaken-
ing was needed. To remedy this, and to inspire
our farmers with a new interest in the work, those
present proposed that frequent meetings be held
m different parts of the county, at which they
might meet and compare notes, and if possible,
arrive at some definite results, the explanation of
which might not only be useful here, but else-
where.
At the second meeting, on the week following,
the subject of farm stock was proposed, and ably
discussed. Col. Phixeas Steuman, of Chicopee,
(a member of the State Board of Agriculture,)
read a paper upon the neat stock of the county,
which succeeded in bringing out the advocates of
the different breeds of cattle, and their peculiar
adaptation to the wants of different sections of the
county. The farmers of the Connecticut Valley,
in most instances, preferred the Short Horns,
where a good milking stream of blood could be
traced, while in the more remote parts, the Devon
and Hereford, or crosses of these breeds with the
Natives, were preferred. The theme was by no
means exhausted, when the meeting closed, and a
very general desire was expressed to continue it
on the following week. In accordance with this
expression, the argument was again resumed, and
the general manner of feeding, &c., together with
its results, in the experience of those engaged in
the manufacture of butter and cheese, and the
production of milk for the market, were given at
some length. Now, while it is not possible to fix
upon any one breed, which is perfectly adapted to
every locality, much benefit and many valuable
hints may be derived from the given experience
of those engaged in raising the different breeds.
The farmers' club has therefore taken hold of a
subject which will induce much careful study, and
a thorough investigation, and which will, we hope,
turn the attention of the farmers of Ham])den
county to the immediate improvement of their
stock, by the introduction of thorough-bred ani-
mals of the breed they may best prefer.
We have at present among us quite a number
who breed with care, ana whose herds are well
worth attention. Col. Stedman, of Chicopee,
William Birme, of Springfield, and Justin Ely,
of West Springfield, are breeders of Short Horns,
more particularly ; D. B. Merrick and William
Sessions, of Wilbraham, the Devons, and Hor-
ace Chapin, of Springfield, the Alderneys. Mr.
Birnie has also a fine herd of Ayrshires. There
have also been introduced into the county during
the past year, some pure bred Herefords, by A.
N. Merrick, of Springfield. They are from the
imported stock of G. Clark, of Otsego county.
New York. Mr. ^lerrick is also engaged in breed-
ing the Short Horn and Devon cattle. South
Down and Oxford Down sheep, Berkshire and
Chester county swine, and many of the improved
breeds of fowls.
At some future time I will endeavor to give
you a description of the Herefords owned by Mr.
Merrick, and set forth, as far as I am able to do
so, the merits of this truly valuable breed of cat-
tle, which is as yet comparatively unknown among
the farmers of Western Massachusetts. a.
Sprimjfield, Jan., 1863.
Remarks. — The plan sketched above is an ad-
mirable one. The best agricultural results we
have ever known attained, on an extended scale,
were through the efforts of a " Rotary Couuty
Farmers' Club," and Cheshire county, in the State
of New Hampshire, is entitled to the credit of
taking the lead. Several years ago, it appropri-
ated about one-third of its current funds to defray
the expenses of a series of meetings, one of which
was held in each of the largest towns of the coun-
ty. These meetings were announced by handbill,
and in the newspapers of the county, and were
continued through the entire day and evening in
some cases, and in every case, in the afternoon
and evening. They attracted not only the farm-
ers, but clei"g}-men, lawyers, mechanics, physicians
and women, sometimes a third part of a large au-
dience being of the latter class. In three years
after these meetings had closed, an observing
fiirmer of the county informed us that as much
wheat as was consumed by the population of the
county, had been raised that year within its own
borders ! The attention of the people was called,
dm-ing these meetings, to nearly every interest of
the farm, the garden and the domestic aflairs of
1863.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
85
the family. The effect was almost electric, as the
farms in every part of the county have presented
a more thiiving aspect ever since.
For the Xew England Farmer.
HUDSON" RIVER HIGHLANDS— QEN.
WASHINGTON— GRAPE GROWING.
Mr. Brown : — Did you ever visit the Hudson
River Highlands in winter ? If not, you have
failed of an experience which I doubt not would
be often recalled with great satisfoction in all af-
ter life, providing your stay was sufficiently pro-
longed to witness both storm and fair weather.
1 left New York city on the Hudson River liail-
road. last Monday morning, at 7 A. M., for Fish-
kill ; took the ferry boat and crossed over to Xew-
burg. on the west side of the river. This is an old
place, dating back beyond Revolutionarv times.
It often was the headquarters of our troo])s in
those days, and in the building where Washing-
ton had his headquarters are now collected many
relics of events then transpiring. At Canterburv,
half a dozen miles below Newburg, I was showna
house where Wasliington slept. The room he oc-
cu))ied is regarded with veneration by the owners,
and visitors often go there with feelings akin to
Mohammedan worshippers at the shrine of the
prophet of Mecca. I iear we have not a Wash-
ington now to counsel and guide us in this our
hour of calamity and sore trial. O, that our
Heavenly Father would raise us up sucli an one
to go before us and lead on to a successful issue
of our national affairs !
A letter to a friend failing to reach him in time
for him to meet me at Newburg, and two hours'
•waiting for the stage not to be thought of on a
pleasant day, when only six miles lay between me
and my destination, I took my bag and umbrella,
and trudged on at my own pace, fast or slow, as
the changing views varied in interest to me as I
pi'ogressed.
From the spot from which I am writing, I have
the river in front. Storm King on my riglit, and
Round Top on my left, with quite a plat of allu-
vial land between me and the river. These lands
are more or less devoted to fruit of various kinds,
and are well adapted for such use, while on the
hill and mountain sides the grape is encroaching
year by year. These vineyards are an interesting
feature of the country. I think the time is not
remote when the productions of our vineyards
will take high rank with the great sta])les of our
land. These mountains will be terraced to their
very siuninit, and the luscious grape be cultivated
thereon with remunerative success. In answer to
the inquiry made of the friend with whom I am
stopping, as to the time he usually expected frost
in autumn, he said not until about the middle of
November, while the low lands along the river
and in the valleys would have it at least a month
earlier, and liable to much sooner, even, than that.
This absence from frost in the highlands, or up
the mountains, is the great desideratum in the
successful growing of the grape. Were it not for
the early frosts of Massachusetts, we could grow
the grape quite as successfully in many places as
it is done here. I am told here that the Catawba
will bear two or three frosts without injury, while
the Isabella would be ruined bv the fu'st touch.
This is an important fact to those who cultivate
the grape. The I )elaware is getting to be much
esteemed here, and bids fair to supersede most
others. M\ friend finds it more profitabli' to con-
vert his grapes into wine than to market the fruit.
As a temperance man, I have some repugnance to
this wine-making. I fear it mav eventually re-
sult in great evil. Still, if men will drink wine
and strong drink — if we cannot prevail upon
them to give up the abominable compounds con-
cocted for their use — why, I don't knciw but we
shall do them a favor in sup])lying them with a
pure and, compared with what they now use,
harmless beverage. But this question I leave for
those more versed in such matters.
The lands here are held at very high prices,
owing to the influx of visitors to spend the warm
season, and the erection of summer residences by
merchants in the city. Fabulous returns are re-
alized by some of the fruit giowers for their crops
in good seasons. This stimulates others to try
their hand, and many a man in the city lias, dan-
cing before his eye, visions of wealth in connec-
tion with his outlays here in vineyards and fruit
orchards. So fiir as I am now informed, com
does not do as well as with us in Massachusetts.
Potatoes generally good, and but little I'ot. Green
crops not very good. Facilities for market very
good. Most of the farmers seem to be thriving
men in this business. There is a spirit of im-
provement among the masses that is perceptible
at a glance over their premi.ses. As usual with
me, I have fiiiled noting what I intended when I
sat down. I may refer to this ramble again, and
what I saw and thought. o. K.
Cornwall, N. 1'., Jan., 1863.
For the \etr England Farmer.
WINTER FEEDING OF SHEEP.
Mr. Editor : — I have been farming something
over twenty years, keeping sheep, with as little
other stock as would suffice for the necessary team
work, and su])ply the family with milk and butter,
having usually a little more than one hundred, so
as to have as near as possible to one hundred
breeding ewes.
It is often said that sheep will run a farm down,
but my experience does not prove it so. My farm
was prized to me at 81.600. and after keeping
sheep some eighteen years, I sold it for 83,(M)0.
For a few years ])ast I have been in the habit of
feeding a good many potatoes to my shcej) ; two
vears ago I fed 500 bushels to 100 sheep, almost
the whole of them boiled ; one year ago. 400 bush-
els. One year ago I fed 110 bushels, with one
foddering of oat straw, one of corn fodder, and
one of unthreshed oats, and two bushels of boiled
potatoes per day, no hay ; the straw being green
enough to be good, and the unthreshed oats cut
rather green. I could not see that they lost flesh
any, managed in this way.
i have usually fed twice a day to hay. and once
to straw, at noon, but that sj)oils their ai)])etitc for
the straw, and I think it better to feed as I stated
above, until the straw is nearly gone. It is well
to save some of the straw and keep one rack filled
M-ith it, after commencing on hay. so that they can
go eat it when they please.
There is no danger of their eating too many po-
86
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
tatoes ; Avhen they are boiled, thej^ are much more
wholesome, and do them more good. I know that
many think potatoes are worth but little for sheep,
but i think I shall continue to raise them as long
as I keep sheep, especially when they can be
raised as easily as Californians can at i)resent. It
requires some caution in feeding them raw ; they
should have but little at first, and by degrees they
■wUl come to eat almost any quantity without being
iscoured. It is a bad practice to commence feed-
ing the ewes to raw potatoes when they are hav-
ing their lambs, as they will be quite likely to set
the lambs into the scours. I have lost some in
that way.
I find the hard work of lugging so many pota-
toes out of the cellar may be avoided by keeping
a board before the cellar window, and heaping a
little snow against it in the coldest W'eather. The
board can be removed, to set them out, and then
replaced, and the potatoes taken to the kettle, and
from thence to the barn on the hand-sled or wheel-
barrow, with but little hard work.
I know my practice in keeping sheep is differ-
ent from that of farmers generally, who keep
young cattle to eat the straw and corn fodder. As
I cannot make the sheep eat more than three-
fourths of the straw, it is a question in my mind
whether it would not be better to keep some young
cattle to eat up the straw. Perhaps it might be
a good question for discussion in the Farmer,
Whether three-fourths of the straw would not be
worth as much, fed to sheep, at present prices of
wool, as any other way it could be disposed of?
Sheep will like good corn fodder (after they
have been confined to it a day or two, to learn
them to eat it,) better than straw.
M. D. Baxter.
North Thdford, Vt, Jan., 1863.
For the Kew England Farmer,
OTS PKESERVING MILK S"WEET.
Mr. Editor : — The last Agricultural Report
from the Patent Office contains, among many val-
uable articles, one upon milk, in which are found
some interesting estimates and facts. I have taken
the pains to copy the following portion on " Meth-
ods of preserving milk," which I think may be
useful and interesting to your readers.
" 1. By heat. 2. By evaporation, or condensa-
tion. 3, By cold and quiet.
1. Heating milk in the open air, or scalding it.
— Several years since, Gay Lussac, an eminent
French chemist, demonstrated that if milk be
gradually raised to the boiling point two days in
succession in winter, and three in summer, it
would keep two months without souring. Bottle
the milk tightly with wired corks, and place in
cold water. Raise the water gradually to the boil-
ing point. Remove the kettle from the fire and
allow the water to cool. Milk treated in this way
will keep six months. By these methods, the
taste is somewhat changed, but it answers for
many purposes.
2. By condensation. — This process has been
patented. It consists in evaporating until it so-
lidifies, when it is sealed up in tin cans. It keeps
sw'eet a great length of time.
3. Preservation by cold and quiet. — This meth-
od is practiced by dairymen who send their milk
to market by cars. The process consists in cool-
ing to about 40° Fahrenheit, as soon as possible af-
ter milking, and in keeping it at that temperature,
in perfect quiet, till it is ready to be carried to the
cars. The essential requisite is a spring of cold
water. The quantity is not of so much conse-
quence as the degree of coldness.
The milk-house should be, if possible, on the
north side of a hill, well shaded, so situated that
the water will flow oft' readily. The tank should
be about two feet wide, and long enough to con-
tain all the cans, and its depth about four inches
less than the depth of the can. The tank should
be so arranged that there will be a constant cur-
rent around each can. The ventilation of the
house should be only sufficient to keep the air
pure. In all cases, the ingress of the air should
be prevented as soon as a thunder shower is seen
rising, and no admittance allowed till the milk is
to be removed. In clear, or rainy weather, the
ventilator may be open, but never in showery
weather. Ozone, which is freely generated by
electricity, acts energetically on milk, souring it
in a few minutes, many times destroying the milk
before the shower has passed over. The tank
should be so constructed as to be disconnected
with the building. It should rest flat on the
ground, so that any jar of the building cannot dis-
turb the milk in the tank. The cows should be
milked in the cool of the evening, the milk strained
into the cans in which it is to be conveyed to mar-
ket, remain uncovered, standing in the tank, and
not allowed to be stirred, or even jarred. The
cows should be milked in the morning before sun-
rise, and the milk strained and ])laced in the tank
as before. If there is a can partly filled Avith night
milk, it must remain so, the warm morning's milk
must not be mixed with the cool night's milk.
At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the
milk is to be carried to the cars. The cans are
then to be filled, if necessary. The milk being all
cool, can be mixed. The cans are then placed in
a wagon, and a net covering spread over them
Over this, buflTalo robes, or other covering is
thrown. The cans are placed in a car without
anything over them. They are conveyed to New
York in the night. The cans are then taken by
milk-carts, and the milk is distributed to the con-
sumers. The milk does not therefore leave the
cans till it is sold, and is generally disposed of at
a temperature nearly as low as it left the Inilk-
house. In this condition it will keep sweet twen-
ty-four or even thirty-six hours, and is a pure
country milk, quite different from that peddled at
a smoking temperature of 70 or 80°. This meth-
od has been practiced on the Harlem railroad for
several years. It was formerly thought necessary
to stir milk several times while cooling. But this
treatment has been found highly injurious. jNlilk
should be kept as still as possible till it is cooled
to about 40°, when it may be stirred or transport-
ed a great distance without injury.
The plain suggestion, then, is to have milk thor-
oughly cooled before it is peddled out. Night's
milk, cooled, may be sold in the morning ; morn-
ing's milk in the evening. Morning's milk carried
warm even but a few miles to market, will often
sour in six or eight hours."
The above statements contain hints that may be
useful not only to sellers, but to buyers of milk.
Concord, Jan., 1803. J. R.
1863.
KEW ENGLAND FARMER.
87
PREPAKATION OP PRODUCE FOR THE I
MARKET,
We have before us six paper boxes, each hold-
ing about a quart, containing samples of barley, !
oats, peas, wild seed of unknown plants, and chaff.
Originally, these all came to market together, as
they were put up on the thrashing floor, and were
offered for sale as barley — that being the crop in-
tended to be raised. On reaching the market, the
farmer offered his barley fbr 90 cents per bushel,
but tlie offer was not accepted ; no one seeming
desirous to purchase such a mixture at any of the
usual prices paid for barley.
"While in this unpleasant dilemma, paying stor-
age bills for his crop, and hotel bills for himself,
he heard that one Sanford Adams, a curious
genius in North Market Street, had invented some
sieves wljereby he could separate the most obsti-
nate case of complicated conglomeration of seeds.
It was not difficult to find the man of sieves, to
whom he, somewhat pathetically, made his state-
ment, and inquired if he could relieve him.
" Why, certainly," Mr. A. replied, " if I could take
3,000 rebel prisoners, and blow them up, as I did
last week, (alluding to a million of worms, or less
which he took from eight barrels of Pearl barley,)
it would be strange if I could not separate tares
from wheat, and oats and peas from barley!"
" Well," said the farmer, " the times are hard, I am
here on expense, and I wish you would try." And
he did try, with the following result : —
The farmer had 77 bushels of what he called
barley, which he offered for 90 cents per bushel,
equal to $69,30. When cleaned, he had 61 l)ush-
els, which he sold for $1,25 per bushel, equal to
$76,25, making a gain of 86,95. He then had
9 bushels of clean oats, now worth 70 cents per
bushel, equal to $6,30 — 4 bushels of assorted
peas, at $1,25, equal to $5, — and 3^ bushels of
wild seed and 1 bushel of chaff, value not ascer-
tained I By this process he made a gain of $18,-
25, or, after paying for separating, a net gain of
$14,00. To say nothing of stopping expenses he
was surely incurring for storage, board, vexation,
&c.
It is certainly surprising, that, with a thousand
facts similar to this before him, the farmer will
continue to bring his products to market in a con-
dition so unattractive for sale, and so unsuitable
for use. Such is the case, "however, with a verj-
considerable proportion of the grain, beef, pork,
mutton, poultry, butter, cheese, apples and pota-
toes, that are brought into Boston market. Man-
ufacturers understand the importance of giving
their wares an attractive appearance, better than
farmers do. How would cottons, linens and print
goods sell, tumbled together in bales, with occa-
sional yards an inch too narrow, and in other re
spects imperfect ? Farmers complain bitterly of
mowing machine and plow-makers, because a piece
of brittle wood is introduced, or that the bolts are
not square instead of round, so that they will not
tm-n, or that the nuts on them are not all of the
same size, forgetting that the imperfecliou of their
own products when presented for sale, are liable
to the same objections which they themselves make.
The loss to the farmers of New England is im-
mense, in the article of butter alone, from the im-
perfect manner in which it is made and packed.
We are told by some of the oldest dealers in this
article, that a very large proportion of all that
comes to this market is greatly reduced in value
by its poor quality, or by the careless — if not slov-
enly— manner in which it is put up, and that only
one tenth of the whole will sell as " first-rate " but-
ter, and command a high price. More attention is
given to the making and packing of cheese. Beef
is slaughtered nearer the market, and usually by
skilful persons who appreciate appearances. A
good deal of the pork is brought from a distance,
and often presents such an appearance as, if re-
membered, would forever bar one from eating a
" rasher " with his breakfast, or a slice with his
plate of baked beans at dinner. This winter, es-
pecially, when we have had a continuation of
weeks of moderately warm weather, it lias been dif-
ficult to get pork to market in a sound and at-
tractive condition.
So it is with apples. If they were put into nice
barrels, the very best by themselves, and then
graded downward, the purchaser would know what
he was buying, and would give a price for the
whole greatly exceeding what he would offer for
them if they were in a mixed condition. He has
customers for the various qualities, but they must
be separate lots. Of two persons marketing the
same number of barrels of apples during the same
autumn, one realized one dollar per barrel, for the
same kind of apples, more than his neighbor re-
ceived. This was done, entirely, by gi-ading the
apples and presenting them in a neat and attrac-
tive form.
The sieves through which the good work was
accomplished in the case of the barley, are small,
cheap and effective, and will probably save their
cost annually, on any fann from which a consid-
erable quantity of grain, peas or beans, is sold.
Mr. Adams' place of business is at No. 34 North
Market Street, Boston, where may be seen many
curious and useful things.
Flax Culture in Central Ohio. — The peo-
ple of Central Ohio are preparing to raise a large
quantity of flax the comnig season. It is said the
present' ])rice of flax seed will fully reimburse for
the whole labor and cost of raising a crop of flax ;
and with a vast amount of land in the state unoc-
cupied by anv other crop, ])robabiy the jiouple can-
' not m any otiier way better improve their time.
8$
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
CULTUBB OF GHICCOKY,
A correspondent at Salem inquires if we can
give him an}' information regarding the cultivation
of chiccory. The ])lant is not an uncommon one
in Massachusetts, is a coarse and rather showy
one, with large, blue flowers, or sometimes pur-
plish— and not unfrequently white. It has a large
root, frequently penetrating so deep into the
ground, that the strength of one man is not suf-
ficient to pull it up. It is getting established on
the sides of some of the railroad tracks near Bos-
ton, and in some fields twenty miles out, where it
is found almost impossible to eradicate it. Dar-
lington says "It is justly regarded as an objection-
able weed that ought to be expelled from our pas-
tures." It is recommended by some European ag-
riculturists as a good forage plant — but it seems
to us altogether too coarse and strong for that
purpose — and especially as the leaves give a bad
taste to the milk of the cows Avhich eat them. The
plant blossoms in August and September, and in
its natural state, the stem rises from one to three
feet in height ; under cultivation it would proba-
bly reach twice that height. The root is fleshy
and milky, and when sliced and pressed, yields a
juice Avhich is slightly tonic. When used as a
substitute for cofl"ee, they should be cleaned, then
put into an oven after the bread has been taken
out, and allowed to remain until cool.
From the tenacity with which it clings to our soil
we should judge that the same soil and cultivation
which would bring forty bushels of corn per acre,
would bring an enormous crop of chiccory. It
grows rapidly and luxuriantly, and though cut
down four or five times each summer, for four
summers in succession, it still flourishes in one of
our fields. Von Thaer, in his Principles of Agri-
culture, asserts that it is extremely difficult to
eradicate from the land, and has been found ma-
terially to impoverish the soil. From our own
experience with it, we believe Von Thaer is right.
The plant is known in some places by the name
of Succory, as well as chiccory.
IMPORTANT GUANO EEPORTS.
Recent analysis by Dr. James B. Chilton and
others has shown that the immense deposits of
guano belonging to the New York Guano Com-
pany are true bird guano, and entirely superior in
quality to the various mineral guanos, which have
been industriously forced in this and other mar-
kets. The quantity is large, and can be shipped
at very low cost as compared with guano from the
Pacific coast.
Dr. Joiixsox remarked that a habit of looking
on the best side of every event, is better than a
thousand pounds a year. That was true philoso-
phy. When Fenelon's library was on fire, " God
be praised," he exclaimed, " that it is not the dwell-
ing of some ))oor man."
For the JVew England Farmer,
AN ERROR CORRECTED.
Mt Dear Sir : — In the Neiv England Farmer
of December 20, 1862, in an article on "Agricul-
ture in Common Schools," or what the author
claims as such, and over the signature of " John
GoLDSBURY," I find a sentence as follows :
" But to the point at issue. For more than
twenty years, Mr. Bacon claims to have been an
advocate for introducing the study of agriculture
into common schools. And yet, strange to say, in
all this time, he has never seen fit to open his
mouth on the subject, but has been as silent as a
mouse in a cheese."
That I am the individual alluded to in the above
remarks, seems to be a fact placed beyond all
doubt, for, in the earlier part of his article, the
writer gives, in full, my name and place of resi-
dence.
It is not for the purpose of replying to him, that
I introduce the subject at this time, but to show
the public how far truth will sustain him in liis as-
sertions.
I therefore repeat, that I have, for twenty years,
been the advocate of introducing agriculture, by
which I mean the sciences connected with agricul-
ture, into common schools. I introduced the sub-
ject in 1840, by a series of articles on the sciences
which I held it important for the farmer to study,
and within the intervening period, I have pub-
lished articles on the same subject, in different pa-
pers, and in favor of introducing them into com-
mon schools. I refer the reader as follows : In
the Monthly Neio England Farmer for June, 1859,
Vol. 11, No. 6, pp. 270-71, I have an article on
" How plants grow," and in my feeble way, recom-
mend it as a suitable study to introduce in com-
mon schools. Raising plants is an agricultural
employment, and how to make them grow is an
agricultural achievement.
In the New Eiigland Farmer of March, 1860,
Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 121-22, I have an article on
" Agricultural Education," in which I advocate it
as worthy of a part of our common school course
of study, and name suitable books to be used for
the purpose.
In the New England Farmer ior January, 1862,
Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 18-19, I am again guilty of an
article favoring the introduction of agriculture
or the sciences connected with it, into common
schools, and recommend among other books, the
" Manual of Agriculture," by Messrs. Emerson and
Flint, as valuable for this subject.
I might cite other instances, where I have,
through the press, shown myself in favor of intro-
ducing those branches connected with agriculture
into common schools, but I think the above suf-
ficient.
The writer says, " And yet, strange to say, in all
this time, [twenty years, I suppose,] he has not
seen fit to open his mouth on the subject, but has
been as silent as a mouse in a cheese."
Now. it so hap])ens, that I have never, to my
knowledge, seen Mr. John Goldsbury, and I pre-
sume he has never seen me. How, then, does he
know upon what subjects, and how frequently up-
on any subject I have opened my mouth in the
last twenty years. And not knowing, how does
he have the assurance to make so positive an as-
sertion? William Bacon.
nirlimnnd. Jan. 8. 1863.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FAR\rER.
89
AGBICULTUBAL COIiIiEQE OF PENN-
SYLVANIA.
We have before us a pamphlet of 76 pages,
giving the origin, rise and progress of the Agri-
cultural College of Pennsylvania ; with a state-
ment of its present condition, aims, and prospects,
course of instruction, facilities for study, terms of
admission, &c. The college is located in Centre
county, Pennsylvania, and its object is " to associ-
ate a high degree of intelligence with the practice
of Agriculture and the industrial arts, and to seek
to make use of this intelligence in developing the
agricultural and industrial resources of the coun-
try, and protecting its interests." The course of
studies will include mathematics, natural philoso-
phy, chemistry, botany, geology and paleontology,
mineralogy and crystallography and practical ag-
riculture and horticulture.
Those persons who are desirous of sending their
sons to a school of this character, may now have
an opportunity. Address Evan Pucn, President
of Agricultural College, Centre county, Pennsyl-
vania.
AMEKICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
This Society has just issued a catalogue of
Fruits for cultivation in the United States and
Canadas. The work is in two divisions, — the fii'st
embracing those States lying north of the south-
ern line of Virginia, Tennessee, INIissouri, &c., and
east of the Rocky Mountains, including the Cana-
das. The second embraces the States south of
the line above named, and west of the Rocky
Mountains.
This catalogue was completed under the direc-
tion of the Society, from the reports of State and
District committees, and is intended to exhibit in
a form convenient for reference, the varieties of
fruits best adapted to the different States, and
localities, and subject to revision and correction,
as expei'ience may render necessary and proper.
The committee who have gone through with
this tedious and important labor are Messrs. P.
Barry, J. S. Cabot, J. A. Warder, Charles
Downing, C. M. Hovey, Wm. Reed, and ex of-
ficio, Marshall P. Wilder.
The list of fruits noticed comprises apples, pears,
cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, quin-
ces, native and foreign grapes, currants, goose-
berries, raspberries, blackberries and strawber-
ries. A table of mean temperatures is also given.
The arrangement of the work is judicious, and
the varieties mentioned as acceptable as can be
expected. The committee have not attempted to
give descriptions of the fruits recommended, but
simply to indicate the season of maturity, use, and
a few other particulars of importance.
The work is a credit to the Society, and an
honor to the countrv.
ORCHARD CULTURE.
Orchard culture, like that of other crops, must
be brought to meet circumstances. Different
soils, locations, and climates call for var}ing pro-
cesses, so that few general rules can be adopted,
to caiTy out with assurances of success. Of these,
we consider a preparation of soil before trans-
planting, as of the greatest importance. Some
soils are naturally deep and o])en. Where this is
not the case, they should be made so before the
tree is placed in them ; for no tree will flourish
for any length of time in a thin or compact soil.
It is labor lost to place them there, either in ex-
pectation that they will flourish in the ground as
it is, or in the hope that after culture will remedy
the deficiencies. The last cannot be done, for
every inch of soil needs a thorough pulverization,
which can not be effected under the roots when
they have once been put in place.
In planting trees of any kind, especially fruit
trees, we would say, then, prepare the land before-
hand ; that is, if the soil is not naturally deep,
make it so by deep tillage ; if not fine, reduce it,
no matter how fine. If not so dry that water will
not settle and stand under the trees, drain it ; if
it requires manure, apply it according to the ne-
cessity of the case in previous tillage ; in short,
bring the land into that high state of cultivation,
which is necessary to the successful growth of any
other crop. The trees may be put into it, if they
are healthy trees, well taken up and well replant-
ed, with a fair prospect of success.
Where trees are overfed, the branches too often
grow so late in autumn that it is impossible for
the wood to ripen, and winter cuts it down as
though it were an herbaceous plant. Not so with
the trees that nature plants and that grow under
her maturing and protecting care. She gives
them a needful supi)ly of food to answer the pur-
poses of a healthful growth, and causes them to
ripen their wood in full preparation for frosts and
storms. Her teachings are worthy of the careful
consideration of those who would be successful
like her.
Again, nature, when she plants trees, does not
disturb their roots with plow or spade. In her
forests, she keeps the ground around them in a
light, porous condition by the top dressing she
gives them. In autuniTi the leaves of forest trees
fall from their branches to cover and protect the
roots from the inclement season that awaits them,
and in the coming sj)ring these leaves commence
to decay to keep the earth light beneath them, so
that the tender roots may push around to gather
food and give stability to the tree. Thev also
form a fine, healthy manure, which of itself fur-
nishes the aliment of future tree growth.
How far it is expedient to follow nature, others
must decide to suit themselves. We have imitat-
ed her in furnishing the elements of growth to a
few fruit trees, and are so well pleased with the
result, that for our own practice, we consider it
the best. In other localities, however, it may not
be so. Cultivators must decide this matter for
themselves. An experiment with a few trees can
do no harm, and it will settle the question.
So, then, we have come to the conclusion that
the true way for us to raise healthy and long-lived
fruit trees is first to prepare the land thoroughly
by draining if necessary, and then by a deep and
very thorough tillage before the trees are set;
90
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
then obtain good trees, and see that they are well
set ; and after the trees are once located in this
well-prepared soil, we would keep it in its fine,
light condition by as frequent top dressings as
were necessary to secure the result.
Composts are better than yard or stable ma-
nures for fruit trees, and there is no decaying sub-
stance on the farm that cannot safely be employed
in the compost heap. Leaves and muck may form
the basis of the heap, and all the odds and ends
of the premises may be thrown in to hasten their
decay and produce then- immediate value. Ashes,
whether leached or not, slops, brine, every thing
almost thrown upon the heap, prevents waste and
make the compound more valuable.
Richmond, Mass. William Bacon,
Horticulturist.
Remarks. — In condensing for our reduced
sheet, we have used only the leading points of
Mr. Bacon's article — sufficient, however, to guide
any inexperienced person in the planting and cul-
ture of trees.
THE HOP CROP.
The Lispector General reports the amount in-
spected during the year 1862, at 394 bales, or 76,-
823 lbs., growth of 1861 ; 1,116 bales, or 214,671
lbs., growth of 1862— total 1,520 bales, or 291,494
lbs. The inspector says :
The growth and quality of hops in 1862 was
very good. Prices opened at ten cents per lb. At
that time no prospect of an export demand. The
duty on American was taken off the first of Sep-
tember, consequently our hops can go to England
free ; at the same time the excise duty on English
was removed. In justice, I think, the United
States should remove the duty on English, al-
though but few English ever come to this market.
The diff"erence in exchange, with other reasons,
has caused quite an excitement in the market, so
much so, that prices have advanced to 18 cents
per lb. ; at Avhich price England will probably take
our surplus. To date we have exported about
30,000 bales of the growth of 1862. The Census
Report of 1860 gives the quantity of hops grown
in the United States at different periods :
In 1840 1,238,502 pounds.
1850 3,496,950 do
1860 10,675,704 do
In 1860, the State of New York grew 9,650,150
lbs. ; taking this quantity from 10,675,704 lbs.,
leaves but 1,025,554 lbs. for all the other States.
Of this amount, Vermont grew 631,641 lbs. ;
Massachusetts, 111,301 lbs.; Maine, 102,998
lbs. ; New Hampshire, 130,428 lbs.
Human Toil. — The sentence of toil and the
promise of glory have issued from the same throne.
Even our troubles here may make the material of
enjoyments above the circumscription of the earth.
All are agents in the restorative mercy of the
great Disposer ; all turn into discipline. The
obstacles to knowledge, the struggles of the
heart, the thousand roughnesses of the common
path of man, are converted into the muscular
force of the mind. We are but sowing, in the
winter of our nature, the seed which shall flourish
m immortality. — Dr. Croly.
For the Neio England Farmer.
EXPERIMENTS IW FEEDING HOGS.
Mr. Editor: — Your correspondent of Parsons-
field, Me., who noticed my remarks in a late Farm ■■
er, seems to get his mind pretty much on potatoes ;
but, cooked or uncooked, ten chances to one if he
does not mix in meal to make them acceptable to
his hogs. My opinion is, that potatoes are not
used near as much as formerly for feeding swine.
It has been estimated, by some, that for feeding,
five bushels potatoes (some say four) are equal to
one of corn. As potatoes are now from 50 to 60
cents, and corn less than a dollar per bushel, po-
tatoes must be the dearest kind of feed. The idea
of Lamprey and others, I suppose, is this : that in
the autumn months, and first of winter, a great
quantity of barley and corn meal is fed out to fat-
ten swine. Mush may satisfy at first, but Major
Smith told the whole story, for when he ate mush
and milk he wanted the distance short between
him and the bed ! Swine will eat more of the
uncooked meal, will be longer satisfied, and will
lie down and grunt and grow imtil next feeding-
time. It will stick by the ribs, as the wood-
choppers say of pork and beans.
The writer, of Randolph, in the last Farmer, in
favor of cooking, tells us of the hog of 400 pounds,
and what Mr. Ellsworth says about cooking. I
find Mr. Ellsworth says a good many things,
among which are, that swine will thi-ive on ground
cobs alone, and that it takes 3^ pounds of meal to
make a pound of pork. According to that, the
400-pound hog has eaten 1400 pounds of meal; 28
bushels, at 70 cents, is equal to $19,60. A gen-
tlemen, of Walpole, in the same paper, fed his hog
up to 300 pounds, in November, on raw apples
and pumpkins. Last fall, when meal was 70 cents,
apples were 5 cents per bushel, pumpkins perhaps
$3 per cartful. At that price the $19,60 above
would buy 212 bushels of apples and S caitfuls
of pumpkins to make the hog of 400 weight.
Ellsworth wrote in 1847. In 1851, P. 0. re-
ports, C. H. Pond, Ct., writes : — Generally corn is
fed raw ; B. A. Copp, Ct., in same, ■mrites — It will
not pay even to get corn ground ; J. J. Thomas,
N. Y. — Hogs are finished ofl" by a month's feed of
corn in the ear ; H. B. Jones, Va. — It is generally
fed on the cob in this way. I am of opinion it
makes the finest and best pork ; J. H. Eubank,
Tenn. — It is generally fed whole and raw ; J. B.
LarM'ill, Ohio — Corn is generally fed raw ; E. Burn-
ham, Ohio — It will not do, to either grind or cook ;
Mr. Trowbridge, Mich. — I feed corn whole and
raw ; Mr. Raymond, Mich — We generally feed in
the ear ; Mr. Harlan, Ind. — We feed Avhole ; Mr.
Bunnell, Ind. — Fattens his hogs with corn in the
ear ; Elihu Hall, 111. — Corn is fed whole and raw,
to every species of stock. This is the cheapest
and most profitable plan. Three pounds of corn,
with this treatment, will make a pound of pork ;
Mr. McCready, Iowa — Corn is fed raw.
Thus it will be seen the practice of the country
is in feeding corn uncooked. And if we take the
statements of Mr. Hall, the practice is correct.
Joseph W. Brown.
Kensington, N. H., Jan. 19, 1863.
The Wool Crop of Michigan. — The wool
crop of Michigan for the year 1863 is estimated
at 5,500,000 pounds.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
91
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
HOW TO BOIL POTATOr.S.
I have always supposed that the potatoes on our
dinner table could scarcely be improved, but it seems
on referring to last week's Farmer, that I was entirely
mistaken ; they must be " waxy and unpalatable," for
they are always pe«led before boiling. After consid-
erable experience with " help," I feel sure that if " the
humble peasants in Ireland" know how to "boil po-
tatoes to perfection," it certainly becomes one of the
lost arts to them before they reach this country. I
will give you my method of cooking potatoes, by
which they are daily brought on to the table very
white, very mealy, and very hot, which last cannot be
the case if they arc peeled after boiling.
Pare tliem, and cut the larger ones in halves, in order
to have them as nearly as possible of equal size. Let
them stand for half an hour in cold water, then put
them into the kettle with boiling water, and set them
■where they will boil as hard as possible for twenty min-
utes, or till they are thoroughly done ; then turn otl' all
the water, sprinkle a little salt over them, and give the
kettle a vigorous shake, and let it stand on the stone
uncovered till the rest of your dinner is on the table ;
pour them into a dish, and they are, indeed, " a guid
sight for sair een." Kate.
Concord, Jun., 1863.
CORX FODDER IN THE FALL.
I think every farmer would do well to sow a piece of
ground ■(vith corn, not for fodder in the winter, but to
feed out in the summer and fall. On a small piece,
moderately rich, a large quantity of corn fodder can
be raised, requiring little care, and a very small ex-
pense. This, fed to cattle in times of drought, and
when the feed begins to get short in the fall, will keep
them in good order, and if fed to milk cows will in-
crease their flow of milk. It will prevent the necessity
of turning stock into our mowings. I think most
farmers neglect their stock in the fall ; the feed gets
short, the cattle have no extra feed, and rapidly lose
flesh; this flesh the animal does not replace all winter,
unless receiving extra food, and, consequently, incur-
ring unnecessary expense. Is it not more economical,
then, to fodder more in the fall than most of us do ?
How can this be done cheaper than with corn fodder ?
What is the price of Whittcmore's Root Cutter ?
Hanover, N. H., Jan., 1863. Aluert Pinneo.
Remarks. — We believe it is $9,00. Our corres-
pondent from Piermont, N. H., will please observe
this.
DISEASED SHEEP.
Mr. French, of Sutton, N. H., inquires for a remedy
for the sore mouth which is troubling his sheep. 1
would say that I had it to a considerable extent in my
flock a few years since, and I cured it by applying tar.
Others, of my neighbors, have cured in the same way.
Chelsea, Vt., Jan., 1863. C. N. Andrews.
M'OOD WAX.
What is the best way to eradicate this plant from our
pastures ? This is an important question to the far-
mer of Essex county. 13. Drinkavater.
Salem, Jan., 18G3.
Remarks. — We have often conversed with some of
the people of Essex county with regard to this pest,
but never found one who had anj' definite opinions as
to how it could be exterminated short of plowing and
cultivating. AVill some one enlighten our correspond-
ent ? _
A FIXE LEICESTER HOG.
As I see you are giving the weights of pigs, or hogs,
I forward to you the weight of a Leicester pig I bought
of Peter W. Jones, of this town. He was slaughtered
Jan. Sth, 18(i3, at nine months, two days old, and
weighed 490 lbs. The keeping was, first six months,
milk and raw potatoes ; since that time, the addition
of meal, what he would eat. I have tried other breeds,
but never have made pork so easily as from the present
pig of the Leicester blood, and as cheap on the same
keeping. Geokoe Kent,
Deaf and Dumb.
Amherst, Jan., 1863.
profits from fowls.
Being a reader and a well-wisher to the Farmer, and
you having kindly published my account of 1860-61,
of profit and loss of poultry raising, I now enclose you
the account of 1862. 1 think three years' account will
be sufficient to convince any one that there is profit in
raising poultry, if taken care of.
STOCK, JANUARY 1, 18C2.
32 fowls and 11 ducks $21,20
39 bushels of coru 27,10
18 bushels of oats 9,35
l.iO pounds siftinirs , i,.^o
470 pounds scraps, at lie ^ pound 7,05
CI.IU1 shells .' 25
Meal and shorts 4,00
39 dozen esiEs, at 2.5c #" dozen 9',75
Interest on g^JljOO J ,29
50 chickens died 6,00
6 ducks died 1,00
$90,79
Balance 69,40
$180,19
STOCK, JANUARY 1, 1863.
24 fowls and 11 ducks , $17,50
17t) dozen epgs sold 44,13
119 liens and chickens 52,88
33 ducks sold 19,70
I'k barrels manure 15,75
12'chickens, $3,00—10 ducks, $7,08 10,f;e
97 dozen and 9 eggs, at 20c ^ dozen, eaten in the family 19,50
$180,19
There were 262 dozen and 3 hens' eggs, and 50 dozen
and 6 ducks' eggs laid ; and 173 chickens, and 49 ducks
hatched.
Salem, Jan., 1863. James Buffington.
sweet APPLES to FAT HOGS.
One of my neighbors killed a pig the third of De-
cember, nine months, six days old, which weighed 346
pounds. It was fed as follows : L'ntil apples began
to fall, the pig was fed with slops and milk — no meal
at all. After apples were large enough they were fed,
cooked and raw, and were so relished by the pig that
it wasn't necessary to give but a little meal. The pig
was fed wholly by a farmer's daughter. Daughters can
tend and feed pigs, if they have plenty of sweet
apples. T. s. f.
Reading, Jan., 1863.
CORN MUFFINS.
I send you a receipt for corn muffins which my fam-
ily think delicious. Two cups Indian meal ; two cups
flour ; two eggs ; one pint of milk ; two teaspoonfuls
cream of tartar ; one teaspoonful soda ; piece of butter
the size of an egg, melted. Mix thoroughly and bake
in muffin-rings on a hot griddle, turning them so as to
brown both sides. C. H. Pratt.
Concord, Jan., 1863.
Glue for Ready Use. — To any quantity of
glue use common whiskey, instead of water. Put
both together in a bottle, cork it tight, and set it
away for three or four davs, when it will be fit for
use without the ap])lication of heat. Glue thus
prepared will keep for years, and is at ;J1 times
fit for use, except in very cold weather, when it
should be set in warm water before using. To ob-
viate the difficulty of the stojjper getting tight by
the glue drying in the mouth of the vessel, use a
tin vessel with the cover fitting tight on the out-
side, to prevent the escape of the spirit by evapo-
ration. A strong solution of isinglass, made in
the same manner, is a very excellent cement for
leather.
92
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
For the Neio England Farmer,
A KULE
FOR REDUCING CHAINS, RODS AND LINKS TO FEET.
Mr. Brown : — I have been occasionally re-
quested to give a table, for the purpose indicated
above ; and therefore send the following, for the
benefit of your readers : —
Chains. Feet. Mods. Feet. Links. Feet.
1 66. 1 16.5 1 .66
2 132. 2 33. 2 1.32
3 198. 3 49.5 3 1.98
4 264. 4 66. 4 2.e4
5 330. 5 82.5 5 3.30
6 396. 6 99. 6 3.96
7 462. 7 115.5 7 4.62
8 528. 8 139. 8 5.28
9 594. 9 148.5 9 5.04
10 660. 10 165. 10 6.60
To find the number of feet in 10 chains requires
only the addition of a cypher to the right of the
number of feet in one chain ; or, in other words,
moving the decimal point one place to the right,
and so on. Now, for example, let us find the
number of feet in 86 chains, 3 rods and 24 links :
FROM THE TABLE.
8 chains, equal to 528 feet — 80 chains therefore. . .5280. feet.
6 " " 396. "
3 rods 49.5 "
2 links, equal to 1.32 feet— 20 links tJierefore 13.2 "
4 " " 2.64 "
86 chains, 3 rods and 24 links 5741.34 feet.
There are 5280 feet in one mile. J. H. s.
Boston, Jan. 3, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
THAT PIG, AND CATTLE.
Mr. Editor: — Since I wrote the article in
relation to a diseased pig, I will add further re-
specting the post mortem of that patient. I kept
the body a few days after it was slaughtered, to
note progress. The third day after it was killed,
the fat part of the body had a bluish tinge, though
you would have to look closely to see the appear-
ance, except on the leaves, as they are called ; on
these the color was bluish green, and more dis-
tinctly marked, as though incipient putrefaction
had commenced, and the whole body had a faint,
unpleasant smell. The second day after the gut
fat was removed, it had the look of mouldy cheese,
and bad at that, some parts of it being much
more affected than others. The butcher's Mife —
who removed the gut fat while yet warm — says
the guts had a peculiar smell ; " never smelt any-
thing like it before," though in all other respects,
she could not have told it from others which she
had removed the same day. I had three other
hogs killed the same day, by the same man, and
from the same pen, this patient being the first
sick one of the kind I ever had, and I have kept
swine for twenty-two years. The muscular parts
were pale and softer than natural. The body was
removed to Dorchester to advance the interests of
soap. Please give us the diagiwsis of this case ?
The prognosis is certain death within four weeks.
Mr. Fitts wishes for information in regard to a
disorder which has attacked his cattle. I will add
to the editor's remarks relating to his cases.
Eatiny hoards. — I have no doubt in this case of
the nature, or rather the cure of the patients. The
cattle may need absorbents. Will Mr. Fitts
please try them. Give, in the first place, pui'e
wood ashes — sprinkled sparingly on wet hay — or
made into a mash with shorts or a small quantity
of meal, should they refuse the hay ; repeat this
every third day, for two weeks, and feed regularly
good sweet hay, and allow plenty of pure, soft
water. Should this fail, try burnt bones, pounded
fine, in the same way ; and should these fail, I
would dissolve a tablespoonful of carbonate of
soda in a pail full of water, and give to each pa-
tient daily, for one week, and then stop it for
another week, and resume again. So on, for a
month, during the time allowing plenty of good,
sweet hay. Cattle will never eat boards, unless
diseased, if they can get plenty of good food and
water, and such they should always have.
King Oak Hill, Jan., 1863. N. Q. T.
For the Neio England Farmer.
THE YELLOW LOCUST.
Many years ago, I transplanted two small trees
of the yellow locust. At that time, it was thought
almost impossible to raise them, on account of the
depredations of a borer, which almost invariably
attacked them, in the early stages of their growth,
and wherever an attack was commenced, the
young tree was sure to be bored off. My trees
were besieged by this foe, like those of others,
but a resolution to kill or cure, enabled me to
save them. The course I pursued with the rebels
against my fine young trees, was to give them a
warm ablution, by pouring boiling water from the
spout of a tea-kettle into their holes, and all over
the trunk of the trees. The remedy was ample ;
I have never seen any of the borers work upon
them since, except in a few instances a twig from
an outside branch was taken off.
It forms a beautiful shade tree. Its form is
symmetrical, its foliage rich and delicate, and its
profusion of white blossoms in contrast with its
rich, green leaves gives it a beautiful appearance
in their season, and at the same time, they agreea-
bly perfume the air with their fragrance. The
only objection to its introduction in the park, or
by the way-side, is its tendency to throw up suck-
ers from the roots.
As a timber tree, its qualities are not sufficiently
generally known to be appreciated. It is said to
possess strength, more nearly allied to that of
iron than any other wood. Ship-builders acknowl-
edge its worth, and use all they can obtain of it,
even to its branches, which are useful for pin-
timber. For fence posts its durability is placed
beside that of cedar. It is one of the best, if not
the very best material to manufacture into the
handles of tools, such as awl hafts, auger handles,
&c., is easily turned into the desired shapes, and
is not liable to split by use. Indeed, if its value
was fully known in the arts, we know not when it
would become valueless.
The tree possesses great constitutional hardi-
ness, and will adapt itself to almost any soil. For
the steep hill-sides and rocky places in the coun-
try, it is admirably adapted. Where a few trees
are set in these places, from the sprouts shooting
up from the roots, they will, in a h\f years, sliow
a young forest. In setting for the hill-side, how-
ever, the plantation should commence on the low-
er part, as the tendency of the roots is to turn up
hill. The grass that grows under these trees is
sweet, and eagerly sought after by cattle, and the
quantity of it is often increased under the shade
of the tree. The small branches are armed with
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
93
spines, which prevent cattle from browsing upon
them. Pruning, if too closely given, injures them,
as such trees are more subject to attacks from
borers.
It is an object for all who have lands too rough
for tillage, or who wish to increase the quantity
of their wood and timber lands, to enter into its
culture, as the tree readily takes care of itself and
comes earlier to maturity than any of the trees of
our forests, and, what is no mean consideration, a
grove of it may be chopped over at any season,
and will readily renew itself.
Richmond, Jan., 1863. Wm. Bacon.
THE "WINTEK SNO"W.
Wint«r comes on in the right shape, giving the
earth a good blanket of heavy snow, coming in
the mud, which, according to the weather mon-
gers, means that it has come to stay. The storm
of the ;30th of December, was a powerful and far-
reaching one, and if the sign does not fail, will
afford a good protection to the juvenile wheat
plants, which stood very much in need of such
motherly attention. Snow is a great blessing in
its season, and we think the excellent compilers of
the prayer book should have framed a petition for
this purpose to be placed along side of that which
the church is accustomed to use for rain. — Ohio
Farmer.
Remarks. — In the region of Boston there has
been but little snow. The weather has been very
changeable — rain, sunshine, hail, then warm and
foggy, snow, slosh and mud, alternating, and each
striving for the mastery. We almost wish for a
stiff " nor'-easter," a foot of snow, jingling of bells,
and the merry laugh of the sleigh-riding boys and
Save your Fodder. — Some persons can earn
plenty of money, but have a poor faculty of sav-
ing it, and so it is with farmers, in regard to sav-
ing fodder. On some farms where a large amount
of fodder is harvested, there is a great want of
true economy in feeding it out. It is not only in
feeding too profusely at one time, and too spar-
ingly at another, but much is involve<l in the
manner of preparing the food that is laid before
the stock.
Those who have not cut their coarse fodder,
such as corn-stalks and husks, straw and meadow
hay, cannot appreciate the saving that may be
made by such a process. We hope fifty of our
friends will provide themselves with one of Whit-
teinore. Belcher & Co.'s Universal Feed Cutters,
or one of their Magic Feed Cutters, experiment
with them, and report to the Farmer for the ben-
efit of their brethren.
We have used the first of these implements for
several years, and would not be without it, or
one as good, for three times its cost. A good one
will pay for itself once in two years, in our opin-
ion. They may be found at 40 South Market
Street, Boston.
THE "WTIATHEH
Still continues mild for the season. In the re-
gion of Boston there has been but little snow, and
now, February 2, the sun is clear, south winds pre-
vail, and some shrubs and trees are pushing their
buds prematurely. Some varieties of elms have
thickened in their tops, consideraUy, and show
that the clear, warm sun has set them into an ac-
tive condition. The buds of fruit trees are also
swelling so that a sudden change of extreme cold
may injure them ; if, however, cold comes gradu-
ally, so that the sap has time to recede, as the tur-
tle draws in its head when it is too cold, the buds
will shrink, their outer, scaly covering cling close
to them, and they will be safe.
The winter of 1852-3 was quite similar to this.
Pansies grew in our garden at Concord, through
most of the winter. On the 12th of February, the
air was as soft as on the first of May, and we saw
peach trees in blossom on the 11th of February, in
Baltimore. Prospects for a crop of ice are not
very flattering. The mild weather, however, is a
great blessing to thousands, in cities, when the
prices of fuel are so high.
Agricultural Society. — The Forty-Fourth
Annual Report of the Hampshire, Franklin and
Hampden Society, is before us, through the polite
attention of its Treasurer, A. Perry Peck, Esq.
It contains the Constitution of the Society, the
names of those who have been its presiding offi-
cers, and those who have delivered the annual ad-
dresses. The address of the Rev. F. D. Huxx-
IXGTOX, upon the " Odds and Ends of Husbandry,"
is not published, but the Secretary, in his report,
says it " was full of thought and calculated to in-
spire a love of the beautiful in nature, not only in
the heart of the farmer but in those who have but
the garden door-yard to cultivate and adorn." The
pamphlet contains no extended report on any
subject.
Ventilation in Stables. — The great mortal-
ity occurring amongst the horses of the French
cavalry has been diminished by more than one-
half by increasing the amount of air su])plied to
the stables, no other change in the management
having occurred. At the end of the Italian war,
10,000 cavalry were left with no stabling but mere
tem])orary sheds ; but the mortahty was quite in-
significant, and not a single case of glanders oc-
curred. The French Government are now trying
some experiments with respect to the results of
the ex])osure of horses to even currents of air,
some of the results having proved of a most favor-
able kind. As might be expected, the effects of
the improved ventihition of stables have been still
more fully exhibited with respect to sick and
wounded horses.
Educate thy children, lest, one of these days,
they educate thee in a school where there is no
vacation, nay, not even so much as a recess.
94
NEW ENGLAND FARMEK.
March
MTDDLESEX AQRICULTIIRAIi SOCrETTT.
The annual transactions of this old society, for
1S62, have been promptly and beautifully printed,
by Mr. Benjamin Tolm.\n', of Concord. Its last
was its sixty-eighth anniversaiy. The leading pa-
per ia the pamphlet is the address of Dr. George
B. Loring, of Salem, which opens with a most
loyal, eloquent and touching reference to our
brothers and sons who have gone to the war, and
to the honor, perpetuity and glory of our country.
He said he could not discourse of cioltivation and
crops, of cattle, and the various economies of the
farm. It is around the altar of our countr}", said
he, that we linger. Upon her, our thoughts vriU
dwell. Her cause is ours. Her fate guides our
own. If she fall, we fall ^vith her. And, if she
rises with new strength from her distress, we are
purified, and elevated and renewed. In speak-
ing of our diplomacy with England, and our influ-
ence upon that powerful nation, he said : " The
export of 27,000,000 bushels of wheat, 5,000,000
bushels of com, 644,000,000 pounds of cotton,
most of it to England, did more than millions of
arms, and tons of powder, and labjTinths of dip-
lomacy, and all the eloquence of peace societies,
to preserve our amicable relations with that pow-
er." The address is an eloquent and instructive
one. The orator did not aim to discuss the man-
ipulations of the farm, but to look at agriculture
in a national point of view, and to call the atten-
tion of farmers to the glory which our countrj-
has attained, to the influence she has upon the civ-
ilized world, and to the dependence which some
of the great powers openly acknowledge to have
upon us.
The society- is particularly fortunate this year —
probably through the exertions of the Secretary-,
in obtaining several valuable reports, which are
as follows : On Breeding Mares, by Wm. F.
Wheeler ; on Colts, by S. H. Rhoades ; on
Farm Horses, by WrssLOW Wellington ; on
Family and Matched Horses, by John' CuinnNGS,
Jr. ; on Roadsters, by Elij.\h Wood ; on Swine,
by Dr. Joseph Reyn'olds ; on Grain, by Simon
Brottn ; on Farms, by Messrs. MoRSE. Ersxis
and Marsh ; on Apples, Qass 1, by E. H. W.VR-
REN ; on Apples, Class 2, by Asa Clement ; on
Pears, by Andrew Wellington ; on Plums,
Peaches and Melons, by Samuel H. Pierce ; on
Grapes, by J. B. Moore ; on Vegetables, by J.
R. Kendall ; on Flowers, by Minot Pratt ; on
Milch Cows and Blood Stock, by Peter Lawson.
Some of the statements which accompany these
reports are unusually full and intelligible ; for in-
stance, those in reply to the questions put bv the
Committee on Farms — one from Mr. CuM^ilNGS,
of Wobum, on fruit, one from Mr. T. F. Hunt,
of Concord, on grapes, and one from Mr. J. B.
Farmer, of Concord, on experiments with ma-
nures. There is a definiteness and clearness about
some of these, that are quite refreshing. The re-
port on swine, by Dr. Reynolds, is among the
best we have ever read. It is statistical, clear and
convincing — showing not only a knowledge of the
subject upon which he is wTiting, but a classical
mind, strengthened with stores of cm-rent events.
It is full of sound suggestions, which every farm-
er who is keeping s^vine, should carefully consid-
er. It brings the matter down to the true point
of rearing and fattening, that of profit and loss —
and this is just what we wish to know in regard
to all our farming eSbrts.
In the report on grapes, ^Ir. Moore, of Con-
cord, says : Mr. Hunt plants 8 feet by 7, which
is 56 square feet to a vine, and nearly 778 vines
to an acre. They are yet only small vines, trained
to a stake like a common bean-pole, but have al-
ready produced on an average 15^ lbs. of grapes
to a vine the present year, with only ordinary cul-
tivation, making 12,059 lbs. to an acre. At 12-^
cents a pound, which is no more than the aver-
' age price the last few years, this amounts to
I $1,507 37i ; and at 10 cents a pound, the price for
which large quantities could be sold, Sl>205 90.
This will well repay the grower.
None of the transactions of the year 1862, that
have come to our hands, equal this in the value of
its reports, with, perhaps, the exception of those
of Essex county. The oflBcers elected for 1862-3,
are as follows :
Ephraim W. Bull, of Concord, President ;
Winthrop W. Chenery, of Belmont, Asa Clem-
ent, of Dracut, Vice Presidents ; John B. Moobe,
of Concord, Secretary ; Richard Barrett, of
Concord, Treasurer.
FITCHBUHQ RATT.FvOAD.
AVe have, of late, received several inquiries
in regard to the statute law, or laws, in relation
to the fences on the line of this road. The ques-
tion at issue, seems to be, " AYho is legally bound
to make and keep the fences in repair on each side
of the track?" A letter from a correspondent,
on another page, we believe states the facts in the
case — ^which letter please read.
It appears that railroads constructed before the
year 1846 are not under obligation to make and
keep in repair the fences on their sides. In the case
of Moses Stea7'ns vs. the Old Colony and Fall Biv-
er Railroad Company, it was stated by Judge
Chapm.\n, we think, that " the statute of 1846,
chapter 271, requiring railroad corporations to
erect and maintain fences upon both sides of any
railroad which they might thereafter construct,
does not apply to a railroad which was located and
partially constructed at the time of its passage.
" A railroad company, which is not bound to
erect and maintain a fence, is not liable in dama-
1863.
XEW ENGLAND F.\IIMER.
95
ges, if a cow, feeding in an adjacent pasture, es-
capes through a defect in the fence, and is run
over and killed by the cars, •without proof of due
care on the part of the owner to prevent such an
escape."
For the Xew England Farmer.
liZFE OP ASA Q. SHELDON.
Mr. Sheldon, the Wilmington Farmer, SiS he is
called, is widely known, not only by his brother
farmers, but by merchants, lawyers, mechanics,
railroad contractors, bridge builders, &c. He has
been engaged in almost all kinds of business that
directly produce permanent prosperity, wealth
and power. He has always been eminently prac-
tical in whatever he has said or done ; and what
is infinitely more to his credit, his words and his
acts have sprung from a pure desire to benefit his
kind — to make the world better and happier for
his having lived in it. What mortal man can do
more I
"We have before us a sketch of his life, prepared
by himself, which is filled with its every day inci-
dents, including accounts of many of his business
transactions of a public nature, family incidents,
agricultural operations, anecdotes and amusing
stories. It is also full of sensible facts and sug-
gestions, and aU told in the very vein and humor
of Asa G. Sheldox, and nobody else. It is a
better book, by far, to go into the hands of young
people, than the life of Amos Lawrence, because
that excellent, but mistaken man, sacrificed every
thing but honor to business — health, happiness,
social relations, and that culture of the mind and
soul without which all else is naught.
Mr. Sheldon's life has been emphatically a use-
ful one — useful to himself, as well as the world,
for at the age of seventy-five, he is as sound as a
rock, with a mind as elastic and cheerful as that
of a girl of eighteen !
While preparing this notice, we received the
following from our old friend and correspondent,
Dr. Silas Brown, a townsman of Mr. S. He
says, " Mr. Sheldon belongs to a class of men who
■will think for themselves. No one will have the
presumption to accuse him of plagiarism. His
book is replete with valuable and useful hints on
various subjects, it is a practical work and shows
him to have been a critical observer of men and
things, and is to be the more esteemed for its hav-
ing been written on a plan peculiar to himself. If
there is a manifestation of self-esteem, let it be
considered that a man must esteem himself, be-
fore he can have confidence to venture to gain the
esteem of others. His age is his evidence of ex-
perience."
We shall be happy to transfer some of his pages
to our columns at a future time, when they are
less crowded.
YOKES.
Mr. Editor : — Hoping the burdens of the ox
may be made lighter and his value enhanced to
his owner, I desire to communicate to the readers
of your paper my convictions and experience on
yokes.
It has been my painful conviction that oxen ex-
ercise their muscular strength, and tax their noble
powers to a great disadvantage. There is a fear-
ful waste of muscular exertion to the ox. and a
consequent loss to its owner in the use of improp-
^ er yokes and bows. Owners of working oxen, m
: the majority of cases, I believe, pay indifferent at-
1 tention to the shape of their yokes and bows.
I The bulk of farmers, in many places, subject
their oxen to enormous outlays of strength, in the
use of too straight yokes. Iii the use of a straight
yoke, the ox is obliged to awkwardly exert the mus-
cles of the upper part of the shoulders and chest
to the exclusion of the use of the powers that lie
at the base of the chest and neck, llie weight or
load attached, is too high. A yoke that is deep
' through the staple holes and crooked, brings the
load doirn to the power of the ox. By bringing
the load down to the middle of the neck, which is
done by a crooked yoke, the yoke firmly rests on
, the heaviest part of the neck, and as the ox
, straightens his legs in moving, the incalculable
' power of the strong muscles of the middle part of
the shoulders and the lower part of the chest
i are f7i';vd/y applied to the yoke, and the load moves.
I In the use of the crooked yoke, the fulcrum is
I brought near the weight, and in the use of the
■ straight yoke, the fulcrum is removed further from
' the weight.
i As regards the bows worked on oxen, I have
known them so tight on the upper portion of the
neck as to inflict injuries on the ear and neck, in
the act of backing, or holding a load down hill.
Let your bow holes be eight and a half inches
apart, for good sized oxen, and the yoke wide in
I the neck, then the bows will slip by the ears, and
the yoke strike the bonis, and then the ox will
j hold his load easily and willingly. As a general
rule, make bows the shape of an eg^.
Quid Nirxc.
1 Film on a Horse's Eye. — A correspondent of
' the Country Gent, says : " About three months
since I discovered a serious film on the eye of a
mare belonging to me, which made the eye totally
■ blind. I was advised to tr\- different remedies by
1 different persons — the first was to put in burnt
I alum powdered, twice a day for several days.
This had no beneficial effect, but rather the con-
■ trary. I then tried bathing with cold water three
times a day, taking the water directly from the
well. In a week or ten days it began to get bet-
I ter : in two months the sight was restored, appar-
' ently as well as the other.
Blistered Hands and Feet. — As a remedy
apainst blistering of hands in rowing or fi'shinu.
ice, or of feet in'walking. the quickest is, lighting
a tallow candle and letting the tallow drop into
'' cold water, (to purify it, it is said, from salt,) then
' rubbing the tallow "on the hands or feet — mixed
with brandy or any other strong spirits. For
mere tenderness, nothing is better than the above,
1 or vinegar a little diluted with water.
96
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER
>rARCH
PIGS— DI£ILi.5Z.
Mb.£sito&: — ^I ■•isii to cill :'-e arr^zdon of
the leaders of tlie Sev iT...": , f i^r-i-i-.r to a
pecailiar disease whicli afflici* pig's from ".^.c tiiiie
they are two months old. to say six ir;n:Ls ;:
ag^e. I have never seer. *-^ '-r->e aT:i;k i i ^r
•which ■would weigh tv ;r rs^: :i_zirri
and fifty pounds.
On Sundav m : : : _ from
;: _ ' - ago.
:, rryiiLg tc r
.. and it was ^i::. i:zir :-::-
but on doing so wo'iild sit
' : " T Other. On at-
t7„ , rrv weak in his
:'- -r-- -?d his
_ _ ;:- ;-de-
;_;._ . - j-; - __ draw
himsei: _::_■ ; :_> :.-t .r^s. In aii other re-
spects.-".r V - : 1 ._--- ;-i lively, though there
was a " . ;-olor to the skin. I
havec::. -.>ease in pigs hefore.
anddiougii I. ii^vc iLc]^; s^iiic for more than twenty
years, I never had a sick one in my pen until this
<Kie. I am disposed to think the disease cosHar-
gioas. At any rate, I know that where one has
diis disease, and there are others in the same pen,
dteyoftoibeetMne afflktedwithit. It !ȣ always
proTed &tal, safaris my experience goes. There
is no eoie, tiwagh last Sunday arLemoon I was
&z&ag the ease of my pigs in the presence of an
old lady expenoieed in fsaming matters. She
said herlmsband "Imdaplg troabied in the sanr
way," some thirty years ago, and snlplmr cur^
It ynxCt do it in this year of our Lord.
I lananber last spring, a son of the man of
vbom I bought these pigs called my attention to
Jiomr handsome looking pigs of his, about twelve
vedts old, and they all had this disease. I could
not destaibe these cases any better than those.
Every one aS tfaem died. I had mine killed to-
day, and the man who slaughtered them says the
issues veze stDj^)ed up, &c., and that there wa-
no other troaUe. I examined the internal organs .
and eoold find no indications of disease. Tha:
the issue 1ms anything to do with it, I doubt.
Now, what was the trouble ? Who can tell :
Can the disease be cored; and is it conimon;-
Jndging from the eases I have seen, the disease
is not 1^ any means rare. x. Q. T.
Kbtg Oak ma, Jan. 13, 1863.
Chabcoai.. — Charcoal dost proves to be even
a greater disinfectant and preservative than had
beoi supposed. Rev. Dr. Osgood ha.s exhibited
to the editors of the Springfield (Mass.) Repub-
Ueam, a evdet taken from a ham which had been
ke^ dglit yean completely imbedded in that
prqnradan, and wfaidi Ktfm^ as swe^ as if it
had been cored only a single season.
Spices should never be purchased bv a farm-
ei*s taaaij in a g;ronnd state. Tzev are fre-
foenlly adulterated, and always lose strength as
•oon as i^pened.
JJ.LJVGAHTA'N' GBA.S5— Panicum Germanicnim.
In replying to i:^c.iir:es of our correspondent,
S. EL. GiTvtx, of Einery. Me,, in relation to Hun-
garian grass, we said, a few weeks since. — " Hun-
garian grass is a different plant from that of com-
mon millet. It is sometimes called Hungarian
millet, but there is little resemblance between
them. The seed heads are entirely diferent."
Writing to the publishers on financial business,
Mr. G. adds., — " Tell Mr. Brown that there is as
much difference between Hungarian grass and
millet, as there is betwixt tweedledum and twee-
dledee.'' Supposing, from this, that there may
be many entertaining the same opinion, we give
below an illustration of each, both of which we
have cultivated to a considerable extent. We
are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Secretary
FnxT for the use of the cuts, and copv his
accounts of these grasses, from his work on
" Grasses and Forage Planish
j^ *^^^ Common Millet
\^^!^^^^ Pjnicum miliace-
i<m.) — Flowers in
large, open, nod-
ding panicles ;
leaves lance-shaped,
broad ; stem one to
two feet high ; na-
tive of Turkey. It
is shown in Fig. 1.
Many varieties of
millet have at times
l»een cultivated in
this countrv, smd its
culture is gaining
favor every year.
Millet is one of the
best crops we have for
jutting and feeding green
for soiling purposes, since
its yield is large, its lux-
uriant leaves juicy and
render, and much relished
:^^ : y milch cows and other
fe stock.
5«* The seed is rich in no-
tritive qualities, but it is
very seldom ground or
used for flour, though it
is said to exceed all other kinds
of meal or flour in nutritive ele-
ments. An acre, well cultivated,
win yield from sixty to seventy
bushels of setd. Cut in the
blossom, as it should be, for
feeding to cattle, the seed is
comparatively valueless. K al-
lowed to ripen its seed, the
stalk is no more nutritious,
; r bahly, than oat straw.
MiUet requires good soil, and
is rather an exhausting crop,
but yields a produce valuable ia
proportion to the richness of
the soil, and care and expense
of oiltivation.
Tis-l. CasBtammOeL
1S6.3.
NEW EXGL-\XD FARMER.
97
HrXGAEUN GR.4SS, HCNGAKIAN MlLLET,(Pan-
icum GeiTnankum,) haa been cultivated to consid-
erable extent in this coun-
try, from seed received
from France through the
U. S. Patent Office.
It is an annual forage
plant, introduced into
France in IS 15, where its
cultivation has become
considerably extended- It
germinates readily, with-
stands the drought re-
mjirkably .remaining green
even when other vegeta-
tion is parched up, and if
its development is arrested
by dry weather, the least
rain wiU restore it to vigor.
It has numerous succulent
leaves, which furnish an
abundance of green fod-
der, very much relished by
aU kinds of stock. It is
shown in Fig. 2.
It flourishes in some-
what light and dry soils,
though it attains its great-
est luxuriance in soils of
medium consistency and
well manured. It may be
sown broadcast, and culti-
vated precisely like the
varieties of millet.
This grass is thought to
contain a somewhat higher
percentage of nutriment
than the common millet,
though I am not aware
that it has been analyzed.
It is a lea^ plant, and remains green until its
seeds mature, and is no doubt valuable for fodder,
both green and dry, growing and maturing in
about the same time as common millet. From
twenty-five to thirty bushels of seed to the acre
have been obtained.
drj- sheds and stables. They are yet in one error,
however, by making their subles too dark. These
apartments should be well glazed, for two rea-
sons : light is as important for the comfort of
animals as it is for men. The eve of a horse, or
an ox, or cow, will suffer from teing taken firom
a dark room into the light, as much as that of a
person. In the second pkr- - '• will be
more gentie in a light stabk . can see
what is going on around the: „.. ...cy will in
a dark one, where every sound products fear, and
fear brings ugliness.
There is another point in favor of glazed win-
dows in stables, especially if those windows are
BO arranged as to admit the sun's rays. They in-
troduce much warmth, which, as I have said,' is a
saving of food to animals. I have found by ac-
tual observation, that there is a diderence of eight
or ten degrees in the temperature of a stable
amply lighted by south windows. Who is willing
hereafter to do without them ?
Jan. 8, 1863. WiLLi.\iC Bacos.
Fi£. i. Uaagarun Gnas.
For th-? Xeic Enalnnd Farmer.
Wi-NTKTtTTfG STOCK.
It is an admitted truth with all farmers, that if
stock is in a healthy and thriving condition at the
setting in of winter, an important point is gained
toward carrj-ing them through the winter. K they
are in good, high flesh when the cold season sets
in, it is so much gain to their healthfulness, for.
the more flesh, the greater warmth the animal
possesses ; and the more warmth it po.«scsses, the
less food is necessary- to keep it in thriving order.
This farmers have found to be so true, that they
use all precaution to give their animals warm and
EXTKACTS AST) KZPUXS.
LATINO DOWX AX AaCEDrCT.
I wish to lay down an aqueduct of about six hundred
rods, and I want some one to inforni me w;ie:her it will
be policy to lay logs, and if so. wh?T -:-T"i f timber?
Can I use cement safely ? T' ; .-od ?
Will it bear a pressure o:' - :, or
eTen more : Who will tak ;.ent,
and warrant it to work well over » i^.^ii y^u suU^-crer
hills and through hollows, to supply a vili ig«. and then
conduct it from house to hotis.-? : What kind of a res-
ervoir would be necessary, and how built, to sapplr
about twenty -five families, arc *>" -he-ip tr i -^irable ?
Some say iron, lead, cr r .' ' ■■^ery
way. But will not the iut^ : r.ied
for that kind of pipe keep . _ . ; we
want water ? Any informatior. v,& luc >j _cv; wiU be
rerv acceptable, either bv letter or through '.tf: Farmer.
Inuimrgh, Vt., 1863. " S. Stanford.
A CROP OF TtTRXIPS.
I give you an account of my French turnip patch.
It contained ■22A rods of land, aE-". :'! ;" " j.- jo-'-d for
was to keep the world toeether. ' what
kelp I could draw from the seas':. itter
it was dried a little, in the mon:;. . .-u I let
it lie till the month of July ; went over -^in a hand
rake, and then crossed it off e-s'-h ^':'^. •'^'iviiij the hills
2 feet, 4 inches one " ".fr. allow-
ing one pUn: to sta- ■? up ferst
rate, and grew well. tneisured
up l'>4 bushels of g>iod Qierca..!iU>LA :— --.^js '.
South Haiuom, Feb. 2, 1S63, Silas De.vha«.
BARIET.
I should like to know what k:r - ' ' -" • :* best to
raise for market, snd the price " machine
for separating one kind of eraiii
Sorth Clarendon, Vt. ~ J- >■ HoLDES.
Remarks.— There are several varieties of barley,
but we know of no one among the number that is es-
pecially preferable to others. Where ycu can fend good,
plump seed, and the crop was a liberal one, there shomld
be no hesitation in using it.
The sieves intended for cleaning grain are &«■»
S 2.7-5 to S7.00, — the latter including sieves for beans
and peas.
ONIONS.
Will come oo* mftwm mc what the best kind Of
onion is to produce a large crop: S- a. «.
Laicrenct, 1963.
98
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
For the N'eio England Farmer.
QUERIES ABOUT TOP-DBESSING.
Hay is a profitable crop in this lumber region,
as large demands are made on the farmer for it,
to take into the woods to carry on lumber opera-
tions. I have thirty acres improved land, which
has all been laid down to gi'ass within three years,
and now yields on an average one ton of good
Northern clover and herdsgrass per acre. I am
wintering one hundred and twelve sheep, one
horse and three cows.
Now, Mr. Editor, I wish to manage this piece
of land, which is a light sandy loam, free from
rocks and stumps, and smooth as your lovely Com-
mon, and its gently undulating surface — almost a
J'ac simile — so as to reap the richest harvest pos-
sible with the least expense, and just as you would
manage your paper, or any professional man his
business, expecting to be rewarded commensurate
with the capital and skill brought to bear in its
management. It costs from eight to ten dollars
{)er acre to plow, harrow and reseed land. It
ooks to me suicidal to destroy the young, healthy
grass roots, by turning over this land this coming
spring, merely to put under the ground the drop-
pings of my stock, and next season to be at the
expense of buying grass seed again, which, by
droughts, may or may not come up. Your paper
advises the top-dressing of grass land after hay-
ing, or immediately before the fall rains set in.
The query in my mind is, whether it is best to
lose the interest of, or use of this amount of ma-
nure one season, or to compost it early in May,
■with soil, and spread over this field. My mind is
fully made up to use this manure for top-dressing
this coming spring, or after haying. Can I add
any virtue to this top-dressing by keeping it
housed three months, and then applying it, that I
could not add before May next ? Will any chem-
ical change come over this manure that will pay
the loss of interest by applying it after the com-
ing hay crop is harvested, that could not be
brought about in season for the increase of this
year's crop ?
There, Mr. Editor, I have read the above, to
one of my neighbors, to see what he thinks, and
here is his opinion. He would haul out of the
bogs which abound hei"e, as many loads of muck
as I have other dressing, and compost the muck
with lime, and then compost the whole together
and spread on the land in the fall. I am not a
convert to his plan, and for this analogy : If I
have a hundred dollars ready to put to interest, I
see no reason why I should wait till I could get
another hundred dollars before I invested the first
sum. The barnyard compost, I grant, would im-
prove the quality of the muck compost ; but the
muck comjjost would not improve the barnyard
compost only in bulk, and the result would be, if
I followed my neighbor's suggestion, that you
■would hear from me, as you now hear from your
numerous correspondents extolling muck at the
expense of good, old-fashioned, substantial ma-
nure— barnyard manure. And the muck would
thus have the credit of being found in good com-
pany.
The town of Greenbush has, I verily believe,
one-fourth of its surface covered with boggy land,
the muck varying from six inches to sLx feet.
The bogs are covered with spruce, hackmetack, or
juniper trees, hardback bushes, mosses and cran-
berry vines. Now, if I owed my neighbor a mor-
tal grudge, I should consider that he was amply
punished should I be able to cover his land with
this sour, detestable material. He certainly would
have sufficient cause for an action in law to recov-
er the value of his farm for damages. Not so,
however, with muck from swamps or bogs that
grow hard wood, such as swamp or river maple,
black ash and yellow birch, the leaves of which
fall annually, and make a deposit rich in vegeta-
ble matter. This muck mania among farmers
needs to be better understood before experiments
are made on a very extensive scale.
Chakles S. Weld.
Greenbush, Me., Jan. 30, 1863.
Remarks. — Our correspondent ■writes loith a
will, as though his heart were in his work. We
like it. The advice of your " neighbor " is just
what we should give, if the muck were old and
fine, for it is probably just what your " sandy loam
land " needs. But if the muck is not tempered
by age, suns, frosts and winds, we would haul out
the manure immediately, pile into convenient
heaps, and just as fast as the frost would permit
overhaul it, throwing it up lightly, and continue
to do so, if there Avas a prospect of getting it fine
enough to spread upon the land by the first of
April. If not, spread it now, and work it down
as fine as possible where it lies, before the heavy
spring rains fall. There cannot be much loss by
evaporation, because no fermentation will take
place as long as the manure is cold.
For the Xeiv England Farmer,
BAILROAD FENCES.
Mr. Editor : — I propose to give expression to
some ideas upon the above subject, suggested
principally by the course pursued by the Fitch-
burg Railroad Corporation the past year. This
company obtained its charter the 4th of March,
1842, and the road was so far completed in the
spring of 1845, as to be opened for the convey-
ance of passengers.
The land damages were awarded with the un-
derstanding that all necessary fences should be
built and maintained by the corporation ; and this
has been done until the past season, when a cir-
cular was sent to the landholders on the line of
the road, containing a copy of the 43d and 104th
sections of the 63d chapter of the general statutes
of this State, and notifying them that henceforth
tlmi must make, maintain and keep in repair suit-
able fences on their land adjacent to the railroad,
or be liable for all damages which may arise from
neglecting so to do.
Admitting the position assumed by the direc-
tors of the Fitchburg Railroad to be lawful, (which
some are supposed to doubt,) I suppose it may be
a question whether in the end it will prove expe-
dient ; for if persons possessing but little proper-
ty improve land adjoining the road, and in conse-
quence of their neglect to maintain the fence, se-
rious accidents shoidd happen and heavy dama-
ges arise, the company might be led to entertain
the opinion expressed by their first President to
one of the farmers in North Leominster, when
settling with him for damage. He said they pre-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
99
feiTed to fence the road themselves, and feel that
it was safe and secure, rather than have it done by
the landowners, who might not in all cases be re-
liable and responsible persons.
There are two railroads passing through the
town of Leominster, from North to South. The
Fitchburg, upon the east side of the Nashua River,
and the Fitchburg and Worcester, upon the west
side of it. The former was constructed previous
to the year 1846, and the latter since that period.
But is "this a sufficient reason for obliging the far-
mers along the route of one road to fence it, (or
sutler the consequences of neglect,) while those
upon the other are subject to no expense or re-
sponsibility ? But on the other hand if their an-
imals happen to trespass upon the road and are
injured or destroyed, they can recover reasonable
damage for the loss thus sustained.
It seems to me the statute which makes so ivide
a distinction between two railroads so near togeth-
er is, to say the least of it, unjust ; and for one I
rejoice that a petition is to be presented to the
present Legislature praying for the enactment of
a law which shall be more just and equal.
As this is a subject in which many farmers must
be more or less interested, at least so far as the
Talue of a portion of their land is concerned, I
hope it will be considered by other and abler cor-
respondents. A. c. w.
Leominster, Feb., 1863.
JFor the Xew England Farmer,
CULTUBE OF THE SWEET POTATO.
Me. EdiTOR : — Early last spring, I gave you
my ideas of the cultivation of the sweet potato in
our Northern climate, and promised to give my
experience, after a season of experiments. As I
stated before, the potatoes or tubers were obtained
from Ohio, and immediately placed in a common
hot-bed to sprout. They were cut lengthwise,
** each into two pieces," and placed with the cut
side down over the surface of the bed, and about
tlu-ee inches apart. Two inches of fine soil was
then sifted over them ; when the sprouts were
about four inches high, they were broken from the
potato, the stem being well supplied with fibrous
roots. They should be pressed from the pota-
to, by keeping the finger of one hand down against
the potato, while pressing the root or sprout ofl'
with the other. The sprouts were then transplant-
ed to the ridges prepared for them, the soil being
a sandy loam ; the ridges were prepared by plow-
ing a shallow furrow. I then spread into the fur-
row a slight dressing of common horse and cow
manure, mixed, and threw two heavy furrows to-
gether, forming high ridges, four feet apart from
centre to centre. 1 then drew a mark with a stick
along the centre on the top of the ridge, scatter-
ing in a mixture of Coe's phosphate and wood
ashes, " about two quarts to a running rod," flat-
tening the top of the ridge with a hoe. The plants
were set one foot apart upon the ridge. Nothing
more was done to them, except to keep the weeds
down, until digging in the fall. My lot measured
three-fourths of a rod square. I dug Hi bush(^.
13^ bushels were very large and tine, many weign-
ing from five to six pounds, and our market-deal-
ers pronounced them in size and general appear-
ance, far superior to any they had ever raised,
" North or South." The quality was excellent,
and 13 bushels v.-ere sold for $21 41. The expense
of cultivation, manure, &c., was $3 20, yielding a
large profit.
Being pleased with my experiment, I was deter-
mined to keep my seed for next spring planting.
I therefore procured four boxes containing about
one peck each, and packed them with small pota-
toes in dry sand, placing the boxes in diflerent sit-
uations ; one was buried four feet deep in the side
of a hill, the second was placed in a warm room,
the third was put on a shelf in my seed-store, and
the fourth was placed in the green-house. Upon
examining them, I find the one in the wann room
is keeping well, while the others have all decayed,
except the one buried, which I have not examined.
I think one great requisite is, to have the potatoes
dug before they are injured by frost, or by remain-
ing in cold soil, after the vines are killed, and
cease to keep the tubers in a growing condition.
Another very important item, is to have them care-
fully handled. I am fully convinced that the
Nansemond is the variety of sweet potatoes for
our Northern climate ; -it is an old and thorough-
ly bred variety, having been cultivated in Virginia
and New Jersey for half a century. A very fa-
vorable peculiarity of the Nansemond is its being
good when comparatively immature — in fact, fit
for the table as soon as the tubers obtain size
enough to tempt one to dig them. I Avas very
much pleased Avith the result of my experiment,
and feel confident the sweet potato crop will yet
be made a profitable field crop even farther north
than Essex county. The slips can be transplant-
ed a thousand miles with safety and success. I
shall cultivate them largely the coming season, and
can spare a few slips to any who may like to try
the experiment, at the time of transplanting.
Salem, Feb., 1863. J. S. Ives.
Remarks. — We have frequently raised the
sweet potato with success. The soil should be a
sandy loam, in a hot position, and made deep and
mellow, and rather rich. Mr. IVEs' favorable re-
port will undoubtedly induce many to attempt
its culture next spring. We shall be glad to re-
ceive slips.
Why Salt is Healthful. — From time imme-
morial it has been knoAvn that without salt, men
would miserably perish ; and among the horrible
punishments entailing certain death, that of feed-
ing culprits on saltless food is said to have pre-
vailed in barbarous times. Maggots and corrup-
tion are spoken of by some writers as the distress-
ing symptoms which saltless food engenders ; but
no ancient or unchemical modern could explain
how such suffering arose. Now we know why the
animal craves salt, why it suffers discomfort, and
why it ultimately falls into disease if salt is for a
time withheld. Upward of half the saline matter
of the blood — fifty-seven per cent. — consists of
common salt ; and as this is partly discharged
every day through the skin and kidneys, the ne-
cessity of continued supplies of it to the healthy
body becomes sufficiently obvious. The bile also
contains soda as a special and indispensable con-
stituent, and so do all the cartilages of the body.
Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and neither will
the bile be able properly to assist digestion, nor
the cartilages to be built up again as fast as they
naturally would waste. — Prof. Johnson.
wo
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTUBAL MEET-
INGS.
The second meeting of a proposed series at the
State House took place on Monday evening, Jan-
uary 26. Mr. Hubbard, of Sunderland, pre-
sided. The question was " Stock Breeding," and
the Chairman opened the discussion. He then
called on Mr. Secretary Flint, who maintained
that different localities required different breeds
of cattle. After some remarks by Mr. Flower,
of Agawam, Mr. MOSELEY, of Springfield, called
attention to the question of breeding, and claimed
that the sire or dam should be of pure blood, he
preferring the male for this purpose ; Mr. Weth-
ERELL, of Boston, agreeing with him on this
point.
Messrs. Proctor, of Danvers, Hubbard, of
Brimfield, and Ke^tdall, of Boylston, spoke in
relation to native cattle, good cows, and the man-
ner of rearing calves.
Mr. Tower, of Lanesborough, spoke of the im-
provement of stock in his locality. Thirty years
ago he noticed the yield of cheese per cow was
about 250 pounds. Some fifteen years ago a
short-horn bull was introduced from New York.
Great improvement was thus made in the stock of
that community. Cows now yield 600 pouj^ds of
cheese per year. This could not have been done
■without short-horn blood.
Mr. Shorey, of Wayland, and Mr. Quincy, of
Boston, also engaged in the discussion.
Not many facts were elicited in relation to the
important subject of breeding our neat cattle.
The third of this series took place Monday, Feb-
ruary 9. The subject was, — Sheep and Sheep
Husbandry. Dr. Loring, of Salem, presided and
opened the discussion. He alluded to the decay
of sheep husbandry ; said that large breeds are
not adapted to Massachusetts pastures, and said
the Merino breed was best for our farms.
Mr. Howard, of Dedham, did not agree with
him in several of his points. Wool and mutton
combined are the objects of keeping sheep. In
New York the long wooled sheep have gained on
the Merinos because more profitable.
Mr. Brown, of Concord, thought the culture
of sheep might be made profitable on most of our
New England farms. They thrive better when
in small numbers. A mixed farming is safer for
us than to depend upon a single crop, as a gener-
al rule, — but there are exceptions. He did not
think one could say what breed of sheep should
be selected for all locations. The farmer must
observe what success is obtained in localities and
on pasturage similar to his own, and then decide
what course to take. Mr. Brown thought that
where ten head of cattle are kept on a farm, as
many sheep can be fed, at a cost but a trifle more
than if no sheep were kept. They eat herbage
that neat stock refuse, or cannot reach, and their
di'oppings greatly enrich pastures upon which
they run, if not fed too closely. He illustrated
this point by reference to certain cases that had
come to his knowledge.
Mr. Hubbard, of Sunderland, spoke of a farm-
er in Amherst who engaged in sheep husbandry
and found it very profitable.
Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro', said farmers in
Berkshire think that sheep run out their pastures,
especially meadows. [No doubt of it, if fed too
closely, as is often the case. Ed.]
Mr. Flower, of Agawam, deemed grades more
profitable than Merinos.
Mr. Andrew, of West Roxbury, spoke in fa-
vor of long wooled sheep from personal experi-
ments with them.
Mr. S. M. Allen, 3 Tremont Row, Boston,
President of the Fibrilia Felting Company, said
that the kind of food and the manner of feeding
sheep, had a decided influence upon the quality
of the wool. [We have some interesting and
valuable facts before us upon this point, which we
wUl present to the reader at another time. Ed.]
The fourth of this series was held on Monday,
February 9, in the Representatives' Hall. Mr.
Flower, of Agawam, presided, but declined open-
ing the discussion. Mr. Wetiierell, of Bos-
ton, was the flrst speaker, and began by introduc-
ing a new plough, manufactured by 0. Ames &
Son, of this city. Farmers, he said, are begin-
ning to see and to feel the necessity of getting
rid of the " dead-furrow," or ditch-like hollow left
in the centre of a land where the furrows are
turned from each other. This has always been
regarded as a deformity upon a lawn or meadow,
but since the introduction of the mowing-machine,
hay-tedder, and horse-rake, it is of special incon-
venience. Attention was invited to this plough
as peculiarly suited for ploughing sloping surfaces,
as for level land. Sanborn's Side-hill or Flat-
land Plough, or Sanborn's Turn-twist Plough, as
it is preferable to call it, will enable the farmer to
till his grounds free from dead-furrows and ridg-
es, caused by turning two furrows together, as is
constantly done in ploughing lands one or two
rods wide, as is the custom with the common
plough. With the common plough, the "ofl-ox,"
or horse, must always travel in the furrow. With
the Turn-twist Plough, the "near-ox," or horse, al-
ternates or travels in the furrow one-half of the
time, thus equalizing the disadvantage. Again,
Avhen he leaves off ploughing, all that has been
I)loughed lies together.
Mr. Wetiierell spoke of Davis' Improved
Ketchum's Mowing-Machine, sold last summer for
fifty dollars ; he also urged the use of Bullard's
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
101
Hay-Tedder for spreading and turning hay, a ma-
chine deemed by some farmers as superior even
to the mowing-machine, in case they could have
but one.
Dr. LoEiNG, of Salem, spoke of the fragile char-
acter of farm implements, endorsing what the first
speaker said of hay implements. He spoke of
the improvement of ploughs and manure-forks,
highly commending the inventive genius of Amer-
ican mechanics.
Mr. Hubbard, of Sunderland, recommended a
root-slicer for those who grow and feed roots.
He spoke of a hand cultivator, recommending it.
Mr. MosEi.EY, of Springfield, spoke of the cost
of machinery to a young farmer. He recommend-
ed the use of mowing-machines, which can be op-
erated by an invalid ; whereas it requires a stur-
dy man to swing a scythe. He recommended
root-slicers ; also a planting-machine for corn.
Mr. Stowell, of Deerfield, spoke of mowing-
machines, giving his preference to the Buckeye,
which he uses.
Mr. Powers, of Phillipston, spoke of Sanborn's
Plough, alluded to by the first speaker, and liked
it because it obviated the objection hitherto made.
He recommended the mowing-machine. He
thought farmers were slow to avail themselves of
improved machinery and implements.
Mr. Smith, of Granby, spoke of the mowing-
machine, endorsing Hubbard's as a good one.
Mr. Warren, of Auburn, said no improvement
had been made in the plough for thirty years.
The first plough he ever used was Wright's pa-
tent. He would meet any one at a plough-facto-
ry and confront him on this subject. He had
tried mow'ing-machines, but found none that he
could use with advantage ; and besides his help
could mow as much by hand as they could take
care of. Scythes are no better, nor quite as good
as they were twenty years ago. He recommend-
ed long-handled shovels. He did not wish to be
called an old fogy. He spoke of a rich Worces-
ter county farmer, who, on the inventory of his
property at his death, had not a hundred dollars'
worth of farm implements ; yet he was a good
and successful farmer.
Mr. Hubbard, of Brimfield, spoke of the ad-
vantages that even Mr. Warren, the last speak-
er, had derived from the introduction of the mow-
ing-machine, as he acknowledged he cleaned ofl"
his land for the mower, though he had not bought
a machine. He maintained that the plough had
been greatly improved.
Mr. Bird, of Cambridge, spoke of improved
hay-forks and manure-forks, introduced by Mr.
Partridge, a well-known manufacturer.
Mr. Flower, of Agawam, closed the discus-
sion with some remarks on the improvements of
the plough, entirely dissenting from Mr. Warren's
remarks. Americans, said he, should be proud
of their implements and farm machines. He com-
mended the Chicopee ploughs as among the best.
For the Netc England Farmer,
MAPLE SUGAR.
Mr. Editor:— In your paper of Januarj- 17, I
find an article with the above heading, in which
you make some excellent remarks, closing with an
article from the pen of Geo. W. Hammond, of
New Hampshire. Very likely the above gentle-
man is good authority on sugar-making, yet I
must confess I was not a little disappointed that
after taking us all through the preliminarj- opera-
tions, and speaking so highly of the quality of his
sugar, he should coolly set away his syrup, and
tell us he was not ready to sugar it oft".
We usually make about tlie same quantity of
sugar that >Ir. Hammond does, and as we have
not used milk or eggs to raise the scum for ten
years, our process may be of interest. We have
a pan and arch expressly for the purpose of su-
garing ofF. We take off the syrup, strain it through
flannel, and boil it down as soon as possible, then
turn into tin or wooden vessels to cool ; the nitre
will settle to the bottom.
I do not wish sugar-makers to adopt a new
method on any one's recommendation, but try the
experiment and judge for themselves.
My reasons for jirefering the above course are
these ; we square up every night, and save much
labor. There is no danger of burning ; our milk
and eggs are put to better uses, and last, but not
least, the quality is superior, as heating and cool-
ing, as well as long standing, affect the taste and
color of sugar.
A pan for sugaring off, will never need scrap-
ing, if washed immediately after using, which
should never be omitted.
There are many other matters connected with
sugaring that are of importance. We used to tap
with too large an auger, thereby injuring the trees
unnecessarily. I believe it has been proved that
a one-half inch bit is large enough, as the flow of
sap depends more on the depth than size of the
hole.
Sap and storage tubs should be painted outside
and in, not only to preserve them, but to prevent
the sap from souring.
The best kind of arch I have used is made by
putting in cast iron grates to lay the wood on, in
such a manner that the coals will fall down
through.
I would urge sugar-makers to adopt the excel-
lent hints of Mr. Hammond with one exception.
Calais, Feb., 8, 18G3. A. M. F.
A New Canal Project.— The Dutch have set
on foot a gigantic work of canal imj)rovenient. It
is proposed to construct a ship canal from Am-
sterdam through North Holland toward the sea ;
to be thirteen miles long, two hundred feet wide
and twenty-four feet deep. This canal will short-
en the distance from Amsterdam to London, and
all ports south of the Texel, by about eighty miles,
so that vessels will now be enabled to reach the
sea in a few hours, whereas the present journey
over the Simlugen and the North Holland canal
now occupies several days, and sometimes even
weeks.
lt)2
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
For the New England Farmer.
PLANT ONE ACRE MORE.
A suggestion made by a merchant, a few days
pince, that we ought to raise all the grain we can,
now that we have so many men in the army, has
led me to think it would be well to bring the sub-
ject before the farming community as widely as
possible through our agricultural and other papers.
All the productions of the country are tending
upward, and, in all probability, will continue to so
long as this terrible war we are now engaged in
continues. This, of necessity, must be the case,
as so many of our farmers and laboring men are
withdrawn from producing the necessaries of life.
The pork and beef market will not feel the effects
of this state of things as soon as other farm pro-
ducts, as Western farmers, in the absence of labor,
turn their cattle into their corn fields and let
them do the harvesting.
Thousands of acres, the past season, have been
devoted to this method, that, under ordinary cir-
cumstances of labor, would have found their way to
our markets in grain, instead of coming in beef
and pork. Our present situation and future pros-
pects demand of every man who cultivates the
8oil, to make the most of the means under his
control, to produce all the grain and other crops
he possibly can for the sustenance of man and
beast. Plant, if possible, another acre, even if it
be at the risk, in some measure, of impoverishing
your land. On your strongest lands plant corn ;
on your poor, beans. You may, in this way, ren-
der incalculable service to your country, in keep-
ing the price of life-supporting substances within
reasonable limits.
It will be impossible for our great grain grow-
ing States to put in their usual quantity of corn
the coming spring — or in grain, to forward their
last season's crops to our markets. The result of
this state of things we can readily see. As wise
and patriotic men let us act in view of it, and in-
crease our products as much as possible.
Rochester, Jan. 30, 1863. o. K.
For the New England Farmer.
PROFIT OF SHEEP.
Mr. Editor : — It affords me pleasure to find
an occasional article in the Farmer on the subject
of sheep and wool-growing. I presume there are
many others of your readers, who, with myself,
would be glad to have you devote more space to
this important interest. To the farmers of New
Hampshire and Vermont, at least, this is an inter-
esting subject.
From my acquaintance with farming in Eastern
Massachusetts, I had supposed that most of the
farmers there knew but little, and cared even less
about sheep. But I observe in a recent number
of the Farmer, that even in Boston, and in a leg-
islative agricultural meeting, there was sufficient
interest in the sheep question, to lead that honor-
able body to devote an evening to its discussion.
From your brief report of the views advanced on
that occasion, I infer, however, that Massachusetts
farmers have not yet become very much excited
about sheep. The opinions expressed, do not ap-
pear very decidedly in favor of wool-growing in
Massachusetts, (a) Numerous examples of suc-
cessful effort in this direction seemed to have been
wanting.
Now, it is a wonder to me, that the farmers of
Massachusetts — a little removed from a good city
market — have not long ago found it for their in-
terest to keep sheep. In this section — where we
are practically as near Boston market as the large
majority of Massachusetts farmers — cattle and
horses are mostly kept from necessity or conve-
nience, but sheep, for the i-eal j^ro^fU of the thing.
And we realize what we keep them for — a profit.
And not a few of our farmers make a very hand-
some profit, too.
If you were here, I could take you to several
flocks, within a few miles, where the average annu-
al income, from the ewe sheep old enough to raise
lambs, would exceed ten dollars per head. Now,
the cost of keeping these sheep a year does not
exceed two dollars per head ; showing a net profit
far exceeding anything, so far as I am acquainted,
obtained from neat stock. These are fine wooUed
sheep, commonly called Spanish Merino, although
but few of them ai"e pure Merino.
You will bear in mind that I do not claim the
above results in favor of all our farmers. But
what a few have done by persevering, careful
management, may be done by any one in a like
manner, whether in this State or Massachusetts.
A. B. Palmer.
Orfordmlle, N. H., Feb. 1863.
P. S. I shall be pleased to see what you have
to publish on the "influence of food on the quality
of sheep." A. B. P.
REM.4.RKS. — (a) Hundreds, if not thousands,
of farmers, in Massachusetts, would be glad to
keep sheep, if they could — but where their neigh-
bors are licensed to let a ferocious beast run at
large and destroy them, they will not incur the
risk, and a still more important one, that of get-
ting into a quarrel with neighbors with whom they
might otherwise live in harmony for a life-time.
F(jr the New England Farmer.
INCREASE THE FODDER.
Mr. Brown : — As it is the season of the year,
when every good farmer is mapping out the com-
ing season's work, and endeavoring to estimate its
results, I may be pardoned if I take the liberty
of suggesting to such, that their plans and purpo-
ses should be governed by the peculiar circumstan-
ces of the country at present, and as it in all hu-
man probability will be for the coming year, so far
as its production of life-sustaining crops are con-
cerned. We have a greater interest here than
in the prices of cotton and wool, or the worse
than worthless production of tobacco and alco-
holic drinks. The producing and laboring classes
of our great grain growing States, have been sad-
ly decimated by the war, since last spring's plant-
ing and sowing season, and in consequence, im-
mense quantities of corn now remain unharvested
from this cause. Had it not been for the very
warm winter, which kept the fields too muddy to
work in, or haul the corn from when harvested,
much would have found its way to market as
grain, that now will be consumed by cattle and
hogs, or wasted upon the ground. As in a previ-
ous article I have alluded to these facts for the
purpose of urging upon every farmer the raising
of all the food he can for man, I now urge the in-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FAR>rER.
lOS
crease of our forage crop by every means in our
power for the sustenance of beasts, as they are
large consumers of grain, especially when forage
is high, and grain in comparison with it, lower. I
suppose it is a conceded fact, that we can produce
more food for horses and cattle by sowing corn,
or planting it in drills, than in any other manner ;
and, also, that no plant we grow will cause cows
to give milk so freely, or, properly fed to horses,
will bear comparison with it. It is the custom, in
the Southern States, to gather the leaves and bind
them in bundles for farm use, and for market.
These leaves are termed there corn blades.
One, and only one objection have I ever heard
named against the raising of corn for fodder, viz.,
the difficulty of curing it so as to have it free from
mould and souring. ^ly experience in curing corn
in the shock led me to suggest to my son-in-law,
last season, the propriety of trying to cure it by
putting it in shock as soon as cut, not allowing it
to wilt, as ho was doing, and having much trouble
with it. The result was most satisfactory to him.
He bound in bundles as cut, and set in shocks st
once. It cured bright and sweet, making a most
excellent fodder, better in every respect than thai
cured by spreading in the sun. I think we can
rely upon the result of this experiment as being a
safe method to adopt.
I would cut when there was a prospect of sev-
eral days fair weather, if I could. It will bear
standing longer than any other crop beyond the
time we may think it well to cut it, without dam-
aging. I thiow out these hints, and shall be am-
ply compensated if but one is profited thereby.
Boch&iter, Feb. 1863. o. K.
For the ^ew England Farmer,
BBMEDY FOR CATTLE GNAWING
BOARDS.
Mr. Editor : — I believe the cause of cattle
gnawing their cribs, boards, &c., is because their
food is deficient in some property that the system
requires, causing their appetites to crave bones,
and not finding them, they become, as it were,
desperate, and seek to satiate this desire by chew-
ing whatever they can reach. I think, by a care-
ful analysis of their food, it will be found there is
a lack of superphosphate of lime. I well recollect,
when a boy, when my father first occupied the farm
that he and I now jointly occupy, the cows then
upon the farm would gnaw ihe sides of the barn,
and chew sticks and splinters. For a remedy my
father commenced sowing clover, when seeding
meadows to grass, and the disease has gradually
but surely disappeared. During the winter, when
they get a fair proportion of clover in their fodder,
we seldom notice any symptoms of the disease.
But in summer, our pasture not producing much
clover, the cows seek to meet the demands of na-
ture by chewing every bone they can find, but not
with so much greediness as formerly.
I would recommend to Jesse R. Fitts, or any
other subscriber of the Fui-mer, to feed cattle in-
clined to gnaw, liberally with good clover hay, and
I will warrant them to improve in condition ; and
when they manifest a desire to chew, a sweet lock
of clover hay will meet their approval.
I would urge all the readers of the Fai'mer to
peruse carefully that excellent piece, in a recent
number, on the cultivation of clover. I think
chemistry tells us that clover is rich in phosphate,
and therefore a luxuriant clover field is a vein of
gold to the farmer. Gardner Herrick.
South Reading, T?., Feb. 1803.
GOD SPEED THE PLOUGH.
God speed the ploughshare ! tell me not
Disgrnce attends the toil
Of those who plough the dark green sod,
Or till the fruitful soil.
Why should the honest ploughman shrink
From mingling in the van
Of learning and of wis<iom, since
'Tis mind that makes the man ?
God speed the ploughshare, and tlie bands
That till the faithful earth.
For there is in this world so wide
No gem like honest worth.
And tliough the hands are dark with toil,
And flushed the manly brow,
It matters not, for God will bless
The labors of the plough.
Mark Lane Expreii,
Ffir the A>(r F,nal'vnil Farmer.
SPANISH MERINO SHEEP.
Friend Brown : — I have just returned from a
trip in search of Spanish Merino sheep. I rode
over a large portion of this State, and saM' what
were claimed to be pure blood sheep, but found
none that so fully resembled the stock as those I
saw at Mr. Stephen Atwood's, Watertown, Ct.,
and those of Mr. Joseph Rovvell, Weare, X. H.
A portion of Mr. R.'s flock compares verj' favora-
bly with those I saw last summer, while looking
up stock, at Mr. Atwood's.
Mr. Rowell has been a successful breeder of
fine-wooled sheep, from the fact that he has every
year obtained the best buck to be had. from Ver-
mont, and selected his best ewes invariably, which
has produced a larger sheep of this class, and
larger clip and superior quantity of wool. His
experience has taught him that it is not best to
put his ewes to breeding, until two past — coming
in at three years old — in that way he gets strong-
er sheep, and heavier shearers, which is a profita-
ble result.
Any one who has a taste for this stock of sheep,
I would advise to take a look at Mr. Howell's
stock before i)urchasing, as his prices compare fa-
vorably with his stock. Better sheep and lower
prices are very important to farmers in war times.
AmJicrst, N. K, Feb., 1863. P. w. J.
The Bees should be looked to every few days,
to prevent the accumulation of moisture in close
weather, which will freeze some cold night and
stift'en the swarm. Take advantage of very fair
days to give extra ventilation, so the bees may fly
out to take the air, and that the inside of the hives
may drj'. A little upward ventilation, at all times,
will prevent the collection of moisture from the
heat of the swarm, and also secure it against damp
chills. — Ohio Farmer.
In the south of France a harvest of two and a
half millions of pounds weight of flower leaves is
gathered every year, and sold for about a quarter
of a million pounds sterling. It consists of 100,-
000 pounds of leaves of the orange blossom. 500,-
000 pounds of rose leaves, 1(X),000 pounds of jas-
mine blooms, 60,000 pounds of violets, 65.000
pounds of acacia buds, 30,000 pounds tuberobes,
and 5000 pounds of jonquil flowers.
104
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Calendar fbr March Page 73
Pleuro Pneumonia — Army Horses 74
Cultivation of Nuts— What Ought to be 75
Farmers' Clubs 75
Errors in Books and Newspapers 77
Study your Calling — Cooked and Uncooked Food for Swine.. 77
Culture of Pears 78
Happy New Year 80
Flax Culture, No. 1 81
Whittemore's Vesetable Cutter 81
Extracts and Replies 83,91,97
The Apple Crop 83
Rotary Farmers' Clubs 84
Hudson River Highlands— Grape Growing 85
Winter Feeding of Sheep 86
Preserving Milk 8weet 86
Preparation of Produce for Market 87
Culture of Chiccory — Guano Reports — Error Corrected 88
Ag. College of Pennsylvania — Orchard Culture. . 89
American Pomological Society 89
Hop Crop — Hungarian Soil 90
Experiments in Feeding Hogs 90
Glue for Ready Use 91
Rule for Reducing Chains, &c., to Feet 92
Sick Pig and Cattle— Yellow Locust 92
Winter Snow — Save Your Fodder 93
The Weather— Ventilation in Stables 93
Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Ag. Society 9o
Middlesex Agricultural Society — Fitchburg Railroad 94
Life of Asa G. Sheldon 95
Yokes — Film on Horse's Eye — Blistered Hands 95
Diseased Pigs — Charcoal — Hungarian Millet 96
Wintering Stock 97
Queries about Top-Dressing — Railroad Fences 98
Culture of Sweet Potato— Why Salt is Healthful 99
Legislative Agricultural Meetings ....100
Maple Sugar — New Canal Project 101
Plant One Acre More— Profit of Sheep 102
Increase the Fodder 102
Remedy for Cattle Gnawing Bones 103
God Speed the Plough — Spanish Merino Sheep 103
Cattle Market for Februarj' 104
A m:ember of the Belgian Central Society of
agriculture has recommended to the attention of
the society a new variety of the potato, which is
remarkable in the triple point of view of flavor,
abundance and facility of preservation. It appears
to be a variety of what is called chardon in Bel-
gium. The stalk grows to the height of twelve
inches, and throws out many branches. The blos-
som is of a pale violet color, and produces no
fruit. A field of one acre of third class quality,
lightly manured, produced 22,000 kilogrammes of
sound potatoes. The neighboring farmers were
astonished, not only at the enormous produce, but
at the absence of any unsound potatoes. The crop
was dug out on October 12th.
^ff' The French iron-clad steamship La Nor-
mandie — so late Havana advices state — has been
sent back to France, as it has been found the crew
could not live in the hot climate of the Gulf of
Mexico with the defective ventilation of that ship.
This circumstance, together with the fact that the
vessel was strained on her voyage out, shows that
the French have as much trouble with their iron-
clads as have the English or Americans with theirs.
The critics of the Monitors, therefore, may be con-
soled.
S^^ Mr. Jesse Hinds, of Brandon, Vt., recently
sold and delivered to C. D. Sweet, of North Ben-
nington, twenty-six two years old, and four year-
ling ewes — in all, thirty sheep, for the snug little
sum of three thousand dollars.
CATTLE MARKETS FOB FEBKUAKY.
The following is a summary of the reports fbr the five weeks
ending February 19, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET. *
Sheep and Shotes and Live
Cattle. Lambs. Pigs. Fat Hogs. Veals.
January 22.... 1802 3058 250 3100 20
«' 29.... 1983 3881 180 1500 20
February 5..., 1711 2145 170 500 30
" 12. ...1202 3171 60 364 25
" 19.... 1504 2764 — 60 50
Total 8,202 15,019 650 5,624 145
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from several States, for the last five weeks, and for the corres-
ponding five weeks last year ; also, the total number from Jan-
uary Ist to February 19, eight weeks of each year:
THIS TEAR. LAST TEAR.
Cattle. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 1245 443 487 422
New Hampshire 1182 2396 511 1270
Vermont 2706 3260 1589 3447
Massachusetts 716 3956 502 2498
Northern New York 208 647 j jgg j^g
Canada 31 6 |
Western States 2114 4311 2696 6069
Total, last five weeks, 8,202 15,019 5,981 13,809
Total, since Jan. 1,(8 w'ks,) 12,121 22,812 10,330 33,165
• Remarks. — The market of the first of the foregoing five weeka
may be characterised as buoyant ; the next two as dull, some
cattle being held over each week, but with no great change in
prices ; and the last two weeks as quite brisk, — all the sheep
and most of the cattle being sold Tuesday. The prices of live
stock appear to be gradually advancing, more in consequence of
the rise of hides, pelts and tallow, than of the rise in meat, which
however, is considerable.
PRICES.
Jan.%1. Jan.1°i. Feh.b. i^e6.12. Feb.\9
Beef,lst,2d&3dqual..5 (g7 5 ig7 5 @7 5^@7i b\®1\
" a few extra Il&lh 7ift7i 7Jg7J 7Jg8 7VS8
Sheep and lambs, ^ !b..5 s6i 5 @6.i 5|a6J 5^-27 5|(@7J
Swine, stores, wh'sale.4ig5 43^5 4ig5 4 @ 4 @
» '< retail.... 5 %f,\ 5 ©6^ 5 (§6^ 4 (g6 4 @6
Hides, #"» 7Jg8 7iS8 7ig8 7iig8 8 §8^
Pelts, each, $2 @ $2 (g2i$2 52^$2^g3 $2^33
Tallow, 4?lb 8@ 8® 8® ©8^ 8^g9
Fat Cattle. — The cattle mentioned below were at market
February 19th.
Mr. J. C. Batchelder sold to J. B. Thomas, of Danvers, 9 cat-
tle from the town of Stowe, Vt. ; 1 pair cherry red oxen, of the
Hereford breed, weighed 4700 lbs., the two varying only 14 lbs.,
and so much alike as to be distinguished with difficulty, were fed
by H. Thomas ; another pair of mottle-faced, red oxen, twins,
weighing 4230 fts., were fed by F. Wade ; the third pair, raised
by Mr. Wilkins, weighed 4000 lbs. ; the fourth pair, weighing
3600 lbs., were fed by Mr. Bennett, and a rich cow, fed by H.
Thomas, estimated to dress 900 lbs., made up this car-load of
splendid beef, which were sold by dollars at the rate of 8c ^ lb.
William Scollans bought in Albany a carload of cattle, —
eight oxen and one cow, — which the oldest market-men admit-
ted were the largest and fattest bunch that had ever been otTered
for sale in Brigliton.
One pair of red oxen, of the Hereford breed, were fed by A.
M. Clark, Auburn, N. Y., and were sold by him in Albany to
Mr. Scollans. The home weight of these well mated bullocks
was 6390 lbs. But so well proportioned were they, that at first
sight their great size was not fully realized. A Maine drover,
who stood six feet and four inches in his boots, measured his
height with these oxen, and boasted that he was the only man
in the crowd who could look over them, and said they were full
six feet high. He also put his chain upon one of them, by which,
with the aid of a carpenter's rule, he made a circuit of some
nine feet and four or five inches, equal, he said, to good ten feet,
at home.
The other six we understood were fed in the same neighbor-
hood. One pair roan Durhams, weighed 5190 lbs. ; one pair
white Durhams, weighed 5130 lbs., and a pair of spotted na-
tives, weighed 4720. Large as they were, the whole were full
as remarkable for fatness as for size. Such ribs and flanks,
such backs and rumps, — such oxen, altogether, are seldom
seen.
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND 11 o x^U\Ui.xE>u Ai^ro AimD ov^i-mN; CrJs.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, APRIL, 18G3.
NO. 4.
NOUBSE, EATOX & TOLMAN, Troprietoes.
Office. .. .102 Washington Street.
SIMON BROWX, Editor.
SUGGESTED BY THE RETURN OF APRIL.
"Then at this welcome season, friends,
Let's welcome thus each other,
Each kind to each, shake hands with each,
Each be to each a brother."
N the return of
sprinrj there is
something re-
vivifying to all
hearts. We are
awakened by
neM' inspirations.
The snows are
gone. South
winds come
kindly from dis-
tant regions,
sweep off the su-
perabundant
moisture, warm-
ing the soil and
bringing a new
resurrection of
vegetable life.
The meaning of the word A'pril is, to open, or put
foHli, — and nothing in the whole circle of the
monilis more manifestly sets forth the wisdom of
God than the new life which everywhere springs
into existence around us. "The vital spark re-
kindles in dormant existences ; and all things
live, and move, and have their being." The
earth puts on her livery to await the call of her
lord ; the air breathes gently on his cheek, and
conducts to his ear the warblings of the birds and
the odors of new-born herbs and flowers ; the
water teems with life ; man liimself feels the re-
vivifying influence ; and his
"Spirit holds communion sweet
With the brighter spirits of the sky."
The return of April is suggestive of many du-
ties and of many beautiful tilings. Perhaps the
leading thoughts with many are, in relation to the
garden and the transplanting of shrubs and trees.
While writing, we Sad before us a letter from Mr.
Oliver P. Mead, of Middlebury, Vt., so full of
just and beautiful thoughts, and so well calculat-
ed to arouse new efi'ort to beautify and bless the
land, that we drop our pen and yield the space to
him. He is full of enthusiasm, and our heart
beats responsive to every thought he utters. "I
am a great lover of the beautiful in nature," he
says. "The foliage of luxuriant trees, with their
endless intermixture of colors, gracefulness and
beauty, and the bursting into blossom of a thou-
sand flowers, difl'using their sweet perfumes over
hill and dale, are sights which I delight to behold.
"What looks more beautiful around a farmer's
home, than a group of ornamental trees ? There
is music in the murmur of the leaves ; and how
inviting their cool shade on a summer's day!
How delightful ! How attractive ! I admire the
wisdom of that man who seeks to make his home
attractive, by the cultivation of trees, fruits and
flowers. His children will rise up and call him
blessed, and his memory will flourish when he
sleeps in dust. What looks moi'e desolate than
a farmer's home without a tree or a shi-ub around
it ? exposed in summer to the burning sun, and
in winter to the drifting snows !
"Trees are a substantial comfort, and ought to
be cultivated by every farmer. How pleasing to
the eye is the home richly embellished with trees
and flowers ! The great Creator, with infinite
wisdom and skill, formed the trees with grace and
grandeur, and the beautiful flowers of every hue,
and the towering mountains to beautify and adorn
the earth ! What a desolation would this world
present to our view, were it all a far-extended
plain, without a tree or a flower ! But it is not
so ; it is clothed with beauty, far surpassing the
poet's imagination.
"The most simple cottage, richly adorned with
ornamental trees and flower beds, is far more
j agreeable to the eye than the costly mansion,
! without the beauty imparted by the green foliage
106
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Apeil
of luxuriant trees. Flowers and trees are luxu-
ries that can be enjoyed by all classes of society
in the country. None are so poor but what they
can cultivate them. I love to see a disposition in
young persons to cultivate flowers. It shows a
refinement of feeling, which those do not possess,
who do not admire the lovely smiles of innocent
flowers.
"If it were more generally the practice to erect
good country residences, and adorn the same with
ornamental trees and flowers, agricultural pursuits
would be far more attractive to young people.
With some men there is nothing beautiful but a
money gain. If their wives or daughters culti-
vate a flower bed, they think it is time foolishly
spent. The love of money shuts up every avenue
to happineiss, and not only makes the man miser-
able who worships it, but his family also. No
one can be happy in this world without they ad-
mu-e the beautiful works of God and worship the
only true Deity.
"When I see a neat little cottage, beautifully
adorned with evergreens and flowers, and hear
kind voices within, the thought occurs to me, how
little it costs to make our homes attractive, and
those with whom we daily associate happy and
cheerful.
"I would invite attention to the great importance
of out-door attractions. Every member of a fam-
ily should have out-door exercise and fresh air.
It would be far more beneficial to the health of
the ladies, if they would engage in the pleasant
and agreeable employment of cultivating a flower
garden, and spend less time in the drawing-room.
Pure, fresh air is life, and those who perpetually
confine themselves within the house do not reaUze
the great amount of injury they are receiving
from such confinement.
"Kind readers, cultivate and admire the beauti-
ful in nature, and cherish those finer feeHngs
which were implanted within our souls by a hand
Divine. Live a pure life, unspotted from the
world, so that when our pilgrimage closes on
earth, we can pass away, calm and serene as the
summer's setting sun."
For the New England Fanner.
THE FARMER'S PROFESSION".
Messes. Editors : — During the past few weeks
I have been reading, with great pleasure and great
profit, the very interesting articles on "Agricul-
ture as a Science," published in your valuable pa-
per. I regard it as a happiness for our country
when so many gifted minds from the vast masses
of intelligent society in New England, as well as
in other sections of this great land, are concen-
trating their light upon a subject so fraught with
interest as that of agriculture, and the more I re-
flect upon the subject, the moi'e strange it seems
that, long ago, it had not found its appropriate
place with the other sciences in our institutions
of learning ; that deriving, as we do, our food,
our clothing, our wealth, our very bodies, even,
from the soil we tread upon, we, as a thinking
people, have placed so light an estimate upon it
as the true science to be cultivated next to moral-
ity and religion. Indeed, the farmer's duties lie
altogether in the line of morality — to say nothing
of the religion of agriculture.
It seems to me that the farmer may be said to
walk with God in nature. But there will be con-
flicting opinions, doubtless, entertained in regard
to this matter, even amongst the very best edu-
cators. Here and there a teacher may be found
who will regard the science of agriculture alto-
gether out of place in the schoolroom. But for
the most part, here in New England especially,
you have hosts of teachers qualified and favorably
disposed to introduce their pupils at once to this
important science. Amongst these I would men-
tion the scores that annually leave your Normal
schools. They, of course, have a thorough knowl-
edge of chemistry, mineralogy, geology, botany
and physiology — sciences that lie at the very foun-
dation of agricultural knowledge. With these
for a foundation, they are qualified to appreciate
a good text book on agriculture, and at once to
adapt their knowledge to large classes of those
who attend district schools.
In my next I will endeavor to tell you of the
manner in which, for many years, I have labored
without books, to induce in my large classes of
pupils a taste for this pleasant, useful and vastly
important science. A Teacher Abroad.
Northampton, Mass., Feb. 16, 1863.
Remarks. — Thank you, sir. You encourage
and inspire us. Our columns are open to you.
For the Neio England Farmer.
WOOL GROWERS' ORGAN.
At a meeting of the Directors of the Vermont
State Agricultural Society, held at Bellows Falls,
on the 12th inst., the following resolution was
adopted :
Whereas, Daniel Needham, Secretary of this
Society, has received communications from Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, Michigan and other Western
States, as well as from parties in our own State,
encouraging the establishment of a Wool Grow-
ers' organ. And,
Whei-eas, Propositions have been made to him
by publishers in other States, as well as our own,
for the establishment of such an organ. It is
Resolved, That in consideration of the fact that
we find it difficult to decide, at the present time,
what course to pursue, the whole matter be post-
poned to our next meeting, and that, in the mean-
time, our Secretary be requested to continue his
correspondence on the subject, with the view of
enabling us to reach some definite conclusion
hereafter. *
Health and Strength. — A man who takes
proper care of himself, and indulges in plenty of
air, exercise, and, above all, recreation, ought to
be in a high range of health and strength from
twenty-four years to sixty-five.
New Cotton Fields. — Experiment has shown
that cotton can be cultivated in California, while
in Utah, cotton raising has become quite a busi-
ness, 70,000 pounds of very superior quaUty hav-
ing been grown last year.
1863.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
107
For the New England Farmer.
THE CLOVER PLANT.
The importance of the clover plant in all sys-
tems of rotation which have for their object not
only profitable returns, but the keeping up of
the fertility of the soil, can scarcely be overrat-
ed. Well did the good knight Schubert, more
than two hundred years ago, promise the peasants
of Germany that, if they "would grow clover,
they should have ample cause for rejoicing, and
of praising the Lord out of the fulness of their
hearts, for His rich blessings." In pursuance of
this advice "clover became," in the words of Thaer,
"the basis of agriculture, the pivot on which it
should turn," which in a system of rotation with
other crops "yields au advantageous produce, and
at the same time maintains the soil in a favorable
comlition for the following crops." If this was
true of German agriculture it is equally so of that
of many sections of this country. Mr. Geddes,
in his survey of Onondaga Co., for the New York
State Agricultui-al Society, opens his chapter on
practical farming with these words : "The agri-
culture of Onondaga County is based on the clo-
ver plant. It is used for pasture, for hay, and for
manure. Strike this plant out of existence and a
revolution would follow that would make it neces-
sary to learn everything anew in legard to culti-
vating our lands."
Pi'operly managed, it is equally important on
many soils, to the New England farmer. Hence
•we would offer sundry further suggestions as to
soils and seeding.
The soils most favorable to clover are those con-
taining both lime and clay ; not too great a pro-
portion of the latter, but rather that known as a
clayey loam. On such a soil, in a proper state of
cultivation, it is, according to Thaer, "in its native
abode ; nothing is required beyond the spreading
of the seed — the clover gets the better of all the
plants that grow around it." It will thrive on any
soil of moderate depth and fertility, if favored by
a season of sufficient moisture. Sandy loams,
however, are often deficient in lime, and also over-
charged with acids, as shown by the growth of
sorrel and dock, which are apt to overgrow the
clover ; but ashes or manure will so stimulate the
clover that it will finally succeed. It is said that
a mixture of ashes and gypsum is much the best
top-dressing for clover, on very acid soils, greatly
increasing its growth.
Clover is best sown \vith some other crop, be-
cause it rarely yields much the first year, and in
the early stages of its growth it is assisted by the
protection of other grain, which should be removed
as early as may be ; for "the sooner," says Thaer,
"the crop with which clover is grown is harvested,
the greater the growth of the clover." In my ex-
perience I have found it to succeed best with win-
ter wheat and rye, next with spring wheat, next
with barley, and lastly with oats.
A good deal of clover seed has been sown which
has failed to produce the intended crop, and va-
rious causes operate to hinder its vegetation or to
destroy the young plants. One cause of non-veg-
etatioii is the deep covering, or no covering given
the seed. Sown on spring grain, and harrowed
in with a heavy harrow, much is placed too deep
to be able to grow. Or, if sown on the fresh soil,
after the grain is covered, without any after treat-
ment, unless a heavy rain comes soon to wash it
into the soil, the failure is equally sure. On win-
ter grain it is sometimes lost because sown too
late. If sown in March, or as soon as the fields
are bare, the freezing and thawing of the soil wiJl
furnish a proper covering for clover seed ; on
spring grains I would rather use the roller after
sowing, or pass over it with a light brush harrow.
Another cause of failure, and one from which
we have suffered more than any other, is the
drought often occurring in early 'summer, before
the young clover gets sufficient growth to with-
stand its effects, and it is burned or dried up.
Remedy: the earliest sowing practicable, and ma-
nurial aid to induce a vigorous growth. Gy])sum,
or plaster, usually proves such a stimulant. A
light top-dressing of fine manure harrowed in with
the spring grain, is equally beneficial, and if the
soil is not very fertile, should be given, in addition
to the dressing of plaster and ashes.
On land run down to a very low state of fertili-
ty, some such treatment is absolutely necessary ;
but once secure your clover crop and you may re-
deem the land. H.
For the New Bngland Farmer,
HUNGARIAN 'JRASS.
It may prove a satisfaction, (if not a benefit.") to
the young farmer who made some inquiries a few
weeks since, in relation to Hungarian grass, for
me to say I have cultivated, on an average, from
four to five acres, for five successive years. I have
now, January 31, 18G3, one bushel and two-thirds
of seed, measured out for the five acres I design
to devote to the crop the coming season. For two
years past, my seed has been mostly sold to deal-
ers, at about one dollar per bushel. I have fre-
quently sowed other grass seed with Hungarian,
for future crops of hay, and have never failed of a
fii-st-rate catch.
Hungarian, (like other grains), varies in weight
according to its perfection, from 44 to 55 pounds
per bushel. It would be entirely superfluous for
me to say I like it. I only state facts. Let
"More Anon" theorize. Where there is a plenty
of everything, spice will be enjoyed by those who
like it.
May we expect something before spring opens,
through the columns of the Farmer, in relation to
the propriety of cultivating sorghum in New Eng-
land, as a means of obtaining saccharine matter
for household purposes ? Wm. Richauds.
Richmond, Mass., 1863.
F.r the Neie England Farmer.
BRAIN IN BUTTER AND OTHER
ARTICLES.
Mr. Editor : — Farmers complairw that cultiva-
tion of the soil renders them but a small return.
Without doubt this is frequently the case, but why
is it ? The fact is, the fiirmer puts in little, ex-
pecting to take out much— to reap when he has
not sown. The great lack is in not taking a bus-
iness-like view of the matter. The merchant in-
vests money in goods ; if he gives half his time
and attention to the store he expects to receive
pay in proportion, in addition to a fair percentage
for the use of the capital. The farmer has an idea
that, some how, his business will go on of itself—
that he can lie still on wet days in summer and
sit by the fire in winter, without diminishing his
annual gains. This is not so ; he cannot put in
108
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
six or nine months' work and take out pay for
twelve months. One year with another, every in-
telligent farmer may depend on receiving a fair
per cent, on his capital, together -with reasonable
pay for his time actually bestowed.
Let the hard-working yeoman give himself, and
his family, and his cattle plenty of relaxation.
"Covetousness bursts the bag," is an old maxim,
and constant pull, pull, pull, wears out mind and
body both. Yet indolence is not enjoyment ; nor
in that way does the body or mind recover tone
or strength. Do not, however, grumble to find,
at the year's end, that your play has cost money.
Make everything as valuable as possible before
you sell it. If your dairy produces butter, let it
be the very best ; so of your cheese and your ma-
ple sugar. Study all these things and your re-
ward is certain. Remember this, that the more
brain you put into your products the higher price
you will get for them. Do not understand, Mr.
Editor, that I broadly chai"ge indiiTerence and la-
ziness upon all our agriculturists ; by no means.
I merely offer these suggestions, hoping that some
who aspire to better things, may receive there-
from hints which will profit them. D.
Claremont, X. H., 1863.
Remarks. — Please forward the articles spoken
of.
htfiiUence of food on the quality
OF wool.
The remark is quite common among people who
live in the city and who have at some time resid-
ed in the country, that they wiU purchase pork
only of those who feed it with corn, milk, grass
and vegetables, — never of those who use the blood
and offal of the slaughter-house. There is good
cause for such preference. The flesh of a hog, for
instance, that has run in the pastures and woods,
and fed mostly upon the roots of grass and bush-
es, acorns and nuts, fbr most of his life, will be so
strong as to give positive evidence of it, even
while it is cooking. This is often the case where
the animal may have been fed on grain in his pen
for several weeks previous to being slaughtered.
• It is generally supposed that the beef of an ox
fed in pastures affording an abundance of young
and tender clover and other rich grasses would be
sweeter and ever)- way better than that of an ox
fed in a pasture of coarse and innutritions herb-
age, though both attained the same weight. The
qvolity of the feed certainly affects the flesh, and
we believe it to be pretty well settled that it also
affects the hair of the animal. It is finer, softer
and more glossy on the weU-fed horse, ox or cow.
Why should not the same rule hold good with
regard to the sheep ?
The food of an animal — and of ourselves — is
much more rapidly diffused through the system,
transformed into chyle and assimilated into blood
and nutriment, than most of us are aware of.
The case of an ox eating a single onion is in point.
A butcher was driving an ox half a mile from his
yard to the slaughter-house, where he was imme-
diately dressed, and the next day carried about to
customers. On his next round they all complain-
ed that the beef tasted so strong of onions that
they could not eat it ! Upon inquiry of the per-
son who sold the ox to the butcher, it was ascer-
tained that he had been kept in his stall, and that
not an onion had been raised upon the farm that
year. The fact was clear, however, that the flesh
of that animal was strongly impregnated -with the
peculiar odor of the onion, and greatly to the dis-
comfort of the neat and conscientious butcher.
Revolving the matter in his mind as he went his
daily rounds, he at length recollected that in driv-
ing the ox along the road he picked up some-
thing which he supposed at first was a small po-
tato, but which he saw was an onion before the
ox had got it fairly into his mouth. The flesh of
poultry is sometimes sensibly affected by their
running under some of the back buildings of the
farm, where they never should be allowed to go.
If the flesh of animals is thus acted upon by the
food they eat, we see no reason why the skin and
hair, or wool, should not be, also, in some degree.
In a work on "Fibrilia," advocating the intro-
duction and use of flax in the place of cotton, by
Stephen M. Allen, Esq., of Roxbury, Mass.,
we find an article on wool, which has some inter-
esting references to the subject in question.
In speaking of wool as not being peculiar to
sheep, but forming a sort of under-coat beneath
the long hair, in the goat and many other animals,
it says : "The fleece of the domestic sheep has
been greatly improved and modified by circum-
stances of climate, pasture, shelter and judicious
crossings of breeds, by which many varieties of
wool have been grown, chiefly divisible into two
great classes of carding and combing wool. The
occurrence of hair in the fleece of the domestic
sheep is now rare, and is considered as indicative
of bad management ; but if sheep are left to them-
selves on downs and moors, there is a tendency to
the formation of hair among the wool. Change
of pasture has a marked infiuenct on the quality of
the icool. If sheep that have been fed on chalk
downs [this term "downs" is applied in England
to a tract of poor, naked, hilly land, used only for
pasturing sheep,] be removed to richer pastures,
only a month before shearing, a remarkable im-
provement will take place in the fleece. So, also,
sheep that occupy lands within a few miles of the
sea will produce a longer and more pliant wool
than that of sheep from more inland districts.
"Wool varies in quality in the same flock at
different times. When the sheep is in good con-
dition, the fibre is brilliant ; but in badly fed or
diseased sheep the wool is dull and dingy, and
when cut from the dead animal it is harsh and
weak, and takes the dye badly."
The effect of innutritious feed upon sheep, as
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
109
described by Mr. Allex, corresponds to that up-
on other animals, and ever}* farmer who is observ-
ing will soon make the discovery for himself. The
superior quality of the sea island cotton proba-
bly arises from the peculiar circumstances under
which it grows, — that is, having a rich soil in
which to stand, and a icann but humid atmosphere
during nearly the whole period of its growth.
The saline vapors from the sea may have an in-
fluence upon the plant, as they are said to have
upon the sheep. Its culture has been attempted
in various countries and localities, but never, we
believe, with such success as attends it on the
coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
It is said that the fleece of a fine-wooled sheep
may be changed into that of coarse wool, and then
hair, by a change of feed and locality — from high-
ly nutritious food and a warm or temperate cli-
mate, to coarse and non-nutritious food and a
rigid climate, — that is, nature tries to accommo-
date the animal to the new condition in which it
finds itself placed.
If these are facts, they should be guides to the
farmer in the management of his flocks. He
should learn, by comparison, whether his locality
and the quality of his feed will bring as much
mutton and wool as those flocks kept in other lo-
calities \\'ithin his knowledge. If not, then he
should change his position, or abandon sheep for
the culture of some other crop better adapted to
his circumstances.
For the !\'eic England Farmer.
LETTEK FKOM MH. FKENCH.
Washinyton, I). C, Feb. 6, 1863.
My Dear Mr. Browx : — My old habit of re-
porting progress to the N. E. Farmer, in my wan-
derings, prompts me to say something to you of
what I see and hear in this central position of po-
litical affairs, although I have no idea of occupying
any of your open space with politics. Do not in-
fer, however, that I join in the silly, common-place
cry against politics and politicians. The great
mistake of the country is, that we have not given
attention enough to education in political aff'airs ;
but still, my belief is, that our country is as well
governed, and its affairs as honestly administered,
as "the lot of humanity wll admit." If each of
us wiU do his best, instead of grumbling at the
rest, all will yet go well.
THE SOLDIERS.
Most of my time here has been devoted to look-
ing after the welfare of the soldiers. The officers
of the Sanitary Commission and of the Massachu-
setts and New Hampshire Relief Associations,
have given me every faciUty for observing their
operations, and I will say, in general, that I am
surprised to find how perfect and thorough their
systems have become, in affording relief to the
suffering soldiers.
THE UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION.
It may be a satisfaction to your readers, all of
whom have friends in this war, to understand
clearly the scope of the operations of the various
institutions for the comfort of our brave defend-
ers. The Sanitary Commission operates widely
over the whole country, not limiting its benefits
to any class or section. In general, its immenbe
stores, collected from every loyal part of the Union,
are distributed, upon requisitions from the vari-
ous hospitals. Whenever a battle occurs, this com-
mission is foremost on the field, with supplies of
all kinds for the rehef of the wounded and suffer-
ing. In Washington I have had opportunity to
observe more particularly its operations, and when
I tell you that Mr. Olmstead, author of "Walks
and Talks," of "Seaboard and Slave States," and
chief engineer of the New York Central Park, is
general Secretary, you may be sure that its affairs
are fiiithfully and energetically administered.
I should "like, had we space, to give vou a full
.sketch of a day with Mr. Knapp, the agent of the
Commission for special relief. Among the rest,
we visited some of the Lodges, which are indeed
homos for the soldiers, where every deserving
man, who wears his country's uniform, is welcomed
to food and lodgings. Some two hundred soldiers
are daily discharged from the armies in this neigh-
borhood, many of them from the convalescent
camp, which is about four m;l<^s from Washington.
Most of these are sick or wounded, and nearly all
of them came directly here.
In general they have no money nor friends, and
would wander, suffering, in the streets, without
some assistance. To these the Sanitary Commit-
tee brings instant aid ; every soldier who is dis-
charged is directed to its rooms. The police of
the city, and other agents, ai-e constantly on the
watch to report every case of a soldier who needs
assistance, so that it is hardly possible that any
should escape notice. At the lodges, usually, two
or three hundred, every night, find comfortable
beds, and twice that number are daily furnished
with a good dinner, and sent on their- way. I
helped one day to distribute dinner tickets to
about two hundred and fifty poor fellows, who had
been discharged, and were waiting, most of them,
for their pay, before going to their homes ; and a
more truly thankful set of men I never saw.
I conversed with many from New York, Penn-
sylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and all New Eng-
land. They were all good, manly fellows, intelli-
gent and thoughtful, and all full of pleasant anti-
cipations of home. The Sanitary Commission as-
sists them to get their proper discharges, and to
receive their pay, procures their tickets homeward
at reduced prices, keeps them safely at the
"Home," near the railroad station, till the train is
ready, protects them from the sharpers and
thieves, who are constantly hunting them down,
and sees them fiiirly on board the cars. You may
thus get some idea of the usefulness of this com-
mission, in some details, though of its vast system
of aid to the hospitals throughout the couutrv-, I
have not time to write. K the Sanitary Commis-
sion had funds enough, and its system could be
carried out, no other society would be necessary
to the care of the soldiers, but with all that it can
do, there is yet room for more laborers, and among
the agencies for good to the soldier, no one is
more efficient than
THE MASSACHUSETTS SOLDIERS' RELIEF AS-
SOCIATION,
The special duties of this society are towards
Massachusetts soldiefs. Its rooms here are sup-
no
NEW ENGLAND FARRIER.
April
plied with hospital stores, furnished by the chari-
table men and women of Massachusetts. Its agents
visit the various hospitals and camps, and procure
lists of all the soldiers who need assistance. Gard-
ner Tufts, Esq., Treasurer and principal agent of
the association, an energetic, devoted, practical
man, gives to the work his whole time, seeing per-
sonally to the application of the means committed
to the society for distribution.
It seems to me, that the various societies in
Massachusetts, especially of ladies, M'ho are labor-
ing for the soldiers, are hardly doing for this asso-
ciation, so much as it fairly demands. There was
not, when I was last in their rooms, a single flan-
nel under garment on hand, and daily calls were
made for such comforts. I can assure your read-
ers, that any money, or articles of clothing, or del-
icacy for the sick, is as sure of being judiciously
applied to the use of some sufiering Massachusetts
soldier, as if the donor went personally and saw
to its application. I am impressed with the im-
portance of liberally sustaining this association,
having seen with my own eyes how, like minister-
ing angels, its agents perform their duties. Their
attentions are personal to the individual case.
They pass through the hospitals, and note down
the wants of the Massachusetts soldier. His name
is entered on their books, and the needed articles
of food, or medicine or clothing are carried and
given to him whenever necessary. Correspon-
dence is o]3ened with his friends ; he is watched
and cared for, till he is well enough to come out of
the hospital, and then is sent homeward, or back
to his regiment.
I wish to impress upon the kind hearts of friends
at home, the fact that their liberality is not lost,
that their efforts are successful, that their contri-
butions reach their destination surely, through
either of the societies I have named, as perhaps
they do through other channels. Sending packa-
ges to individual soldiers in the army, who are in
health, is probable the worst disposition of our
means. More than twenty thousand such packa-
ges were not long since, at one time, here, that
could not be forwarded. These would have been
of almost countless value to these relief associa-
tions. Still, New England is rich, and can give
always, and, to all worthy objects, and they who
think first of their own household, do not forget
their neighbor's.
Truly yours, Henky F. French.
HO"W TO TAKE CARE OF HARNESS,
In answer to the inquiry respecting the kind of
oil for harness, I give you the results of my ob-
servation for more than thirty years, holding my-
self responsible for the conclusion I have drawn
therefrom.
It is amusing to read the receipts for prepara-
tion, said to be "excellent for leather." Many
appliances are resorted to, in order to give a gloss
to leather ; that which is composed of shellac
forms a crust on the surface, which tends to crack
the grain, and is therefore injurious. Few take
any care of harness ; many take improper care.
Whenever leather is wet, it loses a portion of
its oil, and if suffered to remain wet long,, it will
lose all of this substance ; and if this is not re-
stored, the leather becomes dry and brittle. The
grain will shrink and crack, when the life is gone.
Leatho' should he Icept dean, for dirt of any
kind will absorb the oil. The more leather is
used and exposed to Avet, perspiration of the
horse or other cause, the more frequently it should
be oiled ; it needs oiling oftener in summer than
in winter ; if not used at all, it should be occa-
sionally oiled, to keep it supplied with what is lost
by evaporation. The patent leather parts of a
harness, such as winkers, saddle, &c., should be
rubbed over with some clean, soft oil, and imme-
diately M'iped off with a soft, woollen rag or cha-
mois leather ; this is all the care those parts need.
When not used, harness should be hung up in a
dark closet, as cool as possible, but not damp ; it
M'ill stand the cold of winter better than the heat
of summer.
To clean and oil a harness, hang it where all
parts can be reached easily ; (it would be better to
unbuckle every strap ;) wash clean by a sponge
or woollen rag with blood warm water and castile
soap, using as little water as will do the work ;
when two-thirds dry, apply the oil with a woollen
rag, pulling each strap through your hand ; be
careful that where the buckle holes are, a little
more is applied ; also the belly-bands, breechings
and the straps that buckle in the bits need an ex-
tra allowance ; let it remain in a warm place for
a few hours, (not in the hot "sun, or before a hot
fire,) until the oil has well entered the leather ;
then rub off all that remains on the surface brisk-
ly with a dry, woollen rag, and your work is fin-
ished. Be careful that you do not apply too much
oil, and be equally careful that you apply it often
enough.
The best oil for harness, is one quart neats foot
oil, four ounces beef's tallow and three table-
spoonfuls lampblack ; add four ounces beeswax,
for use in summer weather.
Ohio Farmer. George F. Marshall.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
PROFITS OF POrLTRY.
My stock was seventeen hens and one rooster, and
the account is for one year. The manure pays for the
care.
Eggs, one year $22,25
Poultry sold , 10,69
$32,94
Cost of keeping, and raising 38 chickens 16,02
Profit $16,32
The hens were kept in a house and yard all the
time, but an hour before sunset, each day, when they
were let out and allowed to ramble where they pleased.
The chickens went out at will. Breed, Bolton Grays.
I think they are the best to lay. They are of moder-
ate size. My house is 10 by 12 feet, and yard 25 by 30.
In this way I think they do better than to run at
large ; at least, it costs less to keep them, and the hens
hatch better, because they come from the nest, always
find food before them, eat and return to the nest be-
fore the eggs are cooled. Isaac HorsxoN.
Hanover, N. H., Feb., 1863.
SAP BEER.
I wish to ask through your paper if you know of a
good recipe for making sap beer ? If so, please give
it in your paper soon, and oblige your humble ser-
vant, Nathan Gushing, Jr.
Woodstock, Vt., Feb., 1863.
Remarks.— In the Monthly Farmer for May, 1858,
page 247, Mr. Thomas G. Holbrook, of Manchester,
Vt., has a recipe as follows : "Take one pound of
good hops, put them in a clean barrel and take it to
the orchard ; fill the barrel with sap and set it away
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Ill
for use ; in about two weeks it will be fit for drinking,
and will remain good till June,
DORKING, HAMBURG AND COCHIN CHINA FOWLS.
Will you inform me where I can purchase a few
tull blood, fivc-toed, white Dorking. Hamburg or Co-
chin China fowls ? Jacob P. Cilley.
Exeter, N. H., Feb., 1863.
Remarks. — Mr. John S. Ives, of Salem, Mass., can
probably furnish tnem, if he has not the particular
kinds you desire in his yard.
RAISING MUSHROOMS.
If you have at command practical directions for
raising mushrooms, you will oblige many readers Iiy
coraniunicating them. I tried the experiment accord
ing to rules given in the American Agriculturist, and
made an utter failure. Inquirer.
Remarks. — Will some one reply who has the knowl-
edge ?
LEGISIiATIVE AGRICTJIiTUKAL MEET-
INGS.
KEPORTED FOR THE N. E. FARMER, BY G. W. CHASE.
Monday evening, Feb. 16, the subject for dis-
cussion was, "How to Make and Apply Manures."
The Chairman, (Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro,')
considered this the most important subject to the
farmer, and urged the importance of more pre-
cision in the making of experiments to restore the
fertility of the soil. Barn manure is the best we
have, but we have not enough of it. It was im-
portant that farmers should know what particular
elements were either in excess or wanting in their
soils. Muck is one of the most valuable materi-
als the farmer can use to compost with his barn
manure. He thought the best way to use it was
to keep large quantities in the barn yard to act as
an absorbent. Concentrated manures should be
composted. He had conducted a three-year's
experiment in the application of manures, as lec-
ommended by the State Board of Agriculture in
1859. He had been very exact in this experi-
ment. In plot No. 1, the manure was ploughed
in from eight to ten inches deep ; in No. 2, it was
ploughed under about four inches ; in No. 3, it
was simply harrowed in ; in No. 4, it was left
upon the surface, and No. 5 received no manure
at all. The result each year was as follows :
FIRST TEAR.
Ko.
Xo.
No.
No.
No.
1 gave
2 "
3 «
4 "
5 "
8!.8 lbs. corn,
951 " "
909 " "
759 " "
672 " "
SECONI) YEAR.
800 lbs. stover.
728 "
69-2 "
640 "
510 "
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
1 gave
2 "
3 "
4 "
5 "
418i lbs. oats,
387| " "
330 " "
304i " "
247 " "
675 lbs. straw
041 " "
510 " "
460 " "
391 " "
THIRD YEAR.
No. 1 yielded 646 lbs. hay.
No. 2 " 725 " "
No. 3 " 590 " "
No. 4 " 510 " "
No. 5 " 320
He was satisfied that manure should be cover-
ed, to get the full benefit of it.
Mr. Howard, of the Cultivator, alluded to the
practice of "paring and burning," and thought
that it might be done to advantage in many cases.
He once saw a crop of 600 to 800 bushels of tur-
nips raised on one acre, without other manure
than the ashes from burning the turf. He con-
sidered the process only applicable to wet clay
lands.
Mr. HuBnARD, of Sunderland, believed wood
ashes the cheajiest and best manure he could
use. He had experimented with ashes, lime, and
plaster, and found tliat the rows where ashes were
applied were of a deeper green throughout the
season, and gave nearly a double crop. Ai)])ly-
ing ashes to the hill at" the first hoeing, almost
doubled the crop. He had also applied aslies in
the hill, and with good efiect.
Mr. Flint, of Boston, spoke of the experi-
ments recently made in manuring, in answer to
the recommendation of the State Board of Agri-
culture. Fourteen persons had undertaken and
completed the three years course, and the results
are to ajjpear in his forthcoming report.
Mr. Flower, of Agawam, said that manure
is the life of the farmer, and that every farmer
should endeavor to make as much as ])ossible.
He throws all his manure under a shed, and al-
lows his hogs to root it over thoroughly. He
thought the best way was to plough in bis man-
ure, and tlien to apply some in the hill. This
starts the crop quickly, and carries it through the
entire season.
Mr. Drew, of the Ploughman, referred to his
experience in the use of burnt turf and peat ashes,
and said he wouldn't give one bushel of wood
ashes for a hundred from peat. He had used all
the ashes from twenty cords of peat upon a gar-
den of about one hundred feet square, and never
saw any lienefit from the application. He be-
lieved in the application of the peat itself to up-
lands, and had repeatedly seen its good eflects —
even for years after its application. In regard to
superphosphates, he wished that we might have
more carefully conducted experiments to prove
their actual value. He cautioned farmers against
placirig too much confidence in the concentrated
manures of commerce.
Mr. Wetherell, of the Cultircrtor, had exper-
imented some with superphosjjhates — Coe's &
Rhode's — and they did not pay for the labor of
using them. His brother had tried them, and
found the grass crop doubled. He experimented
with superphosphate, plaster, lime, hen manure,
and barn manure, and the superphosphate gave
the best crops of all.
Mr. MosELY, of S])ringfield, believed that guano
was a valuable fertilizer, and was best on light
soils. He mentioned an experiment where it
had proved of no value on one side of a road,
while directly oi)posite it had a manifest benefit
on the same kind of croji. He thought that suitd
was a better al)sorbing material than muck. It
was easier procured, and he ihouglit it was equally
as valuable. He believed it was economy to sta-
ble cows at night in the summer. He mentioned
a case where an acquaintance bedded sixteen
horses entirely with sand. This was composted
with plaster, and applied to a tobacco crop with
great results.
Mr. Kendall, of Boylston, said that until
within about five years he had made his manure
in the barn-yard. He now thinks that by so do-
ing he lost one-half its value. Latterly he uses
large quantities of soil to mix with the droppings
in the stable. (He stables his cows at night
throughout the summer.) By this method he
112
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Apeil
doubles both the quantity and value of his manure
heap. He always ploughs in his manure.
Mr. GoLDTHWAiT, of Longmeadow, believed
that sand was of great value, as a "divisor and
absorbent." He made large use of it for that pur-
pose. He argued that it cost much less than
muck, was more easily handled, and was equally
as valuable. (So the reporter understood the
drift of his remarks.)
For the New England Farmer.
PLANTING AN ORCHARD.
In INIay last I set out about three acres to ap-
ple trees, the result of which was so favorable that
I am induced to give the details of the operation
for the benefit of those who may contemplate set-
ling trees, and desire the experience of others in
deciding on the most proper method of doing it.
Before pi'oceeding to the statement, however, I
would suggest that every one should select their
own trees, or obtain some reliable man to do so
for them. However honest the nursery-man may
be, it is rarely the case that trees not selected by
the purchaser give full satisfaction. Some will be
found crooked and misshapen — roots mutilated,
or some serious defect about them in the eyes of
the purchaser. I confess to this folly myself.
Contracting for ti'ees two years from the bud, and
all good, straight trees, well rooted, &c., I got
many that were three and four years old and de-
ficient in roots. Some were even eaten through
with the canker worm, and condemned as worth-
less.
But to the setting. I laid out the ground so as
to allow thirty-two feet space each way between
the rows, — dug the holes eight feet in diameter and
two feet deep, — put the surface soil by itself and
threw aside the subsoil.
After the holes were dug, I put all the surface
soil in the bottom of the holes, which raised them
in most cases sufficiently for the trees to set upon.
I then hauled from one corner of the lot, where
two roads crossed each other, a wash deposit from
the roads and slopes converging there, and set the
trees in it, — most carefully spreading out the
fibrous roots and filling in all interstices with the
very finest of the material used. This mud wash
was thrown up in piles the fall previous for the
action of the frost upon it to pulverize, &c. After
the trees were well set with this, I had a space to
fill all round the holes to the depth of four inches
at the outer edge, and about half that depth at the
centre, which I filled up with good muck, dug the
year previous. As it was late in the season when
the trees were set, I feared that dry weather
might injure or kill them. I mulched with bog, or
fresh hay. As the season was very dry here, this
precaution proved to be a wise one, as I lost but
one tree of the whole set out. Owing to the ab-
sence of rain the growth was very slow until mid-
summer— after that unusually fast. I have now
some fears that the growth continued so late into
the autumn that the winter may injure the imma-
ture wood.
What some term the Hessian bug, made sad
work with the leaves of many of the trees, espe-
cially the least hardy, apparently killing some of
them. These I cut ofi' about the fourth of July.
Some of these, after that, sent out shoots from
one to about four feet in length, which I regard as
quite remarkable. For the winter protection of
the trees, I took away the mulching and filled
up around the trunk to the depth of eighteen inches
with muck, which I propose spreading in the
spring, putting ashes with it, and dig in slightly
to the soil, which is a sandy loam for the most
part.
I will state that I do not approve of lifting or
shaking the tree when setting, to straighten the
roots or work the loam around them. I verily
believe it results in evil and only evil. As you
draw up the tree, of course those roots that were
well spread and straight are hauled out of place,
and of necessity crami)ed and crooked as it set-
tles. The loam should never be throion on to the
roots or against the tree — as in the one case it
cannot be properly worked in among the roots,
and in the other will displace the tree from its true
position in the row. o. K.
Rochester, Dec, 1862.
OPEN AIR GRAPE CULTURE.
In the Farmer of July last, we gave three or
four illustrations of the management of the vine
in open air grape culture, from a new work on the
subject, by Mr. John Phin. We present two or
three illustrations now, feeling that we cannot bet-
ter supply a general want of our readers than in
so doing — for it is not the gardener only, who
feels it, nor the farmer or mechanic, for the day la-
borer, even, who owns his rood of land, has be-
come satisfied that the perfect grape is liealthful
in its culture, ornamental in its ^j)Zace, exceedingly
yratcful and restorative to tht sick, and wholesome
as an article of food for persons of all ages.
There is no mystery whatever in its cultivation,
and none should be deterred from attempting it
from a fear that they shall not succeed. Indeed,
some of the best examples of its success may oft-
en be found in the door-yard of some person who
does not own four square rods of land, but who
supplies the three important things which the
vine needs — namely, a moderately rich, vioist, not
wet, porous soil — shelter from high winds, and
constant attention in pruning and cultivation.
Mr. Phin says :
The vines having been carefully taken up and
the holes properly prepared to receive them, the
next step is to set them out, and in doing this the
following points require special attention :
1. That the roots be disposed in their new lo-
cation as nearly as possible in the same position
that they occupied before their removal.
2. That some fine, friable, mellow mould be
placed in immediate contact with the roots.
3. That no fresh manure or decomposing organ-
ic matter be allowed to come in direct contact
with the plant under any circumstances whatever.
4. That the soil be firmly packed about the
roots, no air spaces being left. In doing this,
however, do not tread down the plant Avith your
whole weight, as you will thus be very apt to tear
off some of the roots, but work the sail in with
your hand or a pointed sticli.
In general it will be well to insert the plants a
little deeper in the soil than they were previously,
1863.
NEW EXGL.^ND FARMER.
113
as, owing to the mutilation which of necessity
takes place, a greater draught is made upon the
roots for moisture than they can support when
thus shortened, if they are placed near the sur-
face. But this point requires the exercise of dis-
cretion, and a good substitute for deeper planting
■will be thorough mulching.
As roots always spring from a bud or joint, and
rarely from the internode or portion between the
buds, the mode of propagation by which the plant
has been produced will exert considerable influence
upon the 7nodus operandi of setting it out.
ii«»^N^\v
In figure 1 is shown the proper disposition of
the roots of a young plant raised from a seed or
from a single eye. In this case the roots all pro-
ceed from within a short distance of each other,
and from the base of the stem. In set'ing out
such a plant, the better plan is to throw a shovel-
ful or two of fine mould on the bottom of the hole,
so as to form a conical heap, the top of which
«hould be just at a suitable height to support the
base of the stem in its proper ])osition. Then,
having placed the plant on the toj) of this little
mound, spread out all the roots equally and natu-
rally over its side and fill in with pulverized soil,
being careful to pack the soil firmly around the
roots, yet still leaving it mellow and porous.
The soil ought to be raised some inches above
the surrounding ground, the amount depending
upon the size and depth of the hole dug. All fill-
ing in is apt to sink, and unless this is done, the
plant may be found after a few weeks to be too
low. Some, however, prefer to have the plant set
in a hollow, claiming that a basin is thus formed
which catches and retains the rain. We would
rather rely upon good mulching for obtaining the
requisite amount of moisture, but if this is dis-
pensed with, and recourse had to the former plan,
■R-e should prefer to have the hollow or basin in
the form of a ring ai'ound the edge of the hole,
leaving the stem surrounded with a little mound
which will shed the rain. The stem is thus kept
dry, and the moisture is guided just where it is
4S^!!^
Fio. 2.
■wanted, viz : to the extremity of the roots. Fig-
ure 2 gives a sectional view of the soil so arranged.
AVhen vines have been raised from cuttings con-
sisting of several eyes or joints, there will in gen-
eral be several layers of roots — the plants having
the appeai-ance shown in figure 3.
In this case it will be nccessarj- to proceed as
directed for plants from eyes in so far as the low-
er layer of roots is concerned — the upper layers
^^A^'^^
Fig. 3.
being held up while this is done. After the first
layer has been properly covered, th.o next layer is
laid on the surface of the soil which covers the
lower layer, and after bein? pro])urly disjioscd is
covered in turn, which process is repeated until uU
roots are imbedded in the s&ii.
EXTRACTS AND KEPHES.
AHOHTIOX IX cows — DISEASED TIGS.
In year issue of Jan. 24th I find some remarks con-
cerning cows losing their young. In the Albany
Cultivator, for Ju'.j', 1S'j2, is a cuuininnicalion which
relates to the subject. The theory is iliat the di.-ease
is caused by the bull. A cow by fijrliting, or by some
;;ccident, loses her calf. She will bo in heat in two or
three days. The linll is sullorcd to go to her while her
organs arc diseased. He afterwards serves healthy
cows, and coinmunicitcs the di<case to them, and they
in process of time lose their calves. Some cases are
given which make it appear plausible. The theory
was new to me, but I thiuk is worthy of considera-
tion.
In the Farmer of Feb. 14th, a correspondent speaks
t)f disease in pigs. I would like to iiKiuire if they
were littered with meadow hay ? Some of my neigh-
bors think that is sure death to pigs.
Fitchhurg, Feb., 1S63. An el F. Adams.
"XO FAITH IX THE PROFIT OF 0UCHARD8."
In the statement made by Dr. G. B. Loring, of Salem
of his magnificent farm, on which is one of the finest
orchards in the eastern part of Massac-husctts, occurs
this sentence, "I have no faith in the protif of or-
chards." Why the doctor j-htiuld so strongly de-
nounce What "his ancestors so sedulously labored to
cultivate, I cannot readily undorsiand. I had .sup-
posed that an orchard of choice fniit trees, in good
condition, was one of the mo>t pleasant ami i)rotita-
ble appendages of a farm. Suppose siuli an orchard
to contain forty trees to an afie. Is it unrea.'ionublo
to suppose that it will yield three barrels of apples to
a tree annually ? In what way can the land be more
advantageously used ? I have trees that h:ivc yielded
apples of the value of live dollars a year, for the last
ten years, and this without any extra care or culture.
Let his orchard do this, and I believe it would be the
best use of his land that can be made. v.
THE BEST ONIOX TO SOW.
In answer to the inrpiiry of S. A. G., of Lawrence,
in your last, I will inform him, from experience una
observation, that the true Danvers Thick, or Oval
Onion, is the most profitable as a market crop ; a.s tlicy
are very productive bearers, and measure much l)et-
ter than other varieties. This variety is raised al-
most univcrsallv in this pait of the country.
Salem, Feb., 1863. J- S. Ives.
114
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aprii
For the New England Farmer.
DOGS, GUSTS, RODS.
Mil. Editor : — I am a farmer, heart, soul and
hands. I work with a mIU in my vocation. I am
proud to be a hard-fisted, strong-armed, brown-
faced tiller of the soil. It is my ambition to keep
the largest amount, and the best quality of live
stock in town, according to my acres, and of course
to raise the largest and best crops for the size of
my farm ; and I do it, too, as the figures will show
on the records of our club. How do I do it?
"Why, by taking and reading the New Emjlaad
Farmer, Country Genileman, HoriicuUurid, and oth-
er periodicals and standard works pertaining to
the business of a farmer. I study them just as a
builder would study Avorks on architecture, an
apothecary the Pharmacopoeia or Dispensatory, or
tlie physician or lawyer works on their professions.
And here is the secret of my success. I would
earnestly recommend and advise all who are en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, whether in a large
or small way, to study their profession. It will
be for their interest to do so ; it will bring money
into their pockets and respectability into their
houses and neighborhoods. To excel, will give
them influence in the community among whom
they live, and a position to be envied among their
townsmen.
Although I work, as I stated in the beginning of
this article, still I am in favor of a reasonable
amount of recreation at proper times ; and I have
it and enjoy it. I am fond of gunning and fishing ;
I am fond of a good, well-trained dog, and I am
happy to say that I possess one who understands
his business. Show Pete a gun and he is on his
muscle at once ; and while I do not allow a small
bird to be killed on my premises, still, at proper
seasons, whatever is recognized by the statutes as
"game," must look sharp or I have them.
Now I will tell you what I had in my mind when
I commenced this article. As farmers cannot af-
ford to take more than two or three papers, and
yet want a varied amount of information, I have
thought that if you would devote a part or the
whole of a column occasionally to the dog, gun
and rod, it would give additional interest to your
already invaluable paper. I do not want our boys
to be encouraged to shoot everything that wears
feathers ; on the contrary, tell them to "spare the
birds." But well engraved portraits of those rec-
ognized as game, also portraits of all useful breeds
of dogs, with descriptions of them, would be very
interesting to many of your readers.
Brook and pond fishing would also interest the
boys, and is certainly a pleasant and healthful rec-
reation, and to kill a "trout, who swims in speck-
led pride," is verily an accomplishment. I read
with much interest and pleasure the articles you
have published on ornithology, as well as every-
thing else that appears in your paper.
Your friend and constant reader, from the days
of good old father Fess.mden until to day,
Lauderdale, Feb., 1863, j. l. m.
Reinurks. — Excellent. Not only full of just
the right kind of pluck and fire, but every senti-
ment is such as beats responsive in our own bosom.
We, too, love the gun, the dog and the rod, and
our old English "double-barrel" is among the
things that we should last part with. It has often
been the source of health, amusement and "sovie-
tliing good to eat." The quail, deer and wild tur-
keys have often heard from it to their sorrow, over
a considerable portion of that splendid country
from the base of the Cumberland Mountains to the
lower end of Chesapeake Bay, a country now del-
uged with human blood, and destroyed by fire and
sword. Many a day have we tramped M'ith it in
hand through the Mount Vernon forests, or on the
opposite Maryland shores, or sported among the
ducks on the broad bosom of the Potomac itself.
It was on these occasions that we learned the
strong instincts and the deep gratitude of the dog.
We love him still, — and yet, we sacrifice all our
partiality to the public good. If all dogs were
like yours, and kept in proper retirement, the
probability is that little damage would be done by
them.
Will you set us an example of such articles as
you would like to see in the Farmer, on the sub-
ject of gun, dog and rod ? Do so.
Fo] the Neio England Farmer,
THE OLD FOLKS OF THE STABLE.
No off"ence is intended by the heading of tliis
article, to the old folks at home. The writer has
no thought of ousting them from their cozy quar-
ters under the family roof, and stowing them
away in the barn, to make room for the young folks.
He would ratlier bespeak for them all a "sweet
home" to cheer their winter of life, and many a
comfortable doze in the old arm-chair, through
the long winter's evening, in blissful unconscious-
ness of trouble or care. But old age is not pecu-
liar to human life, though it claims in this connec-
tion peculiar reverence.
Yonder stands the family horse. He is not yet
of age, and will never live long enough to be his
own master. He is but two or three years past
"sweet sixteen," and still the knowing ones call
him old. And there lies the family cov/, quietly
chewing her cud, with none to molest or make her
afraid. According to the standard of us mortals,
she is but a young miss yet, just entering her
teens. But yet she is a great-grandmother, and of
course, she, too, must be set down as aged. If
she could only "haul in her horns," she might,
like other females of a higher grade, disguise her
real age ; but those bony projections tell the un-
flattering tale. It is curious to contrast the pro-
gressive development of the mortal and the brute.
The mere boy looks at the horse, who was born on
the same day with him, and wonders that the beast
should be growing old, while he has so many years
left for growing young. And now the boy is re-
joicing in the flush of early manhood — but how is
it with the horse that was a sucking colt when he
was a puling babe ? Almost through with life's
cares and labors, when he is but just entering on
them ! Poor old fellow, to have so short a lease
of life ! Yonder toddles a wee bit of a girl to-
wards the barnyard gate, to peep at the now-born
calf inside. Strange to say, that maternal heifer,
so jealously nurturing her offspring, came into the
world the same day with that little, wondering,
innocent, held in its father's arms. And by-and-
by the gleeful maiden will be frolicking about,
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
115
while her cotemporary of the yard stands demure-
ly looking on, with joints too stiff almost to move.
Thus whole generations of domestic animals rise
and full M'liile one of ours is i-ising. And yet this
brief life is all they have, whilst ours stretches on
through endless ages !
_ But enough of sentiment, and now for the prac-
tical application.
What shall be done with the old horse and cow ?
Don't have anything to do with such creatures, say
some, but contrive to transfer your live stock into
other hands before it gets old. Suppose, however,
you have a family horse that is giving you the
best of his strength and endurance, but is all the
while advancing in years. You cannot blame him
for this — it is as much a law of nature to the beast
as to his master. The fountain of perpetual youth
is as much a myth to him as to you ; and worse
than this, he seems to leap at one bound from
youth to age. He tries hard, when let loose, to
leap back again. He will throw up his heels and
curvet and play shy, but the old fellow makes
clumsy work of his early coltish tricks. Clad in
harness, his age will betray itself, in spite of pa-
tent leather and silver plating. Prick up ears and
tail as he may, at starting in the crisp morning air,
he will pretty soon be dragging his slow length
along despite all your coaxing and lashing, till his
head is turned towards home. All the fire left in
him is not sufficient to "get up steam" more than
to fulfil for his driver the apostolic injunction,
"Let your moderation be known unto all men."
But he is of some use after all. Age, indeed,
does not invariably hinder speed, and you will see,
now and then, an experienced road-horse outstrip
his younger brethren. This, however, is the ex-
ception. Aged, as well as large bodies, are apt to
move slow. We, of this fust age, get out of pa-
tience with slow coaches, but when you really
want to enjoy new and beautiful scenery, and chat
leisurely by the way with your traveling compan-
ion, how convenient it is to be driving an old,
steady-going nag ! What a favorite, too, he is
•with all but fast women ; ana just the team to
trust your wife and children with. Neither will
he be balking and shying when put to serious
farm-work, and frittering away his strength in
needless starts and plunges, but plods patiently
through the day, and evening sometimes, like a
good and faithful servant. How fruitful, as well
as useful, old age may be, if the animal in ques-
tion be a mare. She not only serves her own gen-
eration but posterity besides, renewing her youth
through a succession of colts.
Meanwhile the cow is growing old, and what
shall be done with her ? Hurry her up, say some,
for slaughter before the beef gets any tougher.
Ah, what a thankless lot is this of the cow, that
her "milky way" should only have been leading to
the butcher ! No wonder her milk is sometimes
streaked with blood, in anticipation. The writer
confesses himself in a quandary over an aged cow.
She still lives and eats, and returns from her ud-
der a fair equivalent ; and what her milk loses in
quantity, with the lapse of years, it appears to
gain in quality. Her owner, however, needs but
one good cow, and that he is likely to have in the
smart, plump looking heifer by her side. So the
elder of the two is probably to be sacrificed, though
she has no suspicion of it yet. And if nobody will
buy her for the dairy, there is no alternative but
for her to drop suddenly to rest, one of these days,
in that sure haven fur aged kine, the slaughter-
house. Let me, however, recommend to the farm-
er who has plenty of fodder and stal)lc room, to
keep the valuable steeil, or cow, that has grown
old on his hands. And would it not be well for
us all to show a little more reverence for our do-
mestic animals that have unfortunately passed
their prime ? 1 have associated witli llie stul)le a
term that probably belongs to the house ; but the
"old folks" have by this time discovered my mo-
tive. It was not to detract from the respect and
affection that is ever their due, nor to abate one
jot of the tender care they have a right to expect
from their children and ch'ildren's cliildren. Only
let not such regard begin and end with them.
When you have done "pitying the sorrows of a
poor old man," pay a visit 'to the barn, and see if
there be not some venerable object there, also,
for your pity and regard ; and remember in that
connection old age may not only be green, but
also be made to blossom and bear fruit.
Feb., 1863. \\. e. b.
FiiT the New Emjlaml Farmer.
HINTS ON BUILDING E-^JlNS— No. 3.
The barn is the building next in importance to
the house, and the same objects should be kept ia
view in its construction, viz., convenience and du-
rability. The location should be on dry ground,
and as near the house as possible, and not ex])ose
it to danger from fire. If possible, it should be
on the same side of the highway as the house,
which may be said of all other buildings, as they
are more convenient to the house, and a dozen
steps saved every day, makes a long journey in the
course of a life-time.
The most a])i)roved plan of building a barn, is,
with a basement and cellar ; ia short, no first-class
barns are built now-a-days without them, and it
is much the cheajjer to build in that way, as the
extra room gained, is worth double the extra cost.
In building the basement walls, spare no ])ains to
make them solid, for here is where the ruin of
most barns commence. Not one of my readers
but what can look around his neighljorhood, and
see more or less barns all out of shape, and some
falling down, and all in consequence of imperfect
foundations.
The same hint is applicable to this wall that was
recommended for the house cellar, viz., to dig a
trench under the wall, and a drain from that, and
fill with pounded stone so that the cellar shall be
dry. The size of the barn should be regulated by
the size of the farm, and should be large enough
to hold all the grain raised, and some of the hav.
A large floor is indispensable f(n- convenience la
threshing, but should not be used for a carriage-
house, as many firmors do, to their great disad-
vantage, and the abuse of their carriages and wag-
ons. The stables, which ought to be in the base-
ment, should be arranged so as to feed from the
floor above, which will save a vast amount of la-
bor in carrying hay and straw.
Good inch boards put on up and down and bat-
tened, are better than common siding, which is li-
able to split and get torn off, and is not as tight
as the former way. It is contended by some, that
siding looks better, but I disagree with them
there, as it is a theory of mine, that the beauty of
an object of that kind consists in its durability and
116
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
adaptation to the pui-pose for which it was con-
structed, rather than mere appearance. In any
case, use good materials, and have the work well
done, and you will probably have a barn as long
as you live, provided no accident befalls it. i
A necessars' fixture to a barn is the cattle-yard, !
which should be on the south or east side, for two
reasons, viz : it is warmer for the cattle, and the
ice thaws out sooner in the spring, so that the '
manure can be drawn earlier. It should be as :
small as possible and accommodate the stock you
wish to keep, as it gives you better control over i
the cattle, and you have the manure on less i
ground, making it more convenient getting it. |
The fence should be of boards, made tight, and ;
sufficiently high to prevent the possibility of any .
animals jumping over. If it can be done with- i
out too great expense, water should be kept run- ^
ning in the yard, but if this is not practicable, a j
well should be dug. After the yard is laid out, !
and before the fence is built, take the plough and ;
scraper and make some spot in the yard, wher- i
ever the most convenient, considerably lower than [
the rest of the yard, which must descend towards _
this spot. Into this reservoir may be thrown suds,
muck, straw, weeds; and any refuse matter at j
hand, to absorb the liquid manure settling into it, ,
and thus save a vast amount of valuable manure, \
which nine-tenths of farmers waste. Thousands,
yea, tens of thousands of dollars are thrown away j
annually in this manner, which one day's work in ;
most cases would have saved.
One-half of the barns are built on a knoll, and i
near a stream of water, the yard being left in a j
state of nature, thereby letting the best part of i
the manure run off into the stream. Now I ap- 1
prove of putting the barn on high and dry ground,
and I do not care how near to the stream, for that
is all the more convenient, and the higher the
ground, the better the yard, but do not leave it in
the shape of a cone, uuless you wish to ruin your
farm. Do not have a pair of bars near the barn, ;
or house, but supply their place by good, strong '
gates, by which yen will save much time, and per- I
haps some vexation of spirit. An indispensable .
adjunct to the barn are eave troughs, with conduc- i
tors attached, to carry the water down into the j
cistern, as a drain to carry it off. It is, also, a I
good plan to have a room, either in the basement
or on the floor, for storing farm implements, such
as ploughs, haiTows, hay-racks, and all other tools
when not in use. The better way is to have a
building for that purpose, but as the young farm-
er cannot have all these things, he must make the
best use of what he has, and it is far better to
have such a room in the barn than none at all.
Should there be sheds attached to the barn, they
should be made to form part of the yard fence on
the side most exposed to the cold winds, thus
keeping the yard warmer. If sheep and cattle are
both kept in the same yard, they should be separ-
ated by a fence across the yards, and sheep ought
always to have a good warm shed to run under in
winter.
In conclusion, I would say, keep the bam well
painted, and if a board gets loose, or any tiling
out of place, repair it immediately, and your barn
will have the appearance of a new barn for many
years. Agiucultukist.
Xcw York, Feb., 1862,
HOW COAL IS FOKMED.
The land on which coal plants grew has passed
away ; no human eye will see their like again — no
human eye saw them, no human hand touched a
leaf of these gigantic trees and forms. No lim-
ner's art ever portrayed those dense forests, nor
surveyor's pen mapped down the broad estates on
which they rankly grew. But certainly as the rays
of light tell us of burning metals in the sun, so
will the segregation of the earthy paiticles into
which their long and creeping roots penetrated
the bedding of the grains of sand and clay which
intimately covered them up, tell us the story of
the ancient physical condition, imder whose iutiu-
ence lifeless trunks, and leaves and boughs be-
came converted into coal.
Low were those ancient lands, surrounded by
marsh swamps, bounded by shallow estuaries, up
which salt sea water gently rose and fell ; one can
scarcely speak of tide, so smoothly between the
stems and undergrowth of water loving tree
rushes, and through the tangled jungle it sluggish-
ly flowed. Into the muddy waters of estuary and
lakes, and on the oozy ground around, the leaves
fell year by year, as autumn chills unclothed the
trees. As the trees too, in the roll of time, rotted
at their bases by the watery medium in which they
grew, toppled over, and became immersed in the
boggy soil under a surface coating of ferns and
humbler plants, mixed with mosses ; the rank
herbage ever growing, rotting and fermenting.
Green and verdant at the top, dark, black, heated
and distiUing out from the decaying vegetable
matter, globules of bitumen below, to mingle with
and penetrate the half-rotted, closely-matted mass
of leaves and fibres, and of porous wood. Thus
Avas the coal-seam formed. It was not open to
the day until it had dried into the turf, or rotted
into soil. But it was covered up at a certain stage
of its elaboration, and preserved for human use.
It may have completed in the earth the process
of its conversion into coal, but it was originally
the produce of the debris of a living vegetation
buried under a covei-ing of mud. The accumula-
tion might have long been going on near the sur-
face, new bitumen seci-eting below ; going on for
ages before the mass was buried in. Covered in
at last, stratum after stratum of mud and sand
are piled over it, the weight of the superincum-
bent materials presses down the spongy fibrous
upper part of the future coal-seam into the bitu-
minous lower portion, the semi-fluid bitumen is
squeezed upwards among the compressed fibres,
and forced into the pores of the wood, the thick-
ness of the vegetable bed is reduced, and it be-
comes an almost solid mass of wood and vegeta-
ble fibre, impregnated with the bitumen distilled
from itself. If it had parted with its gases and
bitumen before it had been covered in, it might
have become fossil heat. But coal, the produce
would never have been. Briefly, then, such was
the origin of coal. This view of the matter ex-
cludes at once the anthi-acites from any right to
the terra of coal. Next, to dispose of the lignites.
Lignites may, or may not at some futui-e time —
ages to come — be converted into coal. They are
not coal yet ; they are still ligneous.
The wood structure is so well preserved in the
brown coal of Switzerland and Germany, that in
some places it is used for rafters, beams, and oth-
er building purposes. The stages of elaboration
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
117
are not yet complete, which are requisite for the
production of cual. It is the babe, not the man.
Anthracite has lost its bitumen. It is the corpse.
It might have been coal once, it is less now. Shale
is the path on which the corpse was laid. It may
be saturated with its blood, but it is not the body.
For the Kew England Farmer.
RETKOSPECTIVE NOTES. «
\Vnm:K Managemk.nt of Sheep. — On page
45 of the February number of this journal, those
interested in raising sheep and growing wool —
and who is not at the present time ? — will find an
interesting and instructive quotation from an arti-
cle by Mr. Fay, of Lynn, Mass., printed in the
last Patent Office Report. So few, comparatively,
of the readers of the Farmer are likely to see Mr.
Fay's essay, that it appears as if the present quo-
tation could not fail to have made hundreds of,
readers desire to have more of it iu the same way
— the only way in which the bulk of them are like-
ly to obtain the benefit of the experience of so ju-
dicious and reliable an instructor.
So many are rushing into the business of wool-
growing that mistakes must be made from igno-
rance, inexperience, and other like causes, from
which disappointments and losses are almost cer-
tain to follow ; and as from some special interest
in the readers of the New England Farmer, we
would fain rescue them from such blunders and
disappointments, we have been induced to call
their attention to the article under notice, and for
their prospective benefit, to make the suggestions
somewhat reluctantly ventured.
As there is nothing stated in the quotation from
Sir. Fay's essay, which would be likely to give the
readers thereof any idea of one great source of
danger in the wintering of sheep, we would here
make a remark wliich may save some sicknesses
and deaths in their flocks. The danger just re-
ferred to is that of the occurrence of sickness and
death from what is usually designated ''the stretch-
es." From this disease we lost almost all the
sheep that we did lose during the first years of our
keeping sheep. Our losses and the rarity of a re-
covery after a sheep was once attacked with this
disease, led us to investigate its causes, and to dis-
cover, if possible, efficient modes of prevention.
This we think we have accomplished pretty thor-
oughly, if not perfectly. Having made ourself
very sure that the disease is caused by the want
of proper action of the bowels, and that this is
caused by the exclusive, or almost exclusive use
of dry feed, it was but a short step to reach the
conclusion that the most probably efficient method
of prevention would be one which would counter-
act cost'.veness, and bring the bowels into a con-
dition somewhat approaching to that which is usu- 1
al when sheep have the succulent feed of spring
and summer. Accordingly roots were thereafter
grown in sufficient quantity to give all our sheep
a full feed at noon, about twice or thrice a week,
when not prevented by excessively cold weather.
Troughs were also provided in which salt was al-
ways kept Avithin reach of the sheep, and more
pains were taken to have water made easily ac-
cessible. The result of the adoption of this meth-
od of prevention has been a complete disappear-
ance of this once formidable disease, and an es-
cape from the losses previously caused by it. We
havfi nppisinnallv niixpfl nshes and sulnhnr with
the salt, and have also fed bran and oil cake as ad-
juvants to the relaxing quality of the rooUs, but we
ascribe the disappearance of "the stretches" main-
ly to the use of roots, and are confirmed in this
opinion by a piece of information lately receive<l,
namely: that this disease is nearly entirelv un-
known in England, where, as is generally known,
sheep are wintered very largely on turnips.
Those who are not provided with roots must,
for the present, devise some substitute which will
act in a similar relaxing way, if thev would keep
their sheep healthy and out of danger from exclu-
sivelv dry feed, and the consequences thereof;
and, in the future, raise enough of turnips, bagas,
or beets to give every flock of twenty-five to thirty
sheep, a bushel of them, cut up in tiiinni^h slices,
two or three times a week, or a less quantity dai-
ly. As, however, there are days, every now and
then, too cold for feeding roots, even under shel-
ter, we have found it most convenient to feed them
on mild days, and some grain, generally unthrashed
oats, on the colder days. Those who neglect to
feed roots to their sheep are running on a difl'erent
track from that of the best sheep-breeders, and
will come, out only second best.
More Anox.
Ft the >>•.- England Farmer.
EAISING MUSHROOMS.
To be successful in raising mushrooms at this
season of the year, a warm, dry cellar is necessary.
1. The mushroom spawn, the best kind and
purest, can be obtaineil at the agricultural seed
stores, in the shape of bricks.
2. A wood frame, four feet wide, and not less
than four feet iu length, will do, but you may go
to any length you please, said frame to be thirteen
inches high.
3. Fresh horse manure from the stable, where
the horses are fed with grain, without any litter
amongst it, is the best for the bed ; the manure
must not be frozen.
4. Making the bed. — The manure mnst be well
broken up and beat down solid in the frame, with-
in an inch of the top ; that is, the manure will be
twelve inches deep ; about the centre of the bed
push down a pointed stick to the bottom of the
bed, and from time to time take out the stick, and
feel of it ; the whole that goes into the bed ; you
will, by so doing, ascertain how the heat progress-
es. When the rank heat begins to subside, the
bed will soon be ready for the spawn ; as soon as
the heat is sweet and moderate, spawn the bed at
once, as follows : make your rows six inches apart
and two inches deep, the spawn being broken up
into lumps the si^e of a walnut ; ])laut the spawn
six inches apart in the row, cover the spawn and
smooth tlie bed evenly ; then half an inch of fine
light earth finishes the work.
A thin covering of clean straw on the bed will
preserve the heat. Finally, if the work is well
done, and the spawn is good, there is no fear ot
not having mushrooms. James M. Russell.
Ndsnn, X. II., Feb., 1863.
The Ccxture of Flax. — English papers are
agitating the subject of an increased attention to
the culture of flax as an ofi"set to the scarcity of
cotton. Machinery has been perfected for its
manufacture both here and in Europe, and a per-
manent nrosneritv will pn f1r..iKt -^^..u
118
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
SAND.
This earth derives its name from silex. It is
one of the most abundant of the original earths,
and distinguished by the circumstance of its form-
ing "%utreous earth," or glass, when combined
with alkalies. Quartz is almost entirely composed
of silex. The old chemists supposed it to be the
primitive earth, and it was hence denominated the
"elementary earth," from which all the other vari-
eties of soil proceeded. It exists in nature much
more abundantly than any of the other earths, and
is a constituent of all hard stones which emit
sparks when struck with a steel ; "in the enor-
mous mountain masses of granite, porphjTy and
gneiss," as of the boundless accumulations of sand
in deserts and plains. In all of these silex is a
preponderating ingredient. Verj* few stones are
entirely destitute of silica, and it is found in the
ash of almost every plant after burning, which
leaves only the mineral ingredients, the other con-
stituents being destroyed by combustion. Gi'asses
contain it in very liberal and even hirge propor-
tions sometimes, as do also the straw of wheat,
rye, oats and other cereals — the stalks of the corn
plant, &c. It has also been detected in the skin
of animals. It is, however, but rarely found in a
state of absolute purity. Even in quartz, which
is mostly composed of it, we detect both alumina
and oxide of iron. It probably does not exist in
nature in a state of perfect drjTiess from extrane-
ous matters, and it is only by artificial processes
that it can be exhibited in its purity. In the lab-
, oratory of the chemist it is to be seen in the form
of a "fine, white powder, adhering a little to the
fingers, and exhibiting a kind of gritty roughness
when pressed or rubbed. It is totally devoid of
both taste and smell. It undergoes no changes
when subjected to the action of fij-e, and neither
fuses nor volatilizes, whatever degree- of heat may
be applied."
It has no affinity for water, and cannot be dis-
solved even in the minutest portion, unless through
the agency of an intermediate body, but when
mixed with water, it immediately precipitates, and
no part of it is left in solution. No acid, except
the fluoric, is capable of acting upon, or dissolv-
ing it. It may be boiled in sulphuric, nitric or
muriatic acid, without even the minutest portion
of it being taken up. With fluoric acid it forms
a gaseous compound, and when the acid is evap-
orated, goes with it. It does not imbibe water
with avidity, and this fact shows why sandy soils,
or those which contain a preponderating quantity
of silex, are generally so dry and so incapable of
sustaining vegetable life, except when filled with
humus, or some similar substance which possesses
absorbent and retentive powers. All the fixed al-
kalies, however, possess the power of readily unit-
ing with and dissolving it ; hence the utility of
alkalescent applications on sandy lands, and the
powerful agency they exert in promoting the de-
velopment of the straw of wheat, oats and other
grain crops, to the perfection of which silex is es-
sential. Silex, or siUca, is an ingredient of fel-
spar and mica. Felspar, by Von Thaer's tables, is
composed of
» Paris.
Silica ,. .^ .,♦»». . . . .^^ ,^». .62.82
Alumina 17.02
Lime 3.00
Oxide of iron 1.00
Potash 13.00
Loss 3.19
Total ..100.00
In common mica we find
Parts.
Silica ^. ......... ....,.-, ►,-.-. .47 .00
Alumina 20.00
Oxide of iron ^ 15.55
Oxide of magnesia 1.70
Potash 14.55
Loss 1.2d
Total 100,00
Sand is of thi'ee varieties, as classified by geol-
ogists, viz., river sand, pearl sand and moving sand.
The first presents a fine, clear, colorless grain ; the
second is composed of larger grains, which are
spherical shaped and semi-transparent. The po-
sition of this variety is generally subterranean,
but it is often washed up by running water. The
third is composed of gi'ains of divers size and
shape, and not unfrequently a mixture of calcare-
ous matter with it.
Von Thaer, in his "Principles of Agriculture,"
in speaking of this earth, says :
"Although the grains of sand are, for the most
part, composed of silica, they always contain small
portions of alumina and oxide of iron. Sand has
as little attraction for water as pure silica, and
thence, as well as its not having the attraction of
cohesion for /;i{??ii<.?, arises the sterility that attends
soils composed in too large proportions of thia
earth. AVhen the sand is united into hard masses
by adhesive matter, such as clay or lime, or by
mechanical compression, it is called 'sand stone.*
There are various kinds of this substance, all va-
rying from each other in fineness and density.
They are taken out of the ground in a soft state,
and cut for building purposes ; to make door
jambs and window sills ; also, mill stones and
wheels for grinding and polishing tools, are made
of them."
The sand stone was formerly scarce. It is now
procured from Saxony, and is an important arti-
cle of commerce.
Sandy lands should, if possible, when intended
for cultivation, be dressed with clay. Some of
the best and most productive soils in New Eng-
land owe their extreme fertility to this process,
and are thereby fitted for growing every descrip-
tion of vegetable with greater success and certain-
ty as to maturation of crop, than many of our best
&oils.
The quantity of clay which may be necessary
thoroughly to ameliorate sandy lands, will, of
1R63.
NEW ENGLAXD FARMER.
119
course, be decided by their geological character.
The poorest lands require a large amount, while
those which are less sterile may be Yery greatly
improved by a small amount. Capital can in no
way be more lucratively invested than in redeem-
ing lands by this process, when clay can be con-
veniently obtained.
To Correspondents. — Thanks to our relia-
ble, intelligent and obliging friends, for numerous
excellent contiibutions to the columns of the
Farmer. As is usually the case, the winter is our
harvest season, for this important crop. We are
not able to publish as fast as received, but shall
select those that are the most seasonable, and pub-
lish first ; that is, inquiries and replies to inquiries,
and articles that especially relate to spring work,
such as gardening, sowing, planting fields, trans-
planting trees, &c., &c. Others that are received
are just as applicable at one time as another, as
they may discuss principles, or may best treat of
summer or autumnal work.
"Queryman" will please observe this, and feel
assured that his articles are always acceptable.
We shall be glad of the "reports" to which he re-
fers, for publication bj'-and-by, when correspond-
ents are specially employed in out-door labors.
Massachtsetts Horticultural Society. —
A meeting of this Society was holden on the 3d
of January, at which the Hon. Joseph Breck
retired from the President's chair, and introduced
C. M. HovEY, Esq., as his successor. On assum-
ing the chair, Mr. Hovey made an excellent
speech, speaking of the former prosperity and
high character of the Society, and then foreshad-
owed what ought to be its future eSbrts and pur-
poses. His remarks were singularly judicious
and practical, and will undoubtedly have an in-
fluence upon the future operations of this good
old Society.
The Agricultural Interest. — It is assert-
ed by those the most competent to judge of the
matter, that the agricultural interest of the coun-
trj' embraces ninety per cent, of tlie entire weaUli
of tlie country.
The Best Apples. — At a late meeting of the
Worcester Horticultural Society, the subject dis-
cussed was the best kind of apples for general
cultivation, and after much and valuable discus-
sion, the members agreed upon the following
tv^elve kinds : Mother, Hubbardston Nonsuch,
llhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Roxbury Rus-
set, Tolman's Sweeting, Red Astrachan, liuchess
of Oldenburg, Williams Early, Early Bough, Por-
ter and Gravenstein.
E^* The 12.000 acres of land to which Rhode
Island is entitled under the law for the establish-
ment of agricultural colleges has been located in
Kansas.
F<T the ync England Fanntr.
THE MILK BUSINESS.
A meeting of the farmers who are interested in
the milk business was held on the evening of Feb-
ruary 9, in the Town Hall, in Way land, to see
what action can be taken in order to sell milk by
seated measure, or act in any way in relation to the
milk business. The meeting was organized by
the choice of John N. Sherman, Esq., as Chair-
man, and H. A. Siiorev, Secretary.
Addresses were made by Messrs.' Abel Glea-
soN, E. W. Giles, Asauel Sherman, Horace
HuRD, Geo. E. Sherman, Geo. Shorev, and
Mr. GoDDARD, of Lincoln. The speakers all
agreed that milk should be sold by no other meas-
ure than by cans that are sealed', so that formers
may know how much milk they are selling for a
can, and to sell legally, so that they may be en-
abled to get their pay. Farmers should be united
as well as the milkmen. A committee of five per-
sons, consisting of Messrs. Abel Gleason, E. W.
Giles, A. Sherman, J. B. Sherman and Mr.
GoDDARD, of Lincoln, was chosen to confer with
the people of other towns, and ask them to unite
with us. The meeting then adjourned for two
weeks, when the committee are to report.
Wayland, Feb. 10, 18G3. H. a. 9.
PjT ilie yeir England EarmeT,
SUCCESS— BOOK FAKMING— MANURES.
Few men ever succeed in business without a
thorough knowledge, giving to that business their
close attention, snd devoting to it the whole ener-
gy of their nature, "In the course of human
events," these are the requisites of success. I
would not say a man caimot succeed who does not
do this, but I will say, this is not often the case.
Now, what I wish to impress upon the reader is
— that farming, as I understand it, is a business,
something more than simply an occupation — it is
an occupation and a business, which calls into ac-
tion the whole man, and all the faculties of his
mind, and if he would succeed and be one of the
go-ahead, progressive farmers of the day, such as
the times demand, he must make diligent use of
all these. I am disgusted by the "twaddle" which
is often expressed, that it is not necessary that the
farmer should be a learned man ; no business
which man follows requires more. I know, very
well, an ignorant man may succeed by farming, in
maintaining himself and family — more than this,
even — and so do some verj" ignorant doctors, law-
yers, &:c., but this by no means proves that they
should not be learned, even in book knowledge,
as skilled in human nature ; but, on the contrary,
it would be no more than a fair question to ask
whether they would not have been far more suc-
cessful by being "learned." It is fair to supjiose
they would have been, besides the great amount
of pleasure they would have enjoyed by a better
understanding of the "modus operandi'^ of nature,
an item of no small consideration in making up
the aggregate of human enjoyment in this life.
Manure is acknowledged to be the corner-stone
of successful farming. Without it in some form,
there can be no success. We are told that this
truth will not apply to the AVest — of this I cannot
say — but in New England and the Middle States,
it is a fact from which there is no escape. Now,
how many farmers, suppose ye. Mr. Editor, un-
derstand manure, its manufacture, composting and
120
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
application for the production of particular crops ?
and yet, it is a subject which can be learned, and
its application for the accomplishment of a par-
ticular purpose understood, almost with as much
certainty as the farmer's good wife takes certain
ingredients, and by mixing them in a particular
way, makes the soap which cleanses the dirty shirt
of his hired man. Here, then, is a vast and im-
portant field, open for study and investigation, as
yet but very imperfectly understood : — The mak-
ing of manure, its composting, and its application
to the production of particular crops. How can
this be done, even if the knowledge is possessed
by the farmer, if he is deficient in the further
knowledge of his soil and its wants. To act un-
derstandingly, the two must go together. The
truth of the matter is, the business of farming re-
quires a larger range of study than any other
human pursuit, and as science progresses, this
great truth will be more and more admitted as a
fact by all those engaged in it, if they expect to
be successful and pursue the business for profit.
Remember, I do not say the farmer may not suc-
ceed without this knowledge ; this is not the idea.
I believe many of them are beginning to compre-
hend this matter in its true light, and book farm-
ing is becoming a necessary and recognized fact.
See Proverbs lo : 14. N. Q. T.
Kinrj Oak Hill, January, 1863.
EXTSACTS AT3"P BEPLIES.
TO KILL VERMIN ON ANIMALS.
I noticed in the Farmer of Jan. 3cl an inquiiy for
the surest and safest way to kill lice on animals. I
have found that salt is a sure exterminator. Put a
pint of salt to a gallon of \7arm water ; add a small
quantity of soap ; stir till well mixed before using it.
The application of the above will be a benefit to the
animals besides removing the lice.
James M. Richardson.
Pembroke, N. H., Feb., 1863.
A FINE PIG.
On the 6th of June last, I bought a pig 12 weeks
old, which weighed SO lbs. ; kept him until Dec. 22d,
(199 days) when he was killed and weighed, dressed,
282 lbs., which, taken as three-quarters of his live
weight at that time, would make the live weight 376
1I)S ; just i.}i lbs. per day for the whole time I kept
him. Is not that a fair increase ?
Remarks. — Yes. And that will be pork "fit for the
pot," and never hurt any one, unless he eats too much
of it.
HAULING OUT MANURE IN WINTER — FILLING UP
ABOUT TREKS— FEEDING DRY MEAL TO HORSES.
I see in your notes on J. P.'s letter, page fifty-two,
you advocate very strongly the drawing out manure
in the fall and ploughing it in. Will it do as well, or
nearly so, to draw it out in the winter when the ground
is frozen, and spread and plough it in, in the spring.
I have reference to level land where it will not wash
off.
You speak of improving trees by filling up around
them, I will give an instance. My father-in-law had
several young trees on the north side of his house,
but they did not amount to much. Having occasion
to fill up a part of the yard about two feet, he was
surprised to find the trees on that part of the yard
about two weeks earlier the next season, and the fruit
much more plentiful and very much improved in
quality. I was glad to see the piece headed "News-
paper'Controversy," on page sixty-four, and hope that
will stop the discussion about "Agriculture in Com-
mon Schools."
Are there decided objections to feeding dry meal to
horses in winter with dry hay ?
Can you recommend the Chester county pigs for
general keeping ?
For the benefit of "New Subscriber" I will say I
have pure Black Spanish fowls ? A. J. Aldrich.
North Blackstone, Mass., Feb. 13, 1863.
Remarks. — We can see no serious objection to
hauling out manure in the winter as you suggest, if
the gi-ound is such as can be early plowed. Manure
loses little or nothing so long as no fermentation takes
place, and the probability is that on such land as you
describe, the manure could be ploughed under before
that condition was reached.
If horses are allowed plenty of time to eat, we can
see no reason why dry meal should not as Avell be fed
in that way as in any other. At first, they might eat
it too hurriedly, but after becoming accustomed to it
they would probably feed deliberately.
The Chester County pigs are highly commended by
some, and thought little of by others. We have nev-
er tested them.
AMERICAN HERD BOOK.
Will you inform me who publishes the "American
Herd Book," and when the next volume will be is-
sued ? H. 8-
Londonderry , Vt., 1863.
Remarks. — Vols. I. and II. of the "Devon Herd
Book," American edition, edited by Sanford Howard,
were published by James D. Torrey, New York, in
1855, and can be had of any dealer in agricultural
books. We cannot say when the next volume Mill be
issued.
SHEEP EATING WOOL.
I have, among my flock, three sheep that prefer
wool instead of hay for their food ; they will leave
the best English hay, and commence eating wool
from the other sheep ; they have made such work
among my sheep that I have shut them up alone.
Will you or some of your correspondents inform me
of the cause, and what will prevent them from eating
wool ? John M. Salley.
Embden, Me., Feb. 15, 1863.
AQUEDUCT OF PINE LOGS.
In reply to your correspondent about the cost and
durability of our aqueduct, I will state a fact which
he can use or not as he pleases. The Salem and Dan-
vers aqueduct is laid with logs of pine wood, with a
bore of about two inches in diameter. It extends
about three miles, and supplies five hundred or more
families. The water is taken fi-om a fountain artifi-
cially created 54 feet above tide water, in a springy
soil, and is of the purest quality. It has been in ex-
istence forty years or more, and has been relaid
through the whole length once, and repaired from
time to time as necessity demands. It has been a
great convenience to the public, and a decidedly prof-
itable investment to the proprietors. The stock is
now worth three times what it cost. Perhaps a more
permanent material would have needed less repair,
but none could have done a better service. p.
Fcbriuiry, 1863.
GOOD BROWN BREAD.
Some time in the fore part of the season I noticed in
the Farmer, a recipe for making brown bread by
steaming, and as we liked it very much, I wish to pny,
as far as I can, for the information. We think we
have improved on that recipe. Ours is : Take 1 pint
each of rye, corn and wheat flour ; }i teacup molas-
ses. Wet soft with sour milk, or if you do not have
plenty of milk, it is about as good wet with warm wa-
ter, with 3 tablespoon fuls of vinegar to 1 pint of wa-
ter, and soda to sweeten either the milk or soured wa-
ter. Steam three hours, without taking the cover off,
as that will cause it to fall. t?a,nnie.
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
121
For t/ie New England Farmer.
THE HOLBROOK PLOUGH.
Mr. Editor: — Have you used this plough with
the double mould board ? It has been claimed
that it is an improvement upon the Michigan
plough, inasmuch as the forward board will lay
the sod grass side down, flat in the trench, while
the Michigan lays it rather in a roll than flat.
There has been an objection brought against
the Holbrook plough, as being very hard to hold.
How is this ? Does this objection apply to the
double plough ?
There seems to be but little said about this
plough of late, nor have I seen it mentioned in
the lists of ploughs entered for trial. Will its
merits not warrant a trial with others competing
for the meed of doing the best work and being
the best plough, or is it withheld at present for
some improvements upon it ?
These inquiries are made to draw out impor-
tant information to all who have not seen said
plough used, and are in want of the best plough
to aid in renovating their worn-out fields ; and in
my own case, to learn if it would not be well adapt-
ed to turning under couch grass (Triticnm rcpciif,)
so effectually as to smother it at least one year,
so that the land would be respectable for hoed
crops, in addition to deep ploughing and thorough
pulverising the soil to improve its productiveness,
where it is free of stones, or in short alluvial bot-
toms.
The idea of having a plough so constructed as
to be a plough of all work, seems to be a good
and feasible one, saving expense to the farmer
and being more convenient than having one for
sod, one for stubble, one for cross ploughing, and
so on to half a dozen more or less.
Elm Tree Farm, Me. O. W. True.
Rejurks. — "We have used the Holbrook
plough, or, as it is usually called. The Universal
Plough, and were greatly pleased with its perform-
ance. It did excellent work wherever we saw it
in use, and we have heard no objection to it on
account of its being hard to hold.
For the New England Farmer.
THE SEASON— SAJQT MARSHES— SIDE-
HILL PLOUGH.
In open winters like the present, there is much
difficulty in getting salt hay off the marshes.
Most farmers need the hay, and expect to get it
the last of December or first of January, but up
to this week only a small part has been got off the
Hampton Falls marshes. It is drawn to the up-
land mostly on sleds, and then loaded on carts
and wagons. Sometimes sleds are put underneath
the cart and the hay drawn off in that way. But
it makes a deal of work, and the busy scenes wit-
nessed at the places of reloading are the only re-
deeming features in the case. These marshes are
extensive and valuable. Thirty and forty dollars,
sometimes more perhaps, is paid per acre. Mr.
W. A. Hopkins, an Englishman, has been ditch-
ing on many pieces in these marshes within the
last ten years to their great improvement, making
them harder, and increasing the burden a quarter
or third part. The plain marshes, or those cov-
ered by high tides only, naturally produce from
one to two tons ner acre. The low flats, some-
times called, which are covered with water at
every tide, bear a tall grass called thatch, and are
much more productive. Three to five tons, and
perhaps, sometimes more, are cut per acre. Mr.
Daniel Merrill, of Salisbury, Mass., it is said has
five acres in one piece which cut twenty-five tons,
and makes good fodder for cattle.
I have used the past three seasons, a Ride-hill
plough. I find no trouble in turning the sod on
level land, or even in turning it up hill. Think
there is much saved in travel, beside the dead
furrows and the ridges. When it is jjracticable, I
can plough much faster by turning the sod down
hill. I think the land-side of my plough too short
and narrow ; have never seen anything different,
though I should hke to very much, as, in my opin-
ion, it can and will be made the most desirable
plough. 1 use the long handled shovel and do
not mean to be frightened out of it, by any cry of
"Paddy," or any thing else. Jos. W. Brown.
Kensington, Feb., 1863.
For the Neto England Farmer.
LOW PRICE OP MILK.
Mr. Editor: — Like everything else, the cost
of hay, meal, and otlier articles of cattle food, are
from fifty to one hundred per cent, higher than
they were a year ago. Butter and cheese have
risen in almost an equal ratio, but milk remains
the same, and those who furnish it for the market
are receiving an entirely inadequate price, and do-
ing a losing business. How can this be prevent-
ed ? Let the farmers at once determine to make
butter and cheese, if they cannot receive a proper
price for their milk. Let there be in every town
certain dairies where milk will be taken and turned
into butter at an agreed price. Let the farmers'
clubs interest themselves in this matter, and the
thing is done.
Those competent to judge, say, that, were it
not for the vast amount of adulteration, the supply
of milk is entirely inadequate to the wants of the
metropolis.
If farmers should agree together to add a cent
a quart to the old prices, when they renew their
contracts with the railroad men in the spring, they
could, and ought to obtain it, and if they should
not, it is better to turn their milk into butter, than
to sell it at the present prices. The milkmen
would soon be brought to their terms.
A Middlesex F.\rmer.
For the New England Farmer.
A CEMENT AQUEDUCT.
Mr. Editor : — It affords me pleasure to reply
to the communication in your paper of last week
from Mr. Stanford, of Irasburg, for, by so doing,
I shall do him a favor, and bring to the notice of
your readers a really good thing in the shape of
an aqueduct.
I have a number of tenements which were sup-
plied with water, until last September, by a one
inch lead pipe of more than two hundred rods in
length, under a pressure of water of about eighty
feet. The pressure was so great as frequently to
burst the pipe, in consequence of which I was
induced to try the cement aqueduct made by Mr.
J. D. Strong, of this town, (Hartford, Vt,.) under
a patent of Mr. Livcrmore, of Rutlnnd. 1 con-
tracted with Mr. Strong to dig up my lead pipe,
122
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
and put clown a one and a quarter inch cement
pipe and warrant it good and sufficient.
The water has now been running through it
nearly five months, and it has not yet burst, al-
though it did break through some two or three
imperfect places which Mr. Strong promptly re-
paired. (It was his first job.)
The result is, I have full confidence in the aque-
duct, and have no doubt in recommending it to
the public as a good thing. Mr. Strong is a high-
ly respectable citizen, and what he says or agrees
to do, may be relied upon.
As to the cost, I can only say that I have sold
the pipe taken up for old lead, and made a profit
of nearly one hundred dollars, and have got a
better aqueduct than before. N. B. Safford.
White River Junction, Vt., Feb. 14, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
ON MAKING AQUEDUCTS.
In the Farmer of Feb. 14, 1863, information is
asked for about laying down an aqueduct. "Can
I lay down cement ?" is the inquiry. Yes, you
can ; it is safe, costs about 50 cents per rod, where
there is no pressure. Where there is 50 to 75
feet, $1,25, and it can be laid for all prices between
the two, according to the pressure, on hard pan
soil. If the hole is two-inch it will cost some
more. I have laid one-inch hole, but thought that
S. Stanford, of Irasburgh, would want two-inch
hole to supply twenty-five families. I have laid
it to one village of eight families ; I did not have
any reservoir ; I guaged the water at every house,
and it works very well. The pressure was 60
feet or more. There is no trouble if cement is
good. I am now making cement tubes to set in
houses ; they hold fifteen or eighteen pailfuls ;
they are made of cement and sand and \nll never
rot out; they.are made round, like a barrel, and
the outside straight and smooth, so that they can
be painted any color. JosiAH Converse.
Bakersfield, Vt, Feb., 1863.
Care of Boots. — I have had three pairs of
boots for the last six years, and I think I shall not
require any more for the next six to come. The
reason is, that I treat them in the following man-
ner : I put a pound each of tallow and resin in
a pot on the fire ; when melted and mixed, I warm
the boots and apply it hot with a painter's brush,
until neither the sole nor the upper will soak any
more. If it is desired that the boots should im-
mediately take a polish, dissolve an ounce of wax
in a teaspoonful of lampblack. A day or two af-
ter the boots have been treated with the tallow
and resin, rub over them this wax and turpentine,
but not before the fii'e. Thus the exterior will
have a coat of wax alone, and shine like a mirror.
Tallow or grease becomes rancid, and rots the
stitching and leather ; but the resin gives it an
antiseptic quality, which preser\es the whole.
Boots and shoes should be so large as to admit
of wearing cork soles. Cork is so bad a conduc-
tur of heat , that with it in the boots, the feet are
always warm on the coldest stone floor. — Mechani-
cal Magazine.
According to a recent article in a magazine,
nearly one-third of the women of England never
marry, and three mMlions of females are thrown
upon their own exertions for support.
DWARF PEARS.
Wm. Bacon, of Richmond, Mass., one of our
soundest writers on horticultural subjects, thus
speaks ef his experience with dwarf pears, in the
last HorticvMurist :
It is now ten years since we commenced the
culture of the pear as a dwarf on the quince. At
that time much was said to discourage the idea of
success in the business, and since then there has
not probably a year passed, but that this method
of fruit growing has been eulogized by its friends,
and anathematized by its enemies.
We have patiently heard and read the argu-
ments in the case on both sides of the question,
all along during those ter -'ears, and, like a Dutch
justice of olden time, who, as the story runs, in a
certain trial gave "both sides the case," we sup-
pose both may be right in their experience, (we
do not say practice.) Yet, while the aforesaid jus-
tice concluded the constable should pay the cost,
we fall back on our individual experience, and say
that, with us, the trees have paid all costs, includ-
ing expense of themselves, land rent, preparation
of soil, after culture ; indeed all the care bestowed
upon them a hundred fold, and promise, if we do
fairly by them, nothing more, to continue their
remunerative labors for years to come.
He states, in the same article, that he had found
them quite as hardy as the standard pear, al-
though he had met with some losses which his
more matured experience would prevent in future.
He does not regard dwarf pears as either a failure
or a humbug.
Maine Dairies. — Secretarv Goodale, in his
last report, gives special consideration to the dai-
ries of Maine. He informs us that we manufac-
ture enough butter for home consumption, though
not always of the best quality ; but in the matter
of cheese we are sadly at fault. Indeed, we im-
port two millions of pounds, or a thousand tons,
annually, costing $200,000 at 10 cents per pound.
After a thorough investigation of the subject
the Secretary declares that our pastures are as
good as other States possess, our cows as good, or
may be made as good, but we fail in our knowl-
edge and practice of the art of making cheese.
If we will only, as we must, improve ourselves in
this art, at the same time improving our stock of
cows, we may, if we Avill, manufacture all the
cheese we consume and save the $200,000. By
all means let us stop every leak. Let not Maine
be drained of her wealth for the enriching of her
sister States. — Portland Advertiser.
The Ost Deutsche Post mentions a strange cus-
tom which prevails in Northern Bohemia. Every
betrothed bride, however rich she may be, is
obliged to go and beg in the neighboring villages,
for the feathers necessary to make her bed. She
goes on those peregrinations, which sometimes
last several days, in full dress and accompanied
by a poor woman. Every one gives her a friend-
ly reception, and she always carries back an am-
ple provision of feathers.
Col. Isaac King, of Palmer, Mass., realized
last year $475 from the wool and lambs of eighty
ewes.
1863.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
123
LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEET-
IN a.
The sixth legislative agricultural meeting was
held Tuesday evening, Feb. 24th. The subject
for discussion was "Fruits and Fruit Culture."
. We are indebted to the Adcaiiser for the follow-
ing report :
Col. Wilder presided and opened the discus-
sion. Fruit he said is an article of daily con-
sumption ; an eminent physician had remarked
that health can scarcely be preserved without it.
The failure of a crop, as in 18(J1, is a calamity.
The crop of fruits the past year was unpai'alleled
in our history. He rejoiced that fruit the past
season has been within the reach of the poorest
families. Five towns near Boston furnished 20,-
000 bushels of pears for the city market, pro-
duced by trees planted within 20 years. The or-
chard product according to the last census showed
50 per cent, greater increase than any other from
crops except the grape. The increase of the vine
crop was 740 per cent. There are more than 100
varieties of American apples and about 60 varie-
ties of American pears in cultivation. The Flem-
ish Beauty and the Buffum pears succeeded in
27 of the States, as do the Harvest apple, As-
trachan and Sweet Bough. He spoke of the ad-
vantages of planting evergreen trees for the pro-
tection of orchards, and the importance of drain-
ing grounds for fruit trees, to the depth of three
feet, and working the tilth of the soil to the depth
of eighteen inches. He believed ground had been
tilled too deep, especially for grapes. The best
way of getting good, hardy varieties is to raise
fruit from seedlings. Plant none but good seeds,
reference being had to hardiness of habits, as well
as productiveness. In regard to pruning, he
would do it early in the spring before the sap be-
gins to move : also in midsummer, but then it
should be skilfully done ; should be done when
the trees are small, and a jack-knife should be
the instrument used. Pruning is often done with
an axe and saw ; the ignorant man pruning ij-re-
spective of the bearing shoots. He spoke of the
importance of thinning fruits. This done, and
fruit trees will bear every year. Overbearing is
the cause of the alternation in bearing, or of a
tree's bearing every other year. Tlie vital powers
of ti'ees are overdone as soil is exhausted by over-
cropping. He spoke of the importance of sorting
apples for market ; also of ]ncking apples that ri-
pen first in order to give the others a chance to
mature.
Mr. Wilder mentioned twelve varieties of the
pear, agreed upon by the Farmers' Club of this
city. The first six are the Bartlctt, Louise bonne
de Jersey, Urbaniste, Beurre d'Anjou, Vicar of
Winkfield and Merriam. The second six are the
Seckel, Onondaga, Sheldon, Beurre Bosc, Law-
rence, Doyenne Boussouck. Mr. Wilder sold his
Beurre d'Anjou pears for $3 a bushel the past
season, when Bartletts sold for $1 a bushel.
John Brooks, of Princeton, spoke of the im-
portance of draining orchard land. He had in-
creased both quantity and quality of apples by
drainage, which also served to lengthen the season.
Mr. Flint spoke of New England apples as
superior to what be saw abroad. On the Conti-
tinent, fruits were very plenty the jiast season, as
here. He spoke of grapes as being produced in
abundance. The best grapes he tasted were in
Hungary. He spoke of :j0 varieties produced
there. He saw nothing of the wart or black-knot
in Germany. He spoke of the vine disease, and
the suffering caused by the cutlmg oflf of the
grape crop.
Col. Wilder said, in reply to an inquiry wheth-
er the smaller fruits, as the currant, can be grown
with the api)le, they could, stating that Mr. Clanp,
of Dorciicster, realized >!1200 per acre from his
currant crop among his a|)ple trees. He manured
thoroughly.
Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro', said much atten-
tion is given to fruit culture in his town. One
nurseryman recommends to set trees 16 feet apart;
another 2d feet apart. He grew roots among his
trees. In eleven years his Greening trees have
grown to 24 inches in circumference, the best
growers he has ; they bear well ; the Baldwin is
the earliest bearer. He sets out about 10 plum
trees every year, and when the knot shows itself
he cuts it ofl', no matter when it appears. He
has plums plenty.
Mr. Chase, of Haverhill, spoke of the impor-
tance of the graj)e culture, indorsing Rogers' hy-
brids, as also did Col. Wilder.
The seventh meeting was held on Tuesday eve-
ning, March 3d, Mr. W.VRREX, of Andover, pre-
siding. We are again indebted to the Advertiser
report :
The subject of discussion M'as "^Lnnures and
their Applications." Mr. Warren did not believe
in applying green manures to the soil. He com-
posted his manure and had better results. This
was his ex])erience.
.Mr. Hubbard, of Sunderland, did not agree
with the chair in the application of manure. Ex-
perience and observation taught him the reverse
of what the chair stated. In compost manures,
more, he said, is applied per acre, than when un-
composted. Labor is high and it requires much
to compost it. He spoke of superphosphates as
being too uncertain for farmers to use. He re-
commended turning in clover, as a fertilizer, as a
cheap way of enricliing soil.
Mr. CiwsE, of Haverhill, did not believe in
sand as a fertilizer. He mentioned a farmer that
had a farm of 39 acres on which a few years ago
he cut 10 tons of hay ; it now produces 100 tons.
Muck, he deemed a good fertilizer. One cord of
manure to two cords of muck, makes a good ma-
nure, equal to 3 cords of manure. He recom-
mended the use of ashes.
John Brooks, of Princeton, deemed the mak-
ing of manures more important than the applying
of them. He said farmers lose from one-half to
two-thirds of their manures. Farmers should try
to save their manures, for barnyard manures are
the best fertilizers. He spoke favorably of sand
as a fertilizer. He gave up composting some
years ago. It costs too much. Manure does not
go down in the soil. Sand is not an absorbent
Mr. MosELY, of Springfield, said that he is pre-
pared to say that sand is a fertilizer. Sand is an
absorbent and is used in the stable us an absorb-
ent. Solid cow manure 'n a poor manure l.j had
been told. Sand holds ammonia better thaa
muck, as proved by experiment. The fineness of
manure is an important quality. He had muck
124
Zn X. U' iiJS Li i^ AJS D JL- Ai v->iA:.xi-
Ar.-.-^
in abundance, but preferred sand in the stable. ;
There are so many theories about manures that
he did not think much is known about its appli-
cation. He recommended Mr. Chase, of Haver-
hill, to try sand. He recommended the use of :
salt in growing mangel wuitzels. Plaster is good
for some lands. He did not agree that a crop
could be doubled by putting a little compost in
the hill.
Mr. HrBEARD, of Brimfield, thought that ben-
efits would be derived from the differences of
opinion expressed here. He deemed plaster as
Taluable as guano. Plaster, 200 lbs. per acre,
greatly improves pasture land. Some lands are
not benefited by it. He recommended muck as a
fertilizer. The use of sand was indorsed by Mr. ,
Habbard. j
Mr. HrBB.4JRD, of Sunderland, spoke of a farm-
er that said be got a bushel of com from the ap- j
plication of a bushel of ashes. i
Dr. LoRrsG. of Salem, indorsed barnyard ma-
nure, saying it is the basis of all manures. Ma-
nure for root crops must be decomposed. He
had abandoned muck and preferred sand to it. i
Mr. Feaking, of Boston, who farms in Hing-
ham. indorsed sand. Plaster and lime is of no
value on land. He deemed rockweed very valu- ,
able. Kelp is valuable but less so than rockweed.
Commercial manures he did not Hke. Bone ma-
nure he recommended as a fertilizer for pasture
land and for growing roots. Salt muck he did •
not like, — deemed it detrimental to the soil. He :
would ditch salt meadows two feet deep and 30
feet apart. He deemed barnyard manure the best
and cheapest of all fertilizers. Bone manure,
night soil and compost were tried for com, and
the first kind did best. He grew corn for 50 cents
a busheL i
!
The eighth meeting of this series took place at '
the State House, Monday, March Gth. The Rev. !
Dr. Ha VEX, editor of Zion's Herald, and an hon- '
orable member of the State Senate, presided, and ,
acknowledged his indebtedness to farmers and
farming for what he is physically ; but for his
early exposure to the furrow and the air of rural
life, he said he should hardly have been raised. j
Dr. George B. Emerson, the talented author ;
of "TAe Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts,'' — in
itself a monument to our country, — the profound
scholar and finished gentleman, introduced the ,
discussion by inquiring, "Wliat shall he done icifk :
iJie appropriation made by Confjress for Afjricvl'u- j
ral Education '?- He hoped an institution could
be estabhshed and so organized as to do the great-
est good to the greatest number. He would not |
have anything taught in such a college that can ,
be taught elsewhere. He thought a professor of
forest trees would be desirable ; also one on fish j
culture, entomology, tree culture, gardening, kc. >
He gave reasons £is he proceeded why these pro- |
fessorships would be important and would result
in decided advantages to the Commonwealth.
Dr. LORIXG, of Salem, said he could add noth-
ing to the elaborate plan presented by Mr. Em-
erson. There are 30,100 farms in the State, not
one of which is carried on in the most economi-
cal manner. He had never heard of a graduate :
of one of the English agricultural colleges taking ,
a premium for short horns, or anything else. He
wanted a man who could tell us how to improve
our soil ; who could tell the Secretary of the Board
of Agriculture, even, what to do with a piece of
hopeless pasture land he has in Byfield.
Mr. Brotvx, of the Xeic England Farmer, said
he was not opposed to the establishment of col-
leges, professorships, or any institutions of learn-
ing that were useful to the people. He read the
act of Congress, in relation to agricultural colleg-
es, with care, soon after its passage, and he felt
obhged to say that it did not strike him favorably ;
but he would not enter upon reasons for that
opinion then. He found that this great, over-
shadowing object, looming up in the distant fu-
ture, would lure away the attenrion of the people
from the matters of interest and advantage that
were in their every day paths. It seemed to him
that the cart had got before the horse. We do
not need the locomotive until we have a track for
it to run upon. Let us lay this frst, then place
the steam upon it, touch the "critter" under the
flank and "go-ahead I" All, then, will be right.
Every farmers son and daughter, he said, has
the means of commencing an agricultural educa-
cation now, this moment, if they will but improve
the means already before them. They know how
to read and write — let them put these attainments
into practice, by studying some of the excellent
works on the great art in which they are engaged,
and v^hich are full of sound truths and poetic
beauty. Such works are numerous and cheap,
and will afford all the instruction that any college
can afford, — and it may be gathered before the
evening fire, or in the refreshing shade of a tree
planted by one's own hands. A little help may
occasionally be needed, but that may always be
found by the earnest seeker after truth, in some
educated person at hand, who would be glad to
contribute his aid.
Some two or three good books will present all
the principles that underlie the art, and as the
farmer is usually a close thinker, he would ponder
in the fields upon the chapter he read the preced-
ing day or evening, compare the teachings with
his experience on the farm, and so fix the facts of
both upon his mind as never to be forgotten. A
reading and reflecting farmer is a hard man to
argTie with, if you wish to controvert his opinions.
"Beware of the man of one book," is the old
Spanish proverb, and it will hold good with the
farmer who reads but little. Reading, then, is
the first step towards an agricultural education,
— and the next is
Observation. The farmer should be keen-eyed
and quick-eared, seeing and hearing everything
that is going on around him. Once or twice a
month he should visit others and learn whatever
he can glean from them by eye or ear. Thp next
is, Fanners' Clubs and Farmers' Talks. Mr. Brown
extended his remarks upon these points, giving
facts to sustain them.
Mr. Flower, of Agawam, endorsed farmers'
clubs.
Mr. Wetherell, of Boston, said the mind
must be prepared for the reception of scientific
knowledge, as the soil is for seed. He thought
the remark of the speaker who said the best farm-
ing is seen in that countrj- where agricultural col-
leges receive the least patronage, should be re-
membered by all. Much was said by all the
speakers which we have not space for.
1863.
XEW ENGLAND F.\RMER.
125
A vote of thanks was presented to Farmer
.Sheldon, of Wilmington, for a basket of apples
of a new variety. It being nameless, it was vot-
ed to call it the "Sheldon Apple,"
On Monday evening, March 16th, was held the
Mr. Warren, of Auburn, said the raising of
roots in Worcester county had been tried and
abandoned. Carrots for horses are too debilitat-
ing. He could never mcrease the quantity of milk
by feeding carrots to cows. Cattle can be kept
. ,, ^ ^. . ^. ,. , ,. , cheaper on hay than anvthing else. Swamp hay
ninth meeting of this series. Subject of discus- is ruled out for feeding cattle?
sion. Boot Culture. Some of the speakers, we notice, spoke of the
Mr. Hubbard said he had raised nine tons of. ^™ount of water contained in rooU as an argu-
ruta bagas on a little more than half an acre of j ™^^^ against their use. This does not seem to
land. Ploughed in green manure. }J^ ^f sound reasonmg. The potato, for instance,
Mr. Howard advocated root culture, because i ^^ '*^ \>i^& in 1C»0 of water, yet, who would re-
roots are promotive of health in animals fed on ^^ ^° cultivate this root because it is three-quar-
them. The horse is ven* much benefited bv car- ^^" water ? The potato, we esteem as one of the
rots. The carrot improves the quality of 'milL I ™°^^ wholesome articles of diet known to man-
A loose soil is best suited to the growing of car- [ ^^ contains just about the right proportions of
rots. Swedes grow better on tenacious soils, i °"tritive matter to the bulk. .\ man could prob-
The common EngUsh turnip is easily grown and i ^^^5* ^^^ ^^^ labor for months — perhaps years —
about as good as any of them. "P°" potatoes, salt and water. A dog will live,
Mr. Hl-bbard, of Sunderland, said swamp ' ^ ^^if ''^' ^^T\^^ days, fed only upon flour
muck is favorable to the growth of English tur- f^^?'but we doubt not he would live long and
nips. He top-dressed a sandv hill with muck and • ^°^'^' "P?°.^ plentiful supply of mealv potatoes,
grew a fine crop of turnips. " Farmers turn over ' -/f ^ ^^^, ^'^ "^^ -^°?^ ^^"^f. o"- nothing of the
sward land from the last of June to the loth of, J?'^ Pnnciple,or pnnciple of life, that lies bevond
Julv and raise a good crop of turnips, after hav-l ^?^^ component parts of the food we produce,
ingtaken off a crop of hav. f"^^ ^?J ™^ V }f^^' The strong probability
Mr. Flint did not succeed in growing carrots f "-^^y ^ "^'^ '^"^^^ ^V^te tne water of potato
owin? to weeds. Manured lands are subject J ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^<^^l^ parts, and eat and dnnk them
weeds: therefore, before trying to grow roots, this ! ^P^'^i^l""^ should soon die -whereas, eaung
■ Concentrated ma- ; ^^ ^ ^od has prepared it, we should grow hearty
and strong.
subject should be considered,
nures will in a measure overcome this difficultv.
He recommended the parsnip. He was unable to
see why the sugar beet should not be grown here
for making sugar.
Mr. Wetherell, of Boston, said, that the
question that seems to underlie the subject, is,
whether it is economical to grow roots at all, for
feeding cattle. He had doubts on the subject.
He believed the com crop a more profitable one
for feeding cattle than a root crop.
Mr. Drew, of Boston, said he grew three bush-
els of turnips as easy as one of carrots.
This is the usual mistake made in regard to
feeding roots to cattle. Why, we are nearly all
water ourselves. A stout man has only about 30
pounds of solid matter, and yet he would be es-
teemed exceedingly palatable and nutritious to
some folks, after all !
Wool Growing. — The attention of the reader
is called to an article of unusual interest, on tliis
subject, on another page. It is bora, the pen of
He re- a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with his sub-
commended roots for cattle. He could not re- ject, one who has had long and intimate acquaint-
comraend farmers to grow carrots. Concerning | ^^^ ^^^ j^^ The article was written at our special
turmas he had muah confidence in them for teed-: , , .,, , , , , ,
ing cattle, as he learned from his own experienc-e. . ^<\'^^^^^ and we hope wiU be succeeded by others
Mr. SiiiTH, of Granbv, did not believe the root ' °° ^^^ "^^ . ^^""^^^ subjects. Our Vermont
crop so profitable for him as growing com. He friends, especially, are requested to give the aru-
thought the English would not grow roots il they i cle their candid consideration. They may find in
could grow corn. it the germ of the highest improvements in the
Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro' spoke highly of production of sheep and wool
root culture, appealing to Enghsh practice m con- ^ '^
firmation. He could raise 600 bushels of turnips Cattle Breeders' Convention.— The Cattle
per acre, and sell them for 25 cents a bushel. If Breeders* Association met, elected oflicers, raised
cows are fed immediately after they are milked, three hundred dollars bv subscription, discussed
the milk will not taste of turnips. breeds, and adjourned to'Worcester a vear hence,
Mr. Morton, of Wiliiamsburgh, spoke of the . all on Wednesdav, March 4th, at Hartford. The
effects of carrots and mta bagas on the soil, the greatest enthusiasm was manifested over the solid
latter being injurious to the following crop. He basis of the .\ssociation. It is an American affair,
preferred carrots for cows, as turnips make the originating in New England, and its sole object is
milk taste of them. He had grown carrots on the protection of breeders and the public from
the same piece of ground for 12 years. imposition by pedigrees. Anv pedigree worth in-
Mr. Flower said he would not grow carrots sertin? in the societv's list is examined for a small
as an infringement upon the corn crop. i fee, which is refunded if they are rejected- The
Mr. Wetherell said English authority as following officers were elected : H. H. Peters, of,
quoted to indorse the economy of root culture is Southboro', President ; E. H. Hyde, B. F. An-
not pertinent to this country, as there they cannot drews, H. G. White, A. 0. Cummins and Peleg
grow Indian com, as we can here. He spoke ol Winslow, Vice-Presidents ; H. \. Dyer, Secrtta-
the value of com fodder from an acre of ground \ ry and Treasurer ; J. S. .\llea and C. F. Pond,
as equal to the hay that would grow thereon. I Auditors.
126
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
AQRICULTUIIE THE GREAT INTEREST.
Nothing is more common, even among vyise leg-
islators, than to hear people talking of the supe-
rior importance of commerce, mechanics, arts and
manufactures, to that of agriculture, as a busi-
ness— and speaking of the vast preponderance of
capital invested in those branches of industry over
that engaged in cultivating the soil. We do not
speak of this complainingly, but only as the nat-
ural result of that broadcast prejudice which ex-
ists against the occupations of rural life, and of
that want of information in the public mind, which
])laces in a second or third rate position the great
art that sustains us all. No error can find so
little foundation as this, and a trifling investiga-
tion of the various census tables published, will
justify what we assert.
A few years ago, when the farmers of the State
of Maine asked the Legislature to establish a
State Board of Agriculture, all the old objections
were urged against it, and among others, that the
subject was not of sufficient public importance to
justify such a measure. In reply to this, it was
stated by a member, first, that commerce and
manufactures had, in a thousand ways, directly
and indirectly, received the protection and patron-
age of the general government — and second, that
commerce and manufactures were not greater in-
tej-ests than agriculture, but that more capilal was
invested in agriculture than all the investments in
commcjxe and m,aniifadures added together !
The last remark was received with derision, and
proof was called for. Application was made to
the Superintendent of the Census Bureau, and the
following answer returned : "The amount invest-
ed in agriculture, in the United States, does not
fall short of $5,000,000,000, (five billions,) and
the capital in manufactures and commerce togeth-
er, cannot possibly be more than one-ffth of that
amount."
For one, we have no special favor to ask of
Congress or legislatures for the farmer — but only
those helps which are accorded to all classes of
our people, and which, instead of crippling the
government, would vastly strengthen it. What
we do earnestly desire is, that the farmer shall be-
come a more intelligent, self-reliant and systemat-
ic man, and then he will soon take proper rank,
and exert the most happy influence upon every
department of our industrial and political afi'airs.
This must be done in order to place our govern-
ment on the most stable and permanent founda-
tion, and to secure the greatest national prosperity.
Public Schools of Pennsylvania. — The
whole number of scholars in attendance upon the
public schools of Pennsylvania last year was 682,-
182. The cost of maintaining the schools was
$2,773,595.
For tlie New England Farmer.
FLAX CULTURE— No. 2.
Two powerful incentives are now operating to
induce farmers to embark in the cultivation of
flax, viz : Its profitableness over other farm pro-
ducts, and a desire to produce a substitute for cot-
ton. That it is the most profitable crop the farm-
er can raise, at present prices, every one will ad-
mit, notwithstanding the remarks I made oia the
subject in a former article, and as I promised then
to give some instructions in regard to its cultiva-
tion, I will begin by noticing the objections that
some farmers make to sowing, and trying to prove
that they are m.ostly groundless. In the first
place, some contend that it exhausts the soil more
than other crops. I have faised flax for fifteen
years on the same farm, and said farm will pro-
duce fully one-third more of any crop than it
would at the time I commenced. I do not attri-
bute its increased productiveness to raising flax,
but to a judicious system of manuring and high
seeding. My system of cropping is this : first,
corn or potatoes, second, flax, oats, or .spring
wheat, and then to rye in the fail, and seed down.
Of my method of manuring, I will speak hereaf-
ter, but suffice it to say here, that it enables me lo
take ofi" three crops as above, and leave my land
in better condition than when first ploughed.
That flax does not exhaust the soil more than oats,
or spring wheat, 1 infer from the fact that my rye
or winter wheat is invariably better on the land
sowed to flax, than on the oat or other stubble.
Others say that land cannot be seeded when sown
to flax, which is an error, although it is not as
good as some other crops, for the reason that, if
the flax is pulled in wet weather, the young grass
roots ai"e pulled out, more or less, and if dry v.eath-
er comes on, they are dried to death ; but this can
be obviated in a measure by rolling the land after
the flax is off". I prefer to take off" three crops,
and if the land is not suitable for rye, I leave it
until spring, and sow to oats or barley, spreading
fine manure on top of the ground, which, being
harvested in with the grain, secures a good crop,
and also a good seed, which is worth as much as a
coat of manure on any land.
The greatest objection, in these times of scar-
city of labor, is that the liarvesting comes just
when the farmer is the busiest, and when every
other crop is pressing. The only way to remedy
this, is to sow a little less of other crops, and sow
a little flax, not too much, for J do not approve
of every farmer going into the flax business over
head and ears, to the neglect of everything else.
That flax is an uncertain crop, is very true, but it
is very seldom that it does not pay for all labor
and leave a little besides, in the poorest of sea-
sons.
The quantity and quality of flax depend very
much on the season, probably more so than most
other crops, for, unlike corn, it has iew enemies,
and, unlike corn, it requires a cool, moist season,
to bring it to its greatest perfection. Nearly all
rich soils will produce flax, except sandy or grav-
elly land, and even that will grow good flax in a
very wet season. Soils that are best adapted to
oats, are the best for flax. It should be sown on
land that has produced a hoea crop the previous
year, as otherwise it is apt to be filled with weeds,
which make bad pulling. Sward land, ])loughed
in the fall, may be sown the next spriug, but
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
127
should never be turned over and sowed the same
spring, as the timothy will come up in it and head
out. The ground should be jiloughed fine, and
levelled down with the harrow before sowing, and
harrowed twice after sowing. The quantity of
seed sown must be governed by the object in view.
If we raise it for the seed, mostly, twenty-six to
thirty quarts to the acre is enough, when it will
branch out and yield more seed than if sown thick-
er. The coat will also be coarse and harsh, fit for
nothing but ropes and such coarse articles. If a
fine, nice coat is desired, sow five pecks to the
acre, but for seed and lint, sow one bushel. Tliis
is the most profitable quantity to sow at present,
as both seed and lint are high, the former being
worth !?a 25 per bushel, and the latter 2o cents
per pound, for the best quality, which is nine cents
more than has been known for a great many years.
Nothing more is to be done until pulling time,
which commences as soon as the leaves begin to
fall from the stalk, or when about half of the bolls
are turned from the green to a brownish color.
In pulling, great care should be taken to keep
it even at the roots, and to discar d all weeds,
grass, (tc, as they produce no lint, and render the
seed impure.
That which it is designed to save seed from for
sowing, should be weeded two or three times
through the summer, which is done by going
through it and pulling out all bad weeds as yellow
seed, mustard, &;c., then thresh the seed oiT by it-
self, and it can be kept clean. When j)ulling,
stand with the back down hill, gather tlie flax with
one hand, and hold it in the other. Gather at one
time about what will stand on four or five square
inches of ground, and raise it just high enough to
pull all the flax out, but no higher, as the higher
it is raised in pulling, the more liable it is to get
uneven. The most convenient size for bundles is
just about what a person can grasp with both
hands. As soon as a handful is pulled, hold it
loosely in the hands and drop it on the ground
two or three times, to even the butts, then bind
by taking about a dozen stalks of flax and ])utting
them around the handful, taking both ends in one
hand, and whirling the handful until the band is
twisted sufficiently to hold it. A little practice
enables one to bind very fast in this way. It
should be set up two and two, and from six to
eight in a shock, and as soon as they become chy,
bind each shock into a bundle with rye straw, and
draw in, handling carefully so as not to shell and
waste the seed.
There are two methods of threshing off' the
seed, viz : by hand, taking the handfuls in the
hands and beating the seed ends on a stone, block
or some hard substance, until the bolls are all
beaten off; and by passing the tops of the hand-
fuls between rollers driven l)y horse or water-
power. Where there is much of a crop, the latter
method is preferable, but for small lots, if the
owner has no power of his own, it is cheaper to
do it by hand. A person will whip from one-half
to three-fourths of an acre ])er day by hand, and
a set of rollers with men will thresh from four to
six aores, aiul take care of the flax. Great care
is necessary in cleaning the seed, it being liglit and
very flat, it is liable to be blown over in the chaff.
I have known as much as two bushels to the acre,
wasted in this way by careless workmen. Spread-
ing is another operation requiring care, as it is
necessary that it should be spread evenly in order
that it may rot uniformly. It should be spread
about the same thickness 'that it grew, and as even-
ly at the butts as possible. When about half roUed,
it must be turned, beginning at the last swath
spread, and running a long, smooth pole under
the flax a little above the middle, and turning it
over, pressing the swath down after turning to
prevent the wind from blowing it around. When
it can be taken in the hand, and by rul)l)ing, the
sheaves can be broken and separated fioni the
coat, it is fit to take up, which is done by raking
it into hurdles the size of oat sheaves, and bind-
ing, when it is ready to take to the dressing-ma-
chine. As the dressing is a trade by itself, which
the farmer has nothing to do with, I'will say noth-
ing about it. It is customary here for the "farmer
to deliver the flax at the mill, and the dresser fits
it for market and sells it, reserving $2 GO per
hundred for his work.
Any other information respecting its cultivation
which I possess, will be cheerfully given to any
desiring it. Aguiclltl-bist.
New Fork, Januat'y, 18G3.
For t'-e Aeir England Fnrmer.
BEST PEAKS FOR CULTUKE IN MAS-
SACHUSETTS.
At a recent Legislative Agricultural meeting at
the State House in Boston, the presiding officer
remarked that the Massachusetts Agricultural
Club, an association composed of gentlemen em-
inent for their interest in agriculture, have, after
many years of deliberation on the sul)ject, decid-
ed unanimously, upon the twelve kinils of pears
best adapted for cultivation in Massachusetts.
They are as follows : IJartlett, Louise IJonne de
Jersey, Urbaniste, Beurre d' Anjou, Vicar of
Winkfield, Merriam, Seckel, Onondaga, Sheldon,
Beurre Bosc, Lawrence and Doyenne Boussock.
Now with all due deference to the opinion of
these gentlemen who have, "after many years of
observation," come to this conclusion, I was sur-
prised to find such varieties as the Ik'lle Lucra-
tive, Winter Nelis, Paradise of Autumn and Buf-
fum, were not included in their list, in preference
to the Onondaga, Merriam, Doyenne Bcjussock
and Lawrence. That fine fall fruit, 'the Belle Lu-
crative, has not only increased in size, annually,
from its introduction, but was one of the few that
remained uninjured in the winter of 1^<(J1, which
was so disastrous to the fruit buds, as well as the
shoots of many of our finest pear trees. The
Beurre Bosc suffered extensively ; not only grafts
of three or four years were killed, but in some in-
stances whole trees. The Onondaga, with us, is
a bad bearer, and rather an acid fruit. The Mer-
riam has not been grown with us sufficiently long
to judge of its character. The Buff'uiii, wiiich is
not in the list, I consider one of the best market
pears we possess ; a fine grower and great bearer.
In making a selection of })ears for any known
locahty, one of the greatest points is to ascertain
what varieties flourish well on light, warm soil,
and those on the contrary, that require land of a
cool and more retentive nature. The Wilkinson,
a fine, native, fall fruit, and the Lewis, a winter
variety, require land of the last description. On
a light, sandy loam they are small and worthless.
Among the great varieties of pears that have
been brought forward witbn the last twt niy years.
128
NEW ENGLAND FARMEE.
April
it is difficult to say, decidedly, what are the best
twelve sorts ; much more so than with apples. I
■will venture, however, to append a list of twelve,
which include the largest proportion of those
named : Bartlett, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Urban-
iste, Beurre d' Anjou, Winter Nelis, Paradise of
Autumn, Seckel, Belle Lucrative, Sheldon, Beur-
re Bosc, Glout Morceau and Buffum.
Salem, March, 1863. J. M. Ives.
Far the New Enpland Fanner.
A LISTEIfER AT THE STATE HOUSE.
At the Sixth Agricultural Meeting at the State
House, when the subject for discussion was Fruit,
and the Chairman Hon. Marshall P. Wilder,
this gentleman made some interesting remarks
upon the general topic. It can hardly be supposed
that many then present could concur in all the
views he expressed, as fruit culture must admit of
many fluctuating, vague and only partially sus-
tained opinions. I do not intend to follow the
gentleman in the order of his remarks, but will
venture a few comments upon what he and some
others said, with a view of facilitating the approach
to truth.
Mr. Wilder observed that underdraining was
the basis of good orcharding, even upon hill-sides.
I agree with him, that a mellow soil, scarifying the
surface, surface-manuring in the autumn, and un-
derdraining on low, wet or very cold soils, are im-
portant requisitions in good orcharding. I am
not a little inclined to believe, however, now the
subject of draining has been brought so promi-
nently before the agricultural community, that de-
mands will be made Avhich may be found hereaf-
ter to be rather extravagant. Draining hill-sides
with tiles 7)i.ai/ be beneficial to an extent, but
whether, all things considered, it would j:>a^ — such
positions being usually rocky and admitting of no
stagnant water — is the mooted point. Certain it
is that very excellent orchards exist upon hill-sides
that are not underdrained.
One reason the Speaker gave why orchards
should be underdrained, (both apple and pear, Ave
understood him to say,) was new to us. Uii-
drained land, in the autumn, he said, Avas subject
to a rising of cold moisture, which was injurious
to the roots of trees at the time they needed
warmth for the maturity of their fruit. In imder-
drained land the earth is dry and warm as deep as
the roots usually penetrate, and thus the ripening
process of fruit is facilitated.
If I have understood the theory of underdrain-
ing correctly, it is this : Water should not remain
on the land to evaporate by the sun, because no
heat will penetrate the soil till it becomes dry ;
neither should it riui off from the surface, as on
side-hills, but should nin doicn into the soil, car-
rying with it the fertilizing properties from the
surface — which it does where there is an outlet be-
low. Thus the soil is kept porous to the depth of
the drains. Some of the roots of trees run equal-
ly deep, and are thereby enabled to withstand a
drought better than if on undrained land, as the
rains readily strike them in sinking, and they are
enabled to draw moisture from tlie subsoil more
freely, as it has no impediment to encounter in
rising, as in undrained land, where there is fre-
quently a hard, gravelly subsoil a foot or more
from the surface, which prevents this rising of
moisture from beneath when the more superficial
roots need it from the dryness of the upper soil.
Hence the prevention of drought is one great ob-
ject in underdraining. In a word, it is lo keep
the soil open and permeable to a certain depth,
(say three feet,) so that it may retain from rains
only the moisture it needs, or draw from below,
by capillary attraction, just what it requires. Un-
derdraining may be defined as the hijgroinelic reg-
ulator of the soil.
It Avould seem, then, that underdraining gives
that necessary moisture to the roots which Mr.
Wilder complains of, and which he would remedy
by underdraining ! It can hardly be admitted
that, in September, when vve are quite liable to
droughts, the moisture drawn up to the roots
is so cold as to check the ripening process, since
the earth has been heating all summer, and is
rather slow to part with its caloric. Certainly,
the objection cannot hokl good as to apples, if it
should to 'ivi}der pears. For the former to be th'JS
afi'ected, the soil must be very cold indeed. Win-
ter pears, however, we think should be placed in
warm positions, whether the soil is underdrained
or not, although to this there may be some olijec-
tions, which will appear further on. Underdrain-
ing may possibly supply a warmer moisture, but
I submit that this warmer moisture (than that
which the ordinary condition of the soil affords) is
not important with most fruit trees in the early
autumn months.
Col. Wilder gave us another reason why or-
chards should be underdrained, and that was the
"prolongation of the season." This is granted.
But while the warm season is lengthened in the
autumn, it is also hastened in the spring. Now,
if the soil is warmed earlier in the spring by this
operation, will not the fruit huds of trees start be-
fore the weather is sufficiently sciiled and loarmfor
their security ') If so, (and the conclusion seems
inevitable,) will not underdraining, while it per-
fects the crops at one end of the season, endanger
the buds at the other ? Horticulturists speak of
the importance of northern and exposed locations,
and of late-blooming varieties of fruit as avoiding
spring frosts ; but underdraining tends to destroy
all tliis security, whether in apple, pear, or any
other fruit trees.
Mr. Wilder also spoke of the importance of
thinning out fruit. This is very well, tliough a
difficult task for a man with many overburdened
trees. This superfecundity, the speaker well said,
exhausts the trees, and he inferred that on the
succeeding year they would not bear in conse-
quence of this exhaustion. But will a tree thinned
of one-half of its fruit one year, bear half as much
the next ? Can it be thus brought to bear equal-
ly— or anything like equally — each year ? But
suppose we destroy a portion of the blossoms ;
will this equalize the bearing? I know of no one
who has thus been successful. Some have thought
that, by destroying the blossoms on a young tree
whose variety was known to bear on even years,
it might be brought to bear the odd years ; but
they find nature will not be thwarted. Fruit l)uds
are formed the year previous to bearing ; hence,
while the sjiurs are occupied with a crop, they
cannot well form buds for the subsequent year.
Accordingly it bears little or none the next sea-
son. This seems to be a general law of fruit trees,
particularly of the apple and pear, although in
some trees less fixed than in others. And wheth-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
129
er it can be modified or changed to another year
by any art or manipuhition, is exceedingly doubt-
ful. Why have not the sudden changes of the
weather, canker worms and other insects, so equal-
ized the bearing seasons of fruit trees that one
season would be found to be about equal to an-
other, instead of being so much greater and so re-
liable as it is now ujion even years ?
Col. AVilder further observed that the sudden
revulsions in our climate of late, had shown that
some varieties of pears are even more liurdji llicoi
tJie apple ; for, he added as an evidence thereof,
that his pear trees bore the succeeding year, while
his apple trees did not. I respectfully submit
whether this is a fair inference. Perhaps the ap-
ple trees would not have born even witliont these
sudden extremes of heat and cold ; for, upon Mr.
W.'s theory, they might have been exhausted the
previous year ; or it was not their bearing year ;
or they did not bear for some unaccountable
reason, as is frequently the case with fruit trees.
AVhen an apple tree is killed outright in winter
beside a pear tree which survives, this we should
call the ])rimary test of hardiness ; and where the
fruit buds of the apple are k-noirti, by ocular dem-
onstration, to have been destroyed, and those of
the pear saved, this is a secondary test. But the
speaker did not say that he had so proved the rel-
ative hardiness of the pear ; the fact of fruiting
and non-fruitiug decided the question.
In I'cspcct to the supposed hardiness of some of
our choice varieties of the pear over the apple, a
relative of mine, in the southern part of VVisconsin,
informs me that he has not been al>le as yet to
procure pear trees that will endure the severity of
the winters in that region ; and that only a few
apple trees can survive them — among wliich are
the Williams, Ilubbardston Nonsuch, Kaule's Je-
nette, and a few others. And further upon this
point, Guslavus de Neveu, of the same State, ob-
serves, in the Patent Office Report, (18.34, p. 298,)
that "Pear trees do not stand our climate so well
as the apple or plum, a few having perished last
winter from the intense cold." He thinks, how-
ever, a few varieties may endure.
Can trees detect and reject po('.?o?( in their food ?
Allusion being made by another speaker to the
presence of oxide of iron in the soil and its sup-
posed good effects, Mr. Wilder said he placed a
quantity of iron filings around a plum tree as an
experiment, and as some sap flowed from the
branches, running down and discoloring them, he
was satisfied the iron had gone up. The tree,
however, died ; and the speaker observed that veg-
etable physiologists had erroneously asserted that
a. tree would reject j^oison. For myself, I am not
aware tliat they ever had so asserted. I)e Can-
dolle does not ; and it is of very frequent occur-
rence that with brine or suds, (salt or jjotash.)
trees are killed outright. A little of these sub-
stances might do trees good, but they have no pow-
er to limit them when suppHed in great quantities.
A word on the blnek knot will suthce. Mr.
Tower said that the way he got rid of this pest of
plum culture was to cut it oil' as fast as it a])peared.
I tried this for a time, till I found that every new
limb springing out was almost immediately aflfect-
ed by it, which if cut oft" would leave none for
fruit the following years. This evil is ])articularly
annoying when the trees reach about a dozen years.
The best way is to cut clean down to the ground, as
the boy cut his dog's tail off up to the neck ! A
plum tree, in the vicinity of Huston, is one of the
meanest cumberers of the earth ; and if I were to
set fifty gardens, not one should have a place in
them. Reject ephemeral trees and plant those of
longevity. lloUTUS.
Uak Vliff Cottage.
J-'ur tlif Sfir luif^luiut fanner.
MAPLE SUGAR.
Mk. Editor :— In your paper of Ft-bruary 21,
I find an article with the above heading, signed
"A. M. F." and on which you make remarks.
I sugar ofl' my syrup after it is cold. My man-
ner of boiling is to take two cast iron boiler
kettles, holding twenty and forty gallons, set them
in cast iron arch ])late wiih holes of suitable size
to let them rest firmly on the rim ; lay the plate
on two pillows of brick with a chimney. These
two kettles will boil the sap of two hundred trees,
and I i)refer them to two pans that will boil twice
the bulk of sap. I heat ui the siuall onu, and dip
into the large one, until I get in fifty paiifuls, or
.so, then 1 syrup it down so tliick that it will grain
when it is boiled away one-half I then strain it
through a fine strainer into a tin or wooden ves-
sel, and set away to cool. When intensely cold, I
put it into a brass or copper kettle or boiler, and
add one-lialf pint of skim milk, bring to a slow
boil and skim as it boils, until it is perfectlv clear.
When it becomes thick enough to be waxy, when
dropt upon clean snow, I pour it into a tub pre-
pared fur the purpose, and in about a week, I tap
the tub at the bottom and draw off the syrup,
which, for table use, is much before any sugar-
house syrup you can find.
I would remark here, that I drain my syrup into
my brass kettle, and leave all the nitre and fine
dirt in the bottom, which I iiad much raiher would
remain there, than to be in the sugur, for I think
it blackens the siigar and destroys the flavor. Too
much pains cannot be taken to keep the sap,
syrup and sugar clean.
" Do not let the women folks take the buckets in-
to the house, and put cream, sour milk, salt meat
soap-grease, &c., into them, for nothing will
cleanse them until the sap does it, and your sugar
is spoiled.
I bore my trees with a five-eighth bit, and use a
tin spout and hang the bucket on a wrought nail
by a strip of leather nailed to the bucket. When
the sap season is over I take down my buckets,
wash them clean and ]nit into my sugar-house,
and they only need scalding the next season. I
prefer the machine buckets to any other, as they
are easier ke])t clean, and take up less room than
the homemade buckets. G. K. J.
Daidjunj, N. 11., March 2, 1863.
Splitting Wood. — S. Parsons says, the boys
engaged in splitting the year's fuel, can make it
easier, and lessen the danger of cutting their feet
by the following arrangement : Take a large
block of hard wood, say two feet or more in di-
ameter, and of convenient length ; set it up end-
wise, and in the middle dig out a Imle seven or
eight inches in diameter, and about six inches
deep. This will hold the sticks upriglit. and they
can be split into several pieces without handling.
The hole can be easily made in a very Ultle lime
with an auger and chisel.
130
NEW ENGUOTD FATJMER.
A-GSICTTLT^^WS Uk TMJi SCAXS OW MAXES.
la. addii5aQ so osdinatT XesgUMsfaood Famess*
Chlis.TovaaBd C wiity Asncohanl Sodedes and
Ex}sibiti«&, and a Sisse AssodadaB, tfaere s. in
3iI:£iBe>deSbgainTebodr,ca*ifetmgc3f one mstor ,
het hvm. eatk coBoAf fd the State, vindi bclds ac
assBtti sesaca of imteen dws, to aveat%aie, d:^
c^aad report oaHaaEtspataiaii^tD the geaiierzl
faosiasdzy c« u» Scaze, and b entilled tiie '^Maine
Boaid of AvTiesliMie:,' ooe meBtber of vindi ac£s ^
a$Seaeiaij. Besdesoshs^dmiesaf amxegos-
eni diaiacser, tin Seeretaiy s le^nted to pie-
pnetise doo^ ftf tiis Boatd fer pofalieatioii, to- '
gEtier vita sadh leeoHJaeadadaas and 3i^lgestH»s
astbeaiteiesSsaf agnadtmeseeaitoicqaiie. To.
ibt iind aSiwitiKws of & L. Gooniix, Esq^ vito ]
lias 'cefrdUriOedtihis a@ee fbr aerea Teais pas:,'
«« are indeiited Sdt tbe ^S<7>SBd Ataatai Bepori
<^1Jke S-umdani «^&e Maime Boari (/A^rnadtMre,
1BS2,~ a Ttibxme of fl6 p^es. Tunni^ ova irs
deadk-pEnSed pages, «e econt soisefinesi pliers
oa yanooi. ^rimllgral topics, wnSten br dSBezent
memiiea of tae Boazd. u> vikom these ti^Hrs had
been pKerioizsiT as^ncd, and read Hmrng its bet
atiituJuiL Bat rai^ile and intoesiii^ as tbe^ '
zepotssad proceedings are, tbeToccaprle^ than
oee-beif of the Tafanne. The r^aeinii]^ portim is
derated to an eSabosate report of the Seczetazron
the Samr, Agiiralluud Statistics, tampied from ^
lemnifc of towB assessQis, &£., &&, dosing vith^
aone hopefid zemazfe on the pto^ects anddntks
of the fomesre of 3iEazne in tiieae ^tzocUoos times.''
We capr a few Snes : j
*^]t is not Sar me heze to speak of oar dnties as '
csdzem; God fadpii^ as, ve vill soj^MRt oar!
GofvezBBKnt, aphc4d the Consfitnticm, eznah in- '■
eabaedsaaitjoa aid lavieasness, and mfJutaiii lav ■
ami. axder and justice, Xocth and Sooth. Bat of
OB' pecnliar doxies as fazneis I maj speak. Tak-
ing the coiuiUi tbgether, the Tears 1860, "61 and
^62, have beoi tezj {declinil veazs, and the help
aSotded br these abondant crops, in pnahKngns
to sostaiB the call fiv men and means, can seazcdr;
be over estimated. The last call ior 600,000 men ;
was zespooded to, fiar the most pazt, after die ac^>
fer 1^862 had been sa^y gaznezed, and the men .
came, in hrge pcoportioo, from the food-psodne-|
ii^-xaoks. We aze gettzi^ to be Aort-handed. ]
Expeziesce teaches OS abo, that aaedesftf aban-|
^mt seasons is imiaDT Mkived bra sorreasion
cf mace seaatToaes. Theze is a demand optm as j
to lar oar {Jans for Ae comicg season viadr and j
veQ/so tlot erezT hoar of the time, and aJl the j
means at coaonaad, be employed to the best ad- \
xantage. There is need of die acquisition andj
difiuMm of knowie^e, and the great eztenam of j
improred {saedse. There is need of the atmost |
f:^~.-.'.z-.T -.-. ':.\za^, and daD in apf^yii^ the ma-^
. ^a-jard, and need to dzav upon all
cf fartiHzation vitinn oar reach.
2-jwiier can than ever for the employ- -
. i;|HrrTed haph'mt'Uts and Caom macfaine-
1-;, i-z t-iixs coatriTance begoOen cf dae neee^tr
aoid ii^eauitt of man, by vfaieh the pov&s of na-
^e one another
Prom the It..-' -^.vo ^Ten "~6 re-
ports cwTiaptr - ;r -" - :•
last sggsaon, ocr
to dkdr ahilitT. A =-^j.-e ;i:.. .z
read by Dr. J. C. WrVpt^y. ' : -«
IKseases of Tr; .
piactieal bene£:
expert from ec:T ~e mast ecpy u:
"Dazingthe - -r ^ - - ~- "Ire,
vhen the prart: : ~e\i
oa isolated mr: -
caoos, the aver-.
Tears less than _ i
vhat has been ^ search,
OMKe acnizate ' >kliL
The same caref- : 2,-
aiate the fancr. : :i?
same attentire
modifieat2?!:« ^
the same t -i
di&rEsee- :-e
to the &.I-
For there
stznetnzes a:.^ _:_r:_.~r_^ .; __.jc- ? l^_ _^-iii^-.
Both haTe the same c:heiBkal cmfrdtoents."
An impcKtant tmth is strSdngly expressed in
the fdloving extract from a report by iL-. Kgb-
EBi Mabtts, cf We?: Danville, cm ~The Feedii^
of Farm Stock," and witii it we most close oar
extzacts Ibr the paresen:.
"A good-sized ime-yeaj-^ld in nsoal nesh at
eommeiieement of winter, •srill ^ei^h ahicut 6<X)
pounds — a foar w fiTe-yeir-cIi ox, !.-><> i pounds.
It is not so anconunoc a? i: cu^h; to be. f jI r'aem
to ^n %m. duriog the wiiiier nx>m cne-iounh to
one-tfiird in wei^it, iat want of proper food and
shelt^. The remit is, ti^ owner has lost cm the
year-oM, 200 poonds, and on the ox 500 poands
of be^ dnzii^ the vinter, winch is worth in the
one case $8, aind in the odio- $20. The animals
have really ctmsomed one-third cf themselres to
carry them thzoogh tiie vister. Onen oar neat
cattle aze led in the winter on beef and tallow,
she^ on matton, hogs cm pork and lard, boises
on hcRse-flesh — all expenave articles c^ food
eonqnred vidi hay, grain and the Tazioas root
etops."
LiXA. Bea>5. — I Lave been so socoessfol with
an experiment ihai I was induced to try this year,
with my lima beans, that I h^Te thought it
might be wcHthy of reecading in yoar colonms.
When the beans aze Ranted early, and wei, cold
weather follows, many of them nerer vegetate ;
{Revioos to plaotii^ thi? year I melted up some
tallow, and, when eocded a liule, I dipped in the
beans, coating them with it ; the result is, that I
hare not tiad a angle bean that has failed to veg-
etate, and they are growing finely. — Farmer aad
Ga> deaer.
1V.3.
XEW EXGL-VNT) FAP3IEIL
131
EXraACTS A^X> KEPXXB8.
Do vca -rrl'-f'.j ^^'li-!^~ liii if a£n ax, on tfce -wxy
to clic BU;^z:ucr-bocsc, ri<oa^ ha()pea to est ooe sto-
^ aokMi, ft vo«ld so taiat, cfiea aad IsTor the vboie
■teat, that all who eat of it woold taste Ae oakm ? ,
I>o Toa befiere that any kiad of food or process of |
fee^Dg vin r^der eoane-wooled dteep fiae-wooied ,
Eheep ; or the coarse hair OB asiBals far: or the coarse
feathers oo. birds down ? Morxi Gsace.
ITarviei. 1863.
Besiaxxb.— We thiak it^oaaUr that an these thiB^
might arise from the casses job iiBtiiii Ahaofit
eTtxytliiBg JOB eat has goae AroBgh a sBSar pro-
cess. The fine haired, sofi-ekiBned ox that s&rds
ench jnicj and ddiciOBS steaks, has bees broB^ bj
calmre £rom die ooarse^iaired, thick-hided, ilt«h^ed
animal &at rardj exceeded 700 or 800 R». ia wa^-
So it is with the afgin, pear, peach aad pInL WIA
the potato, pawip, eazrot aad eeletj,— thej hare aH
be^ laade t^ider, joiej and palatable bj good treat-
mest, that s, caxttal adbtre. Whj that i^ocess ^oold
uoc a^ect the ox, ^eqt or foml, ve esatat. see.
Bin the onioo seems to be a Btxle too stroo^ £or obt
correspondent. It is not oht story — ve told the tale
as 'twas tt4d to ns. Yet we cannot see aByrhia* iai-
probabie in it. It is said br phjaiolo^sfs that, wh^
milk is taken into dke iBoaib. a -' tt:. - >jf it is almoa
immediate coBrerted into is boandiag
throQgh the srstem. VThj - :-? and other
IK>i5cii5 desiTOT life so scddeniv mu-ess they pass dl-
rwsly mio the ciiralatJoD ? We iLixe an aufc-rnuiiie
friend who has what is caOed a 'T'Ote fever,' if be is
in the ne^hborhood where they bl«>jm, ar i !: i? ~-:iy
timc5 been obliged to shnt himself a? in i^
dartnsr their blooming seasc^n. He l^s ,:^ --
ance of a person with a hesTy coid. Triii ii ^
sioued by the smell of ihe roees. \>iil '-Mocn: .
tell Low mnch of those odors he had mhaled ? w -.iLi
it be appteciaMe bj the sense of a^u,or toBch,ar
wei^h:, by the most sensitive scales ? And jet Ae
whole system is aSecSed by il "VThy not the ox, thai,
bj & fingie ooioB !
Oibst persons are as ar^easastly a^cted by the
snell of oew-^nade h^y, and when oe&r it imaxlai^
hare what is called the hay lerer. Sach cases are nn-
zn^aoKs and well astheniicaied.
R^T'gs OP gwCKP rS TZXKOST.
As yoa Eke to keep yocr readers posred on what is ;
■KEZr XAXXSG WOCl.
I hare a nrighbnr wfao has a few thrin -. z.-. =i§ vU
ay? fed Aem well ti-l k«*?s then la rood order.
Dntae the last foriBie&i h« >-jc<xd two of tiircn had
io6t wool off Aexr thyh*, a? i: scoe oc-e h^d ci:?5<t>i
it off. One day he *-'^^e \ -rfn-n r r ^beep- r^rff a
off by kr^ BOBthfUs, aad he, *> weO a4 r- '-
weald like to kaow the caase and the rei»c
be one. If yoa or aay of tobt imi ii ■ i -
g"^ — ■iwaiiriB mtt»ike ahmL,TOB w^. rrr*z.-r
fitiB^ £. Haaa.'
J^tnamaOe, 17., Marei I, IK3.
8TATB BOAHD OP AGaiCTTLTUBE.
Tbe State Board of A^rictil:ure h^ a aceti^
at the State HoBse on Timrsuay, FefaniarT 3S, aad
in tbe absence of His F.\frflcpcy tiie ftninniM,
H<m. Marshall P. ^Hkkr, of Dcrckester, presided.
A Tmnetj at hnmictB wna tzaaaacted, the ilea ef
Bost geseral interest bea^ Ae appoaatBeat cf
d^egates to viait the aereial igrinikBial fides ftr
the franJHg jear, as ioQows: —
'MaOeaa.Jijas Tibmiwia.
KAAsEx 5oe^ Hasar Cmsitx.
IBiHae^y — - - - ~-x^---» — ?*-:x.
, Fnafefia aad Haapdea, Euas G3s>~
IVftl-r,:~. -i;^ i 't^tll P.
HoisttMie, IliB Pamz LMBMir.
DiiTir T^Ber, j^raaM^T CasnasK.
XorfeK. Hcsz. Sjjcm I. CKKXxa.
Btisiji. ^■» ■»••■'•» w. StrsKss.
r. S. Agmctxitkal Sooett. — Tbe priaeipal
c^Bcers oi ttis Society for the p reseat jear, are,
Presideni. Wtttt^v B. HrBSAiJ>, Culaahm,
Ohio ; Treasurer. Be>va3CI>- B. F "Tab-
:., FeiK, 1S6S.
SHALL P. WrLDEX, of Dorchester, is a
of the Exeeatrre Committee.
The Sjjcsox Apple. — I
of Mr. lJ_BKrDGE Chaxdlex, of
Miss.. we hare receive-i —
is aa oblcvng a^le. IL
' ard keeps until ^
tbe experience o: -
sood grower and be^^iier.
'~^' hnPartri?.
.rst presuu
^ .^; ^_^. > -v^" it-'r the prom
c. St. r. meats daiia^ three
'cation of aaaarea.
-e!d. h4«S:-r5iw*r3-
iiiculiart. iof tiper-
y«Brs iatheappB
182
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
ASPARAGUS.
No family in the country, that has a square rod
of land to spare, should do without a bed of as-
paragus.
1. Because it is wholesome as food.
2. Because it is profitable.
3. Because it is easily and cheaply produced.
A bed once Avell prepared and tended, will last
for many years, — we do not know how many, —
perhaps twenty years.
If one has an old bed, it would be advisable to
preserve seed and sow it, to start a new one. If
not, it would be cheaper to purchase the roots
than to wait for plants from the seed.
The seeds may be sown as soon as the ground
will permit in the spring, or just before the frosts
set in, in the fall. Cover the ground with muck
or litter, and then with branches to keep it from
blowing off. Take off the litter in the spring and
the plants will soon appear.
In planting the roots, set the plants 10 or 12
inches apart, in straight lines, and the rows 15 or
20 inches apart. Put the crown of the roots 3
or 4 inches below the surface, then level the bed
with the rake.
The bed should be spaded 15 or 20 inches deep,
and manure plentifully mingled with the earth.
If it were thoroughly trenched, two feet deep, it
would pay well.
The plants should not be cut at all the first
year, and but sparingly the second. The third
will produce a bountiful crop. In cutting, let the
knife pass down under the ground nearly to the
crown of the root.
Every autumn the bed should be cleaned of the
dead stems and the ground covered with manure
an inch or two deep. In the spring, this should
be carefully forked in and well mingled with the
soil, and the bed kept entirely clear of weeds.
How to Cook Asparagus. Boil it in salt and
water. When young it will cook sufficiently in
15 or 20 minuies. Toast white bread and dip it
into the water the asparagus was boiled in. Lay
the toast into the dish, and the aspai'agus on top
of it, adding a little butter to each as you proceed.
Such a aish, with some trifling accompaniments,
will make an excellent dinner, three or four times
a week.
THE KIVER APPLE.
Among the fruits that seem to us to be pecu-
liarly, and in this case Avonderfully adapted to the
wants of man, is the River apple. In the first
place it is a good looking apple, being above me-
dium size and frequently growing quite large,
when the' tree stands in rich ground. Its shape
is flattish, not flat, nor really oblong, yellow, much
j«d in stripes; tender and juicy; pleasant, slight-
ly acid. It is a fine cooking and eating apple.
The books say it is a good grower but poor bear-
er. Such is not the case with those to which our
attention has been called, as the trees bear boun-
tifully. The tree is a handsome one when prop-
erly trained.
The peculiar and valuable quality of this apple,
however, is its property of gradually ripening
through a period of twelve weeks. Our attention
was repeatedly called to several trees in the sum-
mer and autumn of 1861, — when there was al-
most a total failure of apples, — that were loaded
with rare fruit. While under the trees, and se-
lecting fine specimens, the owner stated that the
a])ples began to drop during the last days of July,
and were in good condition for cooking or for des-
sert. They continued to ripen and drop in this
manner until November, when the supply was ex-
hausted. Small baskets of this fruit were sent to
us by the liberal owner, and also to other neigh-
bors, and twenty-five dollars' worth sold by the
addition of a iew Poiters. Beside this, from these
few trees, a familj' of seven or eight persons was
constantly supplied with all they wanted for eat-
ing and cooking, — and as there were three or four
children, the quantity must have been liberal.
It is a remarkable apple, and one that should
be on every farm — but, perhaps, not more than a
tree or two, or a few at most, unless near a mar-
ket that can be easily reached daily.
For the New Bngland Scanner.
■WOOL GROWING.
The care of sheep, and the condition and quali-
ty of the food upon which they subsist, whether in
the barn or pasture, has a great influence upon the
quality of the wool, and its value for manufactur-
ing purposes. Sudden and unfavorable changes
in the pasture and food, whether the eff'ect is to
fatten the sheep or make them poorer, will afl"ect
the quality of the wool for good or for evil. There
are two immediate changes in the fibre at such
times. One is in making a joint where the new
growth commences, which often separates in card-
ing, on account of its brittleness, thereby shorten-
ing the wool, which is often very injurious to the
kind of goods in which the wool is being worked
and the other is in the change of the oily or fluid
substances, both within and without the tube of
the fibre, and which, to a certain extent, govern
the softness of the fibre and its adaptability to re-
ceive color.
Wool taken from a sheep M-hich has died from
exposure to cold and change, or which has been
for a long time diseased, is always found very hard
to take a good color. This is in consequence of
the coagulated character of the oily substances in
the tu'ie of the wool, which become very hard to
remove under such circumstances, and will resist
the dye.
Where changes take place in the pasture, which
are very striking, the joints before mentioned are
not only ]n-oduced as often as such changes are
made, but tbe substances pervading the interior of
the tube will be found to be different between each
joint thus made, and will require difl'erent solving
186.:
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
133
powers before they will take the color uniformly
through the whole length of the fibre. This efi'ect
has been demonstrated the past year very fully in
indigo colors, and has worked great damage ; at
first attributed to the indigo, but subsequently
found to be in the wool.
The theory of the influence of climate upon
sheep, as well as pasturage and feed upon their
wool, is by no means new ; though some of your
correspondents seem to ridicule the idea. Such
persons must be sadly ignorant of the slicep liter-
ature of the past, as well as of practical mamifac-
iuring of the present day, or they would not treat
an idea of such importance lightly. The first
requisite of wool hjinrnefis, which is produced un-
der and governed by all the laws of stock raising,
such as good blood, or breed, to start with, and
feed, pasturage, climate and careful keeping.
The second is softness, which is almost entirely
governed by the character of feed, pasturage and
care, which will fix the character of the "yolk" or
oily matter which surrounds and penetrates the
tube of the fibre. This substance coagulates and
crystalizes around and within the fibre in clean-
ing, and renders it harsh and brittle, or soft and
silky, according to the influences which have gov-
erned it in its growth.
The third is the IciKjtli of fibre, Avhich is not of so
much consequence when its real length can be es-
timated by the manufacturer. But for ages it has
been well known that the change of climate and
condition of the sheep has afiected and almost
governed the length, of wool.
Wool comes to us in various states, each coun-
try gives it a certain character for our market, all
affected by locality as well as by the different
breeds of sheep from which the wool is taken.
Australian wool is divided into several varieties.
German wool is the finest usually used for broad-
cloths, in connection with the Australian and
Cape wool. The great magnitude of the worsted
trade is of comparatively late interest, though
very ancient in its introduction, and uses long
wool. Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Prus-
sia, and in fact all Europe, have changed the whole
character of theLr wool, by changes of breed, cli-
mate and keeping, and it only remains for Ameri-
ca to do what she can do, to produce as good
wool, and as much of it, as any country of the
same size on the face of the globe. What, in fact,
may not Massachusetts do ? She can raise the
wool for her whole manufactures. She can raise
flax as a ])artial substitute for cotton ; and when
she does this, she will find her home-product more
valuable to her, from the fact that the capital thus
saved will fill a gap now open, and growing wider
and deeper, dangerously so, by importations from
other States of products she might do without,
and which carry off her silver and gold, as well
as much of her best energies without a proper re-
turn, s. M. A.
Fur the Nfir En^^land Fomter.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR
JANUARY, 1863.
These observations are taken for, and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution. The ba-
rometrical heights are given as at a uniform tem-
perature of 32".
The average temperature of January was 27° ;
average mid-day temperature, 32*^. The corres-
I ponding figures for January, 1862, were lO**, and
! 23" ; for January, 18G1, IT*^ and 22°. Warmest
; days the 2.^d and 2i)th, averaging 39" ; coldest
day the 18lh, averaging 1". Highest temperature,
I 45" ; lowest temperature 2" below zero.
I Average height of mercury in the barometer,
i 29.3.J inches ; do. for Jantiary, 18(>2, 29.23 inches ;
do. for January, iSdl, 29.23 inclies. Highest dai-
ly average, 29.98 inches, on the IHth; lowest do.,
2S.,jG inches. Range of mercury from 2S.4 1 inches
to 30.00 inches.
j Rain fell on four days ; snow on twelve davs.
i Amount of rain and melted snow, 3.(j(j inches ;
I amount of snow, 2G,7u inches ; corresjjonding fi^'-
, ures for January, 18()2. 2.2.5 inches and 29 inches ;
do. for January, 1861, 3.97 inches and 34. ,jO inches.
' There was but one entirely clear day ; seven days
I were entirely overcast. The comparisons between
! the thermometrical and barometrical averages of
this and the two preceding years will be noticed
with interest. This season will long be memora-
ble as the "Warm Winter during the Great Re-
bellion." A. C.
Claremont, N. 11., Febntary, 1863.
HINTS FOR THE SEASON.
Thk Gaiidkn. — Decide what you will plant or
sow in it, and vhen you will do it, as it will great-
ly relieve you when you come to the actual work.
What trees shall be set, what shrubberj-, flowers,
or what general improvements made ?
Scioxs. — Scions should be cut before the sap
is active. Cut them carefully from the ends of
limbs of last season's growth. Wrap them loose-
ly in moist paper and lay them in some damp
place until they are wanted for use. The bot-
tom of the cellar, if damp, answers verj' welL
Be sure to mark each variety distinctly so that
no question shall arise as to what they are. Some
jjcrsons place them in moist earth or sawdust, but
they are rather more apt to mould than when in
paper. They should be looked at frequently.
Pruning. — It is sometimes as important to re-
frain from doing a thing as to do a thing. Few
labors on the farm are more injudicious, in our
opinion, than to prune apple trees in March, April
or May. It has proved fiital to thousands of
trees. Wait till June or October.
Gauden Cukss. — (Lcpidium Satirum.) — This
should be sown every week from the time tiie
ground can be got in proper condition to receive
the seed, till September. It is thought by some,
one of the best articles known in the whole list of
salads, and is cultivated with the least trouble an<l
expense. The soil should bo sandy, light and
warm, with a suHiciency of old, well rotted ma-
nure.
Maine Board of Agriculture. — The Maine
Board of Agriculture, at its late meeting in Au-
gusta, made choice of the following officers for
1863 : President, Hon. S. F. Perlev ; Vice Pres-
ident, Samuel Wasson ; Secretar)', S. L. Goodale;
Messenger, J. L. Martin.
134
XEW ENGLAXD FAr.MER.
April
SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.
(TragopogonPorrifoUus) — This vegetable some-
what resembles the parsnip in the character
and habits of growth. Like the latter it requires
a rich, deep soil, and a liberal supply of stimulat-
ing manure. The seed maj' be sown either in the
spring or fall. In some sections of the country
salsify has been introduced as a field crop for
feeding cattle, but unless with very extra cultiva-
tion, the roots are too small, and the acreable pro-
duct not sufficient to warrant its recommendation
for this jnirpose.
As a table esculent, it possesses a more decided
and valuable character, and when sliced and fried
h^a flavor very nearly resembling that of the cel-
ebrated shell fish from which it derives its name.
It may be taken up in autumn and housed the
same as garden esculents, or it may be permitted
to remain in the ground till spring.
YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT.
A GAME FOR LITTLE POLKS.
The American Agriculturist thus describes a
game that used to afford '"us children" much mirth:
One of the party being provided with slate and
pencil, calls on each of the others in turn to name
some descriptive adjective, as good, pretty, ugly,
long, short, etc. These are written in a column
at the left of the slate. The writer then places
his pencil opposite one of the words, and calls for
the name of one of the party, \yhich being given,
is written next to the adjective, and then the
names of the whole company are written in turn,
each opposite the adjective which comes in the
order of ihe list.
The writer now commences at some other part
of the list, and each company names some locali-
ty, as "on the house," "under the barn," "in the
■woods," etc., and these are added, one to each
name. In the same manner some act is next writ-
ten, to complete the sentences, as "hauling saw-
logs," "sleeping soundly," "shelling corn," etc.
When all is completed, the sentences are read
aloud. The ludicrous situations described will
often cause great merriment. Thus it may hap-
pen that "Sweet Susan was before the looking-
glass, making fiices ; or that "Slow John was on
the railroad, running a race with the engine ;" or
that "Long John was hunting the rebels, in the
•wash-tub." Of course, much fun will depend on
keeping the sentences secret till all are read.
"WHY THE SEA IS SALT.
The remembrance of "the bountiful Frodi" ech-
oed in the songs of German poets long after the
story which made him so bountiful had been for-
gotten ; but the Norse Skalds could tell not only
the story of Frodi's wealth and bounty, but also
of his downfall and ruin. In Frodi's house were
two maidens of that old giant race, Fenfa and
Menja. These daughters of the giant he had
bought as slaves, and he made them grind his
quern, or hand mill, Grotti, out of which he used
to grind peace and gold. Even in that golden
age one sees there were slaves, and Frodi, how-
ever bountiful to his thanes and people, was a hard
task-master to his giant hand-maidens. He kept
tliem to the mill, nor gave them longer rest than
the cuckoo's note lasted, or they could sing a song.
But that quern was such that it ground anything
that the grinder chose, though until then it had
ground nothing but gold and peace. So the mai-
dens ground and ground, and one sang their pite-
ous tale in a strain worthy of ^schylus as the
other rested — they pra3'ed for rest and pity, but
Frodi was deaf. Then they turned in giant mood,
and ground no longer peace and plenty, but fire
and war. Then the quern went fast and furious,
and that very night came ^lysing, the Sea-rover,
and slew Frodi and all his men, and carried off
the quern ; and so Frodi's peace ended. The
maidens the Sea-rover took with him, and when
he got on the high seas he bade them grind salt.
So they ground ; and at midnight they asked him
if he had not salt enough, but he bade them still
grind on. So they ground till the ship was full
and sank, Mysing, maids, and mill, and all, and
that's why the sea is salt. — Popular Tales from
the Nome.
A BOY'S LETTER.
"Now, Bob, I'll tell you what I want. I want
you to come down here for the holidays. Don't
be afraid. Ask your sister to ask your mother to
ask your father to let you come. It's only ninety
miles. The two prentices, George and Will, are
here to be made farmers of ; and brother Nick is
took home from school to help in agriculture.
We like forming very much, it's capital fun. Us
four have got a gun and go shooting. It's a fa-
mous good one, and sure to go off if you don't
full cock it. Tiger is to be our shooting dog, as
soon as he has left off killing sheep. He's real
savage, and worries cats beautiful. Before father
comes down we mean to bait our bull with him.
There's plenty of New Rivers about, and we're
going a fishing as soon as we have mended our
top joint. We've a pony, too, to ride upon, when
we catch him ; but he's loose in the paddock, and
has neither mane nor tail to signify, to lay hold
of. Isn't it prime, Bob ? You must come. If
your mother won't give your father leave to allow
you — run away. Remember you tui'n up Gos-
well Street to go to Lincolnshire, and ask for
Widdlefen-hall. There's a pond full of frogs, but
we won't pelt them till you come ; but let it be
before Sunday, as there's our own orchard to rob,
and the fruits to be gathered on Monday. If you
like sucking raw eggs, Ave know where the hens
lay, and mother don't ; and I'm bound there's lots
of birds' nests. Do come. Bob, and I'll show you
the wasps' nests, and everything that will make
you comfoitable. I dare say you could borrow
your father's volunteer musket of him without his
knowing it ; but be sure any how to bring the
ramrod, as we have mislaid ours by firing it off."
— Hood.
Weeds and Flowers. — Vice grows rapidly,
but virtue is a plant of tardy production. The
virtues are, in fixct, the flowers, more or less beau-
tiful, which grow in the moral garden of the hu-
man heart ; but the vices are the weeds, which,
owing to a man's innate depravity, spring up spon-
taneously, and if not suppressed or controlled,
soon leave their noble rivals no room to exist in
the same vicinity.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
ORIGIN OP THE MOSS ROSE.
The angel of the flowers one day
Beneath a rose bush sleeping lay, —
That Spirit to whose care is given
To bathe young buds in dews from Heaven ;
Awaking from his slight repose,
The Angel whispered to the Rose,
"Oh, fondest object of my care.
Still fairest found where all are fair.
For the sweet shade thou'st given to me,
Ask what thou wilt, 'tis granted thee."
Then said the Rose, with deepened glow,
"On me another grace bestow."
The Spirit paused in silent thought, —
"What grace was there that flowei' had not .'
'Twas but a moment, — o'er the Rose
A veil of moss the Angel throws.
And robed in Nature's simplest weed.
Could there a flower that Rose e.xceed .'
TRAINING THE CHILD'S BODY.
Wliatever you wish j'our child to be, be it youi'-
self. If you wish it to be happy, healthy, sober,
truthful, affectionate, honest and godly, be your-
self all these. If you wish it to be lazy and sulky,
and a liar and a thief, and a drunkard and a
swearer, be yourself all these. As the old cock
crows, the young cock learns. You remember
who said, "Train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
And you may, as a general rule, as soon expect to
gather grapes from thorns, and figs from thistles,
as get good, healthy, happy children from diseased,
and lazy, and Avicked parents.
Let me put you in mind seriously of one thing
you ought to get done to all your children, and
that is, to have them vaccinated or inoculated
with the cow-pox. The best time for this, is two
months after birth, but better late than never, and
in these times you need never have any excuse for
its not being done. You have only to take your
children to the old, or new town dispensaries. It
is a real crime, I think, in parents to neglect this.
It is cruel to their child, and it is a crime to the
public. If every child in the world Avere vaccinat-
ed, which might be managed in a few years, that
loathsome and deadly disease, the small pox,
■would disappear from the face of the earth ; but
how many people are so stupid, and so lazy and
prejudiced as to neglect this plain duty till it is
too late. So promise me all seriously in your
hearts to see to this, if it is not done already, and
to see to it immediately.
Be always frank and open with your children.
Make them trust you, and tell you all their secrets.
Make them feel at ease with you, and make free
with them. There is no such good plaything for
grown up children, like you and me, as Aveans —
wee ones. It is Avonderful Avhat you can get them
to do, with a little coaxing and fun. You all
know this as Avell as I do, and you will practice it
every day in your own families. Here is a pleas-
ant little story out of an old book : "A gentle-
man having led a company of children beyond
their usual journey, they began to be weary, and
all cried to him to carry them on his back ; but
because of their multitude he could not do that.
"But," says he, "I'll get horses for us all ;" then
cutting little wands out of the hedges, as ponies,
for them, and a great stake as a charger for him-
self, this put mettle in their little legs, and they
rode cheerily home. So much for a bit of inge-
nious fun. — Dr. Bwicn's Essay on Health.
DOMESTIC RECEIPTS.
Glossixg Linen. — Inquiry is frequently made
respecting the mode of putting a gloss on linen
collars and shirt bosoms like that on ncAv linen.
This gloss, or enamel as it is sometimes called, is
produced mainly by friction Avith a Avarm iron,
and may be put on linen by almost any person.
The linen to be glazed receives as much starch as
it is possible to charge it Avith, then it is dried.
To each pound of starch a piece of sperm paraf-
fine, or white Avax, about the size of a Avalnut, is
usually added. When ready to be ironed, the
linen is laid upon the table and moistened slight-
ly on the surface Avith a clean Avet cloth. It is
then ii'oned in the usual Avay Avith a ilat-iron, and
is ready for the glossing operation. For this pur-
pose, a peculiar heav)'' flat-iron, rounded at the
bottom and polished as bright as a mirror, is used.
It is pressed firmly upon the linen Avith much force,
and this frictional action puts on the gloss. "El-
boAV grease" is the principal secret connected Avith
the art of glossing. — Scieniijic American.
Yeast Cakes. — Boil a handful of hops in a
quart of Avater ; strain off and stir in half a pint
of flour, Avhile scalding hot ; add tAvo tablespoons
of sugar, and one teaspoon of ginger, and Avhen
milkAvarm, add a half or tAvo-thirds of a teacup of
lively yeast, and set in a warm place (but not too
Avarm,) to rise ; Avhen light, stir tip thick enough
to knead with Indian meal ; roll up Avith your
hands in the form of a rolling-jjin, and slice off
half an inch thick. Dry them in the sun and air.
If in the summer, care should be taken not to heat
them too hot, if dried by fire, as it spoils the life
of them ; turn them frequently.
Apple Jelly. — Slice whole apples, (cores, par-
ings and all,) cook them Avith just Avuter enough
to cover them till reduced to a soft i)ulp. Take
the rind and juice of four lemons ; strain this pulp,
(not squeezing much or going over it twice,) add
the lemons, measure pint for pound white sugar ;
let it boil a half hour, and turn into forms.
Soda Crackers. — Four teacups of floiu-; 3 do
of Avater ; 1 of butter, rubbed into the dry flour ;
4 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar ; 2 of soda. Salt
to the taste. Roll very thin.
RoGROD — a summer dish in Noncay, — Three
pounds of currant juice, three pints of Avater with
sugar, ad lib., and a flavoring of almonds or cin-
namon, (one, or one and a half ounces.) Boil
the mixture, stirring in, Avhenit begins to boil, four-
teen pounds ground rice, or one pound sago. Boil
it one-quarter of an hour, stirring often. Pour
into moulds first dipped into cold Avater. AVhen
cool, turn out and serve Avith cream and sugar. —
A^rse FoUc, by C. L. Brace.
Small Quaker. — This is the latest style of
hoop introduced for ladies' wear. It is moderate
in circumference, and leaves the drapery to sweep
gracefully from the waist to the sidcAvalk, and so
around the corner, if the lady pleases. Success
to the "Small Quaker," will say the oAvners of
omnibuses, pubHc halls, four-rod avenues, and
other places frequented by the public.
XEW EXGL-VXD FARMER.
April
Cu.\TI-\TS or THIS .\niBER.
Cak9dsrf9rApr3 PlgelOS
Farasr's Profession— Tool Grow^fs' Oraan K«o
Ot-^'er FlaiK — EnKan&n Grass — Brmuts in BsCer. ...107
IsSaesee of Food on tJ>e Qz^iJzTj cf Wc-ci ICS
Leoertrni Mr. TnsA 109
Hr-- --. - Tf Harresu V^:
Est- ^ 110, lis, 1:2:. ::
Jj^r- r-iral XeeoKS 111. '--'.
- - -Zaire II-
— 'jUFi&scf dssSsabie........ 11-^
^ Z.im~ — Xc. S.... ....11^
. _fi 11^
i Nc-i;s — R*-f=ia£ Mta^atwias....... IIT
11;
- - — — ~- ■" — ^TpooSents — ^BestAi^te 115
— _ JaiMnr. fce. ........US
- ~- rHmPlooA 121
- : aat— CcE^EtAqoedzKl 121
:s 122
^ 122
-i- ^ — '•• •jol Gro-sias 12*
-rssj... 126
J25
T=s 127
t 125
Act
Fi«i
— izlmral &>cie57,.....lSl
-i ij- — ruras fr<r tirs Season. . 133
tr — Yoaiis' DepamaeE:. 124
ISo
r: „ 136
STRATIOXS.
.ICS
.113
MOE-E FlKE ShZZ? fob Xirw Ha21PSHI2E. —
We -andei^tand that Peter W. Jones, Esq., of
Amber?t. X. H., has jsst added to his fine stock
of pure blojd sheep, a buck and seTeral ewes flrom
Humphrey's importatioix cf Spanish Merinos, bred
by Stephen Atwood, of Woodbary, Conn., some
Cotswold ewes of Geo. C. Hitchcock's importa-
tion, and some verv fine arimal^ selected from the
flock of Stepher. Rowell. Esq., cf Wears, X. H.
Lakb Chops. — Cut off the end of the bones
and trim off part of the fat, then pound, wash and
diy tbem on a clean toweL and season with pep-
per and salt. Prepare bread crtmibs or cTackeR,
as for oysters, whisk two eggs with one gill of
milk, then dip the chops, one at a time, first in the
egg, then in the cracker, pat the crumbs close to
the meal, and fry them slowly in hot lard, a fine
tRX>wn on both sides. Send to table hot.
CATTLE MAKKETS FOB MARCH.
*fte fcAovisg is a sununarj" of th^ reports for the fear weeis
eaffiBsXarch 21. 1>63:
XTXBEK AT MAF.KI:T.
S^uf'i and Shrifi aaJ Lirt
Citft. Lambt. Pig*- Fa Hogs. feaZ$.
r*rnary26...1>C>S S564 liS — " 50
itarch 5...12i7 2£'S6 11 — 60
12.. .ins 2l'T6 200 70 63
19...13iO 15*9 SCO 60 100
7:-^: 6173 lCs4S5 636 130 275
~- ■ -[-z t-b!e esbibjts the number (rf cattle aod sbeep
- "ie last fiwr we^s, axid ftjr the cmnespoaA-
: -ear : ^so the total vmaba from JTaooaiy
— riTe we^s— of eadi year:
TSm SKUU LIST TEAS.
Came. Sieep. CattU. SJttep.
Maine ^SO &3 33a
Xe*^ Hampshire. 428 1S52 2S3 9a0
Tennoct 1233 2J.ST 907 2S48
Massaehosess 490 433) 337 2178
Xorthera Xev York. ^ 2i J ^^ _
Canada. 11 _{ ^ ^
Wessem Staias ZiZ~ 1754 24=0 3311
Tot^ last four ve^s, .6J73 10.4-S5 4.4V-3 &.S63
Total, aace Jan. 1^12 w'ks,}ls,2&4 33,247 14,525 33,128
PPJCES.
Feb.X. Mar. 9. Mar.VZ. J/ar.M.
Be(^lst,2dfc3dqtial. ais'l HS'k HS'l W§8
« a few extra. 7|§8 71S9\ 8 SS^ SJgSi
Sheep and laEibSj^K. 6 *7| 7 68 7igSJ 8 §9
Swine, stores, wh'sals..... .5s S6| 5i§6i 5 a5| 5|g6^
" " r^iail ....6 §7 6 g7 6537 64§7|
Hides,f1b. S g8i 8 §8| 8 §51 8 §^
Pel3.eadi- $^113 $3 §4 $3 §4 $4 §44
Tanw,^fc. 'iH^ 8539 8539 Sigg
r:. ^DTiTinsthe tast oosth the sales at this mar&€t. of
- re-
t-.er
!asj year. Prices are nearlT 3
thsn list year.
Tielarr^r - - ---.--^
Y.,»cich-
wei^ in -i- —
■who dressed xjy^rz.
his icatf h3'i 244 "
F::
Ict::
He?.
tered. zu.-- . ^- • -
ft., tot33 a:^i»-:-_
cocicry c lei: :
Childeex. — 1 remember a great man coming to
my house at Waldiam, and seeing all my children
standing in the order of their age and stature, he
raid, "These are they that make rich men poor.~
But be straight received this answer, "'Xay, my
lord ; these axe they that make a poor man rich ;
for there is not one of these whom we would part
with for all your wealth." — Taylor.
^F" A new light has been recently discovered
for locomotire engines, which is said to com-
bine remarkable brilliancy with great cheapness.
It is produced by throwing a jet of gas and air up-
on a cylinder of lime, and costs only fifteen miiij
an hour, while the ordinary railway burner costs
nz cents an hour.
.44
26
75.8
--gh
n record \
■' y^. Tay-
■?n; ozev.
-I sLiash-
._, ... ^r .. .7^1. at 7c ^
- be said were a fair baach of
^i Ox. 4tA Ox. 5th Ox. Cth Ox.
87 118 100 120
65 60 36 85
TG8 834 760 1014
&47 920 1012
896 1119
jw were at maitet Uareh 19.
Don't be in haste to be rich. Remember that
small and steady gains give competency. j
reponeaes
k)vma7fa2'
old ba!d>£.-
aad,hiCun.
a better pa. -
Tbey were
HontEaid, c
of Dmliani.
Marxeu ai:.
is to be taik-
■'- !> -■■'■■'--.-, ha-re be<m
" £ce pair
- H. This
..V — . ^;:ain their
zer boats aud more tal-
-. we heard several of the
—"- =-r-i'--TT of limb,
- in the ox,
:.: inarket.
' • Mr.
DEVOTED TO AGRICTjIjTURE A2."D ITS KINDRED AETS A^TD SCIENCE S.
VOL. XV
BOSTOX. MAY, 1S63.
>'0. 5.
yoraSE, T.\J<:^'S k TOUIAX. ?ao?arxio
5ai''>y BRTiWy, Er.rrot
SUGGESTED BY THE HETUBIf OP MAY.
"In Tonder T»alt of liqaid blae,
A blander Iirh: is kinJUn; ~'~ :
Swrrt m/rr-. ocr cr-r '.ir'ii; hrT ieir,
Ci'er wc->i, and X3.lt, ari L:;;-.ir:air; trow.
Kar. Ic-rks abroad apon the earth.
With hopeful ere and tmsting heart
The promised seed time now hath come.
And chilliBg winds depart."
T this sea-
son, develop-
ment is the
phenome-
non that meets
,us at eTerv
turn, during
this glorious
'month. In
what does this
mysterious
principle of
growth — this
silent appor-
tionment of
r parts — which
-- we behold in
the vegetable
world, con-
sist?
With the
retreat of winter, all the long pent and dormant
forces of nature break forth afresh ; verdure robes
the hill and the vallev, and every leaf and spire
of grass respond to the vivifying influences of the
sun and air. From the dawn of creation, it has
been constantly and vigorously at work — never
reposing — never flagging — ever the study and
wonder of the learned, whether developing its re-
sults in the upheaving of islands in the sea, or in
arranging and perfecting the minute mechanism
of the leaf or flower ; and yet it is as much a mys-
tery, and. in its essence, as far beyond the range
of his investigations, as it was when Adam walked
with his beautiful Eve amid opening flower* in
the primal Eden !
"Almost every particle of the world visible to
as," says an elegant writer, "has been, at some
time, within the organized body of some plant or
animaL It has felt the vitalizing influence of this
mysterious principle of life, and been separated
by it, perhaps, unto its ultimate atoms. We
gather a handful of the black vegetable mould at
our feet. It is now inert, but how many changes
have passed upon it in the last six thousand years '.
Had we the power of evoking from it the history,
of these changes, it would make one of the most
instructive voluices ever written. The most of it
is from the decay of plants, the carbon of which
once floated in the air as gas, carried in every di-
rection by the winds, until taken up by the leaves
of plants. How many voyages round the worid
have been completed by these particles ? A por-
tion of it is made up of animals. Here are minute
particles of mica, feldspar and quartz, too small
for the eye to distinguish — traces of soda, potash,
chlorine, alkalies and acids only detected by the
most delicate chemical tests. What rocks did
they once enter into ; what animal fimns hare
they been incorporated with, and whence hare
they been borne, in the earth's changes, to their
present resting places ? Once, possibly, this par-
ticle dwelt in a granite boulder, and was borne
from the remote Xorth, in the ice period, and de-
posited in its present neighborhood."
These changes, each and all, have an intimate
relation to the phenomena and operations of the
farm ; and this principle of life and vital action,
as developed in every leaf, in every bud, and ev-
ery living form, — whether animal or vegetable, —
should be made the study of the mind. — not. per-
haps, to study the mystery of its origin or of its
more recondite laws, but to ready and familiar ap-
preciation of whatever most directly acts upon
unorganized matter in the prodoctioa, rapport
and perfection of living forms.
138
xsr.VT Ii,><»jii.AiNJj FARMER.
May
Well may the student of nature, impressed
■with the magnificence and mystery of his subject,
inquire —
"Are not the mountain waves and skies, a part
Of me, and of my soul, as I of them ?
Is not the love of them deep in my heart
With a pure passion ? Should I not contemn
All objects, if compared with these, and stem
A tide of suffering, rather than forego
Such feelings for the hard and worldly phlegm
Of those whose eyes are turned below.
Gazing upon the ground, with thoughts that dare not glow ?"
It is at this delightfial season that we come into
closest contact with this principle. The farmer,
as he walks his fields, sees its operations in all the
varied form of beauty and utility which surround
him ; in the rock hidden in the soil ; in the slen-
der stalk and the tapering spire ; in the verdant
leaf and the iris-colored flower, as well as in the
insect, whose tiny form and iridescent wings glance
in tremulous beauty in the golden sunbeam — an
insignificant atom in itself, but a link, neverthe-
less, in the great chain of which even man him-
self, with all his boasted intelligence and godlike
powers of acting and reflecting, is but a perisha-
ble part !
Although we can necessarily know little of life,
as a principle, we may yet know something of its
laws, and the conditions of its development. In
it all the hopes of the husbandman are involved
and wrapped up. "Without it, his fields are bar-
ren, and all his costly acres unproductive proper-
ty. With it, he has more than the fabled power
of Midas, whose touch turned everything into
gold. On every acre he may open a mine quite
as productive as the plains of the Pacific shore.
How few of these have yielded a hundred dollars
to the acre ; yet this is no uncommon feat of hus-
bandry in the least favored of our States. The
dreams of poets and philosophers are more than
realized in modern agriculture."
No employment bequeaths such placid and tran-
quil memories, filling the heart with quiet glad-
ness, and sufi'using the spirit with a holy atmos-
phere in which no corroding anguish — no distrust-
ing bitterness or regret can exist. All its images
retain through life, a pleasant and grateful hue ;
they are blended with no deep sorrow, no dark
remorse, no haunting shame, and are Imked with
those associations, which, if touched by a senti-
ment, are never blighted by a passion.
Time fok Heifers to Come In. — An English
writer considers it a matter of importance that
heifers should be so managed as to have their first
calf late in the spring, when there is an abundance
of succulent food, inducing a large supply of milk.
This is much better than to have them come in
early in spring when they have dry food only.
The habit at first formed is apt to remain with
them, and if they commence by giving a good
supply of milk, they will be more likely to be good
milkers afterwards. — N. H. Jour, of Agriculture.
CHILD LIFE AMONG THE BECHUANAS.
Until the child begins to change its teeth it lays
from morning till evening, and has nothing to do
but to grow as fast as possible. We have noticed
among these little idlers many of the games of
our childhood ; for instance, two little girls will
seat themselves side by side in a very mysterious
manner ; one of them picks up a stone, and pass-
ing it rapidly from one hand to the other, presents
her two fists to her companion, that she may guess
in which hand the pebble is. If the guesser is
mistaken, the other exclaims triumphantly, "f7a
ya incha, kia ya kliovio" (You eat the dog, I eat
the beef;) in the opposite case she declares her-
self to be vanquished by saying "/u'a ya inclia, ua
ya kJiomo" (I eat the dog, you eat the beef;) and
she delivers the stone to her friend.
Playing with bones, which they call kefa, jump-
ing, and at the same time passing a long cord un-
der the feet, are favorite sports of the African
children. Afterward come racing, wrestling and
sham fights.
These latter exercises are more especially prac-
ticed in the fields, where it is the duty of e.ery
little boy of eight years old to drive daily the
sheep and goats of his father. These young shep-
herds contrive to pass their time as agreeably as
possible. In spite of the orders continually given
them to disperse themselves, so that the flocks
may find abundant pasturage, they invariably end
by getting together. There is always a chief of
the band among them, who presides at the games,
and prevents quarrelling. When they are tired of
running about, they sit down in the shadow of a
rock, or upon the banks of a stream, and amuse
themselves by making oxen of clay, or weaving
garlands of flowers, with which they adorn their
heads. The girls of the same age do not eijjoy so
much liberty. They go to the fields with their
mothers, and while the latter dig up the ground,
they pick up sticks, and make the faggot which
will serve to cook the evening meal. Sometimes
they are left at home to take care of a younger
brother. — Bev. E. Casalis.
The Railroads of Massachusetts. — From
the abstract of the returns of the several railroad
corporations in Massachusetts for the year ending
Nov. 30th, 1862, prepared at the State House,
we learn that the total capital stock of the steam
railroads is $59,487,752, with a capital paid in of
$49,287,517, and a debt of $18,411,221. The
cost of these railroads and their equipments was
$66,793,574 ; their length 1608 miles. The trains
of these roads have run 6,561,854 miles during
the year, carrying 12,020,315 passengers aiid
3,877,717 tons of freight. The total income was
$9,933, 586 ; total expense of working $5,448,-
231, leaving a net income of $3,581,657 ; total
amount of dividends $2,397, 949 ; number of fa-
tal casualties 72 ; not fatal 15.
The horse railroads of Massachusetts are twen-
ty-two in number, with a paid in capital of $2,-
582, 150, and a debt of $790,546.. The cost of
the various railroads has been $2,443,587, and of
equipment, $820,447. Their length is 87 miles.
Number of passengers carried, 14,854,885 ; total
income, $874,349 ; expenses, $663,152. Net in-
come, $200,345, of which amount $147,023 was
divided among stockholders. Three fatal acci-
dents have occurred, and 12 persons were injured.
l^fiS.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
139
h'i'T tlw Sen- JCnglanU Parmer.
KICKING COWS.
Mr. Editor ; — I have seen some remarks rel-
ative to kicking cows, in the Farmer and several
other papers, and the various methods adopted by
different individuals for i)!-caking them of this
pernicious trick, all of which 1 liave tried, only
one of them resulting in any l>encfit — which is
this: "When the cow kicks., with the right hand
hold fast to the teat, slajjping her smartly with
tlie left." But this method is not to be relied on
only in ordinary cases, although I have seen sev-
eral ^cured in this way. In two or thi-ee it has had
no effect, as was the case with a cow of my own.
The method I have adopted is this : When the
cow kicks, catch the foot in the hand and draw it
close to the cow's body, holding it there until she
settles back on you, then let go of it. After sev-
eral vain attempts at kicking, the cow finding her-
self caught in her own trap, is very careful how-
she takes up her foot while milking, and much
more how she puts it down.
This method I adopted with a cow of my own,
and it resulted effectually ; and several of my neigh-
bors have since tried it with like results. You
must bear in mind that we tried every way with
which we were acquainted without any effect.
Thinking that some of the readers of the Farmer
might be interested as I have been in this matter,
I have at last concluded to forward my cxjierience
in relation to the matter to the columns of the
Farmer, it being a paper I have taken for more
than six years. Eleuv.
^trajbrd, 1% 1863.
Fur the Ae«r England Fanner.
ketrospective notes.
"Dry Food for Hogs" — Success in- Pork-
Making. — Page 10. — In this brief, but suggestive
item from the Counini (rcntlriKan, we have a state-
ment of some of the hurtful consequences of a
rather too common error in the feeding of hogs.
The error alluded to consists, not in feeding dry
food, as the caption of the article might lead one
to suppose, but ia an exactly opposite practice,
namely, that of giving hogs their food in a too li-
quid or over-diluted condition. Some turn all
their dish-washings and other similar slops into
their swill-barrel, and neglecting to thicken it suf-
ficiently with meal, bran, boiled potatoes or oth-
er solid material, their hogs get, during the early
part of their life, a too watery substance, the swill
being little better than a little milk and a few cold
potatoes from the table with a little meal or bran,
perhaps, too much c'iluted with dish-washings and
such like watery and innutritious Huids. Among
the jjernicious consequences flowing from this cru-
el and heedless practice of forcing hogs to swal-
low an immense quantity of thin, watery swill, in
order to get the small quantity of really nourish-
ing matter which is intermixed with it, are the fol-
lowing : The hogs do not grow and gain in Hesh,
as all well fed and well managed pigs do, all the
time, from their entrance upon to tlieir exit from
the stage; they become stunted and comparativtly
poor, so much so tliat no amount of corn or other
fattening food, in subsequent months, will ever
make them as large or as healthy as they might
otherwise have been ; their digestive organs seem
to become disordered as subsequent better feed-
ing appears to do them, often, but little good ;
and thev become big-bellied, ill-proportioned, and
unseemly creatures, compared with those wliich
have less watery and more nutritious food during
the period of growth.
If any of our readers fail to make their spring
pigs weigh from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred pounds at the age of nine months, or
from two hundred and seventy-five to three hun-
dred pounds at ten months, or a little over, it may
be suspected that there is an error somewhere in
their mode of feeding, or of managing otherwise.
It may be in their failure to select a good breed, l)ut
mucli more frequently, we presume, the error may
be found in the mode or materials employed in
feeding, and, in many cases, we are quite 'confi-
dent, in the very practice upon wliich we have
been commenting. Those who fail to raise hw^s
to be of the weights above named, at the ages
mentioned, may feel assured that there is an error
somewhere in their modes of maaagemeut in pork-
making, — an error which brings with it, as a pen-
alty, the loss of a good many jjounds of pork,
which might have been obtained by a better mode
of management. And if any such should be wil-
ling to be at a little pains to find out where their
error is, or by what method they may hereafter
succeed better, or secure better luck, we think
they would be abundantly repaid for the time and
j)ains taken, if they would refer to, read and con-
sider well all the articles upon swine and pork-
making which are contained in volume Kkh of
this journal, which is the volume issued during
1801. On pages 10 and 113 of that volume they
will find an exposure of the error of feeding with
too bulky or too much diluted food; on page 11,
a condemnation of the jnactice of keeping hogs
in filthy pens ; on page G9 a statement of the
proper amount to which hog-feed should be dilut-
ed ; on page 114, a reference to the decided suc-
cess of Mr. L. Long, of llolyoke, who feeds meal
in the dry state, and slops or other drink sepa-
rately ; on page 348, "A Model Pork-Maker's
Mode of Management," with the result, namely,
his making his pigs, at ten months old, dress over
400 lbs. ; and on page 'Soo, a similar success by
the editor. These and other items may be found
in the volume referred to.
"Vegetable Growth." — Page 14. — Who can
read this article without having emotions of rev-
erence, gratitude and wonder awakened by the
brief glimpses which it gives of the wisdom and
goodness of the Infinite Architect, and of the
marvellous processes by which He clothes the
earth with beauty, and makes it Iiring fortli abun-
dance, both for man and beast I If any one has
read this article witliout having some such emo-
tions stirred up within him, we fear he has road
it too hurriedly, or too superficially. He might
get different impressions from it, if he should turn
to it and read again.
The writer asks, "Would it not be interesting
to all who labor to assist the corn to grow, to
study the mysteries of vegetable growth ? Would
we not like to know the elements of which the
seed is composed, what chemical changes take
place in it during germinabion, how the plant
draws nourishment from the earth," how the liquid
sap is converted into solid substance, how the
stalk selects one kind of substance from the sap,
the seed another kind, and so on, and how all these
selected atoms are arranged so as to enlarge stem,
140
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Mat
leaf, flower, seed, and every other part of this one
of the many millions of plants in which God is
working wonders every day ? In reply to these
questions, may we not venture to speak in the
name of hundreds of readers, and say that we
■would like to know ever more and more about
these and all the other wonderful workings of Him
who does so much for unappreciative and ungrate-
ful children. We would like if the writer of the
article under notice would spread out before farm-
ers and their families some information as to the
growth of our common Indian corn, and let them
see and feel that God is doing a far greater
amount of work in prepai-ing for the desired har-
vest of golden grain than the most skilful or most
industrious of those whose highest honor is to be
"co-workers" with Him ! And if he should find
time to tell us these things which, in reply to his
question, we say we would like to know, we would
humbly suggest that if he would put the informa-
tion into the form of a lecture or lesson to a class
of young persons, he might contribute somewhat
towards giving the farmers of New England an
idea of what their sons might be learning at
school if studying the applications of botany and
chemistry to the elucidation of the facts and phe-
nomona of agriculture. More Anon.
Fw the New England Farmer.
PROFITS OF FOWLS.
Mk. Editor : — I herewith send you the yearly
account of my flock of Brahma fowls. Having
spoken before of the merits and superiority of this
breed of fowls over all others, it would be but a
repetition of the same story again to describe them,
I will only say that my opinion is still unchanged ;
that they surpass in laying qualities, and for the
market, any breed of fowls I have ever seen.
In prepainng the folloTrting statement, I have
kept the market prices, although 85 dozen of the
eggs were sold for setting, last spring, at $1 per
dozen, and many were used for the same purpose
by myself. I have, therefore, averaged them at 25
cents per dozen, to show the profit these fowls
•will return to the farmers, at common market
prices. It will be noticed that I had but few eggs
in April, as many of the hens were setting at that
time. I commenced March 1, 1862, with 30 pul-
lets and 2 roosters, keeping a careful account of
expenses and income, which stands as follows :
EXPENSE OF KEEPING 32 FOWLS.
1862.
March, meal, corn, carrots and meat $3,79
April, " " " " 3,46
May, " " " " 3,02
June, " " " " 4,22
Julj', " « " " 3,90
To Aug. 8 , at which time they were sold 70 — $19,09
EXPENSE OF REARING 101 CHICKENS.
1862.
May, potatoes, cracked corn, and scraps $1,12
June, cracked corn and scraps 2,50
July, " " " 3,30
Aug., " " « 3,40
Sept., corn, meal and scraps 3,35
Oct., " " " 3,20
Nov., '* «' " and carrots 3,00
Dec, " " « " " 3,30
1863.
Jan., com, meal and scraps, carrots 2,98
Feb., " " " " 2,85
March," " " " 2,24— $31,24
$50,33
The variation in keeping the young fowls is oc-
casioned by disposing of them through the sum-
mer, as will be seen by the statement. From
November to the 1st of March I have had 30 pul-
lets on hand.
INCOME FROM FOWLS.
1862.
March 488 eggs
April 199 "
May 480 "
.June 496 "
.July .390 "
To Aug. 8 108 "
Net..... 2,161 eggs, or 180 112 dozen, at 25 cts $45,02
Aug. 8, .30 fowls sold at $1 each 30,00
Aug. 12 young roosters to butcher, 40 cts 4,80
.Sept., 22 pullets and 8 roc^ters, SI 30,00
Sept., 2 dozen eggs sold 50
Oct., 17 fowls, $1 17,00
Oct., 8 dozen eggs, 25 cts 2,00
Nov., 36 dozen eggs, 25 cts , 9,00
Nov., 12 fowls, 7o cts.,,. 9,00
Dec, 35'4 dozen eggs, 25 cts..... 3,81
1863.
Jan., 44 dozen eggs, 25 cts 11,00
Feb., 42?^ dozen eggs, 25 cts 10,69
Mar., 46% dozen eggs, 25 cts 11,69
Net income from fowls .,...$189,51
Expense of keeping, &c 50,33
Net profit $139,19
Salem, March, 1863. John S. Ives.
Fur the New England Farmer.
HOW TO BE FITTED FOB THE PUK-
SITITS OF LIFE.
Mr. Editor : — Being a constant reader of the
Farmer, within the last few months 1 have ob-
served several articles advocating the necessity of
making some work on agriculture a text-book in
our common schools. The idea has been ad-
vanced that too little attention is given to the in-
struction of youth in our rural districts in the
science of agriculture ; while great care is given
to instruct the pupil in what are termed the
learned professions, but very little attention is
given to fit the young to follow with success that
profession which is the foundation of all others.
The reader would infer that in our common schools
are taught the sciences of medicine, law and the-
ology ; while the lad who is destined to follow the
plough must go untaught and uncared for.
It cannot be denied that common schools and
those of a higher grade have each their own ap-
propriate work, and while both are foithful in
training the mind, their labor is the same in kind,
though not in degree. It is equally true that
while the scholars have their round of duties as-
signed, the days of active busine.ss which follow
are not without their work for such individuals to
perform. _ When the little boy first finds his way
to the district school, it is hard to determine
whether he is to be a farmer, mechanic or philos-
opher. But we do know there is a casket that
contains a priceless gem ; unpolished it may be,
but susceptible of the highest finish, and its value
will be proportioned to the perfectness of the ar-
tist's work.
It is conceded that all boys should learn to read.
All should learn arithmetic, grammar, history and
geography, and should obtain some knowledge of
the natural sciences. And if circumstances per-
mit, some knowledge of the higher mathematics
would be valuable. We have already sufficient
work for the schooldays allotted to American
youth, without making direct preparation for any
particular profession. Through all these years
the faculties of the mind have been developing,
and the individual has been gaining that disci-
pline v;hich will fit him to become a useful citizen
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FAR>rER.
141
and a successful business man. He has now ar-
rived at that lime of life, when, if ever, he is ca-
pable to decide for himself what calling he shall
pursue. His mind has become sufficiently ma-
ture to enter upon the work of life with an ear-
nest endeavor to excel in whatever he undertakes.
If he is to be a farmer, now is the time for him to
learn both the theor}" and practice of his profes-
sion. If he wishes to be a physician, he must ap-
ply or see his theory when learned put to practi-
cal test, ia order to be successful. So it is with
M'hatever ])ursuit to which he may turn his atten-
tion. Some require more scientific research than
others ; but to become successful in any, the stud-
ies of early schooldays should be pursued by all.
Every mind should be properly discijjlined, and
needs a certain amount of general culture to fit
the individual to work in any of the departments
of human industry. Ilence, the conclusion that
our common schools have now assigned all the
work the}' can well do in the time allowed them.
Let them teach the children those elementary
principles which lie at the foundation of all right
mental discipline. Let them do thoroughly their
allotted tasks — not forgetting to mould the plas-
tic miud, committed to their care, so that the
young man as he goes forth from them may be
an intellectual, moral, law-abiding citizen, ready
for every good work. E.
Middiebiuy, VI., Feb., 1863.
PRUIflNG GOOSEBERRY TREES.
The gooseberry, though a useful and early fruit,
is very generally neglected, no other attention be-
ing paid to it, than to prune the tree at random,
once a year. The crop of fine fruit is also often
injured by having the largest and earliest berries
previously gathered for tarts, while green. To
prevent this, a sufficient number of trees of the
earliest varieties should be planted in a separate
part of the garden, and devoted exclusively for
use when required for tarts.
Both these and the other trees which are in-
tended to bear ripe fruit, .fhoidd be pnated twice
i)i the year : in the autumn as soon as tlie shoots
have rii)ened their wood, leaving at least six inch-
es distance between every branch, and shortening
the small branches to two or three eyes. Again,
the trees should be examined about the middle or
end of June, and all improper suckers, and very
luxuriant shoots, such as the French call (jovr-
mandg, cut out; both these oj^erations should l)e
done with a sharp pruning knite. — Loivdjm Ilorti-
cuUiu-al Traiiiiwctioii.1.
Yarn from Milkwkkd. — Mr. Marsh Heath-
cott, a cotton manufacturer of Patterson, N. J., has
succeeded in spinning yarn from the fibres of milk-
weecL The yai-n is favorably spoken of; though
bow it may be adapted to withstanding moisture,
or receiving dyes, we have not heard. Mr. 11.
estimates that an acre of land might yield sl20
Tvorth per annum of tnis product.
Patent Oi-fick Bisinkss, — The annual report
of the Commissioner of Patents shows that Sli>'i>-
818 were received for patents, re-issues, &:c., and
$11,081 for copies and recording. The expenses
were $182,800. The cost for clerk hire was up-
wards of $122,000, of which §44,462 were for
temporary clerks.
PARMEHS' 'WnVES OVERTAXED.
There is scarcely any lot in life, in this country,
which promises so much quiet enjoyment, such
uniform health and uninterrupted ])*rosj)erity, as
that of a gentleman farmer's wife ; of a man "who
has a well-improved, well-stocked plantation, all
paid for, with no indebtedness, and a sufficient
surplus of money always at command, to meet
emergencies, and to take advantage of those cir-
cumstances of times, and seasons, and changing
conditions which are constantly presenting them-
selves. Such a woman is incomparably more
certain of living in quiet comfort to a good old
age than the wife of a merchant prince, or one of
the money-kings of Wall Street ; who, although
they may clear thousands in a day, do, neverthe-
less, in multitudes of cases, die in poverty, leaving
their wives and daughters to the sad heritage of
being slighted and forgotten by those who once
were made happy by their smiles ; and to pine
.^way in tears and destitution. On the other hand,
it is often a sad lot indeed to be the wife of a
farmer who begins married life by renting a piece
of land or buying a "place" on credit, with the
moth of "interest" feeding on the sweat of his
face every moment of his existence.
The affectionate and steady interest, the lauda-
ble pride, and the self-denying devotion which
wives have for the comfort, prosperity, and respec-
tability of their husbands and children, is a prov-
erb and a wonder in all civilized lands. There is
an abnegation of self in this direction, as constant
as the flow of time ; so loving, so uncomplaining,
so heroic, that if angels make note of mortal
things, they may well look down in smiling admir-
ation. But it is a melancholy and undeniable fact,
that in millions of cases, that which challenges
angelic admiration fails to be recognized or appre-
ciated by the very men who are the incessant ob-
jects of these high, heroic virtues. In plain lan-
guage, in the civilization of the latter half of the
nineteenth century, a farmer's wife, as a too gen-
eral rule, is a slave and a drudge ; not of necessi-
ty, by design, but for want of that consideration,
the very absence of which, in reference to the wife
of a man's youth, is a crime. It is perhaps safe
to say, that, on three farms out of four, the wife
works harder, endures more, than any other on
the place ; more than the husband, more than the
"farm-hand," more than the "hired help" of the
kitchen. Many a farmer speaks to his wife, ha-
bitually, in terms so imperious, so impatient, so
petulant, that if repeated to the scullion of the
kitchen, would be met with an indignant and
speedy departure, or if to the man-liel]), would be
answered with a stroke from the shoulder, which
would send the churl reeling a rod away !
In another way a farmer inadvertently increases
the hardships of his wife ; that is, by speaking to
her or treating her disrespectfully in the presence
of the servants or children. The man is natural-
ly the ruling spirit of the household, and if he fails
to show to his wife, on all occasions, that tender-
ness, affection and respect which is her just due,
it is instantly noted on the part of menials, and
children too, and they very easily glide into the
same vice, and interpret it as an encouragement
to slight her authority, to undervalue her judg-
ment and to lower that high standard of respect,
which of right belongs to her. .\nd as the wife
: lias the servants and children always about her,
142
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
and is under the necessity of giving hourly instruc-
tions, the want of fidelity and ])romptness to these
is sufficient to derange the whole household and
utterly thwart that regularity and system, with-
out which there is no domestic enjoyment and but
little thrift on the farm.
The indisputable truth is, that there is no other
item of superior, or perhaps equal importance, in
the happy and profitable management of any farm,
great or small, than that every person on it should
be made to understand that deference, and respect,
and prompt and faithful obedience, should be paid,
under all circumstances, to the wife, the mother
and the mistress ; the larger the farm, the greater
interests there are at stake. If poor, then the
less ability is there to run the risk of losses which
are certain to occur in the failure of proper obe-
dience. An illustration : A tardy meal infallibly
ruffles the temper of the workmen, and too often
of the husband; yet all the wife's orders were
given in time ; but the boy has lagged in bring-
ing wood, or the cook failed to put her loaf to bake
in season, because they did not fear the mistress,
and the master was known not to be very partic-
ular to enforce his wife's authority. If by these
causes a dinner is thrown back half an hour, it
means on a good-sized farm a loss of time equiv-
alent to the work of one hand a whole day ; it
means the very considerable difference between
working pleasantly and grumbliugly the remain-
der of the day ; it means in harvest time, in show-
ery weather, the loss of loads of hay or grain.
Time, and money, and health, and even life it-
self, are not unfrequently lost by a want of ])romp-
titude on the part of the farmer in making re-
pairs about the house, in procuring needed things
in time, and failing to have those little convenien-
ces which, although their cost is even contemptible,
are in a measure practically invaluable. I was in
a farmer's house one night ; the wife and two
daughters were plying their needles industriously
by the light of a candle, the wick fif which was fre-
quently clipped off" by a pair of scissors. I asked
the husband why he did not buy a candle-snufler.
"O, the scissors are good enough." And yet he
owned six hundred acres of fine grazing lands,
and every inch paid for. I once called on an old
friend, a man of education and of a family, loved
and honored all over his native State. The build-
ings were of brick, in the centre of an inherited
farm of several hundred acres. The house was
supplied with the purest, coldest and best water
from a well in the yard ; facilities for obtaining
which were a rope, one end of which was tied to
a post, the other to an old tin pan, literally. The
discomfort and unnecessary labor involved in
these two cases may be estimated at leisure.
I know it to be the case, and have seen it on
many Western farms, when firewood was wanted,
a tree was cut down and hauled bodily to the door
of the kitchen ; and when it was all gone, another
was drawn up to supply its place ; giving the cook
and the wife green wood with which to kindle and
keep up their fires.
There are thousands of farms in this country,
where the spring which supplies all the water for
drink and cooking, is from a quarter to more than
half a mile distant from the house, and a "pailful"
is brought at a time, involving five or ten miles'
walking in a day, for months and years together ;
when a man in half a day could make a slide and
with a fifty cent barrel could in half an hour de-
liver, at the door, enough to last the whole day.
How many weeks of painful and expensive sick-
ness ; how many lives have been lost of i*"ives, and
daughters, and cooks, by being caught in a sbow-
er between the linuse and the spring, while in a
state of perspiration or weakness, from working
over the fire, cannot be known ; but that they num-
ber thousands, will not be intelligently denied.
Many a time, a pane of glass has been broken
out, or a shingle has been blown from tire roof,
and the repair has not been made for weeks or
many months together ; and for want of it have
come agonizing neuralgias ; or a child has. waked
up in the night with the croup, to get well only
with a doctor's bill, which would have paid twen-
ty times for the repair ; even if a first-born has
not died, to agonize u mother's heart to the latest
hour of life ; or the leak in the roof has remained,
requiring the placing of a bucket oif the washing
of the floor at every rain ; or the "spare bed" has
been wetted and forgotten ; some visitor, or kind
neighbor, or dear friend has been placed in it, to
wake up to a fatal fever, as was the case with the
great Lord Bacon. — HaU's Jowiial af Health.
THE OLD PABM HOUSE.
At the foot of the hill, near the old red mill.
In a quiet, slindy spot.
Just peei>in!? through, half hicT from view,
Stanils ii Jittle moss-pronn cot ;
And strayin;^' thron^ih jit the open door.
The sunbeams play on the sanded floor.
The easy chair, all patchr-d with care.
Is placed by the old liearth stone ;
With witching prace, in the old fire-place.
The evergreens are strewn,
And pictures 5i;uig on the wFxitened wall
And tlie old clock ticks in the cottage hall.
More lovely slifl, on the window sill.
The dew-eyed flowers rest.
While anidst the leaves, on the moss-gr&wn -esTCS,
The martin builds hey nest.
And all day long the summer breeze
Is whispering love to the bending trees.
Over the door, all covered o'er
With a sack of dark preen baize.
Lays a musket old, ^vhose voi th is toM
In the-events of'Other days ;
And the pnwdur flask, and the liunter's horiJ.
Have hung beside it for many a inorn.
For years have fled, with a noiseless tread.
Like faii-y dreams away,
And left in their fliyht, ail shorn of his might,
A father — oM and gray ;
And the soft wind plays with liis snow-white hair
As the old man sleeps in lus easy chair.
In at the donr, on the sanded floor.
Light, fairy footsteps glide,
Anil a maiden fair, with flaxen hair.
Kneels '^ the old man's side —
An old oak wrecked by the angry storm.
While the ivy clings to its trembliDg form.
BeAVEKS NEAR SACRAMENTO. — A colony of
beavers, the Bee says, have commenced work on
the banks of American River, at Smith's Garden.
They have cut down a row of trees, epch one of
which is made to fall with its top in the river.
Some of the stumps are six inches in diameter, cut
a foot and a half from the ground. They seem to
prefer the Cottonwood. A dozen were seen on a
moonlight night, sporting and working.
When doctrines mischievous in themselves are
recommended by the good life of their author, it
is like the arming of a depraved woman with
beauty.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
143
NEW BOOKS.
These fanners feed their meal drv. This is a
"""tZ^^^^^^^'l^r^^^'-'f^T i:^^^ i» l^'«^"i"S beef and
York ; )inrper & Brotiiers, I'ubiishtrs. 1 Vol., 8\o.", 420 pp. i '^^^"^e, as well as teeding COWS lor milk, has been
Price $5 00. j to i)our boiliiit,' water on as much meal us would
The author of tliis work was appointed by the ' "?\"^'»1^'; the aiumal'.s bowels move too freely, at
' night and in the mornin-i: ; wlien the mush is cool,
give it to the cow or i)i
Governor of California, under a legislative act, to
report the "ways and means best adajited to pro-
mote the improvement and culture of the grape
vine ill California." He accordingly visited vari-
ous parts of France, the Netherlands, Holland,
Rhenish Prussia, Bavaria, Nassau, Baden, Switz-
erland, Spain, Italy and England. After travers-
al covering the meal with boiling water in this
way, the starch of the grain is dissolved, and the
latent nutritive i)roperties extracted, and tlic ani-
mal receives the enlire nutriment of the grain.
I calculate stock do not, in eating dry meal, re-
ceive more than one-half of the goodiu-ss of the
meal. There is not action enough in mastication,
ing these countries with a scrutinizing eye and an | oi' heat sufficient in the stoinacii of the animal, to
inquiring mind, the author came to the conclusion
that California is superior in all the conditions of
soil, climate and other natural advantages, to the
most favored wine-producing districts of Europe,
and that it actually has yielded considerably more
per acre. • He is satisfied, he says, that even if the
separate advantages of these countries could be
combined in one, it would still be surpassed by
California, when its now dormant resources shall
be developed ; that it can produce as noble and
generous wine as any in Europe ; more in quanti-
ty to the acre, and without repeated failures
through frosts, summer rains, hailstorms, or other
causes.
It is his opinion, also, that no country can sur-
pass California in raising the sugar beet. Sorgho
and Imphee, and that no part of the world, ex-
cept, perhaps, Africa, can produce the same quan-
tity of these commodities to the acre.
The work seems to contain everything necessa-
ry to teach one to produce grapes and make wine
successfully. It is printed on fine paper, large
type, and abundantly illustrated with engravings.
It has a short paper on the Culture of the Silk
Worm, one on the Manufacture of Potato-Starchi
one on Grape Sugar, one on Beet Sugar, and one
on Sorgho and Imphee.
Complete Manual o>- the Cultivation- of Todaco. New-
York ; C. M. Saxtou, Publisher. 1 Vol., IGmo. Price 25 cts.
This is one of our old friend Saxton's hand-
books, and the only one with pernicious tenden-
cies we have ever known him to publish. Al-
though it is in his usual good style, our hope is
that no one will read it or practice its teachings.
For sale by A. Williams & Co., 100 Washington
Street, Boston.
extract and receive the entire and real sweetness
of the grain.
Had I roots, I should feed them to my fattening
beef But not having any, I feed only meal and
hay, and I have fatted two ordinary sized cows,
two years past, and to which I fed otdy three cwt.
of meal each, and they each yielded upwards of
forty pounds rough tallow. Once a week, 1 throw
into the musli a little salt, and occasionally a table
spoonful of wood ashes.
My experience teaches me that one cwt. of meal
fed as described above, is equal to two cwt. fed
dry. Try it, young farmer, and see if you can in-
dorse this. Qui Nlxc.
East Granville, Feb. 17, 1863.
Por the New Kn island Farmer.
FEEDING MEAL TO STOCK.
Doubtless many of your readers have had longer
experience in feeding meal, and perhaps know as
economical and effectual a manner of feeding it, I leave his master's body ; and as the coat was
Fi/r the A'eir England Fanner. '
FIDELITY OF A DOG.
Mk. Browx :— When Col. G. L. Prescott, of
the Massachusetts 32d Regiment was at home a
few weeks since, I was among a crowd of eager
listeners to hear his thrilling story of the battle of
Fredericksburg. Among other incidents he men-
tioned a dog that attracted much attention. The
ground was covered with men, either lying to es-
cape the enemy's fire, or fallen to rise no more.
This dog continually ran in and out among them,
searching for his master, or entreating somebody
to follow him.
The following, from the Inquirer, probably re-
fers to the same faithful animal. I have no doubt
a later visitor will find him keeping watch and
ward over the soldier's grave. w. D. B.
Concord, Mass., March, 1863.
As Hon. John Covode, in company with a num-
ber of officers, was passing over the l)attlc-field
beyond Fredericksburg, after the liattle, their at-
tention was called to a small dog lying by a corpse.
Mr. Covode halted a few minutes to see if life was
extinct. Raising the coat from the man's face,
he found him dead. The dog, looking wisifully
up, ran to the dead man's face and kissed his si-
lent lips. Such devotion in a small dog was so
singular, that Mr. Covode examined some papers
upon the body, and found it to be that of Ser-
geant W. H. Brown, Co. C, {'Ist Pennsylvania.
The dog was shivering in the cold, l)ut refused to
as the subscriber. I believe there are a few, at
least, of your patrons, like many farmers whom 1
know, who feed from four to eight quarts of meal
a day to one beef creature, till they feed from seven
to ten cwt. of meal to one beef, and who never
slaughter an ordinary sized l)eef that yields up-
wards of forty pounds of rough tallow.
thrown over his face again, he seemed very unea-
sy, and tried to get under it to the man's fice.
lie had, it seems, followed the regiment into hat-
tie, and stuck to his master, and when he fill, re-
mained with him, refusing to leave him or to cat
anything. As the party returned, an ambulance
was carrying the corpse to a little grove of trees
144
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
for interment, and the little dog following, the
only mourner at that funeral, as the hero's com-
rades had been called to some other point.
For the New England Farmer.
THE "WICKED TYPE-SETTEKS.
Mr. Editor : — Is it not at least as bad to make
other people tell a fib as to tell it right out square-
ly one's self? If it is, the modern type-setters
have much to answer for — even yours are not
without fault. And perhaps this habit of theirs
may show the appropriateness of the customary
application to the youngest apprentice, of the name
of the "devil," who is "the father of lies." For
instance, in the last numl)er of the Fanner, J. S.
Ives is made to say that he dug from a lot meas-
uring three-fourths of a square rod, 14i bushels of
sweet potatoes. This would be more than 18
bushels to the square rod, and 2880 bushels, or
over 86 tons (ac 60 pounds to the bushel,) per
aci'e. Of course Mr. Ives never could have writ-
ten such a — story. In the South, 400 or uOO bush-
els to the acre "is often raised ;" in Ohio, from
100 to 150 bushels is the "usual" crop. In this
section, jirobably not so much as that can be relied
on. Please caution your type-setters so that we,
who want to depend on what the papers tell us,
may not be misled into new schemes by extrava-
gant stories.
Again, in the Transactions of the Middlesex
Agricultui-al Society for 1862, I perceive that oth-
er type-setters have made the respected Chairman
of the committee on "Milch Cows — Blood Stock,"
say, in comparing two cows, that "the value of
the milk of Mr. Wheeler's cow, at 3 cents a quart,
for thirty days, would exceed that of Mr. Barrett's
by $25,20." The difference is said to have been
4 quarts a day ; and this, by my arithmetic, at 3
cents a quart, for 30 days, comes a good deal short
of $25,20. Indeed, the whole milk, given by the
best of the cows named, would not, at that price,
come to near that sum. Now, friend Lawson never
could have made such a mistake ; it must be the
fault of the wicked printers, who seem bound to
tell big stories.
Hoping for a reformation among the printers, I
remain Yours for the truth,
JONATUAN DOOLITTLE.
Elm Lodge, Feb. 16, 1863.
Remarks. — Neither of the "errors" which our
correspondent so facetiously describes, are attribu-
table to the "wicked type-setters." On reference
to Mr. Ives' letter we find that it was printed "ac-
cording to copy."
By the following note, received since the above
was in type, our corresi)ondent will perceive where
and what was the mistake he refers to :
Correction. — In the communication from me
on the culture of the sweet potato, I find that the
printers or myself have made a slight, but very
important mistake. The land measured It rods,
instead of | of a rod, as printed.
Salem, March, 1863. John S. Ives.
Raspberries. — The Albany Country Qcntleman
advertises 500,000 Dool'dUe Raspberries for sale.
We think, from the name, that we must have had
some of this kind in our own garden.
For the New England Farmer.
OUR UOKTHERN FAKMERS.
The present state of the country deeply involves
the interest of the New England Farmer. The
broken circle of many of our homes, by an un-
just and outrageous war, and the broken hearts
that bleed at the fireside for many of our noble
sons, slain in battle, not only tell a tale of woe,
but a loss of labor, that will tell in almost every
farm home in New England,
The great corn and wheat States, are decimated
in a like ratio. Their bone and muscle, their vig-
orous young men, too, are in hospitals, ui camp,
or slain, or in the battle field manfully striving and
fighting for the salvation of our common country.
Here, too, is an immense loss of labor, and the
grand question arises, how are we to make up these
deficiencies ? The grain growing slave States of
Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Car-
olina, Tennessee and Virginia, must be reduced to
straits which they so justly deserve. Their able-
bodied white men are in the war. Their slaves
will be laggard, sullen and lazy in the field. Their
crops must come short.
The foregoing hints would seem to form a ground
work, and teach a lesson to all who till the soil in
the New England State, that products of prime
necessity must be lessened to an alarming extent
by this immense loss of labor, not forgetting that
millions are consumers, but not producers ! This
terrible lesson of war that we are learning, will not
be confined to the high prices of sugar, wool, cot-
ton and woolen cloth, tea and coft'ee — but beef,
pork, flour, corn and labor are sure to take the
upward march in the scale of prices. We shall
hear no more of burning ears of corn for fuel, or
wheat rotting in the stack in consequence of low
prices in the West.
Wherever the New England Farmer circulates,
let it propound questions to its readers — ask the
father how many boys are left to till tlie farm ?
Laborers will be scarce, the old men and boys
must do the work, and, if need be, the generous
hand of female labor would be volunteered in some
instances, with honor to the sex. In Scotland,
last April, I saw some 15 to 20 rollicking young
girls spreading manure and planting seed. (A
queer sight for a New England eye.) I thought it a
praiseworthy occupation in that country, one which
is universal in the old world. So in our own great
West, females perform a larjje amount of farm la-
bor. Dire necessity would only lead me to advo-
cate the doctrine of female labor in the field.
The next question is, the breadth of land, the
manure, the cro])s — how much can be worked
comfortably ? His manure heap is large as usual,
he must plough a less number of acres, perhaps
two in place of four ; time is gained in plowing
and must be aj)plicd in hauling out the manure,
and the happy result will be, larger crops will be
gathered from half the number of acres, which a])-
plies to every crop ; his land is |)ut in "good heart,"
and, to his surprise, he has been compelled to learn
the first best lesson of his life. Instead of plough-
ing, hociug, digging and spreading manure over
four or five acres, he has realized tlie same pro-
duct from two acres. Mr. Editor, can you endorse
this statement ?
The coming season beckons to the slothful far-
mer witli more than usual meaning. His gates
may be off the hinges, bars down, the old hat with-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
145
out a head supply the place of a broken pane ;
flour and corn were cheap last year — pork, and
beef cheap too — his manure heap at the end of the
barn lies in the road through the year ; but the day
of reckoning may come to this slothful man sooner
than may meet his convenience.
These are war times — a southern, civil war, that
has taken the Government by the throat, and
threatens tlje northern people with the virus fangs
of the copperhead. Our farms and workshops must
be worked. Let seed-time find no laggards in the
field. Let the warm upland hejlni manured and
put into wheat, all you can spare ; let the other
small grains follow, and when you get to the mouth
of August, let the winter wheat be sown liberally,
and, from spring and winter, you will have wheat
to sell !
Mr. Editor, I feel that I am intruding upon your
diminished columns, (yet it was a war necessity,)
with all their former good, in a compressed form ;
I feel tliat an idle hour may not have been misspent
with your farm-readers.
The great majority of our soldiers are farmers ;
the immense products of their labor will be sensi-
bly felt and diminshed ; neither war, nor the world,
can go on without them. Hence, every appliance
in its most compact, concentrated form, j)romises
a good result by the abundance of manure on hand,
which, if well spread and ploughed in deep, sel-
dom injures the soil or dwarfs the crop. P.
Brooklyn, L. I., March, 1863.
For the Xetp England Farmer.
TREES FOB SHADE, ORNAMENT AND
PROFIT.
Mr. Editor : — My thoughts have been turned
to this sublet by an article which appeared in the
Farmer ni-.r long since, on tlie "Cultivation of,
Nuts," by 0. V. Hills, of this town. It seems to '
me some of his suggestions are well worthy the
consideration of farmers, especially those which '
relate to cultivating walnut and chestnut trees, i
which are natural or indigenous to many parts of j
New England, and are not only profitable for the i
nuts they produce, but their form or shape is gen-
erally such as to make them suitable for shade and
ornament, and when they have ceased to answer j
these purposes, they are still valuable for the tini- 1
ber and fuel which they afford. If a portion of I
the trees on Boston Common produced nuts, the I
"city squirrels" there, and at least some of the
children of the poor, might enjoy them without
expense, and young men from the country would '
be reminded of the pleasant days, when with tlie '
girls they went nutting, I
The meat of the butternut it seems to me is too
oily to be healthy ; it requires pretty hard blows ,
to break the shell, and there is always more or less
danger of cracking the fingers instead of the nuts.
The tree is not very valuable even for fuel, and ^
would hardly be considered ornamental. 1
The c!ni is a graceful, noble tree, but it bears j
nothing while growing, nor will anything else, (ex-
cept perhaps grass,) grow within the range of its
roots, and when the time comes to cut it down,
'tis no light labor to prepare the trunk for the saw-
mill, and the branches for the stove. It was some-
what diilerent in the days of old-fashioned fire-
places which swallowed limbs and even logs, from
six to eight feet long, and soon digested them.
The buttonwood or sycamore is not as graceful
as the elm, nor so good for timber, and Sambo
might well say, when attempting to split a sjieci-
men, the gram of which was uncommonly wind-
ing, that he thought it would be a pretty tough
match for the lighting.
The oak has justly been styled the king of the
forest, but does not lyipear to be so highly prized
for shade and ornament as his prime minister, the
rock maple, whose well-proportioned stately form,
"Arraycfi in summer robe? of richest Rreen,
Or autumn decked, when rainbow lints arc seen,"
is peculiarly adapted to these purposes. Nor is
this all, for after attaining sufficient size, it yields
an annual supply of sap, which can be converted
into the sweetest of sugars, and also furnishes
some of the best material for furniture and the
fire.
Not much can be said in favor of the various
poplars, especially the old Lombardy, now near-
ly extinct in this part of the country, but which
in their day and generation looked like long lines
of tall grenadiers, and were about as well calculat-
ed for shade and ornament as so many liberty
poles.
I will not take the time and space to speak of
the spruce and some other trees which might be
mentioned, as I wish to make a few inqun-ies.
Mr. Hills, in his communication, says that
chestnuts vary in size, some being very large and
others quite small. The same may be said respect-
ing walnuts, and wlrile some ripen early and fall
readily, (frost or no frost,) others do not mature
until some weeks later, and even then cling to
the tree tenaciously. There is also a difference in
the color and taste or flavor of the meat and the
ease with wliich it can be removed from the shell
when cracked. In fact, some are worth twice as
much as others, at least to keep, if not for the
market.
Now I wish to inquire if nuts can be grafted,
or budded, and thus improved and made more
profitable by raising only the best, as in Lhe case
of fruits ? Can they be propagated in any man-
ner except by planting the seed? Would the
quality be improved, as well as the quantity in-
creased, by manure and cultivation ? I liave about
a hundred walnut trees, varying in size from an
inch in diameter to more than a foot, and from five
years old to at least an hundred. Between forty
and fifty are within a few feet of the wall ii])on the
north side of my farm, but some of the otliers
have sprung up, as it were spontaneously, in
places where I do not wish to have tlu-m remain ;
but it is very difficult to remove this kind of tree
successfully, even when rather small, on account
of the dejith to wiiich the main or tap root de-
scends. What would be the eflect to remove the
earth fi-om one side, down some distance, sever
the tap root, replace the soil and allow the tree to
remain a year or two, and then remove it ; would
it not be more likely to live, than if transplanted
immediately ? Has any one made the experiment ?
An answer to any of the above questions will much
oblige your correspondent. a. c. w.
Leominster, March, 18G.i.
^^ Late advices from Alexandria state that the
crop of cotton in Eijypt promit'es to be most iilmn-
dant this year. There will be not less than IsO.OOO
bales for export, the quantity last year having been
only 100,000.
146
XrVT £XGL.\XD F.\RMER.
Mat
EXTRACTS AZTD KEPLIES.
[ ezce. If we all thought alike, there would be liale
, Tiee<3 of tt:> Mper, or the dijcnssions at the Stiue
~ ■ -is surprise, howerer,
1 gniTelf asjen thai
: liqciiis as drv muck.
."il wiih drv saad. and
;^A:5tr>a ax oir
:oxs — EJLEss— ;.
-• it, is so modi oxu-^r :h.;a
:hat the spaces berweea the
-.r. so that water passes away
The coarser the sand, the more
£5 ::::. The ammcnia in rcdn
j portion of the sand
- ^: does not afirect the
best, dwarf or sSand^r
'' : =30S( luidj for :.
'~i planrting an :
Someof ::
-ot bear we
:= 5? Tcrv fae, that
; .r to pass awiiy
-?T :-?-" ?::2hr.
.we
ri^ese
:>ilk3 sand
1'23^ ir so
- hai
lalifrf.
.:iee good tnm sad as
:lr old oitiiard wi&
I 14th is a piece from "X. Q
j "Pigs — Diiease." By his
I should call it the b!a<i
ias sick pics, br examining
1 the nij-ts buck. If nos
rjived bv pulling: them oat,
-e?: Th:"r I ever uscd 15 a
:: :^:;^iri : The disease is
- : - ; if i: is - 2.11 are sure to
- ^:.-^ K' ^ ve- the dis-
-. I have
- -: V.V wi:h
- : cn-
m :a
. ■' . - - :;iio
.i63. z. c. ?.
I TO KTU. TEKItrX OX ATTXAU.
' In legsffd to an izL-:n'ry rz rht F--r-,rT 25 to the
meats <rf' destroying ! — ct no:h-
iag so pfii?fnnil as tl . in. It is
efiectaaloodogsand:. .; : _^ I have
not tried it, \sat am t«^u uj Haox who hare, that it is
efi^etiuL L. c. s.
coir's SrPEEPHOSPHATB OF UXE.
I should like to ask a few qnestions aboat the cse
of Coei'g so^expho^bate of lime <m a light, sandy
»hc5 about]
irrhssTdwiDj
-. The
.„_. ^ 1. Is it profitable for top-dressing on grass lands ?
wbuiu wiu , jj, ^^ j^^j^ j^ jj nsed, and how much per acre ?
™ t^^^^ i 2. Is it profitable far corn, grain, potatoes, &e- ? If
so, how is it used ? and will it improve the crvps fw
more than one vear ? J. E. ilosisB.
Peterioro', X. H^ March, 1863.
Bemabxs. — ^There is no doabtwith tis that good
snpeipbo^hate of lime is an excellent feitilizcr.
Whether yon can use nprafitabbf as a top-dressiiig, or
rrain crops, dqiends so much opon circiinistancesy
: any opinion from ns woold be of linle raloe.
~ ' ~ win certainly increase the amount of crop,
f ects win be felt mote than one year — bat
' ~ "^rU pay the eost of the article and lesre
-c^is more than we can telL Toa
— : . — — -c a smaO qaantily, nse it jndicaooslyy
t
1S63.
XEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
Wt
and soh-e the qnestion of profit for Toorself. From
two to four hnndred poands is commonlj lued per
acre, on the crops yoa mention. TTe believe Coe's m-
perphcaphate it a pure article, and ia reaUy an actite
fertiliser.
rSB OF FOtrBBETTE.
■^ill Ton, or some of the readers of the Farmer,
wuo have used the poadrette of the L'>ii Company,
ini'unn us throaeh that paper whether i: will increal^
the crop to which it ia applied so much that farmers
can afford to parcha<e and applv it to com, or other ' moner
crop? ? If the repons thev pnblbh are true, I think I Carx Elizahffli, Me. Jan. 1863.
onr farmers should look to their own resources in this | '
respect more carefully than thev are apt to ; for my ;
esperienc-e prove* thit a large pile of the verv be^t
stated- I lire to learn. Glad ira« I to see the
pen of a fanner who diflen, point out the wav to
do it. I think him honest in hia rietrs, but if he
will look at a field in which the muck is from five
to fifteen feet in depth, well drained, I think be
will find that it is not the field to raise large bar
crops OIL
Those farmers who nm to the mecfaamc to re
pair and to do all the patchmg ■pjobe whilst ther
loaf around, hardly ever are burdened with
& p. M.
_ Ptke Floce of Boxe.— .\ttention is called
manure for com may be made yearly by addin? dry ' to an advertisement of this new article in anoth-
mack, or loam, to the deposits in the vault of the
privy, and at the same time it will prevent anv disa-
greeable odor from arisins. W. J. SimoVds
RojAury, Vt., March, 1863.
Rejcarks.— Like most specific fertilizers poudrette
may be used profitably in certain cases, but not as a
general thing in prodacing a com crop. Your idea of
the mack, clay, &c., is the true one to be spread
among the farmers.
8HZEP EATECG WOOL.
A correspondent of your paper states that some of
the sheep in his neighborhood are in the habit of eat-
ing the wool off other sheep. The habit is analogous
to that of hens eating their own egg shells, and can be
cured by about the same remedy, viz , mix a small
quantity of bone dust with meal, and feed the sheep
upon it occasionally. If bone dtist cannot be readily
had, use slacked liine, dried and powdered.
March, 17, 1S6.3. Wool..
er columiL We have had no experience with it,
and can onlv judge of iu value from a knowledge
of the efficiency of bone in the coarse forms in
which we have heretofore used iu The bone now
offered is hoQed and ground into a perfect ^aax.
The proprietors say, —
"The 'rot' will not appear in potatoes manured
with bone flour.
"It prevents the fund in rre and other grain.
"It cures and prevents the 'yellows' in peadi
trees, when freely used.
"It will prevent the splitting and mstzng of
pears," ice.
Like all other specific fertilizes, this must be
tested with care, in a small way at first, in orda
to learn whether it can be used with profit.
"Farmers' Wites Overtaxed." — The lead-
er is invited to peruse, carefully, the article apc»i
another page of this number, on the subject,
"Farmfrg' Wires Orerlarei." We do not know
bow we can pos^ly so well employ our space as
to give three or four short articles upon this topic
F'.T the -Vnr Enslatd Fa
OBSEHVATIOXS AJTD HEMAHK3.
CrEE POE COLD> CUTS — SHZ£? FEVEF. — DTDE-
PEM)E>T FARM:£K5. I
Mr. Editor : — The man who lives near the
seashore need not have a cold in the head, if he
will duck it in the cold sea water as it floats to the
' S^you notice the caulker, you will find that ' ^"^ "^ I*° °^ ^'- ^- ^- ^^^ °^ ^'^ Y^'^
those troublesome cracks on the hand, or cuts, are \ *^^ editor of Hall's Jfrnnal of E«altk. From
covered with oakum. i Ions and close observation, and from an extended
The sheep fever is a malady that attacks many intercourse with the families of a large noaibar
farmers. Look out and not have the wool pulled ^f fenners, we know that the Doctor bas not ex-
over vour eves, brother farmers, for perhaps the j • i v i. j i^
advice of the clam-digger to his son, '^ever to go aggerated in the statements he has made, »h*rp
clamming at high water,'' may be applicable to and glowing as they are. Many times, in sorrow
your case. : and deep sympathy for the stifferers, have we al-
Plant no more than can be well manured, is not luded to this matter, in ntimerous public addnss-
heeded by many of those who raise small crops. ^^ ^^^^ ^j^^ £^^„ ^f y^^ England. The erfl
I nave vet to see that class of people that uve . . . , , ."
and enjoy' more of this life's comforts than the in- , " o"^ o^ 8^* magmtude, and is mi: _■ ■ *
dependent farmer. Perhaps at times his son may candidates for an early grave with fear: ..
enjoy the otier cap, which is put on the jop's head Thanks, many thanks to the philanthropic Doctor,
to hide his lack of brains, or the fine coat with f^j ^^ timely and judicious effort to rescue fixjm
which perhaps, to carr^- out the old adage which ^ ^ ^ng death thous«ds of our energetic and
says, ''Fine feathers make fine birds ; but those , ,"
may deceive at a distance, while a near approach loTely women.
reveals the deficiency. Heed not the fine array
of silks that sweep the streets, for many of thein ' THE Best Label for fruit trees. »hrjS«, 5:c
are purchased at the price of virtue. ' is a strip of tin about eight inches long and an
I find that the orchardist who places his bins in inch wide, tapering to a point at one end. Paint
a cool, dry atmosphere has fruit to seU in the this with white l«kd and mark the name with an
spring. awl, scratching it through the paint. Bend the
••More Anon." in his "Retrospective Xotes,'' pointed end around a small limb of the tree, which
criticises my writings on the use of muck, Arc, expands to its growth. So says the Awmital Bep^
doubting the correetness of the views therein I tjtar, and so adds the G«rw»amUmn Teiegr^tk.
148
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
FERMENTIIira MANURES.
In our last club discussion, it being the third
upon the subject of "manure and its application,"
one member recommended keeping manure for a
year or more, if necessarj^, or until it was tliorougli-
ly decomposed, chiefly for the purpose of destroy-
ing foul seeds, claiming that if there were no such
seeds sown by means of the manure, or with the
grain sown, or by the wind or birds, or allowed to
go to seed with hoed crops — that, eventually, our
farms would be free from foul weeds. It was ob-
jected by some that the end could iiever be accom-
jylished on the ground that foul weeds were a fart
of "the curse" upon fallen man ; that the seeds
■were in the earth, made and purposely put there by
God, and consequently it would ever be in vain
for man to strive to eradicate them.
One member remarked that a friend told him
that he had jjositive proof that kale seed would live
in the earth and germinate after twenty years.
Now, Messrs, Editors, how is it — will seeds ger-
minate after having lain in a manure heap a year,
while it is fermenting and becoming thoroughly
decomposed ?
The question, — whether manure can be suffic-
iently heated to destroy the vitality of seeds, with-
out greatly injuring the manure itself, — is a very
interesting and important one. It is one upon
•which we have experimented considerably without
being able, as yet, to come to any well-settled
conclusions as to that particular point. It needs
to be conducted with great care, in order to be of
value. The seeds, of various kinds, should be ad-
ded to the manure, so that the experimenter shall
know that they are there, and then the whole pro-
cess conducted with the nicest accuracy in regard
to the temperature of the heap, weather, &c. We
have entertained the opinion that the compost
heap may be fermented to such a degree as will
destroy the vitality of seeds, without injuring the
compost, but feel satisfied that it can only be done
by exercising the greatest care during the process
of fermentation.
Some members affirmed that they were always
troubled more by weeds from old manure than
iiova fresh!
Is it generally considered that it is bad policy,
on the score of manunal value, to retain manure
until well decomposed ? Some of our club mem-
bers think there is a necessary loss of a large pro-
portion of fertilizing matter when the manure de-
composes out of the earth ; others think that the
manure increases in net value more than 6 per
cent., by being decomposed in the yard, and the
practice of "R. B.," one of the most successful
farmers in T., was cited in point.
If we could do just as we please with the drop-
pings of our stock, we would have them spread
upon the ground and slightly covered, as often as
an ox-cart full had accumulated. In that condi-
tion, nothing whatever, we think, would be lost.
Not only all the fertilizing qualities would be saved,
but the fermentative process carried on in the ma-
nure would have a beneficial mechanical effect up-
on the soil. The finest crops we have ever pro-
duced, have been obtained under this treatment, —
all the liquids being retained among the solids,
and spread and ploughed under three or four
inches in the autumn. In the following spring, the
ground was almost as mellow as an ash heap and
unusually black. The crop that grew upon it sur-
passed any other that have grown upon the farm.
But to the question : — Manure will not ferment in
a cold place. Whenever it becomes warm, and is
moist, then fermentation begins, and this may be
carried on until the manure becomes tender and
may be finely divided by overhauling, so as to be
convenient to use, or it may be carried on until
its fertilizing qualities are nearly exhausted.
When fermentation takes place, ammonia is set
free, and there is some loss if the heap lies open,
and especially when it is disturbed in being over-
hauled. That loss, however, cannot be important.
"The more complete the state of fermentation, if
not carried too far, the more immediate will be the
agency of the manure."
In his "Elements," Johnson says that "it has
been found that one ton of dry food and straw
gives a quantity of farm-yard dung which weighs,
When recent 46 to 50 cwt.
After 6 weeks 40 to 44 "
After 8 weeks 38 to 40 "
When half rotten 30 to 35 "
When fully rotten 20 to 25 "
A part of this loss may, no doubt, be ascribed
to the evaporation of a portion of the water of the
recent dung ; but the larger part is due to an ac-
tual escape of the substance of the manure itself.
The farmer, therefore, who applies the manure
from a given weight of food and straw, in a fresh
state, adds more to his land than if he first allows
it to become perfectly fermented. Were he to
chop bis straw and put it in as it comes fresh from
the field, he would add still more ; but its action
as a manure would be slower, and while it would
beneficially open stiff and heavy soils, it would in-
jure others by making them too light and porous."
Will several cords of manure in one pile become
thoroughly decomposed in one season without
forking over ? And can it be forked over without
a loss of ammonia ?
What we have said sufficiently answers this.
How many inches of earth, or muck, covered
over such a pile, would be a perfect prevention
from loss during decomposition ?
One or two inches of a clay, or even a sandy
loam, would be sufficient.
Some farmers cover up, in the centre of such a
pile, a quantity of unslacked lime, to hasten fer-
mentation. Is it advisable to do so ?
We do not believe it would be advisable, under
any ordinary circumstances.
I am told that an agricultural school teacher,
who has some one-half dozen evening schools m
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FAR^rER.
149
operation in this vicinity, says that "fire-fang," or
the burnjn|f of manure, is no injury ? Is it so ?
Iiandol^)h, Vt., March, 18G3. QuERYMAN.
It will be seen, by what we have already said,
ihsitfa-mmfation, if carried too far, may be almost
as destructive to a compost heap as conflagration
itself, and we have quoted one of the highest au-
thorities of the age to sustain us. Is there a farm-
er among us, of any sort of observation, who has
not at some time, seen a portion ol a manure heap
nearly ruined by being too highly fermented ?
Our practice is, to throw the manure of every
kind, coarse and fine, into a compact heap, beating
the coarse lumps to pieces and laying it up as
lightly as possible. When this is done, we thrust
smooth sticks as large as a hoe-handle, and twice
as long, into the pile, four or five feet apart. In
three or four days, these are drawn up, one after
another, and the temperature of the pile ascer-
tained by grasping the stick in the hand. Each
stick should be kept in its place, as they will in-
dicate different degrees of heat. Now, by exam-
ining the heap where each stick was drawn, the
true degree of heat will soon be learned, which is
necessary to induce the amount of fermentation
desired. There is no danger of loss in this pro-
cess, where close attention is paid to the heap
while the process is going on. It is a good plan,
not to wait for a high degree of heat, but when
the pile is fairly warmed through — which can al-
ways be ascertained by the sticks — throw it over
with a six-tined dung fork, and lay it up lightly as
before. In this manner, if there be warm show-
ers, any amount of coarse manure may be made
fine in the course of twelve to fifteen days.
SAVE THE BONES.
In another column, we publish the advertise-
ment of Henry A. Breed & Co., of Boston, who
are manufacturing and selling a flour which close-
ly resembles soiled or damaged flour of wheat and
rye mingled, but which consists wholly of the
ground bones of cattle reduced to fine flour by a
powerful mill constructed for that purpose.
It is pretty well known that bone and dried
flesh are the basis or "stock" of nearly all our
artificial fertilizers, which are more or less valu-
able as "poudrettes" and "manures," just in pro-
portion to the quantity of bones and dried flesh
that has been worked into them or used in their
chemical preparation. The raw bone, after boil-
ing, we need hardly say, contains all that is re-
quired by nature for a first-class manure, namely,
phosphorus and nitrogen combined with lime and
other elements in just the right proportions to fur-
nish the food of plants. Bone and dried flesh
may be said to bear the same relation to plants
and fruits, as meat and bread to the body of man.
Eneland is the largest consumer and buyer of
bone, at present, and we are told that much of the
bone saved in the United States is exported to
Great Britain. This is an injury and waste which
ought not to be allowed. When we send away
our bone, we send away and sell for a small price
the essential and productive body of the soil. If
we value our own and our children's prosperity,
we shall take care that all the bone made upon the
soil of Massachusetts shall be constantly restored
to that soil, when it is no longer serviceable as a
part of the living animal.
The Flour of Bone sold by our advertisers is
warranted pure bone, with salt enough to keep it
sweet, it being only five to ten per cent. From
the known character of the advertisers we deem
them entitled to perfect confidence.
NEW BOOKS.
The Field KXt> Gardes Vegetables op America ; contafning
full Descriptions of nearly Eleven Hundreil Species and Vari-
eties ; with Directions for Tropagating, Culture and Use. By
Fearing Burr, Jr. Illustrated. Bobton: Cro«by & Xicbols.
1 vol., 8vo., 674 pp. Price 82 50.
To those who have not access to other books of
a like character, this will prove a useful and ac-
ceptable work. It is well printed, and the illus-
trations, from the pencil of Mr. Isaac Sprague, of
Cambridge, are very beautifully drawn, and en-
graved with considerable skill.
The information contained in the book seems to
be designed for popular use, and such a work, in
the hands of every farmer and gardener, would be
useful, — but the large, open pages, large type, fine
paper and expensive binding, make it too costly,
and will greatly limit its circulation. Indeed, but
comparatively few who need the information it
contains, will be able to avail themselves of its
benefits. A large portion of its contents may al-
ready be found in a much cheaper form.
Americas Pomolooical Society. Proceetlings of the Ninth
Session of the Society, held in Boston, Sept. 17, 18 and 1&,
1862. Published by the Society.
This is a beautifully printed book of 227 pages,
with a full index, showing the financial condition
of the Society, the names of its members, and its
transactions for the year 1862. The first impor-
tant paper is the Address of the President, Hon.
Marshall P. Wilder, and the next the Cata-
logue presented by a committee, specially desig-
nated to revise it. We have spoken of both of
these papers in high terms, heretofore. Most of
the remaining portion of the work is devoted to
the discussions which took place at the annual
meeting, and which we spoke of at the time.
There is a paper on Orchard Culture in the West,
one on the Straicbernj Famibj, a.id some State
Reports. The work reflects great credit on its
animated and harmonious members.
Grumbling is all very well in its place. It is
the deep bass that is needed to make up the full
harmony of being.
150
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
For the New England Fanner,
WOOL GROWING.
It is a fault of New England that she runs of-
tener to extremes than other countries possessing
less enterprise and genius, and with less moral
force. This is more clearly felt now than at any
other period. New England has been the nurse-
ry of American enterprise and prosperity. She
has educated the farmers, the mechanics, the mer-
chants and professional men for the whole coun-
try, and in the future will feel the gx-eat draft of
the whole country upon her energies, now that
those energies are so diffused throughout a land
so prolific as the West, where her sons and daugh-
ters have settled and built up rival institutions of
agriculture, commerce and art. When New Eng-
land owned the commerce of the country, and the
manufactures were held in the hollow of her hands,
and the West and South borrowed almost all their
commercial and mechanical aid from her resources,
she could control by her superior genius not only
her own but the destiny of nearly the whole coun-
trj'. Not so, now ; and as her natural resources
are so inferior to the West, she must foster what
she has with a more steady care than in the past.
She must be less fickle and more devoted to the
solid and steady elements of prosperity always
within her reach. Extremes should not meet with
such rapidity as in some of her products and la-
bors. There has been no time since the settle-
ment of the New England States, when they could
not have raised their own wool, and thus have
saved untold wealth now distributed in the South
to sow seeds of rebellion, and spent upon the
plains of India and Australia to fatten the growth
of foreign, though decaying nationalities, — to make
the rich richer, and the poor poorer. This is not
the only evil to New England. She has not only
fed other nations from her hard-earned store, but
by this importing system, for, the supply of her
raw material for manufactures, she has raised up
a class of commercial men who are non-produc-
ers, who eat up the substance of the producers.
This latter system has bred another still worse,
and which at the present moment is doing more
to impoverish the North than any other one thing
— that is the commission system of selling goods.
This is purely a New England institution, so far
as its introduction and nurture is concerned. At
the present moment that system is absorbing more
of the real profits of the laborer and mechanic at
the card, the spinning-Avheel and the loom, than
that made from the whole process and capital of
the manufacturer. It has built up an artificial
credit system, which will ultimately prove ruinous
to those who practice it.
A most extravagant set of young men are being
raised up, who learn nothing of wool raising or
manufacturing, but who hold the business in their
hands as a matter of trade, and who keep the
manufacturer down to a sense of miserable expec-
tancy and nervous irritability all the time. All this
grows out of the non-production of our raw ma-
terial, and an overstrained and artificial method
of selling the goods manufactured, simply because
we do not produce our raw material, which is pui-e-
ly within our own hands, and then trust it to the
hands of merchandise brokers to sell instead of
doing it ourselves, as the English and other na-
tions do. Thus by extremes we lose our sub-
stance, and encourage an artificial state of exist-
ence, which, above all other nations in the world,
we can least afford to do. We neglect wool, flax,
hemp, corn, wheat and maple sugar, all of which
would prove profitable to the farmer as well as
every other branch of New England industry and
finance, and spend our time and strength on ex-
periments of an hundred and fifty varieties of
pears, and disquisitions on the root crop and sor-
ghum, with an occasional essay on manures, which
brings up a conflict at once between Berkshire and
Essex, — the same principle being claimed for both
locations, whether the soil and climate of the I'e-
spective places are harmonious or not, or at all
fitted for the crops proposed.
These points are particularly familiar to the
writer, from an attendance, (almost a silent one,)
for four years of the agricultural meetings at the
State House. A few plain, practical discussions
of a subject will often produce much good to the
farmer, but icoe to the j'lioneer, that happens to be
a little out of the fashion of the times, and ven-
tures to suggest subjects that are staid and well
tried, but which do not carry the enthusiasm of
change upon them. It has been said that innova-
tion is not always improvement, and it is pre-emi-
nently true in regard to the changes in the agri-
culture of New England. No crop so valuable as
wool, in many senses ; none so easily raised, at
least in the interior of the State, and yet how
much and how long it has been neglected. Even
a discussion of this subject a few years since, was
received with coldness, and when the subject of
the culture of flax was brought up, in 1851, and
again in 1859 it was fairly scouted at. How is it
now ? Why, nearly every old buck that can claim
a lineage the other side of the water is marked up
to a fabulous price, while flax is to be the product
of every farm, yea hot-house in the country. Ex-
tremes again ! Wool is wanted ; let it be raised
on the common-sense principle. Blood is much,
breeding more, care is more still, and of this we
can bestow in plenty. The pastoral ! Is there
anything more beautiful to contemplate in agri-
culture than this ?
"While shepherds watch their flocks by night I"
How beautiful ! All sacred history reveres the
interest and beauty of the shepherd's life, and
proves in this, as well as the thousand other sacred
principles, that simplicity and naturalness is the
true foster father of happiness as well as prosper-
ity. Take care of the sheep ! They will feed and
clothe you. The pastoral care of modern day is
beautifully set forth in Spanish literature, from
which we learn more of the true theory of sheep-
raising than from any other nation, while the qual-
ity of wool has ever been of the first order. The
king of Spain, as early as the middle of the four-
teenth century, placed himself at the head of
sheep-raising. A tribunal called the ''Mesta," for
the regulation of sheep-growing was formed by the
chief owners of migratory flocks, the king being
the merino mayor. This class of wool, once so
celebrated, is obtained from the migratory sheep
of Spain. It has been said that the number of
these sheep in Spain amounts to ten millions,
which twice a year are led a journey of four hun-
dred miles ; the right was claimed for them of
grazing all the open and common lanes laying in
the way, as also a path ninety yards in width
through all the enclosed and cultivated country,
and other travellers were prohibited passing when
I
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
151
the sheep were in motion. Ten thousand sheep
constituted a flock, over which there were placed
one principal and fifty subordinate shepherds and
as many dogs. The principal ])asses ahead, and
directs the speed and length of the journey, the
others following and flanking the flock, collecting
the stragglers, &c. Some of the sheep are per-
fectly trained to obey the signals of the shepherds,
(says Tomlinson,) which follow the leading shep-
herd— for there is no driving — and the rest quiet-
ly follow them. "The flocks travel through the
cultivated country at the rate of eighteen or twen-
ty miles a day, but in open country, with good
pasture more leisurely. The sheep know as well
as the shepherds, when the procession has arrived
at the end of the journey." "In April their migra-
tory instinct renders them restless, and if not
guided they set forth unattended to the cooler
hills." "It is during this journey that the sheep
are shorn." They are placed in large pens, where
they are confined until they perspire freely, which
has a tendency to soften the "yolk," and thus the
fleece becomes softer and is the more easily cut.
At the end of the journey, when the sheep arrive
at their summer jiasture, they are salted, and with
increased appetites move about in search of grass,
upon which they fatten. "They are never fed un-
til the dew is dry, nor allowed to drink after liail
storms." "In September, the flocks are daubed
with a red earth, which is said to conduce to the
fineness of the wool." They return from their
pasture in October, "when their yeaning time ap-
proaches." "Forty or fifty thousand shepherds are
said to be employed in tending these sheep. They
are a singular race of men, almost as simple as
their sheep."
It may be asked by the theoretician and critic,
whether sheep emigration is necessary or applica-
ble to New England. The answer is apparent.
We have not the uncultivated plains, neither the
terraced mountains to feed upon ; therefore, large
flocks and nimierous shepherds are not needed.
But we have hills, and meadows, and boys in
abundance, and a flock of sheep should be under
the care of some one, be he man or boy, who can
discriminate between the proper times and condi-
tions of feed in the meadow or hillside, and when
to emigrate from the one to the other, and how to
train the sheep.
It is by analogy that we learn ; therefore, the
history of the past, in sheep as well as in man,
may be of service to us, if we use our reason and
draw conclusions therefrom which are applicable
to our condition instead of the condition of the
ancients. A careful and persevering policy in the
growth of sheep, and a cultivated observation with
regard to its influence upon the character of the
wool, would, in a few years, bring the New Eng-
land former up to the highest standard of sheep
and wool growing, while a changeful and vacillat-
ing policy, produced by listening to theoretic dis-
sertations and discussions on five thousand dollar
bucks, would soon place him back again beyond
the practical knowledge and experience of our
forefathers. s. M. A.
For the Kew England Parmer.
MAPLE SUQAB.
Mr. Editor : — Maple sap, as it runs from the
trees, is clean, and it ought to be the aim of the
manufacturer to keep it so through the whole pro-
cess of boiling, &:c. The buckets ought to be
perfectly clean. I use tin buckets, as they are
easily kept clean, and also conveniently distribut-
ed through the lot. The great source of impurity
in the sap is bark and moss that fall from the
trees, and leaves that are blown about during high
winds and lodge in the buckets, and which, if not
removed before boiling, give the sugar a very red
color ; therefore, the sap ought to be strained be-
fore boiling, and skimmed during evaporation. I
prefer pans to kettles, the bottoms only being ex-
posed to the fire, there being no chance for rising,
and burning, and coloring the syrup.
Boil down quite thick, and set the pan from the
arch on blocks for the purpose, and dip off and
strain through a thick strainer, and then set away
to cool and settle. When ready to sugar ofi", pour
off" carefully, as there will be a small quantity of
sediment at the bottom, which should not be
poured in with the syrup, but kept by itself, a
quantity of sap put with it, ?nd again settled and
poured off", thus saving, ultimately, the whole.
Do not add any foreign substance to syrup for the
needless process of cleaning, but as it begins to
boil, carefully skim, and my word for it, if you
do not burn, you will have a nice article. Sooner
give your skim milk to the pigs, take your eggs
for your own eating, and your saleratus throw
away, than to adulterate your syrup with them.
' Gauunkk Herkick.
Souih Reading, VL, March 19, 1863.
I^" The amount of lumber annually cut on the
Kennebec and Penobscot waters has been about
200,000,000 feet. Last season it was only GO.OOO.-
OCD feet. The present season there will be cut
about 100,000,000 feet.
For tlie yew England Parmer.
LITTLE THINGS,
Or, a Walk in my Garden.
After cutting some scions the other day, as I
returned to the kitchen to look after the wants of
the family, I heard the complaint that the wood
did not burn well. This led me to enter a com-
plaint against
COOKING STOVES.
When wood is abundant in the winter, the farm-
er wants a stove with a much larger fire box than
any now in use. The village or city mechanic,
who pays six or eight dollars a cord for wood, will
use the strictc*t economy in the consumption of
his fuel ; but when it can be obtained by the farm-
er only for the expense of hauling, he can afl'ord
to give his family the comfort of a generous Are
for all cooking purposes. The stove maker, then,
who will iiik-oduce such a stove into the market
will be sure to sell it in the country. Large air-
tight stoves are much more economical in every
respect than small ones.
One of the best little things a farmer can do, is
to split up two or three cords of wood for sum-
mer use as fine as the finest kindling wood. Many
a farmer's wife is compelled to do her work in hot
weather over a heavy fire of coarse wood. She
wants a fire that will blaze well to her teakettle,
but which will not throw out much heat into the
room. Some of the best summer wood I ever had
was prepared in this way from second growth hem-
locks with the bark left'on ; bifit as this is nut al-
ways attainable, any kind of wood is vastly im-
152
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Mat
proved by being split very fine for summer use.
Not one- half the quantity of wood will be burned
when prepared in this mannei*. Read this to your
M'ife, and see if she does not heartily approve of it.
But while I am writing this I am annoyed by an
ECHOING FLOOR.
As houses are now built, floors are apt to be
very noisy annoyances. The timbers are so strained
up that the floors become resonant like a drum.
This often makes a schoolroom in a second story
so troublesome to the rooms below as to be almost
unsupportable. Now this can be easily remedied
at a very trifling expense. After laying the under
floor, nail down some sawed laths directly over
and along the sleepers. These will show where
to nail the upper floor. Now make a mortar of
lime and sand, in which the latter ingredient may
be in excess. It may be made thin. Pour it on
to the floor and spread it just as thick as the laths,
and let it dry before laying the second floor.
Nail down the upper floor through the laths, and
it will seem to you like walking on a brick pave-
ment. Were I to build another house, I should
serve all my chamber floors in this manner, unless
somebody can point out a better method.
Bethd, Me., March, 1863. N. T. T.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
A FINE HOG.
I sold Mr. A. C. How, of this town, a half-blood
Chester county pig, which weighed when dressed at
nine months and fifteen days old, 525 lbs. ! I did not
think much of that, but wlien I read what great things
Maine and Vermont could do, I tliought I would not
have Massachusetts stay Tjchind when she has done
so much better. I have been a constant reader of the
Farmer for over three years, and would not part with
it for twice what it cost. j. p. h.
Gill, March, 1863.
BARN-ITCH — RELATIVE VALUE OF CORN AND BARLEY
— DRY MEAL FOR HORSES.
Can you or any of your correspondents inform me
of the cause or a cure of the barn itch on neat stock ?
I would also like to inquire as to the relative value of
corn and barley as food for cattle, horses or swine.
I would say that I have practiced feeding dry meal to
horses with great success. k.
N. E. Village, March 16, 1863.
Remarks. — Cole, in his "Diseases of Animals," says,
"Give the animal as much salt and soot as it will eat,
and in a few hours give from three-quarters to one
pound of sulphur or pulverized brimstone. In twen-
ty-four hours give a pound of salt." We should con-
sider these as monstrous doses, — and should advise
care in employing such agents.
ONIONS AND BEEF.
Your friend, "Mount Grace," who doubts the
"onion story," can easily satisfy himself of the truth
of the theory by a simple experiment. Let him buy
a small quantity (1 or 2 pounds) of clean, white rice,
which has been damaged sufficiently to exhibit, when
cooked, an oily, half-rancid flavor, and feed it a few
times to a chicken or fowl — then have the fowl kil^d
and nicely roasted, having a little of the rice cooked
at the same time. He will find the same iieculiar fla-
vor about equally strong in each. Ex.
PATENT OFFICE REPORT.
Can you inform me through the columns of the
Farmer how I can obtain a copy of the Patent Office
Report for 1862 f W * * D.
Remarks. — Send to the Commissioner of Agricul-
ture, Hon. Isaac Newton, or apply to the member of
Congress from your district. I
LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEET-
ING.
The tenth legislative agricultural meeting was
held in the Representative Hall, on Monday even-
ing, March 23d. We copy from the Adveiiiser's
report :
Gov. Andrew presided and opened the discus-
sion, on the subject assigned for the evening, —
"Agricultural Education," — by calling attention
to President Hitchcock's report on Agricultural
Education in Europe, made thirteen years ago.
Little was done further than to receive this re-
port, He alluded to his appointment of a com-
mission to locate an agricultural college, and to
Mr. Dussey's will contemplating the founding of
an agricultural college. It is easier to oppose
than to act. Accordingly nothing available has
yet been gained. Much has been done, however,
by country societies, farmers' clubs and the Board
of Agriculture to diff"use useful knowledge on the
subject. The truth is this : nothing is done un-
less the aim be high. A low aim will accomplish
little. Had the aim been higher and the flight
bolder, more could have been accomplished. Mas-
sachusetts should not accept a low standard. It
may do good to teach chemistry, physiology, zo-
ology and astronomy to boys in school, but this
does little good unless more be done. A man of
general intelligence often takes in larger views
than professors of colleges and schools, though
the former had much less culture than the latter.
The unwillingness to learn and the prejudice
against doing so, cause many to stand still. All
the sciences should be cultivated, a»- D:ost of them
are tributary to agriculture. Then there will be
a growing science of chemistry, physiology, &c.,
because there are growing men engaged in them.
We should begin to act in this matter. There is
no occasion to delay longer. The educational in-
stitutions of the State should be popularized so
that all the children of the Commonwealth shall
be benefited by them. Enlarged and liberal views
should be difl'used among all the people of the
Commonwealth. To our fame and our position
we owe much. I have been pained, said the
speaker, within the past three years, with the idea
of our vassalage to the nations of Europe. AVe
ought to be independent. We can bring men
from other States and ■ climes if we will it, and
need them. We stand incomparably better than
the nations of Europe for discovery, for progress
and improvement. A young man should not
make himself a lawyer by trade or a doctor by
trade. A man can be put to a better use than
making writs, drawing mortgages and collecting
debts. Scientific agriculture has got to find its
teachers to recover an exhausted soil that has
Veen over-cropped by bad husbandry. When
peace is restored, this wonderful work must be
done by you of New England. Then Avill the
desert blossom as the rose and the garden bloom
as Eden. I desire, said the Governor in closing,
to see our New England people take the subject
of education into their own hand and liberalize it.
Mr. Flint said the subject is one of great in-
terest to our population. In looking forward to
an agricultural college, we should not expect of
it to diff'use what is known and in books, but for
something original. Wherever this institution is
located it should be controlled by men of skill
1863.
NEW ENGLAKD FARMER.
153
and ability to make original investigations. How
this can best be done remains to be seen. Penn-
sylvania has got ahead of us. Let us learn from
their experience and that of European institutions.
Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro', said the people
must first feel their want of knowledge before
they will seek it. The young men of the State
are beginning to feel the want of knowledge.
He spoke of the magnitude of the agricultural
interest of the Commonwealth. We have 30,000
farms, which give employment to about 400,000
persons ; and about the same number are engaged
in manufacturing. Our mechanics stand high ;
and by their skill and invention most of our labor
is performed by the muscles of animals. Shall
the college be independent or connected with
some of the institutions in the Commonwealth ?
Mr. White, Secretary of the Board of Educa-
tion, being called on to speak, urged the impor-
tance of beginning right. He rejoiced in the
hope of the prospect for a professional education
in regard to agriculture and the mechanic arts.
Let us accept the grant. We don't know yet
that we shall get anything.
Mr. Merria.m, of Tewksbury, thanked the
Governor for his speech and believed there is a de-
fect in our educational system. A man can learn
to be a minister, a doctor or a lawyer, but where
can he learn to be a farmer ? He spoke of the
Bussy grant which should be used to endow a
professorship of agriculture in Harvard College.
The college should be located on a large farm of
300 or 400 acres.
FARMERS' "WIVES OVERTAXED—No. 2.
Brutalities are thoughtlessly sometimes, and
sometimes recklessly perpetrated by farmers on
their wives as follows : A child or other member
of the family is taken sick in the night ; the ne-
cessary attention almost invariably falls on the wife,
to be extended to a greater part, if not the whole
night. Wearied with the previous day's duties,
with those solicitudes which always attend sick-
ness, with the responsibilities of the occasion and
a loss of requisite rest, the wife is many times ex-
pected to "see to breakfast" in the morning, as if
nothing had happened. The husband goes to his
work, soon becomes absorbed in it, and forgets all
about the previous night's disturbance ; meets his
wife at the dinner-table ; notices not the worn-out
expression on her face ; makes no inquiry as to
her feelings ; and if anything on or about the
table is not just exactly as it ought to be, it is no-
ticed with a harshness which would be scarcely
excusable if it had been brought about with a de-
liberate calculation.
The same thing occurs multitudes of times dur-
ing the nursing periods of mothers. How many
nights a mother's rest is broken half a dozen times
by a restless, crying, or ailing infant, every mother
and observant man knows. In such cases the
farmer goes into another room and sleeps soundly
until the morning ; and yet, in loo many cases,
although this may be, and is repeated several
nights in succession, the husband does not hesi-
tate to wake his wife up with the information that
it is nearly sunrise ; the meaning of which is that
he expects her to get up and attend to her duties.
No wonder that in many of our lunatic asylums
there are more farmer's wives than any other
class ; for there is no fact in medical science more
positively ascertained, than that insufficient sleep
is the most speedy and certain road to the mud-
house. Let no farmer, tljf n, let no mechanic, let
no man, who has any human sympathy still left,
allow his wife to be waked up in the morning ex-
cept from very urgent causes ; and further, let
them give every member of the household to un-
derstand that quietude about the premises is to
be secured always until the wife leaves her cliam-
ber; thus having all the sleep which nature will
take, the subsequent energv, cheerfulness and ac-
tivity which will follow, will more than compen-
sate for the time required to "get her sleep out ;"
not only as to her own efficiency, but as to that of
every other member of the household ; for let it
be remembered that a merry industry is conta-
gious.
There are not a few farmers whose imperious
wills will not brook the very slightest dereliction of
duty on the part of any hand in their employ,
and whose force of character is such that every
thing on the farm, outside the house, goes on like
clockwork. They look to their wives to have sim-
ilar management indoors ; and are so swift, to no-
tice even slight shortcomings, that at length their
appearance at the family table has become insep-
arable from scenes of jarring, fault-finding, sneer-
ing, depreciating comparisons, if not of coarse vi-
tuperation, of which a savage might well be
ashamed ; and all this, simply from the failure to
remember that they have done nothing to make
the wife's authority in her domain as imperative
as their own. They make no account of the pos-
sible accidents of green wood to cook with ; of an
adverse wind which destroys the draft of the chim-
ney ; of the breaking down of the butcher's cart ;
or the failure of the baker to come in time ; they
never inquire if the grocer has not sent an inferi-
or article, or an accident has befallen the stove or
some cooking utensil. It is in such ways as these,
and millions more like them, that the farmer's wife
has her whole existence poisoned by those daily
tortures which come from her husband's thought-
lessness, his inconsideration, his hard nature, or
his downright stupidity. A wife naturally crave<i
her husband's approliation. "Thy desire shidl i)e
to thy husband," is the language of Scripture j
which, whatever may be the specific meaning of
the quotation, certainly carries the idea that she
looks up to him, with a yearning inexpressil)le, for
comfort, for stii)])ort, for smiles and sympathy ;
and when she does not get these, the whole world
else is a waste of waters, or life a desert ns barren
of sustenance as the great Sahara. But this is
only half the sorrow ; when, in addition to this
want of approljation and symjjuthy, there comes
the thoughtless complaint, the remorseless and re-
peated fault-finding and the contemptuous gesture,
when all was done that was possible under tl;e cir-
cumstances— in the light of treatment like this, it
is not a wonder that settled sadness and hopeless-
ness is impressed on the face of many a farmer's
wife, which is considered by the thoughtful |jliysi.
cian, as the prelude to that early wasting uw.iy.
which is the lot of many a virtuous, and faithful,
and conscientious woman.
The attentive reader will not fail to have ob-
served, that the derelictions adverted to on the
part of farmer husbands, are not regarded ncces-
sarilv as the result of a perverse nature ; hut rath-
er in the main, from inconsideration or ignorance ;
154
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
but from whatever cause, the effect is an unmixed
evil ; and it is to be hoped that our religions pa-
pers and aU agricultural publications will persist-
ently draw attention to these things, so as to ex-
cite a higher sentiment in this direction. It can
be done and ought to be done ; and high praise is
justly due to to the Honorable the Commissioner
of the Agricultural Department, in that he has
expressly desired, that an article should be written
on the subject of the hardships and the unneces-
sary exposures of farmers' wives, to the end that
information and instruction should be imparted in
this direction ; it is at once an evidence of a high,
and manly, and generous nature.
There are some suggestions to be made with a
view to lightening the load of farmers' wives, the
propriety, the wisdom, and advantages of which
cannot fail to be impressed on every intelligent
mind.
A timely supply of all that is needed about a
farmer's house and family, is of incalculable im-
portance ; and when it is considered that most of
these things will cost less to get them in season,
and also that a great deal of unnecessary labor
can be avoided by so doing, it would seem only
necessary to bring the fact distinctly before the
farmer's mind, to secure an immediate, an habitu-
al and a life-long attention. The work necessary
to keep a whole household in easily running order
is very largely curtailed by having everthing pro-
yided in time, and by taking advantage of those
jli.ttle domestic improvements devised by busy
;l)rfclns, and which are brought to public notice
vveekiy, in the columns of newspapers.
It i:^guires less time and less labor to have the
winter's wood for house-heating and cooking
brought into the yard and piled up cozily under a
shed pr placed in a wood-house, in November,
than to put ;it off until the ground is saturated
.with water, allowing the wheels to sink to the hub
, in mud ; 01" until the snow is so deep as tu make
wheeling impossible.
It is incalculably better to have the potatoes
and other vegetables gathered and placed in the
cellar or in an outhouse near by, in the early fall,
so that the cook may get at them under cover,
than to put it off week after week, until near
Christmas ; compelling the wife and servants once
or twice every day, to leave a heated kitchen, and
most Jikely with thin shoes, go to the garden with
a tin pan and a hoe, to dig them out of the wet
ground and bring them home in slosh or rain.
The truth is, it ])erils the life of th« hardiest per-
sons, while working over the fire in cooking or
washing, to go outside the door of the kitchen for
an instant ; a damp, raw wind may be blowing,
whicli, coming upon an inner garment, throws a
chill, or the clamminess of the grave, over the
whole body in an instant of time, to be followed
l)y the re-action of fever, or fatal congestion of the
lungs ; or by making a single step in the mud,
which is in tens of thousands of cases allowed to
accumulate at the very door-sill, for want of a
board or two, or a few flat stones, not a rod away.
No farmer's wife who is a mother ought to be
allowed to do the washing of the family ; it is per-
ilous to any woman who has not a vigorous con-
stitution. The farmer, if too poor to afford help
.for that purpose, had better exchange a day's work
himself. There are several dangers to be avoided
while at the tub — it requires a person to stand for
hours at a time ; this is a strain upon the young
wife or mother, which is especially perilous — be-
sides, the evaporation of heat from the arms, by
by being put in water and then raised in the air
alternately, so rapidly cools the system that in-
flammation of the lungs is a very possible result ;
then, the labor of washing excites perspiration and
induces fatigue ; in this condition the body is so
susceptible to taking cold that a few moments'
rest in a chair, or exposure to a very slight draft
of air, is quite enough to cause a chill, with results
painful or even dangerous, according to the par-
ticular condition of the system at the time. No
man has a right to risk his wife's health in this
way, however poor, if he has vigorous health him-
self ; and, if poor, he cannot aflbrd, for the five or
six shillings, which would pay for a day's wash-
ing, to risk his wife's health, her time for two or
three weeks, and the incurring of a doctor's bill,
Avhich it may require painful economies for months
to liquidate.
Every farmer owes it to himself, in a pecuniary
point of view, and to his wife and children, as a
matter of policy and affection, to provide the
means early for clothing his household according
to the seasons, so as to enable them to pr&pare
against winter especially. Every winter garment
should be completed by the first of November,
ready to be put on when the first Avinter day
comes. In multitudes of cases valuable lives
have been lost to farmers' families by improvi-
dence as to this point. Most special attention
should be given to the underclothing ; that should
be prepared first, and enough of it to have a
change in case of an emergency or accident.
Many farmers are even niggardly in furnishing
their wives the means for such things ; it is far
wiser and safer to stint the members of his family
in their food than in the timely and abundant sup-
ply of substantial under- clothing for winter wear.
It would save an incalculable amount of hurry and
its attendant vexations, and also of wearing
anxiety, if farmers were to supply their wives
with the necessary material for winter clothing as
early as midsummer.
Few things will bring a more certain and happy
reward to a farmer than for him to remember his
wife is a social being, that she is not a machine,
and therefore needs rest, and recreation, and
change. No farmer will lose in the long run, eith-
er in money, health, or domestic comfort, enjoy
ment, and downright happiness, by allotting one
afternoon in each week, from midday until bed-
time, to visiting purposes. Let him, with the ut-
most cheerfulness and heartiness, leave his work,
dress himself up, and take his wife to some pleas-
ant neighbor's, friend's, or kinsman's house, for
the express purpose of relaxation from the cares
and toils of home, and for the interchange of
friendly feelings and sentiments, and also as a
means of securing that change of association, air,
and food, and mode of preparation, which always
wakes up the appetite, invigorates digestion, and
imparts a new physical energy, at once delightful
to see and to experience ; all of which in turn
tend to cultivate the mind, to nourish the affec-
tions, and to promote that bi'eadth of view in re-
lation to men and things which elevates, and ex-
pands, and ennobles, and without which the whole
nature becomes so narrow, so contacted, so je-
june and uninteresting, that both man and woman
1*863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
loo
become but a shadow of what they ought to be.
Let the farmer never forget that his wife is his
best friend, the most steadfast on earth, would do
aiore for him in calamity, in misfortune, and sick-
ness, than any other human being, and that on
this account, to say notiiing of the marriage vow,
made before high heaven and before men, he owes
to the wife of his bosom a consideration, a tender-
ness, a supjiort, and a sympathy, which should
put out of sight c%'e.y feeling of profit and loss
rhe very instant they con»e in collision with his
wife's welfare as to her body, her mind, and her
affections. No man will ever lose in tlie long run
by so doing; he will not Jose in time, will not
lose in a dyin<j hour, nor in that great and myste-
rious future which lies before all. — IIull's Jouruai
of HmUh.
EAISIWG CALVES.
Mr. Editor ;— I notice in the last Telegraph.
an article on the above subject, which is altogeth-
er very good, but in some few ways I difler from
the writer. Allow me to give my plan, and let
your readers choose for themselves.
In the first place, about the jiaj/uii/ part. That
alone has of late years prevented me from raising
stock. Within a certain distance from the city,
THE CUIiTUHE OF "WHEAT.
"Bread is the staff of life." Wheat bread is so
universally jjopular, and what, according to the an-
alyses of the chemists, contains so much nourish-
ment as wheat bread ? There is no other so pal-
atable to most persons, and, at the same time, that
can be eaten so long without paUing on the appe-
tite, as the bread of wheat Hour.
There is no crop, also, more easily raised on
suitable lands, or that may be grown to more profit
to the farmer or more benefit to the State. It some-
times fails, as do most other crops, but even this
failure is quite likely to be considerably checked,
when we come to understand its true mi^de of cul-
tivation,— such, perhaps, as the jireijaration of the
seed and getting it into the ground early.
In England, one of the best farming countries
of the world, wheat is the principal crop, that upon
which the farmer mainly relies, says Mr. Culman,
for his money returns, and for the payment of his
labor and rent, and to which his attention is prin-
cipally directed. In France, an immense crop of
where farms sell from $175 to S2.5() an acre,"l ' ''■^^''' *'' "'^*^'^'"^''- Statistical accounts have shown
think it will not patj to raise stock, unless the price
of stock is much higher than it has been for a year
that in England upwards of one hundred mid eleceii
millions of bushels have been raised in a year, and
or two ; but when you do raise stock, by all means in France about two hundred millions (fbusheh!
have good stock to raise from
My plan was, if I were going to raise a calf, not
to allow it to suck the cow. It will learn to drink
alone much easier. I have had them drink alone
before they were twelve hours old. I like to liave
three or four to start at a time, and to start them
a few weeks before pasture. After that, if they
run where there is water, shade and grass, they
wUl want but little care until fall, when they should
have shelter at nights, and a little hay, roots or
brewers' grain are excellent to feed them during
the winter season, to keep them in a thrifty con-
dition. By all means keep them growing for the
first three years, and if lieifers, not to allow them
to have a calf until three years old ; and you will
have cows that, w hen your friends call, you will not
be ashamed to take them to the barn to see your
stock. — Qtrmantotcn Tdegraplu
German Mode of Preserving or Trans-
MiTTixG Cuttings of Plants to a Distance.
— Cylindrically shaped strong glass bottles with
wide mouths are used, into which the cuttings are
thrown just as they are taken from the i)lant ;
from a teasjwonful to a tablespoonful of water is
put in the bottle and the sto]>])er hermetically
sealed up. Cuttings kept in this way for a month
In all our States, out of New England, this crop,
as in Great Britain, is the money crop. In the
Western States, a farmer who has a crop of wheat
in the ground, gets what he wants for his family
at the nearest store on the credit of the wheat, and
when ready for market it is hauled to the store and
received in payment, and the balance, if any, cred-
ited to the farmer, passing thus as the medium of
payment in the dealings of the farmer at the store :
or, otherwise, is carried to the nearest mill, and
sold for cash.
It is always a cash article where nothing else is,
and always easily transferable as cash, or as the
best and readiest medium in exchanges. In the
middle States, in Pennsylvania, New York, Mary-
land ; in Virginia and Ohio, it is on about the
same footing in commerce, and is, in like manner,
relied upon as the thing needful to the farmer to
pay for those articles of necessary use which he
does not raise and is oliliged to buy. It may un-
doubtedly be made as important in tlic produce of
a Massachusetts farm.
It should be remembered by everj- farmer, that
have grown most freely, and instances have oc-
curred whei-e they have sent out roots during a I it is not so much the amount of what he produces
journey from Edinburg to Vienna, and Ijeiiig im- J that enables him to succeed in his business, as
what he is able to retain and use for his own jileas-
ure. His first effort, therefore, it seems to us.
mediately potted on their ai'rival have grown free-
A Good Remedy for a Fei.on is made of should be to produce, himself, everything re-
common soft soap and air-slacked lime, stirred till ' quired for use in his own family : — that is, every-
it is of the consistency of glazier's putty. Make a ^^- adapted to the climate and his peculiar loc'a-
leather thimble, fill it with this composition, and
insert the finsjer therein ; and, our informant says.
tion and soil. This saves transportation, loss in
a cure is certain. This is a domestic application exchanges, and loss of Ume in marketing. It
that every housekeeper can apply promptly. I would require a considerable amount of all these,
156
NEW EI^GLaKD FAiniER.
yixt
to raise corn or potatoes enough to exchange for
the flour, for a year, required by a family of eight
or ten persons. Would it not be better for New-
England farmers, as a general thing, to devote an
acre to wheat, save all the cost incident upon ex-
changing, and eat the product of their own fields ?
We think it would. A farmer needs a good deal
of skill to trade advantageously with those whose
w-its are sharpened by making trade the business
of life, and who are too often unscrupulous in their
transactions. The more directly the farmer's pro-
ducts come from his fields to his table, the more
profit he will find in them.
NEW BOOKS
Agriculture op Massachusetts. For the year 1862. By
Charles L. Fliut, Secretary of the State Boanl of Agriculture.
Boston: Wright & Potter, printers. 1 vol., 8 vo., 692 pp.
We have before us the Tent?i Annual Report of
the Secretary of the MassaclmseUs Board of Agri-
culture, Reports of Committees, and some account
of a Trip to Europe by the Secretary, during the
last summer.
The first paper of the volume relates to the
breaking out, anew, of the pleuro-pneumonia, in
Norfolk county. The next relates to the premium
offered by various county societies for the best
conducted experiments on the application of ma-
nures. Then follows a report on Fruit Culture,
with a Catalogue of Fruits, adapted to the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts, and icith special ref-
erence to Nomenclature, and one on The Cultivation
of the Orape in Massachusetts, embracing the top-
ics of Soil, Aspect, Manures, Preparation of the
Soil, Planting, Distance apart, Pnining, Propaga-
tion, Raising New Varieties from Seed, Hybridiz-
ing, and Profits of Grape Culture. In a repoi-t on
the Sheep Law, we learn that 3,124 dogs have
been licensed, and an estimate that 1,126 still run
nnlicensed.
A paper upon the Insects of 3fassachisetts which
are bet^efcial to Agriculture, by Mr. Francis G.
Sanborn, Curator of Entomology, is a valuable
one. It is written in the most popular manner in
which the subject can be treated, is numerously
and handsomely illustrated, and contains much in-
formation long desired by the agricultural com-
munity.
The next paper is Mr. Flint's brief report of
his Tri]) to Europe, which is all too short, crowd-
ed as it is, with the interesting things which he
saw or heard in his travels. We cannot, now)
specify, but shall find room hereafter for some
portions of his interesting narrative.
The reports of delegates who visited the vari-
ous County Societies, extracts from addresses de-
livered at the annual meeting, with reports of sev-
eral committees on farms, &c., make up the rest
of the volume. The volume is a valuable one.
Its subjects are practically treated, and are gener-
ally entitled to serve as a guide in the operations
of our farmers. It is too valuable to be thrown
together in the unworkmanlike manner in which
it is presented. It is well printed, on good paper,
and is in good binding — but the "making tip," as
it is technically termed, of its pages, does not
show a particle of the skill of the craft. For in-
stance : — The article on the sheep and dog law
page 109, occupies about eight pages, ending with
a table of "rule and figure" work, when the next
paragraph, without any indication that the subject
has been changed, introduces an important report
from a select committee. Again, on page 12-3,
Mr. Sanborn's report on Insects — a paper of 60
pages — is introduced in two lines, at the bottom of
thep'age, and without any indication whatever that
the paragraph did not belong to the previous sub-
ject.
On page 186, Mr. Flint's report of his trip to
Europe, is dignified by opening a page, because
the preceding page was full into a single line.
The State will feel the loss of that line ! This re-
port deserves a more formal introduction. It cer-
tainly should have had a "half-title," if nothing
more.
These examples are sufficient. The contents of
the work are crowded in continued succession, one
subject rushing into another, without anything to
indicate that the stoiy upon which one begins,, is
ended. When so much talent and labor have been
expended, the State can certainly afford to have it
arranged in a skilful and int elligible manner.
Fiir the Aew England Farmer.
BREAD MAKIWa.
From an Essay read before the Concord Farmers' Club, by J,
Reynolds, M. D.
The grains which we use for bread consist chiefly
of starch, sugar and gluten. The object of form-
ing them into bread is to effect such a change in
them as will render them more palatable and more
easily digested. The grain is first pulverized and
then sifted, to separate the different qualities of
the meal. The external, or woody portion of the
grain is the bran. The inner portion is the flour.
The gluten is tough, and the most difficult to
grind. The finer and Mhiter portion obtain-^d bj-
repeated siftings, consists of a large proportion of
starch. The darker colored part is richer in glu-
ten, and as the nutritive properties are in projjor-
tion to the gluten, that portion makes the most
nutritious bread.
When flour is mixed with water, kneaded ini.o
dough and baked, it will he tough and clammy. If
spread and cut into a thin sheet, it will be hard
and horny. In neither case will it be palatable or
easily digestt'J. To avoid these results, and to
form a light, spongy dough, different methods are
adopted. If a paste of flour and water be permit-
ted to stand some days in a Avarm place, it com-
mences to ]nitrefy and grows sour. If a . small
portion of this sour paste be incorporated into fresh
dough, the decomposing gluten acts upon the su-
sar of the flour and excites what is called the
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
157
vinous fermentation, changing the sugar into al-
cohol and carbonic acid. The carbonic acid is set
free in the form of minute bubbles of gas through-
out the wliole substance of the dough, and be-
ing retained by tlie adhesive gluten, it causes the
whole mass to swell or rise. These bubbles form
the pores or small cavities, which in well made
bread are small and uniform, — but if the dough is
too watery, or not well kneaded, or, if the Hour is
too fine, there are sometimes large, irregular cav-
ities or holes in tlie bread. If the process of fer-
mentation is carried too far, the vinous fermenta-
tion passes into the acetous, and the alcohol is
changed into vinegar, and the dough becomes
sour.
This may be corrected by the addition of soda
or magnesia, which gives no disagreeable taste,
and acts as a gentle laxative, and is wholly unob-
jectionable, iiy fermentation, the bread is made
light at the esjjense of the sugar in the tlour, which,
as I have said, is changed into alcohol and carbon-
ic acid, both of which are driven oft' by the process
of bakiiig.
Any method by which a gas is set free through-
out the mass answers the purpose. If carbonate
of soda is mixed with the flour, and muriatic acid
largely diluted be added, the acid and soda unite,
forming common salt. And the carbonic acid,
previously combined with the soda, is set free rap-
idly, forming a very light sponge. This must be
kneaded immediately, and forms a very palatable
bread, containing nothing injurious. Ammonia,
in the form of a carbonate, is often used in making
cake. This is often driven off by the heat in bak-
ing. The efl'ect of heat upon the gluten and
starch in the process of baking is to cause them
to form a chemical com])ound which cannot be
separated by washing Mitli water, as could be done
when they were in the state of flour. In conse-
quence of this change, and of its light, spongy
form, bread becomes more easily soluble in the
stomach. The water added to the flour forms
about one-third the weight of the bread. That
which is not evaporated, is converted into a solid,
and forms a chemical union with the bread.
Wheat flour contains all the elements contained
in milk and blood, though not in the same pro-
portion. These proportions are easily adjusted in
the stomach. Hence, wheat is better suited than
any other known substance for animal nutrition.
For the New England Farmer.
coirs SUPERPHOSPHATE.
Mr. Editor : — In a number of the Farmer,
dated March 2Sth, I noticed an inquiry of J. E.
Morse, Peterboro', X. II., in regard to the use
and benefit of Coe's Superphosphate of Lime.
Allow me to answer the inquiry briefly, for the
benefit of others as well as Mr. Morse. It is a
good topdressing, and profital)le if the ground is
well harrowed, so that it is sufliciently loose to
receive it ; and then it should be sown on a rainy
day. For corn it is unequalled as a sjjecial fertil-
izer. A small tablesjioonful in the hill at the time
of planting will do very well — but repeated at sec-
ond hoeing, it w ill add to the crop twice its cost and
mature it ten days earlier, saving the risk of frost,
which will pay for the cost. The grain is also
heavier and brighter. Three hundred pounds per
acre, for corn, or topdressing, is sufficient ; for
jieas or beans, seven hundred and fifty pounds
will answer; for potatoes, I would recommend
four hundred pounds, if there is no other manure.
When worked into the soil the effect is quite last-
ing ; as a topdressing it is sooner spent But in
these days of cropping I think few persons in New
England can ali'ord to do without it.
West Meridai, Coniu, 1863. R. Linsley.
For the A>ir Kn^lantl Farmer.
METEOKOLOQICAIi RECORD FOR FEB-
RUARY, 1863.
These observations are taken for, and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of Fel)ruary was 22'* ;
average mid-day temperature, 29. The corres-
ponding figures for Feb., 1KG2, were 19" and 27*^;
for Feb., 18(51, 26*^ and 33". The warmest days
were the 1.5th, 20th and 27th, averaging 39*^ ; cold-
est day the 4th, averaging 17" below zero. High-
est temperature, 46" ; lowest temperature, 23" be-
low zero.
Average height of mercurv in Uie barometer,
29.41 inches; do. for Feb., 1SG2, 29.2j inches;
do. for Feb., ISGl, 29,21 inches. Highest daily
average, 30.()4 inches, on the 5th ; lowest do.,
2S.63 inches, on the 20th. Range of mercury
from 28. 52 inches to 30.12 inches. Rain fell on
four days — snow on nine days. Amount of rain
and melted snow, 3.12 inches ; do. of snow, 14.50
inches; corresponding figures for Feb., 1802, 3.10
inches and 31 inches; for Feb., 1861, 2.98 inches
and 15.50 inches. There were two entirely clear
days ; one day was entirely overcast. It will be
noticed tliat the greatest elevation of the barome-
ter was about coincident with the lowest tempera-
ture, and the lowest barometer with the highest
temjierature.
Average temperature of the winter of 1862-3,
25" ; of 18G1-2, 22" ; of 18G0-L 22°. Total am't
of snow during the winter of 1.SG2-3, 52.25 inches ;
of rain and melted snow, 8.37 indies ; do. for win-
ter of 18G1-2, 77 inches and 8.25 inches ; do. for
winter of 1860-1, 93.25 inches and 10.53 inches.
Cluremont, N. II., March, 1863. a. c.
Health — Our Fed. — Women are not more
hardy than men. They walk on the same damp,
cold earth. Their shoes must be as thick and
warm. Calf or kip skin is best for the cold sea-
son. The sole should \ye half an inch thick ; in
addition there should be a quarter of an inch uf
rubber. The rubber sole I iiave used for years ;
I would not part with it for a thousand dollars.
! It kee])s out the damp, prevents sli|)ping, and
\ wears five times as long as leather of the same
cost. Fur women's boots it is invaluable. Lut
! rubber shoes should be discarded. They retain
, the perspiration, make the feet tender and give
I susceptibility to cold. Stand on one foot, and
! mark around the outspread toes. Have your
' soles exactly the same width. Your corns will
' leave vou. The narrow sole is the cause of most
i of our corns. A careful study of the anatomy (if
j the feet and the influence of a narrow sole will
satisfy every inquirer. The heel should be broad
and long.
Wear thick, woollen stockings. Change them
every day.
Before retiring, dip the feet in cold water. Rub
them hard. Hold the bottoms to the fire till they
burn. — Dr. Lewis.
158
NEW KN-GLAND FARMER.
Mat
IF -WE KNEW.
If we knew the cares and crosses,
Crowding round our neighbor's way,
If we knew the little losses.
Sorely grievous day by day.
Would we then so often chide
For his lacs of thrift and gain —
Leaving on his heart a shadow.
Leaving on our lives a stain ?
If we knew the clouds above us,
Held by gentle blessings there,
Would we turn away all trembling
In our blind and weak despair?
Would we shrink from little shadows
Lying on the dewy grass,
While 'tis only birds of Eden,
Just in mercy flying past ?
If we knew the silent story
Quivering through the heart of psln,
Would our womanhood dare doom them
Back to haunts of guilt again ?
Life hath many a tangled crossing,
Joy hath many a break of woe,
And the cheeks tear-washed are whitest 5
This the blessed angels know.
Let us reach into our bosoms
For the ke3' to other lives.
And with love toward erring nature.
Cherish good that still survives ;
So that, when our disrobed spirits
Soar to realms of light again,
We may say "Dear Father, judge us.
As we judge our fellow-men."
Foreign Exchange.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
SEEDS — CURKANTS AND RASPBERUIES — URONZE TUR-
KEY— BRAHMA FOWiS.
1. I wish to inquire what kind of vegetable seeds
are good only at one year old? what kind at two ?
and what three years or more? (Common kinds only.)
2. Should currants and raspberries be set in partial
shade ?
3. In what does the superiority of the Bronze tur-
key consist r
4. Are the genuine Bramah fowls clear white, or
streaked with black on neck or tail ? Ex.
March, 1863.
Remarks. — 1. The egg plant, various kinds of on-
ions, parsnip and thick-skinned squash are safe only
for one year.
Beans should not be planted that have been kept
more than two years, — nor carrots, celery, spinach or
tomato seeds.
Asparagus seed is good at three years, — so are let-
tuce and peas.
But broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, mel-
on, radish, squash and turnip seeds are supposed to
remain good for from five to ten years — so says Mr.
ScHLEGEL, at 20 South Market Street, Boston,->-one
of the best informed seedsmen in our knowledge.
2. We are not aware that currants and raspberries
flourish any better for being partially shaded, after
they are once thoroughly established in the gi-ound.
We have cultivated them successfully in the sun, and
just as well when partially shaded.
We must leave the other questions for some one
better informed.
HUNGARIAN GRASS.
I have seen communications frequently in the Frtrw-
er on Hungarian grass. I would like to make one
suggestion in its favor in relation to its being fed to
milch cows. I raised some two years ago, and in the
winter triwl it in various ways — the sheep, horses and
cattle all being very fond of it. It improved the quan-
tity and quality of the milk at once. I sold half a
ton to one of my neighbors for his cow. His experi-
ence accords with mine. He said it improved the col-
or and taste of the butter. I am now feeding with
the same result.
I wish to know where I can obtain one-half bushel
of flax seed, and at what price ? some that will be
adapted to the latitude of Central Vermont or New-
Hampshire. "Agriculturist," in his letter No. 2, has
given so minute a description of the whole process of
raising, that I think I can do it ; at anv rate I can try.
North Thetfotd, Vt., 1863. M" D. Baxter.
Remarks. — Flax seed is high at present — probably
$Z 50 or $^ 00 per bushel. It lisually sells for about
half that sum.
horse RAKES.
Will you inform the boys of New Hampshire of the
best horse rake in use, and the cost ? Also the best
one or two-horse mower, and the cost ? Also the cut,
or plan, if convenient. Most of our help has left to
work for Uncle Sam ; so much so, we are almost
oI)liged to do our labor with horses, or at least, as far
as we can. e. h.
Upper Gilmanton^ N. H., 1863.
Remarks. — There are two horse rakes about to be-
introduced, which we shall notice by-and-by.
SETTING VF BIRDS.
Will you through the Fanner inform, me of the best
manner of preserving, stutting and curing birds ? 5
"want to know the whole modus operandi, so far as the
materials used in preserving and stuliing are concerned.
Of late, we have been visited with many rare kinds,
uncommon in this country, and at this season. If you
will ol>lige me in this matter, you will confer a favor
on a friend and a reader.
Chanxins E. Hazeltine.
Sonth Strafford, Vt., 1863.
Remarks. — We will publish a complete article on
the sul)ject, soon.
warts on cattle.
I wis?i to inqnire through the columns of the Farm~
er if there is any cure for warts on cattle. I have a
vaUja))lc cow which has a number of large warts.
Will some ol" your numerous readers prescribe a rem-
edy, and much oblige s. f. a.
Bellows Falls, March, 1863.
LEGISLATIVE AGRICULTURAL MEET-
ING.
The Eleventh meeting of tliis series took place at
the State House on the evening of March 30.
The subject for discussion was the Qdiure of Flax.
Stdpiien M. Allen, Esq., President of the Na-
tional Fibrilia Companiy, spoke as follows :
In both England and France the change from
the use of linen to cotton was attended with much
difficulty. It was principally brought about by
the influence of new machinery, invented for card-
ing and spinning short-stapled fibres at much less
cost than long-line fibres could be manufactured.
Tnis difi'erence in manufacture is as marked now
as it was then, and has given birth to the fibriliz-
ing process, which admits of the preparation of
flax or hemp for spinning on short-stapled ma-
chinery usually employed for the manufacture of
cotton and wool.
The transition wrought in England by the in-
ventions of Paul, Hargrave, Arkwright and
Crompton, in the introduction of power spinning
and weaving, was so great that whole neighbor-
hoods became disturbed by mobs, composed of
hand spinners and weavers who feared being
thrown out of work. The governments of both
England and France had to interfere, and laws
were made to regulate the manufacture of cottoii
goods, restricting them to linen warps. These
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
159
laws were in force for many years, and regulated
the manufiicture of calico to a great extent.
In America, the manufacture of linen was among
the first of domestic jjroducts. Hand wheels and
looms were introduced into almost every farm-
house, and in many cases a surplus of linen was
manufactured, beyond private domestic use, and
was sent to market and sold. In some cases, as
at Londonderry, large amounts of goods were an-
nually made for market by the Scotch Irish, who
settled there, and a trade mark was given them
for the protection of their linen from counterfeits
from other but inferior producers.
The value of linen has not been diminished, but
rather has increased since cotton came into gen-
eral use, but its manufacture is mostly confined to
Europe. The great scarcity of cotton at the pres-
ent time has made it a subject of more general in-
terest than for many years in the past.
Flax cotton has been a subject of investigation
and research for more than a century, l)ut the ex-
periments have, generally, almost entirely failed.
The fibrilizing process of flax and hemp how-
ever is a perfect success, and at the present time
an article of fibrilia is made which answers a good
purpose for both cotton and wool, and can be spun
and woven on the ordinary machinery for those
staples with but little necessary alteration.
In the production of this article the whole pro-
cess of the manufacture of flax and hemp has
been changed. The gathering of the raw flax, the
extraction of the woody matter of the stalk,
as well as the dissolving of the gummy matter
holding the fibrils together, and the preparation
for spinning and weaving, or coloring and bleach-
ing, has no analogy with the manufacturing pro-
cess of long line flax for linen. The whole pro-
cess is accomplished for less than one-third the
cost per pound of long line fibre, while for cali-
coes mixed half and half with cotton, it is much
better than cotton.
The whole process of manufacture is very sim-
f)le. The flax or hemp straw is mown or cradled
ike grain, and is cured like hay, after which the
seed is threshed out in the ortlinary way. It is
then passed through the brake, which takes out
fourteen hundred pounds of shives out of every
two thousand pounds of straw, (the sliives, if un-
rotted, being good for cattle,) and the fibre is
then steeped in the retort with warm water at dif-
ferent temperatures, which dissolves the glumien
in the fibre, after wJiich it is rinsed or washed be-
fore coming up to the boiling point. It is then dried
and run through the stranding and cleaning ma-
chine, followed by carding, spinning, S:c., on short
stapled machinery. If it needs bleaching or col-
oring, it may be done in the retort at first, before
removing — the difl'erent liquors being passed
through the receiver to bleach or color, as the
case may be.
The cost cf fibrilia thus made, provided the
manufocturer buys and brakes his flax under his
own supervision, and at the present cost of straw
in the West, is about from ten to twelve and
one-half-cents per pound. In ordinary times it
can be manufactured so as to mix half and half
with cotton for calicoes for eight cents per pound.
All that is now needed is a multiplicity of the
same machinery we are now making to su})ply the
world with a substitute for cotton and wool in
great abundance.
The success of fibrilizing flax and hemp as sub-
stitutes for cotton and wool has been placed be-
yond a doubt. The time necessary to bring out
fiibrilia in such quantities as to supply the world
with that product must l)e determined l)y the co-
operation of the peoi)le in building mills and fur-
nishing capital, the same as in any other branch of
business.
Messrs. Wilkinson &: Wheeler, of Roxbury
have adopted the fibrilia principle in making
crash, and are succeeding beyond exjjectation.
The mills now running under our svstem,
though comparatively small, are making satisfac-
tory goods, and the profits are quite large enough
to satisfy the most fastidious money-maker. The
tendency now, however, is so speculative, both
by the farmer who raises the flax, and the capital-
ist that we have had to use a restraining rather
than an encouraging influence to keep each in
proper check, lest both should be carried on too
fast and too far, simply because though thev were
willing to give their lands and money to tlie enter-
prise, they were not studying the subject properly
as they advanced.
If the friends of the fibrilia enterprise have
erred in the minds of capi'alists in one way more
than any other, it has been in keeping the subject
free h-om speculative influences, which, though
promising largely at first, might not be so well for
the proprietors in the long run.
The twelfth meeting of the series took place
Monday, April 6. Mr. Brown, editor of the X.
E. Farnvr, was elected chairman. He said he
was gratified to address the society in a somewhat
unusual, but pleasant form, as ^'ladicji and gentle-
men"— there being several ladies present. He
spoke at some length upon the ?///productive con-
dition of wet and heavy lands, of the great labor
to cultivate them, and their liability to diougld,
and the consequent decay of plants growing upon
them. He urged the necessity of thorougli drain-
age as one of the leading improvements of the
ace in farm pursuits. This he attempted to show
by
1. The ditach^antarjfis of cultivating wet lands.
2. The j^reveniion of drought.
3. The meclianical and f'eiidiziniy eff'ects of a
shower upon thoroughly drained land, in contrast
with its efi'ects on undrained land.
4. The variation of the season in consequence
of drainage.
5. The l&ss coat of cultivation on land made po-
rous, warm and friable, by drainage, and the great
increase of crop, with the same amount of ma-
nure, and at a greatly reduced amount of lalior.
Mr. Bkown briefly illustrated these ])<)iii;s by
results gained in his own experience in draining
wet u])lands. He then called u])on others to
state their views upon this important subject.
Mr. WakKKN, of Auburn, said he had drained
lands for several years. Wet lands bordering on
swales should be dr.ained. He drained such lands,
and ii improved them so much that six iiills of
potatoes made a bushel. His first crop more than
paid for the labor of drainage. He drained to
the depth of from two to three feet, filkd the
drains with stone, and covered them with straw
and turf, and had since gathered annually a good
crop of hay. He found it was a good piece of
land.
160
- NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
Mr. Smith, of Granby, gave his experience in
draining swale, and found it profitable.
Mr. Howard, of Boston, endorsed the prac-
tice of land drainage, especially of clay lands. It
costs about fifty cents a rod to dig drains here.
In Western New York, it can be donf for thirty
cents.
Mr. Wetherell, of Boston, spoke strongly in
favor of drainage. He maintained that drains in
clay soil should not be laid less than four feet
deep. In speaking of soils, he said that sand,
when thoroughly dried, 100 pounds of it would
hold or absorb 25 pounds of water; loam, 100
pounds in the same condition would absorb 40
pounds of water ; and pure clay, 100 pounds
would absorb 70 jwunds of water. This, he said,
showed the different character of soils. He urged
this improvement as tho one that must be accept-
ed by farmers. No farmer tliat has ■wet lands can
afford to till them undrained.
Mr. Flower, of Agawam, said that for the first
time we are all agreed that drainage is important,
however, we may have difi'ered on other subjects.
He mentioned practical results in his vicinity.
Mr. Drew advocated drainage, giving both ex-
perience and observation in its favor.
Mr. Tower, of Lanesboro', spoke of the bene-
ficial results of drainage, and highly commended it.
A gentleman from Sprhigfield gave an instance
in the Connectiut Valley where drainage destroyed
mosquitoes, — a new reason added to the important
ones-alieady known.
For the New England Farmer.
EXPEBIMEKTTS IKT FEEDING PIGS.
Mr. Editor : — Your correspondent of Ken-
sington, N. H., undertakes to prove in the last
Farmer, that the pig which I spoke of in a late
number, weighing 400 pounds at nine months old,
and fattened on mush, ate 28 bushels of meal, ac-
cording to Mr. Ellsworth's experiments ; which,
at 70 cents per bushel, is equal to $19,60. Now,
my figures are diff'erent from Mr. Ellsworth's, in
respect to the amount of meal it takes to make a
pound of pork. The pig which I refer to was
shut up in a small pen, while INIr. Ellsworth's, per-
haps, were allowed to run about in a field. I wish
to show my friend, Mr. Brown, of Kensington,
some figures that he can depend on, and if he has
fattened a pig any cheaper by feeding it raw corn,
I, for one, would' like to know it. Figures will
not lie.
The pig to which I refer ate no other food to
any amount, but cooked meal, with occasionally
a little sour milk. The amount of meal that it
consumed was 747 pounds, or 13^ bushels, which,
at 70 cents per bushel, is equal to $9,33. We see
by this, that less than two pounds of meal cooked
made one pound of pork. Old corn was used,
which is far better than new. One bushel of it
fed to swine, in July or August, is worth nearly
as much as two of new corn, fed in November.
In tryiug experiments, there are a good many
things to be thought of aud taken into account.
There is a great diff'erence in breeds of hogs ;
some require only a small amount of food to fat-
ten them, while others require a large amount. A
hog of the right breed and disposition will eat its
food and lie down satisfied, while a laud-pike sort
of a hog will eat all it can get, and squeal the rest
of the time. The same amount of meal that would
fatten one hog of a good breed, would go but little
way towards fattening another hog of a poor breed.
I think farmers are not particular enough in their
choice of breeds. If they go to purchase a horse,
they are very particular to get a IMorgan or Black
Hawk ; but in purchasing pigs, they generally
purchase those that they can buy the cheapest.
Mr. B. thinks that mush may satisfy at first, but
that it needs something that will stick by the ribs
to finish off with. I have seen pigs fattened so fat
on mush, that they could scarcely stand on their
feet, and that is as fat as I want hog?. I still con-
tend that it is the most economical way to fatten
pigs on cooked meal. But, says one, you do not
get pay for your extra labor ; let us see about that :
When raw corn is fed to hogs they do not grind
more than two-thirds of it, so one-third of it is
lost. Will that one-third saved by grinding and
cooking, ])ay for the extra labor, or not ? I think
it will, and when we take into account the extra
labor of cultivating that third, we cannot come to
any other conclusion, if we are willing lo admit
the truth, but that it is the most economical and
correct way, in New England, and in every State
where corn is worth from 70 to 90 cents per bush-
el, to grind and cook it for swine. In some parts
of the western States, where they use corn for fu-
el, because it is cheaper than coal or wood, it will
not ])ay to cook it.
Mr. B. refers us to the Post-Office Reports of
1851, where a few W'esterr men give it as their
opinion, that it v/ill not pay for them to even shell
their corn to feed. I suppose ]Mr. B. is aware, as
well as myself, that, at the time they wrote, corn
was worth in the Western States from 12 to 20
cents per bushel, shelled ; and pork from $2 to $3
per hundred pounds. Coi-n has been so abundant
tliere, some years, that it v.-ould scarcely pay to
harvest it, and send it to market. Under those
circumstances, where corn is scarcely worth har-
vesting, I do not contend that it would pay to
cook it to feed any kind of stock.
Here, in New Eugland, it costs some labor to
raise a bushel of corn ; therefore we should use
economy, and feed it in the w'ay that it will do the
most good. O. P. Mead.
Middlebury, VL, Feb., 1863.
Best Time to Feed Graix to Sheep. — Noon
is preferred to morning for this purpose by a cor-
respondent of the Countrij Genilcinan; for three
reasons : First, because, at noon, their appetites
are partly satisfied, and therefore the stronger
ones will crowd the weaker ones less than they
would do in the morning ; second, because sheep
will eat the coarser fodder better before eating
grain than afterwards ; and, third, because, by eat-
ing at noon, the grain will be better mingled with
the coarser fodder already swallowed, and be more
likely to rise with their cuds for thorough masti-
cation, by which the greatest amount of nutriment
will be extracted from a given amount of food.
The California flood of January, 1802, Mas the
highest known in the State for centuries. This is
proved by the fact that Indian mounds of great
depth, bearing unmistakable evidence of great an-
tiquity in the large oaks growing upon them, were
almost entirely carried away, trees and all.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
161
For the Kew England Farmer,
THE PRICE OP MILK.
Mr. Editor :— This is a subject which pos-
sesses much interest for a large number of the
readers of the Farmer. It is one of those matters
upon which much has been said, but very little
done, ujion the side of the producers, the matter
having been left entirely to a few milkmen, who
have, for tlie last few years, so well improved their
o])portunity, that milk is now bought by them at
prices very far below its actual cost of production.
Whenever the prices of other tilings have been
a little less than usual, the price of milk has been
reduced also, but now, when everything which the
farmer must ])urchase has gone up from 50 to 400
per cent, above former prices, tliese milkmen seem
determined to keep down the price to about the
old rates, if possible.
I wish to ask if there is not a remedy for this
state of affairs ? It seems to me that there is, if
milk raisers would only bestir themselves a little.
Why should not they do as other manufacturers
have been doing, and call a milk raisers' convei
SCHOOLEY'S PATENT ICEBEBQ
REFRIGERATOR.
Schooley's upright formed refrigerator, an accu-
rate cut of which we present above, contains every
tion, to establisit an equitable scale of prices, and j improvement covered bv all the patents issued to
ini'lftl fill flirt ^f\\\'-<^cy ti*Ki.-tli r. 1.^ i.-»*-<-ii.,'..^*.i,l * .^ .-..,.^,1 I p, , , 1»T» • '
bchooley, uinship and Fairbanks, up to the year
invite all the towns which are interested to send
delegates ? The idea seems [)racticable, and if a
few influential men would only start the thing, I
think it might be easily accomplished. The j)res-
ent time seems to be a favorable one, and there
can be no question, I think, that, at the present
retail prices, the milkmen can afford to pay a much
higher price per can than they are now paying.
Are all of our farmers aware of the fact, that
the can of milk which they have sold for from 22
to 25 cents, is retailed iu the city for six cents per
quart, wine measure, amounting to nearly or quite
sixty cents per can ? X. Y. z.
Middlesex Conaty, Mass., April, 1803.
Remarks. — We understand that a law has just
been passed in the Legislature, which declares
that "Whoever buys or sells milk by any other meas-
ures, cans or vessels, than those sealed as ijrocided
in the loth section of the General Statutes, shall for
one violation pay $20, and for a second and each
subsequent violation $50. Enforce this section
of the law, and another in relation to the adulter,
ation of milk, and farmers will soon get a fair price
for what they have to spare.
Women with Rakes a\d Spades. — One of our
agricultural contemporaries says : "These times
are bringing out the best qualities of our Ameri-
can women ; but there is one sort of out-d oor la-
bor which should be partict|)ated in by women in
all times, and that is gardening. Xow is the time
to commence operations for the season. If the
ground is wet, and you have no thick boots of
your own, pull on a pair of brother's, fling on one
of those butter-bowl hats, draw on a pair of leath-
er gloves, and sally forth on a reconnoissance.
Rake off the mulches and let the sun have a shine
at the tender crowns which are just ready to
break through the brown husk and show their em-
erald lances. Make up your minds what to plant
and where to plant it ; put in a few seeds of early
cabbage and peas, in a warm nook, and make up
your minds to follow out such a good beginning,
every day or so through the season."
1.S63. The ice chamber in this refrigerator is
])laced at the top of one side, and not across the
top, as in those formerly manufactured ; this ciiange
being made to prevent any moisture from collect-
ing on the bottom of the ice floor in the preserving
chamber. The door to the ice chamber opens
from tlie front and not from the top, as in all other
styles, making it more convenient to put in or get
at the ice.
The following is what Professor Nathaniel Hill,
Professor of Chemistry at Brown University, says
of Schooley's Refrigerator :
"In the month of August I experimented with
Schooley's Refiigerator, also with several other
kinds, in all of which I placed a dish of onions,
some milk, and custard pie. The refrigerators
were then closed, locked, and sealed, and not
opened for twenty-four hours. Upon examination,
all oftiiem lUT sciiooLEv's were highly charged
with the odor of onions, and the milk and' |)ie were
strongly contaminated with the taste of onions.
The inside linings were dripjjing witli water, and
the entire atmosphere was saturated with vapor,
and the milk had become sour. In the Schooley
Refrigerator the linings in the Provision Apart-
ment were dry and the atmosphere pure. There
was no accumulated odor of onions. In the milk
and pie no taste whatever of onions could be de-
tected. The milk was i)erfectly sweet."
This refrigerator is sold by Curtis cV Cobb,
seedsmen and florists, of this city.
Teaching a Colt to Back. — A correspondent
of the liural New Yorker gives the following di-
rections :
We should hitch him up to a cart or wagon that
stood on an elevation, with a gradual slope one
way, so that the cart or wagon wouM run buck it-
self, and try to back liim until successful ; then
try on level ground ; and then a small load. Thus
by degrees you can succeed in teaching him to
back nearly as much as he could draw.
162
NEW ENGLAND FARMF^Tl.
May
AN" AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
The attention of the reader is called to an arti-
cle on another page, upon the subject of found-
ing an agricultural college in this State, under cer-
tain conditions imposed by Congress. These con-
ditions are in an act "donating public lands to the
several States and territories which may provide
colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the
mechanic art-i.'^ The common opinion entertained
is, that this grant contemplates only to benefit
agricultural pursuits, — but the following extract
from the act, Section 4, will show that this idea
is entirely erroneous. The land granted is to be
sold at the expoise of the State, the receipts to be
invested in stocks yielding not less than five per
centum upon their par value, and they must con-
stitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall
remain forever undiminished, "and the inierest of
which shall be inviolably appropriated to the en-
dowment, support and maintenance of at least
one college where the leading object shall be,
without excluding other scientific and classical
studies, and includmg military tactics, to teach
such branches of learning as are related to agri-
culture and the mechanic arts." This, the reader
will observe, is not in consonance with the com-
mon opinion in regard to the matter.
Another point to be considered is, that no por-
tion of the money received from the sale of the
lands can be paid for the construction of build-
ings ; whatever ihet/ may cost must be furnished
by the State or by individuals. Any State avail-
ing itself of the benefit of the act inust provide
not less than one college within Jive years, or the
grant will cease, and the State is bound to pay the
United States the amount received for any lands
that may have been sold.
This whole subject has been before the Legisla-
ture.
In the report of the Committee, to whom the
matter was referred, they state that Massachusetts
has twelve Senators and Representatives, which
entitles the State to land scrip for 360,000 acres
of land. The course which they recommend to
be pursued we regard as the safest one, and if
adopted, and energetic measures are at once insti-
tuted to sell the land, will be quite likely to re-
move something of the prejudice now entertained
against the whole scheme. They recommend "to
receive the land scrip, and dispose of it as rapidly
as possible on good terras, and ascertain precisely
what the fund will amount to, before any large
expenditures are authorized. And even when it
shall have been all collected and funded, it should
be so employed as, like the school fund, to induce
the liberal expenditure of money from other
sources, so as by combination with that, to pro-
duce the greatest possible benefit." The report
goes on to say :
The object is not, as many seem to imagine, solely
to promote agriculture. "Agriculture," tliough men-
tioned first, lias no pre-eminence in the law over "the
mechanic arts." The terms "agriculture and the me-
cluuiic arts," were evidently chosen to represent all
forms of i)ulustry, which, by handicraft and the use
of machinery, contribute to the sustenance and com-
fort of man. And the primary design of thi.s dona-
tion was not directly to promote even these forms of
industry. It was to aid the States to sustain collcc/es
or schools, in which that science should be taught' on
which all the industrial arts depends, withoat exclud-
ing any science because its immediate practical Ijene-
tit might not be seen, and not neglecting military tac-
tics.
Whatever agencies may be established that will
judiciously aid in instructing our people, of every
class, we shall hail with real satisfaction, and shall
improve every opportunity to co-operate with such
agency, and contribute whatever we can to its suc-
cess. We are free to confess that, upon a more
carefid perusal of the act, the reading of the re-
port of the Legislative committee, and that of a
committee of merchants of Boston interested in
*
the scheme, we look upon it with favor, and wish
it distinguished success. It will require, however,
on the part of the State authorities, great energy,
discernment and precision — to secure the objects
sought without embarrassment and loss to the
State. The report continues :
There can but one serious impediment in the way
of making a true professional agricultural school in
this State prosper, and that is a'want of intere>t in it
among the agricultural population. An experimental
farm may be obtained, model buildings can be erect-
ed, accomplished professors and lecturers can be em-
ployed, all that is known about the science of this
branch of industry, which, though no more essential
than many other occupations, yet docs support all
other industrj', can be explained and illustratated;
and the young man who intends to be a farmer can
be enabled to learn, in a few months, fiir more than
he could obtain by a whole lifetime of laljor and
thought, if dependent alone on himself. The re-our-
ces of thought of all ages and countries can be poured
at his feet. That any can ridicule, or oppose, or un-
dervalue such an institution, is one of the strongest
reasons why it should be established. They are not
yet sufficiently enlightened to know their own wants.
The last sentence of this quotation is signifi-
cant. "They [the farmers] are not yet sufficiently
enlightened to know their ovm wants. How they
shall obtain this light, is the great question in
issue. If the college were thoroughly estab-
lished, to-day, so far as farmers are concerned, it
would be of comparatively little advantage. Few
qualified to enter it could be found. It would be
too high up, beyond their reach. They must be-
gin lower, and ascend in the natural way. That
way, to our mind, is clear, available, and certain
in its results. We have seen it demonstrated.
It can be again and again, at little cost, and will
arouse that want of interes' which, the commit-
tee's report says, is the "one serious impediment
in the way of making a true professional agricul-
tural school prosper in this State."
Let us see. The Legislature appropriates some
$25,000 or $30,000, annually, to the various
county societies to aid in promoting the interests
isG.-;
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
163
of agriculture. Some of these societies have been
established more than half a century, and others
for varying periods, down to within two or three
years. The leading things these socieiies did last
year, they did the first year of their existence, and
have done every year since. Some improvements
have been introduced, and some grave errors, un-
til their general operations swallow up the liberal
ajipropriations of the State — and as much more
from individuals — without producing beneficial re-
sults at all commensurate with the money expend-
ed. The same things have been done, and paid
for, over and over again, until the object sought
is, to gain the j^remium, rather than to benefit the
public by submitting important and well authenti-
cated results in the breeding of animals, or the
production of field crops. In fact, the salt has
lost its savor. The Avhole thing needs remodel-
ing, or the State bounty should be discontinued.
In this connection, we are glad to notice that
one of the members of the State Board of Agri-
cuUure, entertains similar views. In his report of
the society to which he was a delegate last fall, he
says :
"The exhibitions have come to be considered
too much as a mere matter of course, the forms of
which are to be gone through with, and a certain
amount of money distributed iu premiums, quite
a proporliou of which really goes for accidental
products, for which the competitor is entitled to
little, or no credit.
'•After a few years," he continues, "the interest
abates, and finally there comes to be mainly a
scramble among the competitors for the money
distributed in premiums. The reports of commit-
tees grow less and less interesting and suggestive,
and at last, all that is expected, even of a commit-
tee, is the bare announcement of the premiums
awarded, without comment, and are of little or no
use to anybody except the recipients."
This is plain language, is as truthful as plain,
and we thank the gentleman for his bold utterance.
It should secure the earnest attention of the Board
to this important matter.
It is worse than useless to continue the old
practices any longer. They not only do no good,
but have corrupting influences, which are paid for
by taxes laid upon the people. Let them be ar-
rested at once, and some new modes introduced.
As it is easier to pull down, than to raise up, we
will suggest a plan for progression.
The one great thing in the way, as suggested by
the Legislative committee and the member of the
Board of Agriculture whom we have quoted, is
the ivant of intercut. They are right. How can
this be secured ? It is only a comparatively small
portion of the people of any county — even among
the farmers — who take a decided interest and par-
ticipate in the aff"airs of the county society. This
interest can be awakened and sustained at small
cost. Let a society receiving $G00 bounty, ap-
propriate one-third of that amount, annually, in
holding meetings in each town in the county, or
at least, in the leading agricultural towns. Sound,
practical men should be selected to attend these
meetings and orally address them — and what is
still more important, they should possess the
genius to induce their hearers frequently to ad-
dress each other. These speakers themselves
should have an experimental knowledge of farm
operations, should be genial and afi^able ])er3ons,
and have that peculiar tact to "draw all to them,"
which some so eminently possess. The meetings
should have something of the character of our
Teachers' Institutes. They should be formally an-
nounced, and the leading minds in the locality es-
pecially called upon to aid in fully securing the
objects of the plan. An hour's lecture will not
do — the entire day and evening should be occu-
pied— the subjects to be discussed announced be-
forehand, and the exercises conducted systemati-
cally. No single flint produces fire. Few isolat-
ed farmers progress, but a contact like this will
make the sparks of thought fly. These meeting*
must not be confined to men — their wives and
children must be there also.
Briefly, these are our views in this matter.
They have been put in practice in another State,
with the most satisfiictory results. One winter's
labor of this kind will secure the interest that now
lies dormant, and accomplish more good than all
the societies have accomplished for the la.st five
years. When the pioneer work is done, there
will be multitudes ready to listen to the chemist
and philosopher, and after tliem to enter the agri-
cidtural college.
For the Pieir England Farmer.
•WOOL GROWING.
Professor Owen defines wool to be "a peculiar
modification of hair, cliuracterised by fine trans-
verse or oblique lines, from two to four thousand
in the extent of an inch — indicative of a minutely
imbricated scaly surface, wlien viewed under the
microscope ; on which, and on its curved or twist-
ed form, depends its remarkable felting pro])erty,
and its consequent value to manufacturers."
The professor is mistaken in estimating the val-
ue of wool for general manufacturing jiurposes as
dependent on the "imbricated sealy surface" of tlie
fibre, and tne number of '"fine transverse or ob-
lique lines, in the extent of an inch. "Bulli of these
principles greatly add to llie value of wool for
fuUimj and fdling ; but these are not the most
valuable pro])erties of wool, neither are they the
most common, nor are they produced alike in but
few cases of fleeces. Many fibres of wool, even
fine and silky, have but little of the barbed prin-
ciple, consequently they will full and felt l}ut poor-
Iv, and they are the more valuable for that, par-
ticularly where the garments made are often wash-
ed. These barbs or scales will vary on the same
sheep in different years, and at different periods
of the same yeai-, by the treatment and food of
164
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
the sheep. There is also an unevenness and ir-
regularity about the length of tke scales, accord-
ing to the food, the exercise and health of ths
sheep, as also a difference of the condition of the
'"■yolk" or greasy substance surrounding and per-
vading the interior of the fibres of the wool, which
affect the fineness and coarseness of the fibre,
and its adaptability to secure and receive color.
All these differences affect the value of the wool to
the manufacturer, as well as help deceive him
in the purchase of wool. The shrinkage of wool
is the bane of the manufacturer; no two fleeces
shrink tdike, and the mistakes made in selections
of wool, from not being able to determine these
differences in its condition, have ruined more wool-
en manufacturers in New England than all other
causes combined. Even the best and most skilful
woolen manufacturers have never been able to cal-
culate, with any certainty, the real cost of goods
beforehand, from the fact that they could seldom
rely on an average shrinkage on wool which could
be estimated by samples. These difficulties can
be better understood by the farmer than the man-
ufacturer, and he can do more towards remedying
the evil. The proper care of the sheep will pro-
duce good fleeces and of uniform quality of wool.
Few people get the true value of the sheep's pro-
duct, or rather what might be the product, for
want of pro])er care.
A distinguished gentleman told me a few days
since, that while visiting a brother v,ho had a large
flock of sheep in New Hampshire, he was told
that a widow lady in the neighborhood had a flock
of but half the size of his brother's, and of the
same kind of sheep, from which she got as much
wool as came from his brother's whole flock, and
that his brother frankly admitted that the reason
was the widow tended her sheep better, and thus
got more wool and lamljs than he did. Now this
principle is undoubtedly correct. Be kind to your
sheep and teach them never to fear you, but on
the contrary to follow you, as do the sheep in
Spain when on their long marches. See, in win-
ter, that they have proper housings, proper food
and water, and ]n-oper exercise ; the latter princi-
ple being applicable to all stock on the farm.
Sheep, more than most any other domestic ani-
mals, have a confiding nature, and like attention ;
are affectionate and are always happier and more
contented when in sigiit of the flock tender. A
little attention in this respect, even in New Eng-
land, will promote the growth of sheep. Again,
dogs, unless especially trained with sheep, should
be kept from them. In the western part of Mas-
sachusetts, it has been said that dogs killed more
sheep than the butchers. In such cases, slaughter
the dogs, and let the sheep live in peace.
The profession of the farmer is undoubtedly the
highest of all professions, and that of the shepherd
is next. We need not fear the influence oi either.
David of old was a shepherd boy, and after he as-
cended the throne, he still kept up an interest in
pastoral life, and had numerous flocks and herds.
His devotional thoughts partook much of pastoral
life. " The Lor?i is my shepherd ; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He
leadeth me beside the still waters." "Be thou dil-
igent," says Solomon, "to know the state of thy
flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs
are thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy
field, and thou shalt have goat's milk enough for
thy food, for the food of thy household, and for
the maintenance of thy maidens."
We may honor the profession of sheep-raising
and wool-growing ; yea, we may also be proud of
the manufacture of wool ; nothing has been accom-
plished by the American farmer, or his wife, more
favorable to his New England character than that
of the domestic manufacture of wool and flax.
When the mothers and sisters carded, spun and
wove their wool and flax for domestic use, a work
was accomplished greater than the saving of so
much money. The labor was great, but the edu-
cation gained was substantial. Such experience
made hardy mothers, useful and accomplished
daughters : fit, even, for all the higher accomplish-
ments of refined life, and no way inconsistent with
them. Said an old lady to me, a few years since,
"I used to rise in the morning early enough to get
my breakfast, dress the children and get my work
done by daylight, so as to commence weaving as
soon as I could see the thread in the shuttle." Such
were the pioneer mothers of New England, who
valued and honored sheep-raising, wool-growing
and manufacturing, and their memory will be with
us and in our history, as long as the virtues of our
people shall find a record in the English language.
s. M. A.
Fur the New En<iland Farmer.
LISTENER AT THE STATE HOUSE.— No. 2.
At the first of these series of meetings, when
the subject was Agricultural Education, Mr.
Gkorge B. Emi^rson opened the discussion, and
highly extolled that part of the Governor's address
which referred to the establishment of an agricul-
tural college, on the basis of the grant of land
from Congress. This gentleman, as well as other
speakers, seemed to think that the proposed col-
lege was to be a purely agricultural college ;
whereas, according to the grant, ^'■militanj tactics,"
and such branches of learning as are related to
the "mechanic arts," are to stand prominent in
such an institution. The words of the Act are :
"Where the leading object shall be, without ex-
cluding other scientific and classical studies, and
including military tactics, to teach such branches
of learning as are related to agriculture and the
mechanic arts, in such a manner as the Legisla-
ture m.¥ prescribe."
It would seem, then, from this, that the teaching
of agriculture could only be a small portion of the
labor for this college to engage in. If the general
principles of this are taught, so must also be those
of the other studies named ; and if the young
farmer is to be finished off to perfection in this in-
stitution, then it is only fair that the mechanic
should be so also. Besides agriculture, military
tactics are to be taught, and a young man must be
shown how to make a locomotive, a watch, a wheel-
barrow, a copper kettle, &c. To do this to any
useful extent, the institution must necessarily be
vcri/ larijc ; and if well patronized, there is some
danger of its monopolizing the business of teach-
ing in all trades. Who would learn a trade any-
where else, all other things being equal P But
they cannot be equal ; for a mechanic's apprentice
could otherwheres more than earn his livelihood
while acquiring a knowledge of his business.
There might be some question, then, whether any
one would patronize such a sliop or school for the
"mechanic arts." And for the same reason, there
1863.
XEW EXGLAXl) FARMER.
165
exists an equal doubt whether the youtif; farmer
could afford to attend it, even if its tuition were
free ! Certainly, its teachings must be very far
beyond anythinjf on our ordinary, practical farms,
to expect much encouragement.
But, perhaps only general principles are to be
given. Very well, llere is a young man who
wishes to become a machinist. He is urged to at-
tend this college, and here he is instructed in the
rudiments of his intended calling, perhaps with
som.e doubtful collateral branches. He spends
three or four years here, paying his board at least,
though earning nothing. \Vlien he graduates he
is not a machinist, and if he intends to become
one, he has only to go and learn the details and
practice of the business ! So with the intended
farmer, the carpenter, .^-c.
Mr. Emerson is a retired teacher, not a farmer.
A former is a man who gets his living (or attempts
to) by tilling the soil. The ideas of Mr. E. are
on a grand scale, and he means well for the farm-
er and the State. Like most scholars and scien-
tific men, he seems to think that everything must
be scholastically taught, and every man put
through some great institution of learning to be
worth anything — seeming to forget how wortliless,
in the great battle of life, many are who are thus
pressed through, even with ordinary honors. Al-
though more than fifty per cent., probably, of the ]
money expended in education is lost, still, on the
right person it is effective ; and although we can- 1
not raise wheat without chaff, we think that if'
these gentlemen would make practical farmers,
they must give them less of the odor of '"learned
professors" and more of that of the soil. Some I
teachers are such enthusiasts in education — have j
80 scientific a way of doing simple things — that |
they deserve to be "showed up" by Dickens in his 1
best style. Like Mrs. Jellyby, they have a "mis- 1
eion ;" and this would seem to be to teach simple
rustics how to saw and split wood, ])ump, turn a
grindstone, pitch hay, or shovel manure ! True,
there is a best way of doing these things ; but
every man's own faculty is his best and ready in-
structor. True is it, also,
"That those who think must govern those who toil."
Yet it would be a painful state of afi'airs, if persons
could know nothing save that which some expe-
rienced teacher forced by rule into them. Intui-
tion is the first and most general instructor,
though without much reputation.
In the matter of agricultural education, for the
past few years its friends have sought to get the
power from the Legislature to introduce some
good manual upon the suljject into our common
schools. They said they did not want a college,
for that would only make sublimated "gentlemen
farmers." Its rudiments, they said, should be
taught in the district school, so that every young
lad desiring to become a farmer could study the
subject in his own neighborhood, and without ex-
tra ex])ense. That jxtwer hufi iinir been f/rcoitcdbi/
the Le(jU'laiHre, and placed in tlie hands of the va-
rious school committees of the towns. I have
not, however, heard of a single ])upil wlio has com-
menced the study. Indeed, in the rural districts
there is great apathy on the subject. The farmers
of the State did not i)etition for the power, and it
is to be apprehended that they will not avail them-
selves of its privileges.
Now that Congress has made a grant of land
to endow an industrial school in each State, our
excellent Governor has recommeiidetl the renewed
consideration of the .subject (jf agricultural educa-
tion, and hopes the Sl.iie will avail iuwlf of the
grant. Yet the working farmers seim to ft-el Jio
interest in the matter ; lliey recognize nu want
that the scliool can supply, whatever their wnuts
may lie. It will not give them capital or manure,
nor can it command the keys of the heavens, or
ma.ster the sul)jects of meteorology and electrici-
ty, to whose mercy farmers are s«. subjecti il. Are
there important experiments made in the art, they
know them in a few months from everv part of
the civilized globe. Would a college be'lilvelv to
add anything new or valuable? And wlierever
situated, would its experiments in raising tro|)H l>e
uniform each year, or valuable in other luculities?
Would not each graduate, when he came to liis
farm, be obliged to elucidate new principles nuited
to that farm itself? If .so, he would have si)cnt
his time and money for nothing.
There will be so many calls for the public money
hereafter, tluit we should be careful that none is
spent which is not absolutely necessary. Hence I
submit that this grant (could it be so li.sed,) would
be much better employed in paying the public
debt, or endowing an a.sylum for the care and sup-
port of maimed soldiers, than in attempting to
teach what is well known in agricidture, or in mul-
tiplying theories, of which we have too many al-
ready.
In this contemplated college, the superinten-
dence of the management of fertilizers and the
raising of croj)s, would probably l)e in the hands
of the Professor of Chemistry, instead of some
sunburnt farmer of years of practical experience.
Hear what Prof. Voki.cki;k lately said iK-fore the
Royal .^trritultural Society of England. This gen-
tleman is himself Professor of Chemistry in the
Cirencester .Agricultural College : "Ciiemistrj'
should never be made the direct guide to the ag-
riculturist. Science is, after all, only the syste-
matic arrangement of well-authenticated facts, and
the rising generation should be taught its general
principles. But many |)rofessors of chemistry have
overestimated their own powers, and instead of
explaining the experience of practical men, they
set themselves up as guides to the farmers ; they
have overestimited the powers of the new science,
and in consequence stumbled."
In Great Britain, agricultural schools are the
appendages of the landed aristocracy. Owing to
the wealth and exalted position of the owners of
the soil there, agriculture is more faiihionaMe, and
more systematic, perhaps, than here ; and although
in .Vmerica we do not farm it so highly, no one can
say — while we feed ourselves and assist in sup-
plying with food half the civilized world, besides
giving ICurope as many hints as she does us — that
our agriculture is a failure. It subserves its pur-
pose, and always will, whether or not we have the
doubtful aid of agricultural colleges. Compare
the condition of the rural population of I'.ngbnd
and the Continent with our own, and then ask
whether we need the influence of their institu-
tions, or they of ours !
If we had a public fund, whereby wo could in-
stitute a .series of experiments in the r.iising of
crops, it might be desiraljle. Our farmers, liow-
ever, are now annually making various triaU in
the ajiplicalion of manures, under the direction
166
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
of the Board of Agriculture, or otherwise, and
their results are presented to the farmer so that
he can read them with little or no expense at his
own fireside. Without giving our opinion on the
value of these experiments, would an agricultural
college, in this department, accomplish more ?
A few years back, the Board of Agriculture had
charge of the farm at the State Reform School,
at Westboro'. Here a great variety of experi-
ments were made in almost everything pertaining
to the farm ; but that they were of any great val-
ue does not seem to be conceded. At any rate,
they are rarely alluded to. They found the soil,
manui-et5, or the seasons, or all of them — as might
have been anticipated — exceedingly capricious.
On that spot they may have had more value than
anywhere eise.
It must be admitted, we think, that agriculture
is yet a tentative, or experimental science, in spite
of the researches of chemistry and the urgent
wants of the farmer. And in the nature of things,
how can it ever be otherwise ? Light, heat and
moistui-e are so essential to maximum crops, that
no farmer feels sure of the latter, however well
he has fulfilled 7ii.s conditions. And the laws of
meteorology are so various and so local, that it
must be presumption to think c.f discovering
them; and if known, we should not be able to
meet them. A few geijeral principles only seem
to be of real value in agriculture, and among
these are, the proper pulverization of the soil, a
good supply of manure, and the eradication of
weeds.
In regard to the proposed college, one fact is
worthy of note, and that is the diversity of opin-
ion of its friends in its fundamental organization.
Mr. Emerson said it should not teach what is
taught in any other school. Perhaps this would
excite their jealousy. But how can it teach what
it is required in the Act without infringing upon
other institutions ? The Governor recommends
ten professorships, and would be glad to add
moi>e. This difference of opinion is very natural
where its friends are ignorant of what the farm-
ers really want and what they would patronize.
Mr. Emerson said it ought to have a professor of
Forestry, of Fish Culture, of Comparative Anat-
omy, (!) of Entomology, and of Agricultural
Chemistry. But would he exclude Botany and
Geology, because they are taught in other institu-
tions ?
Gov. Andrew alludes favorably in his Address
to the Bussey Institution, (yet in embryo,) and to
the Institute of Technology, which Mr. Emerson
says is a sure thing, while the Governor hopes it
will be. The first of these is for the benefit of
the farmer, but the other is designed to instruct
everi/bodi/. This Institute has an organization of
learned, wealthy and public spirited men ; it has
a small room with a few models and minerals in
it in Summer Street, Boston. It has had many
preliminary meetings, and has issued circulars set-
ting forth its very exteiisive objects. Thus far, it
would seem, its operations (and perhaps for a
good reason) have been confined to paper. But
can it ever accomplish much with the unlimited
range it takes, embracing everything in the arts
and sciences, agriculture, commerce, political
economy, &c. ? If every member had the heads
and hands of Briareus, we think it must fail.
While it aims to leach everything to everybody,
will it not founder by really teaching noildng to
anyhodij ? Should it have a museum, it may be
worth looking at, although not very necessary, as
all these wants are now well supplied — the farm-
ers, certainly, having one at the State House.
These great, universal institutions of learning —
inflated, too often, with pride and pretence — sa-
vor not a little of quackery, and bring to one's
mind some astounding "universal medicine."
Aiming at too much, they generally fail to satisfy
the public ; whereas, by having a more confined
and specific purpose, they might be worthy of ap-
preciation. Look at the Smithsonian Institute at
Washington. Has this been satisfactory in its
operations and results ?
This calls to mind the national Military School
at West Point, which has a definite object, and
must be regarded as a success ; for the art of kill-
ing men is now the best and most honorable busi-
ness ! But why a military department should be
provided for in the national Act endowing indus-
trial colleges, can only be accounted for by the
belligerent attitude and patriotism of Congress at
the time of its passage.
Granting the importance of military schools, it
does not logically follow that agricultural schools
must be so. A farmer sends his son away to learn
the art of war, because he has no means to teach
him at home 5 and so of law, medicine and theol-
ogy. And if he wishes hisuson to become a ma-
chinist, he ]3uts him in a machinist's shop ; but if
he wants him to learn farming, he keeps him at
home, where he should be, on the farm. What
West Point is to the one, this is to the other. I
do not understand that the proposed college is
primarily intended to make learned vien, but sim-
ply model farmers. The highest state of knowl-
edge, however, in this matter, will not make many
young men such; you must add capital, the means
to carry out the perfected ideas.
A few years ago, an experienced farmer, a mem-
ber of the Board of Agriculture, said at the State
House, that he opposed a college "because we had
no agriculture to teach." We have got, however,
as much as other nations ; but what we have got,
is best learned in the field. Some suppose that a
college would elevate husbandry by exciting the
interest of rich men's sons. I have an instance
in point. A wealthy young man, a graduate of
the Lawrence Scientific school, with much enthu-
siasm, got his father to purchase him a farm near
Boston, where he had a chemical laboratory erect-
ed to aid him in his field operations ! Last year
I inquired of his progress, when lo ! the whole
thing had blighted ! Some suppose a college
would supply well educated, svperlvtendlng farm-
ers. But have we sufficiently large estates among
us to make this encouraging ? Our New Eng-
land land-owners usually oversee their own es-
tates, and they might be not a little jealous of a
college-educated farmer in buckram. An impor-
ant branch of farm husbandry is the marketing
department. This would not probably be well
learned at an agricultural college, though it might
have large fields for experimenting purposes.
Can the State, at present, aff"ord to advance the
funds for the lands for this institution, and erect
the buildings at its own expense, as required ?
And how long must it wait for the government
realization ? Who shall control it, theoretical or
practical men ? These questions are now agitat'*
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
167
ing its friends, and it is to be feared, if organized,
it will be an apple of discord among learned pro-
fessors and influential politicians, while an object
of merriment to the practical farmer.
Oa}< Cliff Cottage. Hortus.
For the New England Farmer,
STRAWBERRY CULTURE.
Mr. Editor : — .\s the season for making straw-
berry beds approaches, perhaps a few suggestions
on the subject may be of service to some of your
readers. The selection and preparation of the soil
is the first thing to be attended to. A deep grav-
elly, or sandy loam is considered best, though the
strawberry may be grown on almost any soil that
is not too wet. The best manures are decomposed
vegetable matters composted with wood ashes,
lime and salt, at the rate of 30 bushels ashes, 12
bush, of lime, and 3 bush, of salt to the acre.
The manure should be thoroughly mixed with the
soil before the plants are set. Carefully conduct-
ed exi)erimcnts have led cultivators to reject ani-
mal manures as too heating, if used on soils natu-
rally warm. Pardee relates that his first success-
ful experiment with the strawberry was on new
land, which gave an enormous crop of fruit. In
order to get a still lai'ger crop the next year, he
forked in rich manure between the rows, and gave
them the best of care, and obtained monstrous
vines and blossoms, but no fruit. He then
trenched a bed three feet deep, made it rich, and
set out other plants. Tue result was the same —
large vines, but no fruit. He removed a large
part of the rich soil, and replaced it with sand,
and the bed bore an abundance of the largest ber-
ries the next season. The ripening of the crop
may be hastened by the protection of a fence or
hedge on the cold side, or by making the bed on
a southern slope ; or retarded, on a northern slope.
They will grow in shade, but sunshine improves
the flavor of the berries.
Soon after the first of May is the best time to
transplant, if the ground is in good working order,
and the sun not too hot. The soil should be fine-
ly pulverized by repeated plowing and harrowing.
The rows should be marked off four feet apart.
The plants should be taken up carefully with a
trowel, and be set as soon as possible, neither al-
lowed to dry, nor to remain long in a large mass,
for fear of heating. If they are brought from a
distance, so as necessarily to shake oif all the dirt
from the roots, they should be di]iped in thick
muddy water before setting. The ])lants are usu-
ally set from eight to twelve inches apart in the
row. This should be regulated by the quality of
the soil, and by the character of the plants.
Where the soil is rich, or if the jjlants are free
runners, the longest distance is preferable ; and,
if both these conditions come together, a still
greater distance would be advisable. The beds
must be kejit clean, by the hoe and hand weeding
on small beds, or by the horse hoe on larger fields.
The full crop is not expected till the next year.
When the runners begin to appear, it is well to
guide them so as to fill up all the space you wish
covered, and if they threaten to set too thickly,
the runners may be pinched off. The plants should
have room to grow, and not be allowed to stand
nearer than eight or ten inches apart. Some leave
a path open, for convenience in picking, about
eighteen inches in width; others only twelve
inches. In garden culture, or when it is conven-
ient to keep the bed in the same place for a series
of years, the rows are sometimes set six feet apart,
and the runners allowed to cover one-half the
ground, while the other half is kept open till the
vines have fruited, when they are allowed to fill
the open space, and the first bed is dug up and
kept open ; and so alternating as long as it is
found desiral)le, always dressing the oj^en space
with suitable manure, and keeping it well tilled.
But where there is plenty of suital)le land, culti-
vators have adopted the ])'ractice of making a new
bed every year, taking ofi' but one crop, and then
plowing up the old bed. This is considered the
most economical method, as it is very difficult to
keep an old bed free from weeds, and frf)m be-
coming too crowded by the setting of new plants
by the runners.
It is customary to protect the beds by a light
covering of straw in the winter, to keep the plants
from being lifted out of the ground by the frost.
Some use a coarse swamp hay ; and a friend of
mine in Belmont prefers sedge from the salt
marsh, because it is not so hkely to blow away.
Mr- Pardee strongly recommends mulching with
tan bark, sawdust or green rowen, over the whole
ground, immediately after the setting of the plants.
If sawdust is used, it should be spread thinly, or
there will be danger of mildew.
My Belmont friend, mentioned above, whose
soil is a strong clayey loam, practices al\erthe fol-
lowing manner. He manures lightly with a com-
post of horse manure, ploughing it in at the rate
of from six to eight cords per acre, (has put on fif-
teen cords ;) ploughs and harrows repeatedly till
the soil is as fine as an onion bed. As a market
fruit, he prefers Hovey's Seedling, and the Brigh-
ton Pine. Sets in May, in rows four or five feet
apart, twelve or eighteen inches apart in the row,
according to the quality of the soil. One row of
Brighton Pine, a staminate variety, to six of
Hovey's Seedling, a pistillate variety ; taking care
not to let them intermingle their runners. While
the runners are setting, he goes over the field two
or three times to fasten those that may be blown
about by the wind. Keeps the bed clear of weeds
the first year. Protects in the Aviuter by a mulch
of swam]) hay or salt sedge, spread on lightly. In
the spring he rakes this off", and cleans out all
weeds that may have escajied his care the ])reced-
ing summer. Paths are spaded between the beds
wide enough to pass through and ])ick the fruit.
Nothing more is done to the bed, l)ut wlien the
fruit is off', it is ploughed up for other crops.
I will not attempt, Mr. Editor, to name the best
sorts. There are many varieties, mo<jt of them
good, and each esteemed best by somebody. I
pretend to no sjjecial infallibility either of taste or
judgment, and leave the reader to select for him-
self, only entreating him to select some sort, and
give it a fair chance, and if he does not find it an
investment that pays well, in smiles and ])leasant
feelings among wife and children, (if he is blessed
with such treasures,) then he may set me down
for a false prophet. M. P.
Concord, April 6, 1863.
CF* The underground railway (Jletropolitan) in
London, is a success. It was opened a few weeks
ago, and its average number of passengers per
week is a quarter of a million.
168
XEW EXGL.^T) FARMER.
May
CO>'TE>'TS OF THIS >'niBER.
Thoactts sn^Bsted by May Page 137
Time for Heifers to Come in 1-S8
ChiM-I-ife Atdcds ihe Be<:hnai:as 13S
IUi1rv-%'U of Massschtiierts. 133
K:-' ■- - ~ —r;e-.ro<p«iive Notes 1"9
Pr ->:?^t?benLte>iforthe Pnrsnitsof Life. ...140
Pr TTT Tree? — Tarn from Milkweed. 141
fai^ ~ ■ ,. -^ '.'Tertased 141, 147, lo3
The « ii Farsa-Hocse — BtKivers near Sacramento 142
XewTi.v.rs 143,149,156
j-^ - w ---.pck— Fidelity of a Pog 143
■W ::.r= — Onr Northern Firmers. 144
Tr . 'rnaiaect and Profit 145
Ex '.^s 146. lC2,lo8
O - .V.-maAs 147
F^r -:— Label for Fruit Trees 147
Fr.'i^r - .. i^ares 14?
Savet^- B-ones 149
Wool 'rrosing 150, 1*5
Mapi- S^gar— Little Thln^ 151
Lejirixivo AgTiC'lnira! iltefisg? 152, loS
Eajfsinz Ca'-v«: — Preserving Plant Cctacss loo
Th - -^i."^ 7 155
Br 1S6
C: ■ -ha-e— Health; Oct Feet liT
Me:>:r . . •— ... i.trcord forFebmarr i:,7
If we kne? 35S
Experliaents in Feedicc Pigs 160
Best Tim? to Feed Grain to Sheep 160
Price of Jlilk — Wcmea widi Rakcs ai:d Spades 161
Schooler's Patent Iceberg P.efri?erator ICl
An Agriculmral CoUess 162
Listener a: tic State Hoose, No. 2 1^
Stra »^b^ rrr C- 1 ;c re 137
Review of the Marfeet 16S
ILLUSTRATIOXS.
Initial Letter 137
Scho<-jl'-T"s Pstent Icelserg Kefrigeratcr 161
CATTLE T.TARTTZxS F03 APKTT,.
The iolloTiitig is a soiainiuy of iJif> reports for the lour weeks
ending April 16, lSd3:
>X3iBEP. AT IIAKKET.
Cczi'e. Snfep. Sn-Jes. Fat Hogt. Feai:
lfarch25 1565 3228 22-3 — l.jO
April 1 1612 3115 3.» — 300
" 9 1041 321)1 12>X» — 4(-0
" 16 1250 1726 liXO 4C0 000
Total .S433 11^*3 2775 400 1450
The f ?!!owjje table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last fotir weeks, atd for the correspotid-
ing fo^r freeks last rear ; also the loiil number for tie first six-
teen w^ks of t-ath J ear:
TEI3 TEAS. tAST TEAB.
Cattle. Slieep. Cattle. SJieejt.
Maine 347 — 4Sl —
Xew HimpiUre 663 3149 £.50 2013
Vermont 12S3 4S72 8i4 6393
Massach-Oiett; 513 J64-3 603 1S38
Nonhcm Xew York. 23 ZSOj ,„
Canada 46 175 j ^"" ~
Western States ■2rAi 1149 2406 250
Total, last foir week?, 5.4cS 11.2&3 4.774 :o,.y>4
Total, since Jan. 1^15 wits.) 23,762 44,515 19,599 43,652
PRICES.
itfar.26. ^fpr.l. Apr.'i. Apr.Xi.
B€ef,l;t,2d fcSdqnaL 6JS5i 6^38^ 7 59 'laS
" a few extra 8iS9i 8|a9 9ig9.i »Ja93
Sheep and lambs, ¥* lb SJa&J 84a9| 7 g9 7 g9
Swis^. stores, wh'sale..... .9 ^6 5|»6| 3 ^6 3 g6
I" " retail ..^h'^ 6157^ 5^57 6 §7
Hidef, ^Ib 8 a3| 8 gSJ 8 gSJ 7^58^
Pelts, each, %\ §44 $4 544 $3iS3J $3 @3J
TaUow, ^& 8Ja9 8Jg9 8 S8i 8 aSi
BEt«ES.— The change in prices of cattle and sheep has been
greater daring the past four weeks than daring any eqtial nom-
[ ber of weeks for the last year, if not for several years. For the
! first week, we reported an advance '.f about fjC»? ft. on beef; a
' gain that was lost the next week ; and yet pri;es are 75c ^ cwt.
! higher at the close of the month than at its c^icuencement. A
few of the very choicest extra aud premiums are sold at 19c ^
ffi).. and very little beef fit to eat has cost Wss than Sc ^ fi>., for
the last two weeks.
Hides and tallow hive also declined in price, and calf skins
may be reponed as dull. Dnrins the fall and winter the butch-
ers hare been able to sell the hiae ard tallow for more ^ &. than
they paid on the dressed weight of their cattle ; but fjr the last
month they have generally paid more ^ tt>. for the best catJe
than their hice and tallow are worth in market, — a change of no
little consequence to the butcher.
Sheep re^thel the highest point on the scale of prices, the first
week of the ttrm, when a few lots sold tor loc ^ ft. Smce then
prices have d-.-clmed from one to tiro ceiit~ V* il>- on the live
weight : in consequence chiefly of pelts failing in value about one
dollar ami fifty cents each.
Some of the butchers argue that there is little probability that
sheep will c )mmand much higher prices than those paid the past
two K^eeks. They say that the country is full of shetrp, and that,
in cons< quence <<i the high prices of wool, farmers ^culd not sell
niitil after shearing, when there will be large numbers of sheep
' thrown up n the market. Especialiy is this true, they say, of
the Western States. We notice by the report of the New York
market, for April 14th, ihat slicc-p were quctcd r.t from &>^ to 10c,
with a lively niarket, which does not look much like veri^-ing
the foregoing prediction.
For several months past the Vermont Central stock cars have
reacherl the market by way t f th^ Fitchborg, instead of the Low-
ell Railroad. This change has e.tcited a spirit of competition
l)etween the two routes, so that the stock on both routes has ar-
rived at Cambridge early Tuesday nmrnicg. Aliliough there is
no-ninally no chatige in the markit day, there is practically a
radical change in the ince of bu>ii>es3. At present, the traile at
Cambridge is mostly done Tuesday lorenooa. .-Vf^cr dinner a
part of the drovers who have any stock unsold start at once for
Bnghton, while others rtcicin an hour or two, awl thsrn start for
Brighton, or put up their stock in Cambridge. Icr several weeks
there has been no market at Canibridge on Wednesday. At
Brighton most of the Western ctinle are sclj Tues<lay ; aldioc^
cattle are also sold there on Wedpes«iay acd Thursday, — tlie
latter being the great day for the retail trade in working oxen,
milch cows, goats, old hurscs, carts and wagons.
' Sales cf Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our repon cf sales. April 16:
Geo. W. Jones ofiered fir sale this week sotae very rich Dnr-
; ham irrade bullocks ; one pair fjur-years old l:\st fall, fed by
1 Eeitt Brothers, DcerSeld, Jlass., received the fir^rt premium of-
' fered by the Franklin County Agricultural Socie'y, for beef cat-
; tie. ami weighed 4Xh) lbs. at home. These oxen were not only
well fatted, but uni»mmonly well built up. Altogether, they
' were a be-autifid. finely- shaped \>sxr. Another puir. fill by A. &
' E. .\m2rews, of Sheibame, weighed 4SC0 tt>?. at liome, and were
fit OjmpanioDS ct the premium s.eer^.althcagh soujcwhat older.
Saunders & Hartwell ti>fk these bullocks at ICc ^ fc. Mr. Jones
soM 5 other erand eood o:cen,laid at 12-jO fiis. each, at fi^ic, and
Sl.i!dllOOfcs.,Oo.'
JIann, Thaver & I.^athers soil to O. Lynde 2 oxen fed by C,
W. Bragg, Warren, Vt., laid at 22C0 Bs.. for $200.
Hosea Gray sold just 1 pair of oxen to X. s. S. Jackson at 9c
I ^ ill. His other stock fit fir beef was sold by dollars at rates
varving from that price down to 7c ■{? ft.
1 E. W. Baker sold 2 oxen to Mr. Jewett, 2443 fts., f )r "Kc, 37
sk. ; 2 weidiing 3000 lbs., for 7i,c, 36 sk. ; 4 weiehing 2700 &s.
' ^ pair, f3r''8c, Y^ sk. : 2 weighing 2650 tbs., for S.'ic,^; sk. ; 2
to .*. G. Carter, weighing SOuOfts., for 8c, >^ sk. ; 1 cow, laid at
I 500 Bs., for $30.
D. A. Philbrick bad two pairs of oxen this week laid at 1100
I Bs. ea'.h, which he said were such as farmers in his section be-
: liere to be K<o<l enough for any market, and equal to those re-
ported in Brighton at the highest figures. ..Vft- r waiting all the
I forenoon f jr the butchers to come forward with their "10c, 23
I sk.," ilr. Philbrick was glad to receive from J. F. Taylor, a
I proposition to kill and weigh the oxen, allowing 9c ^ B<. for
' three, and 8c for one ; and giving the owner the privilege of try-
' ing as hard as he could f r half a day longer to Ijettc r the bid.
! ,A.nd he did try. bat widiout finding auy one who would make as
liberal an off^r as that of Mr. Taylor, who consequently took the
I oxen. He also soil to E. O Soles a pair of oxen, laid at 1650
I tbs., for $131. and a pair laid at 1900 lbs., to Mr. Dearborn for
$164.
Sabin 4 Clark sold their flock of 2C3 clipped sheep, averaging
90 lbs. r-ach, for 4J^c ^ lb. ; saw another lot of siieared slicep
sold at the same price, and a lot of undipped at 7^40; H.
Thiyer sold a good lot of 44 River-fed sheep, averaging lOO fcs.
I each, for 8-: ^ t>. ; O. L. Miner sold 30 of his drove, weighing
I 100 lbs. each, for 8;^c ; E. W. Baker sold to J. W. Hollis 10 se-
lected cossets, weighing at Cambridge 1370 fcs., or 137 each,
1 for 9>ic ^ lb.
U'r±._> -U AiJi'.^L'^
J TUBE ASD ITS KINDRZD aHTs A^D SLii.NCES.
TOL. XT.
BOSTON, JUXE, 18»33.
yo. 6.
XOrRSE, E.4T0S' fc TOLSLO.", PEOpanTES.
Oftice I'M Washisgtos Sibxet.
SDfOX BBOW, Ei>rr«».
JTJITB.
••How lorely how channinz ha? nature t*?n made.
The hill in the sunshine, the wali in the shade ;
The wild rose adomine the hetice with iu blxim.
And loading the air wiih the t^rfume of Jane.
How green are the meadow?, how bright is the mom, "
How glitter the dew-drc.ps on laorel and 'Lhom ;
How pearly and pore is the briar in bloom.
How lorely the Sowers that Wossom in Jane."
Y the operations of'
the laws of nature,
JoTE. lovely June, —
the Month of roses, —
a?ain opens upon us,
with all its new scenes,
new sounds and new
employments. With-
out these agreeable
I changes, life would be-
come one monotonous
and gloomy road to
the grave ! But the
wise and good Father
has not left us to such
a fate. His mercies
are not alone in the
reyolving seasons, but
are "every morning
and evening new," — every hour, indeed, crowning
our lives with fresh proofs of his love, if we will
but listen to his voice, and study the pages every-
where so amply unfolded to us.
Now, Summer has come, and opens to us a new
volume — just as new as though it never had been
opened before. Let us observe some cf its won-
derful productions.
When June opens, "Spring may be considered,"
says a beautiful English writer, "as employed in
completing her toilet, and for the first weeks of
this Month, putting on those last finishing touch-
es which an accomplished beauty never trusts to
any hand but her own. In the woods and groves,
also, she is still clothing some of her noblest and
proudest attendants with their new annual attire.
The Oak. until now. has been nearly bare ; arii. ?
whatever age, has been looking eld all the "^'
and Spring, on account of its crumpled br_:
and wrinkled rind. Xow, of whatever age, it k>oks
young, in virtue of its new green, lighter than all
the rest of the grove. Now. also, the stately Wal-
nut, standing singly or in pairs, puts forth its
smooth leaves slowly, as "sage, grave men" do
their thoughts ; and which over-caution recoocfles
one to the beating it receives in the automn, as
the best means of at once compassing its present
fruit, and making it bear more. The \\'heat, the
Oats, the Barley, and even the early Rye, have
not yet b^rome tingtd with their harvest boes>
They are all alike green ; and the only change that
can be seen in their appearance is that caused by
the different lights into which each is ihrowiv as
the wind parses over them- The patches of pur-
ple or of white Clover that intervene here and
there, and in flower, offer striking exceptiocc to
the above, and at the same time load the aii with
sweeuicss. Nothing can be more rich and beau-
tiful ia its effect on a distant prospect at thb sea-
son, than a great patch of purple Clover l}"iag ap-
parently motionless on a sunny upland, encom-
passed by a whole sea of green grain, waving and
shilling about it at ever}- breath that blows.*'
The hay-harvest, which the same writer so beau-
tifully pictures, has been greatly changed, both
here and in England, since be wrote the fuliowing
description: — "The Hay -harvest, besid» filliiig
the whole air with its sweetness, is even m't •
turesque in the appearances it offers, as -v
more pleasant in the associations it
than the Harvest in .\utumn. Wha:
succession of pictures it presents !
"First, the Mowers, stooping over their scyth*'*.
and movir.gwith measured paces thioagh the t::r-
ly morning mists, interrupted at intervals h\ the
freshening music of the whetstone. Then — blithe
companions of both sexes, ranged ia regular amy,
and moving lengthwise and across the Meadows,
170
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
each with the same action, and the ridges rising
or disappearing behind them as they go :
"There are forty mming like one !*♦
What an attractive picture of healthy, happy la-
bor, in the pure, fresh air, made fragi-ant by the
world of flowers which are fed and fanned by it !
Such a scene, undoubtedly, may be still witnessed
around English homes, as it may in our own New
England, but it cannot be denied that the intro-
duction of labor-saving machinery has deprived
rural life of some of its romance and charms. In
the midst of the hay-harvest here, we may travel
far and not see the "Mowers, stooping over their
scythes, and moving with measured paces through
the morning mists." Hand-mowing is aided by
the morning dews, but it retards the machine.
The hoe is now the implement in use while the
dew is sparkling, instead of the scythe ; — but whe n
the dews are exhaled, and the grasshopper sings in
the burning sun, then may be heard all over the
neighborhood, the sharp click, click, — click, click,
click, of the Mowing Machine, prostrating the
standing grass at the rate of one or two acres per
hour ! spreading it as it goes ! Then, towards
night follows the Horse-rake, and the evening pre-
sents a village of haycocks with their white caps
on, resembling an encampment of soldiers.
But the advantage is certainly on the side of
the machine, — it does the work quick and well,
saves a vast amount of human toil, and leaves us
at liberty — if we but have the disposition — to
walk leisurely in the living fields, or among the
beautiful and instructive trees, and grow wise and
happy in the contemplation of the wonderful de-
velopments everywhere around us.
June is the Month of Roses — loveliest of all
the Flowers. "What can be more enchanting to
look upon than this newly-opened Rose of Prov-
ence, looking upward, half shamefacedly, from its
fragile stem, as if just awakened from a happy
dream to a reality ! It is the loveliest Rose we
have, and the sweetest — except this by its side, the
Rose-unique, which looks like the image of the
other cut in marble. This surely is the loveliest
of all Roses — except the White Blush Rose, that
rises here in the centre of the group, and looks
like the marble image of the two former. You
see, its delicate lips are just becoming tinged with
the hues of vitality, and it breathes already, as all
the air about it bears witness. Undoubtedly this
is the lovehest of all Roses — except the Moss Rose
that hangs flauntingly beside it."
Lovely June — most fertile of all the Months !
Now the whole tribe of Geraniums is out, and every
passer by nips a leaf — rubs it between the fingers,
and then throws it away. Pinks shoot up their
hundred-leaved heads — Sweet Williams lift up
their bold, but handsome faces, the Columbine dan-
ces to the breeze, the yellow Globe-Flower flings
up its balls of gold into the air, the Lupines spread
their wings for flight, the Mignonette begins to
make good its pretty name, and the princely Pop-
py, the starry Marigold, the little Pansy, the pret-
ty Pirapernell, and "the dear little blue German-
der loill spring up, unasked, all over the Garden,
and you cannot find in your heart to treat them as
weeds."
June claims that its peculiar duties shall be du-
ly attended to. We will not interrupt the train of
thought just now indulged in by alluding to them
here, but will endeavor to anticipate them, a few
at a time, as we jog along from week to week.
NEW BOOKS.
Holly's Cocntry Seats: containing Lithographic Designs for
Cottages, Villas, Mansions, &c.,with their accompanying out-
buildings. Also, Country Churches, City Buildings, Railway
Stations, &c., &c. By Henry Hudson Holly, Architect.
New York : D. Appleton & Co. For sale by A. Williams &
Co., Boston.
Within a few years, several excellent works on
architecture have been published, so that there is
really no good reason why any more awkward,
inconvenient and unsightly buildings should be
erected for the accommodation of either man or
beast. Any of these to which we refer, may be
purchased for less than three dollars, and if the
person building only a thousand dollar house or
barn should thoroughly study one of them, he
would be quite likely to save, in the cost of con-
struction, more than three times the cost of the
work.
The work before us contains designs for almost
every class of building, and with a cost ranging
from $800 to $10,000. Any person about build-
ing will certainly find it for his interest to consult
this, or some similar work.
Profits of Fruit Culture. — It is stated in
an exchange paper that E. Lake, of Topsfield,
Mass., gathered from one acre — of Baldwin and
russet apples two hundred barrels, at four dollars,
besides one and a half tons of marrow squashes
and one hundred heads of cabbages, one of which
weighed twenty-seven pounds ; also that a lady
in Gainstown bought eight acres of worn-out,
stony land, at forty dollars an acre, and set it out
in an orchard at an expense of two hundred dol-
lars. She cropped it every year, cleared two hun-
dred dollars a year, and at the end of six years af-
ter the purchase refused twenty-five hundred dol-
lars for the field. There are hundreds of thous-
ands of acres of land in our Northern, Eastern
and Middle States, now stony, barren, worn-out
and useless, which would yield a crop worth hun-
dreds of dollars per acre, with a little enterprise
and a small outlay on the part of the owners.
Oranges. — The California Farmer states that
a Dr. Strentzel has succeeded in raising excellent
oranges in the open air in that State. Col. AVar-
ren has no doubt they can be produced in any
part of the State.
1S63.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
171
EXTKACTS AND REPLIES.
FLAX CULTUKE — HEDQES^OFFEE.
I notice that the inadequate supply of cotton has
awakened the cultivators of the soil to the importance
of raisins a larger amount of (lax. Napoleon the
First, in liis rciiin, saw the necessity of a larirer breadth
of land lieinj; devoted to that staple, and offered a gra-
tuity of one million of francs to that producer who
sowed the most acres and raised the finer varieties.
I saw one farmer that planted a liedge of hemlock
to protect his newly set out orchard, and I should
judge, Ity the thrift that the trees indicated, that he
was amply repaid for his trouble.
I read In the books that the East India Company
bought 2 llis. and 2 oz. of coffee as a present for the
King in 1064. It was first used to gratify the palate
of the royal family; but ere long it became an article
used in almost every family. In 1732, the duty on
coffee was 2s. a pound. But those who now procure
the pure and use it in preference to that which is bet-
ter, cold water, growl when it can be bought at the
price which was exacted then as a duty. To those I
would say that a few red oak acorns give to the rye
coffee a better flavor. s. p. m.
April, 1863.
A CORN BAKN.
I would like to inquire through the Farmer the best
way to build a corn barn. Is the soutti side as good
for drying corn as any? Would corn dry if husked
and put into narrow bins, with grates on each side and
bottom, with the bin raised a few inches from the tloor,
without si;siding to the outside of the rr>om ?
Keene, .V. H,, April, 1863. J. W. Nye.
Remarks. — There is no one particular form for a
corn barn Itetter than all others, to our knowledge.
A cheap building, 15 or 20 feet long and 10 to 15 feet
wide, is a good form. It is better that it should not be
connected with any other building, and it should stand
on posts, and every paius be taken to keep rais and mice
out. In a building something like the one suggested,
the bins may be on every side, if it is desired, and the
corn will dry, and keep well, if it was ripe when it was
put into the bins. The space l)etween the slats should
not be more than half an inch in width. Where the
building was sufficientlj' wide, we have seen bins on
the sides, and one made of slat work extending the
whole length of the floor in the centre, and was in-
formed that the corn kept as well there as on the sides.
HORSE PITCHFORK — APPLE WHISKEY.
"Will you inform a subscriber to your valuable pa-
per if a horse pitchfork, for unloading hay in barns
from a load, can be purchased in Boston, and as to
their being efftcient and a labor saving implement ? as
I am to cut quite an arnotmt of hay this year as per
contract, I»esides my own.
Also, if apple whi-^key can be made at a profit, if ci-
der is ^'2 per bbl., and freight to New York 40 cents,
owning a mill and power r Oli> Essex.
Remarks. — We have been expecting to publish an
illustratiim of Palmer'.'J Excelsior Horse Pitchfork,
but as the engraving does not come, we will state that
Messrs. Pal.mer & Wackekhage.v, of Greenville,
Greene county, N. Y., have the horse pitchfork, and
will be likely to give any information asked for in re-
lation to it.
We have no definite knowledge of the cost of mak-
ing apple whiskey. Many years ago it used to be
made by farmers in a very simple manner, and at
small cost.
HOOTS FOR SHEEP.
W^ill you inform through the Farmer of the best
and cheapest root to rai.se for feeding sheep, especially
breeding ewes? One most conducive to the well be-
ing of the sheep and growth of wool. What quantity
of the same may be fed to advantage as a substitute
for hay and grain ? h. p. l.
Hurrisburg, Vt., April, 1863.
Remarks. — We think the cheapest and best root to
cultivate for feeding to sheep is the mnnriold ucurtzel.
It is hardy, grows quick, is easily cultivated and har-
vested, and is palatable and wh(jIcsomc for the sheep.
It also yields large crops per acre. A variety of roots
might l)e better, perhaps, such as an occasional mess
of carrots, ruta baga, flat turnip, or the white or red
beet. But the mangold is the root, in our opinion,
mainly to be relied upon.
NURSERIES.
We have no means of complying with the reqncBt
of "P. S.," of West Gloucester, in relation to the nur-
series of the United States.
RAPID GROWTH IX A PIQ.
I notice in the Farmer of the 4th of .\prll, nn ac-
count of a pig, slaughtered by Mr. How, of Gill, which,
to say the least, is a marvel. At 9'a months, say
285 days, it dressed 525 lbs.,— an increase of almost
two pounds per day, from the day of its birth ! I
must acknowledge this exceeds everything I have
heard of before, and I doubt its match is not often
found. One and one-fourth pound is all I have ever
been able to make myself, and L'j lbs. per diem the
highest I have known of previo<is to this. Unwitting-
ly, your typos did not tell a story, did they ?
Salisbury, Conn. p.
SHEEP TICKS.
The best known preventive — a handful of com and
beans to a sheep a day, during the winter. Test it and
report through the Farmer. No "patent applied for !"
I. w. 8.
For tfie yete England Farmer,
POTATOES— OBCHARDINQ.
Mr. Editor : — In passing from Pittsfield to
S])ringfiel(l a few weeks since, I was seated by the
side of a venerable Shaker from Lebanon Springs.
I took the liberty of introducing the subject of
farming, knowing these people are skilled in the
practice, and ])robably no class live more frugally
nor more strictly within the means of their own
earnings than do these Shakers.
I named to him the practice of our potato-grow-
ers on Long Island, as I have taken occasion to
repeat in the Fnnncr the first four or five years.
He believed in planting large ])otatoes in prefer-
ence to small ones, but to cut off the tip or seed
end, or to cut out the cluster of small eyes on the
round potato, struck him very forciI)ly as the true
principle of getting large potatoes. He said wc
shall not fail to try the experiment this spring,
and to illustrate it, we will jjlant the small tips
or eves in one row, and the large pieces in anotli-
er. This will be a comfortable way of sorting
them.
Three to five eyes in a hill, two feet apart, is
ample seeding. It will be found, the large vines
bring the large potatoes. The seed end is fed out
to the pigs in this region.
He interested me much in the story of an or-
chard. He said, I bought some apple trees of a
nunserynian, ploughed deep, manured well, set
out my trees and cultivated the ground for four
year.s. The trees grew rapidly and the eighth
year they bore well. He had occasion to call on
the nurseryman about this time and went to see
his orchard' set out at the same time. But instead
of finding it thrifty and progressive, it had scarcely
172
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
made any headway during the eight years. A
sorry sight, said he, but how many such sorry
sights meet the eye as we pass from farm to farm
in our country journeys.
If anything gladdens the eye, even to a feast, it
is the hill side orchard ranges, laden with fruit.
How mean is a farm without its fruits.
Brooklyn, L. L, 1863. H. Poor.
For the Nete England Farmer.
"WHAT IS THE MOST PROFITABLE
CROP?
Mr. Brown : — Many of your readers in New
England, in view of the increased demand which
the future must press upon them, will give many
a thought to the question, What is the most prof-
itable crop I can raise the coming season ?
The location of a farm must decide in many
cases ; as, for example, those in the immediate
vicinity of cities will raise vegetables for market.
ItTias seemed to me that too much consequence
has been given to the Indian corn crop, and that
it is not the renumerative crop still so generally
believed. The fact is, the times have changed,
and farmers must change with them in some of
their crops and methods of cultivation.
When our town was first settled, the corn crop
was the staple. Plenty of fish were taken from
the then noble river, a privilege since destroyed
by a corporation dam miles below, and many
planters put in a shad to a hill. No doubt the
corn crop then, not only here, but over a wide re-
gion around, was the best they could cultivate.
Corn was the simplest and most nutritious and
convenient food they could procure. It still fills
a large place among the supplies for man and
beast.
It will be at once remembered, that in those
early days of the first settlers, transportation of
bulky products for any considerable distance was
a thing almost impossible. What Avas needed for
subsistence must be produced at home. But now
we live in better days. A more numerous popula-
tion, with abundant means, has covered the States
with a net work of railroads, and opened the
great West with its vast fields of inexhaustible
fertility to the farmer. Have we an adequate idea
of the richness of those prairie farms ? Barns are
built on the banks of streams that the manure
may be got out of the way without expense.
Barns are moved away from the manure in cases
where long accumulations have made a formida-
ble pile.
Wheat fields sometimes improve by several
years cropping, as the stalk grows at first too rank
to hold up the grain.
I have in my house an ear of corn raised bj a
relative in Nebraska. It grew out of the first
turned sod. No manure, no hoeing. The work
was simply to plough the land, "chop in" the seed,
and team off the heavy ears.
Does it not seem, then, that the West connect-
ed with us by railroad and water, can furnish New
England with corn cheaper than it can be grown
here, as a general thing ? Shall we continue to
raise Indian corn as our chief crop, simply because
it has been the best for our ancestors, to whom the
West was almost unknown ?
Corn is a very convenient article of freight. It
can be moved in hot or cold, wet or dry weather.
It can be stored in large quantities. It is changed
from vessel to warehouse, and from thence to cars,
in streams as if a fluid, by steam elevators. It is
largely an article of exchange, and has been sent
East in large quantities the past season to pay
debts. No doubt more would be welcome.
Grain crops are exhausting to our lands. If
abundant, they must depend on the most liberal
supply of manure on a good soil. The fast trav-
eling horse depends on the oat bag. The cow that
gives so much milk has a well filled crib. We
cannot squeeze out of our sandy, rocky soil, grain
crops like the West without ploughing in a liberal
dressing of manure. w. D. B.
Concord, Mass., 1863.
Remarks. — Please tell what crop or crops
would be better for a majority of Massachusetts
farmers.
For the New England Farmer,
CUIiTUBE OF SWEET POTATOES.
Mr. Editor :— In the Farmer of Feb. 14, there
is a communication from Mr. IVES, of Salem,
giving an account of a yield of sweet potatoes the
most remarkable of any that ever came to my
knowledge, and which, I think, has some mistake,
of which more will be said. Some time last spring
a writer from Connecticut, I think, (I have mislaid
the paper,) put an article in your paper, the i:mr-
port of which was that he had tried sweet potatoes
once, and had seen the "elephant" They were a
failure, and he advised farmers not to try them. I
think that it is modest in us, when we make an
experiment, and it fails, to intimate that, possibly,
as it is the first time, we did not know how to do
it, or the soil or seasoi1%night not have been good,
instead of giving advice to others.
[A mistake occurred in Mr. Ives' manuscript,
he stating that his ground measured "three-quar-
ters of a rod square," when he intended it to be
just one rod more. We omit, therefore, what our
correspondent says of that eiTor. — Ed.]
I think I am a pioneer in raising sweet potatoes
in any amount, from slips of my own starting in
this State. Having raised them steadily for sev-
enteen years, perhaps my experience will have
some weight. The first year was small doings — I
saw the elephant ; but although he did appear like
a Goliath, I went forth to meet him like little Da-
vid, and the third year he was subdued, and I got
75 bushels of excellent potatoes. Their fame be-
gan to spread, and the people desired me to raise
plants for them. The fourth year 375 bushels,
the next 400 bushels. By this time there was a
perfect fever for slips, and I planted eleven barrels
of potatoes in my beds to meet the demand; but
that very year that such a great number of people
had them, was the poorest that I have known. It
was a failure. Reducing my beds, I have gone
steadily on raising potatoes, and raising plants for
those that know their %vorih by experience. They
have their ups and downs like other things. Last
year was a very good year for them ; I raised over
200 bushels, l)ut the year before they surpassed in
flavor anything I, ever saw; they tasted almost
like a confection, and those that I put into my
cellar kept until February, when the last were
cooked, and not a sign of rot had been seen.
From my experience, I can safely say that in
some sections of our State, the sweet potato is as
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
173
sure a crop as the common potato, and yields
double the amount, say from two to six bushels
for one hundred slips, while in other sections they
may not do so well, for they are quite sensitive
about the soil they are in. For instance : I have
had a strip about twelve feet wide run across, say
twenty ridges, with the tops looking the same,
wliile the roots were like whip-lashes, with no tu-
bers, yet on each side the very best of digging ;
no mortal eye could see any difference in the soil,
nor was there any difference in the treatment. If
I had tried a smaller ex{)erimeiit, all in that par-
ticular spot, what should I have seen ?
The soil in general, for them, will lead me to
speak of what I do not pretend to know much
about ; that is, geology, — but as an observer, I
may know a "thing or two." If we look at the
map of the United States (so called,) we shall see
that New Jersey cuts oft' Pennsylvania from the
ocean, the boundary between the Delaware River,
running south. The Pennsylvania soil is not fit
for the sweet potato, and the farmers do not raise
them ; but Jersey is very good. This strip is
called the tertiary formation ; after jiassing Penn-
sylvania it begins to widen, taking Delaware, Ma-
ryland, East Virginia, most all of North Carolina,
and so on, widening to the Gulf, going in the same
direction as the Alleghany Mountains. This is
all low, not rising more than two hundred feet
along the sea. The presence of shells gives evi-
dence of this space having once been under sea-
water, and, as general thing, is all good for the
sweet potato- Something of this kind of forma-
tion which tapers up to New York and is crowded
from the main land, takes the Islands and then
dips in at Rhode Island, taking the south-east part
of our State, running out at Quincy, where it finds
another rocky region ; again it dips in above Bos-
ton, say at North Chelsea, and runs along the
coast as far as Portland, and ends for good. I
have observed that where I have sold plants in
this section, below Boston, they have done well,
generally, while around Boston in the section
marked on Prof. Hitchcock's map as the Silurian
and Devonian Rocks, they have not succeeded
well. It appears that Mr. Ives is successful above
that section where the geological formation is the
same as it is this side, as has been described above.
All will perceive that the above has only a general
application.
From what I have seen, it appears plain that
the sweet potato likes sandy soils, not much above
tide water, or that have been formed by the sea ;
they will grow on the sands of tlie beach, and I
am not sure but the best. Although we have
much soil adapted to their growth, we lack length
of season, but this can be made up in a great
measure by special manures and skilful cultiva-
tion. By these we can come up with the Sloven-
ish farming of the South, where they have longer
seasons of growth. Avoid rank soils and rank
manures.
I am having a large compost heap prepared for
them thus : In the fall I put eighty bushels of
leached ashes into, say at a guess, one hundred
horse loads of finely reduced peat ; have it all thor-
oughly mixed ; then I have another pile of fer-
menting bones, about one ton of crushed bones,
and this, with about five hundred pounds of fish
guano, will be thoroughly mixed with the other a
few weeks before using.
They appear to want manure that is light and
bulky, all concentrated in the ridge, and none
ploughed in. These ridges I make four feet apart
from centres, make them sharp ; they will flatten
by hoeing, and bring the tubers near the surface,
which is a benefit. "l set them from the middle
of May to the middle of June. If there w danger
of frost, cover the tips entirely with sand; this
may be dcme in the most careless manner, and if
left on for days before l)eing removed, will not in-
jure them. I let no other thing grow in their
patch. I soften the soil after every hard rain, dig
them soon as the frost kills the vines, and have
found in so doing, my reward.
And now my advice to others is to try them in
different {)laces in their gardens, miiuling always
that no shade comes over them when the sun
shines ; no matter about their having a breath of
air, oidy Id the sun pour in on them.
Kingston, March, 1863. Caleb Bates.
HINTS FOB THE SEASON.
Mulching. — Many persons are not aware of
the advantages to be derived from the practice of
mulching or covering the surface of the soil with
some sort of litter through the growing season.
There are many substances suitable, but some are
much better than others. The dead, dry grass
thai may be raked from the lawns about the house,
is the best material we have ever used. It is fine
and soft, and lies so close that the wind does not
blow it about, nor allow weeds to grow up through
it. A thorough hoeing about pear trees or grape
vines in the spring, followed by a mulch of tliis
dead grass, will not only keep weeds down, but
keep the ground in a moist condition. Under
these circumstances, the tree or vines will make a
Steady, even growth, and be well sustained
throughout the whole season, if the soil is rich
and loose. Last season we had about 100 pear
trees hoed in April and mulched with this grass,
and scarcely a weed appeared through it during
the summer. The soil under it was kept moist
and light, and the trees not only bore a fine crop,
but made a good growth. The soil, however, was
rich, and the spaces between planted with beuns
and kept well cultivated. Old hay, straw, brush
cut fine, sawdust, or tan bark will answer the pur-
pose. Meadow muck is also excellent where the
land is light.
The Gauden. — Now is the time to give it
shape, and make preparatiens for it to receive
whatever seeds or plants we desire to introduce.
Those farmers who have not given much attention
to the garden, will be pleasantly surprised, upon
experience, to find how much pleasure and profit,
may be derived from a few rods of good, and well
tended, soil. How many fresh, and excellent
fruits and vegetables may be drawn from it through
the entire summer and autumn. In no other way,
perhaps, can the farmer do so much to relieve th«
women of that monotonous and ever-recurring la-
174
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JimE
bor of providing for the table. If a good kitchen-
garden can be entered and its rich products se-
lected at will, the butcher, the baker and the gro-
cers' bills will be greatly reduced under the ad-
ministration of a skilful housewife. The Garden
is a harmonizer, as well as economist. Sow, also,
a few annuals and plant perennials, for they neu-
tralize care and make the joys of life perennial.
During these seven days, whose duties we are ur-
ging, do not neglect the claims of the Garden.
Calves. — There are various modes of feeding
calves, when taken from the cow at two or thrije
days old, or when not allowed to suck at all. Our
practice is, to let the calf suck three days, as we
think it greatly benefits both cow and calf. At
the end of this time the calf is taken away, the
cow milked, the calfs head introduced into the
pail, where the thumb of the left hand rises up
above the milk. The mouth of the calf is guided
to the thumb, when he seizes it and sucks it read-
ily. In a day or two, skim milk may be intro-
duced if desirable. We use tea made of sweet
herdsgrass ur redtop hay, mixed with a little new
milk. In a few days, a calf will drink from one
to two gallons at a meal of this tea. At the end
of a week, a little corn meal may be introduced
in the milk or placed in a trough before the
calf, and at the end of three or four weeks, he will
take a quart per day, without injury. Calves need
ample and careful feeding while quite young, in
order to secure p. healthy and vigorous growth.
They seem never to forget this care,a nd will bear
neglect afterwards all the better for it, though
neglect at any time is unprofitable.
For the New England Fanner.
BONE DUST.
Bone dust of the market, so far as I have dis-
covered, is a very coarse meal made by grinding
refuse bones fine enough to pass through a sieve
of about one-fourth inch meshes. At least, so I
found two barrels to be, which I ordered from mar-
ket last season, for trial. Not being satisfied that
I had better put it into the soil and wait from one
to ten years to have it decompose, I carried it to a
plaster mill to have it made quite fine. In the
process the mill was filled with dust almost to suf-
focation ; (they had probably been kiln dried.)
To allay it, if it would, unground plaster was
mixed with it, in proportion about one to one by
weight, without much effect as desired. But both
together proved an excellent compound to roll my
buckwheat in previous to sowing ; as much more
adhered to it than either alone would, and enough
to show its good eff'ect as it came out of the
ground, and through the season.
Upon a piece of land in too poor condition to
produce a good crop of any thing, — which I had
made fine for flat field turnips, I sowed said mate-
rial at the rate of eight dollars' worth to the acre,
and dragged it in. Here I had as large and smooth
turnips and of as uniform size as I ever saw. In
sowing this piece with the compound, I left two
strips through the field, on which there were not
turnips enough to pay for ploughing the land. It
had a similar eff'ect where I sowed it in drills with
ruta baga seed. I did not have it in season to
experiment with, in the earlier seeding of corn,
potatoes and the like. Wm. Richards.
Richmond, March, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
CUBING COV7S OF KICKING.
Mr. Editor : — I was somewhat amused as well
as interested, by an article upon this subject in
the Farmer of March 21, from a correspondent at
Straff'ord, Vt. 1 would like to inquire of Mr. El-
ery, Avhat he does with his milk pail while holding
on to one teat with his right hand, and slapping
the cow smartly with the other? and especially
when he catches the uplifted foot and holds it near
to the body of the cow until she settles down into
his lap ! It seems to me the latter performance
must require considerable strength and agility, to
be done successfully, without spilling the milk or
spoiling the pail. I would suggest if it might not
be safe and better in bad cases, to strap up one of
the fore legs, after the fashion of the famous horse-
tamers ? The cow would soon learn that it was
impossible to stand upon two legs-, that even three
were not as good as four, and conclude to keep
them all in their proper places.
^iit jyrevenfion is better than cure, and if heifers
are treated kindly and gently when fii'st milked,
the bag bathed with milk or warm water, and
something a little extra given them to eat, I have
the impression that comparatively few will acquire
the habit of kicking. A. C. AV.
Leominster, March, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
IS SHADE A CAUSE OF THE POTATO
DISEASE?
Last year, when digging potatoes in my garden,
I observed that those which grew in the shade of
an apple tree, wilted much worse than those grow-
ing in the open sunshine. This suggested the
idea that shade might be a predisposing cause of
the blight, and I mentioned it to some of my
neighbors. But no one seemed ready to agree
with me, so I concluded to say no more about it
until I made further trials.
This year, a small piece of potatoes grew where
the wood-house shaded it a part of every day.
At harvest time I found rotten potatoes as far as
the shade extended, and scarcely one beyond, and
the rot was worst in the rows next to the wood-
house.
I also planted about half an acre, last spring, in
my field, where there were no trees to make shade.
I hoed them well, but late in the season the grass
sprang up and grew rapidly. I commenced to hoe
the ground again, but other business called me
away before I finished it. When I dug the pota-
toes, I found them badly infected, but there were
not more than half as many rotten ones where the
grass was cut down, as where it was allowed to
grow.
Now my theory is, that the grass, hke the shade
of trees, or of buildings, prevented the rays of the
sun from striking the ground directly, thus pre-
venting the free evaporation of the moisture,
which, in hot weather, is exhaled from the earth,
consequently too much stimulus was applied to
the tubers.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
175
If this be a correct hypothesis, it appears to me
that planting the rows of potatoes at a considera-
ble distance apart, would be beneficial, as it would
allow more light and air to rcfich the roots of the
plants. At any rate, I think all will concede that
clean cultivation is, and the few experiments which
I have made, indicate that shady situations are
not suitable for the production of potatoes.
Will some other people relate their experience ?
L. Varney.
Bloomfidd, C. W., 4th mo., 1863.
Remarks. — We planted an orchard with corn
and potatoes last spring, where the trees were
thirteen years old, and had made a good growth.
Under each tree a square of land was occupied by
eight hills of potatoes at the usual distances. Of
course, these hills were mostly in the shade at all
limes of the day. Very few of the potatoes, how-
ever, were rotten — not any more than were found
in another portion of the field where there were
no trees.
For the Kew England Farmer.
AMONG THE GBEEW MOUNTAINS.
Mr. Editor : — Merry spring, the queen of sun-
shine and of flowers has really begun her reign, in
spite of the occasional frosty insinuations of the
winter king that he "still lives." The throne he
was obliged to abdicate, and his fair and gentle
successor now sways her mild sceptre over her
willing subjects in new light and gladness,
Boreas' cold and piercing winds, it is hoped, are
among the things that were, for the spring of '63,
that we may enjoy sunnier skies and wanner days
than those of the last few weeks. Cold, cold,
cold, has been the remark of every observer till
now ; and the farmer, in particular, has been made
to experience its unhappy results. Hay to the
farmer just now, is like gold to the broker — at a
high premium ; and grain, oats in particular, is
not by any means dull. Hay sells at $15 to S2()
per ton; oats 60 cts. to 75 cts. per bushel, and
other grains in proportion, excepting perhajjs corn
(Southern,) which is selling at ^l,!^ per bushel,
and is by far the cheapest grain in the market for
stock. Farmers and others short of hay, would
do well to feed more corn, ground and mixed with
cut hay or straw, than to feed all hay. Cattle and
horses will do quite as well on feed prepared in
this way, as they will on hay alone ; and at pres-
ent prices, it will make a saving in expense. To
sheep, the corn may be fed in the kernel ; if a few
refuse beans are added, the value of the feed will
not be diniinislied. Care should be taken not to
overfeed, as too high feeding either with oats or
corn, at this season of the year, tends to weaken
and debilitate, rather than strengthen, both the
sheep and lamb. A single handful of corn, or
corn and beans together, or a half pint of oats, to
a sheep a day, if fed regularly, as it should be,
will show itself not unfavoral)ly in the end. Iteg-
tUar feed is what tells to advantage.
Sugaring. — We have had none with us as yet
to speak of. Some, perhaps the majority of farm-
ers, have tapped their trees, and put things in
readiness for the "first run," but I think it has not
yet fully appeared. The weather seems changed ;
it is now warm and spring-like, and we will dare
to hope it may favor the sugar-makers. The Ver-
monters should be sorry to be obliged to rely al-
together upon the suj^ar-canes f.f Louisiana," (for
a time at least.) or the West Indies, for our cofl'ee
fixings. 'Tis quite enough to have to pay double
or treble the former prices for the coflee. We can
economize, and we do do it, in this particular.
Peas prepared at home, and added to a little of
"Old Java", are just as good and palatal)le as a
like preparation from a foreign manufactory.
Give me the "pure" home-made — equal jiarts of
good peas and the real Java in the kernel, prop-
erly roasted and prepared — witli a suflkiency of our
best maple sugar and rich cream, and any one else
may have llie "pure ground" or "hard liines" cof-
fee, tliat will ]3ay for it, and welcome. What say
you, Mr. Editor ?
1 had other thoughts to pen down in this letter,
but I am already trespassing upon si)ace and ])a-
tience, and I will pass them by till another occa-
sion. L W. Sa.nborn.
Lyndon, April 6, 1863.
For the Netr England Farmer.
HOW PENNIES ARE SAVED.
I do not wish to set myse'f up as a teacher of
the art of agriculture, but I will say that some of
us tillers of the soil, might, instead of taking time
so easily after harvest, j)atch up our horse and cow
stables, and protect our stock from the cold blast
of winter. Besides the morality of the thing,
there is a saving of dollars. I have in my mind's
eye, a case of each kind. Two gentlemen of
wealth each keep a cow ; one has a ligiit, warm
stable : he has his cow carded, kept bedded, clear
of manure, fed with grain and roots, and in cold
nights blanketed. The other turns out his cow
every day to breast the cold storms, and her ap-
pearance indicates that she never feels the card
nor brush. The former says his yields a j)rofit,
the latter that his does not pay the expense. I
have no doubt of the correctness of these reports,
for the expense of the latter exceeds that of the
former by one-fourth.
Some of us dilatory ones never take thought of
our trace corn, until the time of its use, and at
that time find that the mice and rats have looked
to it. Recently 1 saw a different mode ; wire
strung across the corn chamber, and on those
hooks of wire, some feet in length attached, on
which was suspended the corn untouched by the
race. Such taking care of little things is the pen-
ny laid away by the prosperous farmers, and those
are the ones that have the easy days, always up
with their work, and read the Fanner.
Cape Elizabeth, 1863. s. i'. M.
A Truthfvl axd Ciii-ap Baromhtkr.—
Take a clean glass bottle, and put in a small quan-
tity of finely pulverized alnm. Then till the bot-
tle with spirits of wine. The alum will be per-
' fectly dissolved by the alcohol, and in clear weath-
er tlie liquid will be as trans])arent as the jjurest
water. On the approach of rain or cloudy weath-
er, the alum will be visible in a flaky, spiral cloud
in the centre of the fluid, reaching from the l)ot-
' tom to the surface. This is a cheap, sim])le and
beautiful barometer, and is placed within liic reach
: of all who wish to possess one. For simi)liciiy
of construction, this is altogether superior to the
' frog barometer in general use in Germany.
176
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
ENOLISH WOMEN.
I have heard a good deal of the tenacity with
■which English ladies retain their personal beauty
to a late period of life ; but (not to suggest that
an American eye needs use and cultivation before
it can quite appreciate the charm of English beau-
ty at any age) it strikes me that an English lady
of fifty is apt to become a creature less refined
and delicate, so far as her physique goes, than
anything that we western peo{)le class under the
name of woman. She has an awful ponderosity
of frame, not pulpy, like the looser development
of our few fat women, but massive with solid beef
and streaky tallow ; so that (though struggling
manfully against the idea) you inevitably think
of her as made up of steaks and sirloins. When
she walks, her advance is elephantine. When she
sits down, it is on a great round space of her
Maker's footstool, where she looks as if nothing
could ever move her. She imposes awe and re-
spect by the muchness of her personality, to such
a degree that you probably credit her with far
greater moral and intellectual force than she can
fairly claim. Her visage is usually grim and stern,
not always positively forbidding, yet calmly terri-
ble, not merely by its breadth and weight of fea-
ture, but because it seems to express so much well
founded self-reliance, such acquaintance with the
world, its toils, troubles, and dangers, and such
sturdy capacity for trampling down a foe. With-
out anything positively salient, or actively offen-
sive, or, indeed, unjustly formidable to her neigh-
bors, she has the effect of a seventy-four gunship
in time of peace ; for, while you assure yourself
that there is no real danger, you cannot help think-
ing how tremendous would be her onset if pugna-
ciously inclined, and how futile the effort to in-
flict any counter injury. She certainly looks ten-
fold— nay, a hundred-fold — better able to take
care of herself than our slender-framed and hag-
gard womankind ; but I have not found reason
to suppose that the English dowager of fifty has
actually greater courage, fortitude and strength of
character than our women of similar age, or even
a tougher physical endurance than they. Moral-
ly, she is strong, I suspect, only in society, and in
the common routine of social affairs, and would
be found powerless and timid in any exceptional
strait that might call for energy outside of the
conventionalities amid which she has grown up.
You can meet this figure in the street, and live,
and even smile at the recollection. But conceive
of her in a ball-room, with the bare, brawny arms
that she invariably displays there, and all the oth-
er corresponding development, such as is beauti-
ful in the maiden blossom, but a spectacle to howl
at in such an overblown cabbage rose as this.
Yet, somewhere in this enormous bulk, there
must be hidden the modest, slender, violet nature
of a girl, whom an alien mass of earthliness has
unkindly overgrown ; for an English maiden in
her teens, though very seldom so pretty as our
own damsels, possesses, to say the trnth, a certain
charm of half-blossom, and dehcately folded leaves,
and tender womanhood shielded by maidenly re-
serve, with which, somehow or other, our Amer-
ican girls often fail to adorn themselves during an
appreciable moment. It is a pity that the English
violet should grow into such an outrageously de-
veloped peony as I have attempted to describe.
I wonder whether a middle-aged husband ought
to be considered as legally married to all the ac-
cretions that have overgrown the slenderness of
his bride, since he led her to the altar, and which
make her so much more than he ever bargained
for ! Is it not a sounder view of the case, that
the matrimonial bond cannot be held to include
the three-fourths of the wife that had no existence
when the ceremony was performed ? And as a
matter of conscience and good morals, ought not
an English married pair to insist upon the cele-
bration of a silver wedding at the end of twenty-
five years, in order to legalize and mutually ap-
propriate that corporeal growth of which both
parties have individually come into possession
since they were pronounced one flesh ? — Nathan-
id Hawthorne.
THE TOMATO.
Few persons now are willing to dispense with
the tomato. It is surprising how quickly it found
its way into public favor. It is palatable, and
wholesome, we believe, before it is ripe, as well as
afterwards, and is easily preserved in various
forms, so that it can be in use throughout the en-
tire year. It contains a peculiar acid highly rel-
ished by most persons, and which seems to act
favwrably upon the system. It is a universal fa-
vorite. The beautiful illustrations which we in-
troduce are from Buiiu's Book on Fidd and Gar-
den Vegetables. He says :
As early in May as the weather is suitable, the
plants may be set in the open ground where they
are to remain, and should be three feet apart in
each direction ; or, if against a wall or trellis,
three feet from plant to plant. Water freely at
the time of transplanting, shelter from the sun for
a few days or until they are well established, and
cultivate in the usual form during summer.
If sown in the open ground, select a sheltered
situation, pulverize the soU finely, and sow a few
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
177
seeds in drills, as directed for the hot-bed. In
May, when the plants are three or four inches high,
ti'ansplant to where they are to remain.
In gardens where tomatoes have been cultivated,
young plants often spring up abundantly from the
seeds of the decayed fruit of the preceding sea-
son. These, if transplanted, will succeed as well,
and frequently produce fruit as early, as plants
from the hot-bed or nursery-bed.
Sufficient plants for the garden of a small fam-
ily may be started with little trouble by sowing a
few seeds in a garden-pan or large flower-pot, and
placing it in a sunny window of the sitting-room
or kitchen. If the seed is sown in this manner
about the middle or 20t;h of March, the plants will
be of good size for setting by the time the weather
will be suitable for their removal.
"As the fruit ripens, it must be well exposed to
the sun. There will be nothing gained by allow-
ing a great many fruit to ripen."
A convenient, simple and economical support
for the plants may be made from three narrow
hoops, — one twelve, another fifteen, and the third
eighteen or twenty inches in diameter, — and at-
taching them a foot from each other to three stakes
about four feet in length ; placin<? the lower hoop
so that it may be about ten inches from the sur-
face of the ground after the stakes are driven.
The accompanying figure illustrates this method
of training. It secures abundance of light, free
access of air, and, in skilful hands, may be made
quite ornamental.
Or a trellis may be cheaply formed by setting
common stakes, four feet in length, four feet
apart, on a line with the plants, and nailing laths,
or narrow strips of deal, from stake to stake, nine
inches apart on the stakes ; afterwards attaching
the plants by means of bass, or other soft, fibrous
material, to the trellis, in the manner of grape
vines or other climbing plants.
Buckwheat for Orchards. — D. C. Scofield,
of Elgin, 111., recommends, in the Praine Farmer,
to sow buckwheat in orchards every year, by the
use of the cultivator, without plowing.
For the Sexc England Farmer.
PUT IN THE WHEAT.
Mr. Editor : — Your readers and subscribers
should thank you most heartilv for your leader on
"Wheat," in last Saturday's Fanner. The practi-
cal utility of your argument must meet their ap-
probation and" bring conviction to their minds.
Differing somewhat from your statement of put-
ting in "one acre" this spring, I would suggest
three acres, if it were possible. Thinking your
heart is so near the farmers', you will allow me to
spriiikle in a few practical suggestions, such as to
advise the sowing of warm, early lands ; to ma-
nure well and plough it in, (not" harrow in ;) to
soak the seed in salt pickle twelve hours, then
rake it in wood ashes before harrowing it in.
This application of salt pickle and ashes is highly
fertilizing. The great point to gain is to force
the crop to early maturity. We all know rust and
blight come with dog days. Try and get ahead
of them.
With two or three acres of wheat this spring
and the same quantity in winter wheat, your larg-
est farmers will be saved the expense of buying
barrels of Western flour. The double advantage
of this crop has no parallel ;!i the other small
grains. You will be sure of the spring or fall
crop, and perhaps both.
The straw, in the vicinity of paper mills and in
cities, will pay a handsome profit on the cultiva-
tion. In such localities, the grain is a clear gain.
The roots will soon go down to the manure if
it is ploughed in. H Poor.
2sew Y'wk, April 17, 1863.
Fur the Netp England Farmer.
FARMERS' FAIRS.
Mr. Editor : — Some time since, I noticed in
the Farmer, an article respecting State and county
shows, by a correspondent of South Acton, who
thinks the farmers derive but little, if any bene-
fit, from such gatherings, as they are generally
conducted at the present day.
Perhaps this may be true so far as some of the
older societies are concerned, which have been in
operation for nearly half a century, and especially
if they have pursued the same course or plan
from year to year, until their proceedings have
become, as it were, stale and stereotyped. But
it seems to me the remark will not ajjply to socie-
ties which have been formed more recently, and
have not yet accomplished the various objects for
which all such associations are designed.
I fully agree with the views expressed in rela-
tion to "horse-racing," in connection with cattle
shows. Though probably introduced to add in-
terest and variety to such occasions, I tliink the
practice should be discountenanced and con-
demned, as it has a tendency to attract and draw
together a class of persons who had much better
remain at home, and presents a strong induce-
ment or temptation, to abuse and treat unmerci-
fully the noblest of all domestic animals.
If some persons who are very fond of active
exercise are disposed to perform a foot race, I
suppose there can be no objection, because if any
of the competitors perceive they are becoming
"bl'Mcti," or broken winded, they can retire from
the track and recover their breath, not having any
one upon their back or behind them with whip and
spur to urge them onward, nvlciis volem.
178
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
JUJTE
The objection which A. makes in his communi-
cation to agricultural addresses being delivered
by professional men, -who, perhaps, have had no
experience themselves iu farming, probably will
not be made a few years hence, as the ministers,
doctors and lawyers of the coming generation
will have acquired in their boyhood, at our "com-
mon schools," a thorough and practical knowledge
of the science of "agriculture."
Much more might be said upon the subject of
farmers' fairs, but I will close with a single (and
perchance some will say, singular) suggestion.
The farmers of a State, county, or even town,
combine together and contribute more or less
money for the purpose of forming a common fund,
a portion of which is paid to those who raise the
best cattle and horses, pigs and poultry.
Now, Mr. Editor, would it not be well for them
to offer premiums for the finest babies, the best
boys and girls, and thus not only add a new fea-
ture to their exhibitions, but also encourage the
production of more perfect specimens of humanity ?
Leominste); Dec., 1862. a. c. w.
F'jt the yete England Farmer,
IiESSOISrS AWAY FKOM THE BOOKS,
Messrs. Editors : — In my communication of
Feb. 16, I proposed giving you a statement of my
attempts to instruct my pupils, in Agricultural
pursuits, icithout books. My school was large,
and studies various, of course, but still, I found
hours, every week, for miscellaneous instruction,
such as I thought adapted for preparing my pupils
the better to comprehend their prospective course i
of school lessons. This instruction was given in ;
the form of conversations on various topics — as,
for instance, the habits and customs of different |
nations and ti-ibes of men, their different institu- ,
tions, laws,religions and governments. History of
discoveries of new continents and countries ; — Out-
lines of our own history, — Biography, Whale-fish- '
eiy, &c., &c. But whatever topic was introduced, :
whether the oil wells of Pennsylvania and Kanawha,
— the great coal fields of the Western States, — the I
copper regions of Lake Superior, — the great Red i
River of the Xorth, or the gold diggings of Call- 1
fomia, we always had attentive listeners. " But
by doing so," inquires my anxiously-concerned
fellow-educator, " did you not take off the minds ;
of your pupils from their regular daily exercises f \
To he sure I did, and that was the verj- thing I :
wished to do. Tired with enthusiasm, their mental i
energies on the stretch so many hours in the recita-
tion room they should have the string cut, the j
bow relaxed, and all the better it would carry for
it the next day.
I now had the attention of my pupils, and the
moment the season would permit, we were abroad
in the open fields for knowledge. Here we learn-
ed the names and characters of the simple miner-
als which enter into the composition of the com-
mon rocks. Here we observed the characteristics
of the great Granitic and Gneiss formations,
which appear to constitute the foundation on
which all the other masses of rocks and soUs rest.
Here we tried to comprehend something of the
wonderful theory of the earth, by examining the
evidences which have led to the belief of a great
central mass of melted matter which has forced
up mountain ranges, and which gives action to
the volcanic fires. Here, too, we learned that the
soil on which we tread, and which sustains the
growth of the vast forests, — the shrubs, plants,
grains and grasses which clothe and beautify the
earth, consists mainly of the minute particles of
pulverized rock. The book which we were study-
ing was the great, full volume, in fair type, which
lay along every pathway we trod, — and although
we returned from our rambles pretty heavily
weighed down by our full haversacks of mineral
specimens from the mountain crags, and often
weary, if it did not give us all the greatest amount
of good, it surely did us no harm. We were pre-
paring for a full, systematic course of training in
some subsequent terms.
Now, without presuming to dictate with refer-
ence to the teacher's duties, 1 will say that who-
e.er will try some such course with his pupils in
the open fields, two or three times a week, or
once, even, will be amply paid for his efibrts — in
health, in happiness, in invigorated energies, of
both his inner and his outer self, to say nothing
of the consciousness he has of adopting a culture
that will ultimately yield, not simply forty or
sixty, but a good round hundred fold ! In my
next, I will endeavor to give you the sum and
substance of just one single out of door lesson.
A Teacher abroad.
Northampton, March 16, 1863.
Remarks. — We shall look for it with interest.
Fi>r the Netr Ena^and Farmer.
HOW TO MAKE AN" AQUEDUCT.
Mr. Editor : — In the Farmer of the 14th iust.
Mr. S. Stanford, of Irasburg, Vt., wishes for advice
as to constructing an aqueduct for conveying wa-
ter of seventy-five feet head. He wishes to know
whether it would be better to use logs, (and if so,
of what kinds of timber,) or mortar made of hy-
draulic cement and sand. I think it would be
better to make it of logs, as the pressure of the
water would be so great, — over 32 lbs. to the
square inch,-^or for a bore of one, two and three
inches, respectivelv, in diameter, the outward pres-
sure would be more than 1200, 2400 and 3600 lbs.
to each foot of length.
As to the kind of timber, I think pine one of
the best. Spruce or hemlock would answer.
They should be unseasoned, and the bark taken
off. To cause them to be more durable, lay them
deep in the ground. — say five or six feet, and pud-
dle around them with clay. As to connecting
such logs, I think a good way is to saw the ends
square across ; then, to prevent the ends from
splitting, in coupling, use bars made of thin iron,
and drive them into the end of the log — one of
its edges sharp, and in diameter about one-half
that of the log. For coupling the ends of the
logs, use cast iron tubes, — the bore the same as
that of the logs, and in length a little more than
three times the diameter of the bore, — the out-
side tapering from near the middle to their ends,
with a screw thread cast on the outside of each
end, — one right handed, the other left handed;
the thread to lean towards the ends of the tube
like the screw of a twisted augur, that is made to
bore lengthwise of wood. When the logs are
placed lengthwise in the ditch, end near to end,
these connecting tubes can be screwed in with
"pinch-tongs," clasping these tubes around at the
middle of their length. Amos Fish.
Bethlehem, N. P., 1863.
1
1863,
NEW ENGLAND FARRIER.
17»
/"fir the Neic England Farmer.
ABOUT APPLES.— No 1.
The apple surpasses in value every, if not all
other fruits in our climate. In some parts of the
earth, the date, the »;:rape and the banana occupy
a ])luce perhaps more important than the apple oc-
cupies among us. In the United States, the ap-
ple thrives much the best north of 36" 30'.
South of that line there are few good apples.
They are generally small in size, and of inferior
quality. Apples evidently affect a free soil.
Good varieties do not venture into the dominions
of King Cotton. They refuse to compete with the
orange and the fig.
Good varieties are almost unlimited in number,
and are constantly increasing. Under skilful cul-
tivation, it is not impossible that good varieties
may be produced that will succeed throughout the
wide range of climate found on this continent.
Good apples as the Northern Spy, Bailey's Spice,
and others are now jiroduced in Northern Ver-
mont and in Canada. Good varieties are being
produced in Missouri and in Western Texas.
My belief is that the method now pursued, of
transjiorting trees to a great distance from the cli-
mate in which they are raised, will not be found
the best method of propagating durable and fruit-
ful trees. I think the stocks should be grown in
the soil, or at least, in the climate in which they
are to remain. Grafts may be transported and
inserted into the growing stocks with better hope
of final success.
Perha])s no fruit is more depemient upon cli-
mate and soil for its qualities, than the ap])le. A
good Northern variety that requires to be kept 1
three or tour months to mature its juices, and ,
then has a fine, rich flavor, carried to the sunny
South, becomes mellow as soon as it is grown,
loses its rich flavor, and becomes flat and insipid.
Two Baldwin trees, one growing upon a clay soil, |
and the other upon a warm, sandy loam, will yield '
very different apples. Cultivation has not only i
multiplied the varieties of apples, but has greatly I
improved their qualities, and wonderfully in- ,
creased their size. i
There is an old fable in which an idle person |
lying under an oak tree, is rej)resented as finding i
fault with the arrangements of nature. He did
not think it right that pumpkins should grow !
upon a vine creeping on the ground, while the
sturdy oak should produce fruit no larger than an
acorn. Just as he had arrived at this sage conclu-
sion, a falling acorn struck him upon the head, j
The question immediately occurred to him, ifj
pumpkins grew on oaks, what would now be the
condition of my head ? Oa looking at some of
the specimens of apples exhibited at our anmial
fairs, the question very naturally presents itself,
whether the danger Avould be greater to one re-
posing under the shade of an apple tree, if it pro-
duced pumpkins, for certainly some of the large
apples are equal in size to small pumpkins.
Bv the past generation, the quantity of apples
was more regarded than the quality. A large por-
tion of the apples then raised was made into ci-
der. They were much less vakied as food for
either men or beast. The present generation has
learned that the apple is a valuable article of food,
and this has led men to seek the best varieties
and to improve them by cultivation. Immense
quantities are now raised for the market, and only
good varieties are in demand, so that cultivators
are stimulated by interest, as well as by taste, to
improve the qualities of the apples they raise.
The number of ap])le trees, within twenty years,
has increased in the country l)y thousands and
millions. In 1855, the value'of apples in Massa-
chusetts was reported at about .Sl,300,0(M). Since
that period, the number of trees that have come
into bearing have greatly increa.sed their value,
and the crop of apples now cannot be much less
than $1,600,000. Since the use of steam has
shortened the time occupied in voyages, apples
may be transported with safety to distant places.
They have consequently become an article of com-
merce. They are carried to several ports in Eu-
rope, particularly London. They are carried to
the West Indies, and to the Northern ports of the
United States, at all which places they command
high prices.
The clear atmosphere and hot sun of our au-
tumns, produce apples much superior in flavor to
those grown in the cloudy atmosphere and moist
climate of England. The same climatic influen-
ces render the corn crop of this country much
better than that of England. Indeed, the same
conditions of soil and climate that favor the growth
of Indian corn, are favorable also to the growth
of apples. Apples have been known from the
earliest period to which history extends. I am
not prepared to defend the proposition that it was
an apple of which Adam and Eve partook in
the garden of Eden, although Milton has given to
it the sanction of his great name. But they were
among the earliest fruits of which we have any
knowledge. They were cultivated in the gardens
of Damascus, and their praises were sung by the
Oriental poets. They gave the name of Elmata-
ghi, the apple mountain, to Mount Adorcus in Ga-
lalia. In an Epithalamium, or poem upon the oc-
casion of the marriage of an Eastern Prince,
that has come down to us, the bridegroom is made
to compare the breath of the bride to the aroma
of apples. They were cultivated in Greece and It-
aly. They have been handed down to us with the
grape and the peach. In our climate they have
found a habitat peculiarly fitted to them, where
they can develo]) all their good qualities in a high-
er degree of ])erfection than they have anywhere
else. No ap]des are so highly esteemed in Europe
as American apples. A soil containing both lime
and potash is necessary to the perfection of the
apple. They grow large and fair in limestone
soils ; but the inferiority of their flavor betrays
the want of jjotash. Both these alkalies are found
in a granite soil.
The Beet as a Forage Ciior. — No farmer
who desires to experiment in the production of the
sugar beet should be deterred from it by the fact
that there is no immediate market for it. For al-
though the fiacilities for manufacturing will proba-
bly keep pace with its production, yet if they do
not, no better forage crop can be grown. It will
be as eagerly sought for and relished by stock as
the sweet, green sorghum.
The course of a true woman is that of the gen-
tle streams, which, without cataracts or noise,
come softly down from their secret fountains in
the hilN, and indicate their presence only by the
deeper verdure of the meadows they water and
the sweet flowers that fringe their borders.
180
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES.
THE ONION MAGGOT.
Much has been said and written on the ravages of
the onion worm ; hut Mr. Emerson nor Mr. Proctor
seem to find an effectual remedy. I have no doubt
that one of the most simple things, available to us all,
will prevent that great evil. If, when the onion s^eed
is sown, a small quantity of superphosphate of lime
is sown with it, and more put on when the plant is
about two inches high, I think there will be no com-
plaint of the destruction of onions by the worms. I
recommended it to Farmer Jones, several years since,
but he omitted it until his onions were badly eaten.
Aliout the 20th of June, Mr. Jones told me that he
must plough up all his onions, as they were so badly
eaten that iiis crop was ruined. I again recommended
the superphosphate of lime, and he put it on that day ;
the result was that it put a stop to the ravages uf the
worms ; no more were eaten, and he thinks that if it
had been put on earlier, it would have secured the
whole from ihe ravages of the maggot.
Juli/ 23, 18r/3.
Since writing the above, I have put the superphos-
phate to the test, and find that it will prevent the rav-
ages of the maggot in the onion, without a doubt.
Brookline, April, 1863. S. A. SnuRTLErF.
rOWL MEADOW GRASS — -VSHES AND NIGHT SOIL.
I have four or five acres of meadow, with a running
stream through it ; it has a hard, gravelly bottom, so
that I can go all over it with a team. What I wish to
inquire is, which is the Ijcst way tor me to get it into
fowl meadow grass ? Must I plough it, or put on sand
or loam and sow my seed on that ?
Ought I to mix ashes with night soil ? I have (for
the want of anything else) put all my ashes into my
vault. Some tell me I have lost my ashes liy so doing.
Is it so ? A SUUSCEIBEH.
Remaeks. — Plough it, by all means ; if you can,
add a little fine manure, and sow your grass seed. If
the meadow is black muck, a topdressing of sand will
be usctful.
It is said that the alkali contained in ashes will set
the ammonia free, which green manure contains, and
then it flies off and is lost. Good loam would be bet-
ter than wood ashes, and what is better still, is some
of the muck from your meadow. Throw out some,
pulverize and dry it, and if a bushel is applied to the
vault once a week, you will have double the quantity
of manure and no odor.
ABOUT HEDGES.
What kind of a hedge is best adapted to our climate,
and where can I procure the seed or plants, — also the
time for planting the seeds and the setting out of
plants ? How should the ground be prepared, and
what the manner of procedure with the plants ? The
location is the sides of the road ; sod light, rather dry ;
want some kind that will turn cattle, and will be du-
rable. SUBSCRIBEK.
Ashhj, April, 1863.
Remarks. — The Buckthorn is handsome, grows rap-
idly, and is clean, but will not keep out cattle. The
Three-thornccl Acacia will keep out cattle and boys,
but grows rather open, and without the graceful beau-
ty of the Buckthorn. Consult Warder's "Hedges
and Evergreens."
HORSES AND SHEEP.
I have a young horse, and sometimes after using
him, when I unfasten the check rem, a small quantity
of white matter will run from his nostrils. He seems
healthy, with this exception, but in the summer has a
humor, which comes out in little bunches over his
body, disappearing when the weather becomes cool in
the fall. Can you tell the cause and a I'cmedy ?
Have you noticed a disease among sheep, the symp-
toms of which are a cough and running at the nose.
My sheep were seriously affected with it during the
dry weather of last summer, and some have not yet
recovered. They are also troubled with ticks. What
will kill the ticks without injuring the sheep ?
Martha's Vineyard, April, 1SG3. A Re.\dee.
Remarks. — The horse is evidently considerably un-
well, and needs careful examination and prescription
from some person acquainted with the diseases of
horses. It is something more than a common cold.
Perhaps reading Mayhew's Illustrated Horse Doc-
tor, or '-Dadd on the Horse," might save you fifty
dollars.
Purchase the ^-Extract of Tobacco," and follow di-
rections that come. See advertisement in Xew Eng-
land Fanner.
CULTUBE OF THE CURRANT.
No fruit gives a more generous return than the
cuiTant ; and though it will grow in almost any
soil, yet, to have really fine fruit, the ground
should be well prepared by bountiful manuring,
with well rotted stable manure, and deep and
thorough pulverization.
In planting, the roots should have plenty of
room that they maybe spread out in their natural
position, and the earth carefully drawn around
them, so that after the ground is settled, they will
be no deeper than when they stood in the nursery.
No plant or shrub sufi'ers more from cramping the
roots and deep planting than the currant. The
planting may be done either in spring or fall ; if
in the latter season, a small mound of earth should
be raised around the bush as a protection against
wind and frost.
This fruit requires much more room than is
generally allowed to it. For large plantations the
rows should be five to six feet apart, and the
bushes three to four feet apart in the rows, this
will admit of the horse cultivator without danger
of rubbing off the fruit.
Mulching with long straw manure or fermented
sawdust, is a cheap way of keeping down the
weeds and the ground loose. If the bushes are
not mulched, they should be ploughed two or
three times every season, that the ground may be
kept loose, and the weeds kept down ; and in the
fall, whether mulched or not, a good supply of
well rotted manure should be placed around the
bushes, to be worked in in the spring. — Excliange.
A Novel Att.ychment. — A gentleman in
Springfield, Mass., writes to the Albany Cultiva-
tor, that he bought a Berkshire pig, about six
weeks old, and put it into a pen, from which it
escaped, and nestled in the straw of the cow sta-
ble, where it was suffered to remain. In a few
days it was noticed that the usual quantity of milk
given by the cow was decreasing. The pig, how-
ever, grew finely, and the two animals lived in
peace. Happening to enter the stable one
evening, the gentleman found the pig quietly
nursing. On separating them, it was found that
their mutual attachment was quite strong — the
cow for many days mourned as for the loss of a
calf.
Price of F.\rms. — The Genessee Farmer says
there is a great movement in real estate in that
section, and that the price of farms is advancing
rapidly
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
181
RAISING- TOMATO PLANTS.
A correspondent of the Gejiessee Fanner gave a
plan of raising early tomatoes in the house, which
a friend informs us he has tried with excellent re-
sults. It is simply to take some turnips, hollow
out the inside, and fill them with fine soil. Two
or three seeds are sown in each turnip, so as to
secure one good plant in each. The rest must be
pulled out. He usually puts the turnips in a box
ami fills the interstices with soil to keep them
steady and moist. He keeps the box in his kitch-
en. Of course, the plants should have all the
light you can give them, and should not be too
near a stove. The great difficulty in growing
plants in a room, is, that the atmosphere is too
dry. The leaves should be repeatedly sprinkled
with water, and the soil kept moist, but not lo"
wet.
When the plants have attained a good size, and
the weather becomes milder, they should be
placed out of doors on warm days, and otherwise
'•hardened off" before setting out in the ground.
The plants, turnips and all, are set out in the
ground without disturbing the roots. The shell
of the turnip soon decays, and the tomato grows
•'right along." — Exchange.
fry the slices in batter, or in fresh butter in which
grated bread has been mixed ; season with pep-
per and salt, or sweet herbs, to suit. The seeds
require a good supply of moisture and a pretty
high degree of heat in order to make them ger-
minate.
THE MARTYNIA, OR UNICORN PLANT.
This cut, as well as that of the Egg Viant, we
are permitted to use by the Publishers of JU'ru's
Fiehland Gardm Vc(jdahJes. Mr. Burr describes
it as a hardy, annual plant, with a strong, branch-
AMERICAN PURPLE EGG PLANT.
Those persons who have eaten a slice of well
prepai-ed egg plant at the dinner-table, after a fore-
noon of exercise in the open air, will remember
its deliciousness, and thank us for presenting this
beautiful engra^-ing. It should be started in a hot
bed, or may be successfully started in the kitchen,
in any box or pot that will hold the soil. From
the middle of May to the 10th of June, accord-
ing to location, the ])lants may be transplanted,
and ought to be protected a little for a few days
and nights, and then they will go on vigorously.
Thev require a light, generous soil and clean cul-
tivation. It has violet flowers in June and July,
which are succeeded by fruit resembling in size
and shape an ostrich egg, though it frequently at-
tains a size many times larger.
In cooking them, the slices are cut transversely,
about half an inch thick ; press out as much of
the iuice as possible, and narboil ; after which.
ing stem. The leaves are large, heart-shaped,
downy, and of a peculiar, musk-like odor, when
bruised. The flowers are large, bell-shaped, some-
what two-lipj)ed, dull white, tinged or spotted with
yellow and purple, and produced in long, leafless
racemes, or clusters ; the seed pods are green,
Tery downy or hairy, fleshy, oval, an inch and a
half in their greatest diameter, and taper to a long,
comparatively slender, incurved horn, or beak.
The Martynia is of easy cultivation. The seeds
may be sown in .April or May, in the open ground,
where the jilants are to remain.
The young pods are the part of the plants used.
These are produced in great abundance, and
should be gathered when about half grown, or
while tender and succulent ; after the hardening
of the flesh, they are worthless. They are used
for pickling, and by many are considered superior
to the cucumber, or any other vegetable employed
for that purpose.
The Martvnia has another recommendation in
the pleasant — although somewhat odd — ap])ear-
ance it has in the garden. It requires considera-
ble room, because it branches out a good deal. It
has little resemblance to any other garden plant.
Why are nails designated by the terms .sirpen-
ny, ei'ihipmiviy &c. ? In Sheffield, Enfrland. where
immense quantities of nails are manufactured,
thev used to be sold in small quantities by the
hundred ; and the terms /ourpeiini/,.vxpeinit^,S:c.,
referred to such nails as were sold at fourpence,
sixpence, S^c, per hundred nails. The length of
the nails of that day was exactly the same with
nails that are now known bv those desijrnations.
IS2
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
For the New England Farmer,
ABOUT APPLES— No. 2.
There are several questions by which the culti-
vators of apples seem at present to be specially
exercised. They are important questions. The
first is, Can trees be made to bear every year ?
The second is. Can trees which have the habit of
bearing on one alternate year be made to change
their habit, and bear on the other alternate year ?
The third is, What is the best method of cultivat-
ing an orchard after the trees have arrived at a
bearing condition ?
Fruit buds, from which the crop of any one
year is produced, are prepared by the tree in the
autumn of the preceding year. When a tree is
maturing a full crop of apples, its powers are
taxed to the utmost. It can appropriate but little
towards the formation of new fruit buds, and the
deposition of organizable matter for the nutri-
ment of another crop. Time is wanted to collect
its energies and aocumulate material. Most of
our cultivated trees require an entire year for this
purpose. Thus they become biennial bearers.
In other words, it takes them two years to work
out and {perfect a crop. This is the general law
to which our cultivated trees are subject. But
there are many exceptions to this law. Some va-
rieties are annual bearers. Many trees bear a few
apples every year, among those which observe the
biennial rule with regard to full crops. These
exceptions are so numerous that many are led to
inquire if the two years' rule is necessary at all.
The question may be put in another form. Plants
as well as criminals are subject to habit, and habit
may spring from natural constitution, or it may
be acquired. Is the biennial habit of apple trees
natural, or is it the result of cultivation ? If it is
natural, it will probably be impossible to change
it. If it is an acquired one, it may possibly be
changed by allowing trees to mature only a cer-
tain amount of fruit, just so much as they are able
to carry, while they are at the same time provid-
ing resources for a succeeding crop. But if this
should prove possible, the question would at once
arise, is not one full crop better than two small
ones ,•* I will not discuss this question further.
I will only observe that any one disposed to try
an experiment on some tree favorably situated,
must expect to continue it several years before
any satisfactory result can be reached.
I have said that most of our cultivated trees
have the habit of bearing on alternate years, and
it so happens, unfortunately, as most of our cul-
tivators think, that most of them bear on the sume
year. Consequently, on one year we have a great
abundance, and on the succeeding year, very few.
Now if the habit of a portion of them can be
changed so that they will bear on the other alter-
nate year, we shall have a good supply every year.
Various attempts have been made to effect this
desirable result. It has been recommended to
take off all the blossoms of a young tree on the
year on which we do not wish it to bear, with the
view of leading it to bear on the succeeding year.
And I think it quite possible that perseverance
for several years might, in some instances, be at-
tended with success. Perhaps the habit of bien-
nial bearing is not stronger in any apple tree than
in the Baldwin, and it so happens that most Bald-
wins yield their crops in the even years. Such
trees are especially valuable, because in the odd
or scarce years, apples bear a much higher price.
Attempts are being made to get a crop on the odd
■ years, by setting grafts from the trees which bear
on the odd years into trees which have the habit of
bearing on the even years. The results which have
been attained by this method, although it seems a
promising one, do not seem thus far to have been
very satisfactory, at least so far as my observation
extends. In one or two instances they have been
reported highly so. When a graft with one habit
is thus married to a stock with a different habit,
there must be a struggle for the mastery. Which
shall prevail time only can decide. Perhaps in
some cases the stock will prevail, and in others the
graft. A gentleman who is cultivating apples
largely, and who is trying the experiment, told me
a few weeks ago that his grafts obviously showed
a tendency to follow the habit of the stock into
which they were grafted. In making the experi-
ment it is important that the grafts should be
taken from trees which have the habit of bearing
on the odd years, well confirmed, — that it should
be a natural habit, and not the result of accident.
I think experiments with relation to this question
should be made more extensively than they have
hitherto been.
Our fathers were in the habit of setting apple
trees on the headlands around the borders of their
fields, by the roadsides and in their pastures.
But we have adopted a different method. On
most of our farms a portion of the best land is
devoted to an orchard. It seems to be agreed on
all hands, that, while trees are young, it is neces-
sary to keep the soil under constant cultivation.
The trees then interfere but little with the hoed
crop. Almost as much corn or potatoes is ob-
tained as if there were no trees growing on the
ground. But if the trees are set at the usual dis-
tance apart, in a few years they shade nearly the
entire surface, and their roots fill the soil, and now
the corn and potatoes will not yield sufficient to
pay for the seed and labor, and besides it is diffi-
cult to work among the trees without injuring
them. What is now to be done ? Shall the land
be given up wholly to the trees and kept cultivat-
ed for their sole benefit? If they gave us a crop
every year, the case would be quite different.
Now we get a crop of apples only every other
year, and nothing in the intervening year. But
grass will grow in the shade where the soil is good,
better than any other crop, and is perhaps our
most valuable crop. If hay grown in an orchard
is not of quite as good a quality, it may be nearly
as much in quantity as though there were no trees
on the ground, especially it it gets an early start
before the trees have fully put on their foliage.
The question now is, may not grass be grown in
orchards where the trees are so large as to shade
the ground, and at the same time the vigor and
health of the trees be maintained by means of
topdressing, and thus a valuable crop be obtained
from the land every year ?
This question is now being discussed with much
interest by many farmers who appropriated a por-
tion of their best land to an orchard fifteen or
twenty years ago. Its solution may lead to a
change in the method of managing our orchards.
At the present prices of apples, say forty or fifty
cents a barrel, on the trees, and that only every
other year, it becomes a serious question whether
the land cannot be more profitably occupied, and
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
183
whether our fathers were not wiser in planting
trees upon their borders, where they interfered
but little with other crops, than we have been in
appropriating so much of our best land to them ?
But if experience shall prove that orchard land
can be laid down to grass, and by the same amount
of manure, used as a topdressiiig, which we now
use in cultivating them with hoed crops to little
profit, both the trees and grass can be kept in
good condition, then we shall l)e encouraged to
persevere in selling and cultivating apple trees.
An orchardist of large experience practiced and
recommended the following rotation of crops as
suitable for an orchard. 1st year, Plow, manure
and plant potatoes. 2d year, Manure and sow
oats and clover. Cut the oats as a forage crop.
3d year. Cut the clover and plow in the fall. 4th
year, Plow and plant potatoes. Thus the ground
is manured two years out of three, and a tolera-
ble crop of potatoes taken off the first year, and
a good crop of forage the two following years.
I have discussed these questions very briefly.
The remarks I have made are intended to be sug-
gestive rather than exhaustive. J. K.
Co)icord, April 16.
For t/te Neir England Farmer.
ABOUT CORN BARNS.
Mr. Editor : — I noticed in your paper recent-
ly, an inquiry from Mr. J. W. Xye, in regard to
corn barns, and I will endeavor to give hira some
idea of the way we build them here in Vermont, a
few miles north of Keene.
We have some in our vicinity built in fhe fol-
lowing manner: Size of building about 20X26
feet, height of posts 15 feet, with a second floor,
which gives eight feet, lower story, and seven feet,
upper story. We have corn cribs on two sides
and one end, leaving one end for doors on each
storj' and stairs. On the second floor, leave a space
about four feet square in the floor for the thresh-
ing rack, which is made of two inch maple slats
sawed beveling, and put in three-eighths of an
inch apart at the top, so as to leave a crack just
large enough to let a kernel of corn pass through
and retain the cobs on the upper floor, while the
corn passes through to the lower floor. Or some
have a tier of grain bins occupy the north side of
the lower story, instead of having the crit)3 extend
on all sides, as far as the south side. We consid-
er the south side preferable by all means for dry-
ing corn.
Such a barn I consider better to be set on posts,
and away from other buildings as far as rats are
concerned. I like the way of raising so as to
have a cellar underneath for storing carts, &c., at
will. If Mr. Nye, or any other of your subscri-
bers wish to know more on this subject, I shall be
very happy at any time to give them all the infor-
mation I can through your valuable paper, or by
private correspondence as suits them best,
BockingJuim, Vt., 18Q3. u r' a
than a storehouse of the golden corn. Our cor-
respondent is very obliging, and has done good
service to the farmer already in this communica-
tion.
H. E. Adams.
Remarks. — This subject is an important one,
and we are glad to find it receiving attention, as
a good deal of the corn raised continues to be
housed in a wasteful, and, frequently, in a most
filthy manner — the room in which it is kept smell-
ing more like some receMacle of cast off rubbish.
Fi'r the Mrw Knijliinti Fanner,
NOTES FROM MY DIARY.
Wi Mo., 'lHh, 18G2. Finding the yellow bugs
destroying my squash vines, I sprinkled them well
with a solution of green cow dung and water,
made quite thin. One application stojjped their
ravages.
%th Mo., loth. Passing by a piece of beans to-
day,! find them dying. Upon examination, I find
the joints of the leaves and stalks covered with a
white mould, which rots the vines. A sm;dl spot
on the same piece of ground, was similarly affect-
ed last year, but I supposed the wet weather was
the cause. The weather is now very <lrv, so I
have supposed another cause. There is a heavy
growth of vines, and the weather very hot, and I
am of the opinion that the beans are decaying
from want of air, for the diseased vines are in the
centre ; those near the outside are healthv. Am
I right ?
dfh Mo., 16//i. Pulled white beans. The pods
were white, but not shrunk ; I pulled them rather
than to risk a frost upon them. In a few days I
shall draw them into the barn, sjjread them on
poles over the floor, and let them remain till win-
ter.
{Mem. I have threshed them this winter and
find them very fine.)
lOffi Mo., 1st. Commenced picking my apples.
The last two years I have picked them about this
time, and I never had fruit keep better. I put
them in a cool place until cold weather. I am
convinced that an ajjple picked before it is entire-
ly ripe, will kec[) best in winter. Try it.
ii/i Mo., ith, 1S;()3. I buried my cabbages last
fall, as usual, by ])lacing them heads down in a
trench one foot deep, and wide enough to allow
two heads to stand side by side. I laid two small
poles in the bottom of the trench, placed the heads
upon them, gave them a good covering of pea
straw and a light coat of earth. I ojjened them
to-day, and found the cabbages in good condition;
I some had grown so as to burst the heads. Wheth-
j er wintered in the ground, or in the cellar, the
roots should remain on. L. Vak.sey.
Dloomjield, C. W.
Ici!:landic "Skiku." — Their daily food is taken
cold, and consists chit-fly of raw, dr:cd stockfish
i and '-skier." The latter dish is sim[ily milk al-
I lowed to become acid and coagulate, and then
I hung up in a bag till the whey runs off. In this
I form it is botli nutritive and wholesome, being
I more easily digested tiian sweet milk ; while, to
those who take to it, it is light, palatibic and de-
lightfully cooling. Milk is prepareil in this way
by the S'hetlanders, who, in the first stage, call it
"run milk," and when made into skier, "hung
milk." The same preparation is made use of by
the Arabs, and it is also the chief diet of the Kaf-
firs and IJechuanas at the Cape. Our idea, that
milk is useless or hurtful when sour, is merely an
ignorant prejudice. Those who depend for their
subsistence chiefly on milk diet, and have the larg-
est experience, prefer to use it sour, and medical
authority endorses their choice.
184
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
FOUB COTSWOLD EWE LAMES.
The lambs figured above were bred by and are
the property of Charles Corliss, of " Poplar Lawn,"
Haverhill, Mass. They were exhibited at the
Essex Agricultural Society show, held in George-
town, September 30, and October 1st, 1862,
and were winners of the premium offered by the
society for the best lot of lambs.
At a recent meeting of the Central Farmer's
Club, at London, Mr. Charles Howard delivered
an address on the subject of " The Merits of Pure
Bred and Cross Bred Sheep," in which he men-
tioned the established breeds. In the course of
his address he said " the Cotswolds were one of
the oldest of the established breeds. They were
originally heavy, coarse animals, with a thick,
heavy fleece, well adapted to the bleak, unenclose
Cotswold hills. They are now very hardy, and
will thrive well in almost any situation, and pro-
duce a great amount of wool and mutton at an
early age. They sometimes reach 86 pounds to
the quarter. The average weight of an ordinary
flock when fit to butcher, at fourteen or fifteen
months old, is about 180 pounds, and the weight
of the wool of the whole flock would be about
7 1-2 pounds each." Few animals are more
beautiful than a full-bred Cotswold sheep.
Speculation in Cents. — While searching a
house in Jersey city the other day in pursuit of a
suspicious character, the police found two large
sacks full of nickel cents, which had undoubtedly |
been collected with the view of obtaining a large
premium for them. It was found necessary to
prop up a building in the lower part of New York
a feM' days since, as it was settling at a dangerous
rate, and on investigating the cause two huge
tierces full of nickel cents were found in one of the
upper stories. Their great weight had made the
building settle.
For the New England Farmer,
GOD'S PLAN".
I heard His voice: "Thy strength is to sit still.
A weary task I call thee to fulfil:
Patient endurance, humble trust in Me
Through pain and weakness, — This I ask of thee."
Sweet spring is here. Her soft, balm-laden breeze
Whispers in mystery to the budding trees.
Those restful woodhind wajs to me were "home,"—
Shall I no more among their shadows roam ?
I know so well whenj, 'neath the old beech tree.
First bloom the May flower and anemone,
The cowslip, sun ci-owned, by the turbid stream,—
No more for me. JAj'e is a ^'■broken dream."
Not so ! Life is God's plan ! No earth born storm
Can mar the untold beauty of its form.
Wliile we look on, and trembling, dare to doubt,
He, with unerring hand, doth work it out.
No more against my prison bars I chafe,
God's plan is mine. Sure of His love I'm safe.
And so, while days their painful hours repeat,
There's music in my soul, and life is sweet.
AprU 22, 1863. Margeb.
Decay of Apple-trees in Illinois. — The
climate and soil of Illinois are very favorable to
the rapid growth and early maturity of the apple-
tree but we hear much complaint of their being
short lived.
W. C. Flagg says, in a recent address :
" The oldest apple trees I have seen in Illinois
were not over GO years of age, and \vere generally
in a very decrepid state. My own trees, the old-
est of which are forty years old, have mostly suc-
cumbed to the infirmities of age, and the hard
winter of 18u5 and 1856. Of 100 seedlings and
217 grafted trees set in 1822, about 40 per cent of
each were living in 1862. The longevity of grafts
and seedlings was the same, which is contrary to
general opinion."
In the town of Berger, in Prussia, is an elegant
church, capable of holding one thousand persons,
constructed — statues and all — of papier mache.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
185
AMONG THE MACHINERY.
A few days since, we received a polite invitation
to take a look into some of the workshops in the
city of Worcester, and also at some of the farms
and stock in the neighborhood of that city. Our
tendencies being pretty strongly in that direction,
we suggested to our friend, as the first thing, to
go through the shops where the Buckeye Mower
and Beaper are being built under the direction of
A. B. Barnard, Esq., a gentleman well known to
a large number of the farmers of Massachusetts.
We first entered the room where the wood work
is made, and were quite careful to take due notice
"what sort of stuff" was Avrought up to be cov-
ered with oil, paint and varnish. It was gratify-
ing to find this of the best quality of oak, ash
and maple, and all thoroughly seasoned. The
machinery to work it was new, and combining the
latest improvements. Each workman was con-
fined to a definite part of the machine, so that if
engaged in gettting out the shafts or pole, for in-
stance, he would saw out several hundred sets,
when they would pass to another person to cut
the tenons, and still another to take off the cor-
ners. Even this last operation is done by ma-
chinery, and in so skilful and finished a manner
as not to require any smoothing by sand paper,
or other means. This is the process pursued in
all the shops, so that great perfection is gained
by the workman in that part under his especial
charge. It requires, therefore, almost as many
persons to make a machine as there are different
bolts, bars, wheels, screws and springs contained
in it. Before being sent out, every machine is
put together and run by steam power, until it is
found to move easy and in perfect condition in :
all its parts. Some eight hundred machines were i
in process of construction, orders for about one-
half of which, one of the proprietors informed us, i
had been already received.
From the wood work shop, we passed through
all the others, where we witnessed the same good
order as in the first, — the same system was every-
where apparent. Our visit at this establishment,
ended in the paint shop, where the finishing toucli-
es were put upon the machines, and from which
place, eight or nine per day, completely ready for
work, are trundled off into another building.
At the establishment of Lucius W. Poxd,
Esq., we saw a variety of most excellent machin-
ery, such as immense "planers," cutting off the
rough surfaces of huge iron work and bringing it
to a smooth and common level, — and lathes cut-
ting screws from 20 to 40 feet in length, and seem-
ingly as accurate as the moving works of a watch! I
In another part of this establishment. Bund's Ba- ,
teni Bockei Bisiol is made. Here, also, each work- j
man has his specific work. These pistols have a
high reputation, and from a pretty close inspec-
tion of them, we should judge a reputation well
deserved. Every part of this establishment in-
dicated an active, leading mind. There was
neither hurry or confusion anywhere, while each
blow or turn of a wheel, gradually fashioned some-
thing into its desired shape.
In another part of the city we visited the
"Macfarland Malleahle Iron Works" and our visit
here was exceedingly gratifying. Malleable iron
is employed in making a very large number of
articles in constai.t use, and would now be con-
sidered indispensuble in the arts. It is softer
than "cast" iron, and is much more tough. We
had always supposed that its peculiar qualities
were secured by some chemical process through
which the common ore passed before the article, of
whatever kind, was manufactured. But this, we
learned, is not so. The "fingers," for instance, of
the mowing machine, are cast from common iron
ore, and when they come from the mould are almost
as brittle as glass. In this condition they are put
into large cast iron pots, packed down with the
scales that peel from castings in the process of
finishing up. The pots are then sealed with clay
and deposited in a furnace some 8 by 10 feet, un-
til the furnace is full. At an opening at one end
of this, bituminous coal is laid upon a grate, sprin-
kled with coal tar, ignited, and a powerful blower
forces the blaze through the entire length of the
furnace, causing an intense heat. This is kept ttp
through eight days and nights, when it is allowed
gradually to cool off, and the "fingers" that went
in brittle cast iron, come out ductile, malleable
iron, merely by being deprived of their carboti^ and
thus freed from brittleness ! Such is the wonder-
ful power of Science. There is scarcely a con-
ceivable thing used in the house, barn, workshop,
carriages, plows, or anything else requiring iron,
but we found upon the shelves of these enterpris-
ing gentlemen, laid by as specimens of their han-
diwork.
Many other works and objects of interest ar-
rested our attention at every turn, in this busy
hive of human industry, but we have not space
to notice them now. One portion of the city
seems filled with shops for tlie manufacture of
heavy articles of iron and wood, — and especially
of articles adapted to the farm.
So much of our time was devoted to the me-
chanic arts, that but a brief space was left for a
look at some of the farms and stock in the imme-
diate vicinity of the city. Wherever we called,
however, we found excellent land, good buildings
and attractive homes, — enough we saw to induce
us, at a more favorable time, to accept some of the
kind invitations received, and to look more care-
fully at the agricultural features of the place.
God often strikes straight strokes with crooked
sticks.
186
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
GRAFTING.
Every boy on the farm — and every girl, too,
we think — should be early taught how to bud
and graft. The boys will need it on the trees,
and the girls on the roses and other flowers. It
is an operation more nice than difficult, and a
pleasing one when understood.
The HoHiculturist, for April, gives a recipe for
making a liquid grafting toax, as follows :
1 pound of rosin.
5 ounces of alcohol, 95 per cent.
1 ounce beef tallow.
1 tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine.
The rosin is melted over a slow fire. It is then
taken off, the beef tallow added, and the whole
well stirred with a perfectly dry stick. When
cooled down a little add the spirits of turpentine,
and last the alcohol, in small quantities, stirring
the mass constantly. Should the alcohol cool it
down too much, so that a lump forms, warm it a
little till it melts again. Keep it in a corked bot-
tle, and lay it on in a veiy thin coat with a brush.
If it is put on too thick, a crust will soon form
on the surface, preventing the alcohol from evap-
orating, and consequently the mass from harden-
ing. In a room sufficiently warmed, the wax
must be of the consistency of molasses ; the
quantity of the alcohol may, therefore, be in-
creased according to circumstances.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
tJNDERDKAINING.
Will you inform me through your valuable maga-
zine who could be employed as a reliable engineer
here in Middlesex county to lay out work for under-
draining ? I am deeply interested in your monthly
pamphlet, and in no department more than that which
has brought to light the great benefits to the farmer
through successful drainage.
Wayland, April, 1863. Edward H. Shekman.
Remarks. — Messrs. Shedd & Edson, Iron Build-
ing, 42 Court Street, Boston; or Mr. Albert E.
Wood, Concord, Mass. They are competent and en-
tirely reliable.
SAVE THE dogs ?
We learn that Mr. Albert Fearing, of Hingham.has
recently lost eight of his fine sheep, killed by dogs.
Among them was a buck of much value. In Ohio,
the sheep-owners around Youngstown, held a meeting
to devise measures to relieve themselves from the de-
struction caused by dogs. It was asserted in the
meeting that within two weeks, the wool-growers in
the vicinity of Youngstown had lost ^1125 by the rav-
ages of dogs.
KICKING cows.
In the Farmer of April 25th a Leominster corres-
pondent, "A. C. W.," makes some inquiries and sug-
gestions in relation to an article upon kicking cows.
He asks what we do with the milk pail while holdmg
on to one teat with the right hand and at the same
time slapping the cow smartly with the other, and es-
pecially, he asks, when we catch the uplifted foot, and
hold it close to the cow's body until she settles down
into our lap ? "It seems to me," he continues, "it
must require considerable strength and agility to be
done successfully without spilling the milk or spoiling
the pail." In answer to the above first named inquiry,
I would say, all that is necessary, is, to set the pail
one side before commencing operations. As "A. C.
W." says, it requires considerable strength and agility
to be done successfully. But a common farm hand
will do it nearly every time, and if he is successful in
catching the foot he will have no trouble in setting the
pail one side ; if not, ten chances to one he gets the
milk spilled or the bottom knocked out of the pail, as
is very apt to be the case if nothing is tried. "I would
suggest, he says, "if it might not be safe and better
in both cases to strap up one of the fore legs after the
fashion of the famous horse-tamers ?" In relation to
this method I know nothing ; but this I do know, if
this is the best method, and those who try it have no
better success with their cows than the famous horse-
tamers that have visited this vicinity have had with
horses, I should advise them to sell as quick as possi-
ble. I most heartily concur with "A. C. W.," in rela-
tion to preventing kicking, and think, should it be
strictly followed, ^here would be comparatively few
that would acquire the habit of kicking.
Strafford, Vt., April, 1863. Elery.
For the New England Farmer.
RETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
If any reader of the April number of this jour-
nal should sit down some evening, or at any other
leisure time, and re-read it, marking on the mar-
gin every passage which either taught him some-
thing new and likely to be of value in his own
practice, or reminded him of something which,
though not entirely unknown, was yet almost as
completely covered up and kept out of sight by
the shades of forgetfulness as if it had been in the
region of the unknown, and had never been
thought of before ; if he will mark with his pen-
cil, also, every passage containing a fact or opin-
ion which he thinks may prove useful, and which
he would like to treasure up in his memory ; if he
would mark, too, every passage which suggests
anything which he may think would be useful to
have fresh in his mind at meetings of his Farm-
er^ Club, or when talking with a neighbor farmer
in chance interviews, and to present, at such times,
either in the form of inquiry, or as subject for con-
sideration or discussion ; — in a word, if any read-
er will mark every passage which seems to him
noteworthy, for the above-named reasons, he will
find, on turning back over the several pages after
he has completed his re-perusal of this April num-
ber, that there is much in it that is valuable ; more,
probably, than he may have thought when he first
hurriedly glanced over it, or perused it without
any such taking note of the noteworthy passages.
Such was the impression, at least, made on one
reader when he took up this number to look again
at some statement he had found there, and turned
leaf after leaf to find it. The unexpected frequen-
cy of pencilled passages surprised him very much.
It seemed as if he had not found so much of val-
ue in it, when he had read it.
As there are so many passages quite noteworthy
and of practical value, in this month's issue of the
New Englaivi Farmer, it has occurred to me that
it might be more likely to do good, to take the
briefest notice possible, of several of the passages
I find pencil-marked, than to confine my comments
to any single article, as it has been customary with
me CO do.
First, then, among the pencilled passages, I find
the extracts made by the Editor, in his leading
article, from a letter by Mr. Oliver P. Mead, cov-
ered all over with pencil marks ! These utteran-
ces or outpourings of a soul that loves beauty,
and to whose eye a farm-house embellished with
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
187
trees and flowers is an object of exquisite pleas-
ure, are so full of inspii-ation, so vitalized by the
fervent enthusiasm of the writer of them, that cold
or coarse indeed must be the taste and feelings of
any reader who did not catch from these beautiful
outpourings some portion of the fine spirit and
fine taste which dictated them. They must have
yielded, to many hundreds of the readers of this
journal, enjoyment of the most refined and exquis-
ite nature : and if any reader should have failed
to receive from them an impulse toward making
his or her home a liith more a home of beauty this
spring, and every spring, than it ever was before,
or failed to make a resolution to that effect strong
enough to set him or her to work in making one
or more additions to the embellishments of home
and its surroundings, then, surely, such a reader
has not read it in an appropriate or an appreciate-
ive mood of mind, and might be more fortunate
in catching from them inspiration and impulse if
he or she should give them another perusal. Sure-
ly, these outpourings of a soul so inspired by a re-
fined taste and exquisite love of the beautiful in
nature, cannot fail to lead some of the readers
thereof to make their homes still more beautiful
than ever they have been before, by neater door-
yards, or more flowers, or the planting of one or
more ornamental shrubs or trees. If a few evei*-
greens should be interspersed with the deciduous
trees around a farm-house, it would have a much
more cozy and comfortable appearance, especially
in winter. I make this suggestion for those who
may have been inspired by the words of Mr. Mead,
and who are resolved to add something every sea-
son to the embellishments of their home. The
passages referred to, may be found on pages 105
and 106.
I find several passages of the article on "The
Clover riant,'' marked in the way already named.
In the paragraph devoted to a statement of the
soils most favorable to clover, I find on the mar-
gin an interrogation point, indicating doubt as to
the correctness of the assertion that the growth of
8orrel and dock shows that the soils infested with
these weeds are overcharged with acid. I know
that this is a supposition pretty generally accept-
ed ; but can the writer of the article under notice,
or any other believer of this theory, give us any
satisfactory proof or demonstration of it? The
two paragraphs devoted to a consideration of the
principal causes which prevent a good "catch," or
which destroys the young plants, are very valua-
ble, and if duly considered and acted on, might
prevent much loss and disappointment.
There are several marked or noteworthy pas-
sages on page 111, in which we have a report of a
discussion on the subject, "Hotc to Make and Ap-
plif Manures." The testimony in favor of ashes
will probably induce several readers to make a
more liberal use of them, — greatly to the benefit
of their corn and grass crops. Farmers would be
wise and benefited if they heeded the cautions given
by some of the speakers as to commercial manures,
which have so often been jiroved to be fraudulent
and adulterated impositions, and seldom, even
when tolerably genuine, worth the price at which
they are sold. I find three prominent exclamation
points, indicating great surprise, opposite to the
statement that "sand is a better absorbing materi-
al than muck," and that sand is equallj' as valua-
ble as muck.
The article entitled "Hints on Building Barns"
must be one well worthy of attention, and of more
than one perusal probably, as I find a good many
pencil marks on its margin.
"27ie Care of Bouts" is a marked and probably
valuable article. On page 1 23, under the heading
"Maine Dairies" there is a hint as to the pecuni-
ary saving which might be made by a better
knowledge and practice of the art of cheese-mak-
ing. Cheese is now high and in great demand, both
at home and abroad, and enterprising farmers
would find the making of good cheese, worth now
in New York 14 to 16 cents per pound, one of the
most profitable directions in which they could ex-
ercise their enterprise.
There must be many valuable facts and hints in
the reports of Legislative Agricultural Meetings,
on page 123-125, as I find that the pencil has been
pretty freely and frequently used on the margins
of these pages. More Anon.
For the Neto Enaland Farmer.
HO^W SHALL I BUILD MTT BAKN"?
Friend Brown : — I have subscribed to your
Monthly Farmer for four years, and during that
time have obtained much valuable information
from its pages. Whenever I have been in doubt
as to the best way of doing anything I had in
hand. I have drawn on the Monthly Farmer for
information, and my draflft have always been hon-
ored at sight by the editor, or some of his numer-
ous correspondents. While tendering my acknowl-
edgments for past favors, I beg leave to apply
once more to my fountain of knowledge.
On my farm are two old barns, which must be
replaced by one new one before next winter. The
farm is situated on the southern slope of a hill,
contains fifty aci'es, and cuts about twenty tons of
hay. The barn must be large enough to accom-
date two horses, eight head of cattle, and the jpay
and grain crop of the farm.
Will not one of your numerous and kind cor-
respondents be good enough to give me the di-
mensions of the barn I shall need, the best plan
to build it, on, and any other information as to lo-
cation, interior arrangements, &c., he may deem
useful to me? always remembering that, as I am a
poor man, and dead set against mortgages, I shall
have to study economy in my estimates.
Scituate, April 20, 1863. ' A Subscriber.
Late Pears. — We have received some seed-
ling pears of our old friend and correspondent,
Dr. S. A. Shurtleff, of Brookline. They are
now perfectly fair and sound, of medium size, and
have a pleasant flavor. They came from a seed-
ling tree grown on his grounds. We think it will
prove a valuable coolving pear, or it may be a good
dessert h-\x\t, a month or two later! The Doctor
will please accept our thanks for his attention.
Great Horticultural Show. — The last hor-
ticultural show in Namur was the most remarka-
ble ever seen in Belgium. More than 30,000
sjjecimens of fruit were exhibited, composing
8000 varieties. It required 9000 plates to hold
it. The Belgium gardeners produced the finest
apples, and the French the finest grapes.
188
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JtJNB
THE KASPBEKRY — Bubus Idaeus.
This, like the gooseberry, is au indigeuous pro-
duction, and common in most parts of the State.
It is a robust and healthy plant, and when prop-
erly cultivated, a prolific and steady bearer. The
plants may be set either in spring or autumn —
though we prefer the spring — and should be well
manured with old compost, formed of animal ex-
crement, well decomposed forest leaves, and wood
ashes or slaked lime. A slight quantity of gj-p-
sum will be found beneficial. The soil apparently
best adapted to this fruit, is a light, and rather
warm loam, approaching to sand, with a free and
pervious subsoil. In setting, it is a good plan not
to crowd the plants. Three feet between the
rows, and the hills three feet apart, is near enough ;
or if in drills, the plants should not stand nearer
than eighteen inches of each other.
The soil requires considerable attention — that
is, as much as com when it is weU-tended — and
should be carefully and frequently worked, to keep
down the weeds, and retain the surface in a Ught,
moist, and permeable condition, particvdarly while
the plants are taking root.
If too great a development of top should be the
consequence of this treatment, the pruning knife
should be applied, and the superabundant shoots
topped off. This will throw the reproductive force
of the system into their stems and larger branches,
and secure greater strength, which, in time, will
admit a more full development of their upper
parts.
Unfermented manure, is never so good as that
which has been decomposed or composted, but if
none but unfermented is at hand, let it be made
as fine as possible, and when it is applied, mingled
intimately with the soiL
Among aU the smaU fruits, perhaps there is
none more easily produced than the raspberry.
There is really no difficulty in its cultivation. It
requires no more skill than to produce so many
hills of com, and the family of every farmer
ought to be bountifully supplied with it through-
out its season. A saucer of this fmit at breakfast
will be more palatable to those who are not en-
gaged in severe and exhausting labor, than meat,
and will be sufficiently nutritious. Indeed, in
warm weather, we believe our whole population
would be more healthy, and capable of enduring
more hard labor, if a considerable portion of their
diet was made up of the fresh and delicious fruits
with which our gardens might abound, instead of
the stimulating meats which are so common upon
our tables.
In the spring, as soon as the snow has left the
gfround, the dead canes in the hills should be taken
out, together with any of the living ones beyond
three or four of the best, which should be left and
tied to a suke or trellis-work. This prevents
them from falling over when in full foliage, and
admits the sun, light and air among theii- branches,
and enables them to produce large and perfect
fruii.
A PIiAJfT THAT GBOWS WELL LN THE
SHADE.
The Jerusalem Artichoke, (HdiantTms Tuhero-
siis,) is a plant which rather prefers the shade, and
has been known to flourish well, and produce an
abundant crop in situations where it has not re-
ceived a single direct ray of solar light for the
whole season. It is not an exhausting crop, but,
on the contrary, will bear abundantly for ten years
or more in succession, without manure, and where
the soil is rather light snd sterile. After it has
once become fairly radicated in the soil, no further
trouble is requisite, as the roots propagate them-
selves, and as there will generally be enough tu-
bers remaining in the soil after harvest to render
fresh setting, the subsequent spring unnecessary.
The Helianthus Tuherosus also possesses the
property of absorbing nitrogen copiously from the
atmosphere. To this circumstance we attribute
the fact of its flourishing so luxuriantly in the
shade, and without the benefit of manure. On
the banks of the Rhine, this plant is extensively
cultivated. It is planted in drills, in the same
manner as the potato is with us, and the produce
is used for food both for man and beast.
The Weather. — We have had a succession ol
cold and stormy days up to the 8th of May.
Wind north, north-east and east. The blossom
buds that had begun to expand, shrunk back from
the chilling winds and found protection in their
cerements, which closed closely around them.
The grass crop and trees, however, are looking
finely, caring nothing for east winds, only to drink
up the vapors which they bring.
The season is a little backward. Oats and oth-
er grains that are usually got in by the first of
May, are not yet sown in many cases.
Pear trees are promising a profuse blossom, and
so are many of the apple trees.
Sore Mouth ix Sheep.— In answer to an in-
quiry in a late number, respecting the sore mouth
in sheep, as far as I can learn, it is what I call
canker in the mouth. What is the cause I cannot
say, but should not think buckwheat straw could
be the cause of it, although I should prefer not
using such for litter. I had a few cases of canker
in the mouth in the fall of 1862 — got it by taking
ewes into the ram. My remedy is to get a little
alum and dissolve it in pure spring water, and
with a sponge, or a small portion of cloth, dress
the parts aft'ected twice a day, and I soon found it
to effect a cure.
I believe it is a little contagious, but at the
same time do not think it a dangerous disease.
It annoys the sheep verj- much if not stopped in
time.— Jos. Kirby, Norvcd, C. W., in Country
Gentleman.
1861L
NZW EXGLANT) FAB3IER.
OHITTJJEX .SCffii/KH
"We hare he:--
tise death of thr
SCHOOLS rs THZ T-*aT CSSTUHT —
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jart I vise mfom hamg m like kat eemamj.
M the dne ei tke leMlrtnaj to, de
of ifaort dKadoB; the fint "iili i* I"
vas a vczj lespectaUe, worAf ■iB.agiigBd fier
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rfyre vas a wadea da^ b <
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190
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
JOTE
had no district school house. There had been no
summer school kept by a female for several years,
excepting one in the centre of the town, to -which
my little brothers and sisters went daily, three
and a half miles, to learn to read and spell. In
the spring of this year the district ventured to
commence the building of a school house, and pro-
gressed so far as to cover it and lay a single, rough
floor ! A female teacher was engaged at, I believe,
about a dollar a week, and "board herself." Some
thought it too much to pay a girl for so eas)- a
task ! however, we children went to school and
abided the most terrific thunder showers, in our
shell of a school house without a chimney. When
the winter of 17S8 came about, our school house
was finished in a cheap way ; the floor was single,
which afforded a bountiful ventilation when it was
shrunk : the writing table was a cross-legged,
wide bench, for the boys one side, and the girls
the other : and the school commenced and ended
in about the same manner as their predecessors
had done. Be it remembered up to this time the
Assembh-'s Catechism was one of the most import-
ant school books, winter and summer, used in the
schools.
From this time to the year of 1792, little pro-
gress or variation was made in our schools, except
the introduction of Perry's spelling book — an ex-
cellent work. In the year 1792, our countrj- be-
gan to feel the effects of a stable government, and
the French revolution ; money began to circulate
and people to wake up. That year new books
were introduced : Webster's 1st, 2d and 3d parts,
with several other useful books, and more com-
petent teachers were employed, at some better
pay.
Young ladies, preparing themselves for teach-
ers, began to study grammar, (there were no fe-
male academies at that time in this region.) The
young lady teachers in those days had better health
— if less learning — than at the present time ; they
woiild walk a mUe, more or less, to their schools,
and spend six or eight hours and back again,
where the spinning wheel was in readiness for
them. I remember some of them welL They
were not disfigured by broken backs and broken
constitutions, for the want of exercise, and they
governed their schools accordingly ; they used a
sapling resembling a boy's fi.sh pole, which would
reach the remote scholars with a little effort, and
wo to the young culprit's cranium who was seen
to play, or guilty of idleness. This dreaded weap-
on was useful for other purposes than chastise-
ment, as, if silence or attention were required, a
sudden stroke upon the floor would produce the
immediate effect.
As late as the year 1797 there were no acade-
mies in this vicinity, except the Phillips Academy,
at Andover, and another by the same name, at
Exeter, N. H. I was pupil at the Andover Acad-
emy in the year 1797, and what will surprise peo-
ple at the present time, there were but forty or
fifty pupils in the school, notwithstanding acade-
mies were so scarce ; three of them were from Vir-
ginia, viz., Augustine and Bushrod Washington,
nephewH of the General, and Francis Lightfoot
Lee, and the others from the towns in the vicinity.
What I have written in regard to our district
school will apply to many other schools in New
England at that period. Silas BBOwy.
North WUmington, Feb., 1863.
FENCES
FcT the yezr England Fanner.
•PA-Rivr HINTS.
-AGBICULTURE I>' SCHOOLS COMilOX
SENSE.
Too much lumber is used in building fences.
A fence two boards high, one and a half foot from
the ground, space between boards eight inches,
boards five inches in width, is a plenty for any
cattle that ought to be allowed to graze ; less like-
ly to be blown down than higher, and a more com-
pact fence.
'•Agriculture in Common Schools," is the head-
ing of an article in a late number of your paper.
I have read it, and others on the same subject-
My opinion is, that there are branches enough
taught in the common schools. The best farmers
whom I find along the road, are the practical ones,
taught in the field, and make use of the common
sense that God has seen fit to give them, read the
Xew England Fannei', and raise a large porker in-
stead of a dog ! Botany, I consider indispensa-
ble to the farmer, and a stable mind, which leads
it not into every suggestion of those of us who
rather dictate than work.
"Cornstalks for Fodder," heads an editorial.
If I had a cow that I wished to dry up, I would
give her a plenty of the best cured corustalks, and
I would give them to other stock which I did not
wish to have nutritious food. Down this way we
are not apt to give that attention to the feed of
milch cows that we ought. Ever} cow, instead of
decreasing her usual flow of miik, ought to in-
crease it on coming to the bam. Such would be
the case, if the feed of the cows consisted of sec-
ond crop, with the addition of cabbage and turnip
leaves.
"Those sheep look first rate," says the stock
buyer to the farmer — a most unusual sapng —
but it would be more frequent, if we chose good
buUt ones, and favored them with the sight of
good hay, roots and grain. That bone which the
neighbor's cur has finished gnawing the meat
from, if planted with the potato, will save putting
in a shovelful of manure. S. P. M.
I Cape Elizabeth, 1863.
For the Seic England Parmer.
I A COKK" BAEN".
I Mr. Editor : — In your paper of April 2oth,
Mr. "J. W. Nye" inquires how to build a com
^ bam. I regard a good, convenient com bam of
great importance to a farmer, especially if it an-
j swers the purpose it is made for. There is some
, satisfaction in knowing that we have one place
I free from rats and mice, although many that have
j com bams never experience such a sensation !
I Then, again, it is very agreeable to have sweet,
i wholesome bread.
I In 18.59, 1 built acorn bam which has answered
I a very good purpose, and if any one can gather
' any useful hints from a description, they are wel-
come. It is 16 by 20 ft., 10 ft. posts ; the corner
; ones run down and rest on granite blocks. The
I crib, or bin, is on the south and east sides, formed
: by putting on slats thi-ee inches wide and one inch
\ apart, with another set of slats the same width
' and distance apart, fastened together with cleats.
\ The outside slats slip Kke a shde door over the
open spaces, when desired. On the north side,
there are two bins for oats and wheat, that bold
nearly 100 bushels each ; these are made very
1H63.
XEW EN'GLAXD F.\RMER.
191
cheaply by nailmg boards to tlie floor timben
above; tbe bottom of the bicaboaUbednee fe^
above the lower flow, ao that a coaaaann oaeal bag
may be hxiated on, auDer faahion, and filed by
opening a dide far that porpoae. To keep the
mke oat, I naikd tin <m the poata, and «ae alepa
that sring dovn vhen not m nae.
Let me eBoaaetate aooie of the adiaatagea of
the above bafldii^ By layii^ down a large, flat
stone, with a aaiaU granite block for the aid of
the poet to reat on, tbe post is kept dry ; the eor-
nar poets nmnii^ don it vill alvaya stead plumb ;
the extra data allov a vida apace tor air, and
BMke it tight in the winter. Tbe fains are dieap-
er, more eoovenient, and take np leas rooaa tftaa
any others ; the only otgeetioa is caxxying giain
up stairs, whicli ia OTobalaneed t^ the entve-
nienee of taking out, — and last, but not least, it
keeps the rats and nuee oat. A. x. F.
Calais, FL, JprB ^ 1863.
RE3CA2KS. — ^Very little has been said in the ag-
lieoltnial papers on the sol^eet of Com Bama.
The deacz^tian above varies, caosidexahty, from
that given by our Boddi^haa euMe^wmdent.
We are iappy to lay it before the leadexa of die
Tanma:
•y^ASH FOB BABSS.
Tnere n bd fhpap sabstitnte ior oO f"«*- AH ,
die £SErenit kinds of wiatewading are ineapaUe :
of dmttii^ oat miwMnre. The aides of bnildings
especuSy exposed to rains, will lose aportioB of
any kind of wash by the combined action of froaS ,
and moistare. Oil paint obviates thoa diSealty.
There are many difierent kinds of wadi xeeoaa- '
■endrd ; bat whh a da^ exeeption we have ;
never fiiand anytfaang betto' dmt a anxtnxe of
good fime with water. This exception w« have .
made a thoroogh trial widi. Aroaghbam, whidi
received a ^^^t'—g four yean s@o^ now rrtaiiw
most of it, ahhoi^ a eoosiderable purtiua is
acakd off on the most exposed sde. Tlnswashi
is made aabetanttaUy as foBows : One pedk of |^
fiae beadi sand, three pecb of water fime, and
foor qnarts of salt. These proportiotts mc^ht wy
«id)oat detriment — there shonld be as ma^ sand
as can be eonvcniendy a^iGed with a brush. A f
£um laborer applied this mixtnre eaiiy last si^'
mer to two rough bams, one about 30 by 53 feet,
tibe otha 20 by 90, in three and a half davs, con-
anmiiig two fanwhcli of water fime, whicfa was '
nearly the whole cost of material Tins mating, >
now nearly one yearns standing, amiears to be as |
good as the day it was put on. It wiQ be per- '
ceived that the CApenae is only about ooe-tentb '
tbe cc«t of a coat of paint. — Comtrj G^ariiemoM.
Sr33ciRixE Telegraph Cabues. — ^Tbe firm of'
Glass. Elliott ^ C<x, London, has kid aanee 1853
no less xhjXi 3i> subaaarine td^raph cables, vary- ,
insr in lei^th from tikiee to 1533 milea each.
Eight of dm aamlifi were more Aan 100 wks
mlength. The kmgestwas thatpatdowa from
Maha to Akscandria. It has been ia operation
one vcar. Tbe aggi^ate ndkage of diese cables
is39S9 maes,and on the 20th of October last,
with die exception of one that had been taken
a^ they were all in pedeet aad aneeesafal wotk-
ing order. The loMHt is aaaily as long as tibe
FzzDDfG Hoc-5. — A correspandest of die Boa-
Xao. Otl&atar, who inssts that the fiood for hogs
should always be cooked, and, in cold weather, fed
to diem warm, and in a warm place, gives defol-
louii^ stall M"!* of kas aaaaner of pRpaaaagtihe
d«3y food, and die cost dcreoC for km swine ; kas
boaneaa being ctiefly to raiae p^ andahoCcsfor
aale:
Take ax pounds of beef aciaps, tf a cost of Hue
cents, bofl in two paOs of water, aedd in tvo
faaita of con eob aacal at a coat of thnei
add dx paib of water, and yon have good
enoi^ to feed six store hogs and e^jht smaB
sbotes once, tf an i nw^aar of twenty-fonr centk
Tkis done twice ea^ day ia iwBiimt to keep
laeedi!^ sows or ainre p^ in good canAian.
^the exact qaaatity I am fee£ag to ds
of hogs ff«— AipJ- I jJbaghM lud too
fet hogs kst fefl, fed ia dm way nadl ^e tiam to
fetten them anrred, after wkaeh they had their
nanal feed dackened to a doa^ wi& eora and eah
meal only, and at the age of aiileen milhi the
two weired over 1000 poanda
H^tvoKiKnoiS OF THE Sexis. — The great
exceaa of aaales in new temnxms uinatratea the
the aexes. The Mks of Cbfiferaaa aatmamber
the feaaales near sixty -mien thonand, or ahont
one-fifth of the popuhtinn. In EEnoss tihe ex-
cess of mdes aaaonnts to about aiaety-two thou
sand, or oi tailih of Ae entne popnlataanb h
soaae tkmty-arven thoaraad aix hundred. Coa-
oecticnt, aeven thnaawwL Hiekigna shows near
forty thonaand exeesa of amfea; Texas, aarty-atx
Tbffwfand ; Wncomma, fiarty-^Re thousand. In
Colorado the malea are as 'twenty to f
la Utah ^e a— abas are neaiiy cifBal :
in Xew Yak there is a aaaall arenandenmee of
the fcmaka. the mak
19:
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
iwwi
THE BUCKEYE MO"WER AIsTD REAITER.
It becomes the farmer more than ever this year
to avail himself of every sort of labor-saving im-
plement that can be economically used. In con-
sequence of the withdrawal of so many laborers to
the army, there is a scarcity of help, and wages
are unusually high. There is no lack of bread-
stuffs or of beef and other meats, but it is certain-
ly prudent — while the nation is involved in war —
to raise at least as much of all the staple articles
of the farm as we ever have in any former year.
Demand must continue to be great, while the
means of producing are greatly abridged. Let us,
then, call in to our aid whatever will relieve us of
human toil, and, at the same time, enable us to fill
our bams and gi-anaries with their accustomed sup-
plies. We shall yet have to feed, not onbj our loy-
al people, hut those who hate us and despitefuUy use
us, — men and women who are striving to crush
the best government that ever blessed mankind !
Among the prominent means of enabling us to
produce our usual amount of crops, is the Mower
and Reaper. Its use will so facilitate the secur-
ing of the hay and grain crops as to leave ample
time for tending the Indian corn, the fruit and the
root crops, and to bestow all that careful attention
upon our animals which they require, in order to
make a rapid and profitable growth.
There are now before the public several kinds
of these machines, — some seven or eight of which
we have used in our own fields, and have given
them as fair a trial as we were able to. Mr. Hus-
SEY, of Baltimore, the inventor of the knife and its
peculiar motion, continued to construct new ma-
chines while he lived, and brought one to us an-
nually from his work-shops to test its value. Only
' I'li^
twenty-four hours before his death, we were en-
gaged with him in testing the last machine of his
construction. Very great improvements have been
made within the last two years, until we have now,
in the Buckeye, a machine that is satisfactory to
those who have given it a fair trial, and who do
not expect a machine to perform all the labor of
the farm.
The beautiful cut of the Buckeye Mower, which
we here introduce, illustrates its power while mow-
ing the grass on the side of a bank, as will be seen
by the position of the scythe, and while the nigh
wheel is at the same moment passing over a rock !
The Double-Hinged or flexible bar accommodates
itself to the surface of the ground, and the ma-
chine passes along without any straining of its
parts, even though one or both of the wheel^are
passing over obstructions at the same time ! There
is no other mower, in our knowledge, that will
perform such a service as this.
There are three sizes of the Buckeye — 1, 2 and
3. No. 1 is the largest, No. 2 is called the "Ju-
nior," and No. 3, the One-Horse Machine. We
have rarely heard of the breaking of one of these
machines, and we believe that in compactness,
lightness of draft, excellence, and even elegance of
workmanship and finish — combined with strength
and adaptation to all kinds of work, — it surpasses
any mowing machine that has come to our knowl-
edge. Some have thought the Buckeye a little
heavier than is necessary, but experiments have
proved their weight to be the least which will com-
bine strength and durability with lightness.
The engraving which we give above is spu'ited
and truthful, and suggests nothing that the ma-
chine is not abundantly able to perform.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
193
We have not tested all the mowers in the mar- 1
ket, and are, therefore, not able to say which is
absolutely the best machine ; but we feel perfectly
free to ad\'ise any farmer wishing to employ a '
machine, to purchase the Buckeye, and are quite !
sure that he will find his money profitably invest
ed. See advertisement in weekly Farmer.
Fur the Sere England Farmer.
USE OP THE BAKOMETER.
The usefulness of the barometer can never be
doubted by the mariner, and there is no doubt of
its having been the means of saving both lives and
property in many instances ; but that it is an in- ]
fallible foreteller of the weather, or even an indi- ■
cator by which an unpracticed person can judge \
of the probability of storm or sunshine, is by no ;
means the case. Yet, as a navigator, I would never |
go without one. As a farmer, I should look to !
one more as the means of a scientific amusement,
than for any practical benefit. The usefulness of
either kind, mercurial, Aneroid, or others, is much j
the same, and must be studied for a considerable I
while before being able to form any judgment of
the weather from its indications ; thus, with the '
wind at X. W., and fine weather preceding a X. !
E. wind and storm, the barometer will usually rise :
till it begins to rain, and often for some time af- 1
ter.
I remember once, in ende^oring to make New
York harbor with a north wind and fine day, ba-
rometer high, it hauled to N. E. and came on a '
violent storm so much so we wei'e glad to haul off \
shore under close reefs, yet the barometer contin- \
ued to rise till the highest of the storm, and con- I
tinned so till the storm was over ; but I considered ;
that a very unusual circumstance. Another illus- j
tration may show how much good reason I have i
for valuing its warnings. It was in the Indian ,
Ocean, on a voyage to Australia, in a fine barque, !
with nine cabin passengers, of which two were la- j
dies. And here let me remark that as the barom- |
eter usually falls for a southerly wind, and rises {
with a northerly wind in north latitude, the re- [
verse is the case when we cross the line to south [
latitude, there the barometer rising with the south
and falling with the north wind. The barometer
had been falling for several days with an increas- 1
ing northerly wind and storm, while we were forced
to gradually shorten sail till we had come down to i
a close reefed fore topsail, under which we scud, 1
while, as the novelists describe it, "the sea ran '
mountains high." The wind came in fitiful gusts '
with rain, and in squalls blew most fearfully. The ;
barometer had now fallen to a point much lower ;
than I had ever witnessed, and where it only
reaches during the most severe gales or hurricanes. ,
Toward noon it began to moderate, the clouds
broke, and by twelve, our dinner hour, it was near-
ly calm, while the sun shone from a cloudless but
rather a hazy sky. I was on the point of making
sail several times, but as the barometer showed |
no signs of rising I waited ; while our barque !
rolled and tossed about on the hea^•y sea that had i
risen, in a way that made it rather difficult to keep
ones feet.
On going down to dinner, though there was
every appearance that the storm was over, I ob-
served the barometer had fallen still lower, and
then I felt sure that it meant something serious.
Swallowing a mouthful, I left the passengers to
finish their dinners while I went on deck and or-
dered extra gaskets, or fastenings, on all the sails,
braces hauled well taut, and everything made as
secure as possible. The sky was yet clear, and but
a hght air from the west, to which point it had
gradually veered, scarce sufficient to fill out our
close reefed fore topsail ; but twenty momenta
scarce elapsed after my coming on deck, and while
we were yet busy making all secure, when a dense
fog-like bank arose from the west, coming more
and more rapidly, until in a few minutes it reached
us, and in five minutes it was blowing a perfect
hurricane. What had seemed like fog on its first
appearance, proved to be the spray which the wind
caught from the crest of the seas as it swept along
in its resistless fury. Our staunch vessel, for she
was new and strong, trembled hke an overbur-
dened steed, sometimes seeming almost drowned
(if I maj' so call it.) with the seas which rolled in
on both sides, for we were now running in the
trough of the sea, then again rising to the top and
darting along like a startled deer.
The decks were continually filled with water,
and we were obliged to cut away some of the bul-
warks to let it off. Everything movable on deck
was washed overboard. The harness cask, two-
thirds full of beef and pork, broke from its lash-
ings and floated out over the rail. One man was
taken off his feet and washed about decks and
finally left on his back on the iron railing round
the poop, from which he fortunately canted in-
board.
I was obliged to take the helm myself, as the
glass over the compass was so continually covered
by salt spray as to be invisible. The windows of
the cabin were all closed with shutters. One pas-
senger, a young man who had faced many a storm
at sea before, came on deck and sat on the sky-
light before me, but I urged him to go below, for
fear he might be washed overboard. For four
hours I stood at the helm, daring to trust no one
else ; during which time the air was so filled with
spray that it was almost as d:irk as night ; then the
sea became more regular, but rolled up in huge
waves over our stern threatening to come down on
us and sweep everything before it ; but fortunate-
ly our good vessel rose safely above them all. At
5 P. M., the gale moderated slightly, and I ven-
tured to go below to see how my passengers fared.
I found some in tears, some with their Bible, and
some had been praying. They were much relieved
when I told them the worst was over, and I could
see they breathed freer. Each one was anxious
to prove that they were less frightened than the
others, and while one averred that another had
been crying, this one accused the other of tremb-
ling so as to shake him off the chest on which they
were both sitting ; but all agreed that it was pleas-
ant to see a piece of blue sky once more, though
it continued to blow a heavy gale for three days
afterwards.
Then I felt, the barometer, by warning me not
to make sail, had been the means of saving my
sails and spars, possibly our lives. While in Mel-
bourne several vessels came in, more or less dam-
aged in this same gale, some having lost spars and
sails, and one with decks swept entirely, bulwarks
and sails all gone.
The service of a barometer, on such an occasion.
194
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
repays the many needless alarms which it has
sometimes occasioned. But 1 have already spun
my yarn too long, and will say to those who are
about purchasing one, and not acquainted with its
use, that they should always procure the direc-
tions for using them, and that the words on the
face are no guide for them to go by.
Yours truly, Jack Crosstrees.
For the New England Farmer.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR
MARCH, 1803.
These observations are taken for, and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of March was 24°;
average midday temperature, 32°. The corres-
ponding figures for March, 1862, were 32° and
39°. Warmest day the 25th, averaging 42°; cold-
est day the 13th, averaging 3° below zero. High-
est temperature 48°: lowest do., 18 below zero.
Average height of mercury in the barometer,
29.32 inches ; do. for March, 1862, 29.10 inches.
Highest daily average, 29.79 inches on the 20th ;
lowest do., 28.92 inches, on the 29th. Range of
mercury from 28.80 inches to 29.90 inches. One
severe rain storm. Snow fell on fourteen days.
Amount of rain and melted snow 4.72 inches ; do.,
of snow, 38.75 inches. Corresponding figures for
March, 1862, 4.82 inches and 18 inches. There
were two entirely clear days — four days were en-
tirely overcast.
The severe cold spell during this month will be
remembered ; the average temperature of this
month being three degrees lower than that of Jan-
uary last ; though the midday temperatures aver-
aged the same, showing much greater coldness of
the nights. The comparison between the baro-
metrical and thermometrical averages of this
month and of March, 1862, will be noted with in-
terest. A. c.
Claremont, N. H.
A NEW TREE PROTECTOR.
Messrs. Record & Blake, of Turner, Me.,
have left with us a new device for preventing the
passage of canker worms up their trunks. It
consists of a copper wire sheath, which is to sur-
round the tree, and may be readily adjusted so as
to fit a tree of any ordinary size. The lower part
of this sheath is pressed into the ground during
the season when the borer is depositing its eggs.
Over this sheath is another, in the form of an
inverted tunnel, which may also be adjusted so as
to fit trees of varying size. This, too, is made of
wire gauge, but may be of cheaper material, such
as tarred paper, or cloth saturated with oil or
some sticky substance. Each sheath has an elas-
tic strap by which the whole is snugly and safely
held in place.
This contrivance seems to us the most perfect
one we have yet seen to keep the canker worm
from trees. We understand that the cost will not
be so high as to exclude its general use.
He that blows the coals in quarrels he has noth-
ing to do with, has no right to complain if a spark
fly in his face.
SPRING.
Delicious spring ! God sends thee down
To breathe upon his cold and perished works
Beauteous revival ; earth should welcome thee.
Thee and the west wind, thy smooth paramour.
With the soft laughter of her flowery meads,
Her joys, her melodies. The prancing stag
Flutters the shivering fern ; the steed shakes out
His mane, the dewy herbage silver-webb'd
With frank step trampling ; the wild goat looks down
From his empurpling bed of heath, where break
The waters deep and blue with crystal gleams
Of their quick-leaping people ; the fresh lark
Is in the morning sky ; the nightingale
Tunes even song to the dropping waterfall.
Creation lives with loveliness, all melts
And trembles into one mild harmony. Milmah.
MINING UNDER THE SEA.
Mining can hardly be a pleasant occupation.
The absence of sun and all natural light, the drip-
ping sides of the shaft, the danger of explosion
from the fire-damp, of jutting rocks and numer-
ous other perils, invest it with vague terrors to
active imaginations. But when the shafts run un-
der the sea, and the swell of the ocean is distinctly
audible, it must suggest many fears to the diligent
miners. The following graphic description is tak-
en from an English paper :
We are now four hundred yards out under the
bottom of the sea, and twenty feet below the sea
level. Coast-trade vessels are sailing over our
heads. Two hundred and forty feet below us men
are at work, and there are galleries yet below that.
The extraordinary position down the face of the
clifi", of the engines and other works on the sur-
face, at Bottullie, is now explained. The mine is
not excavated like other mines under the earth,
but under the sea. Having communicated these
particulars the miner tells us to keep silence and
listen. We obey him, sitting speechless and mo-
tionless. If the reader could only have beheld
us now, dressed in our copper colored garments,
huddled close together in a mere cleft of subter-
ranean rock, with a flame burning on our heads,
and darkness enveloping our limbs, he must cer-
tainly have imagined, without any violent stretch
of fancy, that he was looking down upon a con-
clave of gnomes.
After listening a few minutes, a distant and un-
earthly sound becomes faintly audible — a long,
low, mysterious moaning that never changes, that
is full on the ear as well as heard by it, a sound
that might proceed from incalculable distance —
from some far invisible height — a sound unlike
anything that is heard on the upper ground, in the
free air of heaven — a sound so sublimely mourn-
ful and still, so ghostly and impressive when lis-
tened to in the subterranean recesses of the earth,
that we continue instinctively to hold our peace
as if enchanted by it, and think not of communi-
cating to each other the strange awe and astonish-
ment which it has inspired in us from the very
first.
At last the miner speaks again, and tells us that
what we hear is the sound of the surf lashing the
rocks a hundred and twenty feet above us and of
the waves that are breaking on the beach beyond.
The tide is now at the flow, and the sea is in no
extraordinary state of agitation, so the sound is
low and distant just at this period. But when
storms are at their height, when the ocean hurls
mountain after mountain of water on the clifi"s,
then the noise is terrific ; the roaring heard down
here in the mine is so inexpressibly fierce and aw-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
1&5
ful that the boldest men at work are afraid to con-
tinue their labor ; all ascend to the surface to
breathe the uj)per air, and stand on firm earth,
dreading — though no catasti'ophe has ever hap-
pened yet — that the sea will break in upon them
if they remain in the cavern below.
Hearing this, we get up to look at the rock
above us. We are able to stand upright in the
position we now occupy ; and flaring our candles
hither and thither in the darkness, can see the
bright, pure copper streaming through the gallery
in every direction. Lumps of ooze, of the most
lustrous green color, traversed by a natural net
work of thin, red veins of iron, appear here and
there in large irregular patches, over which water
is dripping slowly and incessantly in certain places.
This is the salt water percolating through invisi-
ble crannies in the rock. On stormy days it spurts
out furiously in thin continuous streams. Just
over our heads we observed a wooden plug, of the
hickness of a man's kg ; there is a hole there, and
hat plug is all we have to keep out the sea.
Immense wealth of metal is contained in the
roofs of this gallery throughout its entire length,
but it will always remain untouched ; the miners
dare not take it, for it is a part (and a great part)
of the rock which is their only protection against
the sea, and which has been so far worked away
here that its thickness is limited to an average of
three feet only between the water and the gallery
in which we now stand. No one knows what
might be the consequence of another day's labor
with the pickaxe on any part of it.
VISITING SCHOOLS
We know a man who, last summer, hired four
colts pastured on a farm some five miles distant.
At least once in two weeks he got into a wagon,
and drove over to see how his juvenile horses
fared. He made minute inquiries of the keeper
as their health, their daily watering, etc.; he him-
self examined the condition of the pasture ; and
when the dry season came on, he made special ar-
rangements to have a daily allowance of meal, and
he was careful to know that this was regularly
supplied.
This man had four children attending a district
school kept in a small building erected at the
cross-roads. Around this building on three sides
is a space of land six feet wide ; the fourth side is
on a line with the street. There is not an out-
house or shade-tree in sight of the building. Of
the interior of the school-house we need not
speak. The single room is like toijl'many others,
with all its apparatus arranged upon the most ap-
proved i)lan for producing curved spines, com-
pressed lungs, ill health, etc.
We wish to state one fact only. This owner of
those colts, and the father of those children, has
never been into that school-house to inquire after
the comfort, health or mental food daily dealt out
to his offspring. The latter part of the summer
we chanced to ask, "Who teaches your school?"
His reply was that "he did not know ; he believed
her name was Parker, but he had no time to look
after school matters! — American Agriculturist.
^"The Chicago Journal says that the farmers
of Southern and Central Illinois are going into the
cotton raising business in earnest. Six car loads
of seed were sent from Cairo last week, to different
points on the Illinois Central.
LEACHED ASHES.
Wood ashes always contain a considerable
amount of carbonate of potash, lime, &c., and are
consequently very beneficial to such plants as re-
quire large quantities of these alkalies, such as In-
dian corn, turnips, beets and potatoes. Leached
ashes have lost much of the principal alkaline
salts, and have been deprived of the greatest part
of their most important soluble ingredients ; still
they must not be regarded as an unimportant fer-
tilizer, and other matter which they contain is al-
ways more or less beneficial to the soil. Uidess
the land is well worked and contains sufficient or-
ganic matter, we should not consider ashes, wheth-
er leached or unleached, as alone adequate to the
production of a good crop of wheat, turnips or
corn.
There is something about old leached ashes that
we do not understand, though we have given the
subject considerable attention. We have seen in-
stances where old leached ashes have had an ex-
cellent efi'ect on wheat, while unleached ashes
seemed to do no good. We have thought that
perhaps the potash and soda which had been
washed out, were replaced by ammonia and nitric
acid from the atmosphere. The subject is one
worthy of investigation. At all events it is cer-
tain that leached ashes frequently have a very ben-
eficial efi'ect ; and if the above hypothesis is true,
the older they are the better. — Prof. Buckland.
The Poll Evil in Horses. — Some persons
regard the poll evil as incurable. It is sometimes
called fistula. No matter how long the sore has
been running, it can be cured in a brief time, and
at a cost not exceeding ten cents. One dime
spent in muriatic acid will be sufficient to efi'ect a
radical and permanent cure of the most stubborn
fistula. The sore should be first thoroughly
cleansed by some abstergent fluid, and for this
purpose pure water is perhaps as valuable as any-
thing that can be used, and drop eight or ten drops
of the acid in twice a day till it has the appearance
of a fresh wound ; then wash clean with soapsuds
made of Castile soap, and leave it to heal, which
it will speedily do if the acid has been used long
enough. Should It, however, heal slowly, apply
the acid a second time, and in the manner above
described, taking care to wash out the pipe thor-
oughly, and it will be found an infallible remedy
in the most inveterate diseases of this sort ; but it
must be remembered that in order to do so, the
acid must be appHed till the corrupt or diseased
flesh is all burned out. — Germantcnvn Telegraph.
Linseed and its Oil. — In addition to what we
have already said respecting tlie favorable pros-
pects for the cultivation of flax to obtain fiber, the
present prices of flax seed and linseed oil also of-
fer great inducements for its more extensive cul-
ture. Linseed oil has recently been selling for
one dollar seventy-five cents i)er gallon, at wliole-
sale, and fiax seed at from 83 "lo to .*3 oO jier
bushel. Flax for rope and cord-making is selling
for twenty-five and thirty cents per pound. Land
on which oats or corn have been planted in the
previous year is well suited for flax when put into
guod tilth. If the season is favorable, and the
soil suitable, 14 bushels of seed and <500 pounds
of dressed flax may be obtained from an acre. —
Scientific American.
196
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
CULTUKB OF INDIAN COBMT.
In the published Transactions of the liingham
Agricultural Society for 1862, we find a Report of
experiments made in the culture of Indian corn,
which contains many valuable facts and sugges-
tions. For the first class of premiums, that is, for
the largest quantities raised upon one acre, there
were three competitors, viz. : — Caleb Hobart,
Charles W. Gushing, and James Gushing.
On the 15th of October, the committee visited the
fields and selected two rods as required by the
rules, and January 5, they shelled, measured and
weighed the several lots with the followine results :
m 5
2 S 3
*■ 5 CO <M g
!- « ^ !
* c3 .a ts
"R o o •-»
We give, below, the statements of the competi-
tors, in order that an estimate may be made from
them of the average cost of producing an acre of
corn in that section.
Caleb Hobart's Statement.
Items of expense in raising one acre of corn :
For ploughing ground ^o nn
For two days pitching and spreading manure 2,00
For three cords of barn yard manure 10,00
For seven cords of barn cellar manure 42,00
For eight barrels hen pen manure
For two ani three qnai-ters days planting '2,75
For boeing three times 9)00
For ploughinp corn twice 2,00
Interest on land 6,00
$78,75
Charles "W. Cushing's Statement.
Ploughing one acre, $4 ; harrowing, $1 $5,00
Furrowing, $1 ; hoeing, $1 2,00
Thirteen loads coarse manure, at $1 per load 13,00
Two and one-half cords of sheep manure, at $5 per cord. ..17,50
Poudrettein the drill 12,00
Interest on land 4,50
Seed corn 75
Three days labor to plant corn 3,00
Cultivating and hoeing first time 3,00
Second time cultivating and hoeing 3,00
Third time do do 40
$64,15
James Cushing's Statement.
The corn I planted in rows 3^ feet apart one
way, and about 15 inches the other, three kernels
in a hill :
May 16, ploughed in 6 cords manure, $5,50 per cord $33,00
Expense of ploughing 5,00
May 18, furrowing ground 1,00
" four cords compost manure in hill 16,00
" twelve quarts seed corn 37
Five days work planting 6 ,25
Three times hoeing and cultivating 15,00
Interest on land 7,00
$83,62
In addition to the above statements, we give
that of the Hon. Albert Fearing, of Hingham.
His corn was not entered for premium, but the
account of the cost of production Avas furnished at
the request of the committee. Mr. Fearing is
President of the Society, and, although not work-
ing much with his own hands, is an ardent and in-
telligent cultivator of the soil. In speaking of Mr.
Fearing's successful results, the committee say
"they believe that he has pi'oduced not only the
largest quantity of corn that was ever raised upon
any one field in the town, but the largest quantity
that was ever raised by any of our citizens in any
one year."
Mr. Fearing's Statement.
PRODUCT OF SIX ACRES OF CORN.
Sound corn, 56 fcs. to the bushel, 471 bushels
Unsound corn, 70 bush., equal 35— 50G, at $1 $506,00
20,160 lbs. top stalks, at $10 per ton 100,80
33,212 lbs. butt stalkc, at $8 per ton 132,85
$739,65
EXPENSES.
Ploughing three acres in the autumn of 1861 $13,60
34 cords of coarse barn manure, at $4 136,00
13 cords of line manure, at $5 65,00
Carting manure, three men, two pair oxen, one horse and
carts three days labor 4,00
Ploughing and spreading manure, four men, two pair ox-
en, one horse, three days labor 27,75
Harrowing, one pair oxen, one man, one day 2,50
Furrowing, one man, one horse, one boy, one day 3.00
Putting manure in hill, two men, one pr. oxen, 3>^ days. 13,12
Planting, three men and one boy, three days labor 12,75
Seed corn, two bushels 3,00
Hoeing first and second time, 24 days 30,00
Hoeing third time 12,60
Cultivating first and second time, one man, one boy, one
horse, two days labor 12,00
Cutting stalks, 10 !< days 13,12
Binding and stacking the same 10,00
Carting stalks, three min, one horse, one day 5,00
Cutting and carting coin, three men. eighteen days 22,50
One pair oxen and cart three days 5^25
Husking 30 days, $37,50 ; interest and taxes, $36 73,50
$484,49
Profit $255,16
This land was well manured in 1861, and three
acres planted with corn and three with rye, yield-
ing 77 bushels of corn to the acre. The soil is a
gravelly loam, was ploughed in the spring, about
eight inches deej), with 34 cords of coarse manure
spread before ])loughing.
The corn was planted from the 10th to the 16th
of May, in hills 3^ by 2 feet, five kernels to the
hill, with 13 cords of fine manure put in 36,120
hills.
The stalks permitted to grow, averaged about
4i to each hill. It was hoed the first time, from
the 7th to the 12th of June ; the second time, from
the 21st to the 27th; and the last time, from the
14th to the 19th of July.
Five acres were planted with the Whitman, and
isn.i.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
197
one acre with Button, ''orn.
It will be seen that the product is 84J bushels
to the acre, and the cost of raising, 50 cents per
bushel. Albert Fearing.
a i
o
tH a
S s
2 ^
^ «
S S
1" ^
g g
Average cost per acre, $70,56.
Table of cost of corn per bushel, including all
the manure ; cost per bushel, deducting one-fourth
part of manure ; also the labor expended in rais-
inar an acre :
Competitors.
Cost per bu.
Cost per bu.
I,abnr
indulging
dejucting
of raising 1
all the manure.
I of manure.
acre of corn.
Caleb riobart..
..77 cts. 8 mills
64 cts. 6 mills
19 75
C. W. Cushing.
..59 " 9 "
50 "
16 40
.las. Cushin;;..
.103 •' 2 "
88 " 1 ■•
27 25
.Tosh. Thomas..
. 51 " 6 "
45 " 4 "
18 00
C. W. dishing .
. 86 " 3 "
72 " 3 "
17 80
Average of the above five crops per acre, 94 3-5
bushels ; do. cost of corn, including all the ma-
nure, 75 cents 5 mills ; do. cost of corn, deducting
i manure, 64 cents 1 mill ; do. cost of manure and
fertilizer per acre, -$43,80 ; do. cost of labor per
acre, $19,84.
By the preceding table, it will be seen that the
average cost of the premium crops was $70,56 per
acre; cost of Mr. Fearing's, $65,18 per acre.
Average cost of corn in the premium crops, in-
cluding all the manure per bushel, 75 cts. 5 mills ;
cost of Mr. Fearing's, 77 cents 5 mills.
Average cost premium crops, deducting i ma-
nure, 64 cents 1 mill ; cost of Mr. Fearing's, 65
cents 9 mills.
Average cost of manure and fertilizer premium
crops per acre, $43,80 ; cost of Mr. Fearing, per
acre, $39,16.
Average cost of labor premium crops per acre,
$19,84 ; cost of Mr. Fearing's, $19,52.
We take pleasure in giving so much of a report
that seems to have been drawn from facts, as well
established 4s they can be, short of an expensive
and tedious process. It will be gratifying to most
farmers. The committee, Messrs. Calkb Gill,
Benjamin Jones and Warren A. Hkk.'^ey, are
gent)«emen of accuracy and good judgment, and
gave the matter all that care and attention which
the importance of the subject demanded.
AN HOUR WITH THE LITHOGRAPHERS.
The art of printing has been wonderfully pro-
gressing witliin the last eight or ten years. Print-
ing in colors has now become so perfect that it al-
most rivals the works of genius upon canvas.
The beautiful posters, railway and other cards
which may be seen in every part of the country,
at the stations and common rooms of hotels, are
not executed by the common processes of setting
type, but are sketched upon stone and printed in
different colors.
We were highly gratified a few days since, in
passing through the rooms of Messrs. L. Prang &"
Co., 157 Washington Street, Boston, and in wit-
nessing the e.Klent of their business, and the great
beauty and exquisite finish of some of their work.
We are not sufficiently acquainted with the tech-
nical terms of their art to give a clear description
of what we saw. The first room which we en-
tered was the sales-room, where a sample of all
the work which they had done might be seen, and
where large quantities of their publications, such
as maps, portraits of distinguished persons and a
variety of pictures, were for sale. The second,
was a sort of proof-room, where we were invited
to look at some sheets just ready "to go to press."
The next was the "Arlist's-Room." On a table
before one of the number present stood a row of
highly ornamental and beautiful lamps, of various
devices and patterns, which the artist was trans-
ferring to the stone that lay upon his desk. The
work seemed to us a slow and "head-achy" one,
but every touch of the pencil of the calm and pa-
tient operator gave form and beauty to liis work.
Others were engraving upon copper, or engaged
in some work applicable to their particular de-
partment. In the next room, eighteen presses
were employed in getting impressions of the
sketches of the artists.
The first press was throwing off a series of de-
lightful little pictures of rural scenes, of play, of
mischief in j)antry or parlor, or of the emotions,
for children. These were in four or fii-e different
198
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
colors, and just as neat and attractive as can well
be conceived. Another was printing the designs
of lamps, and another samples of drawings for a
school book for children. Another was striking
off the first color of a picture of the mosses, and
another the sixth or seventh color of butterflies
and other beautiful insects,— -and so on of birds,
checks, labels, and a great variety of other things.
In some of these, as the moths, for instance,
twelve different kinds of ink are used to get the
colors of one of these little creatures, and, of
course, twelve different impressions must be taken
to complete the picture !
The stones upon which the sketching is done
are brought from Germany. A room in the es-
tablishment is occupied by persons smoothing and
preparing them for use. Every part of the busi-
ness seemed to move mth the regularity of clock
work, as though governed by an intelligent and
systematic head. The charming little packages
of birds end flowers, mosses and moths, issued
from the press of this enterprising house, will
have a decided influence upon the manners and
morals of thousands of our children. We wish
them great success in their good work.
EXTBAGTS AND REPIiIES.
SOILING OF CATTLE.
More than fifty years ago, Josiah Quincy, then a
farmer of experience, published a book on this sub-
ject, and he favored me with a copy. I read it then,
and have read it since, and have always thought it
worthy of the attention of those who keep cattle.
Why his suggestions have not been more regarded by
the public, I cannot conceive. It is clear to my mind,
that three times the number of cattle can be kept, and
three times the amount of profit can be realized by
obseiTing Mr. Quincy's mode of feeding, instead of
that usually practiced. Proctor.
J/ay, 18&3.
books from representatives to constituents.
I am indebted to the courtesy of our representa-
tives, Messrs. Hamson and Robinson, to the one for
the valuable Report on Insects, of the late Prof. Har-
ris, and to the other for the "Agriculture of Massa-
chui-etts." A recipient or not a recipient of their fa-
vors, I do heartily endorse the plan of representatives
presenting to their constituents works published at
the expense of the State, that have a special bearing
on the calling or the tastes of the receiver.
The hoarding of such works by persons not interest-
ed in the suljjcct on which they treat, when among
their constituents are those to whom they would come
as a very welcome friend, I can but view as a sin of
some gravity against the interests of such constituents.
A few years ago the Legislature thought proper to
vote itself copies of Prof. Hitchcock's able work on
the Ichnology of Massachusetts ; a work which treats
learnedly on the " Difurculapes elachistofatus" "Hcxa-
podichmis 7nagims" '''Atici/ropus keterocUtus,^' and other
species or genera of fossil remains, the detailed histo-
ry of which might be supposed to be admirably adapt-
ed to satiate the natural cravings of the legislative mind.
It is, of course, possible that some of these books
found their way to the homes of appreciative constit-
uents; but the great bulk, it is to be presumed, were
too much thumb- worn by their profoundly interested
owners to make the giving of them a decent act.
Marblcfiead, Mai/, 1863. J. J. H. Gregory.
^T They have big cedars in the Aroostook dis-
trict in Maine. From one of them recently cut,
four thousand shingles were made.
For ttve New England Farmer.
BETKOSPECTIVE NOTES,
"Feeding Meal to Stock." — The communi-
cation with this heading in weekly edition of the
Farmer of March 28, and on page 143 of the
monthly for May, is a very instructive and valua-
ble one. The writer has noticed among the farm-
ers of his acquaintance, that several of them feed
meal in a dr;/ state to their stock, and thinks it
highly probable that some of the readers of this
journal may be in the habit of pursuing the same
wasteful practice, and, like those whose practice
he is acquainted with, may feed four to eight
quarts of meal a day to one beef creature, till they
feed out from seven to ten cvvt. of meal to one
beef, and yet never succeed in getting it so fat as
to yield any over forty pounds of rough tallow, if
as much. To those who adopt such a method of
fattening, or follow it from the mere force of habit
or custom, "Qui Nunc" very benevolently sug-
gests that this method is not a very remunerative
one, but, on the contrary, is generally quite a
wasteful one. A little reflection and calculation of
expenditures and income will satisfy any one of
the correctness of these propositions ; and then
the inquiry will naturally arise in the minds of all
concerned, with the exception, perhaps of a few
who always plod on in the old ruts, how this non-
paying or wasteful method, so generally practiced,
is to be reformed or displaced by the substitution
of a better one. The writer, in reply to this natu-
ral inquiry, gives a statement of the more profita-
ble method of feeding meal which he himself has
been led to adopt. "My practice," he says, "in
fattening beef and swine, as well as feeding cows
for milk, has been to pour boiling water on as
much meal as would not make the animal's bowels
move too freely, at night and in the morning ;
when the mush is cool,, give it to the cow or pig."
He does not believe, nor do I, that animals eating
dry meal receive more than one-half of the nour-
ishment contained in it ; whereas, by steeping it
in boiling water, or by a more thorough cooking
of it, the latent nutritive properties are extracted,
or made more easily digestible. But beside this
testimony of theory or, more properly, of what is
known as to the laws and processes of digestion,
Qui Nunc has the testimony of his own experi-
ence, which has taught him, he says, that one cwt.
of meal fed in the way he has described is equal
to two cwt. fed dry. In proof or illustration of
the superiority of his method of feeding meal over
that of giving it dry, the writer states that, on hay
and meal alone, he has fatted two ordinary sized
cows with only three cwt. of meal each, so that
they each yielded upwards of 40 lbs. of i-ough
tallow.
Having adopted a very similar method of pre-
paring or half-cooking meal of corn and other
grain in slopping cows in winter, in fatting pigs,
and in finishing oft' the feeding of our beef crea-
tures, for upwards of a dozen years, we can most
heartily commend and endorse the practice of Qui
Nunc as set forth in the very useful article now
under notice. The extra trouble is but trifling,
and were it much greater it would be abundantly
compensated for in any region of our country
where corn and other grain can be marketed at
or above one cent per pound. In regions where
corn will bring only ten cents a bushel, the sug-
gestions of Qui Nunc are not at present needed ;
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
199
but in all districts of country where corn costs
nearly or quite ten times the price just named,
the suggestions of Q. N. are needed, and will be
thankfully appreciated we doubt not, by many.
As a slight improvement upon the method of
preparing meal adopted by Q. N., we would sug-
gest that a teaspoonful or so of salt should be
thrown into the mess each day instead of more
only once a week, and that instead of a table-
spoonful of wood ashes occasioiudlij only, that
amount should be given daily. Cora is very apt
to sour in human stomachs and why not also in
those of a cow, ox, or pig? Ashes will serve to
prevent or correct this.
"Experiments in Feeding Pigs." — On page
160 of the May issue of this journal, we find a
fact in regard to the feeding or fattening of a pig,
which, being given us by so reliable an authority
as that of Mr. O. P. Mead, goes far to settle
some questions which seem yet unsettled in the
minds of some farmers. One of these questions is
— How much ]Jork may usually be obtained from
feeding a bushel of corn? To determine this
question, we made some experiments two years
ago, and at the same time made a collection of all
the facts bearing upon it which we could find on
record in agricultural books and journals, and the
result of the whole was. that, on an average, 1 lb.
of pork might be obtained from every 5 lbs. of
corn consumed. In some cases more, and in oth-
ers less than this result was obtained, the amount
being influenced apparently sometimes by the
breed, sometimes by the age of the pigs, some-
times by the age of the corn, old corn being worth
much more than new, and sometimes by unascer-
tainable influences. The amount named above
•was, however, a fair average of a large collection
of cases, in most of which the corn was fed in the
usual way on the ear.
Another question which the fact stated by Mr.
Mead will go a good way towards settling is this
— How much farther will cooked food go in fat-
ting pigs than uncooked ? Almost all admit that
there is some superiority; but, judging from gen-
eral practice, few seem to be convinced that a
bushel of corn will produce twice as much pork
when cooked, as it would if fed raw in the usual
way. But this, and more than this amount of su-
periority, is proved by the facts recorded by Mr.
M. A pig weighing 400 lbs. at nine months old,
had consumed 747 lbs. of meal, mostly in mush,
which shows that less than 2 lbs. of meal cooked
produced one pound of pork. More Anon.
Lice on Calves. — Nature is the best teacher.
When cattle are pastured they Mill paw dirt upon
their backs and rub their heads and necks against
banks of earth, for the purpose of destroying the
lice. Moved by this suggestion recently, after I
having bought a new milch cow which was lousy,
I dried some dirt under the stove, pulverized it,
and rubbed on the head, neck and such parts as
•were most afi'ected by lice, which subdued them.
Two or three applications should be made, and
again repeated after the nits or eggs are hatched,
as the dirt does not destroy the eggs or nits.
Try it, if your calves or cattle are lousy. It
costs nothing, and has no injurious eff"ects like
poisonous applications which are most in use. —
George Bachelder, Stanstead, C. E., in Coun-
try Oentleman.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
A PARA.GRAPH FOB LADIES.
Most of our fair readers have a decided aversion
to that part of their duty which Aills under the
"patching and darning" denomination. They are
of opinion that "a rent may be the accident of a
dav; a darn, premeditated poverty." But if they
only knew how pretty a well executed piece of re-
pair looks, when you see in its warp and woof the
bright threads of economy, and independence,
and womanly thrift, crossing and recro.ssjng one
another, they would lay aside embroideries and
crochet work, and take up, instead, the mending
basket. We rode down town the other day, when
the only other occupants of the stage were a young
gentleman and a lovely girl of, we should think,
about eighteen. She was the prettiest, freshest
looking girl one would want to see — there were
no tell-tale traces of midnight parties and head-
achy mornings in those peach blossom cheeks and
clear, bright eyes ; and all the numberless little
items of her dress were as fresh and trim as she
herself— from the pink bonnet strings down to the
neatly fitting gloves ard delicate gaiter boots. If
■we had been an old bachelor, or a young one
either, we would certainly have fallen in love with
that girl, particularly after we had discovered that
she was as industrious as pretty. And how do
you suppose we found it out ? The handkerchief
that lay in her lap told us so. The neat little
darn, elaborately executed, in its corner, with the
small white stitches and skilful handiwork, had a
tongue quite audible to our ears. Time, and pa-
tience, and wise economy had been there. The
gentleman sitting opposite saw the little token al-
so ; we noticed his eye turning from the handker-
chief to the blooming face, and back to the hand-
kerchief again, and we knew perfectly well what
he was thinking of — the good wife that young lady
would make, and how neat her husband's cravats
and stockings would be ! Poor fellow, the edges
of his shirt bosom were a little frayed, and one or
two buttons Avere missing, whose detection the
most skilful arrangement of his cravat ends could
not conceal. Perhaps lie had a wife who didn't
believe in mending and darning — perhaps he had
he hud none at all. However that may have
been, his admiring eyes appreciated the darn
on the handkerchief more than if it had been the
richest and most sight-destroying embroider) —
not for what it was, but what it betokened. Girls !
don't shrink from a mended place as if it were a
plague spot ; the longer your old things last, the
better able you will be to have new ones by-and-
bye. Sensible people read your character in little
things ; and nobody will think the worse of you,
whatever may be your station in life, for the exer-
cise of economy and thrift. A stitch in time
saves nine, and sometimes it saves a great deal
more than that. — English paper.
A Woman's mission, as the world goes, is to
make home happy; a man's to find the means
wherewith she may do it. Woman's work should
be, as woman was herself, the completion of all la-
bor. From her must come those final touches and
culminating graces which make a dinner of herbs
a pleasant banquet, and a cottage starred over
with jespamine a palace of contenlment.
200
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JUNB
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
June Page 169
New Books 170
Profits of Fruit Culture 170
Extracts and Replies 171,180,186,198
Potatoes — Orcharding 171
What is most Profitable Crop — Culture of Sweet Potatoes. ..172
Hints for the Season 173
Bone Dust — Shade a CaHse of Potato Disease 174
Curing Cows of Kicking • 174
Among the Green Mountains — How Penn esare Saved 175
English Women— The Tomato 176
Put in the Wheat — Farmers' Fairs 177
Lessons away from Books — To Make an Aqueduct 178
About Apples 179, 182
Culture of the Currant — Xovel Attachment 180
Purple Egg Plant — Martynia — Raising Tomato Plants 1*'
Corn Beans — Icelandic Skier — Notes from my Diary 183
Cotswold Ewe Lambs— God's Plan — Decay of Apple trees... 184
Among the Machinery 185
Grafting — Retrospective Notes - 186
How shall I Build my Barn 187
The Raspberry — Jerusalem Artichoke 188
Sore Mouth in Sheep 188
Obituary Notices — Schools in Last Century 189
Farm Hints — Corn Barn 190
Wash for Barns — May — Feeding Pigs 191
Disproportion of Sexes 191
Buckeye Mower and Reaper 192
Use of the Barometer 193
Meteorological Record for March— Spring 194
New Tree Protector — Mining under the Sea 194
Visiting Schools— Leached Ashes 195
Poll Evil in Horses — Linseed and its Oil 195
Culture of Indian Corn 196
An Hour with the Lithographers 197
Retrospective Notes 198
Lice on Calves — Ladies' Department 199
Review ©f the Market 200
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter "B" 169
Tomato Culture, 2 Engravings 176, 177
Egg Plant 181
Martynia , 181
Cotswold Ewe Lambs.... 184
Buckeye Mower and Reaper 192
CATTLE MARKETS FOB MAY.
The fallowing is a summary of tlic reports for tlie five weeks
ending May 21, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. Slieep. Sliotes. Fat Hngi. Feah.
April 23 913 1947 550 500 800
April 29 1503 2900 1000 700 900
May 7 1035 3015 600 160O 1200
" 14 831 1678 1500 18C0 900
" 21 979 1880 1300 500 950
ToUL
.5261 11,420
4950
5100 4750
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for the correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number for the first twen-
ty-one weeks of each year:
THIS
Cattle.
Maine 182
New Hampshire 591
Vermont 779
Massachusetts 771
Northern New York 33
Canada 229
Western States 2676
Total, last five weeks 5,261 11,420 6,441 11,885
Total, since Jan. 1,(21 w'k3,) 29,023 55,935 26,040 55,537
TEAR.
LAST
TEAR.
Sheep.
Cattle.
Sheep.
—
87
—
3716
222
1972
6450
614
8866
940
628
998
,
84
^_
60
49
314
4846
Beef, 1st, 2d, 3d qual. 8 (g9g 7gg9g
■ " a few extra.. .10 @10J @10
Sheep, ^ lb 5 (§9^ 4 ©9
Swine,stores,w'sale..5 (58 5 (§7
" " retail. 5 !g8| 6 (§8
Hides, ^ ft 7ig8i 7438^
Pelts, each $3 ig3| $3 aSJ
Tallow,^flb 8 (g8J 8 @8|
* Sheared sheep only.
PRICES.
^;>r.23. Apr. 29. May 7. MayU. May 21.
7S@10
4 (39
bknSh
7 (g9
7 (g8i
7J@10
*4 @6
nun
@10
*4ig6i
6@7
6|g8
n<sH
' is
$2Sg3J $2333^ 24@3J
igS g8 8
Remarks. — The market for cattle has been steadier the past
five weeks than it was during the previous months. Prices for
beef, however, were nearly )^c V fc. higher on the first week of
the five than it has been since. On that week, (April 23,) the
best of the Western steers at Brighton were sold at lOhi la 10>^c
#" lb., with an allowance of from 27 to 30 ■^ cent, on the live
weight, for off il. Since then scarcely any have been sold high-
er than lOo, 30 sk.,and only the choicest bullocks at that. Most
of the cattle at market have been sold at from 8 to 9>^c ^ lb., on
the dressed weight.
With sheep (he month has been a sort of transition period, in
which most of them have passed from the fleeced to the unfleeced
state. The prices quoted for the past three weeks are for both
clipped and undipped sheep, while the prices for the last two are
for sheared ones ones only. Although there has been no great
change in prices, (he market is by no means settled. For the
last two weeks, well fatted sheep have been in demand, as there
have been but few good ones at market, and none at all from the
West, for the last four weeks. At the last market, prices for
sheared sheep ranged from 4 to OV c -tf lb. on the live weight of
sheared sheep. There was but a small number on sale, and the
market closed with an upward tendency, as prices are higher in
Albany than in Brighton.
For working oxen and milch cows the market has been good,
for those of good quality. The demand for workers has been
slacking, as farmers have secured tlieir teams for spring work.
Cows, particularly good ones, are none too plenty.
With veal calves the market is over-stocked. There have been
nearly 5000 live calves at the five last markets ; besides, proba-
bly, at least one-half as many more dressed veals, by boats and
railroads. The result is, prices are low ; and butchers, drovers
and farmers suffer. From $3,50 to $6 each, are common prices ;
a very few good ones at $6. Dressed veal, by the carcass, from
3c to G ijC ^ lb. ; and those of pretty fair quality were sold at the
last two markets for 4,'^c if lb.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
From our report of sales. May 21:
J. D. Billings sold to S. S. Learnard 11 good oxen, at fromS}^
to lOo if lb., among which were four uncommonly fine ones. A
pair fed at the Insane Hospital, Northampton, said to weigh
4500 ibs., we understood were sold for $350. But at any rate,
they were extra among the extras. Some one of the look-
ers-on said, "I guess the folks are not all crazy where these oxen
came from;" to which somebody else reraarted, "I dont know
about that ; none but a crazy man would feed out meal enough
to make such oxen." Another pair, fed by Mr. Billings him-
self, weighing at home, with a light yoke on their necks, 4820
lbs., were fat enough, straight, well-formed bullocks.
Geo. W. Morrison sold one pair of extra oxen, laid at 2250 fta.,
for $220, These oxen were ftd by Geo. W. Hunkins, of San-
bornton, N. H., and were a smooth, well-fatted pair. Four oth-
ers for $298, to dress 3500 its., and four others, perhaps one
hundred lbs. lighter, for $2S>6 ; 4 steers, live weight 4400 fts.,
for S^'aC, 33 sk. ; one cow, laid to dress 1100 lbs., at 8i;4C, and
two very much smaller cows, say 4o0 lbs. eRch, for $65.
John Sawyer sold 30 very fair New Hampshire oxen, at from
8>^ to 9)4,0. At 9,^ic ^ lb. he sold one pair, laid to dress about
1700 lbs., which, though not large, were a very nice pair of ox-
en, smooth and plump. They were fed by Lowell Sanborn, of
Guilford, N. H.
A. M. Wright sold 256 sheep at an average of 5'4C#' lb. ; J.
Lamson sold 150 sheep about 70 lbs. each, for Jc ; De Wolf &
Prouty sold to J. W. HoUis 159 sheep fed by Wm. Ramsay, of
Walpole, N. H., for 6'4C 4f lb. This is the highest price paid
this week, and the butchers admitted that they are the best lot
at market. Their live weight at Cambridge was 14,885 fcs., or
about 94 lbs., each. E. Riford sold a fine lot to Mr. Bates, on
drift, costing something over 6c.
DEVOTED TO AGBICULTURE AND ITS KINDKiJD ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, JULY, 1863.
jN'O. 7.
NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, Proprietors.
Office 102 Washington Street.
SIMOX BUOWX, Editor.
CALENDAR POK JULY.
"From brightening fields of ether fair disclosed,
Child of the sun, refulgent Summer cornea,
In pride of youth, and felt through nature's depth ;
He «omes attended by the sultry hours.
And ever fanning breezes on his way."
E R V E N T
with heat, or
as our poet
says, "attend-
ed by the sul-
try hour s,"
July has
come round
again, and it
is to be hoped
t 4'555,'-£^' fanning
■rS ^'^>:.'^>;<-K breezes" will
come too.
Yet if we had
not this heat
of which we
sometimes
complain a s
being oppres-
sive and disagreeable, there would be no hay, no
vegetables, none of the articles which may be
reckoned as the necessaries of life. There is
nothing in nature without a purpose, and this is
the purpose of weather which sends the mercury
to ninet>/-five in the shade, and sets mankind to
grumbling as if they were a much abused race —
namely, to provide them with future comforts and
luxuries.
When the long drought came in May, 1860,
and the ground, as it was turned up with the spade,
seemed like ashes, when potatoes lay in the soil
for weeks witliout sprouting, there seemed a sorry
prospect for the farming world, — but in spite of
all our dismal forebodings, a beautiful rain fell
upon the thirsty earth one Saturday — steadily it
fell, filling cisterns and hogsheads, and refreshing
every living thing, and the Sabbath came clear
and lovely — the wind which had been east so long,
blew gently from the Mest, and the long horror
was over. From tliat time, perhaps, the prospect
for an abundant harvest M-as as good as usual.
And we have queried whether the average weath-
er of different seasons is not more equal than is
sometimes supposed, and whether, consequently,
we are not guilty of bon-owing a great deal of
trouble about the Avealher, the crops, <S:c., when
nature really knows how to take excellent care of
the treasures committed to her. She has had a
long experience in this time, and has seldom been
known to fail us. People talk about having "an
early spring," but unless some one can show sta-
tistics to the contrary, we are inclined to believe
that, in a general way, there is a remarkable uni-
formity in "seed time and harvest." It is true, it
occasionally happens that the snow leaves early,
and a few warm days persuade us that the year is
going to be an exception to ordinary rules, but if
tliese sunny days last long enough to bring out
the buds or blossoms prematurely, how often it
happens that "there comes a frost, a killing frost,"
and checks the early development, so that in the
end nothing is gained by it.
The old New England Primer used to say —
"Youth's forv.iird slips,
IVatIi soonest nips.'"
Whatever that couplet may be supposed to have
meant in the primer, it certainly applies to the
case in hand — for the forward slips of vej^etation,
are by no means the ones most likely to furnish
us food in time of need !
From this uniformity in nature's laws and
works, we learn to place confidence in her, and
when we plant "in due season," we expect to
"reap." Our mother Earth has about the only
"bank" where we can invest our "capital" without
fear of failure. She is always ready to meet her
notes on demand !
And when the spring has finished Us work, and
given place to the rich luxuriance of summer,
202
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JtTNE
there are times when it seems sufficient happiness
to sit and look from your window, and admire the
panorama stretched out before you. There is the
river with the sunbeams glancing back from its
waves — the trees, whose leaves scarcely move in
the hot, still air — the cattl§ lying under them,
chewing the cud of contentment and lazy ease —
in all this there is a beauty, and an air of repose,
which almost gives us the impression that the
world has at length come to asiojypmg place — that
this is the end for which spring was the means —
that all the prepartaion of bursting buds and blos-
soms was only that we might enjoy the affluence
of summer for a season. But too soon the mow-
er comes with his scythe, and the long, waving
grass is laid low, and this is the first decided to-
ken oi "passing aivay," since the year commenced
its new life. Now we begin to feel that Summer
is but a transition toward harvest, as harvest is
the eeason for laying up our winter stores. So
"all things are full of labor" and change, and if
we might be permitted a little trite moralizing, so
the natural world may be taken as a type of the
moral world — of human life, where there is no
resting place — no position ever attained when we
may say, "This if the oid for which we labored —
now there is nothing more to do, and we can rest
on our laurels." Destiny's finger always points
onivard, to some other and higher attainments
whatever the object in iife may be — wealth, fame,
or wisdom !
But to return to our Summer day — there is one
portion of it which comparatively few people see,
and that is tJie early dawn, although most of us
have had essays, and probably written "composi-
tions" on early rising. We will not now offer any
moral lessons on the subject — telling about its be-
ing conducive to health, Szc, but would merely in-
vite the lovers of beauty to get up some morning
and take a look at the world simply as an exhibi-
tion. Such a fresh atmosphere — such a singing
of birds and crowing of cocks — such a combina-
tion of voices of unknown insects, as if they were
so glad to get up again — such verdure on the dew-
covered leaves, can be seen, and heard and felt,
nowhere but in the country, of a summer morning.
Later in the day, the enthusiasm seems to die out
of the insect race — a change comes over them, as
if they had not found things so pleasant as they
expected ! Then the dew dries up, and the dust
settles on the leaves, and it is only the working-
daj' world again.
It is curious that man is the only animal to
which lying abed is a temptation — whether to be
accounted for by his superior wisdom, or his in-
nate depravity, we would not pretend to decide.
We might speak of the evening hours, but as
people are in a situation to realize these for them-
selves, ic must be a waste of words.
Well — July, with its bright days will soon be
gone, but like all pleasant things which pass away ,
we should enjoy and improve them while they
last.
ISTEW BOOKS.
A MANUAt OP Flax Culture and Manufacture: embracing
full directions for preparing the ground, sowing, harvesting,
&c. Published by D. D. T. Moore, Rochester, N. Y. Price
25 cents.
Its leading articles are :
A Practical Essay on Flax Culture, by William
Newcomb, of Rensselaer county. New York.
Flax Culture and Manufacture in the United
States and Great Britain, by N. Goodsell, of Os-
wego county. New York.
Report on Flax and Machinery for making Flax
Cotton.
About Flax, Soil, Seed and Culture.
Hemp and Flax in the West, by Charles D.
Bragdon, of Illinois.
Flax'groAving in Seneca county, New York, by
Samuel Williams, of Waterloo.
The structure of Textile Fibre, by John Phin,
author of "Open Air Grape Culture."
Flax, as a Domestic Institution, by Hugh T.
Brooks, of Wyoming county. New York.
The uses of the Flax Crop.
Botanical Descriptions of Flax and Hemp,
by Prof. C. Dewey, of the University of Rochester.
This seems to be a reliable work on the subject
discussed, and will prove of service to those en-
gaging in the culture of flax. We have already
given, from an intelligent western New York cor-
respondent, full particulars of the best modes of
culture of the flax plant.
Museum of Comparative Zoologt.
We have before us the Annual Report of the
Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology,
together with the Report of the Director, for 1862.
Beside the statement of the Trustees in relation
to the condition of the Museum, it contains inter-
esting reports on Mammalia, on Birds, Reptiles,
Fishes, Insects, on the Echinoderms, Acalephs and
Polyjjs.
Paper from Corn Husks. — The editor of
the Iowa Haivkeye has I'eceived several specimens
of paper manufactured from corn husks, and a
specimen of cloth woven from the same material.
The paper was of several kinds, from thin and
light, to thick and strong, and of apparently ex-
cellent quality.
KiCKiXG Cows. — A correspondent of the Coun-
try Gentleman, who has "kept a milk dairy of for-
ty to fifty cows for several years, says he has nev-
er found but one efi"ectual plan of preventing cows
from kicking, — and that is to kJ61 them ! He
thinks it profitable, however, to feed them liber-
ally three or four months, before they cease kick-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
203
For the Aetr England farmer,
THINGS TO BE LEAKWED.
Among the many difficulties with which the
farmer has to contend, is one, which, although re-
ferred to by agricultural writers, yet is ever re-
garded by honest, open-hearted men as an evil of
the first magnitude. 1 refer to those individuals
who maive it their business, or a i)art of their
business to cheat in trade. The farmer often has
occasion to buy, sell or exchange horses, cattle,
and other commodities of the farm ; and in so
doing is extremely liable to be cheated if he does
not possess the requisite knowledge, tact and
judgment. His occupation has a tendency to
prevent him from acquiring that sharp and ready
insight into the chai-acter and motives of others
which those generally passess who are daily in
close contact with their fellow men. He is there-
fore liable to be duped by men who are inferior
to him in moral character, but who understand
human nature and the art of cheating.
Let us suppose a case. An honest-minded
farmer not fully acquainted with the tricks of
trade wishes to buy a horse. He makes inquiries
and spends perhaps several days in tlie search for
one to suit him. Finally some "horse-jockey"
hears of his want, and quickly, like a vulture to
its prey, rides over to see him. He takes a horse
along with him which he says is a most excellent
animal, perfectly sound and kind in every par-
ticular. The farmer is soon persuaded to buy,
and pays, of course, a I'ound sum. Not many
days elapse before the poor farmer discovers that
he has been most sorely "taken in." The horse
proves to be either much older than was repre-
sented, or has the heaves, or a spavin, or is af-
flicted with some one or more of the thousand
and one ills which horse flesh is heir to ; or he
may be vicious and unruly. The man sees at last
that he has been cheated to the amount of twenty-
five, fifty or a h\indred dollars. And there is no
help for it, for it would take, probably, three times
the sum of his loss to recover it (supposing such
a thing to he possible) by a lawsuit, of the villain
secure from the pilferings of those who belong to
the lowest, or constitute the lowest class of thieves
and robbers.
Although I am but a novice in the art of buy-
ing, selling and "swapping," yet I would like to
give a_ little advice to any who need, and will re-
ceive it, hojiing it may do some good.
1. Study human nature, and learn to perceive
at a glance the real motives of men. In acquiring
this knowledge you would be immensely aided by
the study of jihrenology and physiognomy.
2. Thorougl)]y acquaint j-ourself with the physi-
ology of all domestic animals ; with the diseases
to which they are liatjle, and the various remedies.
Become, in fact, your own cattle doctor. You can
then readily detect any imperfection or disease in
an animal which you are about to bargain for, and
be able to preserve the life and health of those al-
I'eady in your possession.
3. Keep j'ourself well acquainted with the price
current of every article in which you ever deal.
In so doing you would be greatly assisted by tak-
ing the Farm-er, or some other reliable agricultural
journal.
4. In dealing with a stranger, or an acquaint-
ance of whose veracity you have the least doubt,
never believe what he says, unless the evidence of
your own senses, or some other positive proof
convinces you that he speaks the truth. You had
better sjiend five dollars in obtaining good evi-
dence of the truth of his assertions, than lose
twenty by a bad bargain.
5. Whenever you have an opportunity to cheat
a man, by all that is sacred in earth and heaven,
never improve it.
If those few directions, and especially the last,
were closely followed b}- all men, that species of
polite or fashionable robbery called cheating,
would cease to flourish, like a green bay tree,
among us. S. L. White.
South Oroton, Feb., 1863.
Rejiarks. — Timely and excellent. The prac-
tices which our correspondent describes are of
who has knowingly defrauded him. And to make j every day occurrence, and some of them, as he
his misfortune still more unbearable, no one seems
to jiity him, but he is laughed at and called a
■"greeny" or a fool. The jockey, instead of being
denounced as a liar and thief, and expelled frc^pi
respectable society or sent to prison, is considered
by many to he a pretty smart fellow !
Cases similar to the above are very common, not
only among horse-dealers, bnt among those who
trade in cattle and other domestic animals. And
says, absolutely fashionable. Never was greater
mistake. No man can aff'ord to do the slightest
wrong, for any consideration. No, — not if the
wrong were what is called a trifling one, and the
reward were a crown or an empire, the compensa-
tion would be all loo poor. We cannot afl^ord to
do wrong, on any account. It is a loss to us too
: „„ir ™ „ f .!,„ 1 .• f u- t 1 .1 , tmimense long to be borne. Was there ever a
in selimg anv of the productions of his land, the \ => i i- ,
farmer is in danger of being cheated if he is not, I person, dying, who did not wish he had lived an
at all times, well posted in the market prices, i upright life in every thing? Let us, then, live
He has something on hand which he wishes to as we shall wish we had, when we come to die.
sell: a stranger, or a friend, (?) it may be, comes
along and offers him a certain price for it, which ,^ ^„ immense amount of rejoctcd corn has
he, the buyer, says is all that it is worth, according j^^^.^ been received in CliicaKo. Entire trains and
to the market price ; a bargain is made and the ,3^,^^- lo^^i^ daily pass "reiectcd." The imperfect
man departs. Soon after the farmer meets a ; cleaning' of the grain and «)e nesliffont manner of
meighbor who "takes the papers," and informs i sendin^^- it to market is said to ho fiie cause of this
him of the sale and its terms. The neighbor j rejection, which entails a hiss of from tiircc to ii?lit
looks surprised and exclaims, "Is that all you re- ' cents per bushel. The loss to the West when duly
ceived ? Why, the man paid me nearly a third approximated must be enormous.
more for the same article !"
Such instances as these, and they arc by no f^ In the town of Sandwich. N. IT., this season,
means rare, prove that the farmer must learn how there liave been ll.oi.'o pounds of maple sugai
to deal with all classes of men, if he desires to be manufactured.
204
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
SEEDING WITH RYE IKT SUMMER.
We were recently, in conversation with P. G.
Bauder, Esq., of Winnebago Co., frequently men-
tioned in our columns as a breeder of Cotswold and
other sheep. The talk turned upon the subject of
seeding for pasture, lie is a strong advocate of
seeding with rye, and gave the following as, in his
experience, the best method.
Plough in any of the summer months, mix
Timothy and clover, half and half, ten quarts to
the acre ; rye one and one-half bushels ; harrow
all in well and roll with heavy roller.
In a few weeks the rye will completely coTer
the ground, affording the best of summer and fall
feed for either sheep or cattle. The soil has been
made so compact with the roller that the tramping
of the stock does no injury to the Timothy or clo-
ver roots. The rye, if properly fed down, does
not seed, and will live for about three years. The
grass and clover continually thriving form a good
sod, even in sandy soil, making of itself a com-
plete pasture by this time.
His success in this way has always been good.
He has never lost a seeding from drouth, which
he considers the great cause of failure in seeding
w^ith oats or other crops in spring, or even with
fall grains, that are removed at harvest time, ex-
posing the tender grass ])lant3 to the scorching
sun of summer. From the experience of Mr. B.
and others mentioned by him, we can confidently
recommend this method of seeding to all our
Northern farmers. Especially must it prove val-
uable when, from any cause, there is a necessity
for a sudden increase of pasture. A few weeks
serve to furnish sufficient and reliable feed. — Prai-
rie Farmer.
SEEDS— QUANTITY TO BE SOWN, &c.
The following estimate of the quantities of dif-
ferent kinds of garden seeds required to produce
a certain number of plants, or to plant a certain
quantity of ground, is copied from an agricultural
exchange :
Asparagus. — One ounce will produce about
1000 plants, and requires a seed bed about twelve
square feet.
Asparagus Boots. — 1000 roots will plant a bed
four feet wide, and from 200 to 250 feet long, ac-
cording to the distance apart the plants are placed
in the row.
Beans. — Engli.'<h Dico.rf. — One quart of seed
will plant from 100 to 150 feet of row, according
as the sorts may be early or late.
Beans. — Freiich Dwarf. — One quart will be suf-
ficient for about ■iHO hills, and the same quantity
•will plant from 250 to 300 feet of row.
Beans. — Pole. — One quart of Lima, White
Dutch or Scarlet Runners, will plant about 300
hills, or 250 feet of row.
Beefs. — When sown as gardeners generally sow
it, it requires at the rate of ten pounds to an acre ;
one ounce will suffice for about 150 feet of row.
Broccoli. — One ounce will produce from 2500 to
3000 plants, and require a seed bed of about forty
square feet.
Brussels Sprouts. — The same as Broccoli.
Cabbage. — Early sorts the same as Broccoli : ihe
late and Savoy sorts will require a seel b r'
ab'-ut sixty souare feet.
CauUJioiver. — The same as the later sorts of cab-
bage.
Carrol. — Three to four pounds are required to
an acre, and one ounce will sow about 200 feet of
row.
Celery. — One ounce of seed will produce about
7000 or 8000 plants, and require a seed bed of
about eighty square feet.
Cucumber. — One ounce of seed will be required
for about 150 hills.
Curled Cress. — One ounce of seed will sow a bed
containing sixteen square feet.
Egg Plant. — One ounce, if properly managed in
the seed bed, will produce from 2500 to 3500
plants.
Kale. — The same as Broccoli.
Endive. — One ounce will produce about 3,500
plants and require a seed bed about eighty square
feet.
Leel: — One ounce produces about 2000 or 2500
plants, and requires about GO square feet of seed
bed.
Lettuce. — One ounce will require a seed bed of
about 120 square feet, and will produce 6000 or
7000 plants.
Melon. — One ounce will be quite sufiicient for
about 120 hills.
Nasturtium. — One ounce will sow 25 feet of row.
Onion. — From four to five pounds are required
for an acre, when raised for the bulbs ; one ounce
will sow about 200 feet of row.
OAra. — One ounce will sow about 200 feet of
row.
Parsley. — Six or seven pounds are required to
the acre ; one ounce will sow about 200 feet of
row.
Parsnip. — From five to six pounds are general-
ly sown per acre ; an ounce will sow about 250
feet of row.
Peppers. — One ounce will produce about 2000
or 2500 plants.
Peas. — From one to two bushels are required to
an acre ; one quart of the smaller sorts will sow'
about 1 20 feet of row, and of the larger sorts one
quart will sow about 200 feet of row.
Pumpkin. — One quart of the common field sorts
will plant from 500 to GOO hills, and, of the finer
garden sorts, one ounce will plant, about fifty hills.
Eadi.'ih. — From twelve to fourteen pounds of
the early spring sorts are required to an acre, if
sown broadcast ; but half that quantity is sufficient
if sown in drills. Of the later sorts five pounds
to the acre, in drills, are sufficient. One ounce
will sow about one hundred square feet.
Salsify. — From five to six pounds are generally
allowed to an acre. One ounce will sow about
150 feet of row.
Spinach. — Cultivated in drill, from seven to
eight pounds to the acre are sufficient ; if .sown
broadcast, double that quantity. One ounce will
sow about 200 feet of row.
Sqn.ask. — One ounce will plant from fifty to
eiglity hills, according to the sorts and size.
Tomato. — One ounce will produce about 2000
or 3000 ])l;nns, and require a seed bed of ahout
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
205
Turnip. — From one or two pounds are general-
ly allowed to an acre ; one ounce will sow 2000
square feet.
Water Melon. — One ounce will plant from 40
to 50 hills.
AORICULTUEAL SEEDS.
Quantity taryincf according to the soil, and tchether
sown in dnlls or broadcast.
Wheat,
5
to
8
pecks p
Rve,
5>^
to
6
«
Oats,
2
to
4
bush.
Barley,
Wz
to
3
«
Millet,
?i
to
VA
«
Broom com,
1
to
VA
«
ludian corn for
soilinpr,
3
to
4
«
Peas, broadcast.
2>i
to
Z'i
«
" in drills,
1
to
2
(<
Beans, broadcast.
2
to
3
«
" in drills.
1
to
2
«
Buckwheat,
1
to
3
«
Timothy,
12
to
20
quarts
" with 6 to 10
pounds clover,
8
to
10
<.
Red top,
16
to
24
Blue grass,
10
to
15
lbs
Rye.
10
to
16
"
Tall oat grass.
12
to
16
<c
Orchard grass,
20
to
30
"
Red clover,
8
to
16
"
White "
2
to
4
"
Lucerne, broadcast,
3
to
12
"
" in drills.
12
to
18
"
Sainfoin, broadcast.
1
to
5
bush.
" in drills.
2
to
3
"
Potatoes,
15
to
20
"
Turnips,
Ui
to
3
lbs.
Carrots, broadcast.
4
to
5
«
" in drills.
2
to
3
"
Parsnips, broadcast.
6
to
8
"
" in drills,
4
to
6
"
Beets, in drills.
4
to
5
"
Kohl Rabi,
2
to
2;^
i<
Rape, in drills.
2
to
3
«
" broadcast,
4
to
7
quarts
Mustard for seed,
8
to
12
"
" for ploughing
under
12
to
20
<(
Hemp,
\\i
to
2}i
bush.
Flax for seed,
4
to
6
pecks
" for fibre.
8
to
10
"
Teasels,
1
to
2
"
Rice,
2
to
ha
K
After they have used a handkerchief they throw
it away, and are thus saved the trouble of a wash-
erwoman. They even weave their paper, and
make what may be called paper cloth of it.
Cotton in tiik Last War with England. —
A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer, who was em-
ployed in a New Enj^land factory at that time,
says that as the war progressed, factories increased
in number and size.
As the British cruisers filled all our bays and
inlets, we soon had to send teams and wagons to
Virginia and the Carolinas, to liaul cotton for the
factories, paying five to six cents a pound for cot-
ton, and twenty-five to forty cents per pound for
hauling. Our cotton and woolen goods were then
selling at much liigher prices than now. We were
then well supplied with wool and flax of our own
raising, and a great majority of our families made
all, or the greater portion of their clothing from
these materials in their own dwellings.
Li 1S13, our factory made a purchase of cotton
in Boston, at fifty cents per pound, called "Chili
cotton ;" it was superior to the then Southern cot-
ton, and was packed in raw hides, laced up by
thongs. I often think of this and query, "Can't
we still get cotton from Peru and Chili ?"
Japanese Oddities. — One great peculiarity of
the people is their mania for squatting ; they seem
to do everything in this position, and even when
a man is ploughing in a field he looks as if he
wanted to squat. Their habits in many things
seem to be so often exactly the opposite of ours,
that it almost resolves itself into a rule that every-
thing goes by contraries. When they cook a
goose, instead of putting the goose on the fire,
they put the fire in the goose, thus making a great
saving of fuel. In planing or sawing a board,
they plane or saw toward themselves instead of
from themselves. When you go into a house, in-
stead of taking off your hat you take off" your
shoes. Instead of saying John Smith, they would
say Smith John, and instead of Mr. Brown, Brown
Mister. The country is rich in flowers and in
vegetable productions. They have carried the art
of making paper to great perfection. Dr. Mc-
Gowan showed an overcoat made of paper, per-
fectly strong and serviceable. In this country we
have paper collars, but in Japan they go further,
and have paper handkerchiefs, which are very
beautiful and soft, and of very fine texture. But
they are more delicate than we, in one respect.
Shoeing Houses and Oxen— From the in-
troduction of an article on this subject, written by
Mr. I). Stiles, of Middleton, and published in the
New Hampshire Journal of Af/ricuUure, we clip
the following paragraph. The writer, who says
that he has been engaged in shoeing horses and
oxen thirty-five years, admits that upon our grav-
elly soil and hard roads we mioni shoe, but says :
"More cattle and horses suffer from bad shoeing
than all other causes ])ut together. I have known
many cases where, if they were let alone, even if
their feet were worn through on the bottom and
bled, it would be less painful and far more health-
ful to their feet. Did you ever know a horse or
an ox whose feet were spoiled by going bare, or
without shoes ? I never did, and I don't believe
anybody ever did, yet I have seen some sore feet,
and so thin ilvdt you could see through to the
quick, and the blood sometimes oozing out ; but
a little care in shoeing, or rest without shoeing,
would make all right and perfectly natural."
Ploughing. — Light or gravelly soils which
quickly become dry, may be ploughed at almost
any time ; but rich loams should be taken at pre-
cisely the right period. If ploughed too early
while yet wet, they may become i)oached and in-
jured for the season. If left too late, the sjjring
rains may have settled back wiiat the frosts ot
winter liave loosened. Ploughing well saves
much labor in subsequent tilh^ge. Narrow furrow
slices, (except with sward,) pulverize the soil more
perfectly, and leave a beautiful mellow suriaLC.
Furrows seven or eight inches deep, and only six
inclies wide are easy for the team, and leave the
1 md in veiy handsome condition. — t'ounlri/ (Jen-
tloiian.
He who asked the daughter's hand, and got the
father's foot, had the consolation of knowing that
his wooing was not bootless.
206
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JuflE
DESTROY THE CATERPILIiABS.
"E. G. F.," of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is an-
nounced in the Ploivmun to have discovered an in-
fallible substance for the destruction of caterpil-
lars. He says : "I can destroy every vestige of
caterpillars from a hundred trees for $1 50." Yes-
terday morning, between the hours of five and six
o'clock, pole and brush in hand, we visited some
two hundred trees, and destroyed the nest of every
caterpillar we could find. The wear of the brush
could not have been more than two cents, and the
hour occupied was abundantly paid for in visiting
and observing the beautiful trees, in breathing the
exhilarating air, and in listening to the songs of a
variety of birds which were vocal with their morn-
ing praise. When "E. G. F." comes to make the
destruction of caterpillars a practical matter, he
will find it necessary to pass over the trees more
than once during the season — perhaps over some
of them half-a-dozen times — for they are continu-
ally being hatched out during ten or fifteen days,
and some species as late as July and August.
The expense incurred in the destruction of cater-
pillars is in the time occupied in the work, and
where the trees are visited several times annually,
four or five hundred trees will not require more
than one full day's time, when the odd hours are
all included. Believing that many readers do not
fully appi'eciate the mischief caused by these in-
sects, we quote a part of what Dr. Harris says
of them in his "Insects Injurious to Vegetation."
These insects, because they are the most com-
mon and most abundant in all parts of our coun-
tiy, and have obtained such notoriety that in com-
mon language they are almost exclusiseiy known
among us by the name of the eatcrpillars, are the
worst enemies of the orchard. Where proper at-
tention has not been paid to the destruction of
them, they prevail to such an extent as almost en-
tirely to strip the apple and cherry trees of their
foliage, by their attacks continued during the
seven weeks of their life in the caterpillar form,
The trees, in those orchards and gardens where
they have been suffered to breed for a succession
of years, become prematurely old, in consequence
of the efibrts they are obliged to make to repair,
at an unseasonable time, the loss of their foliage,
and are rendered unfruitful, and consequently un-
profitable. But this is not all ; these pernicious
insects spread in every direction, from the trees of
the careless and indolent, to those of their more
Careful and industrious neighbors, whose labors
are thereby greatly increased, and have to be fol-
lowed up year after year, without any prospect of
permanent relief.
Many methods and receipts for the destruction
of these insects have been published and recom-
mended, but have fiiiled to exterminate them, and
indeed have done but little to lessen their num-
bers, as, indeed, might be expected from the tenor
of the foregoing remarks. In order to be com-
pletely successful they must he unioersalln adoj^ted.
These means comprehend both the destruction of
the eggs and of the caterpillars. The eggs are to
be sought for in the winter and the early part of
spring, when there are no leaves on the trees.
They are easily discovered at this time, and may
be removed with the thumb nail and fore finger.
Nurseries and the lower limbs of large trees may
thus be entirely cleared of the clusters of eggs
during a few visits made at the ])roper season. It
is well known that the caterpillars come out to
feed twice during the daytime, namely, in the fore-
noon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave
their nests before nine in the morning, and return
to them again at noon. During the early part of
the season, while the nests are small, and the cat-
erpillars young and tender, and at those hours
when the insects are gathered together within their
common habitation, they may be effectually de-
stroyed by crushing them by hand in the ne«ts.
A brush, somewhat like a bottle-brush, fixed to a
long handle, as recommended by the late Colonel
Pickering, or, for the want thereof, a dried mullein
head and its stalk fastened to a pole, will be use-
ful to remove the nests, mth the caterpillairs con-
tained therein, from those branches which are too
high to be reached by hand. Instead of the
brush, we may use, with nearly equal success, a
small mop or sponge, dipped as often as necessary
into a pailful of refuse soapsuds, strong white-
wash, or cheap oil. The mop should be thrust in-
to the nest and turned round a little, so as to wet
the caterpillars with the liquid, which will kill
every one that it touches. Tliese means, to be
efi'ectual, should be employed dui'ing the proper
hours, that is, early in the morning, at midday, or
at night, and as soon in the spring as the caterpil-
lars begin to make their nests j and they should
be repeated as often, at least, as once a week,, till
the insects leave the trees.
Early attention and perseverance in the use of
these remedies will, in time, save the farmer hun-
dreds of dollars, and abuzidance of mortification
and disappointment, besides rewarding him with
the grateful sight of the verdant foliage, snowy
blossoms, and rich fruits of his orchard in their
pi'oper seasons.
A JSTEW BUTTER-^WOBKEB.
Sometime last fall we spoke of having seen the
operations of a new machine for separating the
buttermilk from butter. Since that time, we have
had one of them in operation, and believe it has
been fairly tested. Giving it our personal atten-
tion— aided by our excellent and skilful wife, in
butter-making — we found the results as favorabl®
as stated by the inventor, or as could be desired.
The process of excluding the buttermilk is simple,
quick and effective. Any one can go through it
without hesitation. The butter came through dry,
brittle, and without being in any way injured, so
far as we could observe.
A letter just received from the inventor, George
W. Putnam, of Peterboro', Madison county, N.
Y., says E. D. Bacon, Esq., of Peterboro', "keeps
a large store, and as is the practice of country
merchants take in small lots of butter through the
spring and summer, and packs it in firkins for the
New York market." He said "he had as hard a
looking lot of butter as he ever saw any where,"
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
207
and he wished to tiy the power of my machine in
mixing it. It was of all colors, from that of the
whitest lard, to the deepest yellow ever obtained
from carrot coloring. It certainly did look for-
midable. We went to work, and on putting it
through the machine twice, the colors were thor-
oughly mixed, and on inserting the "Tryer" in a
90 pound firkin, no difference of color could he
seen ! He showed the results in mixing butter to
several persons, and they all declared with him
"that the butter looked as even in color as the
best dainj-pached, buffer, and at the same time
there was not a vestige of buttermilk in it —
while, in almost every firkin of dairy-packed but-
ter, the * Tryer' would show the buttermilk in
drops all through its length."
Judging from the trials we have made of the
machine, we should expect the results which Mr.
Putnam describes. If the machine was in general
use, our markets would show a vastly superior
qualitii of butter over that which they now con-
tain, we have no doubt.
That the machine accomplishes what is desired
of it, seems to us quite certain. How much but-
ter must be made, in order that one of them shall
be profitable, must be decided by each butter-
maker for herself.
EXTKACTS AND REPLIES.
A LAME MARE.
I have a valuable marc that was taken lame a num-
ber of weeks since, and as I do not know what to do
for it, I would be pleased to get iiii'ormation from some
of your numerous correspondents, (through your pa-
per,) concerning the same. There seems to tie a sore-
ness in the heel of her forward foot. She endeavors
to walk on her toe, and don't liring her heel down
readily, aud after travelling awhile she holds her foot
out forward as though it pained her. There is no ap-
pearance of any injury externally. It seems to be an
internal soreness in the heel, just back of the frog. I
have had her shod several tin^.cs since she became
lame, and the Ijlacksmith found no gravel in the foot,
nor discovered anj-^ cause for the lameness. If you
can give me any information concerning the treatment
of this lameness, I should be very much obliged for
the same. H. W. Eaton.
Fairhaven, May, 1863.
Remauks. — From the symptoms which you have
described, we are inclined to think that the difficulty
lies in the shoulder and not in the foot. If the mare
is valualjle, is it not worth while to call in to your aid
the advice of some veterinary doctor ?
IT WILL NOT DO FOR ALL TO THINK ALIKE.
In the Farmer of April 2.5th, "W. D. B.," of Con-
cord, Mass., thinks it unprofitable to raise Indian corn
about here, and thinks we had better kt the West
raise the corn. I agree with him. I think at the
present prices (oats 80 cents and corn §1 per Inishel)
it pays to raise oats and buy corn. If wc should all
think so, corn would be up, and oats would be doun.
By not raising corn I get more time to raise vegetables,
strawberries, &c. Last year I raised (frona about four
rods square) over 400 boxes of strawljcrrics. I think
it paj'S. If wc should all think so, corn would be np,
and strawberries would l)e down. I know of men
who go in for raising wool, and arc going to keep all
the lambs they i-aise, both male and female. They
think It pays. If we should all think so, hay, meat,
butter, cheese aud milk would be up, and wool would
be down. And so it would be if we should all go in
for any one thing, that thing would surely be down.
If every one should think as much of I^eghorn hens
as I do, the country would be full of eggs, and sitting
hens would be scarce. H. F. Gates.
Xcw Worcester, 1863.
CHERRY TREE — GROUND RONE — HORSE POWER.
Can you or any of your correspondents tell mc the
reason why a cherry tree docs not bear or rather ma-
ture its fruit when it blossoms every year ? I have
one, and only one, that I grafted several years ago,
but I do not recollect that it has matured a single
cherry. It is in full bloom now, but probably I shall
not get any fruit.
Is not ground bone one of the best, if not the rerj/
best fertilizers out ? What is the price of it per lb. ?
Can you or any of the readers of the Farmer give mc
any information respecting a machine termed a two-
horse planet power ? Is it reliable ? &c.
Wrentham, Mai/, 1863. Old Subscriber.
Remauks. — We cannot answer the questions with
regard to the cherry tree or horse power. Ground
bone is an excellent fertilizer — whether the best in the
world or not, we cannot say.
RENOVATE AN OLD PASTURE.
How can I renovate an old pasture, too rocky to
plough? Soil rather dry ; considerable moss has got
in. Would you apply a!-hcs as a topdressing ? leached
or unleached ? at what time? x,
Keene, .V. H., May 21, 1863.
Remarks. — Sow ashes, leached or not, as you can
oljtain them, then various grass seeds, and follow with
the harrow pretty thoroughly. Do it now, or as soon
as convenient. Early next April sow ten pounds of
clover seed per acre, and some well composted ma-
nure if possible. In the ensuing fall send us an ac-
count of results, will you ? This is one way. If the
land is low and wet, drain it, or the course recom-
mended will be of little use.
records of sheep.
We have no blanks, and no means of furnishing
them, suitable for keeping records of sKccp, as in-
quired for by a correspondent. The labels sent are
ingenious, and we should think would prove very ser-
viceable.
THE CHICKADEE.
Will J. A. A. please give a description of the Chick-
adee ? Orrix IIagek.
Wallingford, Vt., Feb., 1863.
How TO Sti'FF Biuns. — On another page,
we have given an article on this subject, written
for the Farmer more than ten years ago, by our
late excellent Associate and friend Judge Fukn'CII.
An article on the subject has been repeatec^Jy
called for, recently, and we republish this as the
clearest and most comprehensive account in our
knowledge.
Worth Knowing. — Green copperas dissolved
in water will effectually concentrate and destroy
the foulest smells, and if placed under a lied in
hospitals and sick rooms, will render the atmos-
phere free and ])ure. For butcher's stalls, fish
markets, sinks, and wherever there are oifensive,
putrid gases, dissolved copperas sprinkled about
will, in a day or two, purify the atmosphere, and
an application once a week will keep it sweet and
healthy.
208
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
July
For the Neto England Farmer.
ON COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD.
Mr. Editor : — Your correspondent of Kensing-
ton mistakes in supposing that my mind is pretty
much on potatoes. He writes as though I recom-
mended potatoes for fattening hogs. My remarks
on potatoes were to iUwstrate my idea of the value
of cooked food compared with raw. Hogs can be
fatted on cooked potatoes ; no person of experi-
ence will attempt to do it on raw. One of the
most successful farmers I ever knew — one who
found farming profitable — had a large oven con-
structed, and baked his potatoes for his hogs, which
he thus fatted to four hundred weight each. That
was when potatoes were worth ten or twelve cents
a bushel, and could be raised on rough land at the
rate of two to three hundred bushels to the acre.
Now, it requires good land and good cultivation
to get a hundred bushels of sound potatoes to the
acre. But to return to the subject of cooked or
raw food. Your correspondent alludes to the prac-
tice of many persons to feed raw corn and whole,
and suggests that the experiments of Ellsworth
were in 1847, before the later practice. I suppose
hogs were then pretty much like the hogs of the
present day, and corn the same. In this part of
the country, many, and very large proportion of
people, have no barn cellars and let their cattle
range up and down the road ; but that is no argu-
ment to convince me that this is the best treat-
ment of cattle or the most ])rofitable way to save
manure. It has been a standing maxim that what
an animal digests aflbrds the nutriment, not what
it eats, merely. If this still holds true, the large
part of the hard corn eaten by hogs that passes
them undigested is lost. If crushed and cooked, it
would not be.
When I was a boy there was much said about a
great Morrell hog that weighed over six hundred
pounds, a very large hog for that day, and he was
fatted on hasty pudding and milk. If it made him
sleepy it gave him rest to fatten.
The many cases of practice quoted by Mr.
Brown do not purport to be founded on well tried
experiments, and prove nothing against the ex-
perience and observation of practical men.
RuFUs McIntire.
Parsonsfidd, Me., 1863.
For the Netp England Fanner.
TREES AND VINES, AND THEIE, ROOTS.
There exists an impression among farmers that
the roots of trees extend no further hoi'izontally
than their limbs do vertically. So of vines — that
the spread of the roots and the vine are equal.
On such matters as this farmers have no right to
mere impressions ; they, of all men, should have
positive knowledge. This belongs to their de-
partment and it is not to the honor of a man to
have eyes no better than mere lenses for his s])e-
cial calling. When I go into a store and find the
keeper knows nothing more of the goods he is
daily handling, of their material, of their manufac-
ture, and of the many questions that would sug-
gest themselves to any intelligent person, than my
own fingers and eyes will at the moment give, I,
of necessity, set that man down as a stupid dolt —
who has voluntarily become a slave that he may
thereby get money. This is the disgrace of a man,
not what he does, whether he is a rag-gatherer or
a merchant prince, but that he is a mere drudge
at it, a mere finger-worker, or a mere eye-worker,
with no mind that subjects all things to itself and
makes the business but intellectual and spiritual
pabulum for the building of a man. It is not nec-
essary that any farmer should be but a mere Avork-
er, a mere drudge ; but necessity oftentimes press-
es him close towai'ds these narrow confines, and
he, therefore, who invents labor-saving machines,
and thus lessons the pressure of labor on the hus-
bandman, does more for his mental and moral im-
provement than many learned essays heavy with
dolorous lamentations and emphatic with injunc-
tions.
But to return to the root of this matter — a tree
root it is — while uncovering my seed cabbage the
other day, I found the root of a mulberry tree
traversing the soil at a great distance from the
parent tree. I called old "Mike's" attention to it,
but he was sure it couldn't be the root of the tree,
for he had heard say in the "ould counthry" that
the roots of an ash could never run farther than
its top. "But, see here, Mike," said I, "you see
how yellow it is, as yellow as a gold dollar, so it
must be from the mulberry tree, and from nothing
else."
This Mike couldn't deny, though the supreme
sovereignty of his native oak tree might be some-
what limited thereby ; so he took the lath lying
near by (we use the lath for the seed cabbage ;
four feet by two is a gVjod rule) and measured the
distance to the tree. It was just forty-four feet
from where we found the root ; and as the root
was there about one-quarter of an inch in diame-
ter, it would be safe to estimated that the root ex-
tended fifty feet from its native tree. We found
the height of the tree to be about twenty-five feet.
Observing people could readily recount a score
of illustrations proving that the roots of trees and
vines do extend further than the vertical or hori-
zontal growth above ground. The impression that
the i-oots of squash vines keep pace with the spread
of the vine itself, is entirely erroneous. Four
years ago I traced the root of a vine five feet from
the hill, though the vine had, at that date, made a
growth of but eighteen inches.
Any one can have a very pleasing illustration
on this point by planting squashes in a rich, po-
rous soil, and de])ositing some manure on the sur-
face at various distances from the vines. In a
short time, on lifting the manure, a beautiful dis-
play will present itself: a plexure, or net work of
ten thousand little white rootlets will be seen, so
numerous and so minute as to confuse the eye
and appear like a thin mist on the surface.
James J. H. Gregory.
Marhlehead, Mmj, 1863.
Calves. — The great secret of success in raising
calves, aSter keeping them clean and comfortable,
is very regular and uniform feeding, combined with
nutritious food, and avoiding all sudden changes
in their food. On the whole, it is best to wean
them very early, as they will then never suck the
cow again, nor themselves. Their food may at
first be new milk, then warm skimmed milk, then
skimmed milk with meal intermixed, thus passing
from new milk to common food with meal, and
being especially careful that all these changes
should be very gradual, and almost imperceptible.
— Country Gentleman.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
209
EXCELLENT
The Canada Crookneck Squash.
Perhvips no vegetable is better known — unless it
be the potato — among our New England people,
than the Canada Crookneck Squash. It has sev-
eral excellent qualities. It is hardy, the vines suf-
fering but little from bugs and worms ; the crop
is almost a certain one, and it ripens early, and
when ripe may be preserved through the entire
year. It is uniform in quality, sweet, rich and
excellent every way. The good old custom of
hanging them about the kitchen walls, where they
remained sound and fresh until May or June, is
not entirely done away with yet, as we have re-
cently seen them in prime condition.
Mr. Burr, who has kindly fiivored us with the
above pleasant illustration, says, "the plants of
this variety are similar in habit to those of the
common Winter Crookneck ; but the foliage is
smaller, and the growth less luxuriant. In point
of size, the Canada Crookneck is the smallest of
its class. When the variety is unmixed, the
weight seldom exceeds five or six pounds. It is
sometimes bottle-formed ; but the neck is gener-
ally small, solid, and curved in the form of the
large Winter Crctoknecks. The seeds are con-
tained at the blossom-end, which expands some-
what abruptly, and is often slightly ribbed. Skin
of moderate thickness, and easily pierced by the
WINTER SQUASHES.
Mr. Burr, in his new work on "Field and Gar-
den Vegetables" says "the fruit is irregularly oval,
sometimes ribbed, but often without rib-marUiugs,
from eight to ten niches in length, seven or eight
inches in diameter, and weighing from seven to
nine pounds — some specimens terminate quite ob-
tusely, others taper sharply towards the extremi-
ties, which are frequently bent or curved ; skin,
or shell, dense and hard, nearly one-eighth of an
inch thick, and overspread with numerous small
protuberances ; stem fleshy, but not large ; color
variable, always rather dull, and usually clay-blue
or deep olive-green, — the upper surface, if long
exposed to the sun, assuming a brownish cast, and
the under surface, if deprived of light, becoming
/^
;
^fe
orange-yellow ; flesh ricn salmon-yellow, thicker
than that of the Autumnal Marrow, very fine-
nail : color, when fully ripened, cream-yellow, but, . , ^ , , „ ,, n
.„ , ' , . , „ , , , a ^ grained, sweet, dry, and of most excellent flavor —
if long kept, becoming duller and darker ; nesh r ., . , .
salmon-red, very close-grained, dry, sweet, and
fine-flavored ; seeds comparatively small, of a gray-
ish or dull white color, with a rough and uneven
yellowish-brown border; three hundred are con-
tained in an ounce."
The Hubbard Squash.
We have raised and used this squash for sever-
al years, and the advice of the women is, to plant
no other land. As a whole, it is the best squash
we have. It was introduced by J. J. H. GREG-
ORY, Esq., of Marblehead, who has frequently
spoken of it through these columns. There is
one fact in relation to it which may not be gener-
ally known, that it is excellent in its early growth,
say a third grown, as good as the early Summer
Squash, Cymbling, or Scolloped Squash, as it is
variously called.
in this last respect, resembling that of roasted or
boiled chestnuts; seeds white— similar to those
of the Autumnal Marrow. Season from Septem-
ber to June ; but the flesh is dryest and sweetest
during autumn and the early part of winter.
The Hubbard squash should be grown in hills
seven feet apart, and Wiree ])lants allowed to a
hill. It is essential that the planting be inr.de as
far as possible from similar varieties, as it mixes,
or hybridizes, readily with all of its kind. In
point of productiveness, it is about equal to the
Autumnal Marrow. The average yield from six
acres was nearly five tons of marketaljle squashes
to the acre."
Forty thousand head of cattle, worth .? 1,600,-
000, have been sent East from Iowa, in the past
year.
210
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JULT
For the New England Farmer,
HOW TO STUFF BIKDS.
My Dear Brown : — In a recent number of the
Farmer, in reply to a correspondent who asks in-
formation on the above subject, you refer to me as
one skilled in the art of Taxidermy, and willing
to impart knowledge to others. Now there are
many things very easily done by those who hioxo
lioio, and yet very difficult to teach by pen and
ink, to those who have no idea of the process.
If you doubt the ti'uth of the proposition, sit
down some pleasant morning, and describe the
process of editing a newspaper, so that we can all
understand it as well as you !
I flatter myself that I can skin and stuff a bird
so that he will look, as the artist said of his por-
trait, a little more natural than life, and enjoy as
much of immoHality as bones and feathers are
suceptible of, but whether I can set the process
down, so that all your readers can go and do like-
wise, remains to be seen. I made my collection,
of about a hundred New Hampshire birds, be-
tween 1835 and 1838, and they remain as perfect
as when just completed.
I have delayed answering your correspondent,
hoping to find in some printed book directions on
the subject, that might save me the trouble of
writing, but not one word do I find, and as I had
no teacher myself, I dare say that they who have
skill in such matters may smile at my awkwardness.
To any such, I would say that if they could only
see the big Washington Eagle, which looks down
from the top of a book-case, with such a patroniz-
ing air upon me as I write, ready to lend me a
quill tii'O feet long, in case of emergency, they
would be glad to laugh on our side.
As in the case of a duel, the preliminaries are
longer than the actual fight, so the preparations
for stuffing the bird are the larger half of the
work, at least on paper.
Arsenical Soap.
To preserve the skins of animals from putrifac-
tion and from insects, arsenic is the substance
generally used. Many persons use it in the form
of dry powder, as sold at the shops. I have used
a preparation, called arsenical soap, warmed so as
to melt together over a slow fire, with an ounce of
camphor gum added, just before the mixture cools.
It is applied to the skin, inside of course, with a
brush, like lather to ones chin. The proportions
may be by weight, ten ounces of arsenic (oxyde of
arsenic,) five ounces of white bar soap, and one
ounce of gum camphor ; the arsenic and soap
melted together over a slow fire, and the camphor
added when the mixture is nearly cold. At the
Patent Office, at Washington, the Taxidermists
use, instead of arsenical soap, a preparation of
about an ounce of arsenic in a gill of camphorat-
ed spirits. By the latter term, I understand, a
saturated solution of alcohol with camphor gum.
Add the arsenic and shake them up together in a
bottle. I should think this preparation might be
more convenient than arsenical soap. It is ap-
plied with a brush in the same way as the other.
Implements.
For tools, a sharp knife with a flat ivory handle,
like a budding knife, a pair of cutting forceps, a
pair of pincers, and a pair of small tweezers, such
as watchmakers use, will -be found convenient.
Annealed iron wire, of vaaious sizes, according to
the victim to be sacrificed, will be required to sup-
port the birds, when mounted, and a quantity of
toil) for stuffing. Cotton will not answer the pur-
pose, because, as every girl who ever made a pin-
cushion can tell, it is difficult to thrust even a
sharp wire through it.
How to kill a Sird.
It is quite an easy matter, to shoot a bird, and
most birds must be shot, but often living birds are
brought to us, and as one would dislike to skin
them alive, it is necessary to kill them in a proper
and becoming manner. You can easily wring
their necks, or cut their heads off, but since feath-
ers are considered somewhat ornamental to birds,
this kind of violence will not do. Blood can be
easily washed ofl" of toater birds, but not from land
birds, so conveniently. Poison will not affect birds
of prey, such as hawks and the like. I gave my
eagle a teaspoonful of j^russic acid, and instead of
dying of it, he seemed rather refreshed.
The scientific mode of murdering the poor in-
nocent creatures, if they are not too large to
handle, is to j) inch them with the thumb and fnger
under the wings so as to stop respiration, and as
gentle Isaac Walton says, in directing how to put-
a live frog on to a fish hook, "in so doing, handle
him as if you loved him." Byron says, by the
way, that Walton was "a quaint, old, cruel cox-
comb," and that he deserved to have "a hook in
his gullet" — "with a small trout to pull it." If
any one objects to having birds killed, he "had
better stop," as the Irishman said, "before he be-
gins" his collection.
How to Skin and Stuff Him.
Stop the mouth, nostrils and shot holes with
cotton, to prevent the flow of blood. Lay the bird
on its back, part the feathers on the breast, and
cut through the skin from the breast bone nearly
to the tail. If the blood flows, use powdered
plaster, or something better, if you know what it
is, to absorb it. Separate the bone of the wings
at the joint, from the breast bone. Cut off the
neck, close to the breast. Separate the leg bones
from the body, leaving the bone in the bare part
of the leg, and one joint above, and take the
body out. Put in some cotton or tow to prevent
the skin from sticking together. Turn the neck
wrong side out, till you reach the skull, and cut
away the neck and enough of the skull bone to
lay the brain bare, which is to be removed, as well
as the eyes, on the inside. Apj^ly the arsenic and
stuff the head and neck with toio, as you turn it
back.
By this time, the subject will have lost all re-
semblance to the bird he was, and it will seem al-
most as hopeless to make a cabinet ornament of
his mortal remains, as to make him fly and sing
again, but he will soon improve.
Take a piece of wire about a third longer than
the bird, and bend it, so as to form a loop near the
middle, and file each end sharp. Thrust one end
through the neck and out through the forehead,
and the other through the tail. Thrust another
down inside of each leg, between the skin and
bone, through the sole of the foot, and twist the
upper ends round the loop, and wind a thread or
some tow round the leg bone and wire inside the
skin. These are to support the bird on his perch,
and must be firm. Twist another wire, to form a
cross with the first, and confine it at the loop, and
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARJIER.
211
thrust it under the skin of the wings. This wire,
which is to support the wings, may be omitted in
very small birds, and pei'haps in all, except those
which it is desired to put into very rampant atti-
tudes, the skin of the wing being strong enough,
when dry, to keep the wing in place. Open the
skin of the wing underneath, and remove the
flesh, and apply arsenic to the bones and skin.
Finish stuffing, and sew up the cut in the skin,
and any other accidental holes, with a fine needle
and thread ; find some sprightly posture in an en-
graving, or imitate nature, if you can, and having
smoothed his dress, and arranged him to your
fancy, on an artificial stone made of a pasteboard
form, sanded, or on a twig, or block, you may
consider him finished, except the eyes. These are
of glass, and can be procured, of all sorts, in
Boston. They may be put in at any time, by
moistening the eyelids.
In arranging birds in a cabinet, of course, one
will put the he-d side out, just as the ladies put the
trimming on the congregation side of their bon-
nets, and thei'e are various other little innocent
"tricks of the trade," such as supplying a few
feathers from another bird of the same species, or
even a wing or leg, if necessary, that will occur
to a youth of genius.
As food for reflection to those who see in such
pursuits — pursuits which filled the soul of such
men as Wilson and Xuttal and Audubon — noth-
ing worthy of the attention of rational men, let
me quote, in conclusion, a few lines from Boker's
"Calaynos :"
"He I why to him the gay are butterflies.
Flitting around a light, of which they died.
He looks on pleasure as a kind of sin ;
Calls pastime waste-time. Kach to his trade say I.
I heard a man who spent a mortal life
In hoarding up all kinds of stones and ores.
Call one, who spitted flies upon a pin,
A fool, to pass his precious life-time thus
What might delight you, lady, may not him ;
Aiid uet yourjileasures an^ue you no foot.
Nor his grave broics prore a pttdosopher,
Exeter, N. IL, June, 18j2. h. f. f.
Fur the Netr England Farmer.
THE T"WO LABOR SYSTEMS OF OUK
COUNTRY.
Mr. Editor : — If there has ever been any con-
spicuous difference in regard to the advantasres
between Northern and Southern methods of la-
bor, it is certainly manifested at the present time.
"While the prices of products of all kinds, at the
South, are now enormous, and of many necessary
articles there is an utter destitution, at the North
])lenty abounds, and although thousands of those
who have been accustomed to labor in the field
have joined the army, yet the necessaries of life
are with us comparatively cheap. But, how is it
with the South ? True, although few laborers
hai-e been taken away, yet even of those products
which they raise upon their plantations, there
seems to be but a small supply, and in many places
actual starvation is occurring. Steadily and sure-
ly, within the last twenty-five years, has Northern
labor shown its superiority, and the gap between
it and slave labor has become more and more per-
ceptible. While the Southern States have re-
mained at a stand, emigration has been pouring
into the Northern. The vast West, a few years
ago a wilderness, has now many large and flour-
ishing cities, and all over that part of our country
the true signs of prosperity are apparent in the
energy and thrift of the population. The one
system is degrading in its influences, brutalizing
in its effects, bringing out all the lowest passions
of man's nature. The other seeks to develop our
higher faculties, brings forth the latent powers of
our minds, and places man where man should be.
The one system is never found but in the midst
of poverty, vice and ignorance. The other en-
courages education, the establishment of institu-
tions of learning and liberally patronizes science
and the arts. The Soutli realized this, and com-
prehending in some measure, the inferiority of
their labor system, thought fit, before it was to-
tally destroyed by the advancement of Northern
enterprise, to secede from the Union. But the
day of its death is not far away, its doom is sure-
ly recorded. As long as the American farmer
can maintain the proud position he now possesses,
of being an intelligent, active, patriotic man, who
not only can understand the nature of the soil he
tills, the ingredients of which it is composed, the
remedies for its renovation, but also the workings
of our government, and is prepared to do his part
in the solution of national and practical difficul-
ties, as we find is the case in our Legislatures, he
need be under no apprehension that the Southern
system of labor can compare with the Northern.
If the South should at last be recognized, as the
Southern Confederacy, the advantages we now
possess would still remain stronger than before,
and deprived of the aid of the Northern States,
with their commerce paralyzed, and the prepon-
derance of trade with European powers carried
on by us, very soon their corrupt government
would fall to pieces or become of insignificant im-
portance. Then, may the cultivated intelligence
of the North, uphold the same noble principle of
our fathers, which took years to gain, and which
they transmitteil, a priceless legacy, for the gener-
ation to cherish and protect. ^GIS.
Norih Weymouth, Feb. 1, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
FLESH AS FOOD.
Messrs. Editors : — It has been a question
among moral philosophers, whether it was lawful
to kill animals and eat their flesh as food, to sus-
tain their own lives, but the argument has gener-
ally turned in favor of meat-eating. I believe
that the eating of animals is justified by the Bi-
ble, custom and natural desire. The appetite of
all animals indicates what is most suitable for
food for each variety of grade, from the lowest
that moves in and under the waters of the ocean,
up to the highest orders of animal creation ; thus
every degree of animal vitality in and under the
waters, as well as above the waters, is left by in-
stinct (except man) to select that kind of food
most congenial to its own requirements. Canni-
bals eat those they lore, their enemies ; all carniv-
orous animals will eat those of other s])ecies, if
not their own ; very few of them, except fish, are
so revolting to nature as man, who has had the
reputation of eating his own wives. Mankind,
j in a reputed civilized state, eat the creatures they
' love, like the cannibals; their pet chickens, pigs,
lambs, kids, calves, and many other little innocent,
jjlayful creatures, which their wives and daughters
j have nursed with the tenderest love and care, and
I which we delight to exhibit to our friends, are
' surrendered to the remorseless butcher, and tbea
212
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
we wipe our mouths and say, "We are innocent."
It is true that people can live ujion vegetables
alone for a length of time, but whether to the
prolongation of life is a question. The requisite
quantity of carbon, or fat, to sustain the body in
a healthy condition extracted from a vegetable
diet, must overburden the digestive organs and
retard their power of action, more than obtaining
the requisite amount of carbon directly from good
meat. The carbon or fat is a necessary ingredient
in the formation of the blood, and the rounda-
liout way of extracting this ingredient from vege-
tables alone, in some constitutions, will overbur-
den the stomach and result in dyspepsia. Vege-
tarians derive the same nutritive elements from
vegetables that the flesh-eater does from meat ;
the vegetarian eats more in quantity than the
meat-eater, to get the necessary material to be
changed into chyle, blood and flesh ; the meat-
eater's food is more concentrated, and less in bulk
is required to furnish the same amount of nutri-
tive prrnciple ; the grass and vegetables which
the ox eats are of the first organization, and there-
fore he has to eat enormous quantities of them to
derive a sufficient quantity of oil from such innu-
tritions food to be converted, through the process
of digestion, into fat to cover his ribs to fit him
for the shambles.
He that eats the ox eats the product of the sec-
ond organization, and he gets precisely the same
constituents from the beef that the ox derives
from the herbage, but in a more direct way. Phy-
sicians prescribe cod liver oil to scrofulous pa-
tients that cannot eat fat meat, in order that the
lungs may be supplied with a due proportion of
carbon. In the Arctic Regions, the rice-eater of
India or the Jew of Palestine who would loathe
swine's flesh at home, by the instinct of appetite,
would greedily devour the oil of the "beloved
seal," on being transferred to those regions. The
appetite, in any country or climate, is the most
reHable indication of what the system requires
for sustenance. Silas Bkown.
NoHh Wilmington, Jan., 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
PROFITS FROM PIGS AND POULTRY.
Mr. Editok : — "More Anon," in his "Retro-
spective Notes" of March 21, makes some very
just observations respecting the unprofital)leness
of feeding pigs with swill too much reduced, or
diluted. His remarks reminded me of the story
of a certain farmer who was told he could fatten
his hogs upon sawdust by mixing some meal with
it; but he soon ascertained that his swine in-
creased in size, and grew fat just in proportion to
the amount of meal mixed with the sawdust. It
is probably pretty much the same with "dishwa-
ter ;" it will make the pigs thrive in proportion to
the milk, meal, or other nutritious food which is
mixed with it. I suppose, however, there may be
danger, (though not as much) of making swill too
thick as well as too thin. It seems to me that
pigs which are so fed as to gain one pound or
more per day, and thus weigh from 300 to 400
pounds when ten months old, will not be disposed
to take sufficient exercise to be healthy themselves,
or to promote the health of those who may con-
sume them ; nor will they be much inclined to
turn over and mix together the muck and other
materials which may be furnished them for the
purpose of making manure, which is the principal
source of profit ; for I suppose it is generally ad-
mitted that if persons in this part of the country
are obliged to purchase everything upon which to
feed their i)igs, so far as pork is concerned, they
may about as well buy as raise it ; but the ma-
nure, if rightly managed, is nearly so much clear
gain. This, however, like the food upon which
the swine are fed, may be too much adulterated
to be profitable.
But enough of pigs, at least for the present, for
I wish to refer to "Mr. Ives's" account of his i)oul-
try, which appeared in the paper of the date above
mentioned.
He calls it his yearly account, commencing the
first of March, 1862, and, of course, should have
closed the last of Feb. 1663, but it will be seen
there is an item of $2 24 as the expense for March
of the present year, and also another of $11 69 as
the income from 46i- dozens of eggs for the same
month. Now it is said we should not count our
chickens before they are hatched, but this can cer-
tainly be called counting eggs before they are laid,
for the account was published the 21st of March,
and was probably sent to the printer several days
previous to that time. Either Mr. Ives, or "the
wicked type setter," must have made a mistake.
As 85 dozens of eggs were sold for $1 per do-
zen, it is fair for Mr. Ives to average his at 25
cents, but if I am not mistaken, the "market
price" the past year, as reported in the Fanner,
has not averaged more than 20 cents. Judtfins^
from the number of eggs laid in the month of
May, I infer that the hens which set in April did
not bring up their chickens, but that they were
raised by hand, or after the fashion of those
hatched in Egyptian ovens, and they must have
grown like young giants. I believe the farmers in
this vicinity think it is doing pretty well if they
can obtain $1 per pair even for their early chick-
ens, but with the exception of 12 young roosters
sold to the butcher, it seems Mr. Ives received
that sum for each of his, and unless the average
price of poultry the past year was more than I2.3
cents, they must have weighed eight pounds apiece,
or about twice as much as common fowls,
I was led to examine Mr. Ives' account some-
what carefully, (perhaps he will call it critically.)
because it seemed to me the net gain or profit,
$139 18 was very large ; for I have known several
persons who have engaged in the poultry business,
and after a year or two of trial, gave it up, as be-
ing unprofitable. But "circumstances alter cases,"
and results will vary accordingly, and we cannot
be surprised that persons come to different con-
clusions upon the same subject, when some of our
Legislative Scions stand up in the State House,
and gravely inform the farmers of Massachusetts,
that sand which is used for jUteri/u/ is as valuable
as muck, for the purpose of absorbing liquid ma-
nure ! A. c. w.
Leominster, May, 1863.
GOOD TILLAGE IS MANURE.
The Ocrmantown Telegraph says farmers do not
generally realize the fact, that good, clean tillage
is about equal to an apj)lication of manure to lands
cultivated slovenly. We all know how much
larger crops we realize in the garden than upon
the farm, just from the superior attention paid to
it in cleansing the ground of all noxious vegeta-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
213
tion and frequently hoeing and otherwise stirring
the soil. The Genesee Fanner makes some useful
remarks on this suhject, as follows :
"We must, more than ever before, realize the
fact that 'tillaffe is manure' — that the literal mean-
ing of the word 'manure' {tnanns, hand, and
oi/rrer, to work,) is hand-labor. To manure the
land is to hoe, to dig, to stir the soil, to expose it
to the atmosphere, to plougli, to harrow, to culti-
vate. The ancient Romans made Stcrcutius a
god, liecause he discovered that the droppings of
animals had the same eflect in enriching the soil
as to hoe it. We can leave the modern method
of mnnn-ing land to our Western farmers, while
we go back to the original method of stirring the
soil. Mr. Lawes has raised a good crop of wheat
even/ s'ea.son for over twenty years on the same
land by simply keeping it thoroughly clean by two
ploughings in the fall and by hoeing the wheat in
sijring by hand. The Rev. S. Smith, of Lois-
u'eedon, has for years raised successive crops of
wheat by a process of trenching the land with a
fork and by hand-hoeing. We do not advocate
this system, but the principle is applicable to our
case. We can maimre our land bv better tillage."
WOOL BEPORT TO THE BOAKD OF
TRADE.
This Report, made to the Board of Trade by
Messrs. Gko. Wm. Bond and Geo. Livermoke,
we have read with interest, as it is intimately con-
nected with one branch of our great manufactur-
ing j)ursuits. It appears that, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, we raise but about two-thirds of our
supply of wool, and depend upon importations for
the balance.
A singular fact is stated, and one very different
from what most people anticipated, that there has
been in no part of the ivorld any perceptible advance
in wool traceable to the effect of the scarcity of cot-
ton 1
In the course of the report it is incidentally sta-
ted that "the French army exj)enses during the
year ending March, 1802, were S«5, 150,000. The
French army is about 030,000 strong. On the 1st
of January, 1860, it had under arms 5.30,994 men ;
on furlough, 64,471 ; in reserve, 11,017 men; to-
tal strength, 620,482 men. The report adds :
"Never has the wool business of this city been
more prosperous than during the past year. The
quantity of domestic growth received here for sale
has been much larger than in any former years.
Several new houses have been established, and
the trade, heretofore scattered, has now centered
itself in a portion of the city convenient to the
manufacturers, in commodious warehouses, well
adapted to the liusiness, which, as a whole, are su-
perior to those occujned by the same class of trade
in any city of the Union. The imports of wool
from abroad have been considerably above the av-
erage in Boston, wliile those into New York have
been far above any i)revious year. A considera-
ble portion of this was for Boston account, and
found its way here for sale.
The total import into the United States cannot
have been less than 60,000,000 pounds, the largest
portion of this being in the unwashed state, makes
it equivalent to not more than 40,000,000 pounds
of domestic growth.
• •••••
In 1861 we called attention to the importance
of the California wool trade, and to the enterprise
of Messrs. Gliddcn iK: Williams in establishiui; a
line of packets from San Francisco to Boston. We
are hn])py to say that we arc realizing the full ben-
efits which we antici])ated.
The clip of that State, then estimated at 3,000,-
000 pounds, has now increased to nearly 6,000,-
000, and in l-SOo will not probably fall short of
8,000,000. Of the clip of 1802, 43 per cent, found
its way to Boston in the ships of this line.
If California increases in wool growing as she
has done, the next census will show her to be the
leading wool growing State of the Union.
For the iV«r England Farmer,
retrospective notes.
"Winter Fki-.ding of Sheep," and Summer
Preparations for it. — March No., pa</c Ho. — •
As every item of correct information in regard to
slieep husbandry is of special importance during
the ])resent sheep fever, and as the article referred
to above not only contains some information which
may be made of value to those who may keep
sheep another winter, but presents, also, one or
tAvo jieculiaritics of practice upon which a few
words of comment may be made with hope of ad-
vantage to some brother sheep-keeper, it has
seemed worth while to notice it, although the sub-
ject of winter feeding of sheep may seem, at first
glance, an unseasonable one. To be as well pre-
])ared as possible for carrying his sheep through
the next winter in the best manner possible, the
man of forethought will take note of every valu-
able hint he may find before winter comes, in or-
der to derive from them, if possible, sDme im-
provement upon his previous modes of managing.
Perhaps there may be some of this modtl class of
men who may find something worth remembering
for the formation of jilans for next winter, espe-
cially as a supply of ruta baga will have to be
grown this summer, if our remarks on the utility
of this root in the winter feeding of sheep should
comend themselves to the judgment of those con-
cerned.
It is in summer, moreover, that provision must
be made for the winter feeding of sheep. If they
are to be fed on oats, rather than on corn ; or if
they are to have potatoes to as large an extent as
Mr. Baxter has been in the habit of feedin;; them;
or if they are to have all the ruta bagas that would
be good for them; then it is in summer that these
tilings must be ])rovided. According to this way
of looking at the mat'er, it is quite as sctsunable
to be thinking about the winter feeding of sheep
now as at any other season of the year. What
will be wanted for them, and which of many things
will be best for them and for their owners, the
owners should be thinking of now, and should
have their plans as to what cro])s, and how much
of them, they must raise for their flocks, all thor-
oughly matured and settled in their minds, long
before winter, yea even before the season of plant-
ing and sowing shall be u])on us. We can lay out
our plans, and proportion our crops to our wants
much more wisely and judiciously now, than we
214
NTAV EXGL-^'D r.VRMEE.
JrLT
gha:! "r-e i:".e tj d: vhen the hurrv o? sprlnj wcri
aikl r-irt-5 shill b^ mailn^ inc^€s-^ant demands upon
the ^-er^ry bx.h :* r'>dy and miiid.
Wr.it rrovis-rn siruld be r:ade. tber.. dur'nar
suiiinier, fcr it£ irmter feedicg cf sbeep ? Li the
•itifde andfer nodee, Mr. Baxter eajs he has fed
oat as Many as dOO bosfaeis of potatoes to 100
sheep during one vioter ; 400 daring another ;
and 110 doiii^ another. In place of bar he |
seeau to use oat stravand com fodder, (the straw i
beiDg pireea enoogh to be good,) at least ontil the
■traw is nea^ gone> *s frf^Hng bar once or trice
a day qmila thor aj^etite for the straw. After
mnwiipncing on hay hie merely uses straw enoogfa
to keep one rac^ filled op with it all the time, so
that they am^ and pick «t it when they please.
Hie grain wladi he gives bis sheep seems to be
mainly oats, wlada he feeds in the ontbredied
state ; at least he does not say anything about >
earn or any odier grain. Pipbably Mr. Baxter
vooIdeooferafaiTor onsomeirf'bis Imther sheep-
keepets if he would infmm them of the groonds
fer bis pfcference of oats, and especially whether
he has feoad diat he gets better and' stronger
hnhs, what he feeds oats to the ewes, than when
he has fed com, or ofl cake, or other sta& which
have a mote direct tendency to form fat than oals
are oaoally soj^KMed to have. We presume there
are many bende mysdf who woold like to have
the opmoa of then- brethren as to the relative in-
fluence of oats and com apoa the healthiness and ■
rigor of lanbs. A writer in the Commtnf Gadte- !
WHO, Oct. 23d, 1862, and in the CmUiealor (Al- {
bany) of Xovember, has a decided prefermce for i
oats as the best grain for breeding ewe8,**as it de-
velops the frame-wock of the l^b, or ia otber
vratds, is a bone aad mnsde-growing feed, while
own or oil meal is best to fet she^." He says
that these latter articles toid to form too mach
ht, and too little bone and masde in the lamb —
an opimon wfaidt seems to onncide with the re-
solts of an mfortaoate experience we had one
season some years ago, when, after feeding th^
ewes quite freefy on com, we had quite a number ,
of lan^M who ctrald searodhr stand up to suck, and
were, many <^ diera, wholly unfit to follow their
raotfaers alioat the pastore. A few woe so weak
in the sjnne or back as to get bent in, and be all
out of shape. WDl some of the readers oi this
)oamal give us the benefit oi thdr experience as
to this matter?
So far then as the practice of Mr. Baxter nmy
be fhoogfat wOTthy ci imitation, the sheep farmo'
should grow, in sufficient quantity to carry his
fliM^ throogfa the winter, oats for the straw and j
grain, ctnn for die fodder, hay and potatoes.)
Few, however, will follow bis example in boiling
the potatoes ; and not many, we think, would feed
potatoes, if they should make a £air comparative
' tzul of them and of mta bagas. This, of all the
root crops, seems to us the one best adapted for ,
feeding to sheep ; and if any reader of this should j
widi to know how to feed, or how many might be j
needed for so many Bheq>, we would say to him, j
diat we hare found noon the best time of day, '
hdag the warmest or least I&ely to chill the sliced i
up bulbs, and that as he will {Robablv fieed them
only about half the time or in the milder days of
winter, and then in the place of the noon feed of
oats, he may calculate that he should provide '
fnongh to feed about a bushel a day to every thir- 1
tv sheep, or in that proportion, for about half of
the winter.
Besides good feed, sheep should have good
shelter, large and dry vards. good water, free ac-
cess to salt, and never be confined except during
stonos. MoEE A>'ON.
THE SEASON AZTD PEOSPECTS.
The winter that was so mild and open, and so
inviting to all to go forth into the mild air and
sunshine, did not expend all its energy during its
aUotted time. March vras frequently vocal with
winter wii^s, and April pwizred forth storms of
snow, and sleet, and rain, and kept the earth
drenched so that farm operations were delayed
beyond their accustomed time. The early part of
May was also wet and cold- Ploughing that was
done, was badly done, and its effects will be felt
through the whole season. Land that is ploughed
while quite wet, fells from the mould-board in
lamps that are quite likely to hold together through
the entire summer.
At this time of writing, May 28, a great deal of
land intended for com and potatoes remains to be
planted, having l)een entirely, too wet to receive
the seed until within a few days- Now, however,
the sorfece of the soil has become quite dry and
is somewbat hard.
Grass and the spring grains appear well, and so
do the fruit trees. The apple and pear blossom
is abundant, notwithstanding the profusion of
last year-
Most trees and plants came through the winter
: :- : " "t condition- We have heard no com-
- 'Tuction of apple trees by mice.
raspberries, blackberries, currants
ries are looking finely, and promise
pientiiui crops-
A littie rain is now needed in this region, al-
though the soil and subsoil is still quite moist.
VEJSi TUoATION.
The following article, in reference to ventilation,
has been widely circulated in the newspapers of
the day. It sets forth a theory which, though ob-
riously fallacious, is nevertheless worthy of criti-
cism, when we consider the high source from
which it emanated :
"A New Theory of VENTiLiTiox. — The
French Academy of Sciences, at its last meeting,
listened to a paper from M. Delbruck, which, if
well founded- will upset a good many of our ex-
isting notions about ventilation- M. Delbruck
has made some researches on the quality of air re-
quired for breathing during slefcp. It strikes him
as singular that, while all medical men are unani-
mous in prescribing several cubic metres of pure
air for each person sleeping in a room as abso-
lutely indispensable for health, all animals appear
to shun the open air as much as possible in order
to compose themselves to sleep. Thus, the lion
and the tiger retire to some dark caveni where the
air is confined ; the dog goes to his kennel, and
thrusts his snout under his belly ; birds, to which
1S63.
Xr^ EXGL^XD F.^JlMEPw
the mea air wtmld apfeir to be ncccimytwheth-
er askep or awake, redre to aome prirate corner,
and pat tbeir heada mder tiieir vin^ Xar,
wbat does the adioolboy do, vhen left in a donci-
tar\ airEd vith particiuu' care ? If be finds be
cannot uli asleep, the fint thing be does is to
bury bis bead under the bed-docfaes. Hence M.
Delfani^ coododea, diat i£, vfaen avake, we ex-
bale a qttantitT of caibooie acid, ve Bost inbale a
certain qoanu'tr of this gaa daring *lee|i, joat as
{dants exhale hj day m oxygen tfaey absorb hj
a^bt-"
In rcfaenee to the &ets bexe given to mbetan-
tiate a trrilj novel theory, we wmild n^^eat dnt
they are sosceptible of qoite a diOaeut intopR-
tatkn. The fioo and t^er hare leewuae to caT-
ems fiar coohiess ; the dog dmat bis w»e onder
bu body for varwth ; die bird pots its bead un-
der its wing; for a stmCar reason; and the boy
boiies bis head mtda the bed-dodies becaoae be
is either cold, or, what is pobaps not va^eqaatt-
ly Ae cascjri^eaed.
I know it is a popolar prejadiee, snpprnted by
b^ medical andianty, that expoeme to "nigfat
aiP* i» peiiliMW for onSnary persons. The grand
error b made ineaaefaidii^ thaft it is meeaiarSjf
so nmder ^eiraamdmmea. I doobt if diere is ooe
indiridaal amoi^ a thnQsaad «iiwf?iiwfd invafids
who could not, even in the winlcr-time, speedily,
safdy and very adTantageoody aojuiie the ability
to endare a perceptible drasgbt c^ "n^b^ air ;''
and whedier the brnnt cf it be receired by the &ee
or the back of the head, die latter being as Uttle
snsceptiUe to the inflaence of a diaa^t as the
former, under an eqoal amoont of expocure.
The erib leaohing from breatbing, ni^ht after
B^t, an almusfJteie beeomii^ more ud more
vitiated as the morning apptoadies, probably eqol,
if tibcy do HOC exceed, tbow lesoldng from the in-
tempmate nae of spiritaooa Kqoora. Indeed, it is
qpeadoBable whether a eravins for stimnfamtahas
not been orrasinnally created by this abominable
yet preraknt custom of keeptne the windows of a
ileqang apartment either entir^ dosed <» opened
bat a "crack." They dwold be widdy opened
ererr ri?r:t thnx^boatthe year, mleas the weath-
er isinteascly cold, or the wind mmsvalfy rk^est,
or aome otha Tahd reason exists for aotigiasiag a
diaagbt.
Were this pKictice vmvczsally adopted, a lar-
nnaiag redodnn voold be qai^iy manifested in
nie freqoescy of mnmiiy headache and nanwra,
and ^-spepaia, daoue catanb, eronp, d^fatheria,
inflaeBia, meailes, acrofbla, coasampdon, teadet
fever, waaT^poB, typhas fever, felon, whitlow, cry- !
ameias and many odcr disorders, which are more \
often induced by an ^fc*-*—! atm<>nihwe, than any
other cause. I
In recommen£ng a diaagbt, I am not advocat-
ing a whirlwind or a hnzxicane, bat merdy sadi a
coirent of air as will soppty the kaags doni^ each"
night witli from eight to ten thoasmidiMtaDmettts [
of pore, fresh, free oxygen, in a qfniatitj foDy <
eqval to any possible demand of the homan S3rs- '
tern. Stagnantaireannot supply ^hm wast, nehh-
cr can air that b iamotiaBif it be not perceptibly
■o; notbii^ lees than a dxaogbt, ■adnale, brt
decided, and cootinning duoaghoat the ai^^t, can >
meet in every respect Uoe reqniiemeBia of health
Of the many and reamckahle aihuitsgis of
4*T«^ in the open air, or what may be legmded 1
as die same tMag, I eaa speak from dDctcca yean'
cxpeiiente. Cii— laiTii, the practice rather ab-
raptiy in ^ winter of 1830,
tml, I became ia a few weeks aearh- as iavalaexn-
Ue to die asaaaks of a freezing cold blast as a aal-
amaadrr to fee. From that time to the present,
I have not ooee safeied from any palmoasiy af-
fectioB, and, except in very rare inrt races, have
been atteriyezen^it from any ibem that coddhe
traced to a aighc-dm^ht exposure. Ia short, a
praetiee which M. Deftmek awrbe dm^t to
regard as aaneeeasary , mmatiaal, and conteoaent-
hrfiaa^ with danger, 1 have n^dly obauiul
for a aeries oCjears, as one of die moat ■-T'-'f^
of an Ae mSs that I have hitherto adofitcd for
TTidffeihrly promoting heaKh, aUciigth and detd-
opaw lit
The foflowiog are a few of the many examiples
thatt aaght be cited to shov how horrible may be
the eSetts of a vitiated atBMaphere : In the year
ITsG, dnriag a rebeffiaa in India, one haaiked
and forty-six perwrns^ ehseiy Ea^bh, Dutch and
Poctueese aoldias, woe wipri'Toiied by the na-
tives^ m the Uack Hofe of Gskntta, which was
nothing ^Mse nor less Aaa aa apart aa iit ^g^f^a
feet aqoare and ahoat liUm. feet h^h, and fin-
niihed widitwo mtad openiagsoa one aadefor
the admisaan of %ht and air. Daring a eonfem-
ment of twelve hoars, one hundred aad twenty-
tlaee periled, and de renainder were isbar
qoendy attuned with ''patrid fever," which pro^
fetal in moat of the cases.
In ^e lear 1797 or ^S, duriE^ a stam at sea,
seventv men, wo^ms and children were kept for a
short tW in the hold if a aaaaB vessel, the hatch-
es of wlach had not tmij been ■4aid over," hat,
for better aeeaiity, battimd dowa." The death
of the ertire nsmbti waa die rernJt. k:
ber, 18IS, aim duriag a storm,
fifty paaaeagem were cncloeed in the same her-
Bomcal manner, m &e tUUMgt eabm of de
steams "Loadoadeny,* while on its panige froaa
Liverpool to Xev Tock. Soon half the aaaaber
perished by saabcatnn, and it b very prulmme
that die rest would have speedily met witn a sim-
ilar fete, bad it not been for the streagdiof one
■ma, who sacceeded ia bnrAiBg open ttedoorof
dw aarrow- cosapanwm-way, akhoogb the captain
of die steamer Imd taken e^ecial pams to
The fidhyuing are a few- exaaaples to ;
the importance of a^boroagh system of icatila-
tioe,in cases where Ettle if any comyhmt had
been made of inattention to dib hrgwaie mea-
sure : There was once m Glasgovaa cssemnbge
of t>uildiag& attached to a fectoxy, which were oc>
coped by aboat five handred persona one fasa^
to each room. For a long period, an isamense
dealof si^nessbad pervaded the baikfin^ winch
the iamates seemed to regard as a mi xenons £»-
of novidente, for they costmately re-
to adept andi sanitary expedients m bad
been repeatedly advised ^hma. At lni|^ the
proprieton of 'the eMaliSshment, dnpsiirag of
ever makiagtheiaamtes an|s f i iatf thr imjnataaff'
of oceasionaly opcaaag waadnars icaotved to a^
ply a system «f veatftoion wtaeh should be ^sr-
oa^gh, coatiaaal, and atterir beyond the eoatiul
of those sabjected to iL Yhey atcmdiagly con-
nected each lao^ hf mcaaa of tubes, with tha
216
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
chimney of the factory furnace, and compelled
every occupant, whether willing or unwilling, to
be exposed daily and nightly to a draught of air.
The result was, that sickness of every kind rap-
idly diminished, and one disease — typhus fever —
which had frequently raged as an epidemic, be-
came for eight years "scarcely known to the place."
In 1832, at Norwood School, in Englan'^1, scrof-
ula made its appearance among six hundred chil-
dren, and destroyed a great number of them.
The disorder having been attributed to an insuffi-
ciency and bad quality of food, a scientific inves-
tigation was made, and a decision given that the
food was "most abundant and good" — that "de-
fective ventilation, and consequent'atmospheric
impurity," was the cause of the sickness. A thor-
ough system of ventilation was immediately ap-
plied, and scrofula rapidly disappeared, nor did it
ever recur, though the number of pupils was grad-
ually increased to eleven hundred.
In a hospital at Dublin, 2944 deaths took place
in four years. A better system of ventilation
having been resorted to, as a means of lessening
the mortality, it was found that during the next
four years the number of deaths was only 279.
The above facts are merely selected from a long
array of similar character, which tend to show the
paramount importance of breathing an uncorrupt-
ed atmosphere. It is certainly no exaggeration
to say that were the public as particular as they
should be, and easily might be, about the quality
of that subtle fluid, v.hich enters and departs from j
an average pair of human lungs about a thousand |
times in an hour, and nearly nine million times in
a year, the bills of human mortality would be re-
duced one-third at least, and the average duration
of human life be nearer seventy than forty. — G.
B. "WiNDsniP, Park Sired, in Boston Medical and
Surgical Journal.
SHEEP HUSBAIfDET.
We are happy to learn that a new work upon
Sheq} Hu-shandnj is soon to be published by J. B.
LiPPi>xoTT & Co., and D. D. T. Moore, of
Rochester, N. Y. No book for farmers is more
needed. Indeed, so great has been the want that
we have suggested to one or two persons to pre-
pare such a work at once. It is to be prepared
by the Hon. Henry S. Randall, the author of
the only work at present on Sheep Husbandry of
much value. Mr. Randall has had large experi-
ence, which, combined with a life of critical obser-
vation in this particular direction, will enable him
to present a great deal of valuable information on
a highly important subject. "We look for it with
interest, as it will undoubtedly be as full and
complete as his knowledge and industry can make
it.
To Prevent the Rotting of Wood. — In
order to prevent the rotting of wood whenever it
comes in contact with the ground, such as posts
and jiiles ; a certain paint is now used which has
the hardness of stone, resists dampness and is
quite cheap. It is composed as follows : Fifty
parts resin, forty parts finely powdered chalk,
(ihniit. fhrpfi hundred parts of fine, hard sand, four
parts of linseed oil, one part of red oxide of lead,
and one part of sulphuric acid mixed together.
The rosin, chalk, sand and oil are heated together,
and the red lead and sulphuric acid added. They
are then carefully mixed and the composition is
applied while hot, and when cold and dry forms a
varnish the hardness of stone. If the mixture is
too thick, add more linseed oil. A smaller quan-
tity than the above can be made by using the
parts in a reduced proportion.
A HORSE PITCHFORK.
Among the labor-saving implements on the
farm, the Horse Pitchfork is said to be one of great
merit. We have never seen it in use, and cannot
therefore, speak of its merits from a personal
knowledge of it. The next best thing that we
can do, however, is to give the testimony of our
practical and excellent friends, the Editors of the
Country Gentleman, who "wouldn't flatter Nep-
tune for his trident," but who speak of this fork
in high terms of commendation. They say : —
"AVe have seen in operation no less than seven
diflerent horse hay-forks, some of which we had
considered good ones, and which do operate well.
But when we saw the fork exhibited at Roches-
ter, by N. Palmer, Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y.,
all others were left clear in the shade. It is de-
cidedly the most perfect implement, in the line of
horse and haj'-forks, that has ever been made.
There is no chance for improvement in it; and
one of the most commendable features in its man-
ufacture is, the price. We have no interest,
whatever, in the manufacture or sale of this kind
of horse-forks, and we are not even acquainted
with the proprietor of it. But we know it to be
an implement that will never fail to give the best
of satisfaction."
Numerous testimonials say,
"It exceeds our utmost expectation, it is con-
venient to handle — the best yet invented — can be
worked by a boy of fifteen years of age — will pitch
hay and loose grain, better, easier and quicker than
any other horse fork — that it will save its cost in
a single harvest, and in "catching" weather, in a
single day. This fork is adapted to pitcSiinirfrom
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
217
the mow to the hay press and can also be used for
stacking."
The proprietors claim that it wUl pitch off a load
of hay ordinarily in fire to six minutes. The price,
Vfe believe, is $12. Address Palmer & Wacker-
HAGEN, Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y.
For tne Is'ete England Farmer.
OUT "W^EST.
Who can tell where "out West'' is ? When a
boy, out West was limited to the State of New
York ; a few years later, Ohio and Indiana were
embraced in out West ; still later, Illinois, Michi-
gan, jNIissouri, and in fact all the territory to the
Rocky Mountains was termed out West. After
the acquisition of Cahfornia, and our Pacific pos-
sessions, out West was bounded by the Pacific
ocean. Where it will eventually terminate, who
can tell ? But this is not the matter I proposed
to canvass, but one that often provokes a smile
when I hear "out West" alluded to, knowing it
embraces thousands of miles of territory. When
Central and Western New York were sparsely
settled, many from the New England States emi-
grated there, and the few that left the section
where I lived, bettered their circumstances very
much. Several of them settled in the Mohawk or
Genesee valleys previous to the digging of the
Erie canal, and when the cities that now have
grown to be so large, prosperous and important,
were not dreamed of in the imagination of the
most wise or most visionary. Several located in
the region where Rochester now is. The con-
struction of the canal and the growing up of the
city caused an enormous rise in the value of land-
ed estates, which made many rich. This, of course
was soon known where the parties emigrated from,
and caused many to wish to participate in such
sudden success, as some of their friends had ex-
perienced. From that time to the present, we
have paroxysms of the same kind growing out of
the same causes. Some fortunate settler happens
to locate near where some public improvement is
eventually located, or city or village grows up,
which makes him prosperous, aside from his legi-
timate business, and forthwith all who come to a
knowledge of his success, are set in a flutter of
excitement and unrest. Good homes, good busi-
toess, good society, in fact, all of good that per-
tains to the surroundings of a New England
home, are lightly esteemed, and in many cases
sacrificed, for the i;/n>s fatims of wealth, that in
almost all cases eludes their grasp.
Unless a man has not only capital sufficient to
pui'chasc his farm, get up his buildings and a gen-
eral outfit for tools and stock, but a surplus, he
stands but a small chance of making yny better
headway out West than in New England. I shall
contend that without money to use, aside from or-
dinary farm purpnscs, he cannot do any better,
pecuniarily, while his sacrifices of health, society,
and various blessings of the old New England
home, far outweigh the money success he might
secure under the most favorable circumstances.
My ex])erience, it is true, has been quite limited, j
but sufficient to give me a chance to use my eyes '
in seeing, my ears in hearing, and my tongue in
asking for informav!.»n. In all cases I may in-
stance, I shall aim at giving my impressions as
tlT^" - ^ ' ■ ' thf" time.
I left Boston the latter part of February, 1862,
and arrived at my destination, Benton county, In-
diana, the first of March, to take charge of a farm
of 1300 or 1400 acres, in joint partnership with
the owners. This arrangement, of course, re-
quired an account of stock or inventory of the
whole concern, which gave me a knowledge of pre-
vailing values in that locality. When I left Bos-
ton, it was quite cold, and much ice and snow on
the route by the Western railroad, esi)eciallv from
Springfield and on to Albany, so that we were de-
tained at Springfield one day. Beyond Albany as
fiir as Buffalo, some sections, especially in the re-
gion about Rome, (which was off of our route,)
the snow was over the fences. Along the lake
route but little snow, and after leaving Cleveland,
no snow was seen.
I mention these circumstances, so that we may
have some idea of the length of winter or the ap-
proach of spring in the section passed o\er. The
frost Avas about out in Indiana when I arrived
there, and when I left for home, the first of April,
the grass was quite green in many places. In re-
turning, I came through Lafayette and Indianapolis
to Cincinnati, up through Central Ohio to Cleve-
land, thence home by outward route. South of
Indianapolis, cattle were grazing in the fields, now
and then a team ploughing, but not many. On the
line of the road, for some distance from Cincinna-
ti to Columbus, I saw some of the finest farms I
saw on my journey. Many of them had the best
of buildings, and everything about them betoken-
ed a prosperous state of things.
Soon after leaving Cincinnati, the road passes
through the celebrated grape region of the State.
The Germans, I believe, are the principal cultiva-
tors. Steep hills are terraced from the river bot-
toms to their very top, several hundred feet high,
I should judge. Lime stone is used in building
the face of the terraces, quarried in most cases
from the spot where used. These vineyards cer-
tainly present a very beautiful appearance. All
was life and activity with the vine cultivators.
The women seemed to be as numerous, and toiled
with as much vigor, as the men. I was t'.kl that
many of these apparently jjoor Germans, were
wealthy, so far as money goes. They certainly
seemed to enjoy their mode of life, and there was
but little evidence of an ambition to sarround
themselves with what we term the refinements ef
good society. Between Cleveland and Iiuffalo,
occasionally, a little snow was seen. Fronj thence
to Rochester none ; but from that place to Utica,
snow was abundant ; in some places four fnt deep.
From what I saw, I came to the conclu^ii>n that
farmers on all llic route I traveled, with tlie ex-
ception of Southoni Indiana and Ohio, would have
to fodder their stock as late as those in tlie vicin-
ity of Boston, wiiile some sections of New York
would be two or three weeks later with their
spring work. With me, it is an imporiurt con-
sideration, how long tlie wintering of slixk con-
tinues, how early in the spring I can commence
my farming operations, and how early in the fall
the frost will compel me to close up fi.r the sea-
son. Notwithstanding the frost was out vS the
ground the first of March, or soon after, in Indi-
ana, occasional frosts and rain kept it so wi't that
a month later it was unfit for ploughioir. or even
passing over with a team. Prairie soil, whin wet,
218
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JXJLY
do anything with it, but make adobe or mortar.
When you get your foot into it, a question arises,
yes, several of them, as to -whether you can get it
out again or not, or whether you will leave your
boot behind, or if both come out, whether it is
possible to accomplish the same feat the next step
you take. From all the information I could ob-
tain, I should think extremes of wet and dry
weather were more frequent than in this vicinity.
Of course, greater uncertainity in obtaining crops
often resulting in a total failure. Tliis uncertain-
ty of good crops is a serious matter with the new
settler who has invested his all in getting to his
farm, pajung for it if able, stocking, Szc. His very
life, almost, depends upon a crop ; if that fails,
starvation stares him and his in the face. Many
have been put to their wits' end to avoid it. Men
of extensive landed possessions are often in a bad
fix from this cause. Cattle, at such times, have to
be driven long distances for food and water. I
have known of instances of families getting their
daily supply of water several miles from home.
The first week in November last I went out to
Cincinnati, and returned by the same route I did
in the spring, and found that all the way from
Dunkirk, N. Y., through the portion of Pennsyl-
vania touched by the road, and all the lake and
central parts of Ohio, had greatly suffered by this
want of timely rains. With the exception of corn,
potatoes, apples and a few pumpkins, all the crops
were harvested. Apples were abundant. In some
orchards I judged several hundred ban-els were
put up, ready for market. In many others they
were not gathered, and in some localities must
have been frozen. The corn was shocked, and but
a very liule husked. I never saw, on the poorest
fi.elds_ of Massachusetts, such miserable, poor com,
as it appeared to be. The cause given was want
of rain. This I think must have been the true
cause, as the soil appeared to be good in most
places. The meteorological observer of the Smith-
sonian Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, tells us that
since the 19th of July, the total rain-fall up to the
17th of November, a period of 121 days, was 3.77
inches. This was distributed as follows : Last
twelve days of July, 0.02 in.; August, 1.36 in.;
September, 1.20 in.; October, 0.78 in.; November
Ist to 17th, 0.41 in. There can be no marvel at
the failure of crops under such circumstances.
The heat is often very oppressive in the sum-
mer, and much more enervating than with us.
This is the testimony of several I saw. A tem-
pest on the prairies is often awfully teiTifle. Those
who have never witnessed it, cannot have much
conception of its terrors. Occasionally a tornado
passes over a considerable tract of country, sweep-
ing everything before it. Not a vestige of long
years of improvements remains to comfort the
hapless one who happens to be in its wake.
House, building, trees, all share a common fate.
These are to be accounted for upon natural causes
that will probably always exist. I do not wish to
be considered as trpng to make out a case by
enumerating all the objectional features of the
"out West" I am alluding to, but stating what I
consider facts, well vouched for, and substantiated
by credible witnesses and my own observation.
In a subsequent article, I propose not only to al-
lude to the drawbacks of "out West," but some
of its advantages, so far as I am able.
May, 1863. o. K.
THE ANQOKA, OK CASHMERE GOAT.
A correspondent of the Boston Cultivator, in
giving an account of a visit to the farm of W. W.
Chenery, of Belmont, near Boston, makes the
following statement :
In 1861, Mr. Chenery took in to keep for a gen-
tleman in Boston, two importations of the Angora
goat called also the Cashmere, imported from
Constantinople, the former lot of 39, arriving in
March of that year, and the latter of 41, in Octo-
ber, making a flock of 80 in all, about one-sixth
of which were bucks. In the spring of 1862, the
flock produced 16 kids. Over 20 have died, evi-
dently of the consumption, owing, it is thought,
to the change of the climate, though they have
been well housed and cared for. Six were sold
to go to Western New York during the past sea-
son, so that the flock was reduced in number, not-
withstanding the addition noted. The remaining
flock was lately sold to a man in New York, who
has removed them thither with the exception of a
few, which ^Ir. C. retains in order to test more
satisfactorily their capacity to withstand the se-
verity of the climate, also for crossing with other
varieties of the goat family. The Angora variety
produces but one kid at a birth, and the females
are not good nurses. The Angoras which have
just been removed, are of a superior quality as
regards their fleeces. Several of them have a bad
cough seemingly fixed upon them, indicating that
their lungs are affected.
Pure Sqtjashes. — A correspondent of the Bii-
ral Keic-Torker, after alluding to the desirable-
ness of keeping the Hubbard squash pure, and of
the great difficulty of doing so, from the readiness
with which bees and other insects effect the amal-
gamation of different kinds of this vegetable, rec-
ommends that the seeds from a number of appar-
rently pure squashes be preserved in separate
packages, and each package numbered. In the
spring plant a row of hills from each package, sav-
ing the larger part of each package of seeds for
the next year. Place a stake to every row of hills
plainly numbered to correspond Mith the package
of seeds from which the row was planted. Now,
if you have a crop of pure-blood squashes on eith-
er of these rows, you will know from which pack-
age of seeds to plant the ensuing year. In this
way, tried seeds may be on hand from year to year.
Shall F.'Lrmees wash their Sheep ? Geo.
Snyder says, emphatically, no, in the Rural New-
Yorker. It is unhealthy for both man and sheep ;
frequently proving fatal to the latter. The trou-
ble and expense is great, and the wool but little
benefited.
Chapped Hands. — The following is said to be
a sure recipe for the cure of chapped hands :
Dissolve three cents worth of clarified beeswax in
three cents worth of pure sweet oil, by heating
over a tolerable fire. Apply at night before retir-
ing. If desirable, it can be scented.
1«63.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
219
ON THE FAKM.
Concord, June 6, 1863.
Gentlemen : — It is now nearly twelve years
since I embarked under the banner of the New
England Fanner : and in all the six hundred and
odd weeks of that period, not a paper has been
issued for which I have not prepared the miscel-
laneous agricultural matter, and furnished the Ed-
itorials, in whole or in part On two or three
occasions I have been absent a part of two consec-
utive weeks 5 and frequently, for two or three days
at a time, I have mingled with every class of our
people. Fortunately, before my connection with
the Farmer commenced, I had visited a majority
of the States of the Union, travelling much on
foot and leisurely observing whatever proved in-
teresting to my tastes, so that I have had little
desire to extend my rambles much beyond our
New England States.
This long devotion to book and pen, together
with the deplorable habit of reading in the cars,
at length so aflPected my eyes that it is several
years since I have read a book in course, and I
find myself obliged to depend upon other eyes for
most that I get from papers and books. Under
these circumstances, I have concluded to leave the
office for a few weeks, and remain upon the farm ;
but occasionally visiting the neighboring towns,
or it may be to pass beyond the border of our own
State, to learn how others "live and prosper" in
the avocation which is the centre and support of
all others.
Here, in the grateful shade of the trees of my
own planting, and amid the fields once barren and
repulsive, but now clothed with waving crops, or
those just springing into new life and beauty, I
shall be glad to receive our friends and discuss
the interests which so intimately concern all, as we
ramble or jaunt along. I shall be happy to re-
ceive calls, to interchange visits, and to learn
through every pleasant channel, something more
of our beautiful and ennnobling art. What I
practice in my own fields, what I hear from oth-
ers, and what I see, giuded by their experience, I
may preach through our columns.
It is delightful, once more, to throw oif all Ed-
itorial technicality, and address you in the first
person. There is a freedom and directness in this
form of address which arrests the attention of the
reader, and which would send many a holy pre-
cept to the heart of the sinner if it were more
common in the pulpit. Whoever heard a lawyer
address a jury in the plural form, "We believe,
gentlemen of the jury, that the prisoner at the bar
is guilty of the crime charged?" Under this form,
his case, as the newsboys say, would \)e a "goner!"'
Throw away your pens, and books, and cares,
gentlemen, for a day or two, and come to the
banks of the "Concord and Assabet," where we
wUl
"taste of the fruits,
Regale on the flowers,"
and fill the mind with such pleasant things as shall
afi"ord you delightful memories for years to come.
Pope's "paternal acres," that he sang about in his
youth, were nothing to these, laved by such charm-
ing streams, full of pike and other piscatorial gen-
try- ; so come and fish and eat, commune and
sleep, and fill yourselves full of the green, glow-
ing, beautiful country, and be the happier for it
all the rest of your days !
I am truly yours, SiMOX Brown.
Messrs. NeuBSE. Eaton & Tolmas.
DEATH OF MR. TIMOTHY IDE, OP
NOKTH "WRENTHAM.
From the Secretary of the North Wrentham
Farmers^ Club, we have received a touching trib-
ute to the memory of one of its members, just de-
ceased. He says that although Mr. Ide was more
than ninety years of age, he had been an active
member of the club during the whole five years of
its existence, and had always given it "cheerful
encouragement, sagacious counsel and the advan-
tages of his mature wisdom." This is the first
death of a member of the club, though it consists
of more than forty members. The tribute of re-
spect closes with the following lines : —
"How blest is he that crowns, 'mid scenes like these,
A youth of labor, with an age of ease ;
Onward he moves towards his latter end.
Angels around befriending virtue's friend —
Sinks to tlie grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation calmly slopes the way.
And all his prospects brightening to the last,—
His heaven commences ere this life is passed."
For the .Ve»r England Farmer.
"PXTNCTUAlilTY."
"That men do not believe in punctuality," as
far as they are themselves concerned, I do not pre-
tend to doubt ; and the opinion that "gentlemen
ought to take a few lessons" in the noble virtue, I
heartily endorse. But the question then arises,
who shall give those lessons to the sterner sex ?
Not wives, nor mothers, nor sisters, after they
have attained the full stature of independent man-
hood. Perhaps you ask, "why not?" For the
very good reason that they will hardly receive a
hint upon the want of promptness, without mani-
fest signs of annoyance, and often of anger. With
an occasional excejjtion. only in childhood, when
under the softening, refining influence of a kind
mother's love ; or when smoothing their way into
I the hallowed affections of a young, impulsive
woman's heart, can they be easily influenced to
turn from the perverted course of their human na-
j ture.
I And why do I argue that woman should be
' punctual ? Certainly, not because I do not know
I the value of woman's time, or would have her
vield a right that would serve to lower or degrade
her position one iota. No, no ! but simply to
make the up-hill work of her life easier.
I have not been a wife ten years in vain ; I have
'not used my eyes and ears to no purpose, when
220
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
visiting among my many friends, and I think, —
privately to be sure — that the fair Margie is a wife
of but little time, or has a husband of better make
than are most men.
The truth of the matter lies just here : the hus-
band knows nothing of the thousand and one
little things that fret a woman into her early grave.
He expects his dinner at the right moment, and
if it is ready and cold before he eats it, all very
well. He can find no fault. Perhaps in a soft,
easy voice, — "that beautiful thing in woman" —
you remark, "The dinner was ready at the usual
hour, but waiting has nearly spoiled it." Can he
answer you back any other way than pleasantly,
however cold the dinner may be, when his own
conscience tells him that talking over that last
bit of war news with a passing neighbor was the
sole cause ? He cannot blame you unless he be a
creature unworthy the noble name of man. You
may blame him, to be sure ; and away down in
your heart may be uneasy feelings of vexation
clamoring for utterance ; but, believe me, the
"least said is soonest mended." Calm, even tones
will often quell a harsh disturbance in a woman's
mind, at keenly felt wrongs, even though they are
but a mask to conceal the real feelings. Anger
seldom speaks in sweet, gentle accents; audit
would be well for us to pitch our voices low, and
never rise above that point. Reproof will harshly
wound, after the lover has entirely passed through
his transformation, and '"'come out" the newly-
fledged husband. He prizes his "pinnacle of stern-
ness" too much to be unceremoniously pushed
from it, by a frail woman, even though she be his
bdta- half.
I do not wish to be understood to advocate this
to be all right, but it is just as it is ; and could I
put my younger sisters in the holy bonds of wed-
lock on their guard, could I teach them to te'ain
themselves to be more independent, could I save
them one family jar, I should not have lived in
vain or spent my time for naught. The only patli
that will lead to true independence, is that of pa-
tience and forbearance ; trying in all things to do
exactly right, as far as in us lies ; and then, if
blamed, we can better bear the censure with a
closed mouth, feeling the easy pulsations of a qui-
et conscience.
I do sincerely think it right and well to invite
a morning caller into the kitchen. If you make
a practice of so doing you will soon acquire a self-
assurance about your work that will astonish you.
After a few trials the dough will not adhere to the
moulding-board, but work as easily as though you
were alone ; the bosom of the "good man's shirt"
will no longer be marked by the print of the starch-
besmeared iron, l)ut by your own self-control, be
ironed so smoothly and look so glossy that your
friend will speak of its perfectness ; and, seeing
she is no clog to the beautiful movement of the
household machinery, the half hour will glide into
an hour and a half, and you will then part I'rom her
with a beaming smile and a light heart, knowing
your morning's work is done ; and she will go
home wishing she had the same easiness of man-
ner you possess.
The power of self-control is one of great impor-
tance to a young wife, and if once learned will
prove a blessing through life ; therefore, I say, send
no one from your kitchen, neither hesitate to in-
yi^^r^ .x.-o tht-iP. because vnu are too busv to piit.er-
tain them ; but strive not to let their presence in-
terfere with your employments. The kitchen is,
indeed, the home of the farmer's wife, and should
be made pleasant to every one.
Now, Margie, will you not please soften down
that expression of yours a little, and not call that
man a "tyrant" who looks for more in his wife than
he possesses in himself? I cannot think he is ;
but if so it be, methinks tyrants are very plenty in
my circle of acquaintance, and I am afraid you
will find them so in yours. Sarah.
For the New England Farmer,
ADULTERATED GUANO.
Messrs. Editors : — The Peruvian guano is
so extensively used all over Great Britain and is
in such demand, that it presents a great tempta-
tion to venders to adulterate the true article by
mixing it with other substances. We doubt, how-
ever, Avhether this is much, if ever done in New
England. The Peruvian government guano re-
ceived here through the agent, Mr. Bartlett, of
Boston, I believe is the genuine article. In En-
gland this adulteration must be common, as we
gather from the following : "It is absurd to lay
down rules as to the quantity of Peruvian guano
to be applied to a given space ; such rules have
been promulgated with apparently great care ;
but we fear, in many cases, not taking into ac-
count that not two samples of guano are found to
agree in their constituents. Color is no test, and
even weight is not to be depended upon. The
following is a simple test, and is worth the atten-
tion of purchasers : Burn 200 grains of guano
in an open fire, in a common iron ladle ; it must
be frequently stirred, and after keeping it at a
strong red heat for ten minutes, and allowing it
to become cold, if the ashes weigh more than 72
grains, it is not genuine Peruvian guano."
Salem, Mass. j. M. I.
Obscure Sources of Disease. — In another
place the reader may find an article under this
head, written by Dr. James R. Nichols, of Bos-
ton, a gentleman distinguished for his skill as a
Manufacturing and Analytical Chemist. The sub-
ject presented is one of interest to every farmer,
as there are frequently sources of impurity about
his premises that may greatly afiect the health of
his family, if not even destroy life. We know of
some cases where the sufTcring has been very
great, and life endangered. ! v some of the causes
alluded to in the Doctor's J '.'resting article. We
commend its careful peru^ ..; ! > ever' reader, as by
heeding its suggestions he .n y save vears of suf-
fering for himself or some ' , her of liisfimily.
A New Way to Dksti:> > ''ruMi's. — A corres-
pondent of the rairal Eeij, ■( , ■ writes that journal
that Mr. John Barnes, of !' .1; imorc, removed a
troublesome stun'ip from nc:i. i;is l-.ouse in the fol-
lowing maimer : "Last fil!. V, ith nn inch auger,
he bored a hole in the ti'n'rc i.f the stump ten
inches deej), and put into ii ' it half a pound of
oil of vitri'l and corked tin '• Ic i",) ligljt. 'i'his
spring the whole stump, ';:i ■ ixtending
through 11 their ramific;;!: : i -iteu that
they wcw .easily eradicai*
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARIMER.
221
For the Nezc Ensland Farmer.
AGRICUIiTURE.
Mr. Editor : — Perhaps there is notliing in ac-
tion or language that more unmistakably disclos-
es to the discerning mind the corruptness of taste
than our great diversity of employments. We
would countenance a limited variety of occupa-
tions, providing each be subservient to the true
one.
Poets have sung in flowing numbers the beau-
ties of agriculture. The pen of genius has con-
tributed its influence to the praise of husbandry,
and history carries along and aloft the charms of
farming !
Now, why does each succeeding generation
more and more shun the plough and leave the la-
bor of the field neglected and despised ? Is it be-
cause the poet and orator lie, and history is blind?
No ! It is the lamentably mistaken sentiment of
the age. Fashion and pride make wants that ag-
riculture never bows to supply. Therefore it is
left as a second, or third, or fourth calling, by
which the worldling seeks to make up his mistak-
en blessedness.
Young reader ! yo\xx first and life-long question
is — or should be — how can I be happy ? In the
pursuit of what occupation shall I be the happiest ?
I answer, you will be happiest following agricul-
ture as an occupation. The labor of the farmer is
most conducive to a happy life, because it is best
suited to the normal and natural condition of our
organization. We are endowed with a triple na-
ture, each dependent on the health and harmony
of the others. The great end to which the ener-
gies of our life should be directed, is the cultiva-
tion and development of the hidden being, the
inner man. To attain this glorious object, the
body must be in a good, active condition. The
labor of the field exercises the greatest number of
muscles, and in such a conformity to the great de-
sign, the lungs swell copiously to inhale the pure
vital air, and the stomach distends to receive the
proper supply of aliment to renew expended
strength, and balmy sleep comes to refresh and
invigorate.
Thus, as the body invigorates by obeying na-
ture's laws, the mind grasps for culture and ac-
quires it in reading books of truth, in agricultu-
ral experiments and farm calculations ; and as the
mind improves so does the heart. The words of
Shakspeare become a living reality in the true farm-
er's mind.
"And this our life, exempt from public haunt.
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
The book student may acquire a marvellous and
disproportionate develo])ment of the brain, but he
does it at the expense of disease and premature
death of the body, and often of the soul, for it is
a sin to overtask the brain and leave the body and
moral faculties to become efi'eminate by neglect
and inaction.
The farmer, while obeying nature's dictates, in
proportionally expanding the mind and invigorat-
ing the body, walks forth among beauties of col-
ors and fragrance of flowers, surrounded by ani-
mated nature, singing God's goodness to his soul,
to read the unwritten books of the universe, that
the soul may be strengthened and lifted up by the
hidden fires of nature. He sees design and the
divine idea in everything, and from an overflow-
ing heart of felicity, pours out depths of gratitude
to Ilim who made us with few wants beyond the
wants of the inner being, and for which He has
produced more than enough. Nature points to
immortality as plainly as the Bible, to him who
loves her, is with her, and reads her.
To him wlio seeks happiness : let a farmer's sun
warm and tan you ; let the pure air of growing
fields expand your lungs, and temperate exercif=e
unite to give you a sound body and a clear head.
To him who would be intelligent, and I may add
learned: follow the courses of history and dwell
over the lives of good men. Read logic and rhet-
oric, and freely use dictionaries and maps. For
your spiritual good, admit the truths of nature and
receive the spirit of God around you, follow
righteous ordinances, and you will receive the ap-
probation of conscience and the smile of Heaven.
Fur tlie Netp England Farmer.
AGRICULTURE IN" SCHOOL.
The discussion whicli occupied a portion of vour
columns some time since, concerning the proprie-
ty and utility of introducing the study of agricul-
ture into our common schools, has proved this, if
nothing more : that it is a subject, like many oth-
ers, upon which vukJl can be said on both sides.
The substance of the arguments which have
appeared, amounts to this : one party tries to con-
vince his hearers that the study of agriculture in
school would do no good, but much harm ; the
other, that it would do much good and no harm.
Now this is all very well so far as talk is con-
cerned, but would it not be better to reduce the
advanced theories and ojjinions to practice, and
thus prove their soundness ? In other words, let
those who feel enough interest in the matter, be-
gin now to introduce the study of agriculture into
our schools. Let them procure suitable text-
books, and find scholars who are desirous of mak-
ing the art a subject of study. We should then
soon learn how many of our teachers are qualified
to teach agriculture ; whether the minds of the
people are ready, or at all desirous of having it
become a part of their children's studies ; and as-
certain the amount and kind of opposition which
might be in the way of its becoming a permanent
branch of study. Burnside might have sat and
talked until doomsday about taking the heights of
Fredericksburg, and listened to plausible argu-
ments both for and against the undertaking, but
he would never have known whether or not he was
equal to the task, if he had not crossed the river
and made the attempt. I believe it would be well
to make a fair trial of the project under consider-
ation, whatever the result might be ; and, although
it is very probable that the result would not be
so disastrous as the engagement of our brave
Burnside, yet it is my private opinion that the en-
terprise would be about as successful.
Among those who have expressed their views
upon the subject, none have marked out any defi-
nite course to be pursued by the teacher or schol-
ar, while endeavoring to impart and receive a
practical knowledge of agriculture in scliool. Is
the knowledge to be derived solely from books
and the verbal instructions of the teacher, (provid-
ing he or she should happen to know anything
about the study,) or is the art to be learned from
books in connection with a suitable apparatus, and
actual experiments ? If the latter course is to
222
XEAV ENGLAND FARMER.
JrLT
be pursued, a model faxm, with all the necessary
fanning implements, cattle, iScc, should surround
every school-house. Here would be work for
somebody ! And the work would be much more
difficult than otherwise, from the fact that verj-
many of our school-houses are situated upon the
most barren and dreary spots in the district. Not
a tree, shrub, or flower is ever planted around its
fo'jr brick or wooden walls ; and indeed common
sense is often shown in not planting them, for they
would not grow in the barren soil. To create a
model farm out of the materials which we so fre-
quently find around our school-houses, would re-
quire a master hand ; and in witnessing the pro-
cess, the scholars might learn many a usefxil and
important lesson. Those young persons who
would become acquainted with the fanner's art,
should study to acquire it both in doors and out —
at school, if found to be practicable and profita-
ble— but certainly on the farm, and under the in-
stmctions of a skilful farmer. It might be learned
at school if we had suitable teachers, model farms,
and above all, if the people at large felt sufficient
interest in the project to commence and carry it
on. But these obstacles, I fear, will not be over-
come during the present generation.
li we had every facility for the study of agri-
culture in our district schools, I would not advise
any scholar to neglect spelling, reading, writing,
arithmetic, geography, or grammar ; but after he :
has acquired, or while he is acquiring a knowledge
of these elementary studies, if he should desire to !
take up an elective or extra study, and has a de-
cided taste for agriculture, let him pn" into its
mysteries, and store his mind with knowledge ,
which will be useful to him in after life.
Smth Groton, 1863. S. L. White. |
P/r the y^ic En^ila-ii'l Farmer.
THE vebmo:nt dog law.
Mr. Editor: — On page 71 of volume \o of the
N. E. Forraer, MontlJy, I find the following : —
'■Daniel Xeedham, Esq., of Hartford, Secretary of:
the Vermont Agricultural Society, read his annual |
report, in which is the following : 1. The passage :
of a dog law must be regarded as a substantial
advance in the legislation of our State. 2. The
great damage to our sheep by the canine race can ,
hardly be estimated. 3. Few sheep-raisers but
that have sufiered some, and many have suffered
a good deal. 4. There is reason to believe that
the dog law came as the legitimate result of our .
action at the Wool Growers' Convention. 5. That .
the number of dogs will be greatly lessened by
the tax imposed by the new law, there can be no I
doubt." _ i
Will Mr. Xeedham answer me the following ;
questions, through the columns of the Monthly
Fai-ififrf 1. What advantage will it be to the'
State ? 2. Is the dog the oidy animal that in- j
jures sheep ? What does the bear do, only kill |
sheep, that he must be hunted ? .3. It seems that j
the Wool Grower's dislike dogs, and want them '
killed, or their owners to pay them for their sheep, |
that the bears and other wild animals kill — is this j
what they want ? The owner of the dog must .
pay a tax on his dog, or it must be killed ; if the ^
owner pays his tax and the dog has on a collar, ;
then no one can hurt him if he kills sheep, any
mere than they could his master's ox or horse, if j
off the owner's land : and if the dogs are all I
killed, then the sheep-owners can turn their sheep
ofi' in the spring, and they will not be hurt by
dogs. But they must remember that the moun-
tains in this State are the home of the bear and
other wild animals that like to eat sheep and
lambs. The dog is set in the list at SIOO j wiU
the listers take the dogs at that ? If they will not,
I ask, is the new law constitutional ?
A Monthly Reabek.
WaUingford, Ti., 1S63
OBSCUEE SOUECES OF DISEASE.
BY JAXES B. SICEOLS, B03I0X.
There are many instances of disease brought to
the notice of physicians which are exceedingly per-
plexing in their character, and the sources of which
are very imperfectly understood. They belong to
a class outside of, and distinct from, the usual
forms of disease resulting from constitutional idi-
osyncrasies, or accidental causes, within the knowl-
edge of the patient or medical attendant. The
obscurity of their origin and persistency under
treatment, render them peculiarly trying to the pa-
tient and the skill of those who have them in
charge, and after the trial of the usual remedies
without effect, the patients are sent into the coun-
try or to the sea-shore, as the case may be, with the
expectation that a change of air or residence may
prove beneficial.
We cannot, in a majority of cases, regard these
affections as altogetber imaginary, or as resulting'
from some casual derangement of the nervous sys-
tem ; they are instances of true disease, and should
be studied with the view of bringing to light the
hidden source fi'om whence they originate. I am
led to believe that a considerable number arise
from some disturbance in the sanitarj- conditions
of dwelling or their surroundings, and that how-
ever improbable this may seem from a superficial
or even careful examination of suspected premis-
es, a stiU more thorough and extended search will
often result in the discover}- of some agent or
agents capable of producing disease.
The chemical and physical condition of water
used for culinarj- purposes has much to do with
health, and is, perhaps, the oftenest overlooked
by the physician in searching for the cause of sick-
ness. We must not suppose that water is only
hurtful when impregnated with the salts of lead
or other metals ; there are different sources of con-
tamination, which produce the most serious dis-
turbance upon the system. Some of these are
verj' obscure and difficult of detection. The sen-
ses of taste and smell are not to be relied upon in
examinations, as it often happens that water en-
tirely unfit for use is devoid of all physical appear-
ances calculated to awaken suspicion. It is clear,
inodorous, palatable, and there is no apparent
source from whence impurity may arise.
A ievi instances which have come under my ob-
servation may serve to illustrate the view present-
ed, and as suggestions to those who are in doubt
as regards the cases of patients upon their hands.
During the past summer, the writer was con-
sulted by a gentleman residing in Roxbur}-, re-
specting the water used in his family. It was
taken into the dwelling through tin pipe from a
well in the immediate vicinity, and appeared to be
perfectly pure and healthful. Analysis disclosed
no salts of lead or copper, as indeed none could
be expected from the unusual precautions taken to
1863.
KEW EXGLAXD FAKMER.
prevent contact of the water with these metals. ,
Abandant evidence was however afforded that,
through some avenue, organic matters in onusual
Quantities were finding access to the water. Care-
mi examination of the premises disclosed the fact
that an outhouse on the grounds of a neighbor
was so situated as to act as a receptacle for house
drainings, and from thence bv subterranean pas-
sages the liquids flowed into the well. Some
cases of illness, of long standing in the family, dis-
appeared upon abandoning the use of the water.
A few months since a specimen of water was
brought to me for chemical examination, by a gen-
tleman of Charlestown, who stated that bis wife
was afiicted with protracted illness of a somewhat
unusual character. It was found to be largely im-
pregnated with potash and the salts resulting from
the decomposition of anim:J and vegetable drbri.*.
and the opinion expressed that some connection
existed between the well and tiie waste fluids of
the dwelling. This seemed improbable, as all these
were securely carried away in a brick cemented
drain, and in a direction opposite the water sup-
ply. The use of the spade, however, revealed a
break in the drain at a point favorable for an in-
flowing into the well, and hence the source of the
contamination. Rapid convalescence followed on
the part of the sick wife upon obtaining water
from another source.
Analysis was recently made of water from a well
in Middlesex County, which disclosed conditions
quite similar to these. The owner was certain thit
no impurity could arise from sources suggested,
but rigid and persistent investigation disclosed the
fact, that the servant girl had long been in the
habit of emptying the "slops" into a cavity by the
kitchen door (formed by the displacement of sev-
eral bricks in the pavement.) where they were
readily absorbed. Although the well was quite '
remote, the intervening space was filled with
coarse sand and rubble stones, and hence the un-
clean liquids found an easy passage to the water.
This proved to be the cause of illness in the family.
It is unnecessary to present other instances of a
similar character on record. These serve to bring
to view some of the sources of impurities ia water
used for household purposes, and the obscure
cause of serious diseases. The location of wells
connected with dwellings is a matter which should
receive attention at the hands of physicians.
It is well known that in the gradual decompo-
sition of animal and vegetable substances, at or
near the surface of the earth, under certain con-
ditions, nitrogenous compounds are developed.
The nitre earths found beneath old buildings re-
sult fcom these changes, although it is quite difli-
cult to understand the precise nature of the chem-
ical transformations which produce them. In the
waters of a large number of wells in towns and
cities, and also ia the country, the nitrates are
found at some seasons in considerable quantities.
The salts form at the surface in warm weather,
and being quite soluble, are carried with the per-
colating rain >vater into the well. In cities and
large towns, where excrementitious matters accu-
midate rapidly ar.->uad dwellings compacted to-
gether, it is uidicult to locate wells remote from
danger, and hep.co it might seem that suspicion
should be confined to these localities. This, how-
ever, is not a safe conclusion. How often do we
see, upon isolated farms in the country, the well
located within, or upon, the Tnaroin of ^e bare-
yard, near huge manure heaps, reeking with am-
moniacal and other gases, the prolific eoorces oi
soluble salts, which find access to the water »T»d
render it unfit as a beverage for man ot beast. It
may no doubt be a convenience to the farmo' to
have his water-supply so situated as to meet the
wants of the occupants of his bam and his dwell-
ing, but it is full of danger.
Whilst admitting '' ' -■- - — ' - -'- " I:-
tion of the water of r . ;«
with some, whether < i-
sonous, and received er
all. be productive of -: . , ^e
of illness. To the great majority of people they
are certainly harmiess, but it must be admitted
tiiit there is a class, and one or more are found in
almost every family, whose peculiar sensitive or-
ganization does not admit of the presence of anv
extraneous agent in food or drink, cr in what they
inhale. The functions of life and health an> dis-
turbed by the sHshtest deviation from the usual
or normal conci-" - ■" •-■-.- -- — -. -.hem. It is
manifestly of :: .ia-is should
recognize these __ . .._> .iJuais. It is
unsafe, ia making a diagnoiis of disease, or seek-
ing for causes, to overlook or forget them.
We are. indeed, incapable of understanding bow
this can be. It seems incredible that the thou-
sandth part of a grain of one of the salts of lead,
dissolved in water and taken daily, will disturb
the system of any one ; and yet such is the case.
We can see no reason why a very little nitrate of
potassa, or soda, or lime, taken in the same way,
should produce any entxts ; sail stranger is it that
the iaSaitessimal amount of dust disloged from
painted wail-papers, received into the lungs, should
make inroads upon health.
Several instances of this latter result have re-
cently come to my knowledge. In two families
of thie highest respectability in this city, illness of
an unusual and protr .cted character existed, and
at the suggestion of : la. portions of the
green wail-paper of : ^ ■w^ere submitted
to me for analysis. The _ - -ere found to
consist mainly of arsenic'. ^r. and upon
the removal of the papers : .,e . L
la experimenting with- apparer. a-
ble apparatus, and employing .al
tests, in rooms the walls of v. ' ed
with these arse-^- ■ • -^ ..le
presence of th-. - a
a^orded : and — . - - - ■ .-- --^- _,:- of
all similar experiments made in this country and
in Europe, so far as my knowledge extends. We
must conclude that agents not recognisable by
chemical tests are capable of disturbing vital pro-
cesses. The evidence is very clear that in instan-
ces of illness confined to one or two members of a
household, the cause may be due to some acci-
dental disturbance with which all are equally
1 -.--■_. :_ . .. V .. ._■_: V Vj^ jjQ. ^^ power
. A part. It is also
t....r ..._: v..^?. ,- _.^.- .: v..>ease are of such a
character as easily to escape detection, and there-
fore any facts .v <;x:>Lrience which may serve as
guides to . .re worthy ol record. —
i,\. ,<*'.« i - •a/ JcvriaL
The peach crop in Xew Jersey is vacomm/mij
promising.
224
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
AN UinJERDRAIN OUTLET AND TRAP.
In the progress of farming, few things have had
more happy results than the drainage of wet lands.
The operation has been found jjrofitahle in several
ways : one of which is to make the land greatly
more productive with a given amount of labor ;
and another, to enable the farmer to cultivate five
or six acres with as much ease — and vastly more
comfort — as he did three or four acres before it
was drained.
Something remains yet to be learned, however,
in regard to the most economical depth and dis-
tances of drains, and as to the best manner of
constructing them. By longer experience in their
use, and by more careful observation of their ef-
fects upon the soil, and the action of running wa-
ter in disturbing them, we are gradually learning
lessons that enable us to make them more effec-
tive and at the same time, less costly.
One of the difficulties with which we have had
to contend, is the obstruction of the outlet. This
is sometimes done by the water flowing back dur-
ing high stages of water when the drain empties
into low grounds, by a collection of slimy matter,
or by the entrance of frogs or mice, if the drain
is dry a portion of the time.
To obviate
these difficulties
one of our cor-
respondents, E.
J. CONNABLE,
Esq., of Jack-
son, Mich., has
devised an Out-
let and Trap,
■which, it seems
to us, is an admirable contrivance, and one which
will effectually prevent all obstructions. We are
happy to present the above illustration of his de-
sign, as we believe our friends who are interested
in draining will be glad to find so cheap and easy
a remedy for the obstruction at the outlet of their
drains. Mr. Connable evidently means to have
the work done in the most thorough manner,
judging from the description which he gives be-
low. Where stones are plenty, there can be no
objection to using them of the size which he de-
scribes, but one of much less weight and size
must be sufficient, we think, to answer all the de-
sired purposes. We mention this merely to do
away the impression that the use of this new de-
vice may be too expensive for common use. Mr.
C. says :
Mr. Editor : — According to promise, I here-
with send you a Cast Iron tjnderdrain Outlet lolth
Trap. With this outlet, no animal as large as a
lizzard can enter the drain, and the trap, or grat-
ing, is so constructed and hung that it cannot be-
come choked by slime or other obstructions. It
allows the passage of a small quantity of water
without opening the trap at all, while a larger
quantity opens it gradually, allowing the unob-
structed passage of a stream the full size of the
outlet, when necessary. It can never be left open
by accident, as it always closes by its own weight,
except when forced open by the water.
Several years' use of it has shown that it never
gets out of order, and no action of flood or frost
prevents its successful operation. Its entire cost,
after the pattern is made, is only about one dol-
lar. My mode of securing the outlet is this :
Take a solid stone, say 4 feet long, 2i feet wide
and 15 or 18 inches thick ; place it on the edge
at the lower end, and across the line of the di'ain,
leaning it somewhat against the bank, "up stream ;"
first making a hole through it near the bottom,
large enough to receive a tile in the back side,
and then secure this outlet in the front side by
pouring melted roll brimstone around it. The
small projections on the outside of the tube are
to hold it securely in the stone, and the brimstone
is as hard and durable as the stone and iron. By
having one solid stone, there is no mason work
to become displaced, and no action of the frost
can disarrange it. AVhen a stone cannot be con-
veniently obtained, a block of wood of similar
dimensions will answer about as well, so long as
it remains sound.
I have had a number of these outlets in opera-
tion for several years, secured in blocks of both
wood and stone, and they have thus far proved
entirely satisfactory. In a future communication
I may give some of the results of my efforts at
draining. E. J. Connable.
Jackson, Mich., 1863.
SALT FOR PLUM TREES.
Cultivators of the plum recommend the use of
salt as one of the most efficient articles that can
be applied to the trees. In its natural state, they
say, the plum is found to be much more vigorous
and flourishing when in the vicinity of salt watex*,
than when occupying an inland position. The
heacli plum, so called, from wliich some of our
most excellent varieties are derived, is a native of
the sea-shore, Avhere its roots are periodically sub-
merged in sea-water, and where it manifests a de-
gree of vigor and productiveness which it rarely
exhibits when transplanted, though favored with
the best culture it is possible to give it. But
where salt is included among the ingredients of
the compost, it soon reassumes its normal health
and vigor, and is rarely injured to any extent by
disease. A few quarts sprinkled in the spring
over the roots of bearing trees, is usually found to
be of decided service. Perhaps a better way would
be, always to make salt one of the ingredients of
the compost with which the trees are to be dressed.
In England, some seven degrees further north
than we are, reckoning at Greenwich, they are
having their society exhibitions of flowers grown
in the open air. Temperature does not accord
with latitude — but the men of science do not yet
explain why, save so far as the influence of the
ocean goes.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
225
THU HORSE "WITH A "COLD."
When we see how
horses are used in a
pleasant day in a season
of good sleigliing, or on
any one of the "Holi-
days," in the streets of
a city, or in its neigh-
borhood, we are sur-
prised that the stable-
keeper is ever able to
'say, with truth, that he
has a single sound horse
in his stalls !
A horse, even one with a mild disposition, one
whose natural gait would not exceed five or six
miles an hour, may soon be taught to start at
once into a ten or twelve-miles gait, and continue
it with a little urging until his breath is nearly ex-
hausted, and his sides are reeking with persj)ira-
tion. In this condition, the thoughtless and cruel
driver often leaves him exposed to cold blasts, or
permits him to drink freely of cold water. No
wonder that the horse takes cold. Some care and
a proper humanity would ordinarily prevent this ;
but like human beings, the horse sometimes takes
cold, when it cannot be traced to any neglect.
Mayiiew, in his excellent work on the Horse,
from M-hich we copy the engraving accompanying
tliis article, says, "a mild cold, with care, is readi-
ly alleviated. A few mashes, a little green food,
an extra rug and a day or two of rest, commonly
end the business. When the attack is more se-
vere, the horse is dull ; the coat is rough ; the
body is of unequal temperatures, hot in parts, in
places icy cold. The membrane of the nose at
first is diy and pale, or leaden colored ; the facial
sinuses are clogged ; the head aches ; the appe-
tite has fled ; often tears trickle from the eyes,
simple ophthalmy being no rare accompaniment to
a severe cold ; till at length a copious defluxion
falls from the nostrils without immediately improv-
ing the general appearance of the animal."
In such a case all bleeding should be avoided ;
the invalid should be comfortably housed ; should
have an ample bed, and the body should be plen-
tifully clothed. If the head and breath are hot,
take a thick bag, put four or five quarts of saw-
dust into it, and pour upon it a bucket of boiling
water ; ])lace the animal's head in the bag, and tie
it over the neck. Renew the water every twenty
minutes. The bag must be sufficiently long to
prevent the horse's nose from coming near the
sawdust. If the bag seems too heavy, let it rest
upon a chair or bench. This is a cheap and sim-
ple remedy, and is sometimes quite efficacious.
After this, the horse needs care similar to that
given a person after taking a sweat.
Where colds continue for a long time, and will
not yield to mild remedies, the advice of a skilful
person should be obtained, as such colds lead to
the most fatal results, ending sometimes in that
dangei'ous and loathsome disease, glanders.
FiiT the ^'eir l-'mjlaml Farmer,
CULTURE AND USES OP THE KOHL
RABI.
Seeing that "O. K." of Rochester, in the Feb-
ruary number of this journal, is inclined to regard
this plant as an impurtnnt addilinn to our farm
crops, and that he asks for the experience of those
who liave raised and used it, and knowing that
it has been grown by few in this country, save
those who received parcels of seed from the Pa-
tent Office, it lias seemed quite ])robable tliat in-
formation derived from farmers in Great Britain,
where it is grown much more extensively than in
this country, might be both acce])tal)le and useful
to such as may have some intention of making a
trial of it. Accordingly we quote the following
from a book, not likely to be in the possesf^ion of
many formers, viz.. The Fumicr's and Planter's
Enci/clopcedia, "This curious variety of cabbage,
is a native of Germany, where it is much cultivat-
ed, and whence it was first introduced into Eng-
land by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt. The stem is swol-
len like a tuber, (turnip,) and when divested of the
leaves, may readily be mistaken tor one. The
produce is nearly the same as that of Swedish tur-
nips, and the soil that suits the one is equally good
for the other. It may either be sown in drills, or
raised in beds, and transplanted like cabbages, in
which case the beds require to be made and sown
the preceding autumn. Two pounds of the seed
will produce a sufficiency of plants for one acre of
ground. Hares, (probably rabbits also,) are so
fond of it, that, on farms where these animals
abound, the culture of this plant is found to be
impracticable."
Under the heading of cabbage, in the Encyclo-
pci'dia, it is stated that, vhile one pound or 7000
grains of early York, and also of Drumhead cab-
t)age yields, on analysis, 430 grains of nutritive
matter, the same weight of kohl rabi furnishes
400 grains in a pound of the bulb, and 2o2 grains
in a pound of the leaves or tops. We may infer
from this, and from the fact that this ])lant is a hy-
brid production between cabbage and turnip, that
kohl ral)i is considera!)ly more nutritious than tur-
nips, and nearly as much so as cal)l)age, whose nu-
tritiousness maybe seen in the vigorous frames of
immigrants from Germany, the Germans being
proverbially fond of it.
Glandeks. — The following paragraph occurs
in Dr. Dadd's new book on the Horse :
Whoever undertakes to attempt the cure of this
awful malady must remember that he is running
a great risk of losing his own life, for the absorp-
tion of the hast particle of the virus will cause
death in one of the most horrible of ail forms ;
and many cases are on record going to show that
whole families have been destroyed by absorbing
the glandered virus.
Patienxe in Milking. — A writer says that a
cow was cured of holding up her milk by i)atient-
ly milking until she ceased to hold it, and by con-
tinuing the practice, she has jecome an easy,
regular, and goul cow.
226
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
ON THE PAKM.
Gentlemen : — On Saturday, June 6, 1 had oc-
casion to lay a pipe drain, under where I wished
to build a farm road to cross from one hill-side to
another, over a "run." I took this opportunity,
because the ground was quite dry. This led me
to look at my Journal for two or three years past
where I find the following records :
"June 8, 1860. — A little rain in the morning, and
much in the evening. Heavy clouds from the
south-west, and thunder."
"June 5, 1861. — Fine growing weather, but rath-
er cool for corn. The 6th was cool and cloudy.
Rain began to fall about 11 A. M., and poured all
the remainder of the day. A cold north-east
storm. The 7th was cloudy and cool, wind north-
east and a fine rain still drizzling. Fire necessary
in the furnace to keep the house comfortable."
"June 8, 1862. — A rainy day. We must have
now had seven or eight inches of rain fall within
a week."
"June 7, 1803.- — Early this morning we had
heavy showers. Monday, 8th, wind north-east, and
stormy all day. Tuesday, dth. — Still cloudy. Upon
digging, I find the ground moist down to where it
was moist before the rain."
In 1858, the days corresponding with those
which I have quoted, were dry and hot. On the
10th, a strong west wind prevailed all day, and on
the 13th, the rain fell in such quantity that my
cistern, holding a hundred barrels, was filled be-
fore 9 P. M.
In 1859, June 6, a "little cold and wet for young
vegetables." This was succeeded by very hot
weather until the 18th, when a great quantity of
rain fell. From these records it appears that the
weather from the 5th to the 15th of June, is very
much the same from year to year, notwithstanding
the frequent expression that the "weather is awful
cold — nothing will grow in this east wind and
drizzling rain."
"God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and
so he does to the wants of the young and tender
plants. He knows best when the vast ocean shall
send in to us its superabundant moisture on the
wings of the "east wind," to strengthen and re-
fresh the plants around which so many of our
hopes are clustered.
Dissolving Bones. — In running over the pages
of my Journal, I found the following under date,
of June 7, 1862 : "Packed a barrel of bones in
ashes, to see if I can dissolve them for a fertili-
zer." I had seen it stated, as from James S.
Grennell, Esq., then Secretary of the Franklin
County Agricultural Society, that if bones were
packed in wood ashes, and the layers of bones
and ashes were wet, as the packing was carried on,
that the bones would become so soft as to be easi-
ly pulverized by the fingers. Accordingly, on the
7th of June, 1862, now a little more than a year
ago, I carefully packed a barrel with bones and
good wood ashes. During the last days of May I
went to it, and found the ashes almost as white as
snow, and could find no bones by plunging my
fingers into it. About one-third of the barrel was
in this condition, and of the remainder the bones
seemed to be unaff'ected by the process.
In packing, I did not make the ashes quite v:e.t,
but merely moistened them. Was this sufficient ?
Or did the mass require some atmospheric influ-
ences to perfect the desired result ? I shall try
again.
Seed Sowers and Weeders. — The labor of
sowing small seeds by hand, from those of the tur-
nip to the beet, is slow, tedious and expensive,
and it is one reason, I think, why so many farm-
ers decline to raise roots for their stock. Many
seed-sowers have been devised, but all of them,
until recently, depending upon the revolutions of
a brush in the hopper to push the seed through in
proper quantity. This requires gearing, addition-
al cost, and makes the machine more liable to get
out of order. In sowers constructed in this man-
ner, it is frequently vexatious to change the slides
to adapt them to the seed to be sowed. The wood
work has swollen, or dirt or chaff" from among the
seed has got in, and obstructs the groove.
I have just now completed ray sowing of small
seeds, and have done the work with one of Mr. S.
E. Harrington's Seed Sowers, of Greenfield,
this State. The method of discharging the seed
in this sower is entirely new. It has no brush.
Screws are inserted into the spokes of the wheel,
and as the wheel revolves, these screws strike a
small iron rod six or eight inches in length, which
makes a similar rod in the hopper play back and
forth directly over the hole through which the
seeds pass out. The rod is moveable perpendic-
ularly, and can easily be adjusted to fit the size of
the seed to be sown. Instead of zinc or tin slides
with holes to fit the seed, on the bottom of the
hopper is a brass disk about two inches in diame-
ter. This is fastened by a pin in the centre, while
holes of various sizes are made near the outer
edge, and numbered up to seven. In changing
for diff'erent sized seeds, all that is necessary is to
turn this brass circular piece to the right hole, and
alter the iron rod in the hopper. It may be done
in two minutes without trouble. I have used sev-
eral seed-sowers, but nothing that compares with
this in ease and efficiency. Some of the crops
sowed with it have come up, and they prove the
certainty with which it does its work. I have
sowed corn and beans of diff'erent sizes, all of
which have come finely. I cannot see why it
should not drop corn with sufficient accuracy in
field planting, by reducing the number of screws
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
227
in the spokes of the wheel. Mr. Harrington
has performed an excellent work for the farmer
and gardener in devising and constructing this
beautiful little machine. After a more thorough
trial, I will speak of it as a tceeder.
Caterpillars. — Their name is legion, this
year. They ought to be exterminated. When
suffered to remain, they not only destroy the crop
of fruit for the present year, but also the growth
of the tree, and probably injure it for the future.
It is no credit to any farmer to have them seen re-
maining upon his trees. I have practiced destroy-
ing them with a pole and brush, but upon the sug-
gestion of Mr. George M. Barrett, a gentleman
who has a large amount of orcharding, I have
added strong soap suds, and find the work greatly
facilitated by the use of it. Wherever it touches
them, it kills. If the brush is wet with the suds
and thrust into the nest, those that fell to the
ground soon die if they were touched with the
suds. It is is not too late to take away the ugly
nests and full-grown caterpillars, even now.
Truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Nodrse, Eaton & Tolman.
kaht.
The world is awake, and gladdened by the re-
freshing rain. It began to fall on the 6th, and
continued coming gently for several days, wash-
ing the foliage and bringing new life and vigor to
the dusty and wilting plants. This will greatly
help the grass crop, for a slight drought in early
June has a sensible effect upon it.
The winter rye, as well as spring rye and barley
now appear well, and promise an abundant crop.
In some fields, on dry ground, the corn planted
had not started in the least before the rain, but
the plentiful moisture, warmed by the hot sun that
succeeded soon brought it into activity.
The blessed rain ! It came with varying winds,
almost as gently as the approach of evening, but
sometimes in a shower, that made,
"when God sent down His blessing
From the cloud,
The old roof sing aloud."
It was not one of those midsummer rains that
come attended with thunder and lightning, when
black clouds roll in from the West and the winds
set all loose blinds and doors in motion. Such a
shower our favorite blind poet, HoYT, admirably
describes in the following verse —
"Now descends the brimming fountain !
Window, door and eaves are dripping ;
O'er the pasture, up the mountain,
Scampering cattle soon outstripping—
Onward yet —
All the landscape drowning wet !"
The introduction of the new silk moth into Eu-
rope bids fair to be of great importance. It is re-
ported that the almost incredible quantity of one
hundred millions of trees are now ))lanted in
France for the sustenance of the caterpillar.
AVEHAQE OF CROPS.
One of our exact and enterprising farmers, in
Middlesex County, has sent us the following table,
showing the average amount of crop which he gets
from his land, per acre, together with the cost of
cultivation, value per bashel, money amount per
acre, and balance after deducting cost of cultiva-
tion, with some remarks upon them. We wish he
had allowed us to present his name with his state-
ment.
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For the New England Farmer,
•WTNTER FEEDING OF SHEEP,
ASD SCMMER PREPARATION FOB IT.
In a recent communication from "More Anon,"
on the above-named subject, referring to a commu-
nication of mine, in March last, and to the relative
value of the different kinds of grain and roots for
sheep, the principal thing to which I wish to refer
at this time, is the circumstance of his feeding his
sheep on com plentifully, and then finding the
lambs to come in a weak and bad condition. It
occurred to my mind, when reading his statement,
that probably he fed the corn without being
ground; as I have heard that corn fed whole to
sheep would have a bad effect upon the lambs.
The communication to which he refers makes
me to say "110 bushels," when it should have been
110 sheep fed to one foddering of oat straw, one
of unthrashed oats, one of corn fodder, and two
226
XEAV EXGLAXD FARMER.
JCLY
bushels of potatoes per day. (A mistake of mine
or of the printer.)
The oat straw was harvested green enough to
make it good, which is a very important fact. No
hay was given to them while fed as above.
My principal reason for feeding potatoes is, that
I had rather raise 500 bushels of "Californias"
than the same amount of bagas, because I can
raise them without manure, by planting on mow-
ing land, ploughed up when it needs it. In this
way I get about 150 bushels per acre. They grow
so "large that they are dug and picked up rapidly.
My man and boy ten years old, dig and put into
the cellar fifty bushels per day. And I tliink a
bushel of potatoes contains much more nutriment
than a bushel of rutabagas.
I am very much interested in the "Retrospective
Notes," and hope they will be continued.
W.D. Baxter.
Xoiih Thetford, Vt, June, 1S63.
fcr the Sezr England Farmer.
HAKVTSSTTNG OTJB CHOPS.
An Essay read before the Coitcord Farmers^ Club, by J. B.
Faemzr, on Harvesting and storing Grain, Hay, and the Root
crops, including Potatoes.
Of the grains, Indian corn stands at the head
in Middlesex county. In this locality, as a gen-
eral rule, the best method of harvesting corn, is
to cut the stalks when the tassel gets seared, as
our fathers practiced ; but circumstances some-
times require a different mode of harvesting. I
well remember that in 1836 or 37, I had a field of
corn that was backward ; the season was cold, and
there was every sign of a frost. I concluded to
cut it up at the roots and stack it, and three of us :
set about it, but the day was too short to get the
whole field done. We left nearly an acre, and the
result was, that I had over one hundred bushels
of good, sweet corn on that part of the field where
we cut and stacked it, but on the part of the field ;
that we had not time to cut, there was not one ear ;
that was fit to grind. We had a severe frost that j
night, as I anticipated, and it destroyed all that j
was left standing.
Again, we may wish to sow a field with winter
grain, and if we cut the corn up at the roots and
take it ofl" of the field, it gives us a chance to get
the grain in earlier. We too often sow winter j
grain so late, that it is injured by the winter frosts, j
The difference in labor of harvesting, and the j
value of the fodder is but trifling, therefore we
mav be governed by circumstances.
I have a few words to say in relation to sorting
corn when harvesting. Some people think it is
almost wicked, or at least wasteful, to put a large .
ear into the hog corn, even if it is damp, or green. I
This is a mistaken idea ; the probabilty is, that j
the large, damp ear, will injure as much more, re-
ducing it one-half in value, and being worth but '
half price itself. It is a self-evident fact, that the
owner would have been as well off if he had
thrown his big, damp ear away. Good economy i
requires us, in harvesting corn, to select all damp ,
ears, and keep them by themselves, and use them '
first, or spread thin and stir often. In regard to I
small, sound ears, they do no injury, but the bin j
is improved in looks by taking them out. Of the ,
•wheat, rye, oats and barley crops I have only to I
say that, in my opinion, they are often left stand- 1
ing in the field too long for the benefit of the owner. I
There are three objections against it — the first is,
the grain does not yield so much flour per bushel,
and it is not of so good quality, when suffered to
stand uncut until it is perfectly ripe, as it does,
when cut in a hard, pulpy state. The second ob-
jection is, the grain shells too much in harvesting,
sometimes enough to pay for cutting, and the best
of the grain is most likely to scatter, thereby di-
minishing the value of what is saved. The third
and last objection I shall make, is, that the straw
is not worth as much for fodder, or for bedding.
The best method that I have ti-icd, is to cut the
grain when in a hardening but pulpy state, bind
the second day, put from ten to twelve sheaves in
a shock, without any cap sheaves, but cover the
shock with common hay caps, and in a few days
of fair weather, it will be in good order for cart-
ing ; the hay cap prevents the heads from drying
too much, so as to shell out, whilst the sti'aw is
curing, or under the process or carting.
Next in order, as the subject stands, is our hay
crop, which may well be considered the crop, (in
an agricultural point,) for this locality. I cannot
point out the exact time of cutting the grass, or
performing some other parts of the operation, as
circumstances have so much to do with it, that
there cannot be any one prescribed rule applica-
ble to all cases. I will confine my remarks, to
drying or making the hay. In this process, I think
we too often fail ; frequently we see on opening a
mow of hay in the winter or spring, as unmistakable
signs that the hay was got in too damp, and look-
ing more like a fire-fanged pile of horse manure,
than it does like a mow of good, sweet hay ; in my
o])inion, the loss on the one is as great as it is on
the other, and cannot be less than one-half their
value. If salt is used in large quantities, enough
to preserve green hay, and cattle are kept on it
constantly, 1 see not why it is not as injurious to
the beast, as over-salted meat is for man, of which
we have abundant proofs in long sea voyages.
Salt may be used in large quantities on a small
proportion of our hay, but not on all. Fire-fanged
hay is worth about as much for fodder, (where a
man uses a great deal of grain.) as white pine
shavings, and but little more. It is better than
nothing to distend the entrails, whilst the grain
supports We, therefore the value of musty hay is
somewhat in accordance with the heat you get on
it. If hay is intended for the market, but got in
green or damp enough to must, or mould, there
will be far more shrinkage in weight than there
would have been if the hay had been well cured,
beside the less price per hundred that will be ob-
tained for it in market.
Of the root crops, there is greater diversity of
opinion in regard to harvesting potatoes than there
is in any other root. Some think potatoes are im-
proved by letting them remain in the ground as
long as it is safe, on account of the frost, whilst
others dig as early as .August or September. I cer-
tainly can see no good that the tubers can receive
from the ground after the vines are dead, but I
fancy there is evil in letting them remain in the
ground to receive the fall rains. Too much rain
makes them boil clammy ; beside, there is more
comfort in digging in warm weather than in cold.
August may be a little too early for digging,
though I have known Chenango potatoes to be
dug as early as that, and put in the cellar, and
they certainly kept, and were as good for eating
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
229
as any potatoes I ever saw. We also find a dif-
ference of opinion in regard to drjing them.
Some think they keep better for drying, or almost
haying them. My own belief is, if the vines are
not diseased in the least, you may dig and take
into the cellar as fast as you please, and the pota-
toes wiil be the better for it, if the operation is
performed in good, clear weather ; but if the vines
are diseased, I know of no way to prevent their
rotting more or less, and in that case believe dry-
ing and spreading them to be as good a prevent- j
ive as any. j
In regard to other roots, I am not much ac- i
quaintcd with them, except the turnip, beet, carrot j
and parsnip, all of which are injured by hard frosts,
(except the parsnip,) in their eating, and keeping |
properties. It is also an injurj- to them to let the '
tops remain on long, after being pulled ; it causes
them to wilt. For culinarj- purposes, all these j
roots keep better for trimming close, particularly !
cutting off the tap root of the tuniip, and packing ,
all of them in dry sand.
I have a few remarks to make on the harvesting
of beans, though not mentioned in the subject as- i
signed me ; as there is so little attention paid to '■
the gathering of that crop, I trust the Club will i
pardon me if I trespass a little on its time. 1 1
have raised many bushels of beans for the seed- ,
dealers, and had "to deliver them free from mildew
and all other imperfections, which I found to be [
no small job under the ordinary method of har- i
vesting them. Although I had often heard the fe- j
male department complain of the great labor in '
preparing our weekly dish of beans, I paid but
little attention to this complaint until I had to
perforin a like operation myself. At last a reme-
dy came, and I now hear no complaint about mil-
dewed beans ; they say it is no work at all to pick ,
over my beans to what it was those purchased the I
other day. My method now in harvesting beans •
is as follows : as soon as the pods have turned yel- '
low, and before they are sear, I pull and stack |
them. The operation is performed by taking eith- i
er bircli. spruce, or pine poles, cutting off the limbs •
about six inches from the body, making a hole in ,
the gj'cund with an iron liar, and setting the pole
strong and erect. I then begin by taking a small
hancfcul of beans and put them on one of the low- i
er braiii:'hes of the pole, after which I lay them al- |
ternat'*Iy around the ])o!e, always keeping the
roots inward, proceeding in this way to the top of
the pole. I then tie a string around the roots of
the last liandful of beans encircling the pole, and i
the wo'-k is done, until they are dry, after which I
pull up t!ie pole with the beans on, and carrthem '■
home, or they can stand, almost any length of
time, without injury. The reason I assign for pull- i
ing beans before the pods are sear, is, that heans
never mildew whilst the pods are in a greenish '.
state, out become so by lying on the ground after
the beans are ripe. Some may object to pulling
so early, and say they will shrink too much. In
answer to that objection, my theory is, that we ;
gain n)'^! e by sowing, in a perfect state, all beans I
that are not fully matured, and even if they are
not half jjrown, they will cure and be perfectly
white and merchantable.
There is one other point I will mention, which
is, in pulling the beans, be sure and get all the
dirt off of the roots ; it will save some one more
timp ♦*'"" '^*- ♦oV-oo f^ T>o.'' .-■ > the op"^'- '♦■-" ^'
observing the above rules, we get rid of in-door
complaints, and fifty cents more per bushel for the
beans we sell.
J-''}r ti>e Aetr England Parmer,
METEOKOLOGICAIi RECORD FOR
APRIL, 1863.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of April was 4.5° ; av-
erage midday temperature 02". The correspond-
ing figures for April. 1862, were 40° and 50°.
Warmest day, the 28th, averaging 6.'J^ ; coldest
day, the first, averaging 26'^. Highest tempera-
ture 78° ; lowest do. 16°.
Average height of mercury in the barometer
29.23 inches ; do. for April, 1862, 29.39 inches.
Highest daily average 29.67 inches on the 21st;
lowest do. 28.65 inches on the 2d. Range of mer-
cury from 28.49 inches to 29.71 inches.
Rain fell on seven days ; snow on two days.
Amount of rain and melted snow 1.92 inches: ot
snow 2.00 inches. Corresponding figures for April,
1862, rains 1.15 inches — no snow. There were
two entirely clear days ; on three days the sky was
entirely overcast.
It w ill be noticed that the temperature averaged
considerably higher this April than last ; the ba-
rometer being considerably lower though the
amount of rain was nearlv the same. \. c.
■WOMAN FARMING.
A Statement in relation to a large amount of
farm work performed by a family of girls in west-
ern Xew York, within a few years past, was not
long since pretty generally copied by the agricul-
tural press. An article written by a Mr. J. Tal-
cott, disapproving of the course of these young
ladies, has since been published in the Rural Xeic-
I'orkei: In reply to the objections of this gentle-
man, one of these young ladies has written an
article which fills about three columns of that pa-
per. As a defence of "Woman's Right" to share
with man the pleasure and profit of out-door la-
bor, we have read this production with much in-
terest ; and we think our readers generally, what-
ever may be their opinion of woman farming, will
enjoy the following extracts of an article written
by a young lady who having literally put her hand
to the plough, is still able to give her reasons for
refusing to look back.
In the first place he [Mr. Talcott] says, that
"continued out-door labor, for a woman or girl,
tends to lower her position in social life, not only
in the eyes of those who see it, but in those who
perform." This I ver)- strenuously deny, for I
have abundant proof to the contrary. I com-
menced to work on the farm when seventeen years
of age, and have followed it for three years, and
probably shall some longer, and I have never
known it to have the slightest eflect upon the
minds of any whose friendship was worth the hav-
ing. He says that "it degenerates the mind, and
deforms rather than strengthens the body." Wo-
men may grow deformed doing housework and
taking care of children, and men while laboring
;., tVio f>r>iir»-i"r'-room, but there is less excuse for
230
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
it upon the farm than any other occupation in life.
The gentleman refers to barbarous nations where
women work out doors, and thinks their condition
far from enviable. I would like to inquire who
would have her husband or son on the level with
the males of those nations ? If one comparison
is applicable, so is the other.
Our friend thinks that "girls should be able to
tend their flowers and gardens, ride horseback,
harness and saddle a horse and turn him to pas-
ture, but when this is done the idea of her taking
her team and going into the field to plough for a
livelihood is too much of a good thing." Sure
enough, it is shocking, Mr. Talcott. It would do
very well for her to take hold a little -while, jtist
fur fun ; but she must return to the house im-
mediately, before any one happens to see her, and
go to work at cats and dogs in worsted, or some
Mrs. Grundy will raise a terrible hue and cry of
"a woman out of her sphere," "trying to become
a man," or something else equally ridiculous and
nonsensical.
Throughout the whole of the article mentioned,
the impression is carried that it is the tcork that
degrades ; but when it is sifted to its foundation
we shall find, instead, that it is ignormu-e. Any
one, whether male or female — whether his occu-
pation is farming or anything else — will be coarse,
unrefined, awkward and vulgar, in proportion to
his lack of intelligence ; and it is worse than folly
in this age of the world to attribute it to anything
else. A young lady once came some way to work
for us. She had heard some one speak of the in-
terest there was always to be found in all pertain-
ing to an out-door life, and sighing for change
sought it here ; but she was not of a tempera-
ment to see God in flowers, and hear Him in the
brooks ; and so, very often that wliich would give
us instruction and be of interest for days, would
call forth the remark from her, "I can see nothing
interesting in this ;" so commonly did she use it,
that it almost became a play-word with us. Noth-
ing was of interest to her, — a strange plant, tree,
or fossil — because she could see only with her
temporal eyes. The past, present or future was
nothing, even Avhen it pertained to the beautiful
unfolding of Nature's laws.
At last, Mr. Editor, we find that the grand
finale of the eloquent epistle under consideration
is simply this : Women may do anything they
please in the world that amoiods to nothing. She
may make shirts at three cents apiece, take in
washing, or do housework at fifty cents a week.
Man has monopolized every honest employment
and left her to cling helplessly to fathers and
brothers for support, or waste her energies in striv-
ing to catch a husband to perform the office. Mr.
Talcott says that it is an object worth striving for
to correct such abuses. And that is our only ob-
ject in pursuing the course that we do ; and now
that we have spread open the only door that is
not pertinaciously closed, there is a terrible breeze
created on the instant, and somebody has raised
the frightful bear-in-the-corner of masculine wo-
men, vulgarity, ignorance, and all of the other
bug-a-boos that are commonly used to frighten
children, with the expectation that we will run
like sheep before the butcher. But they have
only succeeded in proving themselves mistaken.
We have tried both sides of the question and are
as competent to judge of its eflScacy as those who
stand in the corner and shout their surmises.
Mr. Talcott does not object so much to woman's
doing anything she chooses, provided that she turns
it to no account. He thinks there is no harm in
her working on a farm if she does it for recreation
and' pleasure ; but if she does it for a "means of
gaining a livelihood," it is awful, shocking, out-
rageous, and not to be tolerated. Now, if it is
right to do any such thing in "Jun," it is right to
do it in earnest, and for j)ay ; and if it is right for
man to work on a farm and draw rich inspiration
from such heavenly beauties, it is just as right for
woman, and if he can do it without growing base,
so can she, and be just as lovable, just as good,
and watchful, and kind ; and as she grows strong-
er and more healthy, (as she cannot avoid doing,)
she will be more patient and far more competent
to fill the office of wife and mother with credit to
herself, and bring honor to her husband and chil-
dren. The reason that such labor has had so sad
an efi'ect upon women is because they are never
satisfied to let well enough alone. If she is weak-
er than man, then she should work with more
moderation ; but no ! — after a long day's work in
the field she returns to the hduse, and while the
men are enjoying a cosy chat, or reading, she is
setting things "to rights" and preparing for the
next day's work. Let Mr. Talcott go into the
house, put on woman's rig and content himself
within the limits that have been laid down for wo-
man, and if he is possessed of an aspiring, ambi-
tious mind, and he thinks the position desirable
at the end of three years, then we may think his
opinion entitled to more weight.
The story of our work is looked upon as re-
markable almost beyond belief, when taken into
consideration only our ages, and judge of com-
mon farming ; but I assure you there is nothing
strange or marvellous about it, after all. The sou
of our farm is very light and easily tilled.
Throughout the whole three hundred acres there
is scarcely a stone, and all is smooth and level. The
rest is not so easy to manage, but we do not have
much trouble with it. We are none of us afraid
of horses, and working around and with them is
a pleasure. Machinery has very much facilitated
farming of late — so we are able to do a great deal
of work without injury to ourselves. We are none
of us very sickly, and are improving in that re-
spect all of the time. Neither are we deformed,
but are growing to age cheerful, independent,
trusting and happy. Our parents have not forced
this life upon their children, either, as many have
tried to prove, but were loth to have us enter it ;
yet, when they saw our determination, they yield-
ed and lent u§ encouragement and assistance.
Wishing that the lives of all other girls might be
as far from trouble and care, and hoping that Mr.
Talcott may soon gain a broader and more chari-
table view of nature and its eff'ects, I will close.
Bella A. Roberts.
PeTcin, Xiagara Co., N. Y.
A Remedy for Melon Bugs. — A gentleman
who has had much experience in raising melons,
informs us that the best thing to keep bugs from
the vines is, —
Sulphur, one table spoonful.
Yellow snuff, one table Bpoonful.
Cayenne pepper, one table spoonful.
Ground mustard, one table spoonful.
Mix the whole with half a pint of flour, and apply
to the plants when they are moisn
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
231
EXTHACTS AND KEPLIES.
HOW TO MAKE CORN BEER.
Will you or some of your subscribers inform me
through your paper how to make corn beer ? G.
Eaat Uardxcick, Vt., June, 18G3.
Remarks. — In reply to a similar inquiry, we pub-
lished the following directions about three years ago :
To two gallons of water add one quart of dry corn,
one pint of molasses, one tablespoonful of ginger.
Let it stand in a cask or demijohn, and in one week it
is fit for use. The same corn will answer for several
brewings, bnt the cask should be scalded each time.
Roxbttrij, Vt., July, 1860. W. II. Walhridge.
The crop prospects in New York are encourag
ing. The weevil, which for several years back
has been so destructive in the wh^at-producing
counties in Central and Western New York, has
in a measure disappeared, and once more broad
fields of wheat gladden the eye in those counties,
and give promise of a fine yield. In the counties
adapted more especially to grazing and dairy pur-
poses many farmers are practicing the best means
of enriching their pastures and meadows, improv-
ing their stock and adopting the most approved
system of cheese and butter-making — so that,
with a fair season, we may look for a large product
in the State.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
THE BABY -WALKS ! THE BABY "WALKS !
Joy fills the house ; the baby stands
Alone upon her feet.
With quivering lip she lifts her little hands.
And wonderingly doth gaze into her mother's face ;
Thus timidly she starts upon life's fitful race.
How many hopes, how many fears.
How many smiles, how many tears
Hang o'er her dangerous walk through coming years !
Almighty God ! to Thee the child is given ;
Guide home her weary steps at last to heaven.
Chrisiian Inquirer.
DRESSING -WITH TASTE,
Tt is strange that with all the time American
\romen bestow upon dress, so few know how to
prepare a simple toilet with taste. To be well-
dressed, means, with most, to wear rich material,
made up in gorgeous style, and with all the usual
accessories of lace and jewelry, to add to the mag-
nificence of the general effect. Never was a
greater mistake. To be well-dressed is only to
have attire suited to time, place, and circumstan-
ces, made in a becoming manner. This attire may
be a shilling calico, or a rich silk, and yet in eith-
er, if it is adapted to the conditions we have men-
tioned, a woman may be said to be well-dressed.
Where household duties have to be performed,
and the care of children devolves partly upon the
mistress of the house, a neat dress, fitted grace-
fully to the figure, is much better for morning
•wear, than the faded remains of more pretentious
costume. Nothing looks more forlorn than to see
a would-be lady performing household offices, of
not the most refined character, in an old torn or
dirty silk dress, or a soiled and draggled open
wrapper. One of the secrets of dressing well, is
to dress appropriately ; another, to be careful of
the details, the minutiae of the toilet. Thorough
personal cleanliness, glossy, well-brushed hair,
neat shoes and stockings, are as essential to a
good personal appearance as the material and
fashion of the dress. Indeed, a lady who is par-
ticular in these minor matters can hardly ever be
said to be ill-dressed, as this delicate refinement
will not only excuse faults, but naturally show it-
self in the good taste which will guide her selec-
tion, no matter how small the cost may be. Some
persons have an extreme hornpr of being "caught,"
as they call it, in a morning dress. Why they
should be so sensitive on this point, it is difficult
to say. If it is clean, and adapted to the work in
which they are engaged, there is no shame in
wearing it, and, above all, it ought to be remem-
bered that no attire is good enough for the family
which is not good enougli for mere acquaintances
who may chance to favor you with their society.
It is much better to be caught in a ])lain morning
dress, than to be caught very mnch over-dressed,
as some unlucky individuals are, at a small party.
In one case there is real cause for mortification, in
the other there is none.
DOMESTIC RECEIPTS.
A Delicate Dessert. — Lay half-a-dozen
crackers in a tureen, pour on enougli boiling wa-
ter to cover them. In a few minutes they will be
swollen to three or four times their original size.
Now grate loaf sugar and a little nutmeg over
them, and dip on enough sweet cream to make a
nice sauce, and you will have a simple and deli-
cious dessert that will rest lightly on the stomach,
and it is easily prepared. Leave out the cream,
and it is a valuable recipe for "sickroom cookery."
BoiLlXG Potatoes. — This is a formula : Let
each mess be of equal size. Let the water boil
before putting the potatoes in. When done, pour
off the water and scatter three or four table-
spoonsful of salt, cover the pot with a coarse
cloth, and return it to the fire for a short time.
Watery potatoes are made mealy by this process.
How simple is the process, yet how few under-
stand it.
Syrup for Cooking. — In making gingerbread
with sorghum molasses, mix the soda with the mo-
lasses ; then warm, stir till light, then mix with
flour in the usual way, whicli will make light
bread.
Raspberry Vinegar. — Pour 1 quart vinegar
on 1 quart fresh-picked raspberries ; the next day
strain it through a sieve on another quart of rasp-
berries, and so on five or six days ; then to every
pint juice add 1 pound white sugar, set it in ajar,
which must be placed in a pot of boiling water,
until scalded through. Bottle.
Ginger Beer. — 1 gallon cold water, 1 pound
white sugar, i ounce race ginger, 1 sliced lemon,
1 teacup yeast. Let it stand all night to ferment ;
then pour it oft' without stirring, bottle it, and add
1 raisin to each bottle.
How TO HAVE Good Luck in Soap Making.
— Be sure your lye is strong enough to well bear
up an egg. Put your grease, (about three gallons,
to a twelve gallon kettle,) over the fire to melt.
When it is thoroughly hot, begin stirring in your
lye slowly, not more than a pint at once, being
careful to keep your grease boiling all the time,
and you will have no trouble making soap. It
sometimes comes before the kettle is filled up with
lye, and never takes more than a few hours' boiling.
Substitute for Cream. — If you have not
cream for cofi'ee, it is a very great improvement to
boil vour milk, and use it wNi'p *-
232
NEW EXGLAXD FAE^IER.
July
CONTE^N'TS OF THIS NUMBER.
PRICES.
3iai/2S. June A. June 11. June IS.
Calendar for .Tuly Page 201
New Books — Kicking Cows 202
Things to be learned ....a 203
Seeding with Rye in Summer 204
Seeds — Quantity to be Sown 204
Japanese O.ldiiie? — Shoeing Horses and Oxen 205
Ploughing — Cotton in the last War 205
Destroy the Caterpillars — Xew Butter Worker 206
Extracts and Replies 207-231
Cooked and Uncooked Food — Calves 208
Trees and Vines, and their Roots 208
Excellent Winter Squashes 209
How to Stuff Birds 210
The two Labor Systems of our Country — Flesh as Food 211
Profits from Pig^ and Poultry— Good Tillage is Manure 212
Wool Report to the Board of Trade — Retrospective Xotes. .213
The Season and Prospects — Ventilation 214
Sheep Husbandry — A Horse Pitchfork 21S
Out West 217
The Angora or Cashmere Goat — Pure Squashes 218
Shall Farmers Wash their Sheei>— Chapped Hands 218
On the Farm .. ..219, 22o
Punctuality— Death of Mr. Timothy Ide 210
Adulterated Guano — Xew Way to Destroy Slumps 220
Agriculture — Agriculture in Schools 221
Vermont Dog Law — Obscure Sources of disease 222
Underdrain Outlet and Trap — Salt for Plum Trees 224
Horse with a "Cold" — Culture anri Use of Kohl Rabi 225
Glanders — Patience in Milking 225
Average of Crops— Rain — Winter Feeding of Sheep 22')
Harvesting our Crops 22S
Woman Farming 229
Remedy for Melon Bugs 2:jO
Ladies' Department — Domestic Receipts 231
Cattle Markets for June 232
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Ini! iai Letter F 201
Winter Squashes — two cuts 209
Horse Pitchfork 216
Underdrain Outlet and Trap 224
Horse with a Cold 225
CATTLE MARKETS FOR JU":[SrE.
The fallowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending June 18, 1863:
KUilBER AT MARKET.
May 23...
Cattle.
...1544
.. "CO
Sfieep.
2^71
2315
" 11...
" 18...
...1165
. . . 1053
1556
4042
Total..
...4494
10.484
fihotes. Fat Hoss. Veals.
500 — 1000
1500 1600 1050
1600 12C0 900
1200 9C0 1000
4800
3700
3950
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number for the first twen-
ty-five weeks of each year:
THI:
Cattle.
Maine 202
New Hampshire 656
Vermont 836
Massachusetts 391
i^orthern Js'ew York 18
Canada
Western States 2391
Total, last four weeks 4,494 10,484 4,792 ^1,396
Total.sinoe Jan. 1,(25 w'ks,) 33,517 66,419 32,195 66,833
TEAR.
LAST
TEAR.
Sheep.
Cattle.
.Wc^yv.
64
20
225
1892
365
1573
4538
863
6065
1183
213
1220
668
100
647
19
2141
3212
1766
Heef,lst,2d,3dqual..7iS9
" a few extra 9ja92
Sheep, -^ 11), sheared.. 4 S6J
Swine,stores,w'sale...5 @7
" " retail.. 7 a9
Hides, #■ ft Ih'a^k
Pelts, sheared 25g35
Tallow, ^ lb 8 igS*
7^59
9j39i
4 ®6J
5 S7
25335
8 (g8^
9J59^
4 S7
5 ,a7
25 g35
8 S8|
71 jjg
9i3«i
4l@7
5 ©6
5 g7J
35g40
8 gSi
Remarks. — The market for beef cattle has been quiet and
steady during these four weeks. Good Xorthern oxen have
mostly been sold at $8 to $9 #" 100 fljs. and the Westt-vn steers
at from .$8 to $9,50. At the last market, although the quality
of the cattle was inferior to that of the previous weeks, prices
were pretty well sustained.
The supply of good sheep was short of the demand, until the
last market, when there were large numbers both from the
North and from the West. This seemed to change the current
of prices from an upward to a downward tendency, and drovers
complained of a reduction of %c ^ lb.
There lias been but little call for working oxen, and the sale
of milch cows has not been as good as it was last month.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, .June 18:
A. X. Monroe sold 182 of his Albany cattle as follows: — one
extra pair of oxen weighing at Brighton 3915 fts., at 9%c,
dressed ; 14 averaging 1540 lbs., at 9c, dressed ; 18 averaging
13J0 lbs., at 8c, 34 sk. ; 19 weighing 1530 fts. each, at 8Kc, 30
sk ; 19 others, 1500 lbs., atS'^c, 30 sk. ; 8 others. 1500 lbs., 9c,
31 sk. ; 22, gross live weight 26,625 lbs., at 8'ic, 34 sk. ; 15 oth-
ers, 14' 0 lbs. each, 9c, >f sk. ; 14 others 1275 ibs. each, at 9>jC,
30 sk. ; 6 averagibg 1200 fts., 0c, 30 sk. ; 4 weighing 4315 tbs.,
at9'4C,30 sk. ; one pair oxen, 3110 tbs., at 8^40,1^ *k. ; 9 steers,
1075 ll)S. each, 9c, 30 sk. ; and 30 of an average live weight, of
1100 lbs., 83ic, 32 sk. By a rough calculation we estimate that
the sales reported in this short paragraph amount to about $15,-
000, (fifteen thousand dollars.)
Wm. Scollans sold 85 good Illinois oxen and steers as follows:
14 to J. F. Taylor, live weight 1500 tbs. each, at 9;^c, 28 sk. ; 27
others, same weight, to X''. & S. Jackson, at 9?ic, 30 sk. ; 15 av
eraginglSOO fts.,at9!^c, 30 sk. ; 13 weighing 1350 tfcs. each,
at 9'oC,31 sk. : and 16", average live weight 1300 lbs., at 9>^c,
30 skT
D. A. Philbrick sold to E. Porter one pair of five-year-old ox-
en, estimated to dress 2600 lbs., and veiy handsome, thrifty
looking steers they were, fed by J. Rob.v, of X'^orlharnpton, X^. H.
Also, another pair, six years old, fed in the same town, by E.
Berry, and possib.v by way of a little friendly competition Avith
his neighbor, and laid by goodjudges at 2S00 lbs. Mr. Philbrick
hoped to get 10c ■I?' tb. for these extra oxen, but OKcwas the
highest bid, up to last evening. He also sold one pair to Mr.
Holden, laid at 2000 tbs., for §185, another pair, 2100 tbs., for
$190, and a pair of 7 ft. oxen for $130.
Dudley & French sold 138 sheep at b}ic W ft. Berry Long
sold Giles and Farrington 191 Xew York sheep for Cc 1/ tb., for
which he -xpected O'jC, and we understood that the other lot of
X'ew York sheep were sold at 6c. M. T. Shackttt sold lo Hollis
& Pratt a drove of 100 merino sheep fed b.y Oliver EKlridge, of
Addison, Vt., averaging at Cambridge 103 >i fts., which although
sheared, had flesh enough to make them look comftirtable after
their jackets were off. Ihey were an extra lot. We heard one
of the buyers say to a customer at the market, this morning, —
"You havn't seen such mutton in my cart this year." They
were bargained for two weeks ago, at 7c, which is probably high-
er than they would have sold this week. Mr. Shackctt sold 25
other fine sheep to J. Pratt, at OJ^c ^ lb., weighing 92 lbs. each,
Bailey k, Ainsworth had 179 sheep for which they refused 5J4C ^
ft., on their way to market, asking 6c. At the close of business
at Cambridge on Tuesday they had sold 50 selected ones for 6c,
and for the 129 then remaining, 4>ic ^ ft., had beLa offered,
and 5c asked. E. Flint sold 37 sheep to H. Goodnough, 75 tbs.
each, for 5;2C W tb., and at the same price C. W. Baily sold a
small drove. B. B. Chase gold 7 extra coss^s at 7c.
DEVOTED TO AGHICUXTITRE AJND ITS KXNDHED AHTS AITD SCIENCES.
VOL. XV.
BOSTOX, AUGrST, 1803.
NO. 8.
XOURSE, EATOX & TOL>L\X, Propeiztoks.
Office 102 Washtsgtox Street.
SMOX BROWX, Ebitok.
A^
progress in knowledge.
AUGUST— OUR MEDICLNAL HERBS. |
LL the ancient
customs of herb- ;
gathering seem
to be falling into \
neglect. The!
simpler, whose '
labors were so
valuable to a
distant by-gone
generation, has
become as rare
as a hermit ; her '
labors are now ;
appreciated only ■,
by a few ; and ■
those few are
such as have not
kept pace with
the community's
There was a time when '
the simpler was one of the most important person-
ages in any village neighborhood. The majority ■
of the people in the village and the country around
depended on her labors and her collections for the
medicines which were to save them from disease, ,
restore them to health, or enlighten them to un- ;
derstand the \ alue of chemical manipulations, and ^
the superior efficacy of those drugs which had -
been prepared under the direction of a learned ■
chemist or physician. Nature was supposed to
bo wiser than the apothecary ; but it was beyond .
the comprehension of these simple-minded peo-
ple, to understand, that it was not nature, after all, :
who was prescribing to them ; but that, on the
contrary, it was they who were prescribing to !
themselves. I
Nature produces certain medicinal herbs : but
she never yet revealed to any one the uses for i
which they were designed. All this must be
learned by investigation and experiment ; and he j
who pulls up a weed from his garden and admin-
isters a decoction of it to himself or to a patient
is no more under the guidance of Nature in his
practice, than one who prepares his medicines with
a pes le and mortar, from the chemidtels of the
apothecary.
But our present object is not to decry the use
of our native or domestic medicinal herbs, but to
say a few words upon their real value, and to give
a few hints concerning them which may be in-
structive to those who are not acquainted with
them. There are many valuable medicinal plants,
both in our fields and in our gardens ; but they
are valuable rather as cordials, restoratives and
anodynes, than as specifics for the cure of disease.
The cure of real disease should always be left to a
physician, who, being entirely devoted to the
study and practice of the healing art, must neces-
sarily, if he possess common power of mind, un-
derstand it better than the wisest man belonging
to other trades and occupations. A wise physician
always consults a farmer, when he wants advice
concerning the raising of his animals or his crops ;
and he must be a stupid farmer, who should im-
agine that on this account he knew more than the
physician about the cure of disease. In our opin-
ion. Nature has verj' kindly furnished her crea-
tures with these simples, which are procured from
the field, that we may safely resort to them, when
we need a gentle restorative, but are not sick
enough to require a physician. We may be suf-
fering from too much fatigue, or from exposure to
heat or chills, and we may require a simple cordial
or a sweating draught ; and in these plain cases
the herbs of the field or garden may furnish aa
agreeable and a sufficient remedy. The experience
of the simpler may then be used with advantage ;
but to consult her in cases of decided disease would
be like asking advice of the builder of a wigwam
for planning and constructing a modem dwelling-
house.
It is curious to note the classification of these
herbs which was made bv our ancestors, in the
VEW EN'GIAXD FAKMEIL
Aug.
Sweet C
naw mpeet, tfaoogfa
■■ile. TIkr vss mr.:
]A3asopbyj ia wmimhi i.
■eeds SBB note Juixr.
vekBovlkat eadk £•:
bat 1 1 li'wlfd Id an is:
cf -icfe rlsnfti has rei
i-- afityofel
white
lie:
dlsaffreeaUe or injaiious.
r 5 z: :Ly be named the com-
- • >cented Venial grass;
ise beiTj ka^es ; tibe
.•j the Oswego
rings; the Pri-
"er, (PtfTxJ.a ro-
r Swamp RoEe;
" .ra ,V the
1 ^- ^ '- i« c^rry : and
ve and esctic
"i in the pos-
; Cnina tea are
-T. jh tree ; the Elder
ey are described as
T instances, vith iog-
' "'i dried, the
-chPink.
stems, ari. ^:.m7i over the
'- .-' --^ i-iey remain
They are then
-ime man-
7 possible
~e should
: -sm this prepaiatiot. ~
- *?a leaf. The It- . ^^-r.-r'. .. :;.e
4Wi, or Labrador tea, is said to dos-
— atic faitle:
r.?. Thi-
-ZVA soiis,
. -.:h is easy
. . and which poesess-
^ *" 'ina plant, with-
- 1 be a fortune
Ject of OCT present remazks is not, how-
i any search after this "pbilo6-
" rniply to advise a more gen-
-T of oar common medic-
. .-;. .-be able readily to dlstin-
rich are safe and wholesome from
' . . ^ or poisonous.
I'Ji in the ntiHtj of these
. i dLiezse ; but for many sim-
2r« biehly valuable, and the -
zem, leads to the ac-
: :. and requires a pre-
•-any, which ought alwaye
•-iiler of the soiL
'.ai the grain crop of the
^xiiered, will be one of the most
-a.
1^.?.
XEW EyGLA>T) FARMTR.
ss
saw GHASS.
ri^: - z- .i-H-L.~,
♦jrreier •fc.L:
r»rs.
fr» ^T rmii'ii, aij !ii an iT Brik iiliilii^i PoC-
ai^ skarid asrer bie SKd, •• k ficqaBM^ i^srcs
tkeeknerawl ane defiaiepntkmartke hHk,
aad it Amget lo rrifiTy to « cwboaate, as to be
vvfaedoff befbreic iTiiii|iimiii iTm ora aad e»>
raoasof fnrrm. BtTitim, imiwii, tli , iil k«£
Dot reaoretbe wrijraHeets from ^ tofteecf
pear ticca, aakas aaed at w g^cat a atieagtfc aato
injure Ae cai&ee of tbe bark knit
Tbe soda tree vaaii vc bave to fi i if iiillj >ee-
OKawBded, is pv^oable to aB otfaen, aad aar be
tkxs pieiiaiwl : — Heat sal soda icd boC m
vessel ; to do tbis the Ttaael ihnaM be i
in. acx over, a bazd cool fire ; das 'viB dme cC
thevuter zad faibncac aodwbaeba i iiaiMaii.mT
dmii« the soda caostie. Ooe po«ad oftUa caas-
tic soda, added to onegafloB a(wtia,majhe ap-
6ed to tbe tnaks aad laiger btatba* of trees
vitknt kganagtbem. It viH Raa«« tbe ae^
iztseetsfitaB tbe bazk of dvarfpeu' trees. Apphr-
B^ tbe w»A one dajr, mb saeb as bare tbis wect
opon i^ai, tbe next daj, vitb a voolea cktk. and
the balks viB be pedeedj dear. Tbasvasbanfj
beappfedto an trees vitb a aop or bra^aad tf
agsia app&d at wM nmnm to tbe laner por-
tsoQs, tnmk, etc, tbe trees vS be laiTi liiTTj Tii ii
e£ted. Wbse a poetioB oeij of tbe tnok. of a
pima tree w oeaaaed br Aas vnb, it viU ntenase
in dbMeter sore ^am tbe pansaboire aad below
tbe vailed poetiaas. Ibssvasb is voc^ all rt
costs as BsiHiR ; it ama&anhr vffl fiad its vzt to
tbe soS br tbe acdoD cf rsfr?, ir^. SLZ.—Wcri-
TBKS -WASH. I
la ear!T sprins we should Look well to the cleaii- '
icsr ■:( ibe trunks »nd larser biur.cbes o^ fr-ii; trees^ ;
The old <•' - ■•'•" * ~'.:ewi-?hizs is not fiir trei:-
ment. for _ 5 i^itn^viiate ejects may b*
beBeficiil. "- - -_■-- -.--*« z^f the bark become* tiled
ki decree 'Klin the iasol^ble cirboaate of linie, an-i
tkis i;:;er:eres rciteriillv with the sAer-fanctioas
of growth, kssecini: the ntiivst.-.*? and crtxffsossf
actk>c$ and the bark soon becoaaes again as bad-
ly conditijced as beicre.
Tree washes sh:uIJ he soluble, so tbat tber will
eveoluj-lly be reni-^vec by rairs ; thus o3 soap, if
HOlir TO MAXZ
We are too apt to .
tbe doaaesde aaanak e
■oaaeiA's icAttliuB ^
cow^ bones, sheep aad pi^are
aad Boet &raaecs or {tmrrs' Vv
fiesent in teactta^ tbec:
fiad BsoT pexsoes, wii'-.
of pasCfiie. tastead of . :
two or ditetf of tbe k^
then, faf sboatiBg or be
imals to le^ over. 1
rt-- -- -'-hadi aese--
i ry tbeir p>
:. - - --^ .^- peas to be
to set ail feaees at d£~
apes tbe earn or gtai-
abillrr, <»- boager, at.
goo<l"kssoD is to open
then, as in tbe rase ;
f.^r-^ird. 2rd bv ihrea. -
c-k Tbt
: .ietenamtf
.•-:\r to nike a fiwtince t-vy
Tui\is, aad fietds. — Euimafe.
IT CATT!LB.
•"-'•ell^geage of
. : aad \eta
:»aer'tbat
TesT apt papib;
>« are qute pn^
cbaef. Tkasae
>:ock nto or out
- tbe ban* leave
-l-wir place; aad
'rretbeaa-
-lokbc, tbe
- , .:—■ *
Salt not a PKr=EKTATiTT
c-.TTtspoodeEt of ibe £»w -^ " -
c3.-<:~ieoce as foUovs:
T.-irtT-e^t vears ago Is;:
r<s:5 ?f eqoal siie. H^ v. •
w::h in iaeb aager jost ai :
slcp-3ar".y. ««:tic iacbes dee^
aa«i p.u§:^W ibeai up. Tbe
ed. =^x: Qoc saked^aac '
res-.: was the poses .
mf iihia^ vas lest kbcr
-A
236
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
LETTER FROM MB. BROWTf.
V/anvick, B. L, June 16, 1863.
Narraganset Bay — Population of Warwick — Its Soil and Vc!;eta-
ble GDwth— Black Walnuts — Grapes— Shrubs and Flowers —
Hauling the Seine — Sharks — Dog Fish — Menhaden Fish for
Manure — Manner of Using them — How Composted for Top-
dressing — North Kingston — The Chadsey Farm — Great Rye
Croji — Seeds — The Ive« Farm — Oaks and Locust — The Water-
man Farm — Fine Jersey Cattle and South Down Sheep— The
Farm of Thomas J. Hill — Reflections and Conclusions.
Gentlemen : — As I suggested in my first let-
ter from"TAe i^arm," I have come forth to "learn
how other people live and prosper," and to col-
lect facts, if I can, that will be valuable to the nu-
merous readers of the New England Farmer.
Your paper is not a stranger, I find, wherever I go.
Warwick, from whence I date, is a large town,
bounded on the east by Narraganset Bay, and
fiequently penetrated by numerous inlets from
that broad and beautiful sheet of water. In these,
a variety of fish and clams are procured, and some
of them, the Menliaden, for instance, in very large
quantities. At the head of one of these bays,
"Co-we-sef," near the little village of Apponaug,
and two miles from East Greenwich, I have made
my halting place with some excellent relatives,
and from whence I shall ramble as fancy or facts
invite me.
The population of Wandck is now about 10,-
000 souls, and is largely engaged in the manu-
facturing of various kinds of articles. One can
scarcely pass over a mile of any part of the town
without finding "a factory" of some kind. Where
water-power can be obtained it is employed, but
if the stream is not there, steam is, and the wheels
fly merrily everywhere. The soil is of a peculiar
character. It is a rich, sandy loam, sometimes
abounding with stones, but more fi'equently with-
out any, and having a dark and slightly reddish
appearance. The growth of wood includes the
Cedar, Walnut, White and Yellow Oak, Beech,
Maple, White and Red — I did not observe the
Rock or Sugar Maple — the Locust, Yellow Pine,
White and Brown Ash, Birch, and Black Walnut.
The laitter is indigenous, and splendid specimens
of this splendid tree sometimes lined the roadside,
and lent us their grateful shade as we rode along.
1 occasionally saw one that had no limbs for 15 or
20 feet from the ground, and then spread out its
branches over a diameter of 50 or 60 feet. Chmb-
ing plants, shrubbery and grape vines flourish ex-
ceedingly in this soil, and the grape especially so.
I found it in the woods, on the roadside, and in
the grounds of nearly every house I have visited.
The people train the Isabella and Catawba over
extensive trellises, under which they have drive
waj s to the carriage-house, and, in one or two
cases, sufficiently spacious to pass under with an
ox load of hay, on the way to the barn ! The gen-
eral cultivation of the grape about the dwellings,
together with a pleasant variety of shrubs and
flowers, gives the country a most thrifty and in-
' viting appearance to the traveller as he passes
along. Even before he meets and converses with
the people, he is led to believe them cultivated
and intelligent, and a more intimate acquaintance
does not dispel his early impressions, — at least,
not in my case. The Concord Grape, which is
considered the best out-door grape we have, is not
yet generally introduced into this section. I hope
it may find its way among them the coming au-
tumn, for I am confident it will be a great acqui-
sition to their present varieties. I have already
sent some among them, and shall continue to do
so, hereafter.
The soil is peculiar, I have said. Upon rubbing
it between the fingers it has none of that sharp
grit that our sandy soils possess, although it has
the appearance of our sandy soils to the eye, ex-
cept in color. It feels soft and loamy, or like soap.
Even on the rocky fields, it retains this character-
istic ; consequently, the finest seeds come in it
without difficulty, and I was told that frost rarely
disturbs it so as to throw walls or fences from their
level. The appearance of the crops, all along my
way, where skilful cultivation was observed, gave
ample testimony of the excellence of the soil.
I have passed over, more or less, three of the
five counties of the State, Providence, Kent and
AVashington. These lie on the western side of
the Bay, while Bristol and Newport are on the
eastern side. All along the shores of the Narra-
ganset, and fo4' several miles into the interior, the
farmers use large quantities of fish as a dressing
for their lands. One of my morning rambles was
to the shore where the fishermen were engaged in
drawing the seine. This is taken into a large
boat and carried a mile or two from the shore and
then spread from one boat to another, sweeping
over a large extent of the bay, and then gradually
brought ashore by the boatmen. In "the haul"
which I saw, there was not a large amount of
small fish, but the novelty of the matter was great-
ly increased for me by the presence of two sliarls,
each between 3 to 4 feet long, and two dog-Jish,
of about the same size. When the sharks showed
their tails and peculiarly ugly eyes, and announced
their objection to landing by some energetic gyra-
tions and snapping of their triple-armed jaws,
there was a lively "skedaddling" amor g the fisher-
men and the bare-footed boys ! A few shad were
included in the draught, some tautog, one lobster,
scallops, crabs, and the remainder mostly Men-
haden. The latter are the fish principally relied
upon as a manure. They are measured in a half-
barrel, as thrown from the net and at once loaded
into carts or wagons or left in heaps upon the
beach, to be taken by the parties who have en-
gaged them. If the planting season is not over,
they are carted at once to the field, and one fish,
Aveighing from one to two pounds, is di-opt into
NEW ENGLAN]) FARMER.
237
the hill and the corn planted by it and immedi-
ately covered. In some cases two, or even more
are used, according to the quality of the soil or the
means of the planter. My friend, by my side, in-
tends to put in 20 acres of corn in this manner,
next year.
The general impression seems to be that fish
thus used is not a durable fertilizer, — that all its
power is exhausted the first year. Such is prob-
ably the fact, as they use it. But if the same
money value in fish were put upon the land as is
usually applied to it in farm manure, I think there
Mould be no reason to think that the fish is not
only a powerful but a permanent fertilizer. Let
us see, —
If the hills are 3:^X3 feet apart, there will be
4,148 hills on an acre. There are about 200 fish
in a barrel. It would require, therefore, a little
more than 20 barrels to dress one acre. At the
beach, they can be bought for 18 cents a barrel —
perhaps less in large quantities. If we call them
20 cents a barrel on the field, the manure, as usu-
ally applied, will cost 83,60 per acre, while the
barn-yard manure would average $20 to $25 per
acre. I hope some of the intelligent farmers whom
I have met. Mill give you the result of their ex-
periments in tins matter.
When the fish is intended as a topdressing, or
when coming after the planting season is over, it
is converted into a fine and exceedingly strong
manure by the following process : A trench is
dug on the edge of the field where the manure is
to be applied, of length and width according to
the quantity of fish to be used, and they are
l)itched into it and a little soil thrown over them.
If the weather is warm, in three or four days the
fish will -be changed uito a mass of living mag-
gots, and they will commence marching ofi" in
numbers whose name is legion ! As soon as this
march commences, men are employed in throwing
the soil over them before they fairly leave the
ditch, and so continue until the last column is
arrested and overwhelmed, by a process as cer-
tainly fatal as was the storm of ashes over the
doomed cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The
mass then becomes fine, quite dark colored, and
the offensive gases are so much absorbed by the
loam as to render the whole a safe and convenient
manure. In this form it is portable, easily ap-
plied as a topdressing, or in any other way, and
when liberally spread, is quite permanent in its
effects.
At North Kingston, on the farm of Capt. A. P.
Chadsey, Provost Marshal of that District, I found
rye growing on land adjoining that on which they
grew 42 bushels per acre last yeai'. Mr. Chad-
sey, the elder, now past 82 years of age, and still
hale and hearty, accompanied me on the ramble
and gave me the facts which I repeat. They raised
on the farm last year two thousand pounds of onioA
seed, about loOO of carrot seed, and smaller quan-
tities of various other seeds, which were sold to
the Shakers in Connecticut. This farm lies near
the shores of the bay, and the soil is of the most
excellent character. Many oasis-like pieces, lying
in the very midst of the salt marsh, were culii-
vated, and now have on them the most flourishing
crops. The rye mentioned grew on one of them.
Driving leisurely homeward I turned into a fine
avenue, a mile and a half long, on the Ives farm,
which occupies a point of land running into thi
bay. This avenue is sufficiently wide to drivg
three carriages abreast, fenced each side wit-.i
spruce boards, four rails high and each six inches
wide. Each side of the avenue is set with oak,
elm, ash or maple trees, not in a straight line, but
every other tree set in about twelve inches towards
the fence, making two instead of one line, and all
dug about and mulched. Each tree is protected
by two six-inch boards coming to a point next the
road, resting on a small post and nailed at the
other end to the fence. On this farm I think !
saw at least a hundred acres of red clover in full
bloom, and three or four times as much more ia
other grasses. The extensive pasturage had all
been reclaimed and cultivated, and teemed with
grass as did the field. I also saw fine orcharding,
stock of various kinds, and eveiything in order.
Not a gap in the stone wall, no weeds in \.h.e
grounds or roadside, and no gullies or other de»
fccts to mar the beauty of the fields. On on^
piece, containing about 15 acres, I saw rj-e whicL
must average 30 bushels jjcr acre, at least. Ij&
the midst of this field were lofty oaks scattered
here and there, and tall, straight locusts in fuli
bloom, giving the whole a charming aspect. This
feature in the farming of Rhode Island is as beau-
tiful as it is peculiar. The farmers say that the
locusts do not injure the crops in the midst of
which they stand, and the rye, and other grain
fields which I looked at, did not seem to be affect-
ed by them. They give the scenery the most in-
viting aspect, especially in a hot and dusty day.
This farm contains about 1300 acres, and has upon
it several elegant mansions, the summer residen-
ces of difl'erent branches of the Ives family. The
other buildings are numerous and all kept in com-
plete order. The proprietors reside in Providence
in the winter.
The adjoining farm on the south, or south-wert,
belongs to Mr. RicuAED Watkuman. Here I
saw some of the finest Jersey heifers and cows
that I have ever seen, and a fine flock of South
Down sheep. Here, also, every portion of the
farm and buildings was a pattern of neatness and
system, and indicated skill in the direction of all
its affairs. My stay upon it was too limited to
look into the fields and orchards.
238
XE\Y ENGLAND FARMER.
Atro.
On the farm of Mr. Thomas J. Hill, a busi- 1
ness man of Providence, I saw some fine exam- j
pies of reclaiming, followed by wheat crops that '.
will give 40 bushels per acre, and corn, grass, and |
other crops in proportion. One field, perhaps of !
20 acres, was partially surrounded by a wall four
feet across at the bottom, two feet at the top, faced [
on both sides, and level, the ground being made <
nearly so before the wall was built. The founda- ;
tion of the wall, I was informed, was three feet
deep. The land abounds with flat stones, and
some of the cap stones of the wall were sis feet
in length. He intends to continue it round the
entire field. It is about five feet high.
On the eleventh, I saw a large party giitliering
peas in the field, and numerous clover fields were
in full bloom, none of which had I seen at home '
a day or two before. The climate is 10 or 15 days
earlier, I think, than that north or west of Boston, ,
and is greatly affected by the large body of water ;
in Narraganset Bay, which sends its humid and \
warm air ashore.
After seeing this beautiful farming country, in |
the midst of markets, schools, churches, and from ,
any portion of which one can go forth and reach !
some 20 or 30 cities in the course of 24 hours, I
cannot conscientiously advise persons who are |
seeking to establish homes on farms to go to the '
West, or even into Virginia, when rebel raids have '
ceased, and sweet peace sits serenely again over \
our land. Settling in Rhode Island would not |
take one from New England customs and influen- '
ces, while it would give him good markets in the
neighboring cities or among the manufacturers,
excellent land to cultivate, with rare facilities for
securing manures, and a climate superior to that ,
of a large portion of the rest of New England. '
At some future time I hope to visit the two eastern '
counties, and fish, shoot, and have a good time, ;
as I have sometimes had many years since. In '
the meantime, I am, gentlemen, ]
Very truly yours, Semox Browx. i
Messrs. Xouese, Eatox & Tolhas. j
For the yew En slari'l Farmer. \
A CORM" BAKN— PEESEEVTNG HAMS, j
Mr. Editor : — I find in your ever welcome and !
instructive journal, quite a number of plans in re- j
gard to a corn barn ; I have not seen any mention |
made of a plan adopted by myself, to escape from j
rats and mice, which has proved effective for many i
years, and is ver\- simple, and of scarce any ex- j
pense. Erect the barn, no matter what dimen- ;
sions, (which of course will depend upon the
amount of crops.) upon posts, leaving a space be- j
tween the ground and the floor of four feet. Cover i
the tops of the posts with tin, (or zinc is prefera- ,
ble,) a depth of six inches, and you will never be
troubled with rats or mice, unless in a hurry you
neglect, in leaving, to shut the door and remove
the steps, or ladder, by which you enter.
I saw the other day, in some journal, a mode
for preserving liams. It was to cover the meat
side of the ham with strong whitewash. Now,
that ■«ill keep away vermin sure, but I don't think
it will improve, to say the least of it, the flavor of
the ham. My method is, to inclose the ham in a
bag of canvass, cotton, or old sail cloth, and then
thoroughly whitewash the bags with two or three
coats, drying between each application, and then
suspend in an airy place, with the hock end down.
I have taken hams thus prepared on voyages of
thirty odd months, to the Pacific and back, and
twenty-nine months on the coast of Africa, with-
out losing a single one, save in manner and form,
duly provided for by the statute in such case made
and provided. j. c. R.
Fort Preble, June, 1863.
F:-T the Sew England Farmer.
GOOfG TO MAHKET.
"It costs nothing, but it goes a great ways,"
said some one, referring to the kind civilities of a
thoroughly well-bred and polite person.
Do any of my lady readers remember then- first
experiment in "going to market ?" Now, lest
some one may misapprehend entirely my meaning
by the term "going to market," lest some fair citj-
lady may suppose I mean stepping into a city
market, and ordering various nice little parcels
sent to No. — , D Street, for dinner, I will at
once explain. I mean simply this :
A country farmer's -wife may decide that, for
wise and sufficient reasons, she will go to the
town or city with the "horse or wagon" and she
will take upon herself the sole responsibility of dis-
posing, to the best of her ability, of such articles
as may be ready for sale ; the products of the dairy,
say.
"Well, what of that ?" says one. "We know
that women do so, but dear me, they are always
such a coarse, countrified set, that it is quite shock-
ing to be in a store when these market women
come in, although I admit they are sometimes quite
amusing, quite a study, like the garbage gather-
ers and fish women of Paris."
With becoming ^perseverance we decided one
fine day in the month of that the next morn-
ing, circumstances permitting, should find us at
an early hour on our way to the city of, "go-
ing to market," for the first time. If a military
general has his misgivings when appi-oaching the
enemy to gire battle, is it strange that we should
have ours — two women approaching, for the first
time, a strange place, on business new and un-
tried ? One consolation for us, nobody knows
us in , and if we are "green," and those who
patronize us are disposed to be uncivil or rude,
because we, instead of our "better half," have
come to market, we won't know them ; they won't
know us ; "we'll grin and bear it." Is not there
a comfortable feeling of independence in knowing
no one, no one knowing you in a strange place ?
Did you ever feel it ? If you have, you under-
stand it.
With some little timidity, but we hope with be-
coming dignity, we inquire of the trader, in the
first store we enter, if he would like some ?
A cautious glance assui-ed us that one or two cus-
tomers present, regarded us, not with contempt,
but perhaps a little curiosity ; of course, we knew
we were somewhat verdant, and how could it be
otherwise ? But the pleasant face of the trader
assured us that we should certainly meet with no
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
239
incivility here. We were reassured, by the greet-
ing of a tall, rather rough, but honest looking
man, who enters and salutes our trader thus, "Do
you want some eggs?" "Yes." "Wal, tell you
•what, I always like to come in here ; that's so,
cause you always look so pleasant."
"Eh! good natured, is it?" says the pleasant
voice behind the counter, as a slight gleam of sat-
isfaction beamed from his eye. My friend and I
exchanged glances, which interpreted, were, "We
shan't be snubbed here."
How we traded, is our affair : we see no pro-
priety in telling the reader further, but what we
wish is simply to say, that, if "Love is the golden
key that opens the human heart," why may we not
call true politeness and civility the silver one ?
We certainly must consider that feeling of the
heart that prompts a stranger to extend to a
stranger, even a little plain market woman, the
various kind attentions needed, freely and deli-
cately, true politeness. If this feeling persuades the
heart, and is well rooted there, it will show itself,
and not occasionally either. I doubt not, many
who read this article, can recall instances where
worthy and sensible persons have been rudely
treated by store-keepers and clerks, whose far
worthier fathers and mothers, working on the
farm, were honestly toiling for an honest lixing,
rudely treated, because — well, they came from the
farm, to sell something.
To this class "our trader belongeth not." —
From the time we entered his store with our
boxes and budgets, our fears and misgivings, till
he politely handed us into our wagon, with our
empty boxes and budgets, minus our fears and
misgivings, we received only the kindest atten-
tions. Had we a thousand "market women"
friends, whose husbands, sons, or brothers were
"gone to war," or who for other reasons, had un-
mistakable evidence that it was their duty to "go
to market," we would say to them, go and trade
with Mr. , but not all at one time. Would
there were more like him, and "may his shadow
never be less." You see, Mr. Editor, that since I
have been to market, although, my fingers are not
exactly "all thumbs," yet my pen is a little stiff.
A. B. C.
Rem.\rks. — No matter about the "fingers" or
"thumbs." Y'our letter is one of the most ele- 1
gantly written ones that we have received for ;
years past. You honor the world by your acts
and the expression of your sentiments. Let fops '
and fools sneer, if they will, their "noses may
come to the grindstone," when they least expect |
it, perhaps.
C!o.?T OF Raising Corn ix Illinois. — A
Warren county correspondent of the PrairU^
Farmer, "J. D. P.," says : |
The great staple crop of this section is com, for j
which the soil is particularly well adapted. Corn, ;
properly taken care of, does not generally cost over
twelve cents per bushel when cribbed. Last year
I raised over four thousand bushels, at a cost of
nine or ten cents per bushel when cribbed with
the husk on. Any person doubting this can have ;
the figures of every item as charged in my farm j
account- '
F(/r the Kew England Fanner.
FEEDING CHICKENS.
Dear Farmer :— As it is your province and
pleasure to do good, I wish you to communicate
to your readers the following way to feed chickens
and to preserve their live?.
It is a mistake to feed young chickens pudding
made of common fine meal. Pudding made of
the common fine com meal is too indigestible and
cold for the thin and tender stomachs of the
chickens. Chickens thus fed are early stunted,
and linger along with an inactive and debilitated
digestion. Hominy made into pudding is the
best focKl for chickens until they are large enough
to eat corn in the kernel. If you cannot get hom-
iny, use two parts of boiled potatoes with the com-
mon fine meal.
Chickens often are seen to droop their wings,
turn around and appear to almost fall backwards.
In nine cases out of ten, lice on the top of the
head of the chicken. When you see your chick-
ens droop thus, and peep, and lay behind the
brood, examine on the top of the head of the
chicken, and you will find lice there, standing on
their heads, eating directly to the seat of nervous
organization.
The infallible remedy is tobacco juice, applied
plentifully on the head of the chicken — but not
in the eyes. I find chewing tobacco verj- useful
in raising poultry, for I have not lost one chicken
this year. Qci Nunc.
June 13, 1863.
For the yetr England Firmer.
WHO ARE THE PATRIOTIC "WOItfElS"?
Mr. Editor : — As the haying season in New
England approaches, it becomes a question of in-
terest to the farmer how he is to secure his crop
of hay, with the present scarcity of labor. Un-
doubtedly, a great deal will be done with the
horse-mowers and horse-rakes, but then there is a
vast amount of labor, both in the field and the
barn, which cannot be accomplished by these la-
bor-saving implements. There is the spreading
and turning of the hay, the pitching it on the
wagon and loading it there, then the pitching it
off and stowing it away in the barn — surely, our
hands will be full, and more than full, and who is
to help us in this driving and exhausting labor?
Now it may seem to be going back to days
long past — it may seem to be uncivil, if not un-
civilized, to propose, as I do, that we call upon the
women of the country to lend a hand in this emer-
gency, to help harvest the crop, so valuable, so
indispensable to the whole community. The
young men are mostly away in the war — others
will soon be call thither — they thus show their
pluck and their patriotism — and the Lord be
praised for it ; but our young women have both
patriotism and pluck, and are wilHng to do what
their hands find to do to bring the oountry out of
her trials. They often complain that there is not
work enough for them to do ; their zeal some-
times is in danger of outrunning their opportuni-
ties to do good. Now here is a field, wide, use-
ful, healthful and honorable ; will you. ye fair ones
of New England, give us your aid out of doors in
haying, at least the present season ? It may hard-
en your hands, brown your faces and disarrange
your dresses ; but just don a bloomer dress, or
something of the sort, and go to work with a will
240
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
and we promise you kind treatment and the grat-
itude of warm hearts. You can render a service
in this way hardly to be estimated in dollars and
cents, but which will be appreciated by all intelli-
gent farmers. We make the proposal in all sin-
cerity, and we earnestly hope it may be accepted.
Danvers, June 4, 1863. I. L.
Remarks. — And so do we. A vast amount of
good may accomplished without a single unpleas-
ant result. The effort may soil the hands, but will
not tarnish the reputation. Listen to the fair
jiroposition, matron and maiden, abandon your
hoops for hoes, for a season, and show the m6n of
the country that you are not a whit behind them
in any patriotic effort.
EE-ROOTING OF PEAK TKEES ON
QUINCE STOCK.
At a late meeting of the American Institute
Farmer's Club, Mr. John G. Bergen made the fol-
lowing statement :
This spring, I had occasion to move twenty-five
pear trees on quince, which I set five years ago,
at two years old, budded low on the stock, so that
it was easy to set them two to four inches below
the junction. Upon about one-third of these trees,
I found that there were plenty of quince roots, but
none from the pear. About one-third had both
pear and quince roots, and in some instances,
when the pear roots were vigorous, the quince
roots, though still in place, were dead or dying.
Upon the other third, there were no quince roots
left, the whole tree being sustained by the new
roots formed from the pear. In one case, the tree
was budded upon pear, and that had straight
roots, reaching downward. On the trees where
new pear roots had formed above the quince, they
all appeared disposed to spread out horizontally.
The trees still retaining quince roots are not as
large as the others, and those with both pear and
quince roots proved that the latter do not always
die as soon as pear roots form.
Abortion in Cows. — Complaint of trouble in
this respect has been quite frequent of late in ag-
ricultural papers. Among other causes, it has
been suggested that it might be the result of in-
fection by a diseased male. A correspondent of
the Boston Cultivator combats this idea, and
says :
There is a weed growing in some localities,
which is fatal to a cow with calf. It does not al-
ways grow in one particular spot, but will spring
up sometimes in one place, and again in another.
I do not know the proper name for it, but it is
known among old people and farmers by the name
of "slink-weed." I once knew a herd of thirty
cows all lose their calves in this way at one time ;
and although it was a great many years ago, noth-
ing of the kind has since occurred on that farm.
I have very recently known a case of abortion
where the cause was aaid to be traced directly to
the existence of this weed in tne hay. I am not
able to describe the weed, having never seen it
myself; but it grows in my neighborhood, and is
known by some of the people in this vicinity.
"CATCHING COLD,"
A large number of fatal diseases result from
taking cold, and often from such slight causes,
apparently, as to appear incredible to many. But,
although the causes are various, the result is the
same, and arises from the violation of a single
principle, to wit — cooling off too soon after exer-
cise. Perhaps this may be more practically in-
structive if individual instances are named, which,
in the opinion of those subsequently seeking ad-
vice in the various stages of consumption, were
the causes of the great misfortune, premising that
when a cold is once taken, marvellously slight
causes serve to increase it for the first few days —
causes which, under ordinary circumstances, even
a moderately healthful system would have easily
warded off.
A promising young teacher walked two miles
for exercise, and on returning to his room, it be-
ing considered too late to light a fire, sat for half
an hour reading a book, and before he knew it a
chill passed over him. The next day he had spit-
ting of blood, which was the beginning of the end.
A mother sat sewing for her children to a late
hour in the night, and noticing that the fire had
gone out, she concluded to retire to bed at once ;
but thinking that she could "finish" in a few min-
utes, she forgot the passing time, until an hour
more had passed, and she found herself "thor-
oughly chilled," and a month's illness followed to
pay for that one hour.
A little cold taken after a public speech in Chi-
cago, so "little" that no attention was paid to it for
several days, culminated in the fatal illness of
Stephen A. Douglas. It was a slight cold taken
in midsummer, resulting in congestion of the
lungs, that hurried Elizabeth Barrett Browning
to the grave within a week. A vigorous young
man laid down on an ice-chest on a warm sum-
mer's day, fell asleep, waked up in a chill, which
ended in confirmed consumption, of which he died
three years later. A man in robust health and in
the prime of life, began the practice of a cold bath
every morning, getting out of bed and standing
with his bare feet on a zinc floor during the whole
operation ; his health soon declined, and ultimate-
ly his constitution was entirely undermined.
Many a cold, cough and consumption, are ex-
cited into action by pulling off the hat or overcoat
as to men, and the bonnet and. shawl as to wo-
men, immediately on entering the house in winter,
after a walk. An interval of at least five or ten
minutes should be allowed, for however warm or
"close" the apartment may appear on first entei'-
ing, it M'ill seem much less so at the end of five
minutes, if the outer garments remain as they
were before entering. Any one who judiciously
uses this observation, will find a multifold reward
in the course of a lifetime. — Hall's Journal of
Health.
^W Wool-growing is now receiving much atten-
tion among the Kansas farmers. Large numbers
of sheep have been sent into the State, a great por-
tion of them from Missouri. The clip tliis year is
good, and will yield a handsome profit. The ex-
pense of keeping sheep there is a trifle when com-
pared with the cost of keeping them here.
He who loves only himself dislikes nothing so
much as to be alone with the object of his affec-
tion.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
241
Several years ago this
squash was in high favor,
and very justly too, we
think, but since the intro-
duction of the Hubbard
squash, it has lost some of
its notoriety.
In a note to us several
years since, from the late
lamented Dr. T. W. Hau-
Kis, of Cambridge, he said :
"It is a winter squash
tcith a hard rind, and is
said to have been brought from the city of New
York to Waltham, where some of the fruit was
grown in the summer of 1849."
The Doctor adds that he had seen the same
squash in Boston market, and was told that it
came from the West Indies, and thinks it probable
that it originated there. Nevertheless, it is per-
fectly adapted to our latitude and climate. The
form is elongated, slightly depressed at each end.
Ten-ribbed. Rind smooth ; with a few irregular
elevations on it ; harder than that of the crook-
necked of the winter squash, but not woody,
about as thick as press-paper, and of a dark cream
or cheese color. Flesh one and one-fourth inches
thick, deep yellow, very firm and fine-grained
.vc-A
.<.-.■. ^^
throughout. Seeds numerous, whitish, oblong.
The vines, leaves and blossoms do not difl"er es-
sentially from those of the common winter pump-
kin and winter squash. The above engraving is
taken from Burr's " Field and Garden Vegetables
of America."
Fair of the Upper Canada Acricultuhal
Association. — The June number of the Canadian
IloriiruUuriaf contains the Prize List, <Sjc., of the
Eighteenth Exhibition of this Society, to be held
in Kingston, Sept. 22d, 23d, 24th and 2,3th, 1863.
Premiums to the amount of about $12,000 are
offered on articles connected with agriculture, hor-
ticulture, manufactures and arts.
A RUKAIi SCENE.
We had a royal progress from Boston to Font-
dale. Summer lay on the shining hills and scat-
tered benedictions. Plenty ymiled u]) from a
thousand fertile fields. Patient oxen with their
soft, deep eyes, trod heavily over mines of greater
than Indian wealth. Kindly cows stood in the
grateful shade of cathedral elms, and gave thanks
to God, in their dumb, fumbling way. Motherly,
sleepy, stupid sheep lay on the plains, little lambs }
rollicked out their short-lived youth around them,
and no premonition floated over from the adjoin-
ing pea patch, nor any misgiving of approaching
mutton marred their happy heyday. Straight
through the piny forests, straight past the vocal
orchards, right in among the robins, and jays, and
tlie startled thruslies we dashed inexorable, and
made harsh dissonance in the wild wood orcliestra ;
but not fur that was the music hushed, nor did
one color fade. Brooks leaped in headlong chase
down tlie furrowed sides of gray old rocks, and
glided whispering beneath the sorrowful willows.
Old trees renewed their youth in the slight, tena-
cious grasp of many a tremulous tendril, and leap-
ing lightly above their topmost heights, vine
laughed to vine, swaying dreamily in the summer
air; and not a vine nor brook, nor hill nor forest,
but sent up a sweet smelling incense to its Maker.
Not an ox, or cow, or bird living its own dim life
but lent Its charm of unconscious grace to the
great picture that unfolded itself, mile after mile,
in everv i'resh loveliness to every unsated eye.
Well might the morning stars sing together, and
all the sons of God shout for joy, when first this
grand and perfect world swung free from its moor-
ings, flung out its spotless banner, and sailed ma-
jestically down the thronging skies. Yet, though
God sp, ke imce for the world to live, the miracle
of creation is still incomplete. New every spring
time, fiesh every summer, the earth comes forth
as a bride adorned for her husband. Not only in
the gray dawn of our history, but nowjn the full
brightness of its noonday, may we hear the voice
of the Lord walking in the garden. I look out on
the grey, degraded fields left naked of the kindly
snow, and inwardly ask ; can these dry bones live
again ? And while the question is yet trembling
on my lips, lo I a Spirit breathes upon the earth,
and beauty thrdls into bloom. Who shall lack
faith in man's redemption when every year on
earth is redeemed by unseen hands, and death is
lost in resurrection ? — Gail Hamilton.
City of Providence. — During our late ex-
cursion, we passed a day in the beautiful, enter-
prising and wealthy city of Providence, and think
we never saw so many fine estates in a single day
before, as we saw in and about that city. The
climate and soil evidently greatly aid tlie efforts
of the gardener, while the best mechanical skill
and efl"orts of art are expended upon the tasteful
and costly mansions everywhere to be seen. It
is said that Providence is the most weidlliy city,
according to its population, of any in tlie Union.
We found its people as hospitable and intelligent
as their city is rich and beautiful. Its niaiiufac-
lures are numerous and in a prospering condition.
242
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
THE GUIDE POST.
Translated by Bayard Taylor from the AUemaunic-German
dialect of John Peter Hebel, for the Atlantic Monthly,
D'ye know the road to th' bav'l of flour?
At break o'day let down the bars,
And plouch your wheat field hour by hour
Till sundown — yes, till shine of stars.
You pej; away the live-long day,
Nor loai about, nor gape around ;
And that's the road to the thrashin' floor,
And into the kitchen, I'll be bound !
D'ye know the road where dollars are ?
Follow the red cents here and there,
For if a man leaves them, I guess
He won't find dollars anywheve.
D'ye know the road to Sunday's rest.'
Jist d n't of week days be afeered ;
In field and workshop do y'r best,
And Sunday comes itself, I've heered.
On Saturday it's not fur off.
And brings a basketful o' cheer —
A roast, and lots of garden stuff.
And, like as not, a jug of beer.
D'ye know the road to poverty ?
Turn in at any tavern sign ;
Turn in — it's temptin' as can be.
There's brau'-new cards and liquor fine.
In the last tavern there's a sack.
And when the cash y'r pocket quits,
Jist hand the wallet on y'r back —
You vagabond ! see how it fits !
D'ye know what road to honor leads .'
And good old age ? — a lovely sight !
By way o' temperance, honest deeds,
And try in' to do y'r dooty right.
And when the road forks airy side,
And you're in doubt which one it is,
Stand still and let y'r conscience guide ;
Thank God, it can't lead much amiss !
And now, the road to church-yard gate
You needn't ask. Go anywhere !
For whether roundabout or straight.
All roads at last will bring you there.
Go, fearin' God, but lovin' more !
I've tried to l>e an honest guide, —
You'll find the grave has got a door.
And somethin' for you t'other side.
A 'STOCK FARM IN MAINE.
The editor of the Bangor (Me.) Whig and Cou-
rier has recently paid a visit to the large stock
farm of Mr. Thomas S. Lang, at Vassalboro', Me.,
and publishes a description of what he calls "the
finest stud of horses in New England, and the best
yard of thoroughbred Durham cattle in Maine."
The stud embraces sixty-one horses, old and young,
of every popular breed, including stock from
Ethan Allen, George M. Patchen, Sherman, Black
Hawk, Trotting Childers, Hiram Drew, and other
celebrities on the trotting course. The writer says
there is but one description of horse which Mr.
Lang has not got, and that is "a poor one." Most
of the animals are very valuable, and several of
them are, individually, worth what many would
esteem an extraordinary price. The writer speci-
fies as follows :
"Foremost in the list we must notice the entire
horse, General Knox, well known to every horse-
dealer in New England. General Knox is seven
years old, is a Sherman Black Hawk, from a Ham-
iltonian mother, never was sick or lame a moment,
is gentle as a kitten, and the most perfect animal
we ever looked upon. We believe he will yet
make the best time on record. He has never been
beaten in a race — lie never ivill be.
The entire horse, Trenton, by G. M. Patchen,
from a French mare purchased on the Bonaparte
estate. New Jersey, and raised by Prince Murat,
is a splendid animal, but hardly up to General
Knox.
The Davis horse, lately owned in Bradford, is fa-
miliar to horse fanciers in this vicinity, and is a
very fine animal, and a fast traveller.
General Wayne, by Ethan Allen from a thor-
ough bred mother, is also a splendid animal, and
hard to beat.
One of the finest animals is the trotting gelding
'Cloudman,' powerfully and perfectly built, and
handsome as a picture. He will make his mark
in the sporting world."
Among the remainder are horses "of every con-
ceivable style, from the little and graceful three-
year-old to the staid old 1350 pounds Pennsylva-
nia Dutchman who jogs off" with a fabulous load
without winking."
The Durham (or short-horn) cattle of Mr. Lang
are represented to include some of the finest ani-
mals ever imported into this country, and to em-
brace the famous animals brought from England,
by Thorne, of New York, at great expense, as they
re])resent the stocks of the best English breeders,
and are of unquestioned purity. The writer des-
cribes the young stock as very promising, and
speaks of th.e breeding cattle as follows :
"Among the stock purchased of Thorne are
cows Lalla E.ookh, Bianca, Aurora, Peri and Vic-
toria— of these Lalla Rookh, perhaps, stands fore-
most. She was bred by Col. Townley, of Town-
ley Park, Burnley, England. She won the first
prize of .$10 at the great Yorkshire show in 1851,
and the first prize of $10 at the Royal North Lan-
cashire Society's show, in the same jear. She
beat, upon both these occasions, a heifer shown in
the same class named 'Vestris.' The next year,
'Lalla Rookh' being in this country, 'Vestris' car-
ried all the prizes ; showing that 'Lalla Rookh's'
equal was not left in England. Her first cost was
$2000. She was also winner of the first prize as
best cow at the United States Show, at Philadel-
phia, in 1856. She was one of the herd that won
the first prize as the best herd of Short Horns,
and also the first prize as best herd of any breed
at the same show. Since she was brought to this
country she has had five calves. Four of them
have been sold for $1000 each, and the fifth is now
owned by Mr. Thorne, and cannot be bought.
]Mr. Lang, (the writer adds,) is paying great at-
tention to the science of breeding cattle and horses.
With him it is a deep and earnest study, and he
enters into it with an energy and determination,
which cannot fail to be productive of the most ben-
eficial results.
If the man who makes two blades of grass grow
where but one grew before, is a benefactor of his
race, how much more is he a benefactor who in-
vests large sums of money in bringing valuable
horses and cattle into the State. The improved
blood is circulated in all directions, adding thou-
sands of dollars to the value of stock, and its ben-
eficial effects will be felt for years and years."
Mr. Lang's attention is not entirely occupied in
raising improved horse and dairy stock, although,
from the list of his possessions, in these respects,
his occupation and care would be sufficient for
any common man. He is agent for the North
Vassalboro' Woolen Manufacturing Company,
which employs 350 hands, pays over $8000 per
month in wages, and consumes at present at the
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
243
rate of 800,000 pounds of wool per annum, and is
preparing to use much more. The manufacture is
cloth, and the wool, which is principally from
South America, is unbaled, cleaned, sorted, card-
ed, spun and woven, and the cloth djed and
dressed in the most systematic manner. The
Whig, as a sample of the energy of Mr. Lang,
states that "last year the company decided to in-
crease and improve their works one-half. Li
twelve weeks from the time the order was com-
municated to Mr. Lang, he had the building ready
to receive the machinery. In doing this, ho or-
dered machinery, established a brick yard, and
made all tlie brick necessary for the increase. The
new machinery is now being ra])idly put in order,
the old mills running on extra time, old buildings
beuig reuKJved, all under his directions, and an
amount of labor is daily performed which would
drive a man of ordinary energy and will distract-
ed." The late Col. Samuel Jaques, whose tastes
were in many respects of kin with those of Mr.
Lang, once insisted that unless he could have as
an associate on a committee a certain eminent
Massachusetts agriculturist, lie could not think of
acting as a member, for the reason that the gen-
tleman referred to, could "do the work of any oth-
er ten men. " We think, on the same principle,
that Mr. Lang Avould be an excellent man to have
on a committee.
Having recently visited Mr. Lang's place, we
can fully endorse all that the Whig says of his
stock and manufacturing establishment, as well as
of his gentlemanly attentions and hospitality. —
Boston Journal.
The Pot.-vto Rot.— As Prof. Johnson, of Yale
College, has publicly endorsed the fungus theory,
announced by some of the German botanists, per-
haps some of our readers will like to compare
their own theories and observations with the fol-
lowing statement :
These investigators have not merely looked at
the blighted leaves and seen the fungus there, but
have watched the fungus, as it rapidly sends out
its branches into the still healthy portions of the
leaf, which it literally devours — appropriating the
juices to its own nourishment, and leaving behind
a disorganized and decayed mass, as the track of
its desolation. It is easy to see with the naked
eye that the fungus travels over the ])otato leaf
h/fore the blight. If the observer carefully re-
gards one of the brown, bright spots, when the
disease is spreading, he will see its borders are
extending over the still green leaf, in a forest of
tiny mold plants, which cover the leaf with a
greenish down. This is the true potato fungus,
the Peronotipora infestans, as it is now botanically
designated.
The Art of Success in Life. — The Span-
iards have a proverb, "The stone fit for a wall will
not lie long in the road." Prepare yourself for
something better, and something better will come.
The great art of success is to be able to seize the
opportunity offered. Cheerful, patient persever-
ance in your lawful calling will best help you to
do this. The lesson which our Lord teaches us
as to higher things is ap])licable to all lawful pur-
suits. "He that hath to him shall be given, and
he shall have abundance.'" — Sunday al Ilomc.
EXTRACTS AND KEPLLES.
APPLKS— THE SEASON I.V NEW HAMI'SHIUE.
I herewith send you some apples, for which I want
a name. I have one tree of them aljout four inches
througli at the but. It has borne rcjrtilar fur five years,
and has apples on it at the present time. I rai.scd and
set tlic tree myself, but cannot tell where I obtained
the l)ud.
The prospect for apples in this vicinity at the pres-
cut tm.ic is rather poor. Most of the lur^-e orchards
have been visited by canker worms. Thev have been
increasing fast ft)r the last three years. What a bless-
ini; any one would confer upon the comnuinitv, if lie
could invent some way of clfcctually ridding the world
of these pests.
Wc have had considerable rain within the last tcm
days, the effect of which has been to change the tune
of croakers, from too diy to too wet, and make the
prospect of a good crop of hay encouraging.
Stratham, N. 11., June 1-5, 1SG3. Geo. E. Lane.
Remarks. — The apples sent came in good condi-
tion, but were probably kept too long to be as good as
they once were. They had become somewhat dry.
The fruit is new to us, but we should think worthy of
cultivation. It will evidently keep long, and is hand-
some and good-ilavored — rather less acid than the
Baldwin.
For tin' Netc En 'j} and Farmer.
BEST TIME FOR CUTTING GRASS FOR
HAY.
As the time is at hand for farmers to commence
haying, a thought or two on the most proper time
to cut the grass may not be amiss to the readers of
the Farmer. It has been my conviction for many
years, that the time of commencing this important
farm work was deferred altogether too long, not
from any real ojjinion as to the hay being more
valuaide and the sward in a better condition by
so doing, but other work holding on and demand-
ing attention. This, more than any other cause,
has prevented farmers fr«m giving the proper
thought to the matter of when — all things taken
into the account — it is best to cut their grass for
hay. So far as I have been able to glean the ex-
perience of others, I find it in accordance with my
own, — that early cut grass made properly for hay,
will cause the cow to give more milk, the milk,
gallon for gallon, make more butter, and the ani-
mals fed upon it keep in better condition. That
this should be the result is not at all surprising, if
we can confide in the analysis of chemists as to
the changes that occur in the properties of grass
at its several stages of growth u]) to the maturity
of the seed. There /.v a time, of all others, in its
growth, when it will make the most fiesh and
milk, and that time is previous to its being in full
blossom. The saccharine matter is then the most
abundant, and very soon begins to be changed, as
the seed-forming demands of the plant require ma-
terial for their development, and the stem greater
strength for the support of the seed as it approach-
es maturity. This j)rovision of nature, for the at-
tainment of these all-important resuUs, is exceed-
ing!) interesting, and displays, in a wonderful man-
ner, the wisdom of our Heavenly Father in secur-
ing the perpetuity of the plant. If, as the i)lant
approaches the seed-forming period, the stem did
not gradually become firmer and stronger, the add-
ed weight of seed would break it dow n, and both
perisli together ; but His wisdom has made pro-
vision against this result by so arranging the or-
ganization of the plant as to secure it against pe-
riods of this description.
244
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
AUG.
But to the question of when to cut the grass.
It must be, I think, quite evident to the unbiased
mind, that, when the plant has hardened up into
a woody state, it cannot be as nutritious as
when in a succulent or growing condiiion. All
its juices are changed. A large amouuiof silex
is added, and it partakes more nearly oi' the prop-
erties of straw that has foymed grain. It is a well
established fact, with many graziers, that they can
make beef from early cut grass as well as from
))?&tr.ragc. This I regard as an important tcsti-
moiiy bearing upon this question. But the loss
to the farmer who cuts his grass late is not confined
to the fact of the hay not being as %'aluable for
milk and flesh exclusively — but his meadows suf-
fer, and are greatly injured by so doing. The ef-
fects upon the SM'ard are very serious. The plant
has put forth such exhaustive efforts in forming,
maturing and supporting the seed, that but little
vitality remains for recuperating its exhausted en-
ergies. Should dry weather set in, the farmer
will look in vain for aftermath. His fields are in
a condition to feel the full evil of his unwise course.
They are not very unlike the famishing mother,
who keeps her babe at the breast, knowing that
it is taking from her her vital existence. In the
coarse of a few years, this process must result in
diminishing very greatly the ([uantity of hay, and
render re-seeding absolutely necessary.
These few hints, I trust, will lead the readers
of the J^'arHicr to try experiments suiiicient to fully
satisfy themselves of the wisdom or folly of the
suggestions made. K. o,
June 15, 1863.
For the New En stand Farmer.
KETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
Agriculture in Common Schools. — In the
January number of this journal we find five arti-
cles on this subject, of which four may be found
by consulting the Table of Contents on the last
page, and the fifth, on page 39, without any cap-
tion, but headed with the maxim of Solomon, —
"Train up a child in the way he should go," &c.
Beside these five articles there have been several
others on the same subject in the late issues of
the weekly edition of this journal, some of which,
as those especially of N. T. TnuE, in the issues of
Nov. 22 and Dec. 27, would probably have found
a place in the monthly edition, but for the want of
space, and the claims of other communications
and other subjects. May we not infer from the
frequency with which this proposed innovation in
education has been handled or discussed for some
months past, that the questions connected with it
as to the best employment of our children's time
in school, the studies most likely to be useful in
after life, and other questions of a similar tenor,
are beginning to be felt to be of more importance
than has heretofore been attached to them ? Such
a])pears, certainly, to be one of the inferences
which may be legitimately drawn from the fre-
quency with wliich communications have a]5peared
upon the subject, in the columns of this journal,
during the past year. And we deem this increase
of iiiterest in questions relating to the education of
our children, and their preparation for the better
discharge of the duties of adult life, to be a change
in the public mind which promises to produce
some needful and beneficial improvements, and
which, therefore, is most gratifying to intelligent
parents, patriots, and philanthropists.
In common with many other parents and per-
sons interested in the education of the young and
rising generation, we have long felt that the time
spent by our children in the common schools was
not usually employed as well, and as much for
their advantage in after life, as seemed desirable,
and also practicable, if only the public at large
could be aroused to the discussion of existing im-
perfections and possible improvements. We have
long felt as if the course of studies in schools
might be much improved, if some of those which
are of little use in after life, as algebra, geometry,
rhetoric, the dead languages, and some others,
should be set aside, and more attention given to
those natural sciences which would be found of use
in all after life, either in explaining the phenome-
na of nature, or the processes and products of the
useful ar^s, which are of every -day occurrerice,
or in giving such knowledge of the occupations
and pursuits of common life as would throw light
upon the reasons and principles of these occupa-
tions, or lay a foundation for making improve-
ments therein. We have long felt that it is highly
desirable, because it would be greatly advanta-
geous, that the time of our children in their school
years should be occupied, more than it usually has
been heretofore, in studies that could be made di-
rectly or indirectly useful in the business of adult
life, and in ways that v/ould be more in accordance
with the important truth, so pithily expressed by
Milton, when he wrote,
"To know-
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the ijrime wisdom."
With such persuasions in regard to existing im-
perfections and desirable improvements in the ed-
ucation of youth, we could not fail to be much in-
terested in the proposals and preparations lately
made for introducing into schools a study which
would give children an opportunity of becoming
acquainted with all those portions of the sciences
of botany, chemistry, climatology, meteorology,
physiology, geology, natural history, natural phil-
osophy, and other sciences, which have any bear-
ing upon the pursuits of rural life, — pursuits which
are likely to form the business, to a greater or
less extent, of a half or perhaps a majority of the
children in common schools, after completing
their school education. There are no pursuits or
occupations in life upon which, and upon the im-
provement of which, as much light can be thrown
from as many branches of science, as upon the
pursuits of agricultural life. Therefore it seemed
highly desirable that as much of the sciences re-
ferred to as could be made to be of service in the
business which is likely to be the main one of
more than a half of the pupils in common schools,
should be introduced as a study in these schools,
and that thus a foundation should be laid for
bringing m.ore intelligence and more knowledge
into the service of the farming fraternity, as also
for the introduction of all possible improvements,
and for elevating that largest class of society to a
higher rank, reputation and influence.
Had there been within our knowledge a text-
book which might have been used in schools to
give children a knowledge of such portions of the
natural sciences as could be brought to bear upon
the explanation or improvements of the processes,
phenomena, and pursuits of common life general-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER,
245
ly, — a text-book which might be entitled "The Sci-
ence of Common Life, or of Common Things" — we
might have considered the innovation of the
studj- of such a manual still more desirable, and
more appropriate as an introduction upon the old
routine of school enijiloynients. Until we get such
a text-book, let intdliijeid parents consider the
claims of '•The Manual of Agriculture," and of ag-
riculture as a study.
Li all that we have written upon this subject it
has been taken for granted that it would only be
in school-districts where there were farmers oi su-
perior intelligence, having sons of the age of four-
teen years or ujjwards, where there would be any
attenipt made to form a class for the study of ag-
ricultural science, and that this study would only
be attempted after the common branches of school
education had already been sufficiently mastered
or attended to. AV e never, even in a waking
dream or reverie, had sucli a whimsical idea enter
our brain, as that which seems to have taken ])os-
session of one who has written many other strange
things upon this topic, — things which must have
surprised all sensible men — namely, that if agricul-
ture should be taken up as a study by some of the
more advanced pupils in a school, it is thenceforth
to be considered as a study obligatory upon all !
This very strange idea is to be met with every
here and there throughout the whole of what he
has written upon the subject. For example, montlis
after it was plainly stated that no sensible man
could possiI)ly regard the study as anything but
elective or optional, and only likely to be taken
up by the more advanced pupils iclio hnppatcd to
have parenis or advisers of svperior inielliijamz, wc
find such strange language as the follov.ing, on
page 15 of January number, from the person re-
ferred to : "And the attempt would not be much
better in the summer, as the instruction would
have to be given almost exclusively by young fe-
male teachers in the open fields (!!!) to children
betv/een the ages of three and fifteen years, a large
proportion of whom are females."( ! ! ! ) Such is
a fair specimen of the lind of opposition wliich has
been made to tlie proposal of making agriculture
a study for the more advanced pupils in common
schools. As no one at all likely to have his chil-
dren educated in a sensible way, is in danger of
being influenced by such strange talk, mc have not
felt it needful to notice it. MoRic Anon.
P. S. — In all that we have written upon tliis
subject we have held in view, as the persons to be
addressed, or influenced by what we have had to
say, persons and parents of sufficient intelligence,
wisd.m and public spirit, to make them solicitous
to do the best possible for their own children, and
the ii--ing generation generally, and to enable
then), uninfluenced by prejudice, whim, or estab-
lished customs, to judge wisely and correctly of
the claims and value of any pro])osed improve-
men', even though it should be a more daring in-
novu'.ion than that under consideration. As sneh
are the only ones likely to venture upon a trial of
the course of instruction in the prineiples or sci-
ence of agriculture such as we have advocated,
either with their own boys at the fireside, or with
their own and others, as a class, in their district
school, we have not felt it worth while to notice
or reply to the opposition which has come from J.
G., as nothing which he has written has seemed
likely to influence such persons. No such person
could possibly be moved, save in a way we need
not name, by the strange extravaganzas which v.e
find on pages \o and 35 of current volume I That
would be a suitable reply to the assertion there
made that the study of agriculture is not practica-
ble in schools, Ijecause the tools and implement.s
are not there, and because the diflerent kinds of
farm work cannot be taught byexam|>le! Are
there any who see not the true character of such
opposition ?
LETTER FROM MR. BRO"WW.
Clarcmont, N. II., June 24, 1863,
Gentlemen : — I came here yesterday to exam-
ine the working of some afpicnltural vuichincnj,
and one or two other secondary matters. One of
the machines which I saw in operation, yesterday
afternoon was a Revolving Ilorse-IIoe, or CuUivaior
which surpasses any thing of the kind I have ever
seen in efficiency, and in the com])leteness with
which it does its work. I will not enter into any
description of it now, because the proprietor has
promised to send you an engraving, which will en-
able me to explain it more clearly than I can with
the pen alone. It seems to me that its use must
essentially reduce the cost of raising all the crops
that require hoeing. Indeed, I cannot conceive
of any imjilement that would so thorouglily i)re-
pare the soil for any of the small grain crops, and
especially so for preparing sward laud, just turned
over, to be laid down to grass in August or Sep-
tember. I am quite desirous to see it in operation
on such a field.
The name of Ilorselloe, or CuUicaior, which they
have given it, is not significant. It does not con-
vey its true character. It is clearly a lifting ma-
chine. It does not penetrate and push the soil
aside as the harrow does, or skim over its surface
as does the hoe, but digs into and lifts it up, and,
at the same moment, strikes it with its revolving
arras, and makes it fine. It is a EoTAiiY Sp.\DER
— having the precise mechanical efiect upon the
soil that the common spade has in skilful hands —
first lifting it, then dashing it to pieces with a
blow or edge of the spade. This is acknowledged
by all to be the most perfect manner of jneparing
the soil for any crop, — but in this country is
thought to be too expensive to be much employed
in our common farm operations, — and I suppose
it is.
Another very important farm implement brought
into use by the same party is a lievolving Harrow,
a cut of which I hope they will send for your
columns. If they do, I shall take pains to see it
in operation, and speak of its merits as I find them.
I am always interested in agricultural machine-
ry that has a circular or a rotary motion, as, under
this principle, friction is greatly reduced, and con-
sequently, less team or man-power required, and
the work is more rapidly and efficiently accom-
plished. This is fairly illustrated in the various
246
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
machines for cutting hay or straw. With one of
these, in good order, having a properly adjusted
balance wheel, a man may cut six to ten times as
much in a day as he could with one where the cut-
ting knife is raised perpendicularly at every blow
— and the work with the rotary motion would be
greatly less laborious. I think the mowing ma-
chine may yet be constructed upon a rotary prin-
ciple, and at the same time require less power to
move it, while it will accomplish an equal amount
of good work. We have hand cultivators now,
resting upon a leading wheel, that enable a man
to do more, and better work, among certain crops,
in a day, than four men can do with a common
hoe ! This has been fairly tested by candid men,
who could have no motive to misrepresent.
I have also visited the works where the Tyler
Water Wheds are constructed, and saw them ready
to be set in place, but had no opportunity to see
one in motion. Every part of the wheel is of iron,
and the sizes range from two feet to eight or ten
feet in diameter. The wheel runs in a close curb,
not unlike a wash-tub, if the top were close as is
the bottom, with the exception of tm opening for
the shaft. It is claimed that it will give more
power than any other wheel yet invented, under
the same head of water. The Rotary Spader, the
Eevolving Ilarroio and the Tyler Water Wheel are
owned, and the latter manufactured by J. P. Up-
HAM & Co., of Claremont.
Having attended to the business which called
me here, in company with Mr. Upham, I looked at
some of the farms in his neighborhood. His own
farm of 215 acres lies upon a high and beautifully
sweeping hill, and extending from the highway
one mile to the bank of the Connecticut River.
The land is of granite formation, with a portion of
clay, and with but few stones. In front of his new
and elegant mansion, there are upwards of thirty
acres in lawn and orcharding — the orchard occupy-
ing a slope of the northerly corner. Fine rock
maples, elms, spruce and balsams are standing
singly or in groups about the house, with well
considered vistas at every point through which to
see the charming prospects beyond. West of the
house is an open field of sixty acres — upon which
I did not see a stone — blooming with red clover,
or covered with other grasses, acres of corn, oats
or winter and spring wheat. Above this was
another orchard of some hundreds of trees, and
beyond these, toward Ihe river, the grazing land,
and then the forest to the rive*- banks — the whole
forming a perfect parallelogram.
I have visited many of the places of New Eng-
land, celebrated for the boldness and grandewr,
or for the varied softness and beauty of their
scenery, but have rarely seen any that combines
the whole so admirably as the views presented
from Mr. Upham's house. In front, looking to
the north-east, if I am right as to the points, is a
broad and deep valley, undulating with hills, part"
ly used as pasturage, or covered with rock maples,
or other hard wood, and beyond, still higher ele-
vations, dignified with the title of mountains. In
this valley, the cool and pellucid Sugar river, fresh
from the deep fountains of Lake Suuapee, flowed
busily over its pebbly bottom, and sent its sweet
music to the skies. Turning a little to the west
of north, my eye caught the Greef)i Monntain
Range, and still farther west, old Ascidney sat in
sublime grandeur among the lesser hills. Before
me, as I turned, in the green, sunny valley, dotted
with white farm-houses and grazing herds of cat-
tle and sheep, was the Connecticut River, moving
on in its quiet summer manner, now along green
banks, sandy beach, or through the dark forest.
It was perfect, — and has daguerreotyped itself
upon ray memory so that it will never be efiaced.
What was the Vale of Tempe, with its Ossa and
Olympus, compared with this ! Some poet will
yet sing of it in immortal verse. Let me quote
what a traveller says of the Vale of Tempe, with
slight change, and see if our New England Vale
is not worthy of the description : "The scenery
of this beautiful Valley fully gratified my expec-
tations. In some places it is sylvan, calm and
harmonious, and the sound of the water of Sugar
River accords with the grace of the surrounding
landscape ; in others, it is savage, terrific and ab-
rupt ; and, especially in the spring, when the
streams are swollen by melting snows, the river
runs with violence, darkened by the frowns of
stupendous precipices." The truth is, we have
mountains and valleys, precipices and water-falls
as good as any people can boast of — they only
need the pen and pencil of a master's hand to
make them known. Bierstadt, of Rocky Moun-
tain notoriety, recently passed a month in this re-
gion, sketched and painted the scenery which I
have just been looking at, and it now graces the
parlor or gallery of one of your city merchants.
I almost covet the canvas that commemorates so
charming a portion of our beautiful world.
The other side of the river is Vermont, — but
Sheep husbandry commences on this side, and
through a range of river towns, Walpole, Clare-
mont, Lebanon, Charlestown, Hanover, Haverhill,
Bath, and others, it receives much attention.
Mr. Upham has a flock of nearly 300, and his
near neighbor Russell Jarvis, Esq., a large flock
on his splendid estate of 700 or 800 acres. In
his absence, his accomplished wife received me
with the aff'ability and grace which always distin-
guishes a true lady, and which impressed me with
a desire to remain longer, or to "call again." My
stay on the farm was too short to learn anything
of its productive powers, or of the mode of its
management. The mansion is surrounded by
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
247
majestic elms, forming a sort of rotunda under
which a hundred persons might sit at a marriage
feast. The position of the house, the spacious
piazza and pillars, strongly reminded me of Wash-
ington's house at Mount Vernon. Indeed, the
hill, the grand old trees, the extended and grace-
ful sweep of land to the banks of Sugar River,
and the valley itself, are almost a counterpart of
the"Custis Place," opposite Washington City, and
known as "Arlingio^'," while Custis lived. At his
death, the estate fell into the hands of Gen. Lee,
who married Custis' daughter. After he perjured
himself, turned a rebel and fled from justice, the
government took possession of the estate, cut
down the splendid trees, and made a fortification
of his once pleasant parks !
The grass crop is suffering in this region for
want of rain, and all the other crops will sensibly
feel that want soon, unless I'ain comes. The
annual sheep shearing has commenced, and the
farmers are looking forward with gratification at
the prospect of high prices. I hope they may get
them, as their share of the profits of manufac-
tured articles, is not always the lion's share.
I must close with an expression of thanks to
Mr. Upham and his excellent wife, who made their
house almost as "home-like" to me as my own.
When I am there again, may some of you "be
there to see" if "I have extenuated anything, or
set down aught" but solid facts. With many
pleasant memories of my pleasant visit,
I am truly yours, SiMON Brown.
IfESSRS. NouRSE, Eaton & Tolman.
FAKM MACHIIfERY.
One effect of the present war upon the agricul-
tural interests of the loyal States is to increase the
demand for labor-saving machinery and imple-
ments, consequent on the scarcity and high price
of farm labor. The business of the various ag-
ricultural warehouses of this city is said to be un-
commonly good ; and the orders for all grades of
labor-saving inventions from the mowing machine
to the simple wheel-hoe, more numerous than
ever before.
Another way in which the war affects most farm-
ers, is by exciting so great an interest in the de-
tails of its progress as to cause them to overlook
the progress which their own "art and science"
may be making in the meantime.
Everj farmer should be interested in the great
events which are now taking place in our country.
He cannot be otherwise. His neighb»rs, his
friends, his own sons, perhaps, are among those
wh» have made the march, or fought the battle, of
which the last telegram is a mere rumor, but yet
enough to excite the most intense solicitude for
more definite intelfigence. And thus there is dan-
ger that the time which can be devoted to reading,
and even to thought, may be given so exclusively
to this one subject, that the agricultural journal
shall be too much neglected.
While, therefore, the drain that war has made
on the young men of our country, and especially
of those in the agricultural districts, stimulates
the invention and adoption of labor-saving ma-
chines and processes, individual farmers may be
so much engrossed by the news of the day as not
to keep themselves informed as to the value of
the various new inventions with which others
greatly facilitate the labor of the farm.
Numerous as are the implements which crowd
our agricultural warehouses, and slow as farmers
may be to adopt their use, we believe that ma-
chinery has but just begun its mission on the
farm ; but that eventually it must revolutionize
the process of field labor, as it has already those
of the shop and factory.
Li "Comstock's Rotary Spader," an implement
recently invented in Illinois, the editor of the
Prairie Farmer sees an agent that is to revolu-
tionize the process and principle of ploughing,
which, however modified,^have remained material-
ly the same from time immemorial, and still run
through all the English experiments with steam
power. It has long been predicted by some far-
reaching minds that a substitute for the common
plough would come ; that the spading principle
was the true one on which to prepare the seed-
bed, and that machinery would yet accomplish the
purpose. All this the editor of the Prairie Farm-
er thinks is to be accomplished by Mr. Comstock's
invention, of which he says :
"After all the discouragements and disappoint-
ments, success has at last crowned the persevering
eflorts of genius, and to-day the rotary spader,
adapted to the use of horse power, stands forth a
veritable fact, broadband indisputable — a thing of
curved spades, of cams, of axles and of springs,
composed of cast and wrought iron and steel —
simple, strong and durable, and with which three
or four horses can spade an acre an hour, doing
the work as thoroughly as if done by hand with
the laborious spade."
Mr. J. U. Barnes, of Cornville, La Salle county,
111., who bought the first machine offered for sale,
gives the following description of his first day's
work with it, in a communication to the Prairie
Farmer, dated May 30, 1863 :
"Hitching on four hoi-gesatSi A.M.., I started,
making a circuit around one end of a strip of seven
acres, (about one-third of it ;) the ground was in
fine condition, the stalks having been raked and
burned, and it worked beautifully, 'the horses
worked at an easy gait, and in a short time, with
my thi-ee feet swath, the piece was spaded, and at
the end of three hours, (ll.i o'clock.) had made a
couple of rounds on the balance. At 2.^ P. M.,
started again, and at 7.^ o'clock, finished seven aaes
in sa-en hours, eight inches deep.
Was there ever that quantity of ground spaded
or ploughed in the same time by one man and
fovir horses ? A new era, Messrs. Editors. An
248
NEW ENGLAND FAJRIMER.
Aug.
acre per hour, and no walking. Do you think I
can ever again walk behind a plough, when the
spader will work ?"
Another correspondent who witnessed this trial
adds :
"Tlie land was well adapted to the purpose of
testing the machine, being part slough, with
patches of blue grass. Mr. Comstock makes no
pretension of working in sod, still it is well to see
wliat it will do in any place. Corn grew on the
dry portion last season, the stalks of which had,
previous to the trial, been dragged into piles and
burned. Willi the exce])tion of the blue grass,
the work was performed in a satisfactory manner
on both dry and wet land. The weeds were cov-
ered equal to ordinary ploughing immediately har-
rowed. It is not uncommonly I'lborious for the
team. The land was better pulverized than a
plough could have done it, especially in the slough.
A Portable Feeding Rack For Sheep. —
A sheep farmer of Columbiana county, Ohio, who
has tried several kinds of racks, gives the follow-
ing description of one which prevents crovv ding, is
every way satisfactory, and so simple that any
farmer can make one. It consists of four posts
three feet long, and if made of three by three
scantling, will be heavy enough. Two bottom
boards one inch thick and ten or twelve wide, ?nd
two for the top, one inch thick and five or six
wide. These boards are placed horizontally for
the sides of the rack, and similar boards two feet
long are nailed to the posts at the ends. The
rack may be about twelve feet long, and tvro feet
is a very suitable width. Upon these horizontaJ
niNGBOHB Olf THE HORSE'S FOOT,
This painful, and often fatal disease, is occa-
sioned by the violent efforts the horse makes, in
obedience to the commands of the driver, when
dragging a heavy load up some sharp ascenfc
The entire force is then thrown upon the pastern,
inflammation ensues; lymph is effused; the lymph
becomes cartilage, and the cartilage is converted
into bone. Then a morbid enlargement of tlie
bone is established, and a ringbone is the conse-
sequence.
THE PASTERN AND PEDAL BONE OF A HORSE AFFECTED WITH
SEVERE RINGBONE.
1. The joint hetween the pastern
bones, showing the groove m
which the tendon of the extensor
pedis muscle reposed.
2. The joint between the lower pas-
tern and the bone of the foot.
This cut represents the foot
and a portion of the leg after
death. The cut below repre-
sents the foot of a living horse
with aggravated ringbone.
An animal thus affected might move an easy
load upon even ground ; but when
the weight had to be drawn up hill,
the creature would obviously be
unable to use the toe ; the foot,
. placed flat upon the ground, or so
. , LS^shod as to have an even bearing,
xJ^'jiyskM^ would be of comparatively little
such a case. So, also, in descending an
boards are nailed uprights, six inches wide, and j inequality, the horse with severe ringbone v/ill be
placed six inches apart. This makes a cheap, per- | unable to bite the earth. Eingbone, therefore,
does incapacitate the animal for many uses, be-
sides interfering with the free employment of the
table rack, which we like in every respect.
Cattle. —
Cause akd Cure of I^ce ox
Some of the washes and applications recommend-
ed for the destruction of lice on cattle are danger-
ous or positively injurious to the health of the an-
imal. Wliatever may be thought of the cause of
lice so confidently asserted in the annexed extract
of a communication in the Boston Cullivafor, there
need be no fear of the bad results of the applica-
tion of the remedy proposed :
No one ever saw an animal in good condition
lousy, and no one ever saw a poor one, that v/as
so for any length of time, that was not. Tills I
consider proof enough ; but if any one doubts, let
him try the remedy of good feed, and he will
soon see how much superior it is to all the washes
80 highly recommended. The decay of the skin,
consequent on the change from tat to lean, pro-
duces lice, and the way to cure a disease is to re-
move the cause.
1^^ The Canadian government is about introduc-
ing a new patent law, which will be found of great
importance to American inventors. Under the
present system patents are granted only to resident
Canadians ; under the new, it is proposed to extend
the protection to inventors of all nations, without
distinction in favor of natives.
muscular energy.
We have seen a yearling colt utterly worthless
by ringbone, transmitted, undoubtedly, by dis-
eased parents. We hope the time is not distant
when all diseased horses, of both sexes, will be
rejected as breeders. Until that is done, we can-
not reasonably expect sound and valuable animals.
Maijliew, — from v.'hom we have already freely
quoted, — says that when a horse first shows ring-
bone, we must first seek to ailay the pain. Ap-
ply poultices, on which one drachm of pov,dered
opium and one of cam[)hor has been sprinkled.
Hub the disease, with equal parts of oil of cam-
phor and of chloroform. The pain having ceased,
have applied, with friction, to the seat of enlarge-
ment and around it, some of the following oint-
ment, night and morning :
Iodide of lead one ounce.
Lard ..eight ounces.
Mix thoroughly, and continue treatment for a
fortnigiit after all active symptoms have disap-
peared, and allow the animal to rest. When work
is resumed, mind it is gentle, and be careful how
the horse goes to its full labor.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
249
For the New England Fanner,
OUT WEST.
Not at Home there— Tenacity of the llud — Mwle of Pronounc-
iriR— Raising Corn— Hog Cholera — Wild Geese — Sand Hill
Cranes and Prairie Chickens — Poor Farming — Cattle Raising
Why the West is not like New England.
Very little can be said of a country by simply
seeing the little the railroad allows you to view in
passing over it. Sufficient, however, may be gath-
ered to convince a New England man that he is not
at home after entering New York State. The peo-
ple talk and act differently ; do all things different-
ly. The appearance of the houses and out-buildings
is also of a different type. As you go on west,
this change becomes more marked and decided.
As to the soil, each day's journey convinces you
that it is improving, until you reach the Wabash
Valley, which is regarded by some as the best, or
as good soil as any east of the Rocky Mountains.
Of one thing I am quite sure, viz., that it is not to
be beat in any favored locality east of Ohio.
My arrival here was very opportune for seeing
that it made up first rate mud, of the most affec-
tionate character. As the winter frosts were com-
ing out, the roads were all but impassable, save by
pedestrians, and men on horseback, which is a fa-
vorite mode of travel here. The people are care-
less of personal appearance, and very untidy, ac-
cording to our down East notions of such things.
[ think this is somewhat peculiar to all new coun-
tries, especially where so much mud abounds as
liere. Peculiarities of pronounciation are very
amusing, and modes of expression still more so.
A. day or two since, in talking with a man about
his corn, he "thought he should have but little to
ipar, as he had right smart hogs to feed that would
take 7'iffM smaH corn to carry them through."
This is a very common mode of speaking, here-
abouts.
The farming, if farming it can be called, is very
bad. Very few of the fields are kept clean from
weeds. They increase rapidly, and cause much
trouble eventually to the farmer. It is impossible
to have it otherwise, as matters are now managed.
Corn is often sold here, in Benton county, Indiana,
From 8 to 12^ cents per bushel. All can readily
see that if the same care in raising it was bestowed
as the Eastern farmer gives to his crop, it would
ruin him hopelessly. A man wita a pair of horses
ploughs, plants and tends 40 acres, going through
the hoeing with ahorse hoe, and never using hand
hoes. It is usual with many, as soon as the sun
is up, to go over it with a triangle harrow, with
the front teeth out, so as to run each side of the
row, using a span of horses for the purpose. I
have seen some fields very neat and clear of weeds,
but most of them are very foul, A large share of
the corn growing is done by tenant labors, on
shares, or at a given price per acre or bushel, as
the parties agree. The owner of the land in most
;ases, I believe, finds a house, (or a substitute for
one,) and firewood. If the tenant has a team of
his own, (which most do,) he hauls his own wood,
and gets a better lay on the crop produced. I
think most of the corn in this county, and I think
in all this region, is fed to cattle, before husking
or shucking, as it is termed here. Most of it is
shocked, but a large amount is fed off the field
by cattle and hogs. This seems a wasteful pro-
cess, but many make, or have made, money by it,
especially previous to the cholera killing so many
hogs.
Corn here, as at the East, has enemies to con-
tend with of the same character as with us, and, in
addition, some far more formidable. Wild geese,
sand hill cranes, prairie chickens, &c., often make
sad havoc with it as it first comes up. I heard a
man say that the geese will often destroy acres in
a single field in one night. They also take off
large quantities from the shocks and standing
corn. I saw a man come in this morning from
his field with five geese, having killed seven before
breakfast. Another told me he had very hard
work last fall to drive the geese from a wheat field
of 80 acres. He was mounted on a good horse,
and it took near an hour to clear them out. A
sure marksman, I think, in spring and fall, could
make a good business in shooting geese, ducks,
cranes and chickens for their feathers alone.
But to return to the farming. It seems to be a
settled thing with farmers, that wheat does better
on sod ground than corn, and the first crop
also belter than succeeding ones. I am surprised
at the small quantity per acre produced on an av-
erage. Bad management is at the bottom of it, I
think ; not seed enough sown, and not good at
that. Poor seed, or that which has not been ju-
diciously selected and prepared, is sown, and re-
sults in consequent poor returns. Corn and
wheat are the only crops cultivated to much ex-
tent. Sorghum is gaining in favor, and is a re-
munerative crop to all who use proper care in its
culture and manufacture. I like the syrup of this
plant ; think it more palatable than New Orleans,
or other molasses. It is made into syrup on
shares, by those owning mills for grinding, and
evaporators for boiling. One-half of the product
is retained for manufacturing, which, I am told, is
quite a profitable business.
This region, however, is not strictly a farm-
ing one, but farming is subordinate to cattle-
raising and grazing, or an appendage to them.
The settlements skirt the timber lands bordering
upon the prairie, which, to a large extent, is un-
enclosed, and affords a grand range for stock of all
descriptions. This peculiarity of this locality has
led to cattle herding to a great extent, as the prin-
cipal business of those who can command the
means to do it. It is also very profitable to the
judicious buyer, netting him SO per cent., and often
m»re on a single season's pasturage or herding.
I know parties who are now gathering up a herd
of two and three year old steers, intending to
herd this, and the coming summer, and have them
kept through the winter for four dollars a head,
which is all the expense they will be subject to,
except one man's wages as herdsman, through two
summers. Thus you see they get 18 to 20 months
growth on cattle that are in the riglit age for it,
for about four dollars per head. It is expected
they will get 820,000 for what at first cost tliem
$10,000. Stall feeding is often practiced here.
This method is not what we at the East have gen-
erally supposed. A man with a large lot o*" cat-
tle builds up a yard according to the number to be
fed, and puts them into it, and goes to his fields,
and liands out his corn which is in shocks, oi
standing, and throws it to them over the ground,
and letting it take its chance for being eaten.
Hogs take what they can find after the cattle.
Others have two lots, feeding alternate days in
both — the hogs coming around after the cattle.
One hog is dicwed for each steer to do the glean-
250
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
ing. The cholera has made such havoc with the
hogs for a few years past, that many are discour-
aged about keeping them. Cattle-breeding is, by
the smaller farmers who cannot command means
for buying herds, followed pretty generally. As
now managed it is, I think, far from profitable.
The cow is rarely milked, except for the purpose
of getting a little milk for table use, or to prevent
disease when the calf is unable to take the whole,
which is of rare occurrence, as the cows give but
little milk, owing, I think, to wrong management
when young. The calf, when a year old, is now
worth about five dollars. This, of course, allows
a very small margin for profit on the cow. Horses
are bred much more profitably. As keeping is so
low, it might be made a very good business.
Sheep ai-e the most promising bregding stock
■here. I think, with judicious management, they
will pay 100 per cent., annually. This may seem
rather extravagant, but the figures will tell the
story. After shearing, last season, sheep could be
bought from $1 25 to $1 50 per head. To keep
these until now, costs comparatively nothing — to
winter them on corn at 12A cents per bushel and
hay four dollars per ton, would not exceed 75 cents
each. As soon as the grass starts in April, they
get their own living. A flock of 1500 on the farm
where I am now writing, averaged four pounds
each. Lambs in the fall are worth $1 each. Now
you can appraise the wool at what it sold for last
July, viz., 42 cents per pound, and we have $1 68
for wool, and $1 for lamb, or $2 6S for product
of one sheep one season, at an outlay of 75 cents,
or a profit of 125 per cent., sure. I think this profit
might be greatly augmented by keeping better
breeds and providing better shelter for them.
There is a flock of a thousand in sight from my
windov,', that are lambing, and about every fourth
lamb dies on account of the exposure to wet and
bad weather. Prairie wolves are at times a little
troublesome, but are being rapidly exterminated.
Dogs, as in New England, are far the worst foe to
the sheep. One thing is quite sure, I think, as to
the profitableness of farming here, compared with
New England, in favor of this section. A man of
good judgment on stock, is sure to succeed in
making money, providing he has means to start
with. Money is worth ten per cent, interest, and
must be soon turned over if a man looks for p^'ofit
in using it. Were it not for the want of good
roads, good society, religious privileges, and the
prevalence of the ague, no place would suit me bet-
ter to locate my boys than this county, (Benton.)
To an Eastern man, they are indispensable to his
happiness — especially, if past the prime of life, as
he cannot hope to see them fully developed in his
day. K. O.
Important Decision. — A wool suit in Ohio
was recently decided against a seller who inserted
dirty tags in each fleece, and represented the whole
as clean washed wool. The buyer sued for the
difference in value fifteen cents per pound, when
the seller pleaded that he was not liable, as it was
a customary practice, and if not, the buyer should
have examined the wool. Several respectable
farmers testified that it was not the usage. The
judge held that the buyer was not obliged to ex-
amine the wool, when the seller gave his word
that it was clean, and rendered a decision in favor
of the buyer for the claim and interest.
For the New England Farmer.
CANKER WORMS.
Mr. Brown : — I send in a phial for your in-
spection, a few specimens of what were, six days
ago, canker worms, preying upon my trees to my
infinite disgust. I dug them from the ground this
morning, finding others three to five inches below
the surface. You will observe that they are now
in their pupa stage, having thus suddenly lost all
their characteristics as worms, and having the
usual legs of their last, or propagative stage,
plainly visible beneath the covering. As there
has been some discussion as to the time when this
change takes place, I send these specimens to
show that it is very soon after leaving the trees.
They live in the ground, perfecting this stage, as
you well know, until the fall of the year, when
they begin to ascend the trees to deposit their
eggs for the next year's crop ; and when, if ever,
they must be looked after.
I say begin to ascend the trees, because while
some assert that they go up in the fall, others say
in the spring. Having watched them carefully for
several years, I can assert that chey go up at all
times when the ' weather and the state of the
ground is favorable, from the 13th of November,
in each year, to the 20th of April following.
Sometimes, (and oftenest,) the most of them go
up in the fall ; sometimes the most in the spring ;
frequently, a great many can be found in warm,
muggy weather in the dead of winter, while I have
seen them on their travels with the mercury at the
freezing point and below.
How shall they be got rid of? This is a serious
question to every orchardist in districts where this
pest operates ; but, so far, no simple, practical
remedy has been discovered. The oil-troughs are
undoubtedly a perfect stopper, but much too ex-
pensive. Tarred bandages come next. But these
have their objections. The application is an odi-
ous and an unnatural one ; the tar defaces and in-
jures the trees, and is, besides, liable to become
hard, and serve the slugs as a bridge. There
must be a simpler remedy than either, or than any
yet discovered ; and it is for those interested to
put their wits at work and find it out.
One or two facts in relation to these fellows are
really remarkable. They always disappear from
the trees on the 1.3th day of June, never varying,
according to my observations for seven years past,
two days either way, be the season backward or
otherwise. And they all drop down their tiny
lines and go at once. Your trees may be covered
one day, and not a solitary worm can you find
twenty-four hours afterwards.
Then I have noted their "first appearance" in
the fall of the year. Somehow or other, it always
happens on, or very near, the 13th day of Novem-
ber. In our variable climate, where the crops in
the spring are sometimes at least three weeks
earlier than at others, how does it come to pass
that these creatures are so regular in their exodus ?
And in the fall, too, so liable among us to become
cold winter before the husbandman is aware of
it, or to extend its many-colored geniality far
towards the coming new year ; how does it hap-
pen that, at nearly a fixed date every year, tliese
clumsy bearers of life in the future should com-
mence their pilgrimage ?
But, interesting as these living preachers are, I
shall do my best to exterminate some of them at
1S63.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
251
a proper time. And I trust that others, having
like afflictions, will also enter upon the work with
renewed zeal ? It is high time. W. Guild.
Newton, Mass., June 19, 1863.
Remarks. — We sincerely thank our correspon-
dent for this communication. There is no subject
of greater interest to the farmers and gardeners
of Eastern Massachusetts, We shall be very glad
to receive other articles on this (or any other)
subject from the same pen.
For tlm New England Farmer.
LITTLE THINGS,
Or a Walk in my Garden.
I have been walking through my orchard to-day
and came across a tree which bears an excellent
apple but it has no name. This led me to seize
my pen and write a word respecting the
NAMES OF APPLES.
Apples are like men. A small minded man
sometimes has a high sounding litle which bears
him along wonderfully througli the world. An
apple sometimes finds its way through all the or-
chards in the country whose only recommendation
is its name. Almost any orchard of native fruit
could furnish one as good. I h;ive several trees
grafted by somebody, probably from some seed-
ling variety. It has no name, yet I prefer it as
my eating apple, from February till June, before
all others. Men of real worth without a title are
sometimes appreciated by those who best know
them. Man's weakness is shown in his deference
to high sounding titles without regard to merit ;
mine has been shown in search of similar titles
to apples. A great title without merit is shown
by not producing much fruit. I have a large tree
whose title is known in all the books, yet it has
never furnished me a bushel of fruit. Conclusion.
'J'o see whether in men or apples their titles and
merits coincide.
While looking at some cabbage plants I was
led to inquire whether I had not found out a foe
to the
CUT WORMS.
Would it not protect the plants to throw a hand-
ful or two of dry sawdust around them ? I shall
try it. A little paper platform, made by taking
pieces of paper six or seven inches square, cut-
ting a slit and slipping it over the plant saved my
©abbages last year. The pa])cr should have a lit-
tle dirt or a stone put on to the corners.
SUNDRY ITEMS.
While taking my garden walk I sometimes in-
dulge in imaginary things, which, however, I rare-
ly put on paper, but oflener take up the realities
of life. This morning I was thinking over a list
of articles, which, so far as I know, have not yet
been invented to meet the wants of man com-
pletely. Among these wants is an indelible pen-
cil which shall be a complete substitute for pens
and ink. Whoever will invent or discover any-
thing of the kind will make a fortune and bless
the world. Ink is altogether behind the age.
We want for the "women folks" wash-tubs with
stronger handles than those now in use. A kero-
sene lamp with fixtures that will not be easily
broken. A cheap, neat and durable window snap.
A mowing machine where the weakest part is
made the strongest. A light hoe with a strong
nock. A washing machine warranted to run a
year, and which the domestics can use without
calling in the aid of the men. Hens that will not
scratch up your garden and make you say hard
things against them. A paring machine that will
be as good in three months after use as before.
N. T. T.
LETTER FROM THE FARM.
Concord, JMhj 6, 1863.
Gentlemen :— It is now more then two months
since we have had a rainy day — that is, a rain
reaching down and soaking the grass roots. The
drought begins to pinch sharply. On the higher
ard old hay lands, the grass has come to maturity,
clover heads ripe and dry, and haying, in such
places, is in brisk progress.
The Indian corn is stout, dark green and vigor-
ous, but not high. Barley is beginning to head,
and feels the want of rain. Winter rye is halting,
while oafs, wheat, potatoes and all garden stuff wilt
a little in the hot sun, and look "desponding."
Before I close my letter, I hope to be able to an-
nounce a "refreshing rain."
Asparagus Bods.
1 have been weeding and hoeing the Aaparagus
Bed. The family have done cutting it for the sea-
son, and it is running up to seed — some of the
stalks are already four feet high. We are taught
that the seeding of a plant exhausts it more than
all its previous growth. If so, why do all persons
allow their asparagus to run to seed after they have
done cutting, instead of heading it down as we do
grape vines, roses, peach trees, and many other
plants.^ Will someone, better informed than I
am, enlighten me.^
Shade for Young Grass.
One of the most earnest and interesting discus-
sions at the Concord Faimcrs' Club, occurred last
winter, upon the question whether ike sliade af-
forded by the oats or barley sown with grass seed,
loas favorable or unfavorable to the rp'owth of the
young grass9 I took the affirmative of the ques-
tion— that the shade is friendly to the young grass,
shading, sheltering it, and tending to keep tlio
ground moist and in a favorable condition for its
early growth.
I have now spent a considerable portion of t!io
time for several days in pruning apple trees in an
orchard Inid down to grass last .\.i)ril, where bar-
ley was sowed with the grass seed. The trees do
not cover the whole ground, so that there are nu-
merous open places that are fully exposed to the
sun. In those open places, the grass docs not ap-
pear so well as it does under the trees. This fact
was observed by another jjcrson who was in tne
orchard a part of a day with me.
In looking over Lieeig's new work, on The
Natural Laws of Husbandry, I find the following,
252
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
fully confirming the position which I have taken.
He is speaking of the radication, that is, the root-
ing of plants, and says :
"Clover, grass seeds, and small-sized seeds in
general, put forth at first feeble roots of small ex-
tent, and require so much the greater care in pre-
paring the soil, in order to ensure their healthy
growth. * * * It is, therefore, found advan-
tageous to soio clover together with grain of some
land ; for, as the grain is earlier and quicker in
groiiih, its leaves shade the young clover plant, and
protect it from the too iiitense action of the sun^s
rays ; thus affording more time for the extension
and development of the roots."
This is precisely the ground I assumed in the
discussion, and my theory has grown into fact by
this high authority, and by the observations I
have since made.
Harrington's Sower and "Weeder.
Some time since, I spoke of a new Seed Sower,
the invention of Mr. S. E. Harrington, of Green-
field, Mass. I spoke of it merely as a Seed Sow-
er, but have now been using it for two or three
weeks as a weeder, and find it entirely superior to
any and all other implements of the kind, for
weeding and stirring the ground to a depth uf
even four to six inches ! It is light, easily hand-
led, and beautiful to look at. It is fun to ivoi'k
hard with such a machine. Mr. Harrington has
conferred a great service upon the world by tie-
vising and introducing so excellent a labor-saving
machine. I wish some of our extensive onion
growers and gardeners would come here and try
it.
Late Hoeing of Com and Other Crops.
Silent assent seems to be given to an old rule,
that the crops must be heed three times, whether
they are weedy or not, and no more, though the
ground be covered with weeds. Three times is
enough, and the soil ought to know better than to
throw up weeds after such a scarification, say
some ; we cannot afford to hoe any more, and so
the crop is left to try its powers^ with the weeds,
and generally comes out second best.
A part of the object of hoeing, certainly, is to
eradicate the weeds, but there is a principle involv-
ed in it far beyond this surface work. Still, the
weeding is very important in the following results :
1. It removes the weeds and prevents their tak-
ing properties from the soil that the plants need.
2. It prevents their seeding and extending their
kind through an indefinite number of years.
'6. The succeeding labor upon the crop will only
be about half as much after the weeds are taken
away.
There may be other advantages derived in tak-
ing away weeds, but these three are enough to
move every judicious farmer to exterminate them
as fast as they appear.
There are other, however, important reasons
why crops should be hoed once or twice more than
they usually are. In hoeing, we mean to include
what generally precedes it, working the soil to
some depth either with plough or cultivator.
These operations give some valuable results.
1. If the soil is too wet, they loosen it and let
in the sun and air to dry it and make it more
light and porous.
2. If too dry, loosening the soil admits the most
air, and renders it capable of receiving and retain-
ing any drop of dew that falls upon it. When a
slight rain-fall comes, being light and open, it
catches and holds every drop that falls, while on a
hard surface it rapidly flows off.
3. Every drop of water that goes into the soil
carries a certain amount of lieat with it ; this is
left in the soil, warms the tender roots and gives
them a rapid growth.
4. Rain water is charged with ammonia and
other properties, which the plant greatly needs.
When the surface is in suitable condition to re-
ceive what falls, and pass it along down the sub-
soil, every rain is equal to a slight manuring of
the plant, so that the farmer who cultivates and
hoes thoroughly finds his crops dressed from the
bounties of the skies, while neglected fields of
hard surfaces find few blessings in the shower.
Two rules should always be observed in regard
to hoeing, viz : —
1. Hoe whenever there are weeds, whether in
June or October.
2. Hoe whenever the surface is compact and
dry, whether in June or September.
Very truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Noukse, Eaton & Tolman.
Cows IN Honduras. — A lady correspondent of
the Working Fanner, who had been nursing an
invalid husband in Honduras, gives the following
description of the management of cows in that
part of the world:
"We were much disappointed in the quantity
of milk given by our cow, but the quality w;i3
most excellent. The cows are managed here in a
most miserable way, and never domesticated.
The calf is tied near the house, and the cow al-
lowed to wander at will, and often it is her will to
go quite a way from home. When she returns to
her calf, it is untied and allowed to commence
sucking ; then it is pulled away, tied to the cow's
leg and the milking begins. Sometimes a ]nnt,
often less, but seldom more, is obtained; and they
never milk the cows in Honduras but once a day.
Often the cow would take a very unmotherly turn,
and leave her calf from one day until the next.
Our feelings on such occasions cannot be appreci-
ated except by those who have drank their tea
and coffee for months without this luxury, and
who have seen those dear to them. unable to ob-
tain what, at the North, is almost as abundant as
water."
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
253
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
SOWING CLOVER SEED.
I wish to inquire through the Xeic EnnJand Farmer
as to the best time to sow "clover seed" with winter
wheat ? Last fall, while sowing my wheat, I was ad-
vised to sow ray clover seed in the spring, on a light
snow, that it might not get so high as to trouble me
in harvesting the wheat. I did so, but my seed did
not take. 1 desii-e farther iuformaiion.
Rochester, June, 1S63. A Subscribpik.
Remarks. — The general practice is to sow clover
seed early in April, and it is a good one. The proba-
bility is that your seed was not good, as good seed
very seldom fails.
COUGH IN A cow.
I have a young and valuable cow that has got a se-
vere cold. She coughs hard and frequently ; she
breathes short and quick, and there is a very bad smell
from her breath. If you would inform me through
your valual)le weekly journal the best remedy I could
apply to Iicr, I would feel indeed grateful.
East Ahington, Jam 1, 1863. A Reader.
Remauks. — There are so many causes of cough that
it is utterliy impossible to prescribe intelligently for a
cow — had we ever so much skill — without seeing her.
If not much acquainted with the diseases of anmials
yourself, call in the person who is best acquainted.
Avoid all severe nostrums and treat her as rationally
as you would a member of your family under similar
circumstances.
WETW BOOKS.
The Natueal Laws op Husbandry. Ky .rusTua Vos Liediq.
Edited by .loHN' Blvth, M. D., Prof'ssor of Chemistry in
Queeti's College, Cork. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 413
Broadway.
The subjects discussed in this work are — The
Plant ; the Soil ; Action of Soil on Food of Plants
in Manure ; Farmyard Manure ; the System of
Farm-yard MaitUring ; Guano ; Poudiette ; Hu-
man E.\creraents ; Earthy Phosphates ; Ground
Rape Cake ; Wood Ash ; Ammonia and Nitric
Acid ; Common Salt, Nitrate of Soda, Salts of
Ammonia, Gypsum, Lime ; Motion of Sap in
Plants ; Water Constituents ; Experiments in the
Growth of Beans ; Japanese Agriculture ; Anal-
ysis of Clover ; Clover Sickness, and its Causes.
Under a notice of the Impoiiance of Good
Seeds, the writer says, — "Poor and sickly seeds
will produce stunted plants, which again will yield
seeds bearing in a great measure the same char-
acter.
"The horticulturist knows the natural relation
which the condition of the seed bears to the pro-
duction of a plant, which is to possess all or only
some properties of the species ; just as the cattle-
breeder, who, with a view to propagation and in-
crease of stock, selects only the healthiest and
best formed animals for his purpose ; the garden-
er is aware that the flat and shining seeds in the
pod of a stock gilly-flower will give tall plants
with single flowers, while the shrivelled seeds will
furnish low plants with double flowers throughout.
"In the selection of seeds for planting it is al- 1
ways important to take into account the soil and
climate from which they have been derived. In '
England, seed wheat from a poor soil is consid-
ered particularly well suited to a rich soil."
The work is crowded with facts and suggestions
of great value to all who cultivate the soil, and
which tend to elevate the occupation in the mind
of studious and reflecting persons. We look up-
on it as a valuable accession to our agricultural
literature, and thank the enterprising Publislicrs
for placing it in our hands in so beautiful and at-
tractive a form.
We have marked many interesting passages to
lay before the reader at a future time.
/•'or Vie Kew England Parmer.
RESTOBATION OF "WORN-OUT PAS-
TURAGE.
Messrs, Editors :— He that can devise the
best and cheapest way to restore worn-out pastur-
age to fertility is worthy of a medal. A general
complaint among farmers throughout New Eng-
land indicates a deterioration of old pasture lands,
and a great deal of interest is manifested among
us for a remedy. The example of Capt. Maiish,
Superintendent of the State Almshouse at Tewks-
bury, is worthy of consideration, and I believe
imitation. Every farmer would do well to read
that section of his report to the Inspectors relat-
ing to cows and milk. In a recent conversation
with that gentleman, he told me that, when he en-
tered upon the premises, the pasturage was so
scanty and poor that but two cows had been kept,
and pretty strong objections were made at any at-
tempt to keep more, for the want of pasture or
summer feed, but he tried the experiment and
succeeded in keeping twenty-five cows, with great
benefit to the State and institution, obtaining
milk at a much cheaper rate than formerly. In-
stead of pasturing his cows, he began upon the
soiling system ; he ploughed the old worn-out
pasture ground and sowed millet for green feed
after grown sufficiently, preferring it to Hungarian
grass for that purpose, it being a more rapid grow-
er and of larger production, obtaining two crops
from the same ground in a season. By this course
of management, he restored the old worn-out pas-
ture land to productiveness, and his pile of i^a-
nure grew in proportion to the cpiantity of millet
and other green crops consumed by his stock of
cattle. He feeds his cows on chopped hay tmd
straw till his green crops are grown. He keeps
his cows in their stanchions, with the exception
of an hour or two in the yard for exercise and air
each day.
Cows are naturally quiet, indolent animals, when
well fed, and endure confinement with apparent
indifference, if not satisfaction ; they have no
anxiety, like the rest of us, about what they sluill
drink, or wherewithal they shall be clothed, which
is wonderfuUj' in favor of their lacteal ])roduc-
tions. Cows that are fed in the liarn escape tlic
incessant teeth-wearing labor, and the annoyance
of flies suffered by half-starved animals, while ran-
sacking old dried up pasture grounds for a scanty
pittance of miserable vegetation, which is so har-
dy as to continue after every kind of grass of a
nutritive quality is extinct. The labor required
to sustain life upon old, dried up pastures, is so
exhausting that cows have very little unapprojiri-
ated milk for the milker, and cows kept in that
254
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
manner often go dry from September till June,
while the same cows, well fed, would have given
milk more than ten months in the year.
At the first view, the farmer considers soiling
of cows a laborious and expensive way to feed
cattle, but when evidence is produced sufficient
to convert the most obstinate heretic, that the best
way is the best, he admits that soiling cows a part
or all of the season will eventually prove the
cheapest. I have observed a great variety of ways
to keep a great stock of cows without an adequate
amount of sustenance ; what comes next ? The
cattle are hungry, the pasturage all gnawed down
by the first of August ; then the old fences have
to undergo an inspection ; the point is selected,
and in goes the leader of fifteen or twenty head
of starved cattle to the corn field. Then a depu-
tation of hands must go and repair fences ! Cat-
tle cannot live like an air plant, and the old
wooden fences are like a spider's web ; they must
be fed, or they will hold possession of their terri-
tory acquired by stratagem, and break down any
fence rather than starve. Now, which is the cheap-
est way to keep cows after the flush of pasture-
feed is past — to reduce them nearly to a state of
starvation by a continued grubbing of dead grass,
and breaking down fences, a shrinkage of milk,
the loss of destroyed crops, and the time spent by
watcher and repairer of fences ; or to feed them
with a full supply of millet, or other green feed, in
the barn, that will keep up a flow of milk through
the season, and at the year's end leave them in
better condition, beside a very important advan-
tage in the large quantity of manure saved which
would have been mostly lost by strolling cattle
that ramble at large ? My own experience has
taught me that two cows, fed well in the barn, will
give as much milk, and of a better quality, tlian
four treated on the old custom of living in the
pasture and barnyard from the 20th of May to
the 20th of November.
What is the benefit of keeping cows that gain
no flesh nor give any milk ? I can think of no
better plan to restore old pasture land to fertility
than by adopting Mr. Marsh's scheme. The ad-
vantage is apparent. It is making his land rich,
and augments his manure heap at the same time.
He says the farmer cannot afford to buy manure.
The great quantity of better quality of manure
saved by soiling cattle will go far toward defray-
ing the expenses of extra labor. It strikes me
that the best way for a small farmer, I mean one
who has but a small farm, and keeps l)ut a small
stock of cattle, could he have plenty of millet,
Hungarian grass, or cow corn, as it is called, in
readiness to supply cows on the failure of pas-
tures, which often happens by the first of August,
would be to suil his stock, instead of the iiungry
animals being obliged to shirk for themselves.
He would be amply compensated by a continued,
undiminished supply of milk, as well as an aug-
mented quantity of manure, equal to pay the e.x-
penses of extra labor. SiLAS Brov^'N.
North Wilmington, May, 1863.
The Connecticut Agricultural College.
— The Legislature of Connecticut has appropriat-
ed to the Sheffield Scientific School, New Haven,
the public lands given to the State by Congress
under what is known as the Agricultural College
bill.
Fur the New Ensland Farmer^
CLOVER.
RT R. F. FULLER.
Hail, scarlet synod, clover crowd !
With bees among ye flaunting proud.
And zephyrs floating overhead,
That kiss the clover blossoms red ;
Long may the scythe unforagcd be,
That felleth you— that felleth me !
For what discussion come together,
With cowls of scarlet crowd the heather?
Tell me what jest that zephyr said.
Made every member tosa his head ?
'Twas such a giggle shook the clover.
When the last zephyr floated over '.
Exotic flowers let others choose.
By art begot of gorgeous hues.
To hybrid monsters, made for pride.
The charms of nature are denied.
And we would render in our lays
To simple blossoms, sweeter praise.
Nor seems the clover least ofthese ;
Whose scented breath a summer breeze
Wafts to the window, where I sit
Perusing pages genius writ,
While oft from them my eye has drawa
The clover's laugh upon the lawn.
Whose shaking §ides my heart impress
With a contagious jolUness !
Good humored blossoms ! I discern
Other wise lessons I may learn,
By moralizing much of thee —
Contentment an 1 tranquillity.
Sweet temper, and a disposition
To make the best of my condition.
While in my sphere I still dispense.
Like thee, a plea,sant influence !
THE DATE.
There is no fruit that can be eaten so constant-
ly, or with so much impunity, as the date. It is
like bread, and is bread to whole nations of orien-
tals. And what a delicious bread, baked by the
sun, and showered in profusion upon, the earth, to
be gathered and laid up for the future, either dry
in huge coi-bels, or pressed into a conserve, which,
when cut into slices, looks and eats like plum-
pudding. We have often been present \vhtle this
dainty was in preparation : first, with a little brush
made of fine palm-leaves, the particles of sand are
whisked away from the fruit, which, having then
been laid open with a sharp flint, the stone is taken
out, and if large and fine, laid aside for planting ;
next, the dates are thrown into a clean, strong,
square vessel like a tub, and having been closely
pressed by heavy weights laid upon a thick board
made to fit, the whole process is completed. Im-
mense quantities of this conserve are exported
from Egypt and Arabia into all the neighboring
countries, where it is much prized, especially in
the harems, where the women and children may
almost be said to eat it incessantly.
No man can starve in a date-country during the
three months of the year in which the fruit is eata-
ble, since he has but to throw up a stone into the
tree to bringdown his breakfast or his dinner. For
this reason chiefly, tents are ])itched and villages
built in palm-groves ; and as hogs are turned into
the woods in acorn-time, so children are let loose
in the palm-woods throughout the whole period of
the date hai'vest to collect their own provisions, and
feed as they list. You may often, as you journey
along, observe troops of the little gourmands, who.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
255
having eaten to repletion, have fallen asleep amid
the remains of their meal ; while the generous tree
of whose bounty they have partaken, waves and
rustles over their heads, letting down occasionally
glints of sunshine, which, glancing over their dingy
red caps and many-colored rags, convert them
into a curious picture.
The Farm is a Maxufactoky. — It ought to
be so regarded. The soil should be looked upon
as bearing the same relation to the agriculturist
that any raw material does to the manufacturer
of that specific raw material. It is the stock from
which is to be wrought out the marketable prod-
uct. What is put on the soil in the shape of seed,
fertilizers, labor, should always be regarded, to-
gether wilh the interest on "the money invested
in the land, as going to make up the cost of the
product — of the article manufactured from the
soil. And the farmer should know precisely M'hat
this cost is, — and it should govern the price at
which he sells his product. Now, this is a very
simple and self-evident proposition. It has been
often repeated ; and yet it has got to be told a
great many thousand times more before the mass
of farmers will appreciate its importance, judging
by the ratio of their progress in this matter in the
past.
We refer to it now, and so often, because we
believe it is as emphatically the basis of success
in agriculture as in manufactures. And we in-
tend to repeat it until our readers, who do busi-
ness hap-hazard and fail, shall understand how
to go to work to find the leak that is sinking the
ship. — Riiral New-Yorlcer,
Supposed Discovery of the Source of
THE Nile. — Mr. Wm. H. Goodhue, the Vice
Consul at Zanzibar, reports that Messrs. Spehe
and Grant's expedition in search of the source of
the Nile have been almost, if not entirely, crowned
with success. Tlie two mentioned English gen-
tlemen left Zanzibar Sept. 2.3th, LSGO, on the ex-
pediticm, and were last heard from in March, 1SG2,
wlren Capt. Spehe had discovered the Niverango
river, which, he writes to her Britannic Majesty,
he believes to be the first certain branch of the
Nile. It is 400 yards wide, with a gentle flow to
the north. It takes its rise. Ion. 12, north lati-
tude, in the Victoria Masanza, a lake discovered
by Capt. Spehe. The expedition could not move
forwrad in March, 1862, through the kingdom of
Uganda, through which said river flows, owing to
the unwiUingness of the natives. Capt. Grant
was heard from April 11th, 1862, and was then
behind Capt. Spehe, making explorations and sci-
entific observations, which is about 1° ciO' south
latitude.
Cure for Poisoning by Ivy. — In case of
poisoning by ivy, plunge the part afiected in hot
water — as hot as can be borne — holding it there
some time. The unpleasant itching and burning
sensation will be removed — and two or three ap-
plications are a sure cure — at least this has been
the case with our informant.
He can hardly be prepared to enter the world
of spirits who trembles at the thought of encoun-
tering a sohtary ghost.
No Market for Cattle. — The farmers of
California have issued a call for a convention to
devise ways and means by which they may obtain
a higher price for their beeves, or to suggest some
plan of using their cattle so as to make them pro-
fitable. San Francisco is Said to be the only place
in the State where there is a cash mai-ket for large
herds. The following statement of the Alia news-
paper of that city, shows that the price of cattle
is ruinously low there :
The averfigc cash price of neat cattle during the
last year has been less than the value of the hide
and tallow, estimating the amount of tallow to be
that which they had in the spring previous to the
time when they were slaughtered. The meat,
therefore, has been a total loss to the ranchero.
One owner of large herds has brought 2000 head
of cattle to San Francisco, and netted only $5000
from them.
Spreading Manure from the Cart. — In
the application of manure as a top-dressing for
mowing lands, William Bacon writes to the Coun-
try Gentleman that he had much trouble in getting
it spread evenly and seasonably, so long as he
practiced the old plan of dumping k and spread
the heaps afterwards. He now spreads it directly
from the cart, and thus states the advantages of
that mode :
We get it on the surface more evenly, and in
the aggregate in a less amount of time, and for the
third we claim that the sooner it is spread, the
sooner the land gets the benefit of it. The only
drawback that I know of is, that the team must
stand stiM a little longer while spreading than
while dumijing, but as the team is kept for the
benefit of the farm, there is probably no loss of
time in that.
When to Trim Fruit Trees. — Our own
teachings and practice are corroborated by Mr. J.
T. Elliott, of Grand Rapids, Mich., in a commu-
nication to t'jie Prairie Farmer, in which, af'.er al-
luding to the fact that our New England fathers
pruned in February and March, and that the early
settlers of that part of the West followed their
example, says :
Letting go any discussions of what their inter-
ests may be — and looking at home — all experience
1 hope will not be lost on us, and tJuit exjicrience,
all ])oiuts one way. Prune while the wood is (jroic-
inrj if ijou wish the scars to heal quick and sound.
tiai/ in June.
Michigan Plaster Beds. — The existence of
plaster in this State was discovered in IH'.j'-i. No
purer gypsum is found anywhere. The Grand
Rapids Plaster Company represents capital to Vie
amount of half a million of.dollars. The ."vuppij*
of the plaster is inexhaustible, and the demand
steadily increasing.
Tiieue is a world of beautiful meaning in the
following rather liberal translation from Freville.
"As the clock strikes the Imiir, how nf en hi- pay,
'Timf flien I' when 'lis we that are passing away."
256
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
EXHAUSTION OF SOILS.
A most gloomy theory has been suggested by
some writers, and readily adopted by a certain
class of dismally disposed minds, to the effect that
this good world of ours is gradually becoming un-
inhabitable by man ; that it is growing old and de-
crepid, in the same sense as men and animals grow
old ; that every successive crop diminishes the
capacity of the soil for production ; that every
breath taints and destroys forever a certain pro-
portion of the pure air of heaven ; that every
body which dies and is buried poisons and con-
taminates so much of the earth's surface ; and,
finally, in a word, that the world if not otherwise
destroyed, is eventually to shrivel up and die of
old age ; and many now think that they see un-
mistakable evidence that the poor old patient is
already "struck o' death," and they believe that
her final dissolution is just at hand.
Now we have no sympathy with any such dark-
side view of the subject. We believe that the
world is very good, and that man was made not
only "to dress it and keep it," but also to improve
it, to make it better. The plain of Shanghai, one
of the most productive sections of the world, has
been cultivated from time immemorial, and is as
fruitful now as it ever was ; and this remark we
think will apply to the old world generally.
Those sections which were remarkable for fertility
as far back as history reaches, are still remarkably
productive wherever they are well tilled.
A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer presents
the bright side of this subject in a manner that
we like ; and it gives us pleasure to copy his ar-
ticle, which will be read by many farmers who are
cultivating the "worn-out" soil of New England,
— some of Avhom perhaps will let us know what
they think of it.
Can the soil of such States as Illinois and those
bordering upon it, be exhausted ? I believe not.
A succession of crops, of such a nature as to draw
largely upon one or two of those ingredients which
exist in but small quantities in any soil, may dis-
qualify it temporarily for producing those partic-
ular crops in such quantities as to be profitable.
Thus, if you grow corn, wheat, or both, alternate-
ly, in the same field, for many years, the phosphate
of lime will be unreasonably drawn upon. The
portions of it which natural causes had previously
brought into a soluble state, will be used up.
The knd will refuse to give such crops as it had
formerly. The land, in such a case, is not abso-
lutely exhausted. What you can say of it with
truth is, that so much of certain ingredients as
had become soluble has been used up, that it is
not good policy to tax the soil longer in the same
direction, till time and natural causes shall have
operated to bring other portions of these ingre-
dients into a condition in which plants can absorb
them.
A person accustomed to having his beef cooked,
could not feed satisfactorily on raw beef ; a fatted
ox might be before him, and yet he might starve
if pome of the beef were not cooked. It is so
with plants. In every good soil there is a portion
of those ingredients on which plants depend, in a
prepared state, and a much larger portion in an
unprepared state. When, therefore, a grain crop
has been long grown in a field, and the field re-
fuses longer to produce it abundantly, it does not
follow that this field is exhausted. The very in-
gredients on which that crop thrives, may be in
the soil, and the only trouble may be that they
are in an unprepared state, not soluble — not such
that the plant can take them in. They are to the
plant, as raw beef is to the man who has been
used to having his beef cooked. Time, in such a
case, is the remedy. Let thei'e be a rotation of
crops. Where a single crop has been growing for
years, let other crops intervene ; and while these
are drawing upon diff'er.ent ingredient, natural
causes will be operating to prepare the food re-
quired by the first.
It is not in the power of man to aff'ect an ex-
haustion of any strong, deep soil, which shall be
permanent, because natural causes are in o])era-
tion to counteract the tendencies of even the worst
farming. A bad fiirmer may, in the first half of
his life, almost spoil a good farm for the last half
of it; he may, in the whole of his life, injure it
amazingly for his sons ; but he cannot spoil it for
his grandchildren. God has taken care to provide
laws by which the effect of a bad cultivation is
limited. But though we cannot spoil, for perpe-
tuity, any soil naturally good, yet the loss occa-
sioned by such cultivation and croppings as dete-
riorate the laud is great, falling mainly on the
man who does the mischief, and on his immedi-
ate successors, and less on those remotest from
him. This is according to our notions of justice.
The punishment falls first and muiuly upon the
one who does the wrong. Every kind of manage-
ment that deteriorates the soil, is, (not in the long
run, for it is a rather short run,) unprofitable ; or,
at least, is less profitable than a course which
keeps it fully up to its original fertility or above it.
We do not like to hear persons talk about spoil-
ing land. The Almighty has made the land in
this great valley, such that not all human power
combined, can spoil it. But the cultivation which
diminishes its productiveness, spoils some part at
least, of the prosperity of the farmer who prac-
tises it. J. A. N,
Potatoes. — The first potatoes grown in this
country were from seed brought from Ireland by
the Scotch Irish who emigrated from the old coun-
try in 1718 and in 1719 settled in Londonderry,
N. H. They were first raised in the garden of
Nathaniel Walker, of Andover, and gradually, but
slowly, found their way into gitiieral cultivation.
They are first mentioned in Newbury in 1732 ; in
Lynn in 1733. In 1737, Rev. Thomas Smith,
of Portland, says, "there is not a peck of pota-
toes in the whole Eastern country." So late as
1750, if any person raised so large a quantity as
five bushels, great was the inquiry among his
neighbors as to how he could dispose of the enor-
mous quantity. — Newhuryport Herald.
I^ There were 10,803 births, 3071 marriages,
and 8541 deaths in Connecticut in 1862, which is a
less number of births and marriages than in 18G1,
and an increase in the mortality. One person who
died was 109 years old.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
267
QUITTOB IN THE HOKSE'S FOOT.
Perhaps there is not one of our numerous read-
ers that does not own a horse ; at any rate, there
is not one, we trust, that does not regard the horse
as one of the most obedient and valuable servants
of man ; nor one who does feel interested in his
welfare, and who would not be glad to promote
his comfort in any possible way.
We are glad to observe increasing humanity
toward the animals we rear and subject to our
service, to know that they are better tended, load-
ed with more judgment, and, as a general thing,
driven with more feeling and mercy, than they
used to be. There are shameful exceptions, we
admit, but the general practice toward them, is a
better one.
As serviceable and infdlif/ent animals, we know
of none that will compare with the horse. The
dog and the elephant may be taught to do certain
special things that excite our wonder, — but a
horse that has an apt and humane master, one
wdio uses him in various kinds of employment, will
exhibit, almost every day, evidences of his keen
power of observation, memory, and general capac-
ity. A book might be filled with interesting inci-
dents, showing the high degree of intelligence
that he possesses.
In some other respects, the horse resembles
man. He is nervous or phlegmatic — higii-spirii-
ed, or of a mild disposition — ambitious, full of
pluck and mettle, or of an inert and passive tem-
perament.
They seem also to be liable to similar diseases.
They take cold, upon exposure, mach as man
does, and when sick, require a similar treatment.
The disease mentioned above is much like the
"felon," so common among us. That, we sup-
pose, is occasioned by some bruise or prick of the
part, which causes suppuration to take place near
the bone, and the pus, being confined there,
causes excruciating pain. "Cuitlor" in the foot
of the horse, is caused in the same way. It is a
terrible disorder, and no one unacquainted with
the structure of the horses' foot, can appreciate
the dreadful pain which it occasions.
Mayiiew, in his admirable work on the horse,
says "the cause of Quittor is always confined pus
or matter, which, in its effort to escape, absorbs
and forms sinuses [that is, a little cavity or ab-
scess. Ed.] in various directions, within the sen-
sitive substance of the hoof. Nature, after her
own fashion, proceeds to cast off that which is
without vitality ; but the matter thus located can-
not readily escape through the harsh material of
the horse's coronet. It is confined and becomes
corrupt, while the constant motion of the foot in-
clines the pus to take a downward direction.
However, it is more difficult for pus to pierce the
horny sole than to penetrate the coronet ; so the
effort is renewed above ; numerous pipes or sinu-
ses are thus formed ; the fleshy sole is often under-
run, and this mischief goes on until the coronet,
which becomes of enormous size, at last yields to
the increasing evil."
The "coronet" mentioned above, is tha upper
of three bones in the foot. The "coffin-bone" lies
below, extending down toward the toe of the
hoof, and the "navicular-bonc" is on one side, op-
posite the junction of the other two bones.
Another cause of Quittor is pricking the sensi-
tive part of the foot with a nail in shoeing, and
another cause is "com," as the horses' corn is
nothing more than a bruise.
The leading sign of Quittor, before it breaks,
is a large swelling at the coronet, attended with
heat and excessive lameness.
No cure can be effected until an opening allows
the pus to pass out, and this should be done at
once by skilful hands.
How TO Water Plants. — This is usually bad-
ly done. Water is poured upon the surface —
enough, perhaps, to wet down an iucli or two.
The water washes the fine earth into the chinks
and interstices, and there the plant stands, with
dry or only soil moist below, but with a baked
mass on the surface which shuts out warmth, air,
and the moisture that would be derived from its
free circulation. One of two methods should be
adopted. Remove the surface earth and pour on
water enough to reach the wet subsoil, and when
the water has soaked in, replace the dry surface
soil, to be moistened from below ; or, make a hole
OS near the plant as you can without disturbing
the roots, and fill this with water two or three
times, and afterwards fill it with the dry earth first
removed. At ail events, when you water at all,
water freely, and with the foot or a hoe throw a
iittlle dry earth over the surface as the water set-
tles away. These are important hints. A few
plants thus well cared for will yield more than
three times the number carelessly treated.
Depth ok Ploiguing. — A writer in the Ag-
ric'illitral lUriaw, says : "Deep cultivation is in-
applicable in the case of sandy soils, exce|)t when
thoy rest upon a stiff subsoil, which, however, is
rarely tiie case. If there be simply a thin stratum
of stiff clay beneath the sandy t>oil, it should not
always be broken through, as it may prevent the
moisture passing away too rapidly as diainage.
When friable soil rests on chalk, gravel or sand,
deep ploughing should not be performed. We
have often known manure to be j)loughed in so
dee])ly that its decomposition took place only af-
ter the lapse of several years. Manure, to be ef-
ficient, must be as close to the surface as jK)ssible.
in order that the nourishment afforded by it may
be within easy access of the rootlets of the plants."
258
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
IiETTEE. FROM THE PABM,
Concord, July 9, 1863.
Gentlemen : — At last we have had a copious
rain, which is still falling. It commenced some
time last night, and must have continued to fall
steadilj- for several hours by the appearances this
morning. It has come none too soon. The grass
has greatly felt the need of it, as whole clover
fields present a mass of parched stems and dried
blossoms. Grain has "headed out" prematurely,
and will be lighter for the want of rain. Fields
that were mowed, turned "brown and sere," and
in some places the stubble has been killed. The
Indian oorn has not been much affected, nor the
potatoes.
What a change has been wrought in the course
of a few hours ! The clouds spread themselves
over us, like a curtain, and dropt their cool and
refreshing moisture upon the famishing plants and
dusty and thirsty earth, so that all things present
a new aspect this morning.
"Matchless painter ! — leaf and flower
All their faded hues reviving.
How the garden drinks the shower,
Life and loveliness deriving ;
Grove and glade
All in sprightly pearls arrayed."
iiow wonderful are the operations of the laws
of the Great and Incomprehensible Being who
presides over them all! How full of wisdom,
benevolence and love ! When shall we learn to
contemplate them more earnestly, and repose in
them, with an unshaken and lively faith ! If loe
U'ill, we can reach that confident serenity of mind
which imll not doubt, though the earth be parched
with burning heat, or swept by the tornado's re-
sistless course. Let us, brother farmers, aim at
this standard, and strive manfully to i-each it. The
drought has its work to accomplish, as well as the
other agencies in nature, — and thus all work to-
gether for our good.
"gtill the Lord doth all things well,
When His clouds with blessings swell,
And they break a brimming shell
On the air ;
There the shower hath its charms
Sweet and welcome to the farms,
As they listen to its voice,
And rejoice !
In company with one of your correspondents.
Dr. Joseph Reynolds, of this town, — a gentle-
man whose fondness for rural affairs has led him
to many personal experiences on the farm, and to
observe and write a good deal upon agricultural
matters, — I had the pleasure, a few days since, of
visiting the farm of Joseph A. IIakwood, Esq.,
of Littleton, Mass. The day was hot and dusty,
so that, upon arriving, the open doors and cool
and extensive driveway through the barn, invited
us at once to enter. Here we found chairs, upon
which we rested and found enjoyment more grate-
ful than could have been conferred by any refine-
ment of the parlor. But these were the enjoy-
ments of a summer day, and not those of the sweet
retirement of a winter night, with friends and
books and shelter from the wind or storm.
The barn is a new one, 100 feet long by 40 feet
wide, boarded, clapboarded, and well finished in
every respect. A cellar under the whole, has a
substantial wall on tliree sides, laid in mortar,
pointed, and the floor timbers supported by stone
posts. The leanto is over the back side of the
cellar, and the posts supporting the floor upon
which the cattle stand, rest one end upon one of
the longitudinal beams under the driveway, and
the other end upon the cellar wall. This arrange-
ment secures the proper slope of the leanto floor.
The horse stalls and grain and harness rooms are
in the end of the barn nearest the house, so that,
excepting the leanto, all the rest of the spacious
barn is devoted to the storing of hay and grain.
I have rarely seen a barn so judiciously arranged.
There were one or two other buildings for shelter-
ing fodder or stock, so that the first question which
arose to my mind was, "What system does Mr.
Harwood pursue to secure crops to fill this
space !
In the course of the afternoon's conver-
sation I was enlightened on this point.
The farm consists of 215 acres. The land is
broken into knolls and some pretty sharp gravel-
ly hills, at whose base lie somewhat '-extensive
runs," or, more properly meadows. When he
took the farm, some dozen years since, it had nev-
er received careful and sytematic cultivation.
Stunted pines, ferns and huckleberry bushes
crowned the gravelly knolls, while black alders,
pipes and skunk cabbage, were each struggling for
the mastery in the Ioav grounds.
Now let us see what a steady application of
sMll, and moderate means, will accomplish. On
one of these once forbidding knolls, I found a
field of herds grass and clover extending a third
of a mile in length, and upon the same field 600
peach trees ; the ground Avas ploughed sufficiently
wide to receive three rows of potatoes, which were
kept clean from grass and weeds. The trees had
been set only two or three years, had taken good
hold of the soil and were in a thrifty condition.
Some, that I measured, had grown a little more
than two feet this season. I understood Mr. Har-
wood to say that if he could get even one good
crop from these trees, they would make a profita-
ble return.
On another gravelly knoll, and in plain sight
of the house, was a fine orchard about ten or
twelve years old, the seed for which Mr. 11. plant-
ed. He raised the trees, and under his personal
labor and care, presents an orchard which will not
only be a matter of profit, but which is a credit
to himself and his town. A narrow and beautiful
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
259
"run" between the two parts of the orchard, was
covered with grass that would yield all of two
tons of hay to the acre. This he had drained by
ditching and using stones from the orchai-d land,
and made it worth $200 per acre for agricultural
purposes alone. He has another orchard, young-
er, which is very promising. Farther from the
buildings he has reclaimed meadows, containing
in all, perhaps, 25 to 40 acres, over a portion of
which I passed and found a large, standing crop.
In his pastures I saw some excellent stock, in-
cluding a fine bay mare, which he hud just sold
for $300. He wintered 27 horsekind last winter
— one-half, or more, of which were boarders.
Among his milch cows, were several DurJiams, of
superior merit. He declined to take $80, for one
■which I selected and should have been glad to
send for.
By the time I had got round to my starting
point, I thought I had learned the secret of his
success, — and that it lies in these three things :
namely :
1. Skill, or hiowing how.
2. Steady application of labor.
3. The never-ceasing attention to the malcing
and 2)reserving of manure!
A brief glance shows that Mr. Harwood is sy.'<-
temaiic. Without this prime and indispensable
quality, effort is idle. Skill or application avails
little, where business, of any kind, is attempted
■without a plan. In the arrangement of the build-
ings, so far as he had gone, and the fields upon
which he had entered to reclaim, ^Ir. H. seemed
fully to appreciate the wants for which he was to
provide. So far as he has gone, he has been thor-
ough, and the building or reclaiming which he
has done will last, with prudent care, for genera-
tions to come. Although the drought was pinch-
ing the crops on his dry knolls, and the clover
heads were willing in the scorching sun, yet we
found a man and team occupied in supplying dry
muck to the droppings in the cellar, and as there
was little odor about the barn, concluded that it
was a part of the system to supply it regularly
and
"Make Mack the mother of the meal chest."
What Mr. Harwood has done, may be accom-
plished by thousands. His farm possesses no un-
common advantages over many others, and yet,
with moderate means, and almost before reaching
the prime of life, he has placed his farm in a con-
dition which comparatively few reach, after a whole
life of confused and uncertain labor, from their
owners. To be skilful, men must read, observe
and think. It was evident that my host had done
all these. Evidences of this were not wanting in
the pleasant parlor, or around the social table,
where our conversation was continued, and in
which the ladies took an intelligent part.
Returning in the cool and refreshing twilight
of a bright and hot day, I was surprised to pass
several quite extensive ^je^f/t orchards on the fer-
tile hill lands of Littleton and Boxboro'. The
crop in those towns must be quite large in a fruit-
ful year.
]3escending from the peak of the aspiring town
of Boxboro', I soon came to the forest that is now
being cut, and which lies in that town. It be-
longed to the estate of Mr. Hr.NDEUSox Inciiks,
of Boston. There are something more than 500
acres. The parties who purchased it, pay $36,-
000. They sell most of the ship timber to the
government, to be used at the Navy Yard at
Charlestown. Railroad ties and much of the fire-
wood will be taken by the Fitchburg Railroad.
One party has built a saw mill moved by a 25
horse power steam engine, with a circular saw,
and is cutting the prime timber at • fixed price
per thousand. They are cutting about 6000 feet
per day. Those cutting ship timber dig around
the trees and take out the roots attached to the
stumps for knees. They had found trees more
than 200 years old. Five quite large buildings
are erected on the ground for the accommodation
of the workmen, which, with the ponderous
wheels, truck, and heavy horses from the city,
give the place an appearance of bustling activity.
I am truly yours, SiMON Buow'.v.
Messrs. NeuRSB. Eaton & Touiax.
For the Netp En;jlnnd Fanner.
REMARKS OU CLIMATE.
The human race have looked upon the lakes
and rivers of the earth, and seen the majestic
streams as they roll onward to the ocean, m all
tlieir majesty and might ; have seen the swelling
floods spread desolation o'er the land, and yet,
have seldom asked the question, whence comes
this vast amount of water, to supply these great
rivers far in the interior of continents, thousands
of miles from the ocean ? Water always runs
down hill, and yet it takes its rise in some of the
most elevated parts of the earth and flows down-
ward to the ocean. The question is, how are these
migiity fountains supplied, which are ever sending
forth their torrents from the mountain side, high
up above the fountains of the deep? Water
never runs up hill, and therefore cannot flow back
in any underground courses, to arrive at those
elevated |)oints.
There are some curious properties of water
which it may l)e proper to explain, before trying
to answer so stupendous a question. Water pos-
sesses the power of expansion by both heat and
cold. Who has not seen the eflects of its incon-
ceivable power, in crumbling the giant rock from
the mountain's side, and splitting it into frag-
ments? Let a body of water stand in a strong
vessel and freeze ; liefore it becomes solid, its ex-
pansive power will throw up a miniature mountain
in the centre, and allow the pent up waters below
to escape. Water, it is said, attains its smallest
dimensions in bulk, at a temperature of about
38°. Above or below this, it expands. Every-
260
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
body knows the expansive power of water when
converted into steam, as it drives the locomotive
over the iron road, or the huge vessel across the
might)' deep. There is a power in the simple ele-
ments of water, far above the comprehension of
man, and it is this expansive force that carries the
water to the mountain tops. A great raujority of
the human race cannot yet comprehend this
miglity power. They see the torrent roll down
the mountain's side, seeking a lower level, with-
out asking how it assumed its high position.
Steam is the motive power for carrying water over
the land, and steam is produced at nearly all tem-
peratures, but the higher the temperature, the
greater the pressure. In the language of Prof.
Espy, ' all storms are produced by steam power."
Silent and unseen are the workings of nature, and
yet her laboratory is so vast that the results are
tremendous. Were it not for the expansive pow-
er of water and its affinity for air, our earth would
be a treeless and barren desert. No rivers would
ever flow to fertilize the earth, no lakes could ex-
ist above the level of the ocean, no clouds obscure
the god of day, or bring rain to the thirsty earth.
But in the wise economy of nature, all these things
are provided for. Air and water possess some of
the same elements, and can mingle in one com-
mon mass. The warmer parts of earth require
more water to fertilize the soil, than the colder
parts, and they receive more. The polar lands re-
quire but little moisture, and they receive but lit-
tle.
The law regulating the moisture of earth, would
indicate the greatest amount of rain at the equa-
tor, and the least at the poles ; but another theory
steps in and tells us that water is expansible by
cold as well as beat, and that steam is produced
by the expansion, from the temperature of 08°
both upward and downward, consequently the
least amount of rain would tall in tliat latitude
where the mean yearly temperature is about oS"^,
while the amount would increase from that point
to the equator, and from that point, though per-
haps imperceptably, to the pole. But this line is
so variable with the seasons, that no such line ac-
tually exists, except as theory. The point of 38'^
temperature is probably about 52° latitude, while
at the equator it is in the vicinity of 90°, and the
temperature sinks at the pole to about zero.
This would give a trifle more at the pole than at
52* north latitude, while the amount at (he equa-
tor would be enormous. But local causes operate
to distribute the rain so unequally, that it is im-
possible to give rules which will apply to all parts of
the earth, without a vast many exceptions. In the
peninsula of Hindostan, the amount of rain is
enormous, perhaps greater than in any other part
of the world ; yet in South America, it is but lit-
tle less. In the vicinity of the ocean, as a general
rule, more rain falls than in the interior of conti-
nents, yet the evaporation is much greater, for
evaporation carries it into the interior, where
another distribution takes place.
All parts of the earth are watered according to
the necessii'ies of the soil, except those places
which are aff'ected by local causes, such as the des-
erts of both continents, for if the soil does not re-
ceive suflicient moisture, it soon becomes partially
or wholly a desert. No part of the earth becomes
a desert except from local causes, as far as mois-
ture is concerned. The want of heat as at the
poles, and, in some of the highest mountains,
makes these places an icy desert, with a tempera-
ture much too low to produce vegetation. We
know Dr. Kane speaks of snow and rain in the
Arctic regions, for such is necessary to supply the
vast amount of ice and river water in those re-
gions. Were this not so, the entire country would
be a barren waste of earth, far too cold to sustain
animal life, for it is a well known fact that hu-
midity lessens the extremes of heat and cold. In
the deserts, the heat is unalterable, yet were the
amount of moisture increased to the amount due
to latitude, the heat would also decrease ; and
were not the Arctic regions well supplied with
moisture, the cold would be far more intolerable
than it is at present. Perhaps some may say, this
is a strange doctrine, that a vast body of ice will
mitigate the cold, but it is even so. I know not
v.'hat degree of cold, water is capable of receiving
at the surface, but the heat in the ocean, increases
downward, leaving the coldest sheeted water at
the top, which is much warmer even when covered
with ice than the land.
Dr. Kane remarks : "The temperature on the
poles was always somewhat higher than at the
inland, the difference being due, as I suppose, to
the heat conducted by the sea-waler, which was at
a temperature of 29" above zero, the suspended
instruments being aff'ected by radiation."
This was on the I7th of January, 1854. On
another page, he says : "Upon the ice floes, com-
mencing with a surface temperature of 30° below
zero, I found at two feet deep a temperature of 8",
and at four feet, 2" above zero, and at eight feet,
26*^ above zero. This was in midwinter, on the
largest floe in the open way off Cape S'^affbrd."
Thus the temperature increases rapidly as we
descend into solid ice, being 50 ° warmer eight feet
below the surface in solid ice than at the surface.
At this rate, one foot more will carry it above the
freezing point, where ice would cease. The ice it
appears is not continuous, l)ut is broken into large
fields, with many flaws and holes for the escape of
steam from below. This vapor freezes quickly and
descends again in the form of snow, keeping the
ground always covered witli snow and ice, which in
summer thaws and flows off" in rivers to the ocean,
thus keeping up a balance of the watery element
in these cold and inclement lands.
If water did not expand in freezing, ice would
be formed at the bottom, or at any rate, w-ould
sink to the bottom, so that no ice would ever float
on the surface of water, because it would be heav-
ier than the water below, and the polar regions if
frozen at all, would naturally freeze at the bottom,
or the ice would sink to the bottom, so that the
surface would be the last to freeze.
In most parts of the earth there is a surplus of
water, which is continually carried off" by rivers to
the ocean, which keeps up this balance of the wa-
tery clement. All this water is brought from the
ocean in the form of vapor, and scattered over the
land by the winds. There is, so to speak, an
ocean of water in the form of vapor suspended in
the atmosphere, ready at the call of the thirsty
earth to fulfil its mission. Then from what source
does our continent draw its supply, to feed the
father of rivers and the mighty lakes, and all the
minor streams wliich are continually rolling their
tide of waters back to the ocean, carrying off" a
portion of earth, and leaving it in the form of sed-
186S
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
261
iment at the mouths of rivers, thus filling up a
portion of the bed of the ocean ? There are but
two primary sources, from which the water comes
to that portion of our continent east of the Rocky
Mountanis. The main reservoir is the Gulf of
Mexico, and the principal agent of communication
is the trade winds of the tropics. Tliis gulf of
tropical water is much warmer than the two oceans
in the same latitude, for it is the recipient of the
tropical current from the west of Africa ; and this
water being excessively warm, produces a large
amount of vapor which is held sus])endcd in the
air. The trade winds are deflected from their nat-
ural course, first by the continent of South Amer-
ica and its northern ranges of mountains, then by
the Cordilleras of Mexico and the Rocky Moun-
tains, its whole volume is carried into the broad
valley of the Mississippi, between the Rocky
Mountains and the Alleghany range, charged with
the vapor of the gulf. It carries water to supply
this great valley with its huge rivers and lakes,
and an enormous surplus to roil back into the
ocean and gulf, from which it was taken. Tliis
water l)eing warm, retains its warmth, and gives
the valley a climate, at times, warmer than is due
to latitude. It passes up the valley, and a portion
is carried eastward to supply the great lakes and
rivers on the slope of the Alleghany range, and is
frequently carried beyond these mountains into
the Atlantic States, where it flows into the broad
Atlantic. Whenever south winds prevail, this va-
por passes up the valley, giving it a climate much
wanner than is due to latitude. Another source
from which this valley receives moisture, is the
Arctic Ocean, whose northern winds and shifting
storms are frequently felt during the cold months
of winter. Yet at any time, this valley is liable
to sudden changes, as the wind comes from its
sources in the north or south. E ist of this valley
the supply of rain comes principally from the
broad Atlantic, driven by tlie south wind among
the valleys and mountains of New England and
the States east of the Allegliany range. This va-
por is carried far away into the mountain valleys,
and by mingling with the westerly current is scat-
tered over the eastern slope of these mountains,
and a portion of it is carried back to the ocean to
descend in the form of rain on its waters. The
surplus rolls off in the form of rivers, to the ocean.
and thus the equilibrium is kept up all over the
continent. West of the Rocky Mountains, the
supply comes from the Pacific, in the regular belt
of westerly winds. It is a well known ftict that,
in California, there is a surplus quantity of raiii in
the winter, and a deficiency in the summer. This
is owing to that great law of nature, wliicli produ-
ces summer and winter by the turning of eacli
part of the earth alternately to the sun. In the
winter, when the sun passes directly over Rio Ja-
neiro, its rays fall ol)liquely on our continent.
This draws the northern belts of air from their
summer position ; bringing down the westerly belt
on the shores of California, it must have a ten-
dency to bring a large amount of va])or from the
Pacific, and convey it up the slopes of those ranges
of mountains on the coast, and over them into
the great basin west of the Rocky Mountains.
But owing to the heights of the Rocky Mountains,
the vapor is all de])osited on the western side,
which gives the land an undue quantity of mois-
ture. In the summer, when the sun rolls its migh-
ty course over the G'.df of Mexico, the westerly
current is driven northward beyond the latitude
of California, and the trade wind assumes its
northern limit, it l)rings California into the belt of
calms and conflicting winds, frequently from the
east, which can bring little or no rain on the thirs-
ty soil of that region. Thus, in summer, Califor-
nia suffers for want of rain, while Russian Amer-
ica coming in the belt of westerly winds, is wt-U
supplied. The western shore of Niexico is much
like the climate of California. Pcrliaps the most
singular region in America is the Groat Salt Lake
Valley, situated in the midst of mighty ranges of
mountains, where there is no communication of
its waters with the ocean. But splendid rivers
flow into Great Suit Lake, without increasing its
volume of water, and other lakes that are scat-
tered through this valley, receive tributaries of
considerable size, yet there is no way for these
waters to pass ofl" to the ocean. Then why do not
the waters rise in the lakes? The reason is obvi-
ous. This valley is surrounded by lofty moun-
tains over which no vapor passes, consequently P'^
water comts from the ocean to fertilize the soil.
This is a miniature world. It receives no vapor
from distant huuls and imparts none. Its secret
is, its evaporation and precipitation balance each
other. All the water that rises in vapor falls again
in the valley, and flows back into these lakes.
The weather may be wet or dry ; the ground may
be saturated with water, or parched with drought,
and the lakes remain nearly the same. The rivers
may be swollen lo their utmost height, or be at
low water mark, and the lakes are still the same ;
for all that is distributed over the land is taken
from the lakes, and returns immediately to the
lakes. All this water existed there at the time of
its last upheaval, and will remain there as long as
that part of the earth remains in its present form.
It will fertilize the soil and fill the lakes aliernate-
ly through all time. But why is there such a sur-
plus quantity of salt in this valley, as to make the
water of the lakes much softer than the ocean ?
The earth is impregnated with salt everywhere to
a great extent, and the water in running over the
land dissolves the salt and carries it to the lakes,
as other rivers carry it to the ocean ; and as ages
on ages roll away, this solution of salt is continu-
ally carried into these lakes, and as the water
evaporates, it leaves the salt behind,. for salt never
eva))orates, for if it did, it would descend in rain
water, where it is never found. Thus all the sa-
line substances that are carried into these lakes
remain there, till the water has received all the
salt it will hold in solution, and when it has re-
ceived more than it can hold in solution, it will
crystalize in the form of salt. Winds and hurri-
canes may pass over this valley, but they are con-
fined within its mountain walls, and never pass
Ijcyond. A\'ith the Rocky Mountains on the east,
and the Sierra Nevada on the west, ar.d vast
ranges of broken and lofty hills on the north ai.nl
soutli, it is shut out from ail the rest of the world,
and is a little world of itself.
South-west of this valley, and separated from
it I)y lofty mountains, we find a sandy desert,
made so by the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada
on the west, which prevent all vapor from piissiu;^
over their summits from the Pacific. It is cut off
from the valley of the Colorado by lofty hills, which
act as a wall between this desert and the tributa-
262
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
ries of the Colorado. The westerly current passes
over the region of Santa Barbara, and south of
the junction of the Sierra Nevada and Coast
Mountains, and up the Gulf of California into the
great valley of the Colorado, giving that valley a
beautiful climate, with perhaps a surplus of rain
in the winter, and a deficiency in the summer.
This valley extends up into the mountain region,
and the river heads in about latitude 43 ° , passing
through the east part of Utah, between the Wah-
satch and the Rocky Mountains, and through the
west part of the territory of New Mexico into the
Gulf of California. It heads near Fremont's Peak
in the eastern part of Oregon, and near the source
of Lewis's River, one of the principal branches of
the Columbia. These two rivers with the Pacific
Ocean almost enclose the country comprising Ore-
gon, Utah and California, leaving the Rocky
Mountains on the east to intercept the vapor pass-
ing over them into the valley of the Mississippi,
thus dividing the continent and giving a diff"erent
climate on each side.
The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains con-
tains some singular meteorological features. A
spur of the Rocky Mountains rises a little to the
mouth of Fort Laramie, in about latitude 43 °
and longitude 28 ° west from Washington, and
passes otT to the north coast, and ends in the vi-
cinity of the Missouri River in latitude 47 ° , leav-
ing a large territory open to the north, and en-
closed on all other sides by loft.y mountains. In
this great basin, the Missouri River takes its rise,
and receives almost innumerable tributaries. The
country between this and the Arctic Ocean is well
watered, but not mountainous. It abounds in
lakes and large rivers for its latitude. The north-
westerly current of air brings down the waters of
the polar basin on the eastern slopes of the Rocky
Mountains, as far south as the basin of the Black
Hills. Here it meets with another current from
the south-east, flowing up from the Gulf of Mexi-
co through the valley of the Mississippi and the
Missouri, into this same basin. Here the currents
of air from the north and south meet, charged
with the waters of two hemispheres. Here the
cold and warm currents of air mingle together,
and deposit their moisture on the earth, to feed
the branches of this mighty river, which spread
themselves in all directions, and take their rise in
the lofty hills that surround this valley. The
greatest tributaries flow from the south and west,
in consequence of the attraction of the hills for
moisture, while the lesser rivers flow from the plain
on the north. A little north of this valley the
Saskatchewan heads in the Rocky Mountains, and
flows eastward into Winnipeg Lake, and from that
through Nelson's River into Hudson's Bay. A
little further north, the Athabasca takes its rise in
the Rocky Mountains, and flows northward
through Slave Lake and Mackenzie's River, into
the Polar Sea. All waters north of the head of
the Missouri, flow into the Polar basin t3nd the
Missouri, and all south flow into the Gulf of Mex-
ico. Here is a ridge of higher land extending
across the continent from the Gulf of St. Lawrence
to the Rocky Mountains, but is not elevated suf-
ficiently to form mountains. On the north of
this ridge the climate is cold, while on the south
it is warm.
South of the Black Hills lies the great Ameri-
can Desert, stretched along on the plains east of
the Rocky Mountains, where the currents of air
from the Gulf of Mexico never reach, and conse-
quently little or no rain falls. These currents of
air are much inclined to follow the river valleys,
in consequence of the depression, especially when
they assume a direction nearly north and south.
Thus the wind blows up the Rio Grande into the
valleys of the Rocky Mountains, giving rise not
only to that river, but to the various sources of
the Arkansas, which flow down across this sandy
desert into the valley of the Mississippi.
There is but a small portion of North America
barren for want of moisture. The northern part
is probably barren for want of heat. Having a
northern slope, the rays of the sun fall more obli-
quely on the soil, giving it less heat than a south-
ern slope in the same latitude, while the depres-
sion of the earth at the poles increases the obli-
quity. There is no part of the earth over which
is scattered such vast bodies of fresh water as in
North America, and though much of its climate is
severe, yet it is well calculated to reward the in-
dustry of man.
As regards the watery element. South America
is perhaps the most remarkable portion of the
earth. The lofty range of the Andes skirts the
shores of the Pacific through its whole length, giv-
ing character to the whole continent. The whole
territory east of the Andes, consists of vast plains
of extreme fertility, and is watered by innumera-
ble rivers. The Amazon, the largest river in the
world, drains a territory of more than two millions
of square miles, and empties its vast volume of
water into the Atlantic on the equator. It takes
its rise in the Andes within a few miles of the Pa-
cific coast, and runs in an easterly direction across
the whole continent. On the north of tiiis basin,
and a little north of the equator, is a range of
mountains, placed there in the economy of nature,
to guide a portion of the trade winds into this
valley, with the vast accumulations of vapor from
the hot regions of the Atlantic. The trade winds
carry the vapor across these vast plains, where it
condenses and returns to earth, and deposits the
last of its vapor upon the eastern slopes of the
Andes, to feed the little branches of this majestic
river. These mountains intercept all communica-
tion of vapor with the Pacific, so that the whole
volume of water must roll back to the Atlantic,
through a country having the most magnificent
growth of vegetation of any part of the world.
Here the giant jjalm, the lord of the vegetable
tribes, attains its greatest perfection. Here the
savage lords of the brute creation bear undisputed
rule. D. BucKiAND.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
STRAWBERRIES GROWING ON A TREE.
As I was at work in the woods, last January, cutting
ship timber, I foiled a large maple tree ; and in the
top, forty feet from the ground, I found a little bed of
strawberry vines ; five thrifry stalks, which were as
green as they are in summer. Probably they would
have born fruit this season, liad they not been dis-
turbed. It was quite a curiosity to me, to find a patch
of strawberries growing so high on a tree. The seeds
may have been dropped there by the birds, or carried
up by mice. They grev/ where a large limb had been
broken off, years before, that had rotted away, and
made the soil on which they grew. I preserved tlie
plants, and set them in my garden, this spring. Some
of them are growing finely, and another year, T may
have a new variety of strawberries, — possibly, a"Hov-
ey's Seedling." a. l. w.
Hope, Me'. Julu (^ 1863.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
263
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
KEEPIWa COMPAJiTY "WITH PLOWEKS.
There is much nonsensical prattle about flowers,
80 there is about the sky and the stars, about
mountain and ocean, about thunder and lightning.
But the prattle only demonstrates its own folly
and does not harm the beauty and glory with
which it trifles. The glorious and beautiful in
nature may perha])s be worn threadbare as illus-
trations, but as realities they are unchanged and
unchangeable. They are forever fresh, forever at-
tractive. This is the season of flowers, they abound
everywhere, in city and country, in field and gar-
den, ill the woods and by the wayside ; they are
wild and domesticated, cultivated and spontane-
ous ; they are of all colors, of all odors, of all
shapes, of all sizes ; and just now almost every-
body can have plenty of them. IJut their abun-
dance and ubiquity do not diminish the inherent
sweetness or loveliness of the least of them. The
children may gather them with transport or crush
them with recklessness ; they may be allowed to
wither on the parlor mantles and thence be thrown
into the streets, but flowers are still flowers, they
are heaven's expression of beauty and grace, and
the eye, the mind, and the heart of man respond
to ihclr silent speech.
But what do we mean by keeping company with
flowers ? Who has not hummed or whistled a
tune to get rid of the feeling of solitude ? What
friend of tobacco has not professed to find com-
pany, a sort of companion in his pipe, or segar, or
worse still, his quid ? How, in hours of loneli-
ness, do the keys of the piano or the strings of the
violin seem to grow into a sort of disguised per-
son, and enter into mysterious relieving converse
with us. But of all companions not personal,
none are so charming as flowers. Birds and dogs,
and all the lower animal tribes, must give way.
But the flowers we ask as our companions are not
dead oies, nay, not even plucked flowers. Once
severed from their connection with the soil, their
poetic personality passes away with their vitality,
we regard them now as having suffered violence,
and as doomed to die before their time. Their
fragrance may be intense and delightful, but there
is little more in it to stimulate the fancy than in
a vial of essence. With the living flower we feel
we have communed as with a fellow creature, we
have touched it and it has nodded and trembled
in answer, but we have left it unharmed and can
hope to visit it again with renewed pleasure from
our former interview.
This delicate sense of the flower's life may be
poetical, but it is real. Who that loves flowers
has not felt it ? With what anxiety, a bright
anxiety to be seen, have we watched the growth
of the tender plant ; if any distase threatened, or
actually invaded it, what solicitude we have felt,
with what care we sought remedies, and with what
tender delicacy applied them ! And when the
budding time came, with what a quiet, real, un-
selfish joy we have seen the tiny thing take shape,
and watched it grow, and color, and swell, and
finally open. And then if, during the time of its
glory, anything happens to its stem — if, for in-
stance, it should be broken, how true a sorrow-
follows, and what a wish for healing and restor-
ing skill. Indeed, it was only the other day that
we saw a man, full of this gentle pity for wound-
ed flowers, patiently laboring to set the broken
stallv of a verbena. It repaid him by living, and
the blossom kept its lustre while the stem firmly
knit at the jjoiut of fracture.
There resides in living flowers a latent charity,
a power, that is, to evolve this "l)ond of perfect-
ness" from the sterile heart. When a man wants
flowers, it is not to shut them up, but to jjlace
them in the light, to give them a conspicuous place.
Ho is anxious that his pleasure should not be sol-
itary. In his bargains he may desire no partner,
in his inventions which are to bring him lucre he
may shut himself up in the dark until they are
completed, and may only shout his Eureka after
he has fenced in his profits with a patent; but his
flowers o])en his heart, he wants rich and poor,
aye, every living thing, to see them.
Hence, it is always a sad work to be ol)liged, by
the approach of winter, to take into the house,
plants that cannot endure frost. It is like bring-
ing in the children from their innocent and beau-
tiful ])lays. But we avenge ourselves as best we
may by ])lacing our pets in the windows, or better
still, when we have the means, in a conservatory,
a house of glass, through which the sun may en-
ter, and from which a good furnace will exclude
the frost. Yet, after all, flowers are most at home
out of the house, out of any and every liouse.
The sky is the roof for the childrtn of the sun.
And toward flowers under cover we are apt to
have a feeling near akin to that with which we re-
gard a caged l)ird. The bird, perhaps, is beauti-
ful, his note is sweet, he may be happy, but we
more than suspect he would feel better if he could
fly a little farther, and if he did not occasionally
strike his wings against the delicate but hard iron.
Our conscience is apt to trouble us, with'the feel-
ing that with all its gilding the cage is a prison,
and that, after all, the bird's song may for him be
a dirge. So is it with caged flowers ; they are in-
carcerated, living by the grate or furnace instead
of having the whole glorious atmosj)here for its
windows.
It is not needful that a man shouid be a botan-
ist to find happy company in flowers. Their
beauty is not gotten at by scientific prying.
"Physician, art thou ? One, all eyes ;
Flillosopher ! a flnperinij flavc.
One Uiat woulil peep and botanize
Upon his mother's grave."
Their glory is not in the pith of the dead stalk,
nor in the shreds of dissected bloom, Init in the
symmetrical, radiant whole. It is in this form and
aspect they win f^ur love. Wordsworth has a lit-
tle poem on "Loving and Liking," in which he
wisely and charmingly teaches us that we are not
to talk of loving the objects of our appetites.
Even a strawberry, beautiful as it is on the vine,
where, too, it may be loved, when oi'.ce it comes on
the table is only to be liked. In this light, it seems
to us, flowers that have been pulled are to be re-
garded ; this is the florist's attachment to flowers.
Genuine, elevating, refining love for flowers must
find them living, and out of doors, and must re-
gard them only as creatures of heuuty and there-
fore a joy forever.
Love is to domestic life what butter is to bread
— it possesses little nourishment in itself, but it
gives suhstantials a grand relish, without which
they would be hard to swallow.
264
NEAV ENGLAND FARMEE.
Attg.
CONTENTS or THIS NUMBER.
AuRust— Our Medicinal Herbs Page 233
New Gra'^s — Tivc Wash— Broachy Cattle 235
Letters from Mr. Brown 236, 245, 251, 258
Corn Barn — PresorvinK Haras — Going to Market 238
Fecdinp ChieUcns — Patriotic Women 239
Re rootin? Pear Trees on Quince Stoclis 240
Catchiu.;; Colli — Abortion in Cows 240
Cnstaril Squash— Rural Scene — Providence 241
Upper Canada A;jricullural Fa ir 241
The Guide Post— Stock Farm in Maine 242
Potato Rot— Be-t Time for Cutting Grass fjr Hay .243
Extracts and Replies 243, 253, 262
Retrospective Notes 244
Farm Machinery ...247
Portable Feeding Rack for Sheei>— Lice on Cattle 248
Ringbone on the Horse's Foot 248
Out Weft 249
Important Wool Decision — Canker Worms 250
A \Palk in my Garden 251
Cows in Honduras 252
Xew Bor)ks — Restoration of Worn-out Pasturage 253
Clover— The Date 254
The Farm a M:inufactory — Poisoning by Ivy 2"5
No JIarket for Cattle — Spreading Manure from the Cart 255
When to Trim Fruit Trees 255
Exhaustion of S(ji!s — Potatoes., 253
Quitlor in the Horse's Foot — How to Water Plants 257
Remarks on Climate 259
Ladies' Department 263
Cattle Markets for July 204
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter "A'" 233
Custard Squash 241
Ringbone — Two Cuts 248
Quittor in Horse's Foot 257
CATTLE MABKETS FOR JULY.
The f jUowing is a summary of tlio reports for the four week?
ending July 15, 1S63:
NUMBKR AT MARKET.
Cattle.
June 25 1254
July 1 1708
" 8 1519
" 15 038
SJifep.
4217
4670
2214
4956
Total 5119 16,057
Slwtes.
500
600
200
800
2100
Fat Hogs. T'fnh.
400 800
800 eoo
500 700
6C0 550
2300
£850
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS YEAR. LAST YEAR.
Catt'c Shwp. Catt'e. Sheep.
Maine 357 3236 20 3649
New Hampshire 586 2243 182 1920
Vermont 937 6796 1426 7256
Massachusetts 92 2055 21 1935
Northern New York 92 1748 79 1332
Canada 24 141 126 691
Western States 3331 8D8 4007 383
Total, last four weeks 5,419 16,057 5,'^61
Total.since Jan. 1,(29 w'ks,)38,936 82,476 38,056
PRICES.
June'li. JulyX.
Beef, 1st, 2d, 3d qual . . 75 59 6|,S8 J
" a few e.xtra 94382 Q9
Sheep, fib 3i^6 3iii6
Lambs, each $2 @ $2.^@4|
Swine,stores,w'sale...5J<a.6J 6 (g6J
" " retail.. 6 g7| 5^S7J
Hides,#'ft 8 @8.i 8 @8J
Pelts, sheep & lambs. . 40g90 40 390
Tallow,rtb 8 ^8i 8 @8i
July 8.
6ig8i
Sfag
3 (S5
$3 (g5
6 (g6
6 (g7
8 S8|
40S$1
: 7,086
July 15.
6ig8i
85.39
3 ig5J
$25@4i
5 (g6
6 .@7
8 @8|
50@$1
Remarks. — Prices for most kinds of stock at this market have
had a downward tendency during the past four weeks, excepting,
perhaps, at the last market, when beef cattle and pocd mutton
sheep sold rather better, owing mainly to the small number of
the r!;-'ht kind of each, at market, while for lambs, especially
those of ordinary quality, of which there was a large supply, the
last market was the lowest of the season.
The most noticeable event of the last month in market affairs
is the cliange of time, by which one day is saved. Two days are
all that have ever been considered necessary for the sale of the
live stock for the supply of this market, and lor years past this
business has been assigned to Wednesday and Thursday. But
as the arrival of one train after another was altered from Wednes-
day to Tuesday, by those who wi.shedto be-ahead of otliers, Tues-
day gradually became a market day in fact, although not nomi-
nally so. During t'le last half year especially most of the sales
have been effected Tuesday, while the closing up of bu.5ine88 has
been allowed to drag through Wednesday and Thursday, f> the
great inconvinieiice of drovers who needed the time for home op-
erations. By general consent, therefore, Thursday has been
dropped, and the business is now done in two days — at Cam
bridye Tuesday forenoon, and at Brighton Tuesday afternoon
and Wedne.^day.
WEBNESD.iY, July 15th, will be remembered by many of the
markttmen on account of the appearance which Market Square
in Bofton presented, not only in the morning, but throughout
the day. Cannons stood on the corners ready to sweip every
street, guards were walking to and fro, arms were stacked upon
the sidewalk, Fancuil Hall was filled with soldiers, and the cu-
rious passer-by who paused to look at the broken windows of
the gun-siores was admonished to "keep moving." Purchasers
hesitated about biiyinir, and business generally wns very much
iijterrup'ed. At Brighton, as good luck for the drovers would
have it, there was but little stock unsold, and no fresli arrivals.
The few cattle that remained were cl^anel out during the
day, and many expressions of pleasure with the Wednesda}' ar-
rangement were heard from both seller and buyer.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, July 15:
A. N. Monroe sold 102 Illinois steers as follows: — 3, weighing
togetiur oOr>0 lbs., at S,!ie, <.i sk. ; 3 others, 3i.^U lus., Sijc, 35
sk. ; 09, averaging 1240 ttis., 9c, 29 sk. ; 37 averaging 1125 fcs.,
for 00, }i sk. Also, 56 Michigan oxen as follows: — one pair,
2825 ibs., at 9c, 28 ft;. ; one pair, 2740 tbs., 9c, 30 ^k. ; 3, aver-
aging I2I0 lbs., at »?ic, 30 sk. ; 4, of 5240 lbs , at <)c, 32 sk. ;
17, avernging 1162 ios.,at 7;ic, 37 sk. ; 3, of 1246 lbs.,at8)ic,
30 bk. ; 8 otliers, 1175 io.s. each, 8c. .30 sk. ; a nice pair, 3380
tbs., 9c, .30 ^k. ; 4, of UCO lbs. euch, 7i^c, 35 sk. ; and 10, aver-
age live weight lOoO lbs., at 7',jC, 30 sk.
Wm. Scollans sold 63 Illinois steers, for Messrs. White & Otis
as follows:— 32 avtriige live weight 1282 fcs. each, for S>\^c, 30
sk. ; 22 woiuhing 1180 lbs. ea'di, at S.'.^e, J,, sk. ; 6 averaging
1130 lbs., at Sc, >^ sk. ; 3 of 1050 lbs. each at 8c, 30 -W ct. sk.
Mr. ScoUans also sold for Scidlans & Jordan 76 Ohio steers as
follows:— 38 averaging 1340 lbs., for 9c, 31 sk. ; 24 averaging
1374 lbs., for 9c, 30 sk. ; one pair, 2560 tbs., ec,29 sk. ; 6, gross
live weicht, S8I0 fts., for 8>;c, ^ sk. ; and 6 others, 7090 fcs.,
for83e'c, 32.sk.
E. Wheeler sold 8 oxen to Saunders & Hartwell, to dress about
1000 fcs. each, 4 at Sc, and 4 at 8'<c ^' lb., and 10 young cattle
at 7c *>■ It)., and 3 cows, laid at GOolt.s., for $142.
C. H. I'ottcr sold an extra pair of oxen to Mv. Rice, of the
Quincy 5Iarkct, wliieh were laid to dress about 2300 fcs. These
oxen, though not remarkable for size, were very nice, thrifty
and well to-do bullocks, and belong to that class about which wc
like to make inquiry as to their nativity, &c. This pair we are
informed, were fed by Richard Messer, of New London, N. H,
We hope that the tip top price of this market — 9c IF lb. — will pay
for the meal wl.ich it took to thicken up their flanks.
Gen. James Morse sold one pair of oxen to 0. Lvnde at 8J4C
i? It). ; 2 fat cows for $100, or 7!4'c t* lb. ; 2 weighing 1950 Jbs.,
for 6;.tC, 35 sk. ; 3 cows and'one two year-old htifer weighirg
togetlier 31 5u lbs., at 6c, 40 f cent, off for offal ; wliich cows he
complained had shrunk ruinously from home wei;;ht.
Ruggles & Hastings sold t ) Mr. Allison one pair of well-latted
oxen at 9c ^ ft. ; one pair to II. Zoller for $132, or 8c #■ ft..,
and another pair to Mr. Chapin, at 8c, 2 cows at GJic, 2 others,
and very good ones, weighing 1945 lb. for 6^0, 37 sk. ; and 3
steers at 7Uc.
Hosea Gray sold to Mr. Allison a pair of oxen that he has been
feeding for some time past on his farm in Lancaster, N H., for
8>^c ^ lb., and five cattle to H. Zoller, at 7c (C lb.
N. 0. Batchelder sold 2 oxen, laid at 2100 lbs. dressed, for
8ijC ; 4 steers for Hi and 4 for 8c ^ fc.
E. Stone sold 5 cows at 7c, and 4 steers at 7Kc. He was of-
fering three twoyuar-olds for $65, but we thought l.yhis talk
that $20 each would be a dangerous offer for one to make who
did not wish to buy them.
G. W. Barker sold a good bunch of old sheep, full 100 fts.
each, for $5 y head, and a bunch of good lambs at .$4 each ;
Gen. .1. Morse sold 24 sheep for $4,50 ; E. Wheeler 70 good
sheep at 5c •^ lb. One lot of New Hampshire sheep was sold for
$3,50 each. The lambs from Maine were sold from $"J,75 to $3,75.
DEVOTED TO AQKICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AJNTD SCIENCES.
VOL. XV.
BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 18G3.
NO. 9.
NOL'RSE, EATON & TOUIAN, Propeietors.
Office.... 102 Washujoton Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editoil
SEPTEMBER.
"Farewell the pomp of Flora ! vivid scene !
Welcome sage .liitumn, to invite the year —
Farewell to summer's eye-di'lighte<l green !
Her verdure fades — autumnal blasts are near.
The silky wardrobe now is laid aside,
With all the rich regalia of her pride."
NGLisH writers usually
speak of September
as the " Ingathering
Month," and that term
is given it by some of
the pleasantest writers
on the Seasons. Why
such a term should be
especially applied to
this month, is not very
clear. The great har-
vest of breadstuff in
Vw-^ England is wheat, and
f^\, that, certainly, is not
secured in September,
but in July and August. Long before this month
comes, the grass crop has been saved, and little is
left, beside fruit, to be harvested. In the English
"Year Book," 'tis said that "September is the
month of in-gathering, when the produce of the
year is ware-housed for our subsistence while na-
ture reposes during winter, and is awakened in
the spring, and while she is doing the summer bus-
iness, until, in the ensuing autumn, she offers to
our use the provision for another year."
The accomplished author of the ^'Mirror of the
Months," says, now "the year is on the wane. It
is declining into the vale of months. It has reached
a certain .tge. It has reached the summit of the
hills, and is not only looking, but descending into
the valley below. But, unlike that into which the
life of man declines, this is not a vale of tears ;
still less does it, like that, lead to that inevitable
bourne, the kingdom of the grave. For though
it may be called 'the valley of the shadow of death,'
yet of death itself it knriws nothing. No — the
year steps onward towards its temporary decay, if
not so rejoicingly, even more majestically, and
gracefully, than it does towards its revivification.
And if September is not so bright with promise,
and so buoyant with hope as May, it is even more
embued with that spirit of serene repose, in which
the only true, because the only continuous enjoy-
ment consists. Spring never is, but always to be
blest ; but September is the month of consumma-
tions— the fulfillment of all promises, the fruition
of all hopes, the era of all completeness."
In this extract, the reader will perceive that the
idea with which we started is dwelt upon with em-
phasis. In England, we cannot see it to be trtie,
— but here it would be more applicable. Our
grass and grain crops are gathered before Septem-
ber,hut some of our principal harvests do not take
place until late in this month, and through much
of the month of October. The glory of our New
England crops — the Indian corn — is rarely gath-
ered until October, and so of the variety of roots,
which now make up an item of great value in our
winter stores of feed for cattle.
It is often remarked, that our seasons have
changed, — that the spring is later and that the fine
autumnal weather continues longer than hereto-
fore. These remarks are, probably, mere impres-
sions, and not declarations based upon any relia-
ble data. An examination of tables recording the
time of the flowering of apple trees for some fifty
years past, satisfies us that the condition of the
atmosphere has had no sensible change during thai
period ; the time of flowering has been remarka-
bly alike, and so it has of planting the usual crops
Unless a record is kept from day to day, most per-
sons can remember very little of the state of tht
weather, even from one month to another — mucl.
less from one year to another. Some isolated casef
will be strongly impressed, because combined wit!,
other remarkable circumstances, and these few
cases will form the basis of a general opinion.
Everv month has its own nppi)li;i»"c!inv.9c'pr anc
266
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept
indispensable work to do. The omission of the
influences of one, might be fatal to the work of
all. If the perfecting and ripening suns of August
are withheld from the grape, for instance, all the
genial suns and refreshing rains of September will
fail to perfect that fruit. No ! There can be no
transfer in Nature of this kind. Each week and
month must stamp its own impression upon all
vegetable life, or it is imperfect and unprofitable
to man.
We know not whether any change has taken
place in the autumnal season, but certain it is that,
for many years, we have had hot, and even sultry
weather in September, so that the heat has been
oppressive as in July or August. A few cool
nights, and usually a frost, slight or severe, in the
opening of the month, have been felt, and then
succeeded by glaring days and even sultry nights,
through most of this month. These are succeeded
by the glorious October days of the Indian Sum-
mer before winter sets in.
Business of the Month.
Now that so much of the work of the farm is
done by machinery, we trust that September will
not pass away without one field, at least, being
prepared for the mowing machine and horse-rake.
There are many rough pieces that may be fitted
for these machines with much less cost than is
supposed. Let the large rocks that rise a foot or
two above the surface remain as they are, while
those of a moderate size should be dug about and
sunk eight or ten inches below the surface, if the
digging is not too difficult. At any rate, get them
so that the mower will slide over them.
It is sometimes paid that the farmer cannot af-
ford to do this. On the other hand, does it not
delay his work materially, to turn out from his
straight line fifty times a day in ploughing, and
leave about each stone an ugly balk to be dug up
with the bog hoe, or grow up to grass and weeds,
to vex him all summer? Is there a season passes
without breaking the small plough, or the cultiva-
tor, while tending the crops, or of throwing the
horse and implement, too, out of the row and
breaking down many plants thereby ? We have
known a farmer to break a valuable machine three
summers in succession, on the same fields, in going
over the stones. Now, however, that field pre-
sents no obstacles. The less turning out of the
true course there is, in doing our work, the less
delay and breaking of tools or straining of team,
the cheaper and better the work will be done.
And this is true economy. There are stones in
many a field now, over which teams have been
thrashed and ploughs, and harrows, and cultiva-
tors have been broken for more than fifty years —
to say nothing of the bruised shins of the owner,
and the curses, perhaps, which accompanied the
gouging out a junk of skin, or the blow w^hich
made all "look blue again."
Count the cost of all these, brother, and before
September is gone decide whether it will not be
profitable to get some of the obstructions out of
the way. When the smaller rocks are removed
a suggestion or two on drilling, and blasting, and
removing the larger ones, may be of service.
Other important work demands attention this
month, but if this item is attended to it will be a
comfort to you next "Haying Time."
Cotton in Utah. — In the extreme Southern
part of this Territory — some three hundred and
sixty miles south of Salt Lake City, — small patch-
es of cotton were cultivated the past season, —
perhaps two hundred acres in all, producing an
average of three hundred and seventy-five pounds
to the acre. It is expected that much more will
be grown this year, as four gins, and other appli-
ances for saving and preparing the cotton, arrived
there from the East last fall.
BRIEF HISTOKY OP THE PATENT
OFFICE.
The first Patent law was approved April 10,
1790. Applications were to be made to the Sec-
retary of State, Secretary of War, and Attorney
General. All persons without reference to na-
tionality could make the application, the fees be-
ing $3.70 with the addition of ten cents per folio
for the specification. On the 21st of February,
1793, this law was repealed, by the passage of
another much more full, by which the fee was rais-
ed to $30, and the benefit of it was confined ex-
clusively to citizens of the United States. The
application was to be to the Secretary of State ;
the patent to be examined or revised by the At-
torney Generixl, and bear test by the President.
By the act of April 17, 1800, the privilege was
extended to aliens of two years' residence in the
United States, and the act of July 13, 1832, only
required the alien to be a resident at the time of
his application. On the 4th of July, 1836, an act
was passed providing for the appointment of a
Commissioner, Chief Clerk, one examining clerk,
and three other clerks, one of whom was to be a
competent draughtsman, and a messenger. That
was the origin of the present Patent Office Bu-
reau. At that time it occupied a portion of the
General Post Office building, and when that was
destroyed by fire December 15, 1836, all the mod-
els, records, &c., of the Patent Office, were also
consumed. By act of March 3, 1837, Congress
provided for recording anew such of the patents
destroyed, and assignments thereof, as could be
obtained, and the officers were directed to obtain
duplicates of the most important models burned,
provided the amount thus expended did net ex-
ceed $100,000. Several amendments have been
made to the Patent laws from time to time since,
enlarging the powers of the Commissioner, and
increasing the force employed, to meet the wants
of the growing business of the office until now
over twenty persons are employed, even in these
war times, as examiners alone. A large number
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
267
of clerks are also employed for other purposes,
such as copyi"g» recording, taking care of the
drawings, models, &c, while a large number of
female's are also kept busy copying the sj)ecifica-
tions after the applications have been examined.
'Ihe act of 18G1 increased the salary of the Com-
missioner one-half— from $3,000 to $4,500, and
also added $500 to the salary of the Chief Clerk,
and S300 to the Librarian's. By that act, the ex-
aminers are tuade independent judicial officers, in-
stead of being, as heretofore, mere assistants to i
tlH! (Commissioner. They now make their deci-
sions upon their own responsibility ; and such deci-
sions cannot be controlled by the Commissioner,
until they come liefore him by the regular process
of appeal, jjrovided by law.
The act of 18GI also created an Appeal Board,
composed of three members, at a salary of $3000
per annum each, with a clerk at a salary of $1000.
All appeals from the decisions of the Examiners
mnst Iw to this Board, who have the power of af-
firming or reversing the decision. — Prairie Farmer.
Fur the New England Fanner.
METEOROLOQICAI. RECORD FOR JULY.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of July was 71°; av-
erage midday temperature 76°. The correspond-
ing figures for July, I SG2, were 67° and 75 °
(showing much warmer nights this year than last.)
Warmest day, the 7th, averaging 71 ° ; coldest
day, the 13th, averaging 62 = . Highest temjjer-
ature, 88 ° ; lowest do., 58 ° .
Average height of mercury in the barometer,
29.25 inches; do. for July, 1862, 29.19 inches.
Higiiest daily average, 29.42 inches ; lowest do.,
29 01 inches. Range of mercury from 28.96 inch-
es to 29.43 inches. Rain fell on eighteen days ;
amount of lain, 6.56 inches ; do. July, 1862, four-
teen rainy days and 3.89 inches of rain ; do. July,
1861, eight days and 2.76 inches; do. July, 1860,
twelve days and 5.04 inches. There were n.» per-
fectly clear days ; on seven days the sky was en-
tii'ely overcast
It will he noticed that the harometrical changes
have been very slight — neither rising high nor
falling very low. The amotint of ruin and the
numl)er of wet days are remarkable.
The table given above must change the reputa-
tion of July as to its being a month given to
drouglits — having Ijeen for the last four years, at
least, very well watered. A. C.
ClaremonL, N. U., Aug. 4, 1863.
ing in God, a gladness in our neighbor's good, a
pleasure in doing good, a rejoicing with him ; and
without love we cannot have any joy at all.
PiCKi^lNO CucuMnEUS.— As a general thing,
sufficient care is not taken in pickling cucumbers,
and large numbers of them "spoil" in less than
three months' time. The following method we
think the best : Select a sufficient quantity of the
size you prefer, which prol)ably cannot be done at
one time. Put them in a stone pot, and pour over
them a strong brine ; to this add a small bit of
alum, to secure the color. Let them stand a
week ; then exchange the brine for clear water, in
which they must remain two or three davs. Boil
the best cider vinegar, and when nearly cool, pour
it over the cucumbers, having previously turned
off the water. Prepared in this manner, with the
addition of cloves, allspice, mustard, and cinna-
mon, boiled in the vinegar, pickles of every kind
will keep for a year. In pickling cauliflower, to-
matoes, and other vegetables, which easily absorb
the vinegar, the spiced vinegar should be added
when cold. — Rural New-Yo7-ker.
A CiiEERFUi. Spirit. — Cheerfulness fills the
soul with harmony ; it composes music for church-
es and hearts ; it makes glorification of God ; it
prvKluces thankfulness aud serves the end of char-
ity; and, when the oil of gladness runs over, it
makes bright and tall emissions of light and holy i
fii-es, reaching up to a cloud, and making joy round
about. Therefore, since it is innocent, and may ,
be 80 pious and full of holy advantage, whitsoev- ;
er can innocently minister to this holy joy does ;
set forward the work of religion and charity. And,
indeed, charity itself, which is the vertical top of
all religion, is nothing else but a union of joys con- ,
centrated in the heart, and rellected fnim nil the i
angles of our life and intercourse. It is a njoi:;-
What a Woman Can Do.— J. B. Bardwell,
Worcester Co., Mass., writes to the Agriculturist
that an unmarried woman of that place, now over
80 years old, a few jears since bought a farm for
$5,300, and recently added to it a pasture lot cost-
ing $500 more. She had accumulated the whole
by doing housework at $1,50 per week, and put-
ting her savings at interest. She formerly let the
farm to tenants, but not liking their doings, last
jear she assumed the management, and with the
help of one man carried on the business. She
ke4)t sixteen cows, attended personally to the dai-
ry, and attended l)er own housework, besides do-
ing the marketing, etc. A large class of young
men who are idly "waiting for something to turn
up," should take lessons from this old lady. — Ag-
ricuUurist.
E.VTENSIVE Drainage. — The Prairie Farmer
says that those who are acquainted with the land
about Gilman Station, at the crossing of the Peo-
ria and Oquawka and Illinois Central Railroads,
know that there is a large tract (several townships)
which is annually overflowed and rendered almost
worthless for agricultural purposes. Recent sur-
veys by the Illinois Central Railroad Company
have shown that it can readily be drained, but at
a large expense, which they have decided to as-
sume. The plan involves nearly fifty miles of
drains of various sizes, and will cost about $50,-
000. Upon the results of this will de|>end the
drainage of other tracts in the State that need
reclaiming.
Tea Cultuue in Califounia — An effort is
making in California to test the cultivation of tea.
Mr. H. A. Soinitag, at the Mission, a short dii-
tance from San Prancisco, has one thousand thrif-
ty looking plants of this year's growth, from seed
procured by a gentleman in China. The climate
of California is about the same as that of the best
tea-growing sections of China. As tea j-lanis
must be four years old before the leaves nr'- • ■; :-
able for picking, .some, 'inv 'v-' ' ■ ' ' o
the success of the pn;
C-^rifornia ca^i I.l- tb^ti -
268
NEW ENGLAND FARISIER.
Sept.
THE CAUSE OP THE POTATO HOT.
In 1851, the Legislature of Massachusetts pass-
ed a resolve, offering "a reward of ten thousand
dollars to any person, -within the Commonwealth,
who shall satisfy the Governor and Council that,
by a test of at least five successive years, he has
discovered a sure and practical remedy for the po-
tato rot."
Communications from the claimants of the pre-
miums, and from others, at once poured in upon
the executive; and the next year, 1852, Amasa
Walker, then Secretary of the Commonwealth,
prepared and published under the authority of the
legislature, "A synopsis of the several communi-
cations on the cause and cure of the Potato Rot,
received by the executive of Massachusetts,"
which was printed in connection with the usual
volume of "Agricultural Transactions," and occu-
pied fifty pages.
After the organization of the present Board of
Agriculture, the whole subject of the ten-thousand-
dollar premium was referred to that body, who
proceeded to an experimental test, on the State
farm, at Westborough, of the various remedies re-
commended by the claimants of the premiums, as
their "sure and practical remedy for the potato
rot."
A committee of three members of the Board
was appointed to conduct these experiments. In
a subsequent report, this committee say that, on
entering upon the discharge of their duties, "We
had hoped that an examination of the papers in
the State department, communicated by the vari-
ous claimants of the bounty of the State, would
furnish us with such records of facts as would en-
able us to form some well digested plan of action
in our investigation. But we were doomed in this
expectation to be grievously disappointed, and
we are constrained to say that we do not believe
a more degrading record of ignorance of the first
principles of natural science can be found than
those papers, as a whole, manifest ; although we
should cheerfully except from this condemnation
a few which seem to have been written with some-
thing of the modesty which always characterizes
the cultivated writer."
These "papers" which so "grievously disap-
pointed" our committee, were contributed by over
one hundred individuals, about one-half of whom
were residents of Massachusetts, and the other
half of various other Siates and of the Canadas,
and embodied unquestionably pretty much all that
was known about the disease by the scientific and
by tlie practical men of the land, together with a
lai'^'C amount of speculation and theory.
With this result of the ten-thousand-dollar of-
fer, the j)ublic, as well as the committee, were
"grievously disuppoii ted." Great things had
been anticipated from he lemptinir prize, but only
a "degrading record of ignorance" was realized.
The editors and readers of agricultural journals
tired of the subject. We recollect that one of
our own correspondents commenced an article on
the "Potato Disease" with the declaration that,
"For several years past, I have made it an almost
invariable rule to omit the reading of any article
in your paper, if its heading indicated that it
treated of the potato disease, more especially if it
professed to expound the cause of the disease, and
to prescribe a remedy."
For several years past, therefore, we have not
deemed it advisable to encourage the discussion of
the subject in our columns, although we have
gladly published every new fact or suggestion that
has been communicated, or ■« hich we have noticed
in other journals.
We alluded a week or two since to the endorse-
ment by Prof. Johnson of Yale College, of the
conclusions to which the German physiologists
have arrived after very careful and long continued
investigations, as to the cause of the potato dis-
ease. On this point the Professor speaks thus
confidentially :
"At last the genuine cause has appeared, and
what is it ? Why, the fungus! But we gave that
up long ago ! Well, we must take it up again ; it
is the true cause ! Beyond all reasonable doubt,
it is proved that the potato never rots without the
fungus, and that it always rots with it. Planting
the fungus on a sound potato develops the disease.
Shielding the potato from the fungus prevents the
disease. The rot starts where the fungus begins
to grow. E:ich microscopic cell of the tuber be-
comes discolored and rotten, when, and only when,
the fungus issues its branches into it, or into its
immediate neighborhood. Constitution, tuber,
propagation, aphides, salt, manures and bad weath-
er have nothing to do with the disease, except as
they favor or destroy the fungus."
In this connection, it is interesting to look back
upon the labors of the committee of our Board of
Agriculture, already alluded to, and composed of
John C. Bartlett, Jabez Fisuer and Nathan
DuRFEE. In their report. Agriculture of Massa-
chusetts, 1858, they say, "In every period uf the
disease, except the first, various fungi are to be
seen beautifully ramified through the diseased por-
tion of the tuber ; but although subjected to a
Spencer microscope, magnifying from three to sev-
en hundred diameters, not the slightest indica-
tions of insect life or ravages were visible." In
concluding their report, the committee add :
"It may be suggested by some persons that the
fungi whirh exhibited themselves in the diseased
matter of the potato might have been after all the
exciting cause of diseased action ; but we think
the fact t(ut the first stage of the disease, upon a
most careful examination, manifested not the
slightest tnice of any fungus, is amply sufficient to
warrant t'r.e conclusion that the sporules which by
tome yet hidden law e.\.ist in every conceivable po-
sition, vegetate whenever the decaying matter of
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
209
the nidus, in which they are deposited, affords the
requisite nutriment for the fungus."
Although Prof. Johnson devotes a pretty long
article to the subject of cure and prevention, we do
not see as anything new or hopeful is suggested,
further than that by "precautions based on the fun-
gus theory, we may hope to raise fair crops of
fairly sound potatoes."
PLEURODYNIA, OR FOUNDER.
To illustrate the proper treatment of a horse
that is badly used up by over exertion. Dr. Dadd
gives the following details of his treatment of
an animal which had been so shamefully abused
by an inconsiderate or cruel driver that, on his re-
turn to the stable, he could scarcely stand, but re-
ceived proper attention and care during the night.
The next morning his feet were found to be more
affected than other parts of the body, and it was
impossible to get him to move. On being called,
the treatment recommended by Dr. Dadd is thus
described by himself:
I had his feet bathed, constantly, with cold wa-
ter, and his joints, back and sides, were rubbed
with a liniment, composed of equal parts of cod-
liver oil and spirits of camphor. The medicine
administered was one ounce of powdered nitre,
night and morning, for three days ; the pulse had
decreased to thirty-six per minute, and the respi-
rations were more tranquil ; so I discontinued the
nitre, and commenced an alterative plan of treat-
ment by giving one ounce of fluid extract of Stil-
lingia, night and morning, at the same time con-
tinuing the local applications, until they were no
longer needed. One ounce of fluid extract of
Buchu was occasionally given, in view of exciting
the kidneys to action, and this is all the medicine
the patient got, until convalesence was established,
when he was put under tonic treatment; the tonic
used was one ounce and a half of fluid extract of
golden seal.
The treatment occupied a period of two weeks,
during which time the animal stood but little on
his limbs, seldom rising except to partake of food,
which consisted of bran and water, a few oats and
small quantities of hay.
So soon as the patient had regained some
strength, he was led to pasture where he is now
doing well. It appears that in the treatment of
a disease of this character, light diet, a few sim-
ple medicines and good nursing, are all that are
indicated.
Hilling up Potatoes. — A correspondent of
the Genesee Farmer gives the result of two exper-
iments in hilling potatoes. In one case, a large
flat hill was made, and the potatoes all rotted.
In the other, the hills were made of a sharp coni-
cal form, that would shed water, and the potatoes
were all sound.
Coal. — A tabular statement of the amount of
Pennsylvania anthracite coal transported over the
Reading Railroad during the year ending June
11th. compared with the number of tons shipped
up to the same date in 1862, is published in the
N. Y. Herald, and shows that the excess this year
over the last is o8G,663 tons.
For the New England Farmer.
NON-PRODUCERS.
^Iessrs. Editors .- — I have often heard it re-
marked by a class of public nuisances, that the
"world owed them a living." What evidence
those non-producers of good, in any form, can
show as evidence that the world is indebted to
them, is beyond my comprehension. There is a
variety of non-producers, as well as of tho^se who
are public benefactors; the non-producers of good
are generally productive of evil. There might be
a long category of non-producers named, of dif-
ferent grades of depravity, which in a time of
peace might be dispensed with to advantage.
This fraternity, to make out a world, consists of
demagogues, gamblers, swindlers, thieves, pick-
pockets, idlers, and an unfortunate class whose
parents (considering their "geese all swans") un-
fit their sons for laborious employments by a long
course of schooling, and after all have not talents
to satisfy a fault-finding public, and prove a fail-
ure ; such ones are more objects of pity than con-
tempt. The class of non-producers of good is
an incubus and an aggravation to the industrious
part of the community, and what the wars do not
absorb must be dealt with on Christian principles;
a living they must have, (those that escape the
gallows,) whether the world owes it to them or
not.
The industrious merchant selects and furnishes
us with all kinds of goods, if he does not produce
them. The good judge furnishes us with justice,
the clergyman with the knowledge of righteous-
ness and the way to heaven, and the physician
with the means to restore health, the mechanic
with every conceivable implement to facilitate la-
bor and every other useful purpose. But the
farmer is the king producer ; he, above all others,
sustains the whole, from the root to all the branch-
es, of every other occupation. If the farmer is the
proprietor of the subsoil, as well as the surface
of his farm, then all the minerals and vegetable
productions are equally his own to dispose of.
He can furnish materials to construct and replen-
ish one of our most magnificent steamships of
war, or to build a palace and supply it with luxu-
ries. Now, what is that interesting class of non-
producers about ? Why some of them are gam-
bling away the money which was left them by
their industrious parents, some pious aunt or old
bachelor uncle. Another deserving class cojues
under the head of "swans," whose parents con-
sider their ofts])ring of a finer texture, and having
a horror at defiling their delicate kid-gloved liands,
grow up ignorant of any trade or occupation that
would, by industry, afford them a living ; this
class lives by their "wits ;" they are guilty of all
manner of swindling and meanness to be able to
imitate style, and are upon the lookout for prey
on the one hand, and on the other to see if there
are any constables or police officers in pursuit.
That unfortunate class, the descendants of low,
ignorant, degraded parentage, are deserving of
more respect and sympathy than either of the
others, as, in some measure, sinning ignorantly ;
as necessity knows no law, they commit depreda-
tions like sheep-stealing dogs or beasts of the
wilderness. The deplorable war which is now
raging in our country, is one of the sad eff"ccts of
the non-producing chivalry of the South. Idleness
creates want, and want is the parent of envy, and
270
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
envy, when indulged, leads to death.
The old adage, that "Idleness is the mother of
vice," is a very just one. Men, claiming to be
rational creatures, who spend their time at the
higldy civilized and chivalric sports of horse-rac-
ing, cock-fighting, duelling and gambling, at whis-
key taverns, if they are non -producers of corn and
mutton, they are producers of social evils which
are a curse to the nation. Where one-third of
the population are slaves, and the other two-thirds
of the population dependent upon the labor of the
one-third, all the sophistry in the world will not
convince me that both parties can be supported
by the carelessly-applied labor of ignorant slaves,
and not run behindhand. The gradual deficiency
of the income to balance expenses or outgoes,
from year to year, of Southern farming, has grown
to such an oppressive degree that desperation
seized the minds of the slaveholding farmers, and
by one desperate effort they determined to win or
lose, have the whole Union or nothing ; and, of
course, this horrid war which is raging in our
country, is the offspring of the policy of slave-
holding desperadoes. We can see by this pic-
ture, an illustration of the difference between pro-
duction and non-production ; while the South is
scantily supplied with the necessaries of life, and
they at a famine price, the Northern producers
are bountifully supplied with the good things of
the land, and have some to spare to our foreign
friends across the water, and we hope will steer
clear of the stigma of repudiating their debts.
North Wilmington, 1863. SiLAS Brown.
EXTRACTS AND KEPLTES.
THE SEASON AND CROPS.
The mowing machine is in the field, but it fails to
find the support that was anticipated. The thin clouds
and slow coming rain have left the fields of grass with
feeble support, and the harvest will be light. Com
look.'! well and grows finely ; but even corn will not
continue togrow without the occasional shower. Fruit
is scarce, especially the most valuable of our fruits,
the apple. The blow was moderate, and the vermin
have been abundant ; especially the canker worm —
that pest of orchards. As a whole, the promise of the
harvest of the field is not encouraging. Praise be to
God, the rumors from the war are encouraging. May
they continue to increase until every rebel has found
his just reward. Essex.
Julij 6, 18'j3.
Remarks. — Since our correspondent wrote, the
earth has been watered and is made glad again.
Enough has now fallen to carry out the small grains
and carry the Indian corn and potatoes well into Au-
gust. Some of the later grass fields will also find
timely relief, and bring a usual crop.
We had heavy rains last year on the the 14th, 15th
and 16th of July.
A LITTLE INCIDENT, A BIT CURIOUS.
I have seven hens that began to lay the first of last
December, and have laid more or less every day since,
up to July 4th, 1863. But on that day, "not an egg
would they lay, but on the fifth they laid two, and
have laid more or less ever since. Now, Mr. Editor,
is not this quite an exhibition of Biddy's independ-
ence ? A little show of love for her country ? And
who shall say that Mrs. Biddy is not in favor of uni-
versal "liberty ?" L. p.
Klttery, Mahu, July 15, 1863.
^^ The Treasury Department, having stopped
printing the postal currency, is now burning that
which is returned, preparatory to the new issue.
Fiyr the Netv England Farmti.
THOROUGH DRAINING.
Written for, and read before the Concord FiTinert* Club, by At-
BBHT Ei. Wood, of Concord.
The first attempt at thorough draining that I
find mention of, was commenced ninety-eight
years ago, by Joseph Elkington, in Warwick-
shire, England. The circumstances, as recorded,
are these : "His fields were so wet as to occasion
the rotting of several hundred of his sheep, and it
was to prevent this that the draining was attempt-
ed. It proved a complete success. For his dis-
covery, and the readine.%s with which he communi-
cated the principles upon which his operations
were conducted to the Board of Agriculture, the
British Parliament granted him a reward of a
thousand pounds." From this beginning, drain-
ing became quite common among the English
farmers. In an English work upon agriculture,
published at the beginning of this century, the au-
thor isSys : "Relieving land from superfluous
moisture is one of the most important branches of
husbandry. Unless that be accomplished, every
other improvement of which the soil is suscepti-
ble must often be unsuccessfully attempted. For-
tunately, no department of agriculture has been
of late more anxiously studied, nor with greater
success." It would seem, by this, that draining
was well understood in England at that time. It
has been a matter of considerable surprise to me
that the subject did not sooner attract the atten-
tion of the farmers in this country. But this was
soon explained when I came across an article in
a work upon agriculture published in this cotmtry
in 1818, in which the author says : "Labor with
us is a given quantity, and very limited, too, in its
amount. The great question among us ought
therefore to be, haw this given quantity of labor
can be the most economically and profitably em-
ployed ? If the amount of labor at our command
will afford us a greater return of profit, if expend-
ed on our dry, than it would on our wet lands,
then, certainly, every principle of economy would
require us to put it on the former rather than the
latter. If the return would be equal, then other
considerations beside mere profit must determine
us what course to take. Now it is an unquestion-
able fact, that we have not a sufficiency of labor
to cultivate our dry lands to the greatest advan-
tage. And it is another unquestionable fact, that
the same expense — generally sneaking — put on
our dry or upland, will afford a greater return of
profit than if put on our wet land." This article,
in a purely agricultural work, must have very
much dampened the zeal of the advocates of drain-
ing at the time. I have, however, no fear in quot-
ing it, or of dashinj? cold water either upon the
zeal or the meadows of the present company.
However true the argument might have been at
the time, I think it will hardly apply now.
Our subject to-night, is limitetl to the effect of
thorough draining upon the soil and crops. This
is a deeper subject than I at first supposed, and
one involving chemical action beyond the knowl-
edge of man, and vital functions but little under-
stood. Yet, there is no subject in nature, I think,
offering greater promises to the student than thia
study of the soil and the growth of plants. The
seed is put in the ground, apparently, an inani-
mate thing, when lo, it springs into life. It puts
forth roots, and branches and leaves, and in due
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
271
time, blossoms and brings fruit after its own kind.
Throughout its whole life, from the dropping of
the seed, to the final harvest, is it under the influ-
ence, and effected by the condition of the soil and
the atmosphere, and these in a measure are under
the control of the farmer. How important that
he should know the extent of his power and how
to use it ! This should be our great study.
Thorough draining is one of the greatest means
to promote the full and healthy development of
the latent powers of the soil, by its rendering ad-
missible every atmospheric fertilizing agency.
Carbonic acid, ammonia and water yield most
of the elements for all the organs of plants.
Salts and metallic oxides serve peculiar functions
in their organism, and many of them are necessa-
ry for their growth and perfect maturity. Let us
see from what and in what manner these are tak-
en by tlie plant. Perhaps we can render them
some assistance by draining.
Our soil is composed of the debris of rocks and
of partly decomposed vegetable mould, together
with whatever we may please to give it in the way
of manure. From the decomposition of those,
the plants obtain most of their food. From the
vegetable mould they obtain carbonic acid and
ammonia, and from the rocks, salts and oxides.
This decomposition cannot go on without oxygen,
and this must be obtained from the atmosphere.
In a soil to which air has but little access, the re-
mains of animals and vegetables do not decay, for
they can only do so when supplied freely with oxy-
gen. They undergo putrefaction, which is ex-
ceedingly injurious, and often destructive to the
plants in their immediate vicinity.
If the soil is saturated with water, the air has
but little access, and the plants growing thereon
go hungry.
In the beginning of a rain or snow storm, a large
amount of ammonia is carried down to the snil
from the atmosphere. If the soil is already satu-
rated with moisture, the rain is not admitted, but
runs off upon the surface, and the plants lose the
benefit of it. In stagnant waier in the soil, nox-
ious substances accumulate that are often iiijurious
to plants. Thorough draining only can remedy
all these difficulties.
Thorough draining produces effects that are
equivalent to a change of climate. Our growing
seasons, here in New England, are already too
short for the perfect maturity of muny of our crops.
Anything that shortens them must be an injury.
Wet, underch'ained land, cannot be worked upon
till very late in the spring. It is so cold that i;
takes a long time to get it sufficiently warm to
promote the growth of vegetation ; the land is
frozen to a much greater depth, requiring a longer
time to thaw. Water is the only exce|)tion in na-
ture, I believe, to the law that matter becomes
more dense by cold, and expands by heat ; it is
most dense at about 40°, and expands l)oth ways
from this point. If land is saturated with water
in winter, as it freezes it expands, and causes the
land to heave. Small trees are often in this way
thrown out of the ground, and many of our bien-
nial and perennial crops injured, or entirely win-
ter-killed.
Water passes from our undrained land almost
entirely by evaporation. We often hear farmers
speak of land as cold, and for that reason almost
worthless. It in cold, and so is the atmosphere in
itH immediate vicinity colder than in the immedi-
ate vicinity of dry land. Frost will bo seen much
sooner in the autumn, and tlie growth of plants
the sooner checked.
The cold is occasioned by the heat becoming la-
tent in the vapor formed by the evaporation of
water upon the surface of the soil. Evaporation
is one of the most chilling processes in nature.
Remove the surplus water from the soil and tiie
climate is changed.
Thorough draining helps evaporation from the
leaves. Water is one of the most important ele-
ments in the food of ])lants. Besides entering
largely into their composition, it also acts an im-
portant part as a vehicle through which solubl"
matter found in our soil is conveyed into the sys-
tem of growing plants. Yet too great a supply is
injurious to them. Much of the water thus taken
up passes into the atmosjjhere through the leaves
by evaporation from their surface, leaving the so-
luble matter in the plants. But a limited amount
of water can be thus evaporated. An excess of
water weakens the solution, and of course, the
plant gets less nourishment. This evaporation is
essential to the growth of plants, and anything
that checks it must be injurious. The air, at a
given temperature, can contain but a limited
amount of moisture. The warmer the air, the
more moisture it will hold. If the land is too
moist, the air is soon saturated by the large sur-
face exposed, and mujh less is taken from the
leaves. In this rapid evaporation, much heat be-
comes latent. The heat must be taken from the
surrounding atmosphere, thus cooling it to a con-
siderable extent, and tiiis couling lessens the evap-
oration from tlie leaves. Plants growing under
such circumstances are much more tender and suc-
culent, and are not ahle to witlistand the colds of
winter. Fruit loses much of its fine flavor, and
will often burst from excess of moisture. This we
have seen happen to the grape and plum in wet
seasons.
The excess of moisture in plants forces a great-
er growth of leaves, and ill-formed shoots, inste;ui
of flowers and fruit. If the water is in great ex-
cess, it changes the color of the leaves to a sickly
yellow. Soon the vegetable tissue enters into a
state of decomposition and the ])lant dies.
Remove the surplus water, and evaporation
from the leaves is increased ; the plant belter fed,
the fruit more palatable, and the wood the better
able to withstand the severities of winter.
Thorough draining, in a measure, prevents
drought. During the spring and early \).ivl of
summer, the roots of plants are ke t from going
down deep into the s()ii of wet, undrained land,
by contact wit i the water — when the dry we ither
comes on, the water recedes l)ut it is too I ile for
roots to follow, and if they ilid, tiie soil is not a
condi ion to furnish them food. They have but
a shallow root and are soon injured.
Soil well dr.aned l>ecomcs much more finely
pulverized — capillary attraction acts with most
power m smallest spaces —a finely pulvei izL-d soil
the better draws up »he moisture from t!ie sub-
soil, and the better holds a suliicient quantity to
sustain j)lants through a severe drought.
In a dry time, the soil upon undrained lands is
hard and uii|)ulverizo(l. While the soil is in this
condition, neither air nor moisture can be imWiljed
to any extent. The evening dew is taken up
272
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
again by the morning sun, instead of being drank
in by the parched soil. Thoroughly drain it, and
the roots of the plants go down below the imme-
diate effect of the burning sun. The soil is more
finely pulverized with half the labor. Capillary
attraction draws up the moisture from below, and
drinks in the evening dew.
Fruit and most forest trees are much helped
by draining. They naturally send their roots far
below the surface ; this furnishes them with a
broader field to obtain food from, and also pro-
tects them from drought. If prevented from do-
ing this, they are stunted and of little value. If
upon land wet but a portion of the year, they
grow well, but seldom bear flowers or fruit. The
growth of the tree generally stops in the early
part of the autumn. After that time, till checked
by the cold, it is busy at work laying by a store
of nutriment to commence, and for a considerable
time, to carry on the growth of the leaves, blos-
soms and fruit of the next spring. Unless this is
done, there will be no blossom, and consequently
no fruit. If the soil is in a fit condition, and the
autumn mild, a luxuriant blossoming may be ex-
pected the following spring, unless the trees are
exhausted by a great growth of fruit.
If, during the fall, the ground is wet and cold,
the trees are prevented from laying up this store
of nutriment, and therefore no blossoms are pro-
vided for the next spring, and no fruit can be ex-
pected, although the ground may be sufficiently
dry to ensure a good growth of wood during the
summer.
Thoroughly drain the soil, and the hungry roots
no longer kept back by the chilling air and un-
healthy contact with stagnant water, go deep down
into the soil. The air has free access, decompo-
sition is going on rapidly, the tree grows fast
through the whole season, and lays up a store of
food to commence with in the spring — thus pro-
ducing a fine blossoming and a rich harvest.
Microscopic Writing. — At the London inter-
national exhibition, 1862, a machine for the execu-
tion of microscopic writing, was exhibited by a
Mr. Peters, which has enabled the Lord's Prayer
to be written in the 356,000th of a square inch —
a space like a minute dot. The English Bible
contains 3,566,480 letters ; the Lord's Prayer, end-
ing with "deliver us from evil," 223 letters ; so
that the Bible is 13,992 times longer than the
prayer, and if we employ round numbers we may
say it could be written in 16,000 times the space
occupied by the prayer, or in less than the twenty-
second part of a square inch, in other words, the
whole Bible might be written twenty-two times in
one square inch ! This wonderfully minute writ-
ing is clearly legible when placed under a good
microscope. In using the machine the operator
writes with a pencil attached to one end of a long
lever ; whatever marks he makes on on a piece of
paper are infinitesimally reduced in correspond-
ing motions, by which a glass plate is moved over
a minute diamond point. By means of a geomet-
ric chuck, beautiful geometric designs may be en-
graved on a similar scale of minuteness. — Wells^
Annual.
^^ Temperance puts wood on the fire, flour in
the barrel, meat in the larder, vigor in the body,
intelligence in the brain, and happiness in the whole
family.
THE HORSE HOE, OB KOTAEY SPADER.
It is an axiom in farming, that if the crop cul-
tivated costs all that it will bring to produce it,
no profit will be left for improvements or for fu-
ture support.
If a man should cultivate his corn entirely by
hand, spading the soH and hoeing the crop, un-
aided by any mechanical appliances, he might find
it difficult to sustain a bare existence, without any
of the common comforts or elegances of life about
him.
In the hard soil of much of the New England
States, especially if the farmer had been obliged,
for the last fifty years, to produce his crops aided
only by a few of the most common and simple
agricultural implements, the aspect of these States
would be very unlike what they now present. In-
deed, a scanty subsistence, without much progress
in education, in architecture, in the arts or sci-
ences, would undoubtedly have been the result.
It is as reasonable that the farmer should avail
himself of the advantage of mechanical contri-
vances in his business, as it is that the manufac-
turer of cotton or woollen cloth should do so in
his, or the traveller take to the cars, instead of
making his journey on foot.
The rapid progress to wealth in the free States,
the great changes which have taken place in the
style of our buildings, vehicles, furniture, &c., and
the vast amount of labor which has been averted
from human hands, to steam, water, or horse
power, may be fairly attributed, in a great mea-
sure, to the inventive genius of our people, and
to the industry and skill of our mechanics. The
farmer himself is greatly indebted to the mechanic
for the facility and cheapness with which he gets
his crops, and, consequently, in an indirect way,
for a higher moral, intellectual and physical posi-
tion in life. Mechanism is the handmaid of ag-
riculture. Separated, they both fail to work out
their great mission in feeding and elevating the
world.
These thoughts have been suggested by wit-
nessing the operation of a new agricultural ma-
cliine, which is illustrated on the following page.
Thei-e is a little too much of it, and it com-
bines too many principles, to be termed an imple-
ment.
By a careful inspection of the engraving, the
reader will perceive that, in outline, this machine
greatly resembles the common expanding culti-
vator now so generally in use. Instead of the
cultivator teeth, however, it has, forward, directly
under the draft hook, a small plough, with mould
boards turning each way. Behind this is a per-
pendicular iron wheel having six spokes, but no
felloes, and then a horizontal shaft with several iron
teeth passing through it, and projecting from it
some six or eight inches. Both sides are alike.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
273
When power is applied, the machine is drawn
forward, and the spokes of the perpendicular wheel
penetrate the soil and set the horizontal shaft re-
volving. The result is, —
1. The plough lifts and displaces the soil in the
centre between the rows of plants, to any depth
desired, not exceeding six or eight inches.
2. The spokes of the perpendicular wheel pen-
etrate the soil on each side of the furrow made by
by the plough, and lift that up, also, so that a
space equal to the whole width of the machine is
actually displaced, — and then, as the machine ad-
vances, the arms of the horizontal shaft throw up
and strike the particles of soil, dashing the lumps
to pieces, if there are any, and shaking the fine
earth out from among the roots of witch or other
grasses ! The result of these combined motions
ia wonderful.
than to draw the common cultivator. This ma-
chine is moved upon icJieels, while the cultivator is
moved by a dead pull or drag.
We have witnessed the operations of this ma-
chine at three different times : Once upon a deep,
mellow loam — once upon a tough inverted sward,
free of stones, and once upon a. pasture sward,
full of cobbles and fast stones, and in each place
it was a * wonder-working machine."
There is still another place for it, where we
think it would perform a most admirable work —
! and that is on sod land, plouglied for kiying down
to grass. What an admirable bed it must pre-
I pare for seeds as small as are most of our grass
seeds. And so on sward turned over for planting
with corn or potatoes. On such land the harrow
I pulverizes to a certain extent, but it cannot leave
1 the surface in anything like the condition in which
1. The soil is made loose.
2. It is made fine, or pulverized.
it is left by the Rotary Spader.
From what we have seen of this new civilizer.
3. Much of the grass roots and weeds are ' it seems to us that it is destined to take a leading
thrown up by the teeth on the shaft, and left on : place in labor-saving machinery— that just so far
the surface. i as it will facilitate the operations of his fields over
4. The land is left flat, or level. ' present practices, it will pid money iu the farmer's
5. By changing the perpendicular wheels to the j^ocket, and, indirectly, increase the means of edu-
inside of the shaft — which can be done in three cation and all the opportunities of securing more
minutes — the soil is thrown into hills. ' of the comforts and excellences of life.
We saw the operation of this machine on a field ' I^'"- ^- Coley, of Claremont, X. II., is the in-
that was in sward in the spring, and which was ; mentor of the Horse Hoe. The proprietors are J.
ploughed only six or seven inches deep. It was ' ^- Ul'llAM & Co., of the same place, to wiiom any
planted with corn, and the hills laid in squares. ' inquiries may be addressed.
The machine was run through both ways. Over Medicine to Houses. — "I consider the usa-
a portion of the field, the work was left flat, and al method of giving medicine to liorses l)y drench-
then the wheels changed so as to throw up hills, i"g. *is it is called, liighly objectionable. In this
, , ., u- u i u ,u r» process the horse's head is raised and niKl up, a
and wherever the machine had been there was, lit- ,',,•. , i- . i- ,u u; n .,i
, ' bottle introduced into his mouth, his tongue pulled
erally, no work lejt for the hoe! Ihe surface was ^^^^ ^^j {],(, i^uij poured down. In his struggle
left mellow and even, the grass torn up, and just some of the medicine is quite likely to l)e drawn
enough of the damp, light soil thrown in among into his wind-pipe and lungs, and inflammation
the stalks of corn to give the whole work the most ?"^ ^^^^''1 '"^^^^^^^ sometimes follow. A better way
.„ , , i. • , , . , IS to nnx the medicine with meal, or rv bran ;
beautiful and fimshed appearance. Any boy, or ^^^^^ j^ j,^^^ j^^^u^^ ^,^^,1 „^,^ jj^^ ,^,,^,^.3 ^^[,^^,^ ^^A
girl, old enough to go along and pull an occasion- pj^ce a ball as tar back in his mouth as j^ssihle,
al weed from among the spears of corn, would then release his tongue ; he will almost certainly
have finished the work of the field ! This was ac-
complished on sward land, in shallow ploughing,
and without disturbing the sod in any objectiona-
ble degree.
swallow the ball. Or, the dose may be mixed with
meal and honey, or any other substance that will
form a kind of jelly, ])laced u])on a small wooden
blade made of a shingle, and tiirust into the back
part of his mouth, when he will very easily swal-
As to draft, we did not see that it was harder , low iC— Patent Office Agricultural liepoit
274
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
For the Neta Enoland Fanner.
BETBOSPECTIVE NOTES.
Farm Houses and Out-Buildings. — On page
170 of current volume, June No., is an editorial
notice of a recently published volume which con-
tains Designs for Cottages, Villas, Mansions, &c.,
with their accompanying outbuildings. The re-
marks of the Editor deserve to be well consider-
ed and remembered by all who are at all likely to
build either house or outhouse at any future time ;
for undoubtedly those who duly consider them,
and act in accordance with them when the time
of planning their projected buildings shall have
come, will be much profited thereby, and may
reckon the advantages derived therefrom as one
of the more memorable instances of the benefits
received from their agricultural reading. Those
who take the wise counsel contaitied in the Edi-
tor's remarks will surely be benefitted thereby,
for by adopting the course recommended they may
escape much or all of the inconvenient arrange-
ments and unsightly looks which are but too com-
mon among farm buildings, and save, too, not a
little sometimes in the cost of construction. It
ivilljiay, therefore, for those about to build espec-
ially, to turn back to the jiage and passage refer-
red to, and to so read and "inwardly digest" the
remarks referred to as to have them fixed in the
memory, and ready for use and practical applica-
tion when the occasion comes.
Among the many astonishing things which are
to be met with every now and then, scarcely any
have surprised us more than the self- sx[(/ idem: ij
which many or most of our brethren display on
occasions when it would be, not only exceedingly
reasonable and proper, but also certainly for their
interest that they should seek help and light from
all the sources within their power. Such an oc-
casion is the investing rf several hundred dollars
in a farm house ; and yet, though there are so many
inconvenient and unseemly buildings, or so many
blunders made, how seldom have we known of
any one about to build resorting to any book or
periodical in which the information might have
been had, which the occasion seemed to us to ren-
der so important, or even indispensable.
"Profits of Fruit Culture," — Page 170. —
The brief paragraph with the above caption, cop-
ied from an exchange paper, is likely to cause
some young beginners, and persons of greater
hopefulness than thoughtfalness, to form quite ex-
travagant and exaggerated ideas of the profitable-
ness of fruit culture. And as such erroneous ideas
are likely to lead to plans and procedures which
must bo followed by losses and disappointments,
it has seemed as if there were an obligation rest-
ing upon any one who could ])rcsent more correct
views — views more in accordance with facts and
the reality of things — to make a presentation of
them, both for the truth's sake, and for the sake
of all concerned. Into what extravagances and
disapi)oiiitmcnts might not some be led who should
read the first statement in the paragraph referred
to, and should get the impression that it was a
quite common occurrence, an event to be calculat-
ed upon, that an acre of apple trees — at least of
Baldwins and Russets — will produce an ir.eome or
f)rof5t of $800 a year ! The statements which fol-
ow are submitted with the intention and expecta-
tion that they will aid those interested in forming
conceptions, as to the profit of fruit culture, less
likely to mislead, and more in accordance with
the average results of an extensive experience,
and of ordinary experience. We would not in-
tentionally say anything that would discourage
any one from giving a large share of his time,
attention and labor to the growth of fruit, for this
department of farming has charms and rewards of
great value in addition to its pecuniary profitable-
ness ; but we think that it is, for several reasons,
much more desirable that those about to engage
in it should do so with reasonable expectations as
to the results or expectations in accordance with
ordinary experience, than with hopes based on
error and destined to disappointment.
Another consideration which seems to make it
of some importance that extravagant ideas of the
profits of fruit culture should be corrected is this —
that such expectations tend to put out of sight some
of the rewards of such labor which are of a high-
er and purer nature than pecuniary profits. ^len
should more extensively engage in fruit growing,
because [1.] it would contribute to the greater
comfort of iheir families; [2.] it would tend to
make home and rural jjursuits more attractive to
children ; [3.] it tends to refine the tastes and
habits of both producers and consumers ; and [4.]
lastly, for the present, it would make the supply
of fruit more abundant end more attainable by the
people at large, and this would certainly be both a
blessing and a benefit to multitudes.
With such reasons for thinking extravagant es-
timates of the pecuniary profits of fruit-culture
rather pernicious, let us endeavor to determine
what might, be accepted as a reasonable or moder-
ate estimate of the profits of the most common
branch of this business — apple-growing. We could
not find, probably, any testimony or statement as
to this point more reliable than that of J. J.
Thomas, author of The American Fruit CuUnrist.
After stating that for the past thirty years such
varieties as the Swaar, Rhode Island Greening,
&:c., have scarcely varied from twenty-five cents a
bushel in places remote from a ready market,
Mr. T. says, "An acre of forty trees, with good
culture, will average through all seasons not less
than 200 bushels, or $50 a yeai'. Instances are
frequent of thrice this amount. The farmer, then,
who sets out twenty acres of good apple orchard,
and takes care of it, may e.xpect, at no remote
period, a yearly return of $500 to $1500, and even
more if a considerable portion is occupied with
late keepers. This is, it is true, much more than
the majority obtain ; but the mi\jority wholly neg-
lect cultivating and enriching the soils of their or-
chards."
For the first five years a young orchard vields
no profits ; and for five years more the profits will
be sm:;ll after paying for care and labor. After
ten or twelve years trees ought to produce on an
average between five and ten bushels per tree, or
an acre of 40 trees 200 i o 400 bushels. Afier pay-
ing for picking, and marketing, &c., the net projit,
at the price named above, would be about '^oo for
a crop of 200 bushels, and $80, or about that, if
the crop shoakl be as much as 400 bushels. Is
this too low ? More Anon.
^F* The barque Western Metropolis lately trans-
ported at one trip from Chicago to Buffalo 72,000
bushels of oats and 1000 barrels of pork — the larg-
est cargo ever moved on the lakes.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
279
NEW BOOKS.
Thb Life op William T. Pobteu. By Hobaci Bbiiobi.
New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1860.
Although this volume was published some three
years ago, it is but recently that it met our eyes.
Mr. Porter was born in Newbury, Vt., in 1809.
After an apprenticeship at the printing business
in Andover, Mass., he was connected, for a few
months, with papers in St. Johnsbury and Nor-
wich, Vt., which latter place he left in 1830 for
New York. Here, in December, 1831, he com-
menced the publication of the N. Y, Spirit of the
I'imes, a paj)er which soon became quite popular
with the class for whom it was designed ; and as
editor of wLich the biographer claims for Mr.
Porter the distinction of being the "father of a
school of American sporting literature." Among
the compoeitors who were employed on the first
volume of this paper was IIouace Gkeeley, now
of the N. Y. Tribune, and Stii.Man Fletcher,
Esq., cur able Reporter of the cattle markets,
who had also worked for Mr. Porter in Norwich,
Vt.
IntiTWoven with the biography of William T.
Porter, are sketches of his four brothers, three of
whom assisted more or less in the management
of the paper. One of these brothers abandoned
the profession of medicine and another of law, to
write reports of horse races, criticisms on theatri-
cal performances, and descriptions of other scenes
of sport and recreation. The great popularity of
the Spint of the Times attained is evidence of the
ability and tact of these brothers.
And here, perhaps, we ought to close ; as we
can commend the volume only as a beacon or
warning against the 'fast" life which it chronicles.
We have too long and too earnestly sought to en-
courage and honor useful labor and straightfor-
ward industry, to be pleased with the boast on
page 87, that the patrons of a certain club-house,
among whom the Porters were prominent, "de-
spised anything like mercantile pursuits ;" or that
on page 270, which exults that, "This literature,"
— that represented by the Spirit of the Times, —
"was not stewed in the closet, or fretted out at
some pale, pensioned laborer's desk." If ever
we find ourselves hard pressed by the complaints
of any farmer's family of their unending toil and
drudgery, we may prescribe as an antidote the pe-
rusal of this book. None of the four brothers,
we believe, who were associated as editors, ever
married, and all died comparatively young. Of
William, shortly before his death, the biographer
says : Care, disappointment and that sickness of
heart which he concealed from the world, began
to tell on face, and form, and mental activity."
In an obituary of another it is said : "His tem-
perament was of a character that, added to disap-
pointments and private griefs, with which the stran-
ger intermeddleth not, occasionally clouded his
mind with fits of morbid gloominess and abstrac-
tion." For a third of the brothers, regret is ex-
pressed that he left his profession, as in it "with
one-half the persevering industry which he exhib-
ited while connected with the press, he must have
risen to eminence."
In conclusion, we may say that the biography
of these talented brothers is an illustration of the
sad mistake committed by those who make enjoy-
ment and happiness, instead of duty and usefulness,
the great object of life.
FAKMINQ IN NEW MEXICO.
A correspondent of the Wisconsin Farmer,
writing at Barclay's Fort, New Mexico, gives an
interesting statement of facts in relation to this
portion of the country, from which we copy the
following :
The lands which are cultivated are productive
to a degree perfectly astounding to a stranger,
when the mode of cultivation they have un-
dergone, and exposure suffer^'d for all past time,
are taken into the account. Sometime in the
month of April, May or June, and the people
are not very particular about the time, all the
weeds and vegetables on the land are burned
up, and the water is let out of the ditch upon the
piece of land to be cultivated, and is made to rua
over every part of it. Without this the land is
too hard for ploughing. The seed, if wheat, oats,
barley or peas, is then sown over the land, and
ploughed in, generally, with a Mexican plough,
never more than three inches deep ; after which a
log is drawn sidewise over the land and the small
ditches cut for future waterings, and the work is
done till watering time arrives. Corn is planted in
the same manner, except the seed is placed in the
bottom of the furrow at proper distances apart,
and is covered by the next furrow. Crops require
about two waterings to perfect them. The )ield
exceeds belief. Wheat, which excels all other
crops, not unfrequently gives fifty times the
amount sown, and is of a superior quality. A
hundred to one has been known.
NEW VAKIETIES OP GRAPES.
The Fruit Committee of the Massachusetts Uor-
ticultural Society, in their report, by Mr. Cabot,
thus notice two new varieties of the grape :
"There have been some new or hitherto little
known varieties of grajjcs exhibited, of which
brief notice may not be thought out of ]>lace here-
in. One, which attracted the attention of the
Committee by its good qualily, was called the Cre-
I veiling. But a single bunch of it, grown in Sa-
I lem by Mr. Bosson, was exhibited at the Annual
Exhibition. It was a black, not large berry, sweet
and spirited, that made a favorable im])ression on
I the Committee and all who tasted it; it is an early
grape, ripened the past year on a vine trained
against a fence, on Sept. i4th. This variety may
not be new, but it has never, as is believed, been
before fruited in this vicinity ; it is, as is under-
stood, an accidental seedling and comes from Mr.
Goodwin, of Kingston, Penn. Some specimens
of a new seedling grape were presented by .Mr.
276
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
Charles J. Power, of South Frarningham, repre-
sented as a seedling from the Isabella, now in" its
third year of bearing, the vine being seven years
old, and as fully ripe this year on Sept. 15th; said
to be an abundant bearer, the vine perfectly hardy
and that does not drop the berries ; the vine hav-
ing been grown on an open fence without protec-
tion from the north.
The impropriety of christening fruits with the
names of persons is well illustrated by the follow-
ing sentence, in reference to specimens of new
grapes from Ohio, which occurs in this business-
like report :
'•It appeared to the Committee that Lydia was
rather acid, that Mary was pretty good, with a
thick skin, and tiiat Ellen was rather subacid, with
eomewhat of a Catawba flavor."
Fnr the Neic England Farmer,
PBEPAKDNTG AND APPLYING MANUKES.
By i)reparing, I do not mean providing, but the
condition or state it is in when used in the field or
garden. It may seem out of season, now, for this
subject to be brought up, as most farmers use the
great bulk of their manure in the spring and early
summer — still, there are many who apply it to
their meadows immediately after haying is over,
regarding it as the best time for doing so. This
class, I am glad to know, is largely increasing.
Some, however, do not give much, if any thought
as to the condition the manure may be in, and ex-
ercise still less in its application, if we are allowed
to judge from what we frequently see. on passing
their premises. How very often do we witness
large masses, or lumps, thrown out and left un-
broken, to waste much of its value by drying, and
if it is strong, killing the sward where it lies, be-
ing a positive injury, rather than a benefit. Then,
again, how many in the spring, when using ma-
nure for field or garden crops, use it in the same
unpulverized state.
I know a farmer who can talk very glibly, and
often well, about farm managements, who, the
past spring, hauled out his manure from his yard
without digging it over and pulverizing, and put it
in heaps very uniformly over a piece designed for
corn. Shortly after he had got it out, I passed
that way, and he was ])loughing the piece, and the
manure was spread over not more than two-thirds
of the surface of the ground, if, in reality, it cov-
ered more than half. Large lumps, from the size
of a goose egg, to the size of a man's head, em-
braced the largest part of the application. Sup-
pose the corn that was planted there capable of
thought, and expressions of thought, would there
not be heard emphatic complaints of injustice
from all portions of the field, and with good rea-
son, too? Suppose this man had spent the time
requisite to have thoroughly pulverized his ma-
nure previous to hauling it out, and when hauled
out, spread it evenly over all the surface of his
field, who doubts but it would have resulted in
fourfold profit on the labor expended. So, too, it
often happens with very many in all their farm op-
erations— too much in a hurry to get on with their
work, or an insufficiency of help to properly ac-
complish what they have planned. It is a well es-
tablished fact, with thorough farmers, that no
work on the farm pays better for being thoroughly
done than the pulverizing of manure previous to
using it. When this is done, and it is spread
evenly over the field, the crops will inevitably show
their appreciation of the care bestowed upon the
preparation of their food.
As to the best method of spreading, difi'erences
of opinion prevail ; some contending for putting
out in heaps previous to spreading, others spread-
ing from the cart or wagon as it goes to the field.
I favor the latter method, generally, and always
upon grass land or mowing lots. I have found
trouble in getting men to spread as evenly over
all the surface from k(»aps, as from the cart or
wagon, often having been compelled to have them
go over it twice, or even more than that, to get it
properly done. On meadows, I prefer using a
cart, tipping it so as to put a block a foot or so
long under the forward end, and spread with a
shovel from the hind end. This tipping brings the
work handy to the workmen, and relieves the neck
of the oxen. A hoe, fork, or some such imple-
ment is very handy in hauling it down from the
forward end of the cart. In this way, I find my
manure much better spread than by any other
method I have used, and quite as quickly done by
men who have been accustomed to doing it so.
However fine your manure may be, it will be
for your interest to go over your meadows with
a brush, which I make in this way : take a three
by six or seven inch oak scantling, eight feet long,
bore two inch holes, sixteen inches apart, get good
bushy white birches of proper size, and you have
got a thorough implement for the work. If not
sufficiently heavj', throw on a rail or some suitable
thing. This brush will rub the manure into and
among the grass stubble so that but little of it
will be seen unless closely looked for. The first
rain that falls will eff'ectually dissolve its particles,
and the grass immediately assume a cheerful,
smiling aspect, indicating its appreciation of your
wise provision for its welfare. I have used the
brush where I spread manure for ploughing under
With the assurance that it was labor wisely ex-
pended. K. o.
Juhj, 1863.
For the New England Farmer,
CULTIVATION OP BYE.
The attachment of the people of New England
to rye as an article of food is rather remarkable.
I believe there is no part of the world where this
grain is so much eaten from choice as with us.
In Great Britain it is not used as food for man.
In Russia, in the northern parts of Germany, and
in some of the poorer Departments of France, it
is eaten largely, but it is by the peasantry, and from
necessity, not from fondness as with us. In Eng-
land and Scotland, oatmeal and barley-meal are
used by those who desire a variety in their food,
or a cheap diet. On the continent of Europe they
have a poorer kind of wheat, of inferior quality
and lighter than the fine wheat, which is called
spelt, which is cultivated for food, and takes the
place of barley and oatmeal in England, and of rye
and Indian corn meal with us. It seems to me
that the cultivation of rye for food among us
might be profitably changed for some of these oth-
er grains. Barley on good lands is a profitable
crop, yielding more to the acre than wheat, and
bearing a higher market value than any other
grain except wheat. It may be used for all pur-
poses that rye may be, for the food of man, mak-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
277
ing a more palatable bread. Spelt has the advan-
tage that it may be raised on light and poor soils.
I will suppose that on our good soils thirty bush-
els of rye may be raised. The weight of this crop
■will 1)6 fifteen hundred pounds, and its value about
twenty-one or twenty-two dollars. An equal
quantity of barley may be raised, worth thirty dol-
lars, or spelt about an equal quantity with rye,
and of at least equal value, or about three to five
dollars more on the thirty bushels. Perhaps its
value would equal that of barley. I don't know,
therefore, that there is any more profit in raising
rye than in raising barley or spelt, and as an arti-
cle of food, probably rye is the least nutritious and
least i)ulatable of the three. Though rye is pojiu-
lar among us for some cause, I cannot but think
that if barley meal or spelt flour, or oatmeal, or
some other succedaneum were once introduced
among us that rye would give way, and we should
dispense with its use. Corn bread, as it is called,
made in the Pennsylvania and western method, is
a true luxury, which we do not enjoy here, only
because, I think, it is not known. The corn used
is the soft kind, and the meal is ground very fine
and mixed with milk and egg ; — making the most
nutritious, and to my taste the most palatable ^of
all kinds of bread. It is very different from the
cakes made of that meal in our State. We have
not learned here the true value of corn meal for
breadstuff. The middlings of wheat flour makes
a very good coarse bread.
There is an account of spelt in the Report on
the Agriculture of Germany, contained in the
Patent Oflice Report for 1847, I think, and also
in Mr. Colman's work on European .\gricullure.
It is cultivated in France and Germany, but no-
where in this country, so far as I am informed.
Perhaps some is raised in Pennsylvania,
Good Bread.
Far tlie Neir England Farmer.
KETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
"TinNGs TO BE Learned." — Fuavds on
Farmers. — Under the former of the above head-
ings we have, in the weekly issue of this journal
of May 23d, and in the July number of the month-
ly ediilon, a very sensible article intended to cau-
tion farmers against being imposed upon by any
of the tricks and frauds which a numerous class
of harpies and vampires, thieves and robbers, are
ever ready to practice upon the honest and unsus-
fiecting farmer. The writer has portrayed "to the
ife" some of the tricks played by jockeys, dealers
in cattle and other stock, and buyers of farm pro-
duce, and has given, in four very shrewd and ju-
dicious directions, instructions how to avoid being
cauglit in any of the snares and traps which this
class of scoundrels and purse-suckers are evtr and
anon setting for the unwary, with all that "cun-
ning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
'1 lie article now under notice is entitled to es-
pecial attention for several reasons, two of which
may be briefly named. First, then, it is excellent
and praisc'vorlhy in virtue of the aim, purpose or
intention, which very obviously actuated the writ-
er, and which all readers, save the most heedless,
or dull-brained, must perceive to be this — to warn
farmers of a cla^s of dangers wliich they must en-
counter now and then, or to point out some of the
frauds IikcIv to be nracti^'ed upon then, and, at
the <anie <inif. «o su<rs:esl some of tlie things
which may be done whereby this danger may be
greatly lessened, or avoided altogether. This is
certainly a noble purpose, and tlie man who em-
ploys two or three hours of l\is time in writing out
the words of warning which seem to be needed,
ought to have some evidence that he is duly ap-
preciated, so fiir, at least, as the aim or purpose
of his writing is concerned.
Another reason for thinking this article worthy
of more than ordinary attention is tins — there is
! more than ordinary ability manifested in the con-
I struction or composition of it. As we liave already
j said, the portraitures of the rogues and robbers,
I who go about seeking whom they may devour, are
I drawn very graphically, and "to the life," and the
directions given for detecting them, and avoiding
; being caught in their traps, are proofs of superior
I good sense and soundness of judgment. There
, is, in a word, a noteworthy, intellectual and iiter-
' ary ability in the article, which it is pleasant to be
1 brought into contact with, and which gives force to
I the words employed to secure the object aimed at.
] The fine moral tone also of the article under no-
! tice can scarcely have escaped the observation of
t readers of ordinary discrimination, and might be
I named as another of the reasons which entitle it
I to special regard. But time is precious, and space
\ has limits, and therefore we leave the article to
make its own impression, and to do its intended
; work. Those who re-read it carefully, will, we
] doubt not, see it to be possessed of the merits, in
' purpose and in execution, which we have claimed
for it. It must be pronounced an excellent arti-
cle, and its great purpose a most praiseworthy one.
i The farmers, above all men, are liable to be im-
! posed upon, and every efl'ort to protect them from
the harpies and vampires who are ever seeking
whom they may devour, should be gratefully ac-
knowledged and duly appreciated. And not this
only, but every such efl'ort should be imitated,
seconded or helped on in some way, as we hope
the present one w ill be. We should all feel lai'ler
obligation to do something to abate the evil com-
plained of.
There is room or opportunity for more efi'orts of
the same kind as that which has been under our
notice, for other frauds are practiced upon the
farmer, and other rogues contrive to get hold of
some of his hard-earred dollais. There are, for
example, speculators in wool, advertisers of nov-
elties and humbugs in seeds, &c, and, (bad as any
other set of the rogues who prey on farmers, or
perhaps worse,) the manufacturers and venders
I of spurious superphosphates and other commercial
manures.
I Now that a Bofjiirs' GaUcn/ for the benefit of
i farmers has been so successfidly commenced in the
columns of this journal, it is earnestly ho])ed that
j similar portraits of those other orders of liiis com-
[ prchensive class of thievish animals may be con-
j tinned until the gallery may be considered cora-
I ])icte. Whoever, actuated by public spirit, and
' benevolent feelin<;s, shall make farther contribu-
tions to this gallery, and whoever, especially, shall
I portray in hideous cohirs the swindling nrantifac-
I turer of worthless trash which is sold to farmers
' under the name of superphosphate, will confer a
i fiivor on his brethren, by enabling them to delect
' and escape the snares set to entrap and rob tiu-m,
' and will, also, earn for himself, a right or title to
j his own respect and the respect of all who love
278
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
Sept.
justice and hate robbery and wrong doing.
"Destroy the Caterpillars." — From the
opening sentences of this article, which may be
found on page 200 of current volume of this jour-
nal, or in weekly issue of May 30th, it seems high-
ly probable that some one in Nova Scotia has got
up a trap in which he hopes to catch some of the
farmers of the United States, who may not be
quite as well posted up in agricultural knowledge,
or as familiar with agricultural literature as they
might be to their own advantage. In other words,
some one "is announced in the Ploughman to have
discovered an infallible substance for the destruc-
tion of caterpillars," by which every vestige of
them can be destroved from a hundred trees for
$1 20.
Thanks to the editor, who has shown his read-
ers how this destruction of caterpillars can be ac-
complished at much less cost, and has taught them
that the chief expense that needs to be incurred
in that destruction is simply the time occupied in
the work, Xo one, therefore, of the readers of
this journal is likely to be caught in any trap
baited with promises of the kind referred to.
They will be more likely to use the money asked
for "an infallible substance" in the purchase of
Harris^ Treatise on Insect.'?, or some other source
of light and knowledge. As Dr. Harris speaks
of refuse soap suds as an application to the cater-
pillars, some may be led to use suds that are too
weak. We would say, therefore, that to ensure
destruction of all touched by the suds, they ought
to be as strong as possible, from one to two quarts
of good soap being used for one pailful.
More Anox.
A Xew Enemy. — Charles B. Pelton, of Ma-
kanda. III., thus describes a new worm at the root
of peach trees :
"We have another worm here, infesting the peach
tree, which I have never seen described. It is
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch long and
the thickness of a sewing thread, white, with two
brown bars on the back near the head. These
bars are only seen under a magnifier. My sons
and I call them "thread worms" for want of a bet-
ter name.
Unlike the borers, each of which has its own
burrow, these worms are found in numbers to-
gether— dozens, scores, and sometimes near a hun-
dred, attacking the tree below the surface of the
ground.
They are not "cut out," but pulled out of a
broad, shallow hole, often twisted together as the
common earth worms are sometimes found. In-
deed, they might readily be taken for young earth
worms by a careless observer. After clearing the
tree of them we apply lime or ashes, or a mixture
of both, which destroys any we may have over-
looked. I think them more injurious to trees
over two vears old than the borer.
Wool-Geowixg in Michigan.-- In this State
rapid progress has been made in wool-growing.
In 1840 the product was but 150,000 lbs. ; in 1862,
it was 6,915,192 lbs., which assigns Michigan the
fourth position among the loyal States. The clip
for 186li will be between nijie and ten millions of
poimd", this at an average nf 55 rents for nine
niilliitn ihs., will ^.-mjun' to ;^»,L';-0. <>'>.*!
MANXTBES— QUANTITY— QUAIiITY.
What follow are extracts from an essay upon
making, preserving and applying manures, by Capt.
Elijah Tucker, read before the Milton Farm-
ers' Club, and sent to us for publication.
It is an old adage that "manure is the mother
of corn," or as others express it, "it is the parent
of all profitable vegetation." I have seen it slated
somewhere that a hard-working but unsuccessful
farmer went to a thrifty neighbor for information,
requesting a leaf from his book on farming ; he
was told that the first requisite was manure, the
second, manure, and the third the same ; and after
explaining his method of saving and preparing it,
especially the urine, the man went home, did like-
wise, and became a prosperous farmer. I believe
the attention paid to manure by any farmer indi-
cates pretty nearly the condition of his farm.
If a farmer has a barn cellar, with a bottom water
tight, covered with loam, muck, or other suitable
substances, sufficient to absorb the liquid portions
of the manure, he has a foundation for a good ma-
nure heap ; and if it be enclosed in front so as to
exclude the frost and air, so much the better. The
excrements of all his animals, including the urine,
should be dropped through scuttles into the cel-
lar. By many, the liquid manure of an animal is
considered as valuable as the solid, some even es-
timate it higher, and say that rich food improves
one as much as the other. The urine discharged
from different animals is said to diff'er very much
in quantity and quality. One writer says, that a
horse discharges on an average about three pints
in twenty-four hours, and a cow forty pints. If
this statement be correct, it will be seen that a
cow evacuates more than thirteen times as much
as a horse. That there is a difference in different
animals, I believe ; but of the correctness of the
above comparison, I entertain strong doubts.
As most farmers keep different kinds of stock,
the manure of all would be improved if it should be
mixed in one heap. This is easily done when cat-
tle are kept in the stable during cold weather, and
also in summer if the soiling system be practiced ;
according to some writers, manure made by soiling
in the summer is much more valuable than that
made in the Avinter. The strength of manure,
however, depf-nds almost entirely upon the food
which the animals consume. As the heap in the
cellar increases, loam, muck, or other suitable in-
gredients should be mixed with it. This mixture
should be determined in a great measure by the
quality of the soil on which the manure is to be
used ; if it is cold, wet and clayey, I prefer sandy
loam or some other warm material ; if light and
porous, muck or some other tenacious substance
is necessary. In adding ingredients to manure,
judgment should be used, because if too much be
added it will injure the quality more than it will
increase the quantity. Farmers have been some-
times heard to say that with a certain number of
cattle they could make so many cords of manure,
but the size of a manure heap is no true test of
its value. I think a man might with about as
much propriety say that he could make a barrel of
cider from a bushel of apples, as to say that he
could make in a year ten cords of manure from
one cow. The late Mr. Phinney, of Lexington,
once Slid, "a cord of green dung converts twice
' ;'; f;f poat into a manure of equal value
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD F.AJIMER,
279
to itself; that is, a cord of clear stable dung com-
posted with two of peat, forms a manure of equal
value to three cords of green dung." Although
Mr. Phinney is considered high authority in such
matters, his theory in this particular does not ac- j
cord with ray experience. '
If I am called upon to appraise a pile of ma-
nure, I want to know how much stock has been
kept, and how it has been feed ; and then, if the
manure has all been properly saved, I think that
I can judge pretty nearly of its value.
If the size of the cellar will admit of it, the ma-
nure should be mixed and remain in it until it is
wanted for the field. If not large enough, (and
this ma\ be known before the ground freezes) a
bed of ppat or loam should be made, say six or
eight inches deep, and on a stiil, damp day, the
contents of the cellar may be carted on to it ; only
as much should be removed at a time o:? can con-
conveniently be done, and then immediately cov-
ered ; the loam or peat underneath will prevent
a loss doicmcards, and the covering will prevent
the gaseous or volatile properties from escaping
vpicards.
Composting manure in a situation in which its
volatile properties escape into the air, or its liquid
products soak into the ground not intended for
vegetation, is in my opinion very slovenly and
wasteful. The steam or gas which is suffered to
escape from fermenting manure, is not only almost
lost to profitable vegetation, but what is still
worse, it fills the atmosphere with an elHuvia in-
jurious to health. When a distiller allows his still
to be put in operation without a cover to collect
and secure the steam, then perhaps a farmer may
suffer a fermentation to be going on in his dung-
heap without a covering.
During warm weather, the practice among farm-
ers in this vicinity is to let their cattle graze in the
pasture during the day, and yard them overnight.
by this method, the manure dropped in the yard
is not so easily secured from loss as that made in
the stable. This custom is ruinous to our pasture
land. It is to this practice that I attribute, in a
great measure, the deterioration of our pastures.
A farmer may have a good receptacle, drop his
manure therein, and mix suitable ingredients with
it ; but the state, the quauiity, the viiimm and the
time in which manure can most profiuhly be ap-
plied to the soil, are questions not so easily solvetl.
Notwithstanding the light which scientific writ-
ers have thrown upon this subject, the manner in
which manures operate, the best methods of ap-
plying them, and their efficiency and durability,
arc still subjects of discussion among intelligent
farmers. Perhaps there is nothing connected with
farming about which practical farmers differ more,
than the state in which manures should be applied.
One author says : "A controversy has existed
some years relative to the degree of fermentation
which manure ought to undergo before it is ap-
plied to the soil." Some writers contend that it
should be used in a green, unfermented state, and
others that it should be used until it is so rotten and
fine as to be easily cut with a spade. I might fill
pages with extracts from distinguished agricultur-
ists, who differ widely on this point. But a short
quotation from the editor of the New England
Farmer, many years ago, will perhaps be sufficient.
He says, "the advocates for long manure, and the
sticlvk'rs for short mam re, are in our opinion both
right in regard to some of the points in controver-
sy." I am of the same opinion, and think it de-
pends very much on the crops to be raised, and
the soil on which the manure is to be used. For
roots, vines and sm;ill vegetables, fine manure is
probably the best ; also for top-dressing dry land ;
but for common field crops, such as corn and po-
tatoes, and for top-dressing moist, heavy land,
green manure is probably the most profitable.
The quantity of manure which it is profitable to
to use per acre is another subject of discussion.
Singular as it may apj>ear, I think this depends,
in some measure, on the price of land. If a man
has land enough, or can buy it at a low rate, bis
object should be to make the most of his labor
and money ; whereas if land be worth $.500 per
acre, he should endeavor to realize the most from
each acre. Some crops, however, require more
food to bring them to maturity than others.
.\gain, the depth to which manure should be
buried is a controverted question. As the ten-
dency of manure is downward, I believe much
more is generally lost by being buried too deep,
than too shallow. Orcharding may be an excep-
tion. For tilled crops I pref>.r to have manure
covered, but left quite near the surface.
Once more, the best time Tor applying manure
is not a settled question among farmers. I be-
lieve, however, the prevailing opinion is that for
tilled crops, manure ought to be applied immedi-
ately before dropping the seed, but for topdress-
ing grass land, opinions are various. I prefer a
damp lime in the month of .\ugust. The after-
growth will then soon cover it and prevent much
loss by evaporation. I will here observe, that al-
though I am satisfied that high cultivation is gen-
erally the most profitable, yet if a man has land
enough, I would not recommend using so much
manure at a time for topdressing grass land, as
to cause the grass to lodge in ordinary seasons ;
because I think that a ton of hay can be made
with as little expense where there is only a ton
and a half to the acre, as if there were more, and
the quaHty of the hay will be much better.
I am happy to say tkit we have among us gen-
tlemen of wealth and t.isle, whose object proba-
bly is not profit, so much as it is health and plea-
sure ; and although it may not always be prudent
for farmers of small capital to follow their exam-
ple, yet I think they are an advantage to any com-
munity in which they live.
If a young man of limited means intends to
make farming his business, he must, in ordpr to
get an honest living, make it profitable. It is for
this latter class that these remarks are chiefly in-
tended.
Wh^n chnrtffrVl hunks irfise to loan,
.\ni1 merchant* fevl depressed ;
Th*" f-irmer's bank if p>-at aoj muck
Will discount then the brsL
Poplin. — .\ London journal of fashionable in-
telligence thus lays down the law about poplin:
Poplin is beginning to be wo*-:, but in the mat-
ter of fashion in England it will be swayed in a
very great measure by the Princess of \\'ale8.
We may without hesitation predict that silver-
gray poplin will be very fashionable this season.
It was this material the Princess wore on her en-
try into London, and it is historical as having been
ordered by her as a pleasant surprise to llcr Ma-
jesty, whose favorite hue it ia.
280
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
SHEEP, WOOL AND LAMBS.
In a letter dated July 13, from J. M. JONES,
Esq., of Amherst, N. H., he says : "I have just
got through shearing sheep, and from four lambs
and two old ewe sheep — Spanish Merinos, Hum-
phrey's importation — have taken, from the four
lambs 37 pounds of wool, and from the two ewes
23 pounds. I bought them of Stephen Atwood,
of Watertown, Conn. They were sheared of
eleven months growth of wool. From 20 sheep,
purchased of Stephen Rowell, of Weare, N.
H., I have taken 128 pounds of clear, washed
wool, and each sheep had a lamb by her side.
From 12 Cotswold sheep, 142 pou;ids washed
wool. From the skin of a buck that I had die, I
pulled thlrty-tico pounds and nine ounces of wool.
I bought him of Mr. Atwood. He was full blood
Spanish Merino, three years old, and 1 believe the
best buck of that blood in America.
I see that Vermont claims to be ahead of tha
rest of the world in sheep and wool raising, but I
do not intend to have them enjoy that reputation
much longer."
We regret our friend's loss of his noble buck.
Vermont must look out for her laurels, if Fai-mer
Jones is trying titles with her.
Rat Stories. — A French paper — L'Abeillc
Cauclioisc — records the following instance of the
voracity of rats, which 't declares has just occurred
at a farm near Yvetot : The proprietor of the farm,
M. Panchout, had a pig so exceedingly fat that it
could scarcely move, and was nearly always asleep.
Three nights since he was awakened by hearing
the squeals of the animal, and on going to the sly
found that a number of rats had attacked it and
eaten their way into its fat to the depth of four
inches. The pig was so much injured that it was
found necessary to kill it immediately. The Jow-
nal de Rouen, after giving the above account, men-
tions a circumstance which occurred to a gentle-
man of that town not lung since : On returning
from a residence in the tropics he wished to bring
back a serpent about six feet long. He according-
ly put it into a large box, and along with it a num-
ber of live rats for it to kill and eat when so dis-
posed. On o))ening the box, however, he found
that during the passage the rats had not only eat-
en all the food enclosed for them, but had also de-
voured the serpent itself.
Heaves in Horses. — The following statement,
is made bj- an lUinois correspondent of the Rural
New Yorker :
I once brought from the State of New York a
mare that had the disease badly, and in six months
after her arrival here no one would suppose from
her appearance that she had ever had the heaves.
Whether or not it is the rosin weed, as stated by
thy correspondent, E. E. T., I am not able to say,
for there are large quantities of hay used here
that do not contain any rosin weed. If that weed
is a cure for the heaves, cannot a medicine be
made from it to cure the asthma, or consumption,
SA^^NG Seeds. — As the season will soon ar-
rive for saving seeds, I thought my way might be
some benefit to your readers, and I will give it to
them. It is what my grandmother taught me,
when a little girl, living in Massachusetts, and
now that I have settled a few miles from Chicago,
and have plenty of garden room, I find it very
useful by keeping my seed pure, and having fruit
some two or three weeks earlier than others who
planted at the same time. The first that comes
of each kind I let grow and ripen for seed. I
save a part of a row of peas, a few hills of beans,
a hill or two of corn, that I never pick any from
till fully matured for seed. The first squash of
each kind, melons and cucumbers, I am very par-
ticular should not be picked. By saving the first
they are more likely to be pure ; the bees are not
so plenty as a short time afterwards. Sometimes
it is quite a cross to let them be, being the first
of tho season, but I find in a long run I am the
gainer. I hope the readers will try this ; it will
save a good deal of trouble in the fall in going
over the garden to see if they can pick up any-
thing for seed. How can we expect choice vegeta-
bles, unless we take extra pains about saving seed ?
To Preserve Flowers in Form and Color.
— The Ohio Farmer has the following directions
upon this subject :
Procure a quantity of fine sand and wash it un-
til it is entirely free from all dirt, and the water
comes from it clear. Then with a fine sieve sift
from it all the particles. It should then be sifted
with a coarse sieve, taking from it all the coarse
particles. The sand now, being perfectly dry, is
ready for use. Place it in a dish, which should
correspond in depth with the length of the flower
stems which are to be used for drying. The flowers
when picked should be perfectly dry or exempt
from rain or dew. Insert the flower stems in the
sand to the base of the flowers. Then with a
steady hand sprinkle the sand evenly over the
flowers until they are completely imbedded. Place
them in a very dry place, either near the fire or in
the sun, and let them remain several days. When
perfectly dry the sand may be poured ofi". Double
flowers with stiff" petals are most easily preserved,
but most varieties will well repay the little trouble
and care required by this simple process.
Illinois Cotton. — N. C. Meeker writes from
Dalgonia, Union county, in the southern part of
Illinois, to Solon Robinson, of New York, May
24th, 1863, as follows :
Please inform the Farmers' Club and the v.orld
that sixty-one bales of cotton left this place a few
days ago for Providence, R. I., consigned to the
owners, A. & W. Sprague. This cotton was
bought under the direction of G. Reynolds, Esq.,
their agent, and he pronounces the quality equal
to good Upland Tennessee. This lot was raised
in Union and a few adjoining counties. The
INIessrs. Sprague, in buying this cotton, offer an
inducement to the farmers to plant largely, which
ihey have done.
E^ The total number of sail and steam vessels
on the great lakes is 1074. This includes every
species of vessels, hundreds of which could he al-
tered to gunboats aud privateers in case the gov-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
281
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
ABOUT KAI8ING WATBR.
■Will you or some correspondent of yonr valuable
magazine, the Xeio Enqland Farmer, pive me infor-
mi»r:on with regard to the best means of raising water
from a well 28 feet deep ? It furnishes water for the
kitchen and also enough for the barn, and I would
like a pump that would throw water the fastest and
easiest way, and one that would be cheap and durable.
Advice with regard to it will l)c gratefully received by
an old subscriber, in the August number.
Lowell, July 22, 1863. A Subscriber.
WEIGHT OF SEEDS, &C., SENT BY MAIL.
"We have received the following notice of an impor-
tant modification of the new postage law :
The fifth subdivision of the 42d instruction under
the new Post-ofilce law is hereby amended by striking
out the word txcelre and inserting thirty-tico before the
word ounces, so that it shall read as follows : The
weight of packages of seeds, cuttings, roots and scions
to be franked, i-: limited to thirty-two ounces.
By order of the Postmaster-General,
Alexander W. Randall,
First Assistant Postmaster-General.
For the \etr Eni;land Farmer.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD.
May. — These observations are taken for and un-
der the direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of May was 59° ;
average midday temperature, 67°. The corres-
ponding figures for May, 1862, were 59° and 69°.
AYarmest day, the 22d, averaging 77° ; coldest
day, the 7th, averaging 38°. Highest tempera-
ture, 90° ; lowest do., 37°.
Average height of mercury in the barometer,
29.23 inches ; do. for May, 1862, 29.21 inches.
Highest daily average, 29.41 inches, on the 27th;
lowest do., 28.74 inches, on the 2d. Range of
mercury from 28.69 inches to 29.44 inches. Rain
fell on "ten days ; snow on one day. Amount of
rain and melted snow, 8.02 inches ; do. of snow,
2 inches. Corresponding figures for May, 1862,
rain, 1.74 inches — no snow. There were five en-
tirely clear days, on four days the sky was en-
tirely overcast.
A snow storm occurred on the 6th. The winds
during the month were rather stronger than usual.
June. — The average temperature of June was
65° ; average midday temperature, 72°. The cor-
responding figures for June, 1862, were 62° and
70°. Wannest day, the 28th, averaging 77° ; cold-
est day, the 17th, averaging 56°. Highest tem-
perature, 88° ; lowest do., 50°.
Average iieight of mercury in the barometer,
29.18 inches; do. for June, "l862, 29.18 inches.
Highest daily average, 29.44 inches, on the 25th ;
lowest do., 28.75 inches, on the 1st. Range of
mercury from 28.70 inches to 29.48 inches. Rain
fell on nine days; amount of rain, 1.45 inches;
thirteen rainy days and 5.14 inches of rain during
June, 1862.
There were no entirely clear days ; there was no
day during which the sky was entirely overcast.
During June, 1862, there was no clear day, but
there were six entirely overcast.
Amoiuit of rain, March, April, May and June,
11.11 inches; do. same months, 1862, 12.85 inch-
es. The early drought of this year will be re-
membered. 'I'he total fidl of rain this year and
last do not differ much ; while the diff'erence be-
tween the iiinuunt in the month of June this year
and 1 -t i>^ '•'■•ii ;rk-'ble.
The barometrical comparison above will be not-
ed with interest.
Every crop, except hay and fruit, promises un-
usually well in this vicinity. The hay crop, if
well secured, will fall but little below the average
in intrinsic value. There will be no fruit of con-
sequence. A. c.
Claremont, N. E., July 16, 1863.
Fur the New England Farmer.
DEVELOFTiIElS'T OF RESOURCES THE
PARENT OP CIVILIZATION.
Unlike the lower animals, man is a progressive
being. The first bird's nest or beaver's dam was
undoubtedly constructed with as much skill as any
at the present day, and the faculties of mind which
these creatures bring to bear in their mechanical
operations are merely instinctive, and are just as
much a part of themselves as any part of their
physical organization. Consequently, they and
their habits remain alike unchanged, age after age.
Not so with man. Born into the world the most
helpless and least instinctive of all God's crea-
tures, he requires paternal care to lead him on,
until his faculties become developed to a degree
such as to enable him to clothe, feed and shelter
himself He is then enabled to meet the trials of
life, and beginning where his predecessors left off,
progress upward and onward in that endless ca-
reer of human iiDprovement which makes the civ-
ilization of one age, the barbarism of the future.
The materials of which the earth is composed,
with all its productions and surroundings, are one
grand mass of raw materials, and out of this mass
man develops those resources of which every ele-
ment of human civilization is composed, and the
state of society of any people is determined by
the extent to which this development is carried.
This mass comprises everything, from the immor-
tal mind of man, the crowning work of infinite
wisdom and power, down to the minutest particle
of inert matter, which, after undergoing all the
changes incident to unbounded epochs of geolog-
ical transformation, may now lie near the surface
of the earth, preparing to enter into some plant
to help give it that nourishment which causes it
to yield itself, or its fruits, to the benefit of man,
or perhaps awaits the chances of being brought
into some useful position, in coming time. The
development of resources being the great means
by which all human advancement is made, either
in the acquisition of knowledge, wealth or power
— in the advancement of humanity in mental or
material greatness — in everything worth aspiring
for by man, beyond the mere gratification of the
present moment, it becomes us, in whatever sphere
of life we may be placed, to use every legitimate
means for this purpose, to the best possible ad-
vantage.
It is interesting to trace, step by step, the birth
and growth of the arts, sciences and literature a;-
far as the date which imperfect history gives u.-
will permit, and to note the humble and unpre
tending origin, of what, at the i)resent day, an
among the most important of these. For exam
pie, take agriculture. In Eden, the tilhng ami
dressing of the garden were the commencement o'
this art. Here, the resources of the vogetabh
kingdom were first developed by human labor,
and whatever, in the degree of perfection to whicl
this, the erpntpst of human arts, has no" • <• -nori
282
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept,
•we may look upon with admiration in all its mag-
nitude, importance and usefulness, sprang from
that little germ of Adam and Eve's labor in the
Garden, and is the result of the slow growth of
ages, each step as humble as its commencement,
with the help of other arts which, in the process
of their growth, have helped it in rising to its
present position.
It must ever be remembered that all the arts,
sciences and literature, are really but different
parts of one great institution, which is civilization
It is the development of the earth in its progress
toward heavenly perfection, in the image of which
— however faint the likeness may be — every ma-
terial thing bearing the approval of God may be
supposed to be ; it is the development of the spir-
itual powers of man, the intellectual, moral and
religious, which are the parts created in the image
of God, in their advancement in the finite sphere
toward infinite perfection ; it is that which is yet
to make the "desert bloom and blossom as the
rose," both in the material and the mental world.
As was said, "the arts, sciences and literature
are all but parts of one institution," and whatever
results beneficially to one, is a benefit to all, just
as a fortunate occurrence to one member of a fam-
ily is beneficial to the rest. If a new power, like
that of steam, is brought into requisition in such
a manner that the implements of the farmer can
be manufactured at less cost to the manufacturer,
than they can be supplied to the farmer at a re-
duced pi'ice, while the manufacturer still reserves
a part of the saving to himself, both being the
gainers. The farmer is also enabled to renew his
tools more frequently, and thus produces his crops
at less cost, and supplies all classes with food at a
reduced price, and the improvement in the manu-
facture of agricultural implements is therefore ad-
vantageous to all. It is an advantage too in the
mental world, for an abundance of material re-
sources gives its possessor a better opportunity
than he otherwise could have, to acquire knowl-
edge. Besides, the greater the extent to which
the material resources of a region are developed,
the better the opportunity of the scholar to learn,
for in the development of those resources he finds
both a field in which to labor, and tools to labor
with. The astronomer who is observing the
heavens in the acquisition of scientific knowledge,
uses the telescope, which is the production of some
of the mechanical arts, and on which has been lav-
ished wealth, to bring it to the degree of perfec-
tion, which it now occupies.
The nations which occupy the highest position
in wealth, are those which are most intelligent ;
and not only does the possession of wealth con-
duce to the acquisition of knowledge, but the pos-
session of knowledge conduces to the acquisition
of wealth. The knowledge of mathematics is in-
dispensable to every man of business. The
knowledge of the principles of mechanics to the
mechanic, and of chemistry to the farmer, are of
great importance, for they point out the way by
which they can save a vast amount of labor in the
accomplishment of certain objects, connected with
their business. Thus it is through all the vast
area of civilization. The arts, sciences, knowl-
edge, wealth, power, intellect, all move hand in
hand. Whatever may be of advantage to one, is
of advantage to all. Together, they lift races
from the obscurity of ignorance, imbecility and
degradation, to all the advantages of an enlight-
ened state of society, while the loss of any one of
these is in a measure the loss of all, and the de-
generacy of the race. Whoever develops mental
or material resources, is a public benefactor. The
inhabitants of Brobdignag considered the man
who made two spires of grass grow where but one
grew before, to be of greater value to mankind,
than the whole race of politicians. Such a man,
and also the man who can make two ideas grow
where but one grew before, or discover some truth
which may be of value to humanity, is certainly
doing something in the great cause of human civ-
ilization. Monthly Reader.
PAKMINQ IN FLORIDA.
From "Notes on Florida," by H. T. Williams, in
the Country Oentleman, we copy the following
statement of what a farmer may do in Florida :
After the settler has chosen ground for a resi-
dence, in January he can plant his early vegeta-
bles, and by March and April gather them and
send them to market. After this has been done,
he can plant his sugar cane, corn and sweet pota-
toes, or any other crop. In the fall he can plant
his root crop and gather his corn and sugar cane,
and at the end of the year gather his root crops.
The profits from the sale of his early vegetablea
will be several hundred dollars, from his corn and
sugar cane $600 to $1000 more, and from his
root crops several hundred more. During all this
time his family need not be idle, but if they live
where the gherkin grows wild, they can gather
and make pickles, which sell for cash in Northern
markets, or they can attend to silk, and |his, to-
gether with the gherkin, will make several hun-
dred more. He can also during this time plant
his fruit trees, such as the orange, &c., and also a
piece of ground for arrowroot, and within five
years he will be receiving a yearly income of sev-
eral thousand dollars. Any order may be used,
but if a person employs his time both summer and
winter judiciously, I can guarantee to him a year-
ly income of over one thousand dollars, and in
very many instances several thousand. But suf-
fice it to say that there is no lack of articles to
cultivate, in the culture of which much money
can be made, and there is plenty of soil suitable
for them. The whole year can be employed in
the cultivation of profitable crops.
Killing Weeds by Law. — Alexander 11, of
Scotland, denounced that man to be a traitor "who
poisons the king's lands with weeds, and introdu-
ces thereby a host of enemies." And it was said
that whoever was found to have three heads of
the common starwort among his corn, was fined a
sheep for each stalk. In Denmark, the farmers
are bound by law to destroy the corn-marigold ;
in France a farmer may sue his neighbor who neg-
lects to eradicate the thistles upon his land at the
proper season. In Australia a similar regulation
has been imposed by legislative authority, with,
it is said, the most beneficial results. In Canada,
we believe, enactments have been issued against
allowing thistles to ripen on the roadsides and ex-
posed public situations, both from the Legislature
and township corporations. In Wisconsin a law
of the State requires overseers of highways to de-
stroy horse sorrel, burdock and Canada thistles,
in the highway.
1863,
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
283
LETTER FROM THE FARM.
The season— ITeavy and Continuous Rains— The Crops — Lessons
from the Martins — Wlicre do they go — Amount of Rain Fall
in 14 Dajrs — Compensations.
Concord, August 1, 1863.
GEN'TLE>rEN : — Haying progresses slowly. We
have had but one clearly unqualified hay-day for
nearly ilirce ircelcs. The grass has mostly gone out
of blossom, has turned dark-colored, and when cut
and cured well, will not be nearly so valuable as
though it had been cut earlier and in good weath-
er. The peculiAr gum which adheres to the scythe
when cutting grass that is in blossom, and in dry
veather, has entirely disappeared, as none of it is
seen upon the scythe when mowing now. The
thorough ripening of the grass, also, has probably
exhausted the stems and leaves of their nutritive
properties in perfecting its seed, and a considera-
ble portion of the sugar and starch of the plants
has been converted into woody fibre. It will be
much less valuable, therefore, than grass cut and
made into hay in good weather. But this is not
all. Much of the hay got into the barn during the
last three weeks, has heen exposed to the dews of
several nights, and the peltings of heavy rains for
two or three days.
The Wlieat crop will be unfavorably affected by
these long-continued and frequent rains. Some
tliat I have seen is almost black.
Fields of Barley are badly prostrated, and much
of it must be ruined in consequence. The rains
have been so frequent and heavy upon them, that
no power of sun and wind will bring them up
again.
Indian Corn looks well, is dark-colored, stocky,
and IS growing rapidly. Some of it has been beaten
down and broken, but it has generally I'isen again
and promises well.
The Potato fields appear finely now, and if the
rain through August is not too abundant, I can
see no reason why the crop should not be a good
one.
Iiessons from the Martms.
I have six Martin hoiuses, or boxes, about the
buildings. They are inhabited by the Fuijjle Mar-
tin, (Hirundo puqmrea.) The color of the male is
"dark bluish-pur[)le, and glossy ; wings and forked
tail brownish black. Female and young bluish-
brown ,• belly whitish." Some of the boxes were
erected on poles seven or eight years ago. The
birds came to them at first timidly, but upon a
better acquaintance with us, their numbers have
increased, so that the six houses were crowded be-
fore their late departure. "Satisfied with their re-
ception and success, like so many contented and
faithful domestics, they return year after year to
the same station." It is, a matter of indifference
to them whether the "mansion be carved and
painted, or humbled into the ho8{>itable shell of the
calabash or gourd."
From observation and notes made for nearly
twenty successive years, I believe that the most of
the common barn swallows and martins leave this
neighborhood during the last few days of July, and
strange as it may seem, a large proportion of them
on the 27th day of July. Swallows may be seen
later, even into September, but they are exceptions
to the general rule. Let us see what happened on
the 27th, this year.
During that day their houses were covered with
these busy, chattering people. Numbers of them
would soar into the air, separate there, and with a
wide sweep and outstretched wings sail beautiful-
ly back to the homes where they had been nur-
tured and bred, and which they were about to
leave. When assembled again, nothing could be
more social than they were. They would grace-
fully bow, change places, and all talk together att
though each one had some special message which
must be immediately delivered ! Thus, in this
busy manner, they spent the day, giving a bright
example of cheerfulness and affectionate regard for
each other. Th^y knew that the time for their de-
parture was at hand — we did not — yet there were
no murmurings or signs of discontent. They ac-
cepted their necessary change with a joyous con-
fidence and trust, or faith — what can be more like
a true faith — which would become reasoning crea-
tures, in the changes which an All-wise being has
ordained for them. What valuable lessons we
have daily opportunity of learning from one or an-
other of the interesting creatures which have been
placed about us on The Farm !
But where were the martins on the 28th ? Who
was wakened by their cheerful clamor on that
morning ? Their houses were nearly vacant, and
their familiar twitterings only occasionally heard.
The unusual silence was saddening, and borrowing
Tom Moore, I exclaimed,
I feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whoie I'u'hts are fle.l, whose garlands dead,
Ami all but me departed.
One or two parent birds, with a few young ones,
not yet strong enough to take the wing for a long
journey, were all that were left of the gay throng
of yesterday. The old birds were restless and full
of solicitude. They would dart off with almost
lightning speed, and then return to their tender
charge, urging them to try their pinions, when the
young would timidly rise, but soon flutter in un-
certain motion, back to the friendly roof from
whence they had risen. A day's practice, howev-
er, gave them new power, for at night they seemed
quite courageous and strong.
Who decided how many, and what parent birds
should remain to teach their young to pierce the
skies and follow to the distant lands whither most
of them had gone ? Who ? Who but He who
does not even let a sparrow fall to the ground
284
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
Avithout His knowledge ? Ah, faithless and un-
grateful man, that will not see the Divine Power
which is exerted over all its creatures ! He will
lead them on their way, "give them their meat in
due season," and gather their young around them
again in the green fields selected as their new
home !
Mr. White, the amiable author of the History
of Sdborne, addresses these birds with great feel-
ing and beauty :
"Amusive birds ! say where your hid retreat,
When the frost rages, and the tempests beat ?
Whence your return, by such nice instinct led.
When Spring, sweet season, lifts her blooming head ?
Such bafiled searches mock man's prying pride, —
The God of Nature is your secret guide."
During the twilight of the 28th, several stran-
gers appeared, looked into '.he boxes, chatted with
our little family in perfect harmony, and as the
evening advanced, quietly settled to rest. Types
of duty, confidence and love. Who is so dull as
not to learn a useful lesson of the beautiful, social
martins ? Some morning lounger may complain, —
"Say, chattering bird, that dar'st invade
My slumbers with thy serenade ;
******
For with thy e.xecrable scream,
Thou wak'st me from a golden dream."
For several evenings after the 27th, during twi-
light, several martins have appeared, twittering
and looking about with an uneasy sociability, but
in the following morning, their places are vacant,
to see them no more until they have visited far
distant and sunnier climes, These, I presume, are
birds from the North, on their way South, though,
it is possible, they are some of our own birds, hav-
ing been to the woods, or somewhere else, for
temporary purposes.
Before my letter is published, I trust we shall
have clear skies. It is now three weeks since the
rain began to fall, and during that whole time we
have had but one day which was a good hay day !
At Lowell, during 14 days out of 24, in July, rain
fell amounting to 10.023 inches, or about one-
quarter of the amount that usually falls during a
whole year ! A Lawrence correspondent of the
Boston Journal, in the following table, shows the
amount of rain that has fallen for the last seven
years, in the month of July. The amount for this
year is more than double the average amount.
One of the freaks of nature is discernable in the
table, viz : no rain fell at all during the month of
July, 1859, which is a great contrast from 8,750
inches for the present month :
July, 1857 4.880 inches of rain fell.
»' 1808 3.990 " " "
" 18-9 0.IOO " " "
" 1860 5.510 " " "
" 1861 4.970 " " "
«' 1862 4.610 " " "
" 1863 8.7.0 " " "
On reference to my Journal, I find that the
moni'' of juiv. JH.jH, wns cjultr like that of July,
1863. Rain fell almost every day for about three
weeks, and the weather, unlike this July weather,
was quite cold. Hotel-keepjrs, in Boston, had
fires kindled, and so did I for several evenings.
Hay caps have paid for themselves in the service
they have rendered during this "catching spell.'
There are some compensations, however, in this
drenching, as well as in the drought. We must
summon them before us as one source of consola-
tion, and find a still greater in the firm belief that
all these atmospheric extremes are a part of the
universal laws which bring us seed-time and har-
vest, summer and winter, and all that feeds and
sustains in being.
Very truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Nourse, Eaton & Toiman.
NBW BOOKS.
A PRACTiciL Treatise on the most obvious Diseases Peculiar
to Horses, together with directions for their most rational
Treatment ; containing, also, some valuable information on
the Art of Shoeing Horses. By George H. Dadd, V. S. Chi-
cago: Lord & Smith, Publishers, 1863.
The author of this work makes veterinary prac-
tice the business of life, — he is studious, observ-
ing and enthusiastic in his profession, and never
tires in his endeavors to mitigate the sufferings of
the horse, and secure to his owner a sound and
profitable servant. In this brief work he has no-
ticed most of the diseases which afflict the horse ;
and given the nature of the disease and the treat-
ment to be observed in it. In doing this, he has
used common terms that may be understood by
most persons, and in so plain and direct a man-
ner that his prescriptions may at once be made
available. His long experience in his profession,
and his strong attachment to it, will give this book
currency wherever he is known. It is for sale by
A. Williams & Co., 100 Washington Street.
Cattle and their Diseases, embracing their History and
Breeds, crossing and breeding, and Feeding and Management ;
with the diseases to which they are subject, and tlie Remedies
best adapted to their cure. To which is added a list of the
medicines used in treating Cattle. By Robert Jennin'gs, V.
S. Philadelphia: John E Potter, Publisher, 1863. For sale
by A. Willaims k Co., 100 Washington Street, Boston, and C,
M. Sa.xton, Park Row, New York.
This is a well printed book of 340 pages, and
is illustrated with diagrams and numerous engrav-
ings. The author has been long and favorably be-
fore the public as a Veterinary Surgeon. The
work discusses the History and Breeds of Cattle ;
Crossing and Breeding ; Feeding and Manage-
ment ; Diseases and their Remedies ; Surgical
Operations ; with a list of Medicines used in treat-
ing Cattle, and the doses to be employed. This
last item is one of importance to those unaccus-
tomed to administering medicines. The book is
well written, is humane in its teachings, and, upon
examination, will commend itself to the reader.
God most times takes off the earthly garments
of old people slowly, in order, no doubt, not to
fp-hten then.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
285
THE BEST WAY TO USE BONES.
Eds. Co. Gent.— The "best possible way" to
make bone phosphate, which J. M. A. inquires for
in your paper, and which you say you and many
of your readers desire to know, is as follows :
Take one ton of ground bone (the finer the bet-
ter,) and i an ox-cart load load (1 of a cord) of
good friable soil, which will not break or cake by
drying, and which is free from sods and stones, no
matter how wet it may be when used. Place a
layer of the soil and a layer of the bone, of about
equal thickness, upon each other, (soil at the bot-
tom) on the barn floor, or under cover in a shed
or outbuilding, leaving a bushel or two of the soil
to cover the heap when all the rest is put togeth-
er. The heap will be three to four feet wide at
the bottom, and about twice as long. In forty-
eight hours it will be too hot to hold your hand in.
Let it remain undisturbed until the heap begins
to cool, which will be in a week or ten days. Then
'•throw over" the heap by "chopping it down"
•with a shovel and moving it "in end," thoroughly
mixing the soil and bone. In a day or two it will
heat again. Let it remain until it cools, or for
eight or ten days ; then throw it over in the same
manner again. In a few days it will heat again,
unless the previous fermentations have exhausted
all the moisture in the soil and bone. Throw over
each ten days until all the moisture is thus ex-
hausted and it does not ferment any more ; then
it will be fit for use, and can be put away in old
barrels, and it will be ready for use, without dete-
rioration, for ten years.
All that is necessary to make bones operate as
a manure is decomposition — ^•otthuj ; and to pro-
duce this process the bone only needs to be ground
or broken 5ne, and to be subjected to moisture in
warm weather witli some substance that will ab-
sorb or retain the gases evolved during the pro-
cess. Soil furnishes the essential requisites, and
nothing more is needed to make bones an excel-
lent and durable manure.
This is not a theoretical rule, merely. I have
used many tons prepared in this manner during
the last twelve to fifteen years. I have tried it
upon the same field, and side by side with the su-
perphosphates of different manufacturers, and
always saw the best and most permanent eftects
from the same weight of bone ))repared in this
manner, a ton of which costs, exclusive of the la-
bor and soil, about half as much as a ton of su-
perphosphate.
I want to say further, that, before treating bones
in this manner, I tried several methods recommend-
ed by the farming newspapers without much satis-
faction. I mixed half a ton of ground bones with
twenty bushels of leached ashes, and half a ton
with twelve bushels of unleached ashes, and the
workmen could not open their eyes in the barn
next morning until the doors and windows had
been open long enough to let the ammonia out !
As soon as I saw the efl'ect of this process, I sent
for a load or two of spent tan to mix with it ; and
thus saved a part of the ammonia, but the effect
of this compost was not very striking.
I next mixed a ton of bone with wet yellow
sand — a material about half-way between sharp
sand and loam. This fermented finely, but it
smelt so bad, and was so nasty, that I had to pay
an exorbitant price to get it applied to the land.
It had a good effect however.
I then mixed a ton of bone with a ton of
ground plaster. I found the plaster was wholly
incapable of keeping down the carrion smell, or
of absorbing the manure given out in the form of
gases. Water had to be added to this heap to
support the fermentation, and the plaster dried
hard and in lumps, and did not seem to partici-
pate in the fermentive process as the soil does.
This did not have so good an effect as the bone
and sand ; and none of these compounds was
equal to that prepared with soil.
I will also add that the newest bone is the best
The old dry bones which are collected after expo-
sure to the weather for years, have lost much of
their virtue, and will not heat so soon nor so much
as those which have not lost their gelatine in that
manner. George Haskell.
— Countn/ Omtleman.
Remarks. — We like Mr. Haskell's plan of re-
ducing bones, as far as he has developed it, but
the really difficult part of the matter, he says noth-
ing al)out, — and that is, hmo to grind the bones.
There are few things of this nature so difficult to
accomplish as this. Granite, blue pebble stones
from the beach, nay, ten-penny nails, are not half
so hard to reduce to powder as a bone ! We have
never yet known a mill that will grind a bone in
its crude condition. Even the manufacturers of
superphosphate are obliged to expel all the ani-
mal or fatty matter from the bones before they
can grind them. Then the bones are ground, and
the matter that was expelled is returned to them
in a liquid form.
Every farmer will feel obliged to Mr. Haskell
for making known his process of reducing bones,
but will look to him with interest for information
how to break or yrind them so that fermentation
in them may be secured.
We co-n purchase what is called "ground bone,"
— but which is, in fact, broken bone. That, how-
ever, is not what is wanted. We all desire to
know how to reduce the bones which accumidote
upon the farm, so that we can use them annually
upon our crops. Will Mr. Haskell be kind
enough to inform us how we can accomplish this ?
Fur the Hew Knglaml Farihtrr.
SHALL I BUY A FARMP
Mr. Editor : — I am out of business and out
of health, and come to you for advice. The whole
dream of my life has been to own a farm, and
now, after an experience of fifteen years in a store
— and most of that time in a poor state of health
— I find myself with only about $1.500 — in ready
money — no business, and in a quandary as to what
' I shall do. As an offset to some of my troubles,
I I have one of the best wives in the world, admir-
' ably calculated for a farm, both by nature and in-
clination, (having been brought up on a farm,)
and four good children, the eldest a boy of thir-
teen, the next a girl of nine, the other two, boys
younger.
I have no practical knowledge of farming, but have
for years been a constant student of agricultur-
al works — have full bound sets of the N. E. Farm-
286
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
er, Albany Cidtivator, &c., &c., and with the idea,
that as soon as I possessed money enough, I
would buy a farm, I have made these works my
principal reading. Now what I fear is, that, if I
buy a farm and run in debt for a gi-eater part of
it, as I should be obliged to with my present
means, I should not be able to get a living. What
do you think ? The first year would undoubted-
ly be hard for me.
I have the reputation of being a practical, busi-
ness man, and a thorough accountant, but whether
that would be any help to me in my new vocation,
I know not, — but with the idea impressed on my
mind that if we had a pleasant farm, we should be
a happier, healthier, and better family, I have
written to you in hopes you would enlighten me.
Yours truly, Quandary.
Maiden, July 2\st, 1863.
Remarks. — "Shall I buy a farm ?" No — you
cannot with much more propriety than we could
enter your room as an accountant, and expect to
succeed. You must feel your way, and not risk
your capital. Let that be at interest, or most of
it. Hire a place of half a dozen acres in a good
neighborhood, and try farming a year or two in
that way, and occasionally work a week or two
with some intelligent, practical farmer who will
converse with you upon agricultural matters. With
such a wife as you describe — to say nothing of the
children — you are a rich man. Many a capitalist
would count out and lay down thousands, for such
a gift. You will do well enough. But do not be
in a hurry about farming. Please follow the sug-
gestion offered, and by-and-by write us again.
For the New England Farmer.
FARMEKS versus MECHANICS.
Mr. Editor : — I occasionally read the advice
for farmers to have a shop, with a set of tools suf-
ficient for ordinary carpenter's work. The advice
is good, but farmers, at this age, ought to go fur-
ther, and study into the machinist's trade some, for
so many machines are now being made to perform
farm work, it is getting to be absolutely necessary
to know how to use them. Often good machines
are condemned, when the fault is a want of knowl-
edge how to use them.
1 know a man that bought a mowing machine
and cut a large lot of hay with it, and liked it.
At last he broke the cutter-bar, got it repaired,
broke it again, again put it in order and asked a
friend to try it who had some mechanical gump-
tion, but before he got the "hang of it," it broke
again ! What was the difficulty ? Nothing, only
the journal next the crank had never been oiled,
being out of sight, under the seat ! The result
was, that the journal rapidly wore into an ellipti-
cal form, and smashed things up, as has been de-
scribed. Now the man does not like that kind of
mower !
The machinist will fit up a mower nicely — the
shafting running free when cool — the farmer takes
it into the field, where it goes well a little while,
then the team begins to sweat, and pull hard, and
the machine is pronounced a hard-going thing,
while all it wants, perhaps, to make it go easy, is
the slight slacking of the cap bolts in some place,
or a few drops of oil.
It is astonishing, what a friction-gripe a close-
fitting bearing will take when it is inclined to
heat. Machines with wood frames, that lay at
rest like those for farmers, shrink and spring,
throwing the bearings out of line, or some nut
gets started by the jar when at work, and gets
things out of place. Farmers should learn quick-
ly to detect anything of this kind, and know how
to fix it. Most farmers have had no "rolling
stock," but common wheels, which have a better
chance to "wriggle" about than shafts in rigid
boxes. But nice caniagesare fitted so snug some-
times as to heat, making cruel work for the
horses. Four ladies were stopped in their car-
riage in front of my shop, making "signals of dis-
tress." I went out, and they wanted me to see
why the hind wheel would not go around ? When
I assured them that all was right, excepting a trifle
too much heat in the axle for want of oil, it waa
hard to make them believe it. No appliance
would start the wheel, but what would tear the
work to pieces, until the heat left.
All ought to see the importance of attention to
the condition of journal-boxes, especially where
the poor dumb beast is the motive power that
keeps them in motion. The South Ameiicans
transport goods aci'oss the Pampas in great clum-
sy carts, all made of wood and raw hide, drawn by
six yoke of oxen, and they never grease the axles,
going in trains of twelve teams to protect each
other from Indians. These axles can be heard for
miles. That must be "music and drawing," but
beef is cheap there ! The Canadians come into
St. Paul, Minnesota, in the same way, but have
smaller teams ; they can be heard coming long
before they can be seen. We are surprised that
they can be so stupid, making such a waste of
power and infernal din. Let us see to it, that we
are not stupid in any degree in the same direction.
A little fat of dead animals will save a great
amount of fat in live ones. In oiling, never use
whale oil, such as is often burnt in the house ; it
is worse than nothing in a little time. I use the
best of sperm oil ; there may be other good lubri-
cators, but none are good that gum.
Now a few words on the strength of metals and
power machines. These should be used more by
farmers, for most all good land is more or less in-
fested with rocks or stumps. Machines to remove
these must have an immense concentrative power ;
if they have this, and are fastened to an unknown
resistance by ignorant hands, their own power will
be used for their own destruction, the operator
not knowing how trying it is to metals to have the
least jar or concussion, when under great tension.
Besides, it never does any good, when drawing
rocks or stumps, to jump or spring ; it will only
break something. The blacksmith sets his cold
chisel into a large bar of iron, and marks it all
around : this produces a great tension in the un-
cut portion ; a sudden jar with a blow of his ham-
mer will break it, showing the importance of a
steady draft when there is a hard pull. I have
seen thrashing kind of men breaking things to
pieces, who had not sense enough to know that
rocks and stumps cannot be jumped out. There
must be time for the vacuum being formed below,
to fill with air. Often, when they are first start-
ing, one minute's waiting will often do rnore than
the same time pulling, for when we consider that
there is fifteen tons of atmospheric pressure on a
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
287
square foot, we shall see the importance of getting
the air in before we can get the stump or rock out.
I saw in the Cultivator, some time ago, some ob-
Bervations of a correspondent who had been seeing
things on the farms in Connecticut. Among oth-
er things was a machine for pulling rocks. By his
description it was Bolles' patent. He went on to
say how good it was, but farmers could not get
them, because the exorbitant price of $225 was
charged for them, when they could be made for
$60, and leave a good margin for profit. A man
so entirely ignorant of what he was writing, should
not have shown it, and make farmers think that
he knew, and give the impression that mechanics
wei'e asking too much for their work. The fact
is, if that man should take three times the amount
he named, to build one of tliose machines, he
would have "nary a red" or a nickel left when it
•was done. No ; we formers get our machines
cheap, thanks to the skill of our mechanics, who
arrange their shops with such ingenious labor-sav-
ing tools, that they can duplicate our implements
at a wonderful rate. Add to this, the competition,
and we have nothing to complain of. Then, again,
farmers ought to know how to calculate the value
of labor-saving machines, and designate between
the good and worthless. Some farmers plod along
and will not use what they call "new-fangled no-
tions," when there are implements that save their
cost every year for several years. Some men use
hand tools, and think they are economical, when,
if they had thrown them away long before, it
would have shown that they understood economy.
I mean those tools that lose their capacity, and
which, after a certain amount of wear, should be
put aside. It is not economy for a strong man to
use a shovel after two inches has been worn off, or
any other tool that has lost twenty-five per cent.
of its original capacity. Caleb Bates.
Kingston, July, 1863.
A^OMEN FABMERS.
A few weeks since we copied an article written
by Miss Delia Roberts, of Pekin, Niagara Co.,
N. Y., in reply to objections of a correspondent
of the Rural New Yorker against women engag-
ing in the out-door labor of the farm. A late
number of the same journal contains an account,
by Mr. Henry Wright, of a visit to the farm of
Marvin Roberts, father of Delia from which we
copy the following statement of the large amount
of labor performed by a fomily of girls :
From the middle of April to this time (two
months) the following work has been done : — One
hundred acres of oats have been put in, which now
look very promising ; thirty-five acres of flax, and
this, at present, bids fair to give a good yield.
(There is un establishment for cottoniziufj flax in
successful operation at Lockport, ten miles east.)
Ten acres of corn ; ten acres of spring wheat ;
three acres of potatoes ; four of parsnips and car-
rots ; six of beans ; and all the ploughing, har-
rowing, sowing, rolling, planting and cultivating
necessary to get these crops in and up to their
present state, has been done since the middle of
April.
At least one-half of all this labor of getting in
these 170 acres of crops has been done by tlie five
young daugliters of Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, with
the help of two hired girls. The eldest of these
seven girls is twenty-one, and the youngest twelve
years. Meantime, the house- work has been done,
mainly, by these girls by turns. They consider it
a jirivilege to work out-doors at jjlougliing, and
harrowing, and putting in, and tending the crops,
rather than work in tlie house. These crops are
to be tended and harvested, together with forty
acres of hay ; and these girls are expected to do
at least one-half of the work.
Besides all this, 17.3 acres are to be ])loughed
this fall, for next year's crops, instead of pluugh-
ing in the spring, as they have formerly done ; the
largest share of this to be done by these young
girls. It is a matter of choice in these Ymikce
girls — for Yankee girls they are, by parentage —
thus to work on the farm, rather than in factories
or at sewing.
SUNSET AFTEK A SHOWEK.
Over tlie hill tops, TjI.! upon fold,
Like blooil-staineii banners within the sWy,
Braided with crimson, and fringed with gold.
In a sea of amber the spent clouds lie.
Down in the valley the slumb'rous trees
Droop, heavily jeweled with fallen rain ;
And a spicy scented, tremulous breeze
In ripples crosses the bending grain.
The winding river like silver gleams
Through dreamy vistas that melt and fade ;
And the sunliglit, filling in slanting beams,
Strikes deep in the heart of the forest's shade.
On distant uplands the lonely pine
Is ringed with purple and bound with fire ;
The stones in the church-yard glance and shine ;
And the weather-vane is a gilded wire.
The tapering cedar, like a spear.
Shoots out of the cliff, where stands revealed
The rocky ledge ; ami tlie herd appear
Like spots of color within the field.
And the braided banners of cloud are seen
To fiercer burn, as with sudden shame ;
While the vale below and the hills between
Are drowned in a yellow mist of flame.
And the farmer's boy, all aglare with liglit,
Looks over the cliff where the cedars grow,
And shades with his hand his dazzled sight,
And calls to his comrades down below.
Then the brazen woodlands echo and ring,
And the earlh Ami i^ky seem to shout with him ;
A pearly arch is the hawk's fleet wing ;
And the sweltering landiicai>c seems to swim.
On yonder hill siile a cottage shines —
The window westward flashes and gloirs—
It nestles amid its shelter vines
Of glistening ivy like a rose.
And there in the porch two lovers woo—
Her slender figure his arms enfold ;
While two doves in the do'-e-cole kiss and coo.
And ruffle their necks of green and gold.
Harjjerfor Augutt.
^^ During the past year tlie government has
lost 11,000 liorses by hattle and disease. Tlif aver-
a{?e number daily reci-ivcil at the veterinary lui^pi-
tals at Wasliiiiizton alone was over 100, of which
not more than ono-lialf are returned for duty. It
was claimed that a larjic proportion of lliis mortal-
ity might be saved by the einploymcni of n-gularly
trained veterinary surgeons in the army.
Steam was, till the other day, the devil that we
dreaded. Every pot made by human potter or
brazier had a h'll..' in its cover to let off ihe ene-
mv. But the Marquis of Worcester, Watt and
p'iilton, bethought themselves that where was
power was not devil, l)ut God ; that it must be
availed of, and not bv any means let off and wasted.
288
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
STONES.
When lands are to be laid to grass, great care
should be had to free the surface of all incum-
brances, and render it as smooth and level as pos-
sible, in order to facilitate the operation of the
scythe or mowing machine. On most lands, there
are generally many stones, which, although of
small size, are serious impediments to the mower.
These should be picked either before or after sow-
ing the grass seed, and not piled on the field but
taken oif by the cart or drag. An implement
called a "stone picker" has been invented, which
is said to work admirably, and to be capable of
saving three-fourths of the expense of picking by
hand. In a neighborhood of very stony farms it
would be well to look after such a machine.
Where the surface of a field is covered with
stones, it is impossible to get all the grass, and
when the bottom is thick, a considerable portion of
the crop will be beneath the range of the scythe.
On fields that have been some time laid down,
one inch of the bottom is often worth two of the
top ; consequently a "close cut" is very important.
It is poor policy to pile stones on the field, either
in small or large heaps. They are not got rid of
in this way. The most economical method is to
pick them into a cart and convey them directly to
the lines where they are to be constructed into
fence, or used for some other purpose.
Now that the mowing machine has come into
so general use, it is more important than ever that
the surface of mowing lands should be level and
free from stones.
Many people lay down lands in August and
September,- -the practice is a good one, — and
•when the operation is going on in these two
months, let it be remembered, that it is h-ue econ-
omy to leave the field smooth and clear of ob-
structions either to mowing machine or scythe.
The Agricultural College Land Grants.
— The certificates for land to be issued to those
States which have accepted the agricultural college
grant as being signed at the general land office in
Washington and in a few days the first issue will
be made to the State off" Rhode Island, which was
the first to avail itself of the grant.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
FLEAS ON A DOG.
Can you tell me of any method to kill fleas on a dog ?
I have a valuable setter dog whose hair is very long.
I have tried whiskey, snuff, castile soap and tobacco
steeped in water. All of these they fat on. If you
can inform me through your valuable paper you will
much oblige a regular subscriber. i. h. w.
Remarks. — Procure "Dodge's Infallible Vermin Ex-
terminator," and you will succeed without hurting the
dog. It is sold at 831 Broadway, New York, but
whether in Boston or not, we do not know.
CITY HAYMAKERS.
Such was the surrounding of one city church-
yard that I saw last summer, on a Volunteering
Saturday evening towards eight of the clock, when
with astonishment I beheld an old man and old
woman in it making hay. Yes, of all occupations
in this world, making hay ! It was a very con-
fined patch of churchyard lying between Grace
church Street and the Tower, capable of yielding
say, an apronful of hay. By what means the old
man and woman had got into it with an almost
toothless, haymaking rake, I could not fathom.
No open window was within view ; no window at
all was within view sufficiently near the ground
to have enabled their old legs to descend from it ;
the rusty churchyard gate was locked, the mouldy
church was locked. Gravely among the graves
they made hay, all alone by themselves. They
looked like Time and his wife. There was but
the one rake between them, and they had hold of
it in a pastorally loving manner, and there was
hay on the old woman's black bonnet, as if the
old man had recently been playful. The old man
was quite an obsolete old man, in knee-breeches
and coarse gray stockings, and the old woman wore
mittens like unto his stockings in texture and in
color. They took no heed of me as I looked on,
unable to account for them. The old woman was
much too bright for a pew-opener, the old man
too meek for a beadle. On an old tombstone in
the foreground between me and them were two
cherubims ; but for those celestial eml)ellishment8
being represented as having no possible use for
knee-breeches, stockings, or mittens, I should
have compared them with the haymakers, and
sought a likeness. I coughed and awoke the
echoes ; but the haymakers never looked at me.
They used the rake with a measured action, draw-
ing the scanty crop towards them ; and so I was
fain to leave them under three yards and a half
of darkening sky, gravely making hay among the
graves, all alone by themselves. Perhaps they
were spectres, and I wanted a medium ? — Dickens'
All the Year Bound.
Tomato Corn Cakes — A Spanish Recipe. —
Take a dozen ears of green corn ; split the rows
of kernels lengthwise with a knife, then shave off
and mash with a rolling pin ; or grate off the ker-
nels fine ; scald a dozen medium-sized tomatoes
and remove the skins ; beat three eggs well, and
mix the whole with a pint of milk, and flour
enough to make a batter ; add salt, pepper and
allspice to the taste ; fry on a griddle in the same
manner as buckwheat cakes, avoiding excess of
grease.
J^^Mr. Bailey Sargent, seventy-seven years old,
of Orford, N. H., with his own hands, sowed and
harrowed this spring, fifty-three bushels of oats on
ten acres of land, which he also plouglied without
assistance, beside doing much other out-door farm-
ing work. "Young America" must look to its lau-
rels when veterans are possessed of such untiring
endurance.
!^" A railway from the Canadian border to the
Pacific British possessions, is so seriously contem-
plated by the English government, that they have
resolved to grant a yearly subsidy of £12,500, and
also a large tract of land, to construct a road across
the continent.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
28tf
For the tiete England Farmer,
"WINTEK WHEAT.
Mr. Editor : — In my late ramble through
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, I
saw plenty of winter rye fields, and scarcely a
sin^^le field of winter wheat. It only surprises me
to find such universal neglect of the "main staff
of life." Where rye grows, wheat will grow, and
give as many or more bushels per acre, and ripen
at the same time. Wheat will grow and fill on
rich, stnmg land when rye often fails.
It is to be hoped the farmers may get through
with their haying so that now and then a patch
may be ploughed up to sow a little wheat upon.
Grass Rwnrd ploughed in with its decaying roots
and stubble is as good as a dressing of manure,
and much better for the crops.
First, Soak seed in salt pickle, half a peck to
four pails of water. Rake it in ashes. Second,
sow seven to eight pecks to the acre. Third, If
posvsiblc, get it in three inches deep to prevent
winter killing. Fourth, On cold clayey land sow
last week in August ; on warm land, first week in
September. Fifth, Roll if possible. Sixth, Slop-
ing lands are best, even for all grains. Seventh,
If chess grass appears heading out with the wheat,
go through and ptiU ii up.
The above rules, strictly followed, (and nothing
new'from the pen of the writer) will insure a good
crop five years out of six.
The weevil has been the great obstacle to the
farmer. Can we so readily account for it as by
the probability of its eggs being on the berry and
hatching out in the spring ? It does not a|)pear
when pickle and ashes are applied that weevil
have troubled the grain. It very materially nour-
ishes and quickens thp growth. Henry Poor.
Brooklyn, Loiuf Inland, Aug , 1863.
The School- House. — It is the duty of teach-
ers, as well as parents and school committees, to
see that the circumstances under which children
study are such as shall leave a happy impression
upon their minds ; for whatever is brought under
the frequent observation of the young must have its
influence upon their susceptible natures for good
or evil. Shabby school-houses induce slovenly hub-
its. Ill-constructed benches may not only distort
the body, but by reflex influence, the mind as well.
Conditions like these seldom fail to disgust the
learner with his school, and neutralize the best
efforts of his teachers. On the other hand, neat,
comfortable places for study may help to awaken
the association enchaining the mind and the heart
to learning and virtuous instruction with link of
gold brightening forever.
^T The Coal Company reports of coal receiv-
ed by the various roads for the week just ended,
show that the supply for the season now reaches
about four and a quarter millions of tons, some
eleven hundred or twelve hundred tliousand tons
in excess of the production to the same date last
year from the same source of supply.
It often appears in a family as if all the quali-
ties of the progenitors were potted in several jars
— some ruling quality in each son or daughter of
the house — and sometimes the unmixed tempera-
ment, the rank, unmitigated elixir, the fiiniily vice,
is drawn off in a separate individual, and the oth-
ers are proportionately relieved.
A HORSE -WITH WAKTS.
Warts are not un-*
common upon the horse>
and the inquiry is often'
made, "What will cure'
or exterminate them P"
In Mayhew's splendid
work on the horse, we
find something to the
point. He says there
are three sorts of warts.
The first is of a carti-
laginous nature, and is
contained in a distinct sac or shell. Upon the sac
being divided, the substance drops out, leaving a
perfect clean cavity which soon disappears.
The second sort is also cartilaginous, but, un-
like the first, is not contained within a cuticular
sac. It adheres firmly to the skin, and is apt to
grow large ; sometime it becomes of enormous'
bulk. The crown is rough and unsightly ; the
body is vascular, and the growth, from its magni-
tude and uneven texture, is apt to be injured,
when it never heals. This species of wart is often
to be found upon the human hand.
The third variety is hardly a true wart. It con-
sists of a cuticular case, including a soft granular
substance.
To cure the first kind, when the warts are found
to be inclosed in a defined cuticular shell, the
quickest and the more humane practice is to take a
sharp-pointed knife, and impale them, or run the
blade through each in succession. The edge
should be away from the skin, and the knife being
withdrawn with an upward cutting motion, the
sac and substance are both sundered. After this
touch the part occasionally with chloride of zinc,
one grain to an ounce of water.
When the growth proves of the fixed cartilagi-
nous kind no time should be lost in its remoral.
The quickest plan — and not, perhaps, the most
painful method — of doing this is by means of the
knife. The excrescence should be thoroughly ex-
cised, being sundered at the base. Some bleeding
will follow. This may readily be commanded by
having at hand a saucepan of water boiling over a
small fire. Into this plunge a small piece of iron,
and when heated apply it to the bleeding surface,
which will stop the flow of blood, and not destroy
the living flesh.
Some persons object to the knife. The next
best thing is the use of caustic. Strong acetic
acid is good ; the next in strength is butter of an-
timony ; then nitrate of silver, or lunar caustic,
and then sidphuric acid, made into a paste with
powdered sidphur, and applied by means of a flat
piece of wood.
In all cases of this kind, and especial!*- where
the animal is a valuable one, it is prudent to call
290
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept,
in the aid of some person whose business it is to
cure.
For the New England Farmer,
HORTICUIiTTJRAIi NOTES.
Plan Mirked Out — Early Fruits — The Strawberry — Different
Varieties do best on DitTerent Soils — Variety of Opinions —
Hovey's Seedling — Brighton Pine — Jenny Lind — Boston Pine
— Trioinphe de Gand — Cutter's Seedling — La Constante — Wil-
son— and Eleven Other Kinds — Opinion as to the best of the
Number.
Mr. Editor : — With your leave I will talk oc-
casionally with your readers in a familiar way
upon familiar topics. It is possible I may not
succeed in advancing any new ideas, but may hope
at least to impress some well known facts more
fully upon the minds of some. The old adage of
"line upon line and precept upon precept," is just
as true to-day as ever, and needs to be still prac-
tised.
As week after week passes along, I shall have
something to say upon a variety of subjects —
fruits, flowers and vegetables, old and well known
varieties, as well as the newer ones. The kinds
that are the most profitable, the manner of grow-
ing each to the best advantage, and many other
things of like nature. It is often very pleasant,
and profitable, too, to sit down and talk of straw-
berries, pears, flowers, or other things, with those
who have some knowledge of the subject ; so I
hope it may not be unpleasant or unprofitable for
your readers to listen to my perhaps rather free
and easy talks about such things ; not that I pre-
sume to be able to teach them what they should
do, but because from my connection with various
societies, and from the nature of my business,
which often takes me among the market garden-
ers and farmers of this vicinity, I have frequent
opportunities for observation. I shall take up
such things as may be suggested by the weekly
exhibitions of the Massachusstts Horticultural
Society and by my own experience. We are con-
stantly learning, and especially is this true of those
who till the soil, for almost every day brings some-
thing new ; new kinds of fruit and vegetables,
new varieties of flowers, and also new difficulties
to contend with in cultivating these things, new
diseases, new insects, &c., so that a whole lifetime
will not enable us to completely understand and
master all the difficulties that lie in our way.
Among our early fruits, and one that seems to
demand our attention is the strawberry. I con-
sider the strawberry crop one of the most profita-
ble of all crops in the immediate vicinity of a
good market, and perhaps a paying croj), even
when the fruit must be transported some consid-
erable distance to market. The average price is
about twenty cents a box through the season, and
where the fruit is of very superior quality a larger
price is obtained. There is great drfl'erence of
opinion among even good strawberry growers, as
to the best varieties to plant for profit, the prep-
aration of the soil, the kind and quantity of ma-
nure to be used, how they shall be cultivated,
whether in hills or rows, and how far apart the
rows be set, and as to many other things to which
we may refer. I am aware of the difl[iculty of
making everjbody believe as I believe, as to the
best sorts to cultivate, nor is it best they should,
for it is a well known fact that a variety may do
well in one soil and location, and not be worthy
of cultivation in another. I shall show this to be
the case before I leave the subject. There are
several varieties prominently before the public,
some of which have stood the test of time. The
Hovey's Seedhng is one of these, having been
brought into notice more than twenty years ago,
and yet it is still unsurpassed as a market fruit. It
is so familiar to all that I will not take time to de-
scribe it. All things considered, it is the most
profitable and valuable variety known to us. Its
size, productiveness and good quality, render it
very desirable. I am aware that objections, may
be brought against it. It needs and must be set
near some other variety, that its blooms may be
impregnated by the pollen of such neighboring
beds, or you will fail to obtain fruit, but when
properly cultivated it is very productive, its color
is good, hulls easily, is good flavored, bears trans-
portation well, can be picked rapidly — I have
known a young man to pick and "top off^' a hun-
dred boxes in a day of this variety, all ready for
market. It has all the good properties of a first-
rate market fruit, except the defect already de-
scribed.
We sometimes hear people condemn, or speak
disparagingly, of the Hovey, when the fact is,
their beds are filled with spurious plants, either
chance seedlings or other poor sorts that have run
in and been allowed to spread and root out the
true plants. Few cultivators can say that they
have entire beds of the true "Simon pure" Hov-
ey's Seedling. The fruit of this variety will bring
from five to ten cents more per box than most
other kinds carried to Boston market. This sort
is grown quite extensively and to great perfection
by the enterprising farmers of Belmont.
The Brighton Pine is another favorite variety
in some localities. It was raised by Mr. Scott,
of Brighton. It is lighter colored and smaller
than the Hovey, profuse bloomer, but in some lo-
calities many of these blooms prove false. It is
a fruit of good quality, good size, makes runners
freely and covers the ground well, is hardy, and
often produces very good crops. It is planted
considerably as a fertilizer for the Hovey's Seed-
ling, say one row of Brighton Pine, and than eight
or even ten, of Hovey's Seedling. One farmer
in Newton has raised more than ten thousand
boxes of this variety this season, and speaks well
of it. It has not done well with me.
The Jenny Lind is a variety that was raised by
Mr. Isaac Fay, of Cambridge, and is a fine, early
fruit. It is nearly as early as the Early Virginia,
much larger, and for all purposes a better variety.
It is held in high esteem in some localities, while
in others within a mile or two, it has been dis-
carded. The plant is a vigorous grower, making
numerous runners, completely covering the ground.
Fruit not high flavored, but good. Its earliness
is its chief recommendation. Not a good bearer.
Well worthy of cultivation.
The Boston Pine is a large berry of high flavor.
It is of the same origin as Hovey's Seedling.
Color red, but becomes pale, and consequently
not so saleable, — a vigorous grower, and valuable
as a fertilizer for its more fortunate sister, the
Hovey's Seedling. Should be grown for home
use.
Triomphe de Gand. What shall I say of that ?
It is of foreign origin, fruit large size, coxcomb
shape — looking sometimes very ugly ; it is diffi-
cult to hull, especially when the fruit is large and
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
291
ill-shapen ; quality of fruit from good to indiffer-
ent, color light red, great grower, making many
runners, and on this account said to be a good
variety for nurserymen to raise ; good bearer. It
is a favorite with some. Should say worthy of a
further trial.
The Cutter's Seedling is a variety introduced
to public notice by Mr. B. F. Cutter, of Pelham,
N. H. It is a great grower and bearer, fruit of
medium size, deficient in flavor, hardy. Many
think it worthy of extensive cultivation, but I
cannot understand why, unless the answer given
by one who grows it extensively furnishes the ex-
planation. I asked him why he grew the Cutter ?
He said, "'It is hardy, bears well, and the public
don't know the difference and will buy it, and that
is all I care for." To those who take this view of
the matter, no doubt the Cutter would be valuable
but not so for home use. I know there are those
who will differ with me in regard to this straw-
berry, but they can take my opinion for what is
worth. The Bunce Seedling proves to be the
Cutter's Seedling.
The La Constante is a foreign variety of very
large size, fine form and color, shaped somewhat
like the Hovey, but more perfectly round, of good
quality, and if it will flourish in different soils
and localities will be a very valuable kind. I
think it will certainly prove so for garden culture,
but I fear it will never stand the rougher cultiva-
tion of the field. A further trial will determine
this.
The following are among the many sorts that
are sometimes met with, none of which I can re-
commend for general cultivation. All of them,
doubtless, have their friends, but they have- not
stood the test ; occasionally, it is true, you will
find a man who has a morbid appetite for sharp
acids, that will eat the Wilson, and grow it, think-
ing he has got a good strawberry. I certainly
hope that all such may soon be able to overcome
such a depraved taste, and learn more fully to
appreciate the really fine kinds of strawberries
that may be grown so easily. With the Wilson
I shall class — not because too acid, butf or various
reasons — Scott's Seedling, Cremont's Perpetual,
Jenny's Seedling, Walker's Seedling, Hooker, La-
dy of the Lake, Great Austin Shaker Seedling,
Peabody, Fillmore, and a host of others that time
will not allow me to enumerate.
Is it not strange, after all the efforts that have
been made for years to procure new and fine
varieties of strawberries, that the Hovey's Seed-
ling should still be acknowledged by most straw-
berry-growers in this vicinity as the very best va-
riety for general cultivation ? I can honestly say,
that after having grown most of the sorts I have
named above, and seen all of them on exhibition
at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, or growing on the farms in the neighbor-
hood, i am forced to the conclusion that the opin-
ion above expressed is correct.
Newton Centre. James F. C. Hyde.
Shed-Room for a Sheep.— An Ohio corres-
pondent of the Bnral New-Yorker states, as a gen-
eral rule, that, including room for racks, sheep re-
quire from eight to ten square feet of space per
head, according to the size of the animals.
For the A«r England Fanner.
COMMENTS ON THE CHERRY.
The present season has been very favorable for
the cherry, and I am impressed with the belief
that it can be made more profitable in the New
England States than the peach. Like the latter,
the trees are not troubled with the borer or the
yellows ; they are long-lived, need but little care,
and will flourish well in sward land, especially af-
ter having attained a few years of age. With their
free and handsome growth, they are even desira-
ble for the lawn. In fact, they seem to do better
in grass, or a light, than in a rich arable soil, as
in the latter the growth is generally too rapid,
which renders them less likely to bear, and more
subject to the influence of frost, splitting, &c.
They ought to make only a moderate growth every
year.
It is fortunate for the farmer that various trees
are adopted to various soils ; for by a proper
knowledge of them and judgment in giving them
position, the true economy of the soil is attained.
It is well known that a rich soil is not necessary
for the growth of all trees ; some, as the Pines,
the Larch, the Abele, the Oak, most of the forest
trees, and others, having the wonderful power of
drawing the elements of then- organization more
freely from the air (carbonic acid gas) or forcing
a poor and reluctant suil to yield up its mineral
and other food more freely to them than to other
trees. One tree will flourish well in a spot where
another could hardly be made to live. Philoso-
phy has yet to account for this.
The cherry is one of the most palatable and
healthy of fruits, equally so with the peach, and
can be eaten in great quantity almost with impun-
ity ; and coming earliest in the season, seems to
be the most welcome.
Of this fruit horticulturists have not that criti-
cal and discriminating knowledge which they have
of pears, apples, and some other fruits, perhaps
for a good reason, that there is not among the va-
rieties those distinct characteristics which mark
many other fruits. The most prominent points
in classification are color, tenderness, and season
of ripening. A first rate cherry should be large,
tender, juicy, sweet, a good bearer and a good
grower. A tree which spreads is more desirable
than one which grows erect, as its fruit is less ex-
posed to the birds ; besides it is far more easy to
enter to gather its fruit. Slender, withey branch-
es is another rather important matter, as they are
less liable to be broken in picking, and can be
bent in or down with less injury than those which
are stiff or brittle. The Elton is such, with a
spreading top, besides being excellent in fruit.
The Black Tartarean is the reverse as to habit.
But, of course, every variety has some fault, and
we must select those with the least.
As to the best varieties for domestic use, it is
well to begin with some early kind, and follow
with the later and still later, till the fruiting peri-
od shall extend nearly or quite into August. The
Sweet Montmorency and Florence are said to be
excellent late varieties ; also the "Hovey," which
is large and promising. But among so many
known good sorts of English cherries, it is im-
possible to select what would be regarded by all
as the best consecutive kinds. As a general rule,
the tender red or dark varieties are preferable, aa
292
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
they seem less inclined to rot than the light.
AVhen late kinds are dark and have spreading
heads, the crop is more likely to be saved from
the birds, as the latter are not so numerous as in
the last week in June ; and if they were, the
spreading tree would tend to keep the fruit from
exposure.
Among the best varieties are the May Duke,
Belle de Choisy, Coe's Transparent, Elton, Black
Tartarean, Black Eagle and Downer's Late. The
Clack Tartarean is a standard of excellence in
fruit, but the tree is rather tender, liable to burst
its bark and to become short-lived. A cherry
which sold a few years ago for a high price, called
"WalsJi's Seedling" seems to be identical with the
Tartarean, having all its ha!)its, virtues and faults.
Tills "seedling," if its secret history could be dis-
covered, would probably be found to be a grafted
fruit ! The Napoleon Bigarreau, which has borne
with me tlie past two years, is a very large and
handsome white cherry (so termed), with a blush or
crimson cheek, but crisp, and only of fair quality.
It is very showy, has a small pit and thick pulp, is
excellent for the market, and the tree is a free and
healthy grower ; but its fruit hangs in clusters,
and in damp weather is quite liable to rot.
We need more late cherries. Nothing can be
seen in market in the middle of July but the
Black INLazzard ; yet Downing notes the ^^Bigar-
reau Tardiffe de Hildersheini" which, he says,
"ripens here in August, and according to Thomp-
son is the latest sweet cherry known." Also the
Sweet Montmorency, which is nearly as late. Both
of these fruits are in Messrs. Hovey's Catalogue,
yet they are rarely if ever seen, even on the hor-
ticultural tableii. D. W. LOTHROP.
West Medford, July, 1863.
Fur the Neit England Farmer.
LITTLE THINGS,
Or a Walk in my Garden.
While walking up and down the garden one
early twilight last week, as I am wont to do, my
attention was arrested by a pretty row of cabbag-
es, and 1 was led to inquire whether the ordina-
ry art of our households has been put sufficiently
to the test in scfi'ving up this vegetable in as many
ways as it is capable. It is true that Yankees will
never learu to eat sour krout. This belongs to
our Dutch population, but I was further led to this
thought while translating a German hymn the oth-
er day in whicli, among other things prayed for,
■was a plenty of Cabbage. Now if there be any-
thing good in cabbage, why should we not find it
out in some form or other ? Cannot some of our
readers give us a variety of dishes from this arti-
cle.?
The whole family of the Brassica is capable of
great development. See what splendid varieties
of the cabbage and turnip have been brought into
use by careful cultivation, to say nothing of the
cauliflower, the most delicious of them all. Per-
haps some, who, like myself, practice gardening on
a small scale, would like to know how to cultivate
this esculent. For twenty-five years I have not
failed but once to raise a supply for my family.
There are two methods I have practiced for start-
ing them, one, to plant them in a hill, and the oth-
er to start them in a rich spot, or in a hot bed, and
tiien transplant. Each method has its advantag-
es. When I transplant, which I am as likely to
do on a summer day as on any other, I pour a lit-
tle water round the plant and immediately lay over
it a leaf of burdock, rhubarb or grape, and let it
wilt down over the leaf and remain there two or
three days. I then remove them, hoe them and
place a platform of newspaper around the plant,
which may be rapidly done by tearing up pieces
eight inches square, tearing a slit in one side to
the centre and placing a little earth on the edges.
This will keep off the cutworms. If a plant turns
to a lead color, pull it up and supply its place
with another. In this way I never fail of cabbag-
es, if I don't let the cows get in and eat them up !
To be sure, there is not much poetry about a cab-
bage, but it answers an excellent purpose for pro-
sy people who are fond of the substantials of life.
There is another article with about as little poe-
try in it as the cabbage, but I have been some-
what perplexed as to the best method of training
the vines. At last I hit upon the following meth-
od of
Training the Tomato.
Knock a flour barrel to pieces, take one of the
hoops and two of the staves, sharpen one end of
them, and nail the other ends to the opposite sides
of the hoop, set it over the plant and drive it into
the ground, the vines will hang over the edge of
the hoop free from the ground. Set the staves in
the next hill at right angles with those in the first,
and let the hoops just come together and tie them
with a string in such a way as to support each
other. Thus, at a trifling expense of time and
money, you may eflfectually train all your tomatoes.
These may be little matters, but they will insure
great cabbages and tomatoes.
Yours, little enough, N. T. T.
THE "WHEAT CROP IN SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS.
In their dreams of farming on the rich soil of
the Mississippi Valley, few New England farmers
probably think of anything less than twenty bush-
els of wheat per acre, and from that up to forty,
and even higher. In this, as in many other things,
'tis distance lends enchantment to the view. In
conversation some years since with several Michi-
gan farmers as to the average yield of wheat per
acre in that State, we found that their estimates
of an average crop for all the acres sown to wheat
in that State varied from eight to fifteen bushels.
A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, writing
at Dongola, in the southern part of Illinois, after
asserting that "we raise as good wheat as any-
where grows on the globe," makes the following
statement :
The wheat crop is about an average this year ;
that is, 7^ bushels to the acre. Many places will
not exceed three bushels to the acre. Thousands
of farmers never get more. What can be expect-
ed of wheat slobbered on grass amidst standing
corn ? When it is put on good clover ground we
have wheat, say from 18 to 25, and even 30 bush-
els to the acre. It is a pity we do not raise more
wheat, when the quality is so superior to that
raised in the north part of the State.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
293
LETTER FROM THE FARM.
Coiicord, August 8, 1863.
Bright Sun Again— Haying — Music in the Morning — Flooded
Meadows — Loss in Grass and Cranberries — Man's Inhumani-
ty— An Old Hassocic Meadow — Result of Drainage — Visitors.
Farmers are again refreshing in a bright sun
and an elastic west wind. The cheerful morning
music is that of the mower whetting his scythe,
while the evening is made glad with the noisy
"clack" of the mowing machine, prostrating the
now ripened grass, until the darkness of evening
«huts in the scene. All is bustle and activity,
fhere are no laggards in the field now. August
' t wearing in u])on us, and the upland hay harvest
e not yet secured.
In this region, thousands of tons of hay will
'le ruined by the late rains. Up and down this
rich and beautiful valley, for a distance of iwenty-
live miles, the river suddenly rose and spread over
the broad meadows and immersed the standing
grass. After remaining several days in its midst
\t is now slowly receding, leaving a blackened
mass of decaying vegetable matter, which is send-
ing its pestilential odors into every dwelling in
the neighborhood. The grass presents a slippery
and repulsive appearance, and seems to have lost
all its nutritive properties. This destruction is
not only on the immediate banks of the river, but
the water is backed up every little brook and
pushed in upon the land, thus destroying a large
amount of crops that are somev, hat remote from
the main channel of the river. One farmer, who
winters from fifty to seventy-five head of cattle,
stated to me, that although in the midst of his
haying, nearly all the grass he had then to cut
was under water ! Another said he had what
■would have made thbii/ tons of hay, all under tca-
icr ! There are hundreds of similar cases, so that
the loss occasioned by the water this year, in grass
and cranberries, in this valley, will not fall short
of $100,000!
This immense loss to one of the most industri-
ous and hard-working classes of our people, does
not flow from the operation of the natural laws
which govern the elements about us, — but from a
sordid spirit of gain, which disregards the riglits
and prosperity of others, and wrests from them
the possession of the fair lands which a bountiful
Creator had furnished them from which to draw
their support.
If the water could flow freely through its Heav-
en-apjjointed channels, instead of a curse to the
land, as it now is, it would fertilize and make glad
its banks, so that a happy and prosperous people
would till the land in joy, instead of being drawn
from their homes with heavy and sorrowing hearts.
But this is not the case. The water is impeded
in its course, that a few thousands more may go
into the hands of the manufacturer, the lands be-
come a prey to the floods, and the people to dis-
appointment and poverty ! How true it is, that,
"Man's inhumanity to man,
Makes countless tliuusands mourn."
An Old Hassock Meadow.
I have been mowing a meadow where a won-
derful change has been efl'ected by drainage. As
I drove through it, sitting on the machine and
cutting my first swath, I observed that herd's grass
ffiood nearly to the top of the horses' back'!. I col-
lected and measured some of it, and found it /)^!/r
fed and nine inches high. This was brought in
by drainage alone, not a particle of manure being
used, nor a seed sown ! The cold water under-
neath was merely led away, and this was the re-
sult!
I cannot certainly decide, but the strong proba-
bility is, that this meadow, or "run," had been an-
nually mowed for a hundred years, without being
ploughed. On reference to my Farm Journal, I
find the following record : — "Monday, August 5,
1851. Mr. B. came to plough with two pairs of
oxen and a horse, which, with my own horse, made
a very strong team ; but the roots and hassocks
were so tough that we found it impossible to turn
the furrows with the plough. I then procured one
with a double share which cut entirely under the
furrow, but it would not then remain turned over,
and we were obliged to stop after ploughing two
or three rods and turn it over by hand. Occa-
sionally, we were obliged to cut off" the furrow
with an ax, and then turn it over ! Ploughed
about half an acre to-day." The previous day we
ploughed only one quarter of an acre in the entire
day, with a team of five cattle.
This meadow was drained with stone drains, and
after being levelled was dressed with a little com-
post and seeded. In lSo'2, it yielded about a ton
to the acre. In 18i:3, the first crop was estimat-
ed by good judges to be three tons per acre. It
was cut twice afterwards, and probably produced
between four and five tons per acre that year.
After .six or seven years the stone drains became
obstructed — principally through the working of
field mice, and the meadow went gradually back
to water plants, — coarse grasses, skunk cabbage,
&c., and hassocks formed and annually giiined in
height. At the end of elrren years the lurh:ige on
it was very much as it was before I ploughed it.
Last October, 18U2, this meadow was thorough-
ly drained with tiles or pipes. Tso ploughing was
done, no seeding and no manuring, and the result,
in a single season, is as I have stated, — herds-
grass four feet nine inches, and standing thick and
heavy ! Water grasses disappearing, and the
meadow allowing a horse and machine u}x>n it,
where both would have floundered in black muck
before! This is not an isolated case, but one of
a numerous class occurring' all about mc. f have
2D4
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.
preserved samples of the herds grass, and also of
the meadow grass which were growing side by
side. If a little compost were spread, and some
red top and herds grass added this month, I think
two tons per acre of the best of hay might be
made next season.
Such is the result of simply drawtng away the
surplus water. I will not disguise the fact, that
the cost will be considerable, perhaps $50 per
acre, in the way I manage it. My drains, howev-
er, are only twenty feet apart, and are four feet
deep. There is no doubt on my mind, that, on
lands which lie near the buildings, and which pro-
duce water grasses, it will be a matter of econo-
my to drain, in most cases. Let us see :
The crop on this land for many years has been
one ton per acre, and worth $10,00.
Under the treatment I have suggested above, it
•will certainly be increased to two tons, each worth
$16.00, making, per acre, $32.00. Leaving a
gain of $22.00. It will not take long, therefore,
to get back in an increased crop all the cost of
draining, and then, as the work is permanent, the
per centage of profit will be very large for a life-
time.
I am happy to say, gentlemen, that my invita-
tion to our friends to visit the farm has been kind-
ly received by some, and that this piece of drain-
age has been several times critically examined
•with approbation. I shall be glad to see others
who are progressive farmers, and spend as much
time with them as they may consider profitable.
I am truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Noubse. Eaton & Tolman.
GREAT INTEKKTATIONAI. WHEAT SHOW.
A great International Wheat Show will be held
at Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 8th, 9th, and 10th, un-
der the auspices of the Monroe County Agricul-
tural Society. The following premiums are of-
fered :
For the best 20 bushels of white winter wheat ...$150 00
For the second best *' " " 75 00
For the best 20 bushels red winter wheat 100 00
For the second best " " " 60 00
For the best 2 bushels white winter wheat 50 00
For the second best " " " 25 00
For the best 2 bushels red winter wheat 40 00
For the second best " " " .20 00
For the best 2 bushels spring wheat 20 00
For tlie second best " " " ..10 00
Competitors for these prizes will be required to
furnish samples of the wheat in the ear and with
the straw attached, (say 50 ears of wheat and
straw,) also to furnish a written statement of the
nature of the soil on which the wheat grew, meth-
od of cultivation, time of sowing, quantity of seed
sown, manures (if any used,) and mode and time
of application ; also the time of ripening and har-
vesting, and the yield per acre, with such other
particulars as may be deemed of practical impor-
tance ; also the name by which the vai-iety is
known in the locality where it was grown.
The wheat must be one variety, pure and un-
mixed. The prize to be awarded to the actual
grower of the wheat, and the wheat which takes
a prize is to become the property of the Society.
It is hoped that farmers in all sections of the
United States and Canada, who have good sam-
ples of wheat, will compete for these prizes. We
have never yet had a good wheat show in the
United States. It is highly important that the
wheat-growers of the country should meet togeth-
er and compare samples of wheat raised in differ-
ent sections. Full particulars can be obtained by
addressing the President of the Society, Joseph
Harris, Editor Genesee Farmer, Rochester, N. Y.
TOP-DKESSINQ GKASS LAMDS.
As the haying progresses, let the subject of top-
dressing be kept in mind. Grass lands that be-
gin to fail and yet have a plenty of grass may be
made almost as good as new by the application of
compost. It will wake into newness of life the
old roots, and cause new ones to form. It will
wake up the slumbering energies of the soil. It
is like oats to the old work horse. It gives him
vigor. He must have them or falter in the har-
ness. The soil must be fed, or it makes but a
feeble effort to respond to the demands of the
farmer. Top-dress those fields that just begin to
fail. It will save ploughing them so soon.
Ploughing is expensive. It takes muscle, both of
man and beast. It should be avoided, when anoth-
er system pays better. The shortest route to a
destined place is pi'eferable, other things being
equal. The shortest cut to a good grass crop is to
feed it well all the time. This being the crop for
New England, above all others, should be the
first. Being the first born of the family, it is en-
titled to extra care and attention. It being the
corner stone of the whole fabric, it should be priz-
ed accordingly, and be kept continually in remem-
brance, and never suffered to become a matter of
secondary consideration. This is the case with
many persons at the present time. The corn and
the potatoes must have the lion's share of the ma-
nure. The grass must take what is left, and a
scanty pittance it often is. Now then what shall
be done ?
Let every farmer begin in the spring to save.
His first care should be for the summer droppings
of his cattle. If they are not stabled they should
be put in a good yard, or into the barn-cellar — the
latter is the better place, if it can be well ventil-
ated— with a good supply of loam or muck under
them. Once every week the whole should be
ploughed over. No better plan can possibly be
devised for the manufacture of compost, than a
barn cellar, with doors and windows so arranged
that a good draught of air may pass through at all
limes. It is very comfortable for cattle, and a
large amount of saltpetre will be deposited, ren-
dering the manure much more valuable than it
would be if out of doors. By frequent plough-
ing, or by the service of hogs' noses, the mass
will be well mixed, and the manure completely
divided, which is of much importance.
Before the fall rains, this compost should be
evenly spread upon the surface. The better way
is to spread it from the cart. Some apply a brush
harrow and brush it in. — B. in Journal of Agricul-
ture.
Even those who smoke and drink at the ex-
pense of others do so still more at their own.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
295
For the Neic Knuland Famter.
PTJIiVEEIZED BONE.
Dear Siu : — I notice a communication in your
paper from Mr. George Haskell to the Editors of
the Country Gentleman, in which he recommends
a mixture of ground bone, "the finer the better,"
with "good friable soil," fermented together for a
time, say forty-eight hours, as the best prejiara-
tion of the phosphate of lime to be applied to
soils. The gist of Mr. Haskell's communication
is, that finely ground bone is better than any of
the artificial phosphates, so called, prepared with
vitriol or otherwise.
If the opinion of Mr. Haskell were to prevail
among the farmers of New England, the demand
for finely pulverized bone, and in fiict for bone in
every shape would far exceed the natural supply.
We should then become importers of bone, in-
stead of being, as we now are, exporters of this
precious commodity, to our great loss and injury.
We should be competitors for bone in the markets
of the world with France and England, who are
impoverishing the farmers of the United States,
not only by the purchase af grain, but by exhaust-
ing the means which we have of restoring worn
out soils. A people who sell their phosphates for
gold, are selling the marrow, pith and substance
of the land, which no money can replace.
That we are so far behind the French and Eng-
lish in our knnowledge of agricultural economv,
is sufficiently humiliating, but it is not too late to
mend the error and correct it in future. We have
what the French and English people have not.
We have machinery by which bone can be re-
duced, rapidly and economically, to an impalpable
dust, or flour. You say very truly, sir, in your
remarks upon Mr. Haskell's plan, that the diffi-
cult part of the matter is, how to grind the bone.
1 quote further from your commentary: "There
are few things of this nature so difficult to accom-
plish as this. Granite, blue pebble stones from
the beach, nay, ten-penny nails, are not half so
hard to reduce to powder as a bone. We have
never yet known a mill that will grind a bone in
its crude condition. Even the manufacturers of
superphosphate are obliged to expel all the animal
or fatty matter from the bones before they can
grind them. Then the bones are ground and the
matter that was expelled is returned to them in a
liquid form.
Every farmer will be obliged to Mr. Haskell
for making known his proce&s of reducing bones,
but will look to him with interest for information
how to break or grind them so that fermentation
in them may be secured. We can purchase what
is called "ground bone," but which is, in fact brok-
en bone. That, however, is not what is wanted."
Messrs. Henry A. Breed & C >., who have ad-
vertised their unadulterated flour of bone in your
paper, have expended a respectable capital and
more than a year of time in attaining a complete
solution of the difficulty of which you speak.
Their success has been complete, and the singular
value of the results which they have attained, will
be attested by a large circle of intelligent agricul-
turists who have been experimenting with their
flour of bone, in the vicinity of Boston during
the past season. w.
Some men are born to own, and can animate all
their possessions.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
SUMMER.
Long pras9 swaying in the playing
Of the; almost wcaric'ii lireori: ;
Flowers lu.wcil bcnuatti a crowd
Of the \xllow armor'd bees ;
Sumptuous fort'fts filled with twilight,
Like a dreamy old romance,
Rivers fallinp, rivers calling,
In their indolent advance ;
Crimson heath bells making regal
All the solitary places ;
Dominant liplit, that pierces down
Into the deep blue water spaces ;
Sun-uprisinps, and sun settings,
And intensities of noon ;
Purple darkness of the midnight,
And the glory of the mooD.
Rapid, rosy-tinted liphtninps,
Where the rocky clouds are riven.
Like the lifting of a vail
Before the inner courts of heaven j
Silver stars in azure evenings,
Slowly climbing up the steep ;
Cornfields ripening to the harvest.
And the wide seas smooth with sleep.
DOMESTIC BECEIPTS.
Broiled Tomatoes. — In order to have toma-
toes nice, cooked in this manner, the largest ones
must be selected. Cut them into rather thick sli-
ces, seasoning each piece with pe])per and salt.
Use an oyster gridiron to broil them on — a com-
mon one will anssver — and cook them but a few
moments. When sent to the table, add butter.
Tomato ProDiSG. — Slice the tomatoes, place
a layer of them in the bottom of an earthern dish,
cover with bread crumbs, profusely seasoned ; add
another layer of tomatoes and cover with bread
crumbs as before, and, when the dish is filled,
place on the top a piece of butter. Put the dish
into a moderate oven, and if two layers of toma-
toes fill it, twenty minutes will be long enough for
them to be sufficiently cooked.
Preserving Tomatoes. — ;Much cooking of this
fruit destroys not only its flavor, but leaves a pul-
taceous mass, hardly recognizable by its taste or
appearance. As my wife has a more excellent
way — so ft'e think — I will describe it. Put the to-
matoes nto a large dish ; then pour on boiling
water so that the rind or peel can be more readily
taken ofi"; after which, squeeze a good part of the
juice out of the tomato while it is in the hand ;
then cut into two to four pieces according to size.
Cook for a few minutes until well heated through ;
bottle, using no corks, thick drilling only, cement-
ed on the under side, put on the mouth of tlve
bottle and jiressed down and tied. Then with a
spoon dip on the wax (resin with a little lard,) un-
til the top is covered ; when cool, set in cellar and
exclude the light. Prepared in this way, you will
get the real, genuine flavor of the tomatoes when
cooked, nearly equal to those just picked from the
vines. — L. 0'., in American Ji(/riciUluri,<t.
fs^ Dr. Bellows stated in his speech before the
American Unitarian Association, that in the midst
of the unprecedented excitement of the last two
years, tlie amount of insanity in tlic country has
materially decreased from wliat it wa< in time of
peace. The substitution of a nolilc and honh!iy
excitement for ipnol)Ic and detrradinf; agitatiuns of
mind thus shows itself by the most delicate of testa.
296
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Sept.'
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
September Page 265
Coitun in Utah— Brief History of Patent Office 2G6
The Cause of the Potato Rot ., 263
Pleurodvuia, or Founder — Non-producers 269
Extracts nnd Replies 270, 280, 2S8
Thoroiifih Draining 270
Horse Hoe, or Rotary Spadsr 272
Farm Houses and Outbuilding!^ — Profits of Fruit Culture .. .274
Life of Wiltiam T. Porter 275
Farming in \evv Mexico— Grapes .'.275
Preparing and Applying Manure — Cultivation of Rye 276
Things to he Learned ' 277
Destroy the Caterpillars — A New Enemy 278
Manures, Quantity, Quality 278
Sheep, Wool and Lambs — Rat Stories — Heaves in Horses... 280
Meteorological Record— Development of Resources 281
Farming in Florida — Killing Weeds by Law 282
Letter from the Farm 283, 293
New Books 284
Best Way to Use Bones— Shall I Buy a Farm.' 285
Farmers rs. Mechanics 286
Women Farmers — Sunset^^after a Shower 287
Stoncs—Citv Haymakers 288
Winter Wheat— A Horse with Warts 289
Horticultural Notes 290
Comments on the Cherry 291
Little Things, or a Walk in My Garden 292
Wheat Crop in Illinois 292
Wheat Show — Toi>-Dressing Grass Lands 294
Pulverized Bones — Summer — Preserving Tomatoes 295
How to Select Flour 296
Review of the Market 296
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter 265
Horse Hoe or Rotary Spader 273
A Horse with Warls 289
How Plants Absorb Moisture. — Professor
Johnson, of Yale College, says that it is the re-
markable I'esult of late exact investigations that
land plants cannot directly absorb vapor of water
by their foliage or roots, nor can they absorb by
their foliage or by their roots flowing water ; but
acquire the moisture they need by the action of
their roots on the invisible water which adheres
to the surfaces of the particles of the soil.
How to Select Flour, — First look at the
color ; if it is white, with a slightly yellowish, or
straw-colored tint, buy it. If it is very white,
with a bluish cast, or with white specks in it, re-
fuse it.
Second — Examine its adhesiveness ; wet and
knead a little of it between your fingers ; if it
works soft and sticky, it is poor.
Third — Throw a little lump of dry flour against
a dry, smooth, perpendicular surface ; if it falls
like powder, it is bad.
Fourth — Squeeze some of the flour in your
hand ; if it retains the sha])e given by the pres-
sure, that, too, is a good sign. Flour that will
stand all these tests, it is safe to buy. These
modes are given by old flour-dealers, and they
pertain to a matter that concerns everybody, name-
ly, the staff' of life.
A Good Hint.— Send your little child to bed
f happy. Whatever cares press, give it a warm
good-night kiss as it goes to its pillow. The
memory of this, in the stormy years which fate
may have in store for the little one, will be like
Bethlehem's star 19 the bewildered shepherds.
CATTLE MARKETS FOR AUGUST.
The f lUowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending August 12, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. Sheep. Shotes. Fat Hogs. Veals.
July 22 1235 6700 400 1200 400
July 29 1836 6925 200 1000 300
Aug. 5 2212 6031 225 300 200
" 12 1850 7727 225 19C0 200
Total 7133 26,383
1050
4400 1100
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS YEAR.
Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 560
New Hampshire 790
Vermont 1468
Massachusetts 74
Northern New York 291
Canada 185
Western States 3765
4924
2220
11,086
662
2320
3306
1665
lAST TEAR.
Cattle. Sheep.
129
245
2237
41
255
174
4110
6524
2128
10,773
937
1656
2734
1316
Total, last four weeks 7,133 26,383
Total, since Jan. 1,(33 w'ks,)46,069 108,859
PRICES.
July 22. Juhj2'd.
Beef,lst,2d,3dqual..53@8J 5g'»85
" a few extra 9 (g9J 9 S9J
Sheep & lambs, cach.$2.iS5 $2|S5
Swine,stores,w'sale...5 ig6 5 (fi6
" " retail.. 6 ©8 5 @7
Hides, <rft 7is8i 7iaS|
Pelts, sheep &lambs.40 S$l S7 fi$l
Tallow, #■& 8 S85 7i@8
7,191 26,087
43,884 109,926
Aug, 5.
-HS8J
5l,g6J
7iS8i
37 (g$l
7ia8
Aug. 12.
5iS8J
8339
$2,1 a4|
5ig6
6 ig7
37 ,5$1
7 igS
Remarks. — During the past four weeks the trade of the Bos-
ton live stock market has been very good, and prices quite uni-
form, with the exception of a decline of about |c ^ }b. on beef.
According to figures the number of cattle at market thus far this
JH'ar (33 weeks,) is 2185 more than was reported last yi.ar, while
that ofslieep is 1067 less this year than last. It will also be no-
ticed that the number of sheep and lambs from Maine, during
the past four weeks is 1600 less than for the corresponding four
weeks last year. Many sheep and lambs are slaughtered in the
seaport towns of Maine, and the mutton sent to commission
houses in this city, by whom it is retailed. Probably the de-
crease in the number of live lambs at market from Maine this
year, is fully supjilied by the increase of the amount of dead
mutton.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, Aug 15:
I. A. Blake sold 4 oxen, laid to dress 900 lbs. each, at 7J,<c ^
ft). ; 3 three-year-old steers for 7c, and 3 others for 6,'^c ; 2 two-
year-old heifers for 6c, and 3 steers for 6'.,'c ^ lb.
E. R. Deming sold 1 pair of good oxen, 1800 to 1900 tbs., at 8c,
dressed weight, and 7 four-year old steers for $40 eacli, or about
6;^4'c#' ft. 0. E. Taylor 7 oxen, 925 lbs. each,dressed, for l^ic
E. Woodruff sold 9 four-year-olds, at from 7 to 8c t'* ft ; 3
two-year-olds for $25 each, or 6c ■^ lb. ; 4 cows for $190, or 7c
^ lb., and 4 three-year olds, laid to dress 2600 fts. for $40 each.
Geo. W. Morrison sold 4 oxen, laid to dress 3400 fts., for
$262 : 6 three-ytar-old steers, 700 lbs., dressed, for $44 each ; 2
good tivo-year-olds at 5%c ^ ft.
A. N. Monroe sold 24 Western steers, gross live weight 32,645
lbs., for 8?Xc, 30 sk ; 22 wei&hing 27,530 fts., for 8'.,;c, 32 sk ;
14 weighing 21,080 fts., for 8'4C, 35 sk ; 4 steers, live wcicht
3870 fts., at 7c, 35 sk ; 10 others, 11,090 fts., at 7c, 40 sk r34
weidiing 43,660 lbs., at 8'4'c, >^ sk ; 4, of 5170 tbs., at 8,',<c, 30
sk ;^ Go hers, 6,860 fts., at 8>ic, 31 sk ; 4 weighing 5220 fos., at
8,'<c, ^3 sk ; 3, of 3,210 lbs., at 8'4C, >i sk ; and 24 weighingto-
gether 27,475 lbs., for 8c, >^ sk.
G. W. Baker sold 2') lambs and 20 yearlings at $3,50 l? head.
Lambert Hastings sold one lot ot 68, of which 54 were lambs and
14 old ones, for $2.75 each, and from that up to $4, ;t which
price he sold a few of his best. N. G. Batchelder sold 220 lor
$3,75 each, 273 to Jerry Piatt, for about $4, bargain not defi-
nitely closed, and 84 others on same conditions. D. Bice sold
108 New York Iambs at $3, J. E. Parker sold 59 Maine Iambs
at $3 each, and Gen. J. Morse sold 160 Canada shoep and Iambs
to same purchaser, for $4 ^?' head. W. H. Curtis sold a small
lot of Iambs at $2,85 #■ head. The Western sheep are mostly
bought on commission. One lot of corn fed sheep, over 100 lbs,,
at Albany, we were told cost about 5>^c #" lb.
DEVOTED TO AQKICULTURB AND ITS KJNDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XV. BOSTON,
OCTOBER,
1863.
NO. 9.
NOURSE, EATOX & TOLMAX, rROPRiETORS.
Office 102 Washington Street.
SIJION BROWN, Editoe.
THOUGHTS ABOUT OCTOBER.
The hemlock broods above its rill,
Its cone-like foliage darker still,
■While the white birch's graceful stem
And the rough walnut receive
The sun upon their crowded leaves,
Each colored like a topaz gem ;
And the tall maple wears with them
The coronal which autumn gives,
The brief, bright sight of ruin near.
The hectic of the dying year. Whittiee.
EAUTIFUL as this
month is, it brings
us frequent signs of
approaching decay.
Frosts have already
touched many plants
too rudely for their
tender structure to
bear, and they have
fallen powerless be-
fore them, bowed to
the ground, or their
leaves stripped and
scattered about.
finds a keen pleasure in the evening's rest and in-
terchange of thought. Happy, indeed, if they
have not discarded the open Jire, and can sit be-
fore its friendly blaze and think, and build castles,
and toast the feet, and hear sweet apples sputter
while roasting on the hearth ! Well do we know
what objections are raised by the women to such
a source of employment — but they have little
weight, compared with the real, substantial, health-
ful influences of an opmfire !
grander march of storm and wind. She says, —
"Beautiful, glorious October ! thrice welcome
art thou, with thine in\igorating air, thy days of
ripened sunshine and of busy, joyous labor !
The farmer is alert each morning, gathering
with satisfaction and thankfulness, — let us hope,
— the bounteous reward of many a day of toll.
Perhaps he is somewhat disappointed in the yield
of his potato field ; or his crop of wheat is not
quite up to his expectations ; but he finds his loss
cancelled by some unexpected gain, and does not
grumble ; or my model farmer does not do any-
thing so undignified, to use no stronger word. I
hold that either farming teaches the wisdom of
patience, or that very few who do not possess that
virtue, continue as practical agriculturists.
But the report of a gun and its echo, tell us
that all country lovers, are not farmers. Poor
little bird! he has gone to find in the better coun-
try, the melodious trill of his summer months.
Happy, noisy children tread the tinted leaves
beneath their feet, or gather them with bright ber-
ries, 'the golden rod, the aster in the wood, the
Warm and splendid } yellow sunflower by the brook,' on their rounda-
days are followed by | bout way for nuts. . And yet, when I think, it is
cool nights, when the i j,^ coming home that most children gather these
family is drawn about i things, in lieu of the store they expected to find,
the hearthstone, and j And now I recall a song, and the thought comes,
how often do we, older children, find our hands
filled with baubles in place of worthier good.
Autumn is the emblem of beneficence. The
other seasons, I fancy, have some personal end to
serve, some living to do on their own account.
Old winter really enjoys 'getting up a time' with
his artiller)' of sleet and snow, and chuckles at the
discomfiture of storm-tossed nights. Spring is
proverbially coquettish, while passionate summer
vents his life in fervid outpourings ; but autumn.
In speaking of OCTOBER, we are glad to give gracious, tender mother, looks down with loving
way to the glowing utterances of a friendly lady's 1 eyes, and gives whispering benedictions on the
pen, — one who is always inspired with Nature, sons of men.
whether in her soft and quiet moods, or in her i Were the experience new to us, how wonder-
298
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
fully striking would seem these changing glories !
We should be like little children in the country
for the first time, -watching some new development
of Nature, with an eagerness that makes older
hearts shudder at their stolidity. Openness of
mind and soul are essential qualities of heroes,
some one says ; and truly how many more heroic
deeds should we have for History and for Song if
we cherished through our lives the eager ques-
tionings of childhood, 'the earnest seeking after
Truth,' instead of nourishing ever those 'cark-
ing, greedy cares," that rob us of our peace, and
leave mind and soul to become dwarfed and shriv-
elled in the seeming waste of Nature's hourly
miracles. This world is beautiful enough for
none but the pure ; why cumber meaner souls the
ground ?
Still have Nature's fairy workmen toiled on, in
the sunshine and the darkness, through rain and
drought ; fashioning the leaf, secreting the germ,
and elaborating the juices of each little plant or
stately tree ; and now, in these October days the
master painter touches with deeper tmts the for-
ests, and as the glory brightens, throws a veil of
misty beauty over all ; a veil of shimmering soft-
ness, soothing Nature almost to slumber.
Season of fruition ! more than fulfilling the
promises of springtime. Even so when comes to
us the autumn of life, may it find us laborers still,
with pulses of early energy urging on, with warm
gushes of affectionate sympathy for every noble
thought and work, throbbing •nitlun us ; while
the passions and ambition of youth are refined
and uplifted by converse with the hidden things
of Grod clearly revealed unto spiritual eyes."
Beautiful thoughts, and beautifully expressed.
How strange it is that' so few, of either sex, are
inspired with that love of Nature which prompt-
ed these expressions. After the graces of purity
and gentleness which adorn woman most, it seems
to us that nothing can add more to her loveliness
than the possession of such a taste for natural
scenery and the beautiful and iastructrve things
that lie all along our paths.
Let us hope that the attention of children will
be turned more to the glowing manifestations of
heavenly wisdom, rather than to the trifling and
superficial things that are as evanescent as the
morning mist.
Premiums. — The Illinois Farmer, in an article
on the proper management of Agricultural Fairs,
makes the following statement :
We have a premium list before us in which $31
is offered on agricultural implements, twenty-four
first premiums of 50 cents each, on farm products,
$8.50 on fruits,, $13 on flowers, $3 on dairy pro-
ducts, while horses come in for $193.
If we only knew it, our retreats are often our
best and wisest advances.
VERMONT STATE FAIR.
The 13th Annual Fair of the Vermont State Ag-
ricultural Society, began at Rutland, on Tuesday,
Sept. 8th, and was continued through the three
succeeding days. We were absent in another di-
rection, and are, therefore, obliged to make up
our notice from the ample reports of the JoumdL
The first day was devoted to preparation, receiv-
ing the entries, arranging machinery, dairy and
domestic products, fruits and vegetables. Some
distinguished visitors were present.
The weather on the second day was all that
could be desii-ed. The entries were not fai" from
1200 ; there were about 250 sheep on exMbition,
and not far from 75 horses. The other entries
were divided between cattle, poultry, swine, and
other articles. There were some splendid horses
on exhibition. In the single depai-tment of "geld-
ings, mai-es and roadsters," there were 40 entries,
a number almost without precedent in the annals
of the State fair. The number of people present
was very lai"ge. The public houses were full to
overflowing, and the fair grounds thronged.
But the great event -of the second day was
The "Wool Growers' Convention.
Hon. Henry S. Randall, of Courtland, N.
Y., delivered an address on the "Sheep of Ver-
mo7it," and gave a highly interesting narrative of
the pi-ogres8 and culture of the Spanish Merino
sheep in America from the original seven impor-
tations,— the first one occurring in 1793.
The first stock of Spanish Merinos in America
contained one remarkable animal, which at one
shearing yielded the extraordir/ary quantity, as it
was then thought, of 8^ lbs. of wool. A com-
mon fleece was from five to six pounds weight.
The present year there is a buck on exhibition
here, whose fleece this season weighed not less
than 24 lbs.
Mr. R. predicted that one day, not far hence,
the wool-growers of Europe will send to Amei'ica
for animals wherewith to improrer their stock.
He urged the importance of care in breeding, and
discouraged the spirit which would impel a man
to decry his neighbor's animals because the latter
nught happen to obtain a greater price therefor
than the former. Each should rejoice in the pros-
perity of the othei', thereby insurinw more com-
plete siu:ces8 for the whole fraternity of sheep-
breeders. Mr. R. stated that he had himself been
an enthusiast in wool-growing, and a practical
worker in that field of entei*prise for more than
30 years, and related many valuable and whole-
some truths as the result of his experience in that
matter. He also iiiterepersed his address with
occasional sallies of wit, and embellished the sub-
ject with frequent anecdotes, thus imparting addi-
tional zest to a discourse that was keenly appre-
ciated by the audience.
At the conclusion of the address, and after a
brief season of conversation among members of
the Convention, there were calls for Col. Daniel
Needham, of Hartford, who was the delegate
from Verment at the International Exhibition of
Hamburg.
Col. N. took the stand, and was received with
applause. He thanked his auditors for the flat-
tering reception tendered him, and entered upon
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
299
a description of his journey to Europe and what
he saw and did there. It required a considerable
stock of presumption and confidence to sally out
from a Green Mountain home to compete with
sheep from the pastures of Vermont against those
of the imperial flocks in France and the German
States ; and their forebodings were not rendered
less unpleasant, when, on the outward passage,
they were informed by intelligent German comtois-
setvs that for the Americans to enter into such a
competition would be simply for them to roll in
the mud, as a premium for their 12 little sheep
would be entirely out of the question. However,
they hoped. And their most enthusiastic and san-
guine hojje was that the American sheep might
peradventure receive one firet premium.
The arrival, and subsequent proceedings of Mr.
N. and his companion, Mr. Campbell, the owner
of the American sheep, were narrated very inter-
estingly. The committee of award consisted of
18 gentlemen, most of them noblemen, and all
educated atid thoroughly competent judges. De-
spite the attempt of the German press to forestall
public sentiment against the American sheep, the
sub-committee of this body agreed "upon bestow-
ing two first premiums and one second premium
upon them, and this award was subsequently rat-
ified by the unanimous action of the general com-
mittee.
^Ir. X. related that the time appointed for the
examination of sheep by tlie committee was 6 A.
M., and that on going to the reiidezvous of the
committee at iwo minutes past that hour he found
that every man belonging to the body had already
rejjorted himself, and that the several sub-com-
mittees had gone about their respective duties.
The 12 American sheep owned by Mr. Camp-
bell competed against 1761 foreign sheep, 60 of
which wei-e contributed by the Emperor of the
French, and were shown in a separate ai!d costly
enclosure, apart from the other sheep on exhibi-
tion. The circumstances attending the coming
to the German public of the knowledge that the
American sheep were thus highly honored, were
next graphically rehearsed.
So great was the outburst of popular disap-
pointment and discomfiture at the committee's
award, that remarks b^gan to be freely made in
the papers and in conversation that there was
bribery in the case ; that the committee (all of
their own men) had been unduly influenced.
AVhereupon Col. N. himself proposed to Gov.
Wright, of Indiana, the American delegate, that
there should be a new trial of the question ; that
a grand sweepstakes purse of $100 should be
made, each sheep-owner entering to pay SlO, and
the sheep being sheured on the spot the one yielding
the heaviest fleece to be declared the most meri-
torious, by a new committee of Gennaiia, The
result of this proposal was that but one person
entered for the trial, and that was Mr. C, the
owner of the American sheep. This conclusively
settled the business ; and at the close of the ex-
hibition Count Siier Tho<!s purchased the twelve
American sheep for $5000.
Mr. N. remarked upon the success of the Ham-
burg Exhibition, and said that every article of
American skill and industry exhibited found ready
purchasers, while very many of the English and
other wares remained unsold. The address of
Col. Needham occupied about an hour, and was
in all respects a most pleasing and edifying nar-
rative. He was frequently interrupted with pro-
longed applause.
Third Day.
The interest of the Fair was materially increased
on the third day. The number of sheep had in-
creased to about 700, the horses to about 400.
The sheep were of the American Spanijsh Merino
sort, and the "long and middle-wooled" variety,
as they are called, or, by some, "mutton." Mr.
E. S. Stowell, of Cornwall, has a buck on the
grounds for which he yesterday refused an ofler
of SHOO! Mr. John- Gui-gouy, of Northfield,
and Mr. Joux H. Si'Uaglk, of Waltbam, have
bucks which money could hardly purchase. It is
related about the fair grounds ' that there is one
farmer in Addison county who has recently dis-
posed of three bucks at $iOOO each ; while anoth-
er individual in the same famous sheep-growing
district is reported to have refused an ofi"er of
$50,000 for his stock of 200 Merinos !
The array of horses was not only large, but very
fine — in fact, surpassingly so. There are on ex-
hibition Sherman Morgans, Woodbury Morgans,
Messengers, Henrys, Hambletonians, "Colum-
buses," and probably other blooded horses ; and
these several characteristics appear in staUions,
matched horses, geldings, mares and saddle-horses
to an almost unlimited extent, and in some in-
stances with remarkable effect and beauty. The
horses of Vermont, are the horses of America.
The fair grounds this day were densely crowd-
ed, and the interest of the occasion was at its
height. The programme included a prolongation
j of the testing of horses (the committees not hav-
ing been able to conclude their labors yesterday ;)
j trial of working oxen, of which there were about
; half-a-dozen yokes, all, however, cattle of great
j merit.
I In the departments of nemt stock, the dairy, do-
mestic manitf ad tires, macliincnj and agricultural
implements, the Fair did not excel, the great lead-
ing interests of sheep and horses absorbing every-
thing else.
Fourth Day.
This was the closing up day. Visitors took a
more quiet look at the various articles of skill and
industry, the products of a thrifty and intellegent
people, — that now covered every portion of the
grounds. There was some trotting and trading,
and Mr. Roper's steam carriage went around the
half-mile trotting course twice, making the route
in exactly three minutes and a quarter.
Peach Pickles. — One of the most agreeable
pickles ever tasted is made from clingstone peach-
es. Take one gallon of good vinegar and add to
it four pounds of Inown sugar ; boil this for a few
minutes, and skim off any scum that may rise ;
then take clingstone peaches that are fully ripe ;
rub them with a flannel cloth to remove the down
upon them, and stick three or four cloves or some
blades of mace in each ; put them into a glass or
earthen jar, and pour the liquid upon them boiling
hot. Cover them up and let them stand in a cool
place for a week.
Potato Crust. — Parboil and mash twelve po-
tatoes; add one teaspoonful of salt, two table-
spoonfuls of butter and half a cup of milk or
cream. Stiffen with flour until vou roll out.
300
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
COTTON aB.o'wma tn afeica.
In the November number of the Soil of the
South, the report of the Hon. William Elliott,
Commissioner of the State of South Carolina to
the late Exhibition of Paris, is published in full.
It is an able pi'oduction, and is devoted mainly to
the consideration of the question of the probable
success of the efforts of France to produce cotton
in her African possessions. We have seen occa-
sional notices of these efforts, but our impressions
were that her success, thus far, had been far less
encouraging than it is represented to be in this
Report.
In his introductory remarks, the writer of this re-
port expresses his surprise in finding the Algerian
departments of the Exhibition so rich in speci-
mens of its varied products. He alludes to the
huge forest trees of her mountainous regions carv-
ed into various forms of ornamental furniture ; her
marbles, agates and onyx stones fashioned into
beautiful vases, and polished to the smoothness of
mirrors ; her metals of gold, silver, copper, lead
and iron ; her crystals of salt ; her leguminous
plants, similar to ours in kind, but surpassing them
in development ; her cereals in such profusion
and of such rare excellence, as if France were de-
termined to revive on the southern shores of the
Mediterranean, in this divided and reputed sterile
colony, the triumphs of the ancient Roman and
Carthagenian rule ! There were also to be found
the cocoas, the product of the Algerian silk-worm,
woven in France into superb velvets and brocades,
and stained with the dyes of the cochineal, which
was seen feeding on its favorite cactus, "and there
too," says he, "were to be found — what was far
more interesting to us — the sea-island cottons,
produced from Carolina seed, presented under
every variety of aspect — in stalk, in the pod, in
the ginned and unginned state — spun, in France,
into threads of exceeding fineness — wrought into
laces, and woven into muslins of the costliest
kinds."
With the remark, that if France succeeds to her
wishes in cultivating this most valuable kind of
cotton, the planters of our country must be seri-
ous sufferers, he proceeds to the consideration of
the question, to what extent is she likely to pro-
duce sea-island cottons in Algeria.
He treats, first, of the extent of soil in the
French African possessions that can be devoted to
the culture of this fine material. His conclusions,
on this point, are thus expressed :
"We know from our own experience that it is
the sea-line of our territory only, or so much of it
as is exposed to the influence of salt atmosphere,
that produces the sea-island cottons in perfection.
By the peculiar formation of the country, the
prevalence of salt mountains and salt lakes, the
sea-line of Algeria, so far as climate is concerned,
is extendnd, so to speak, for several hundred miles
into the interior ; and those lands which, from ex-
cess of salt, are unfitted for gi-ain, are the very
same in which the fine cottons delight. Assum-
ing, then, that France will require 10,000 bales of
sea-island cotton, of 250 lbs. each, for the use of
her manufacturers, it seems probable to me, that a
portion of arable land can be found adequate to
the production of the required supply."
*****
"The fact must be conceded that the soil and
climate of Algeria are favorable to the production
of fine sea-island cottons. The numerous speci-
mens exhibited in the 'Palais de I'lndustrie,' the
high numbers to which the^ were spun, the beau-
tiful laces and muslins into which they were
wrought — are so many evidences of the fact that
cannot be set aside. These specimens were, for the
most part, exceedingly high qualities : they were
spun up readily to No. 600 — the highest number
wanted for laces — and hanked and dyed so as to
be undistinguishable by any but professional eyes,
from the finest materials of silk. The crop of the
last year was 2,500 bales, of 250 lbs. each. Grant,
then, that great efforts have been made by the
French government to eflect this result — that high
bounties have been offered to the Algerian cotton
grower, in the form of an assured high price for
his product, and that other encouragements, in
other forms, have been held out to them — still we
must see that the result could not have been at-
tained without natural fitness for the production."
# * « « *
"It would appear, from information gathered
from gentlemen engaged in cultivating sea-island
cottons in Algeria, that their rate of production
per acre is much higher than ours. They could
not continue to cultivate (they tell me) if they
could only reach our average of one hundred and
thirty pounds of clean cotton per acre."
*»***#
"No one who gives due weight to these consid-
erations can be blind to the conviction, that if the
present ratio of increase be continued for five
years, France will supply herself, from her Alge-
rian possessions, with her whole required stock of
these fine cottons."
*****
"But in admitting that Finance, by pei'sisting in
her efforts, may succed in supplying herself, in a
few years, with her whole required amount of sea-
island cottons, I am far from admitting any such
possibility in respect to the short stapled, or New
Orleans Cotton. No other nation possesses our
climate, our vast extent of unworn soil adapted to
the plant, our unequalled power to renew it when
exhausted. None other possesses the same re-
sources of labor, or the same skill in its applica-
tion, or the same energy in action. In the extent
of the supply, and the economy of production, we
are, and must continue to be unrivalled."
The next topic is, the character and extent of
the labor that France can supply to this produc-
tion. Here, in his opinion, the slave States of our
country have the advantage so decidedly as to be
able to defy competition. "The scarcity of labor,
and its consequent high price," he says, "consti-
tute, in fact, the chief impediment in the prosecu-
tion of this culture by France." He believes that
her production of cotton must be limited 1' the
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
301
consumption of her own manufacturers, and that
it can be raised to that point only by the stimuhis
of an excessive governmental patronage, of which
Mr. Elliott has much to say.
In this connection, however, the following par-
agraph would seem to indicate some fears on the
part of the writer, that the results of these exper-
iments in growing cotton in Africa may not always
be confined to the limits he has affixed.
"It will probably surprise some of the cultiva-
tors of sea-island cottons to learn that these cot-
tons, as well as other coarser varieties, have been
cultivated experimentally in Algeria for the last
twelve or fourteen years, on French account, and
that, being satisfied apparently with their success,
they are straining every nerve to increase their
supply, so as to render themselves completely in-
dependent of us. But it will surprise the Ameri-
can planter much more to learn that not only
France, but England likewise, is satisfied with this
success, and that companies are in contemplation,
if not actually organized, of ichirh the ccqjitnl is
furnished by Manchester, to cultivate sea-island
cottons in Algeria, on English account ! ! I have
the fact from unofficial, but highly reliable author-
ity ; and our countrymen must prepare themselves
to meet this new and unexpected competition,
growing out of this equally new, and strange, and
unexpected alliance and fraternization of England
and France."
In another connection, Mr. Elliott remarks, that
"the production, which three years ago did not
exceed a hundred bales, has already swelled to two
thousand five hundred," — a rale of increase which
would seem to justify one of his closing remarks,
that " 1 have given timely warning of an im-
pending danger."
The Potato Rot. — Thomas Carpenter, of Bat-
tle Creek, Mich., communicates the following, as
his mode of fighting oft' the potato rot :
Now I will tell you how I manage ; ])remising
that I have never yet had potatoes rot in the
ground, and that I am 63 years old.
I plant my potatoes in the latter part of April
or fore part of May, and in the old of the moon.
When they get up six inches high, I |)laster and
dress them out nicely. Now fur the secret.
When the sets show for blossoming, then is the
time to take two parts piaster and one part fine
salt ; mix well together, and put one large spoon-
ful of this compound on each hill ; drop it as
nearly in the centre of the hill as possible. Just
as soon as the potatoes are ri])e, take them out of
the ground ; have them perfectly dry when put in
the cellar, and keep them in a dry, cool place.
Some farmers let their potatoes remain in the
ground, soaking through all the cold fiiU rains
until the snow flies. The potatoes become dis-
eased in this way more aiiJ more every year ;
hence the potato rot. With such management
they should rot.
Wheat after Sorghum. — I have a field of
wheat sown on ground on which corn and sorghum
were raised last year. That part on which sorghum
grew is badly affected with Red Rust j is very
thin and short heads, and will hardly pay for cut-
ting, while that on the corn ground looks well ;
land and cultivation the same. Can any oae give
the reason ? I find corn does well after sorghum.
H. A. Mouse, in Prairie Farmer.
NATURE'S MUSIC.
Come forth from llie plittoriiip haunU of men^
From the city's crowded street —
When the flowers of Spring, in gladc and glen,
Are springing all brii;ht and sweet ;
Where the wind-flower nods In the gentle breeze,
And the wild vine clings to the swaying trees.
There list to the strains that untutored flow
From Natnre's sunny lips ;
They will lij;hten the heart weighed down with Woe,
And the music of art eclipse.
The wild bird's carol, the waterfall,
Will have music to charm the hearts of all.
And come when the summer asserts her reign,
And the soothing zephyrs play
O'er the ripening lields of gjlden grain,
On the liill-tops far away ;
And hear from the forest the ceaseless din
Of the insect myriads that 6warm within.
And the lightning's flash, and the thunder's roll,
And the sound of the coming storm,
Will wake a chord in the inmost soul.
That Nature alone can charm ;
The organ may peal, and the choir may sing.
But nothing but Nature can touch that string.
When the chill wind of .lutumn is sighing &round,
And summer's green mantle has (led,
How sad, and how sweet, as borne down to the ground,
Is the music of leaves, sear and dead j
How sad and how solemn, the strains that we hear.
That mourn through the tree-tops the wane of the year.
When the blasts of December sweep coldly along.
Through the forests all leafless and bare,
There is music, though wild, in its shrill-whisUed song,
That is wafted along on the air ;
And the sweeping wind on the snow-capped hills,
The heart's deep casliet with music fills.
For the voices of Nature in every form.
Are sweeter than those of Art,
And the music of bird, or breeze, or storm.
Forever is dear to my heart ;
And the voices of Nature, though wild they be—
I love them, they all have a charm for me.
Barnesville, Ohio, July, 1S63. JlssK Edoebtox.
-Country Gentleman and CuUiratur.
How TO Prevent Pitting in Small Pox.
— A Scotch physician, \)c. Smart, has announced
an invention, which, he asserts, has never failed in
his practice to prevent the disfigurement conse-
quent in small pox known as "pitting." The ap-
plication consists of a solution of India rubber in
chloroform, which is painted over the face (and
neck in women) when the eruption had become
fully developed. When the chloroform has evap-
orated, which it readily does, there is left a thin
elastic film of India rul)her over the face. Tiiis
the patient feels to be rather comfortable than
otherwise, inasmuch as the disagreeable itchiness,
so generally complained of, is almost entirely re-
moved, and what is more important, "pitting,"
once so common, and now far more rare, is thor-
oughly prevented wherever the solution has been
applied.
Ashes for Swine. — A correspondent of the
American Stork Jmirnal, writing from the West,
says : — "I have twenty swine rtinning in a field
without grass, with access to plenty of water, and
fed well on corn. I gave them, for several weeks,
two pails of ashes a week: and they ate them with
a relish. Ashes are said to be a preventive of
hoij cholera."
302
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
AMEKICAN ATTD SCOTCH DAIRIES
COMPARED.
In a recent number of the Albany Country Oen-
tleman, some statistics of one or two Scotch dai-
ries were published. These statements induced
Mr. Z. Pratt, a systematic dairyman of Pratts-
ville, N. Y., to turn to his books to ascertain how
far his dairy was behind in respect to the amount
of milk and butter produced. Mr. Pratt gives a
comparative table, which it is not necessary to
copy in detail. The result is, that Mr. Pratt's
cows, from 1857 to 1861, yield an average of 2383
quarts for each cow per year, while the cows of
Mr. Harrison, of Scotland, during the same time,
produced 2103 quarts, or 280 quarts per cow per
year less than the New York dairy. Mr. Pratt
also alludes to a communication from Mr. C. T.
Alvord, of Wilmington, Vt., on the value of the
"Ayrshire Cows for the Dairy," in which it is said
that in six different Scotch dairies of the Ayrshire
cow, it had been found that a little more than two
and a half gallons of milk produced a pound of
butter. The number of cows in these Scotch dai-
ries is not stated, and Mi-. Pratt suggests that
they may hdve been stocked with selected animals,
as he regards it as a very gratifying result, but
no more so than that obtained from his own daii-y
of 71 cows, -which he says are "natives to the hills
of Green and Delaware, bought from my neigh-
bors, the farmers of those counties, and now feed-
ing on hills which but a few years ago were cov-
ered with a dense hemlock forest. In 1861 my
dairy yielded an average of 10 42-lOOth quarts of
milk to one pound of butter ; and in 1862, 10 10-
lOOth quarts of milk to one pound of butter."
In connection with the communication of Mr.
Pratt, the Editors of the Country Oentleman give
the following comparative table, which includes
the statement of the steward in respect to the
yield of cows kept at the Utica Lunatic Asylum,
where not only the cows but the care and atten-
tion bestowed upon them is much superior to that
usually given to dairies.
Average yield of Milk per Cow per year.
Mr. Harrison's dairy, Scotland, 5 years, 1857 to 1861, 2,103 qts
At Col. Pratt's Dairy Farm, do. do 2,383do.
At the Utica Lunatic Asylum, 4 do. 1858 to 1861 2,532 do.
At the Utica Lunatic Asylum for the year 1862, j
increased by Steam Food, \ 2,940 do.
We once enjoyed the personal acquaintance of
Mr. Pratt, for two or three years, had much
conversation with him, and from a knowledge of
his habits, and mode of doing business, feel con-
fident that his statements are entirely reliable.
Mr. Pratt is no ordinary man. He is a decided
utilitarian, self-made, self-reliant, upright, ener-
getic, and one of those plain, straight-forward men
who would not
"Flatter Neptune for his trident."
Few men have earned brighter laurels, — but as
they have been earned in quiet life, never causing
a tear to flow, or a heart to break, his fame may
not have gone forth on trumpet tongue, as the
fame of some have done who have been a plaf^ue
to the world. Mr. Pratt has been a blessing to
his race, — and his good example, his untiring in-
dustry, systematic and exact turn of mind, togeth-
er with that urbanity of manner natural to a
thorough gentleman, will long be remembered by
all who know him.
KEEPING FRUITS.
Mr. Benjamin Nice, of Decatur, Ind., has made
some experiments in keeping fruits, which he de-
tailed at some length before the Ohio Pomological
Society, a year ago, the substance of which ap-
pears in the Proceedings of the Society, just pub-
lished, and which also has been described at
length by R. T. Brown, of Indianapolis, in the
Oliio Fanner. In the main the system is little dif-
ferent from that introduced about Boston a few
years ago, and which has been tried by Hon. M.
P. Wilder, who had rooms fitted up on purpose to
give it a fair test. That our cultivators may un-
derstand the system as explained by Mr. Brown,
we copy his article entire : — Magazine of EoHicid-
ture.
Some years ago, Liebig discovered the anal-
ogy between the slow decay of vegetable sub-
stances and fermentation, and settled many things
in reference to temperature, moisture, and other
circumstances under which these actions take
place. Subsequent experiments confirmed the
deductions of Liebig, and fixed the range of fer-
mentation between 40° and 180*^ Fah. Appert,
a French chemist, introduced the practice of heat-
ing vegetable substances to 180° or above, and at
that temperature, excluding them from the air,
and thus effectually preventing fermentation.
This method has now become so common that it
has nearly revolutionized this department of do-
mestic economy.
Mr. Nice, of Greensburg, Ind., a few years
since, conceived the idea of availing himself of
the margin between the fermenting point (40°)
and the freezing point below (32°.) His first
trouble was the presence of moisture in the atmos-
phere ; this, however, he eff'ectually remedied by
the use of Chloride of Calcium, which, by absorb-
ing the moisture renders the air perfectly dry.
Having obtained favorable results, he secured by
patent his discovery. In the summer of 1860,
Messrs. Fletcher, Williams & Vancamp erected in
this city a large house for the purpose of testing
the economical value of Mr. Nice'.s discoveries.
As early as ice could be procured last winter, they
put their house into operation. About one thou-
sand bushels of apples, consisting of Bellfiowers,
Rhode Island Greenings, Rambos, Russets, &c.,
constituted the first experiment. These were put
into the market last June, as perfect in every res-
pect as when they were taken from the tree, and
with a very trifling loss in quantity. Last sum-
mer, various experiments were made on small
fruits, with very encouraging results. Raspber-
ries and strawbei-ries were kept eight weeks, after
which they lost their flavor, though they showed
no evident marks of decay.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
303
Grosberries, currants and cherries were kept in
good order for a longer period, giving evidence
that, with proper care, they may be kept the year
round. Peaches, in ten weeks, showed evidence
of decay i the skin sloughing without material
discoloration. Of pears, about two hundred and
fifty bushels were housed, and are now in a fine
state of preservation. Among these are the Sugar
pear, the Bartlett, Seckel, Flemish Beauty, and
several other varieties of summer and fall ])ears.
Present appearances indicate that they will be
sound next summer. Grapes that were in good
condition when housed, have not in the slightest de-
gree changed either their appearance or flavor.
A lot from the Cincinnati vine-yards, that were
much bruised in transportation, suffered loss for
the first ten days after being deposited, but have
undergone no sensible change since. The slock
on hand is about one hundred and fifty bushels.
I predict that the company will market grapes
next June in good condition. Oranges, lemons,
Eine-apples, bananas and other tropical fruits, may
e ke])t for mouths at any season of the year.
Of the last crop of apples, two thousand five hun-
dred bushels are on hand, in a most perfect state
of preservation — the Fall Pearmain, Maiden's
Blush, and Rambo, keeping as well as the New-
town Pippin, or Romanite. A small lot of sample
apples, of the fruitage of 1860, are on hand, look-
ing well, and retaining their flavor in a remarkable
degree.
The results thus far obtained, warrant us in
concluding that in all climates where ice can be
obtained, the standard fruits may be furnislicd at
all seasons of the year, at prices which will bring
this luxury within the reach of every family, thus
largely increasing fruit consumption, and propor-
tionately stimulating fruit culture.
COTTON-GROWING IN EGYPT.
Not her of the Nile and of the Pyramids, but
in the section so called in the southern part of Il-
linois. From a communication in the Prairie
Farmer we copy the following statement in re-
spect to the condition and prospects of the cotton
crop now growing in the "torrid zone" of Illinois :
Cotton looks well. During the dry month of
May, it did not grow at all, and that which was
not planted till late did not come up till June.
It is now growing at a rapid rate. At one time I
thought of ploughing mine up and planting in
late potatoes, but now I would not thank a man
should he ofl'er me SlOO for what I expect to raise
from each acre. I am thinning out the plants so
that they should not be nearer than six inches
from each other ; I would not care if they were a
foot apart. The common plan here is to have the
plants seem as thick as "hair on a dog," but I take
old planters from the South as my guide, and the
distance they decide upon is a foot. My young
man who went out speculating in cotton last year,
(and by the way, he did well) says when he came
to a farm where the plants were set this distance
apart, he was sure to get cotton, but when it was
thick he got little or none.
We have had most too much rain lately for this
J)lant, in fact it has rained every twenty-four hours |
or ten days, but it has been warm, and cotton 1
must have heat. Cotton also, requires dry, hot I
weather ; there is no doubt but what we shall
have enough of it. The plant sends down its
roots, keeps doing so till they reach the hard
ground, then and not before it begins to shoot.
On ground plougiied sliallow it will shoui and ma-
ture sooner tlian where the ploughing lias been
done deep. We go for deep ploughing for this
or any other croj), and when the siiooting com-
mences, like Grant's army, something will he done.
For the purpose of making money, we have no
business to be raising grain ; an acre of cotton is
worth two acres of wheat, whatever the price of
each is likely to be.
COST OF HARVESTING HAY.
A correspondent of tlie Ameriam Ayriiidturist
remarks : I had occasion to hire a meadow of
nine acres the ])resent season, and the notes from
my field-book show the cost of the hay and of the
harvesting, and also throw some light upon the
profits of farming :
The rent of tlie land was $20.00
CuUi:ig prass with horse-mower 6.60
Ilaking four hours with horse-rake 1.00
Curing and stacking seven tons 7.60
Total $35.00
This shows the cost of the bay in stack to be
five dollars a ton. As it is worth fifteen, there is
a profit of seventy dollars on tlie nine acres. But
it is poor farming where grass yields under a ton
to the acre, as in this case. Had the land yielded
two tons to the acre, it would have cost no more
to mow it and rake it. The only additional ex-
pense would have been in gathering, which would
not have exceeded a dollar a ton. From accounts
kept several years, I have never been able to gath-
er hay with the scythe and hand rake for less than
three dollars a ton. The expense in this is but a
trifle over two dollars a ton. The farmer who
owns his horse-mower and rake, I have no doubt
can gather his hay for a dollar and a half a ton.
What an infinite relief the horse-mowers and reap-
ers are to human muscles. It is cheering to see
them appearing in new fields every year.
The above figuring shows that there were only
seven tons of hay from the nine acres. Had there
been two tons of hay per acre, the cost woidd of
course been much less per ton. The above estimate
we think much too high in some particulars. It has
been customary in Western New York of late
years, or since mowing machines have been so
well perfected, to furnish team, man and machine,
at 50 cents per acre, which would be $-1 or .^o per
day. The present year the writer had his mead-
ows cut at 31 cents per acre, the owner turnish-
ing only the team whicli would otherwise have
been idle. The farmer, who buys an e>;;)cnsive
machine to cut a few acres only, will find it to cost
more than this, if he confines tlie use of his ma-
chine to his own small field. A neighboring farm-
er, who usually cuts nearly 200 acres of hay year-
ly, finds that a good mowing machine will cut at
least 1,000 acres before wearing out, and that
the expense of the machine, including repairs,
will not be more than 12 cents per acre. Esti-
mating the value of the team at $2 per day, and
at 10 acres each day, or 20 cents per acre, the
whole cost of cutting will be only 32 cents per
acre. A yield of two tons could therefore be cut
for IG cents a ton. On smaller farms the interest
on the cost of the machine would make the ex-
304
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
pense greater. The above copied estimate makes
the cost of raking $2.50 a day of ten hours ; and
the stacking alone is placed at over $1 a ton,
which is more than twice as much as it has cost
the writer for several years past, although he could
not be with his workmen for constant superinten-
dence. He has also found that the whole cost of
cutting, raking, drawing the hay half a mile, and
pitching it into the barn does not usually exceed
80 cents per ton.
There is no doubt that by the use of the best mow-
ers, horse rakes and horse forks, and with all the
facilities which good farm roads, convenient build-
ings, and constant personal supervision by the
owner would furnish, hay from heavy meadows
may be cut and secured for 50 cents per ton, ac-
cording to the estimate published on page 74, vol.
sviii of the Country Gentleman — provided the
weather should be favorable and reasonable cau-
tion exercised to avoid storms, which the rapid
work of this farm machinery would usually enable
farmers to do.
A VISION OF STEAM FAEMINQ.
A writer for the Valley Farmer, whose articles
are dated Ashland Farm, Ky., is publishing a se-
ries of essays on the revolution which steam-pow-
er is about to make in the business of cultivating
the soil. We copy his remarks upon the change
in field arrangements, and in the extent of opera-
tions, which must be effected before farming by
steam can be made profitable.
As I have already stated, when we get to farm-
ing by steam, it will be done on a large scale.
Therefore, in devising our plans for a steam farm,
we lose sight of ten and twenty.acre fields, and
think only of those that contain from one hun-
dred to five hundred acres.
If you are blessed with an abundance of fencing
material, and conclude that you will have no fields
smaller than 100 acres, I shall expect you to tear
down the fences upon the old farm or plantation,
and rebuild them so as to form one-hundred acre
fields, or as near that as may be convenient, and
at the corners of these fields, where they meet in
the centre of each 400 acres, I shall direct you to
dig a well, and connect to it a force-pump, that
shall be operated from a belt wheel upon the en-
gine of the steam plow, and by which means the
machine will be enabled to draw up into its tank
the water it requires. Over this well I want you
to build a rough but substantial house, of suffi-
cient capacity to admit of the engine running into
it from either one of the four fields, to take on
wood arid water while at work, and to have ample
room to store away a large quantity of prepared
wood or coal for the use of the engine. If it is
wood you expect to use for fuel, I shall also want
you to be provided with a portable circular saw
and frame, set up within said building — which,
hereafter, we will call the station house — which
likewise shall be operated from a belt-wheel upon
the engine, for the purpose of making the machine
saw its own wood.
If the farm' is devoted wholly to the culture of
grain, the station should be provided with the nec-
essary granneries. It must be the store-house
not only for the steam plow and its machinery,
but for the threshing machine also. In short, it
must be made the depository for everything used
and produced upon the land allotted to it.
For the New England Farmer.
ON SOILINQ CATTLE.
[Read before the Concord Farmers' Club, by Dea. Daniel Tab-
bell.]
By soiling stock is meant the practice of keep-
ing animals in stalls or yards, and feeding them
on green food, raised and cut for the purpose, in-
stead of following the ordinary custom of pastur-
ing in the usual manner.
There are a number of things to be taken into
consideration in this matter.
First, — The size and location of the farm. A
fiirmer in Concord, with a farm of seventy-five or
one hundred acres of land, has a portion of that
land either too rough for cultivation, or too far
from his buildings to be profitable for any pur-
pose except pasturage or woodland. On the other
hand, a man with a small farm, and all under
good cultivation, or near a market, might make
it profitable to use no land for pasturing, but put
what stock he keeps upon green food and grain
in summer.
Second, — The cost of cultivating green food,
say for ten cows. They will require ten aci'es of
our best land, with a large proportion of the ma-
nure made on the farm, — and it would require
the labor of two men to cultivate the crop and
tend and feed the cattle in the barn. On the
other hand, by following the system of soiling for
a number of years, it would, no doubt, enrich the
farm, and if it could all be brought under good
cultivation, it might, in the end, be profitable to
adopt the practice of soiling all our stock in the
summer season.
I am of the opinion that it icould not be profit-
able for me to adopt the system of soiling.
Were the practice of soiling stock to be univer-
selly adopted in any given section of the country,
it would be a great saving in cost of fencing,
which saving might more than balance the extra
labor of soiling.
As the farmers are situated in this town, I do
not know of a farmer that could adopt the system
of soiling so as to make it profitable ; but a par-
tial adoption of the system would be profitable
on all our farms. Corn should be planted so as
to be ready for use by the first of August. Oats
might be sowed to be cut and fed to stock while
green. English turnips are a good crop to feed
to stock in the fall and fore part of winter.
Rowen might be used for soiling after the pas-
tures are getting dry and feed short.
In the winter it is equally important that cows
should have something green for a change. Ruta
bagas, English turnips, carrots, and small pota-
toes are all good for feeding to stock in winter.
A farmer should always aim to have a supply of
roots of some kind to feed with his dry hay and
grain.
By a practical adoption of a system of soiling
in summer and keeping stock in the barn nights,
we can more than double the amount of manure,
during the summer season.
The advantages of soiling are — making more
manure and keeping stock on less land. The dis-
advantages are — the extra labor to carry on the
farm and loss of use of land, not suitable for cul-
tivation. Daniel Tarbell.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
800
Hayfield Thoughts.— The Editor of the N.
H. Jovmal »/ Agriculture, apologized last week
for lack of "original," by saying that he prepared
his budget with a rake in one hand and a pitch-
fork in the other. With these tools in his hands,
and perhaps with a blister on one or both of his
palms, he thus meditates :
Sometimes we think this rather a hard country
to live in, as it is about as mucli as we can do dur-
ing the summer to grow and gather enough for the
subsistence of man and beast through a winter of
six months. Eut this is the dark side of the pic-
ture. There is another and brighter side — one
we love to contemplate ; the beauty of which illu-
mines our whole existence. It points to the high-
er aims of life, and fills us with noble as])irations.
As we go to the field let us contemplate this
brighter side ; let us realize and enjoy it. It will
lighten our labor and subdue our passions. Let
us grasp the substance — not the shadow — and
cheerfully, hopefully, courageously, perform our
allotted tasks, and leave the result with God.
Fur the Netc Ens^and Fanner,
HOW TO CimE POISON FKOM IVY.
I have seen an article going the rounds of the
papers credited to the Farmer, recommending hot
water for the effects of poison ivy. A trial of eigh-
teen years in the use of the ivy itself, as a preven-
tive and a cure also, has given me almost unlim-
ited confidence in its use. From some authority,
I know not what, I got the fact that chewing the
leaf had a good effect. Always having suffered
from it, the experiment was tried and to my en-
tire relief, and consequently to my entire satisfac-
tion. My boys use it with the same result. A
boy, Some twelve years of age, worked for me a
few days in haying about twelve years since, and
before he was aware of it, was in the ivy ancle
high. "I'm a dead man," said he. The next day
his legs began to swell, and he felt very sober, in-
deed, about the future, for he expected to be "used
up" a long time. I told him of my remedy. He
tried it and the effect of the poison was checked
at once, and he had no trouble after. At all times,
when I knowingly go into it, I pick a tender leaf,
as large as a three-cent postage stamp, and chew
It, usually being some five or ten minutes doing
so. If I get poisoned at any time by accident,
the one leaf usually does the cure. Every one
should be cautious to chew but Utile, as the reme-
dy will be worse than the disease. I make this
statement for the benefit of those who can be cau-
tious in its use, hoping others mav experience
what I have. Weare, N.IL 1863. Z. Brked.
A New Bauometer. — M. Sauvageon, of Va-
lence, has studied the phenomena which are pro-
duced in a cup of coffee when the sugar is put
into the cup ; and the result of these observations
is thus stated : — "If, inswetening your coffee, you
allow the sugar to dissolve without stirring the liq-
uid, and the globules form a frothy mass, remain-
ing in the centre of the cup, it is an indication of
duration of fine weather ; if, on the contrary, the
froth forms a ring around the sides of the cup it
is a sign of heavy rain ; variable weather is im-
plied by the froth remaining stationary, but ''ot
exactly in the centre."
For the Neir England Parmer,
"BOYS, STICK fO THE FARM."
Nothing is more discouraging to me than to
witness the large number of our country youth
constantly leaving the farm and setting their faces
towards the distant spires of neighboring cities.
The evil is on the increase, I think. How many
family circles have been broken into and the fa-
vorite of the household removed to the city !
How many a sleepless night and anxious forebod-
ings by day, has many a parent experienced on
account of her darling' son exposed to the temp-
tations of the great metropolis whither he had
gone. How many young men are daily wading
through a mother's tears, the remonstrances of a
kind father, and the eloquent pleadings of a sis-
ter, to reach the seeming goal of tlieir happiness,
namely, a home and life in the city. And well
may a loving mother weep, a father remonstrate,
and a sister plead, when the son and brotiier an-
nounces his determination to seek that hajipiness
in the city which he says he is unable to find in
his country home, for in many cases the depar-
ture of a young man from his country home is
but taking the road to future ruin.
When I see a young man j.reparing to leave
the warm sunlight of a country home for the tur-
moil of a city, I always feel it to be my duty to
say to such an one, "Stick to the Farm." When
I find a country jouth contrasting his lot with
tliat of a city merchant's son, I always say to him,
"Stick to the Farm," and whenever I look upon a
farmer's boy, hard at work from morning until
night, I always like to whisper in his ear, "Stick
to the Farm !" Cast not off the uniform of the
farm, look not disdainfully at your rough hands
and tanned cheek, but be of good cheer, keep up
a stout heart, march bravely on in the routine of
your duty, so shall you at last gain a com])etency
a cheerful home, and that boon of great worth,
happiness.
Look about you, listen to the experience of
others whose footsteps you fain would follow ;
take heed to the warning notes of alarm that are
being sounded every day in the city, from some
unfortunate youth who has sacrificed both body
and mind for a city life, and see if you do not
think it is best to "Stick to the Farm !" The farm
is the best place for you ; where you have grown
up and from early life have been accustomed to
work amid its fertile fields. There you have
served a long apprenticesiiip and are educated to
manage its affairs. You understand tlie nature
of the soil and the crops ada])ted to it. If you
go to the city you must begin anew; ever\ thing
will be strange to you, and it will be a long time
before you can get accustomed to doing business
there. You will have to throw aside :ill the ex-
perience of former years and start anew in regard
to your adoj)ted calling.
Again, it is your duty to "Stick to the Farm ;"
vour father has already reached the meridiun of
life, and has commenced to descend the "western
declivity." He has long looked forward to the
day when he could relinquish the active labors of
the farm to his son. To tiiis end lie h.is taken
special pains to instruct you in all tilings connect-
ed with good husbandry, and now, when he needs
you most, when he feels the infirmities of age
creeping on, when he needs your aid, will you
leave him to struggle on as best he may, bearing
306
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
alone the heat and burden of the day ? Do you
not, young man, hear the voice of duty calling
upon you to "Stick to t\\^ Farm ?"
Look again at the chances you have for suc-
ceeding in life. This is a subject that ought to
interest every one — a comfortable home with a
hapjoy family being the common desire of all. If
you remain on the farm, are sober and industrious,
and blessed with health, which is so common to
the inhabitants of the country, your success in
life is almost beyond a doubt. Can you direct
your capital, your energies and labors in a more
sure and safe direction ? Are your chances for
success in the city equally flattering P Take
heed of the startling facts, that only five out of
every one hundred of our merchants retire from
business with a competency ! Look at the profes-
sional gentlemen of our cities. Look over the
roll of attorneys, and select the names of the few
who have risen to distinction and wealth. Many
a young man is now but a slave in tlie city, who,
if he had stuck to the farm might have been one
of nature's own noblemen, free and independent !
Young men from the country are generally fas-
cinated with the glare and show of our cities ; but
as the weeks wear away, so will the flattering as-
pect of the city alike depart. Go visit the large
retail houses, and see the long row of pale, sickly
looking clerks, standing all day behind the coun-
ters, breathing the heated atmosphere of the store.
Are they happy ? Do they not say to you, al-
most audibly, as you pass them, "Young man,
'Stick to the Farm ?' " What would they not
^ive, think you, lor one day in the free, open
country ! Look again at the dangers that you
must meet in the city. I mean dangers of the
mind and soul. How many young men have been
unable to withstand them and have fallen !
Lastly, are you willing to sacrifice jour home in
the country, with all its comforts and privileges, to
that of one in the city ? Compare them and judge
for yourself. How many sweet memories cluster
around that ancient homestead ! Are they not
strong bands that bind you to it ? Is it easy for
you to turn your back upon that homestead and
say,
"Ancient Homestead, quaint and dreary,
Wiien shall I thy threshold tread !
When return to those that love me,
If, alas I they are not dead 1"
Are there not a thousand things connected with
it that murmur in gentle language, "Remain on
the Farm ?" There is the farm-house itself, the
rastic porch, the woodbine, fluttering in the breeze,
under whicli you may have sat so many liours, af-
ter the labors of the day were over, — the cool
streamlet winding through the pasture lands,
where at noon,
"the dapi^led cattle in shaded waters stood."
Do not these all prompt you to "Stick to the
Farm," and be happy ? j. r. K.
Bpring Valley.
PUT FLOWERS ON" YOUB TABLE.
Set flowers on your table — a whole nosegay if
you can get it, or but two or three, or a single
flower ; a rose, a pink — nay a daisy. Bring a few
daisies and butter-cups from your last field walk,
and keep them alive in a little water ; aye, pre-
serve but a branch of clover or a handful of flow-
ering grass — one of the most elegant, as well as
cheapest of all Nature's productions — and you
have something on your table that reminds you of
the beauties of God's creation, and gives you a
link with the poets and sages that have done it
much honor. Put out a rose, or a lily, or a vio-
let, on your table, and you and Lord Bacon have
a custom in common ; for that great and wise
man was in the habit of having flowers in season
upon his table — morning, we believe, noon, and
night ; that is to say, at all his meals, for his din-
ner-time, was taken at noon. And why shoulci he
not have flowers at all meals, seeing that they were
growing all day ? Now here is a tashion that shall
last forever, if you please — never changing with
silks, and velvet, and silver forks, nor dependent
upon caprice and change to give them importance
and a sensation. The fashion of the garments of
heaven and earth endure forever, and jou may
adorn your tables with specimens of their drapery
— with flowers out of the fields, a.nd golden beams
out of the blue ether. Flowers on a morning ta-
ble are especially suitable to the time. They look
like the happy wakening of the creation ; they
bring the perfumes of the breath of Nature into,
your room ; they seem the representatives and
embodiments of the very smiles of your home, the
graces of its good morrow — proofs that some in-
tellectual beauty is in ourselves, or those about us ;
some home Aurora (if we are so lucky as to have
such a companion) helping to strew our life with
sweets, or in ourselves some masculine mildness
not unworthy to possess such a companion, or un-
likely to gain her.
A BSAZILIAKT EOKEST.
We often read in books of travels of the silence
and gloom of the Brazilian forests ; some of which
extend unbroken for hundreds and hundreds of
miles in all directions. They are realities, and
the impression deepens on a longer actpaintance.
The few sounds of birds are of that pensive or
mysterious character which intensifies the feeling
of solitude, rather than imparts a sense of life and
cheerfulness. Sometimes, in the midst of the still-
ness, a sudden yell or scream will startle one ; this
comes from some defenceless fruit-eating animal,
which is pounced upon by a tiger-cat or stealthy
boa-constrictor. Morning and evening the howl-
ing monkeys made a most fearful and harrowing
noise, under which it is diflScult to keep up one's
buoyanc}- of spirit. The feeling of inhospitable
wildness which the forest is calculated to inspire
is increased ten-fold under this fearful uproar.
Often, even in the still hours of midday, a sudden
crash will be heard resounding afar through ihe
wilderness, as some great bough or entire tree
falls to the ground. There are, besides, many
sounds which it is impossible to account for. I
found the natives generally as much at a loss in
this respect as myself. Sometimes a sound is
heard like the clang of an iron bar against a hard,
hollow tree, or a piercing cry rends the air ; these
are not repeated, and the succeeding silence tends
to heighten the unpleasant impression Avhich they
make on the mind. With the natives it is always
the Curupira, the wild man or the spirit of the
forest, which produces all noises they are unable
to ex])lain. jNIyths are the rude theories which
mankind, in the infancy of knowledge, i-ivent to
explain natural phenomena. The Curupira is a
mysterious being, whose atti'ibutes are uncertain,
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
307
for they vary according to locality. Sometimes
he is described as a kind of orang-outang, being
covered with long, shaggy liair, and living in trees.
At others he is said to have cloven feet, and a
bright red face. He has a wife and children, and
sometimes comes dowu to the rocas to steal the
mandioca. — Mr. Bates, an English hunter.
then when the thermometer marks the heat froia oO-'
to 96^. T. W. Sawyer.
Sudbury, August, 18C3.
Remarks. — Incur youth we performed an immense
amount of labor of this kind. Would not one of the
cheap handmills, made for rasping apples, answer?
We have one on hand with which we may make the
experiment, and will state the result.
GAS TAB ON SEED-COKN.
The use of this material on seed-corn has been
advised by some, and very strongly condemned by
others. T. P. Meigs, of Waterville, Wisconsin,
writes to the Country Gentleman as follows :
"Having seen several articles in your paper de-
preciating the use of "Gas Tar on Seed Corn," I
thought 1 would relate my experience. I planted
about twelve acres of the ;arred corn and it all
came up within a week. Neither birds or squir-
rels meddled with mine, while they were very de-
structive in neighboring fields. One person had
fifteen acres nearly all taken by pigeons, one morn-
ing at sunrise. I soaked my seed-corn twenty-
four hours in warm water, and then applied the
gas tar."
The Editor of the New Hampshire Journal of
Agriculture in an article on "Corn," says :
We are among those who were induced to try
gas tar, and from experiments made, are perl'i'ctly
satisfied with the result. 'I'rue, our corn did not
come well, but we have no loason to attribute it to
the tar. IJry seed planted side by side with that
which was tarred, did nut come uj) any better, and
has not made so good a growth, and is very inferior
in color. The crows jjulled less than half dozen
hills of the tarred, but on that part of tlic field
that was planted with drv seed, they operated
badly.
AVe have practised as follows : — Put the corn
into a tub and turn on scalding water then add a
table spoonful of clean, common tar for every peck
of corn, stir it thoroughly and after it has stood 10
or 12 hours, turn off the water, add a little plas-
ter, ashes or loam and stir again and plant. The
corn will come quick, birds and squirrels will only
try a hill or two, and the early growth of the corn
will be rapid and strong.
Hints about the Dahlias. — The dahlia is
our favorite flower, and it must from its many de-
sirable qualities always be popular, if at present it
is a little out of favor. Some in our vard are
now— Aug. 1st— in full perfection of bloom, and
are truly magnificent. Any garden soil will grow
this flower, but we prefer a compost made of old
black_ garden mould, clay and sandy peaty loam.
In wintering the dahlia, take up the tubers as
soon as the tops are killed by the frost, do not
separate them, but pack them away in a box of
dry sand or loam placing them in a dry cellar out
of the way of frost till wanted for propagatien in
the spring. This flower is particularly worthy of
culture on account of its cheapness, the ease with
which it is grown, and the rich display it makes
in the garden when the other flowers are gone.
Importation of Wool ix 1SG2. — It is stated
by the Ohio Calticutur that last year, the free wool
from Canada amounted to very nearly two millions
of pounds. The fine cloths and woollen yarns,
amounted to less than seven million dollars. The
entire importation of wool and woolens, cost less
than twenty-three millions of dollars, — httle more
than half the cost of the importations of 1860,
and yet, from its low quality, actually repesenting
nearly as much wool, in pounds, as the importa-
tion of that year. The importations consumed
by civilians is very small compared with peace-
times, when that class of citizens purchased large-
ly of fine foreign cloths.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
Much lia^i been done by the inventions of mechanical
genius, to lighten the labors of iarnicrs, by the use of
labor-savins farm implements,, during the past few
years, for which all due thanks sliould be given, not
onl}' to the inventors thereof, but grateful hearts should
rise in thanks to the Great Architect of those Invent-
ors, and of us all. While much has been done, can
not some one get up the right kind of a cheap and du-
rable, al>() co'.iveniciit machine to crush and grind
boiled potatoes, pumiikins, apples and turnips for hogs?
Any i)er.--on knows that to mash up the nl)Ove named
vcget'aliles and roots, so as to have them ultimately
fine and mixed with meal, is hard and laborious work,
as well as hot, and consunuiig cou^idcrable time when
well di^ne.
Will you please call attention to this in the Farmer
in such ;i way as shall seem best to yotir own pood
judgment ? Perhaps you can give your own experi-
ence in mashing up potatoes, &c , with what is called
a maul, especially in such hot days as we have had
for a while past ; fur my p.irr, I can start tlie perspi-
ration pretty freely in cold weather ; how much more
Summer Butter. — Butter-making in hot
weather requires extra care. The milk-room
should, if possible, be kept at a temperature not
above GO ^ , by the use of ice or by cold spring wa-
ter running through the room. If cellars are used
for dairying purposes, keep them clean and sweet
by frequent while-washing, and ventilate freely.
Allow nothing having strong odor to remain in
the vicinity. The barrel for sour milk, whey, etc.,
to be fed to swine, should never be allowed in the
milk-room. In sending butter to market, keep
it shaded from the sun ; freshly cut grass, slight-
ly moistened, is a good material in which to pack
the tubs. Keep all utensils perfectly clean and
sweet, with the tinned ware scoured bright. — Ag-
ricidiurist.
Youthful Love. — It is only in early youth, in
the first freshness of tiic spring of life, that love
can he tasted in its intensest rapture. Youth
looks upon everything with fond and credulous
eyes, and the air seems one universal rainbow.
The emotion will not bear analysis, and what is
more, w ill not bear the test of time ; it is but too
frequently its own suicide.
To Preserve Apples from Rotting. — Put
them into a dry cellar, of easy access to a large
family of children.
308
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
AGEICUIiTTJBE HONORED BY THE
CHINESE.
In our association with the farmers of New Eng-
land we have often felt that our country owed a
debt of gratitude to a certain class of her citizens,
which it would be well to acknowledge by some
act of public recognition. We have no desire to
see anylhijig like what is know in Europe as the
Orders of Nobility, established under our demo-
cratic government, but might not the example of
the Chinese government be safely followed in hon-
oring those men whose "good reputation among
their neighbors" for industry, perseverance, and
good judgment, distinsruishes them as the most
worthy citizens of the several towns and districts
in our land. A returned missionary, speaking of
the Chinese, says : —
The Son of Heaven, (as they call their Empe-
ror,) he whom they honor with almost religious
worship, whom nobody approaches but on his
knees, is bound by law and custom to cultivate
every spring a certain piece of ground, while all
the dignitaries of his court are present in their
splendid robes of ceremony to assist liim. The
like ceremony is performed at the same time by
the governors of the different provinces near their
respective capital cities. And when embassadors
come to court from the different parts of the em-
pire, the Emperor will question them concerning
the state of the different crops. It is a duty of
the governors to report annually what men of their
provinces are the best farmers (that means accord-
ing to their idea of a perfect agriculturist,) who
are distinguished not only by the most careful cul-
tivation of their farms, but also by their good re-
putation among their neighbors, by their industry,
frugality and economy. And the men so recom-
mended' are elevated by the Emperor to a certain
rank, which gives them many privileges, and which
may perhaps be compared with that of the French
Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
Fvr the New England Fanner.
ONE-HORSE FARMERS.
In almost every farming community these may
be found. The writer claims to be one of them,
and offers the following humble vindication of his
class from the prejudice that is apt to attach to
any "one-horse concern." Fifty years ago such
would hardly be acknowledged as farmers — when
a man must own so many acres and cattle, and,
here in the valley of the Connecticut, have some
share of meadow land to secure recognition from
the profession. But more recently, more liberal
and just ideas have sprung up as to what consti-
tutes a farmer. He may not be monarch of all
he surveys, nor pasture his flocks and herds upon
a thousand hills — he may not be possessed with a
passion for landholding till he has swallowed up
every adjjining lot, and owns enough for a town-
ship— and still attain to agricultural honors. If
he only be versed in the practical operations of
husbandry, and cultivates a farm, little or big, his
own property or leased from another, his claim to
be a fanner is generally admitted. Neither is the
profit of farming found to depend so much on the
number of acres, as upon the careful tillage of
each particular acre. So that a little farm well
tilled proves more profitable than a great one un-
der hurried, superficial cultivation.
Here, the one-horse farmer puts in his claim.
His operations are not, of course, on a large scale,
nor does he aspire to a great business on a small
capital, but is content to be faithful over the few
things of which he has assumed control. He
must needs learn the art of "making the most of
a little," until every square rod of soil becomes as
precious to him as acres to the more ambitious
landholder. Yet there are comparatively few of
this class who pretend to live by this limited style
of farming, and these few, perhaps, are more prop-
erly styled market gardeners than farmers. From
the very nature of the case the one-horse farmer
must live in a very contracted way, and be literal-
ly a man who "wants but little here below," or
he must have other sources of income for a liveli-
hood. There are country parsons and village
doctors in this class, who fortunately possess just
land enough to aff"ord them the recreation of farm-
ing without its drudgery, while dependent on their
chosen profession, mainly, for support. So, also,
there are teachers and tradesmen, who resort to
agriculture as a means of relaxation from the
cares and confinement of their special callings, and
have only time or capital to spare for a little farm*
There are not a few men disabled from practising
their so-called learned professions, who, having
inherited or purchased a few acres, eke out by
the means, in connexion with other investments,
a respectable living. They have not strength to
bear the full burden and heat of the day, but take
an honest pleasure and pride in tilling the soil to
the extent of their capacity. So long as it pro-
motes their health and renews their strength ;
shar])ens their appetites and sweetens their slum-
bers, they feel amply compensated for all the
strains, blisters and bruises that the work involves.
There are times to be sure, when their faith de-
clines and their zeal is dampened — as M'hen the
mercury ascends in haying time to several degrees
above the drying point, or a drenching rain comes
down just when a hot sun would be preferred —
or when, after a hard, hurrying day's work, they
feel in every aching bone their own insufficiency,
and are tempted to lay down shovel, hoe and rake
forevermore.
But it is usually the privilege of our one-horse
farmer to have plenty of time for recovering from
the eff"ects of temporary hard work, as well as to
avoid the risks incident to farming on a more ex-
tended scale. His crops are put into the ground
and have even grown high enough for their first
hoeing, before farmers in general have finished
the needful ])reparation for planting. And while
they are tugging along the furrow with their pant-
ing teams, he is at liberty, with folded arms, to
quietly enjoy the scene, or, if benevolently in-
clined, lend them a helping hand ! During this
wet hay weather, he has had good reason to con-
gratulate himself on having improved a few days
of sunshine to secure his crop with hardly a sprink-
ling. He had only two or three acres of grass to
cut, and grain in proportion ; and so, watching
his opportunity to make hay while the sun shines,
could finish satisfactorily, in lil^e more than a
week, what is costing his more pretentious breth-
ren months of mingled suspense and toil ! He
may work as hard as they while his seedtime and
1863.
NEW EXGLAND FARMER.
309-
harvest last, but compared with theirs his labors
are short and sweet. Thus, one great objection
to farming, that it lays on narrow shoulders too
heavy burdens, is in his case mostly surmounted.
And it surely is an advantage fur a man to be so
situated that he can follow the pursuit in question
through the busy day, without that most uncom-
fortable sense of drudgery that is so apt to op-
press tlic toiling husbandman.
Well may we all be grateful for the introduc-
tion of labor-saving machines, not merely for re-
lieving toil, but for promoting its dignity and at-
tractiveness.
Take, for example, the mowing machine. One
may enjoy the music of whetting a scythe and the
grace of swinging it — but let him go half through
an acre of short herdsgrass, and the poetry of
mowing is very apt to ooze away in secret, and its
dignity collapse. Let him, however, mount to
his seat on the machine, and, with reins in hand,
drive business through an hour that would cost
him an half day of melting labor otherwise, and
the hardest operation of the season is reduced to
a pleasant pastime, while the drudge feels like a
master now !
From no class of men docs the pursuit of ag-
riculture receive more hearty ap])reciation, than
from this under consideration. And the fact that
their situation is usually free from most of its un-
welcome features, favors this view of the case.
With work enough to afford them health and vig-
or, they have sufficient leisure for that sense of
the beautiful and devotional sentiment, which the
sight of green pastures and waving harvests is
calculated to inspire. No doubt, there are one-
horse farmers as one-sided and contracted in their
views as their name would seem to indicate. But
the writer is not responsible for such — and only
has aimed to indicate those who, though con-
strained to hire their ploughing done, will ever
pray with liberal hearts, "God speed the plough!"
Lonijnicudow, Aitrj., 1.SG3. w. E. B.
QEAPE CULTURE, WINES AN"D WINE-
MAKING.
Some time since, we made a brief notice of a
work on these subjects, ho])ing to return to its
pages again for interesting and valuable passages
which met our eye at the time. We are fortunate
now, however, in being able to present the reader
not only with extracts, but with intelligent remarks
upon them from one of the most scientific and best
informed writers on these subjects, of New Eng-
land. Ilis pen is as clear and persuasive as the
subjects which he discusses will be valuable and
attractive. He has promised us several articles,
which are to include a variety of topics. The
careful attention of the reader is c.dled to them as
they a])pcar.
After -iving the title of the work by. A. IIau-
ASZTilY, of California, he says, —
Here is a volume of 420 pages full of most im-
portant ob=;crvations upon the subjects of which it
treats, the whole of which was prepared in seven
months and twenty-five days, including a journey
to Europe and back.
Xhe "tVinrwas employed by thp Onvprnor of
California, J. G. Downey, by authority of the leg-
islature, toJgo to Europe to examine the diflerent
varieties of grapes and the various modes of mak-
ing wine, in the wine- growing countries of Europe.
At Washington, he received from Mr. Seward
a circular letter to the diplomatic agents of United
States in Europe, instructing them to afi'ord him
all the assistance in their power. In France he
opened a correspondence with the officers of the
various agricultural and horticultural societies,
who cheerfully gave him every opportunity of ob-
taining the information he required.
He visited various parts of France, the Nether*
lands, Holland. Rhenish Prussia, Bavaria. Nassau,
Baden, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Juigiand.
Never did envoy more diligently or moi>- faitlifuUy
fuliil the objects of his mission. Examination con-
firmed him in his conviction that "California is
superior, in all conditions of soil, climate, and oth-
er natural advantages, to the most favored wine-
producing districts in Europe, and that it actually
bas yielded considerably more per acre." "AU
that this State requires, to produce a generous
and no!)le wine, is the varieties of grapes, fronj
which the most celebrated wines are made, and the
same care and science in its manufacture. This
conclusion is the result of a chorougli investiga-
tion, and frequent consultations with many emi-
nent men in Europe, who assured mc that the
quality of the grapes governs, in a great measure,
the quality of the wine." "■Even in the lead fa-
vored localilics, where common wines were ordina-
rily made, tlic fined and mod codly u-inci had been
produced bij planting Ihebest varieties of grape"
In the course of his researches, he examined
every wine-making establishment within his reach,
so as to learn the best modes of making wine, pro-
cured the reports of many scientific committees,
the proceedings of a Congress in France made
up of the most scientific chemists and practical
wine-makers, the various reports of similar assem-
blies in Germany, and the newest and best works,
in various languages, by able men who had spent
their lives in ibe business of vine-culture and wine-
making. He purchased and sent home from dif-
ferent jiarts of Europe 100,000 vines, embracing
about 1400 varieties.
Nor did he confine his attention to grapes and
wines. Wherever he found a lucrative trade in
I making rai<ins, drying figs and prunes, raising al-
I monds, cultivating mulberry trees for tiie suste-
I nance of silk-worms, and, above all, producing su-
i gar from the sorgho, the iniphee, or the beet-root,
he took occasion to investigate these branches of
[ industry, and to ])rocure the best and newest
'works concerning tliem. In regard to ll)ese last
{ three articles, he thinks that no part of the world
' except, perhaps. Africa, can produce them so suc-
cessfully as California ; and he adds: "The pres-
ent mode of making sugar from these products is
so simple that every farmer, at an exjiense of $30
for machinery, can manufacture enough for his
own use, and have a considerable overplus, each
year, for the market."
In going by rail from Paris to Dijon in Burgun-
dy, he says : "We crossed several roads, nil of
which excited my greatest admiration by the fine
order in which they are kept. They are smooth
and hard as a billiard table. All alonj,' their bor-
ders, at a distance of twenty yards, are piled up
fine small stones. In case a hole should be made
310
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
in the road, the inspectors need only to take a
handful or two of these stones, to fill it up imme-
diately."
At Dijon he saw several vines trained up to the
second story window of a house, and very heavily
laden with grapes. These vines wei-e planted so
near the house that the wall would rest upon one-
half the roots, while the other half were covered
by the heavy stones of the old pavement. So a
vine of a ceitain age may live and flourish, with-
out having the ground loosened about its roots.
The vines were large and healthy looking. "When
I return home," he adds, "I will try this with vines
of different ages. If it should succeed it would be
a great economy, and the grapes resting on stone
would be clean, and could not impart a ground
taste to the wine."
He visited, in company with Prof. Ladrey, edi-
tor of a monthly magazine on the culture of the
vine, the botanical garden supported by the city
of Dijon, in which amongst other things, he found
six hundred varieties of the vine, among which
were the Catawba, the Isabella and the Scrapanay,
from this country.
At Gevrey, a village near Chamberlin, the rent
of five acres of land for planting a vineyard, was
found to be $50 or $60 a year for twenty or thirty
years. If already planted with vines, the rent was
from $70 to $100 the five acres.
First class Pirean vineyards were worth from
$320 to $480 an acre ; second class from $240 to
$320 ; and first class Gamai vineyards the same.
Second class Gamai from $120 to $200.
The prices of wines were very variable. Wine
of the vintage of 1846, from the best vineyards,
brought $400, to $600, or even $800 a hhd. of 60
gallons. A hogshead of the first class of common
wines was worth from $200 to $300, second class
from $100 to $200, and poorer wines still lower.
Most of these are red wines.
In the making of wine, when it is deficient in
eaccharine matter, sugar, made of potatoes, is ad-
ded during the fermentation — sometimes to the
amount of 30 pounds to the hogshead.
It may serve to recommend the wine of this re-
gion to be told that the way by which the fermen-
tation in the vats is kept up is by sending several
men, perfectly naked, into the vats, who, by vigo-
rous exercise with feet and hands, keep warm
enough to raise the heat to the proper degree and
continue the fermentation.
The wine, when drawn off" into hogsheads, after
the delicate process of fermentation, is kept in cel-
lars, some of which are forty or even sixty feet be-
low the surface. Some cellars at this depth are
capable of holding 12,000 hogsheads, of 60 gal-
Ions each. Cellars were visited which were lined
with casks, three or four hundred years old, con-
taining 2400 gallons each.
Full accounts are given of the various modes of
planting and after-management of the vines from
which the finest and most celebrated Burgundy
wines are made. The usual wages for working an
acre of vineyard are from sixteen to twenty dollars
a year.
Vineyards in which the grapes are not carefully
sorted, but thrown in indiscriminately, good and
bad together, as the makers of cider often allow,
uniformly produce wine of an inferior quality and
of low price.
From Dijon, back to Paris and thence through
Cologne to Coblentz, to visit the vineyards on the
Rhine. At Hockheim he examined the establish-
ment for the imitation, w'hich is very successful, of
the sparkling champagnes. Some of the imita-
tions are better than that of the brands taken for
imitation.
The process of gathering and making the Hock-
heim wines is given. They are put into casks con-
taining from 250 gallons to 5000. "The first year
the wine is drawn off' into new barrels (casks) four
or five times." "In the second year, twice will be
sufficient ; in the third year, once ; then, once in
two years ; and, after that, it may remain in the
same barrel until it is bottled." The greatest care
should be taken never to leave a vacant space in
any barrell holding wine. As our host quaintly
said, "you should sooner forget to kiss your wife,
on returning home, than to leave a vacancy in
your barrel." This wine sells for from $200 to
$1200 per cask of 250 gallons. It is made of the
Riesling grape, the vines of which must be planted
at the distance of three and a half feet apart. E.
HOW TO PKESERVB HEALTH IN" HOT
WEATHER.
We remember no summer during which there
was not promulgated, from some source or other,
an infallible recipe, as it is usually claimed, for
the preservation of health. But the following
suggestions from the Philadelphia North American
seem to possess the merit of common sense, and
a compliance with their terms will certainly be
inexpensive. We commend them to our readers :
First. Be always occupied, and in the open air
if possible, but not in the sun.
Second. Drink ice-water freely at meals, but
rarely or never at oiher times. Many people de-
stroy the tone of the stomach, and bring on all
sorts of diseases, by drinking to excess of ice-
water.
Third. Eat full and ample meals of light food,
finishing with fruit deserts, melons included, but
don't eat lunches.
Fourth. Don't sit down to lounge and sleep in
the day time, unless you have a regular hour of
sleep after dinner — a thing tolerable with old gen-
tlemen, but not with young men.
Fifth. Be cheerful as well as active ; stir up
your friends as well as yourself with jokes and
jibes.
Sixth. Keep a bottle of some one of the dozen
good preparations of mixed astringents and ton-
ics, which any good apothecary or physician can
name to you, always at hand, using a very little
of it to check stomachic derangement at the very
minute it begins.
Singular Discovery of Antiquities near
Athens. — A letter just received in Paris gives
the following account of the discovery near Ath-
ens, by pure accident, of some very interesting
monuments :
A small proprietor amusing himself after the
fashion of his kind in digging up his own potatoes,
came on something hard. He tried to dig it up,
but found it was a fixture. He cleared a part of
it, and saw it was the wall of a building ; he ex-
amined the wall and found there was an inscrip-
tion on it, which, as he could not read, gave him
no great insight into his discovery. He, howev-
er, consulted his friends ; further excavations were
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
311
made, and by a curious chain of circumstances
the digging of potatoes has opened to the eyes of
the antiquarian world tlie '"Via Sacra" which
went fi-oni Athens to Eleusis. A long line of
tombs, completely buried in sand, runs along both
sides of this sacred way, by which great Athe-
nians used to be carried to their last home, and
the fashionable world of Athens used to crowd to
the fetes of Ceres.
MY FIELD.
I will not wronir thee, 0 To-day,
With iiUe Ionising lor To morrow ;
But piiticnt ploiiph my fiild, and sow
Tlie seed of faith in every tirrow.
Enough for me the loving light
That melts tlie cloud's repellant edges ;
The still unfaliling, bud liy bud.
Of (to.i's most sweet and huly pledges.
I breathe Ilis breath ; ray Ufa is His ;
The hand He nerves knows no defrauding,—
The I<ord will make this joyless waste
Wave with the wheat of His rewarding.
Of His rewarding ! Yea ; and yet
N'nt nime a single blade or kernel ;
The seed is His ; the quickening His ;
The care, unchanging and eternal.
His, too. the harvest song shall be,
W'hen He who blest the b irren furrow
Shall thrust His shining sickle in,
And reap my little field to-morrow.
Harriet JIcEwen EIimball.
LETTER FROM THE FARM.
The Weather — Haying — Hay Caps — Second Crop Abundant —
Millet and Hungarian Grass — A Pleasant Visit from the Au-
thor of "Hot Corn."
Concord, August 24, 1863.
Gent. — I have already sent so much "copy" to
to the printer, that little space is left for a Letter
from the Farm. Since my last notice of the weath-
er, it has continued remarkably regular in its ir-
regularity, being slioica-ij, foggy, hot, quite cool,
and interspersed with pelting rain, wind and a
hail storm '. x\t this date, Aug. 24th, haying is
not much more than half finished. Scores upon
scores of cocks are now out within view of my
window^, and are reduced fifty per cent, in value
by the rains and floods. I have no recollection
when the hay crop has been gathered in so poor a
condition as the present season. I hope the grain
crops will be abundant and sweet, so that our an-
imals may have a plentiful sprinkling of meal with
their unsavory herbage fodder next winter. Hay
caps have been in demand, and have probably
saved more than their cost this season.
People have commenced cutting the rowen, or
second crop of grass, which is very abundant. In
my immediate neighborhood there are many fine
fields where nearly, or quite, a ton and a half per
acre will be cut. On one farm which I visited last
week, it was estimated that ffteen tons of rowen
would be cut. This is esteemed by our milk-rais-
iCrs as among their best fodder for the produc-
tion of milk.
Millet and Hungarian Grass.
Last spring, your excellent neighbors, Messrs.
Parker, Gannett Sc Osgood, said to me, that in sell-
ing the seeds of Millet grass, they found many
persons were under the impression that the com-
mon millet and Hungarian grass were j)recisely
alike. Li order to settle this, they desired me to
sow the seeds of both. I did so, and send you a
specimen of each, which you will oblige me by
leaving with them for their examination, and for
the inspection of their customers. What is known
in this section as the common millet is not figured
in Flint's work on the grasses, but another vari-
ety, of very different form. It will be noticed
that the millet which I send has a large, compact
head, 4 or o inches long, somewhat resembling
the head of herds grass, but {much larger. Both
the grasses which I send were sowed on the 5th of
June. The millet was fairly headed on the 8th of
August, — the Hungarian grass not until a week
later.
A Pleasant Visitor.
One day last week, I had the pleasure of receiv-
ing, and of retaining over night, the able and dis-
tinguished Agricultural Editor of the New York
Tribune, Solon Horinson, Esq. There were
few gaps or "gapes" in the conversation while be
remained, I can assure yoti. Mr. Robinson has
been connected with the Tribune about a dozen
years, and has made himself well known by his
general knoMledge of agricultural matters, and by
the power of his terse and ready pen. His market
reports arc models. He is an able and attractive
writer on general subjects. His work, entitled
"Hot Cum," published six or seven years ago, un-
folded some of the darkest, as well as brightest,
phases of human existence, and greatly arrested
public attention at the time. I shall be glad if
others of the Editorial fraternity copy Mr. Rob-
inson's example in making his visit.
Very truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Nourse, Eatos & Tolma;?.
"ONE-HORSE FARMERS."
The reader, especially he who cultivates but a
few acres, will peruse with pleasure the article in
another column under the title, "One-Hnrse Fa-nii-
ers." The reading will suggest many things, un-
doubtedly, in regard to the present modes and
peculiar circumstances under which farming is
conducted at the present day. To the older per-
sons it will suggest the great change which has
taken place in farm help within forty M|rs. The
peculiar charm and gratification of ruMl life has
been greatly affected by this circumstance, name-
ly the substitution of foreign, unintelligent labor,
for that of the educated and robust sons uf Amer-
ican sires. No one thing, perhaps all other things
combined, have not done so much as this to make
farm life unsatisfactory, and in many cases, repul-
sive.
The farmer who has reached the age of sixty
years, and who has borne the heat and burden of
312
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
forty or more years of that period, having the re-
sponsibility as well as performing most of the la-
bor, ought to be honorably discharged from both,
and find himself in a position to work or enjoy a
quiet leisure, as he pleases. This cannot be done
so long as the sons all leave the farm, and seek
employment in some other field of labor. What
shall be the remedy ?
THE IRISH BAK IN OLDEN TIMES.
On the election in question, I was proposed
by Mr. Gtun-ge Ponsonby, and upon Mr. Grattan
rising next to vote upon my tally, he was imme-
diately objected to as having been expelled on the
report of Lord Clare's committee. A burst of in-
dignation on the one side, and a boisterous de-
clamation on the other, forthwith succeeded. It
V7as of an alarming nature : Grattan meanwhile
standing silent, and regarding, with a smile of
the most ineffable contempt ever expressed, his
shameless accusers. The objection was made by
Mr. John Gifl'ard, of whom hereafter. On the
first intermission of the tumult, with a calm and
dignified air, but in that energetic tone and style
so peculiar to himself, Mr. Gi'attan delivered the
following memorable words — memorable, because
conveying, in a few short sentences, the most
overwhelming phillipic — the most irresistible as-
semblage of terms imputing public depravity, that
the English, or, I believe, any other language, is
capable of affording : — "Mr. Sheriff, when I ob-
serve the quarter whence the objection comes, I
am not surprised at its being made ! It proceeds
from the hired traducer of his country — the ex-
communicated of his fellow-citizens — the regal
rebel — tlie unpunished ruffian — the bigoted agita-
to^* ! In the city a firebrand — in the court a liar
— in the street a bully — in the field a coward !
And so obnoxious is he to the very party he wishes
to espouse, that he is only supportable by doing
those dirty acts the less vile refuse to execute."'
Giffard thunderstruck, lost his usual assurance ;
and replied, in one single sentence, "I would spit
upon him in a desert !" which vapid and unmean-
ing exclamation was his sole retort !
[n the celebrated cause of the King against
Heavy (in the King's bench,) Mr. Curran and I
were Heavy's counsel, and afterwards moved to
set aside the verdict on the grounds which we
considered to form a most important point, upon
legal principles. Curran had concluded his speech,
and I was stating what I considered to be the
law of the case, when Lord Kilwarden, impatient
and fidgety, interrupted me — "God forbid, Mr.
Barrington," said he, "that should be the law !"
"God forbid, my lord," answered I, "that it
8houldJ|S»5 be the law." "You are rough, sir,"
exclainred he. "More than one of us have the
same infirmity, my lord." "I was right, sir," said
he. "So was I, my lord," replied I, unbendingly.
He fidgeted again, and looked haughty and sour.
I thought he would break out, but he only said,
"Go on, sir— go on, sir!" I proceeded; and,
while I was speaking, he wrote a note, which was
handed to me by the officer. I kept it as afford-
ing a curious trait of human character. It ran
thus: "Barrington: you are the most impudent
fellow I ever met. Come and dine with me this
day at six. You will meet some sfrnngers, so I
hope you will behave yourself, though I have no
reason to expect it !" — Barrington's Personal
Sketches.
Birds and Insects. — An English paper says,
"In the county of York there is a rookery belong-
ing to W. Vavasour, Esq., of Weston-in-Wharf-
dale, in which it is estimated that there are 10,-
000 rooks. One pound of insect food a week is a
very moderate allowance for each bird, nine-tenths
of their food consisting of wonns, insects and their
larva». Here, then, there is the enormous quanti-
ty of 468,000 pounds or 209 fo7is of worm^, insects
and their larva?, destroyed hij rooks of a single
rooJcer;/ in one year. Each rook in this calculation
is given to have picked up 1 pound of food per
week, nine-tenths of which was of insect matter,
the wirev.orm and larva^. I have kept rooks tame,
and to my certain knowledge they will consume
more than the quantity above stated.
Death of a Famous Buck.— We learn from
the California Farmer that the famous French Me-
rino Buck, "Crystal Palace," is dead. He won the
great prize at the World's Fair in Paris in 1S56,
and numerous first prizes in the State of New
York, and was afterwards sent by J. D. Patterson,
Esq., to California, where he was sold in 18<59 for
$l,o00. Ilis weight was .300 pounds, and his clip
of magnificent wool was from 24 to d'2h pounds
for several years. When he died he was twelve
years old. — Stock Journal.
The Hessian Fly.— There is considerable
complaint this year of the ravages of this insect,
in the wheat-growing sections of our country.
In a late communication to the Country Gentle-
man, John Johnstone states that last fall, against
his better judgment and past experience, he de-
parted from his usual practice of sowing-about the
20th, and sowed on the 5th and 6th of September ;
he attributes the total failure of his crop to this
early sowing, where he fully expected about 40
bushels per acre.
Summer Dress.— The Illinois Prairie Farmer,
— a paper, by the way, which suffers from our
shears as much as any one of our many able ex-
changes,— has been printed on new type, with a
new roller and clean paper, for several weeks past.
An evidence of well-to-do, as gratifying, as it has
been rare, of late, with the agricultural press.
Coal Oil. — To illustrate how one discovery or
invention opens the way for others, we have seen
it stated that the discovery of coal oil has given
rise to more than a thousand inventions ; over
three hundred of which have been patented for
lamps to burn it in.
Peach Borer. — It is stated in the Prairie
Furincr, that a man in that State, who has 4000
peach trees, finds that a pint of salt put around
the collar of each tree, to be a sure remedy for
the peach borer grub. He buys refuse salt from
the packing houses.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
313
For the New Knifland Farmer.
THE SEASON— HAYING, &c.
We have had a very remarkable hay season.
Commencing about the 2()th of June, we had a
few days of pretty good weather ; since that, say
about six weeks, the proportion of cloudy and
rainy weather has been quite unusual, averaging
about two days of hay weather a week. Prof.
Snell, who has kept a record of the weather for
many years, says that the proportion of fair and
cloudy weather ranges from 48 to 52-100. July
was 73-100 cloudy. Many of the best farmers
had not more than one-quarter of their hay cut
in July, whereas, usually, haying is chiefly done
in that month. Much of the hay is injured by
rains, and that standing is ripe and hard ; the
crop is large, but of far less value than the avei*-
age of years.
And now a word about hay caps ; with the aid
of them, I have saved most of my hay in good
condition, finishing the third of August. Hay
veil cocked and capped has stood from four to six
days uninjured, except at the bottom. I think
mine have paid tlieir cost the present season. I
have used them several years, and 1 would advise
every farmer to procure a set, as soon as cotton
is to he had at a reasonable price. One who cuts
from 40 to 60 tons of hay should have from 100
to 150 caps ; 30-inch, heavy twilled cotton, two
widths, makes just the right size ; the corner
sowed over to hold the cord is better than eyelets.
With a "Davis" one-horse mower, a horse rake
^and caps, haying, in an ordinary season, is easily
done.
Spring wheat is not as good as usual. Oats
are badly lodged, owing to the wet. Corn is very
promising, but I am sorry to say the crop is rap-
idly giving way to tobacco. S. SwEETSER.
AmJierst, Aug. 10, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
DURABILITY OF SEEDS.
Messes. Editors : — In this vicinity, it is a well
known fact among our farmers that however thick
and rank kail may be on our new stocked mead-
ows, that after mowing two years the kail disap-
pears and we see no more of it until the meadow
IS ploughed up again, no matter whether it be ten
or twenty years. But when it is ploughed there
is nothing more certain than that the kail will
grow up again as thick as ever.
Now, as you are supposed to understand this,
please say in the Farmer, whether the kail starts
again from the root, or the seed, after being out
of sight for twenty years. There is a great dif-
ference of opinion about it here, and we have
agreed to leave it to you to decide.
SMburne, VL, Any., 1863. H. N. Newell.
Rem.\RKS. — We do not know what plant our
correspondent refers to as "kail," but that will
mot affect the inquiry. In replying, we will state
a case which took place on our own farm. We
recently ploughed two or three acres of an old
pasture, which was ploughed and planted with
corn ilihiy years before. It had been in our pos-
session about ten years, during which time no
noxiovi' weeds or p'""*^ vurh ns dock, mullei"
or iliuiiles had been ollmoed to ripen their seeds.
The surface had become mossy and the land
nearly worthless as pasture. It was ploughed
and laid down in the autumn. The grass seed
came up well and got pretty well established be-
fore severe frosts came. In the spring, however,
mulleins appeared on every part of it, and were
so numerous that two or three hands were sent
with horse and hay-cart to weed them dlit, when
they had attained a height of eight or ten inches !
It required the time of two or three days to clear
the field ! Where did these mulleins come from?
Not one had seeded there for ten years, and few,
if any, for thirty years. To our mind, undoubt-
edly, from seed deposited there before the com
was planted there tliirtu years before, and, perhaps,
a hundred years before that time. Similar instan-
ces are constantly occurring.
Where seeds are kept in a proper condition
with regard to heat and moisture they will keep
indefinitely. A grain of wheat taken from a
mummy, satisfactorily proved to have been em-
balmed a thousand years, sprouted and grew vig-
orously.
We do not know when the land was ploughed
for the corn crop of which we have spoken, but
probably in the spring and immediately planted
and cultivated, so that if mulleins appeared, they
were exterminated in the cultivation of the crop.
But they might not have appeared at all the cir-
cumstances not then existing, perhaps, to excite
the germination of the seeds. Who can tell ?
Food For Fattening Poultry. — The cheap-
est and most advantageous food to use for fatten-
ing every description of poultry is ground oats.
These must not be confounded with oat meal, or
with ordinary ground oats. The whole of the
grain is ground to a fine powder; notliing of any
kind is taken from it. When properly ground,
one bushel of the meal will more effectually fatten
poultry than a bushel and a half of any other
meal. The greatest point in fattening poultry is
to feed at daybreak.
L.\st Year's Crops in Iowa. — According to
the official returns from twenty-four counties of
this State, the average yield of wheat last year
was not over six bushels per acre ; sorgo syrup,
75 gallons ; butter, 46 lbs, per cow.
Figs. — It is said by a correspondent of the
Prairie Farmer, that figs ripen every year in the
southern part of that State, but they must be im-
mediately kiln-dried, or canned, as they sour in
less than twelve hours after being gathered. .
Large Load of Wool. — Isaac Dunn, of Ann
Arbor, Mich., delivered his clip of wool in that
city, at one wagon load, weighing 2,160 jjounds,
"-^f.-mtini; tn nearly .$1 300, at 60 cts. "f^' !'»-
314
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
For the New England Farmer,
THE SEASON— CROPS— FKDTTS.
It may be well for me, Mr. Farmer, to begin to
pay my debts, a matter which every honest man
will attend to ; though, by too many, says the
printer, neglected.
I have for a long time enjoyed the weekly read-
ing of your paper and been greatly profited there-
by,— myself contributing nothing.
Perhaps I cannot do better than by giving your
readers a chapter of farming events as they occur
in this quiet valley of the Connecticut.
First and foremost, the weather. Who ever
knew, heard or dreamed of such a spell of weath-
er ! Whether the Secretary of the Weather or
Secretary Stanton is in fault, it becomes not me
to decide. Sure I am, that either a screw is
loose, or the bottles of the heavens were un-
corked about the first of July, and the corks were
lost or mislaid. Only think, for five long weeks,
during the busiest season of the year, scarcely an
entire dry day ! and, in but two instances, two
hay days in succession. This is what we farmers
call "hitching weather." Barometers were in great
demand till they were found to be "dumb dogs,"
giving either uncertain sounds, or no sounds at
all. The pages of the almanac Avere consulted
more frequently, there is reason to fear, than those
of the Bible, till, like the log sent among the frogs
by Jupiter, it was trampled upon and despised,
as giving no clue to the mystery except in these
mystic v.-ords, extending from the beginning to
the end of tlie month, — "A long spell of weather
may be expected about these days."
Then the lunatics began to gaze at the face of
the moon, and prognoslici.te all sorts of things
about the state of the wciilher. Of her aspects
there were as many interpretations as there were
gazers. If, like a shrew, she turned up her pug
nose, 'twould do to mow. But if she wore her
face, decent-like, so as not to allow a pawder-horn
to be suspended from her chin, then look out for
rain. Whenever she changes, — and how unwo-
manly 'twould be in her not to change, then a
change of weather may be expected. But what
change ? there is the rub ; whether from wet to
dry, or from wet to wetter still, none could tell.
Hence we came to the conclusion that the man
in the moon, though sedate, thoughtful and wise,
has less to do with the weather than the weather-
cock on the farmer's barn.
Suffice to say, farmers have sagely concluded
to do as they do in Spain — let it rain. At the
time of this writing, Aug. 10th, I think that not
Oiie-half of the grass has been cut in Hampshire
county.
But we have no right to complain. At the
usual time of beginning to make hay, farmers
were croaking about short crops ; not more than
half a crop, some said ; others admitted two-
thirds ; but all were disposed to grumble.
Well, the winds blew and the rain descended,
and haying operations were suspended, while
nature might make another efibrt to produce a
,crop. For five long weeks have we been watch-
ing the signs of the weather, and waiting for a
crop. Grass enough we now have ; to make hay
of it, we know not ; for dog days, with their fickle
sulkiness, are upon us, and how to make hay with-
out sunshine baffles the wisdom of the shrewdest.
Query. — Would it not be well for farmers to
cultivate more of a contented and confiding spirit,
leaving croaking and fault-finding to ravens and
copperheads ?
Sufiice then to say, the grass crop will be abun-
dant in quantity, but poor in quality ; spring
M'heat is a failure. I have not seen nor heard of
a ])iece that would more than return the seed.
'Tis of no use to sow spring wheat in this region.
Winter wheat and rye have come in well. Those
who have succeeded in dodging the showers, have
reason to be satisfied.
The corn crop promises well ; though for wet
land there has been too much moisture, by half.
Potatoes, too, look well. The rot may be expect-
ed as the result of excessive warmth and mois-
ture. In the way of fruits, there is no lack.
The smaller fruits, such as currants and berries,
have been, and are very abundant. Peaches,
none ; cherries, not abundant. Many trees have
died ; others are dying ; the effect of the severi-
ties of 1860. Quinces have not recovered. Most
were killed outright. Consequently no fruit.
Plums seem to be doing better than usual. Where
there are trees, there will be fruit this season.
But how shall we raise plum trees ? An old hen,
with her brood, will protect an orchard from the
curculio. But all the inmates of the poultry yard
are insufficient to ward off Avarts from one small
tree. Of apples, there will be a good supply ;
not so "many as last year ; but enough, provided
they fall not prematurely, as they now seem prone
to do. The old foes to the apple are on hand as
usual, though perhaps a little more so. First, the
caterpillar made his selection and revelled among
the tender leaves during the first period of his
existence. Then the canker worm spins herself
up in the leaf she has already desiccated and ru-
ined, and lastly, the army worm closes up the
work of desolation. These last are real rebel
marauders, clad in mail ; they all go forth in bands,
wii'.i as much regiiarity as a Grecian phalanx.
Like Melcbisedec, they are, so far as we know,,
without father or mother. Whence they come or
whither they go, we know not. We only know
that they destroy everything where they march
leaving only filth behind. R. B. H.
Amherst, August, 1863.
Kentucky Blue Grass. — The editor of the
Boston Cultivator, who has recently visited Ken-
tucky, says that the famous Blue Grass of that
State is not the Blue Grass of the Colonists, but
is the "Spear Grass" or "June Grass" of New
England. A Mr. Bedford, an old farmer of the
Blue- Grass region, gives the following account of
the origin of the name and of the grass itself.
It was first discovered growing on a ridge near
the Upper Blue Lick, in Bath County, — which lies
contiguous to, and east of Bourbon County, where
Mr. Clay's farm is — it having originated in that
section of country, more than 50 years ago. Mr.
B. said that "farmers liked the grass so well that
they used to go there to get the seed to sow on
their pasture lands." Hence, coming as it did from
the "Blue Lick," it was called "Blue Grass," a
name, as applied to that species of grass, purely
local at first, and is so still to a considerable ex-
tent.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
315
Al^r UP COUNTRY LETTER.
Bethel, Me. Amjust 21, 1863.
Friend Brown: — For fear you should lose
Bight of your Associate, and be tempted to adver-
tise "An Editor Astray !" I have determined to
drop you a few lines from the pleasant village of
Bethel, situated among the hills of Oxford County,
Maine. A rural and retired little place like this,
of course, affords little of interest to our readers,
in the way of startling items — but for re^ enjoy-
ment, health-giving breezes, and scenery tliat it is
hard to equal, I can coixlially commend this place
to the attention of travellers. The number of vis-
itors here, tWs summer, has been very large. The
two public houses have been filled to overflowing,
and every family that received boarders has had
all tliey could find accommodation for. There are
many pleasant drives in the vicinity, and many
points of interest to visit — but my stay here has
been so short that I have, as yet, seen but few of
them. Sunset Ilock, Paradise Hill, Screw Auger
Falls, Albany Basins, and the Jlineral Springs,
are among the most noted. This place is complete-
ly surrounded by mountains, many of them of
very respectable height — from 1500 to 3000 feet.
The weather alone has prevented me from ascend-
ing one ot\h€ most prominent — Grey Mountain —
to-day. It is completely bare of trees from the
top nearly half way down, and looks like a huge
pile of rocks tumbled together in a style much re-
sembling the enormous ledges of Mount Wash-
ington. The vi€w of the Androscoggin Valley,
from its summit, is veiy fine'; and an extended
view of the surrounding country, heavily timbered,
and abundantly watered by the numerous moun-
tain streams that find their way into the Andros-
coggin, and dotted here and there by the clearings
of the sturdy farmers of this fertile valley, may be
had, with the sole drawback of the exceedingly dif-
ficult climbing necessary to overcome the rocky as-
cent However, that difficulty I have determined
to surmount, with the first fair day, confident of a
full reward for my labor.
The crops in this neighborhood arc looking
well, and old farmers tell me that tJiere will be a
good yield. The intervale along the Androscog-
gin embraces some of the best farming land in the
State. I notice some hop fields, but there are not
80 many grown now as there were a few years
since — partly owing to the decline in price, and
partly to the depredations of a worm which de-
stroys the foliage of the plant, and commits sad
havoc with the crop.
Although not practically a farmer, my course of
leading and observation has fitted me to note
many things that a mere traveller for pleasure
might overlook. Since my first knowledge of this
town, some nine years since, I notice an improve-
ment in many places, which I am inclined to attri-
bute to the influence of the excellent Farmers'
Club which has flourished here during that period,
and which was started about the year 1852. You,
1 know, will agree with me in asserting that the
influence of these associations, when properly con-
ducted, can hardly be oveiTated. I have wit-
nessed an annual exhibition of this Club, which,
for amount and excellence of products of the farm
and garden, and quality and number of cattle and
other farm stock, put to shame many a more pre-
tentious County Show. Nor were the ladies at all
backward in making up their part of the Show. —
but the tables devoted to the products of the dairy
and the kitchen, and the triumphs of the loom and
the needle, were well and creditably filled. May
the Bethel Farmers' Club continue to prosper!
Being within a comparatively short distance of
the White ^lountains — thirty miles — and the
weather promising a favorable view, I thought I
could not do better than to make one of a party
of ten, which left here on the 18th, for the top of
Mt. Washington. I am going to give you a very
brief record of my experience in "doing" the
White Mountains in a hurry — premising that it
is positively my last attempt in that line — the
hurri/inf/, I mean.
Arriving at the Alpine House, Gorham, about
noon, we dined, and then started with a four-horse
team, for the Tip Top House, expecting to reach
it before sunset. A ride of sixteen miles, more
than one-half of which is uphill, and steep at that,
is not to be made in a hurry. When about half-
way, we took a lighter wagon, and added two
horses to our team. After reaching the Ledge,
half-way up Mount Washington, we enjoyed some
fine views. The weather was cool, but not un-
comfortably so, and as we rode up, the magnifi-
cent panorama of the Saco Valley and the Fran-
conia region drew forth many admiring expres-
sions from our party.
We arrived on top at about 7.30 P. M., just in
season to witness the ending of a glorious sunset
— not so clear, however, as the one which I gazed
on three years ago, with all the emotion of a nov-
ice in White Mountain sight-seeing. As the sun
sunk behind tlie distant hills, two distinct belts of
clouds crossed his face — bars sinister, as I after-
wards believed, foreshadowing our coming tribu-
lation. For, be it known, we soon found that
there was no accommodation for the weary. In-
cluding those whom we found on top, and tw^o
parties who subsequently arrived, there were be-
tween 80 and 100 persons who desired supper and
— beds for night — rather a difficult position for
the landlord whose arrangements only anticipated
a possible contingency of some 40 applicants I
Besides, the "help" had been driven to their ut-
most, since early morning, in preparing food for
816
NEW ENGIAND FARMER.
Oct.
some 300 visitors, and were nearly exhausted.
However, we had come up to see the sun rise, and
wA-e not to be easily discomfited. Patient wait-
ing at last brought us our reward in the shape of
a veiy palatable supper, at about 9 o'clock, to
which all hands did ample justice.
The next thing was to find lodgings. The Sum-
mit House was full — beds, floor and loft, — and
the only available room at the Tip Top House was
completely taken up, so some twenty-five or thirty
of us took possession of the second story of the
large stable just below the top of the mountain,
where we disposed ourselves on the hay, to the
best advantage, and prepared to get all the sleep
possible under the circumstances. The stalls and
lower floor were filled with horses, which were
rather restless through the night, and few of us
were fortunate enough to get anything more than
"cat naps." The wind blew strongly, shaking the
barn till it seemed almost as if we were about to
lose the roof over our heads- -a catastrophe by
no means impossible, as the ruins of a barn near
by, blown to pieces some two yeai's since, testify.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, we were sum-
moned to witness the rising of the sun, and found
quite a gale blowing, and some clouds floating
about, but not enough to spoil the sunrise, which
was better than is often witnessed, though far
from perfect. The country, during this visit, ap-
peared to be covered with smoke, or vapor, so that
the view was not so clear as could be desired.
This is not so apt to be the case later in the sea-
son.
In order to take the cars from Gorham, we
were compelled to start on our downward trip at
5 o'clock. We were less than two hours in reach-
ing the bottom, and owing to the clouds of dust
which accompanied us were unable to see much
of the scenery. Without further adventures of
moment, we reached Gorham, took the cars, and
were landed at home, having made the whole trip
in twenty-three hours.
And here allow me to say that I will never take
another such trip, or advise any one else to. The
act of "doing the mountains" in a day, will be
found much less agreeable in reality than it looks
on paper. The only way to enjoy such trips, is
to take plenty of ^me, and if the weather is not
favorable when you reach the mountains, wait till
it is. You wiM be amply rewarded.
Yours, &c., Russell P. Eaton.
Hungarian Grass for Horses. — A corres-
pondent of the Itural New Torkcr says that his
experience and observation on this point may be
thus stated :
1. Hungarian grass, if allowed to mature the
seed before harvesting it, is a very heavy feed.
2. Fed in this condition, as one would feed
timothy hay, it is a dangerous food. It does in-
jure stock in such cases.
3. If cut when in bloom and cured as hay, it
will not injure any kind of stock. It is exceed-
ingly nutritious and valuable as a forage crop ; it
is also palatable, and if put on rich soil it is a
profitable late crop to put in.
4. Experiments have demonstrated that the
grass with the seed threshed out, does not injure
stock, and that if fed lightly with the seed in, as
one would feed grain, it is not injurious ; but l3ad
eS'ects follow over-feeding, as in the case of oats,
corn or other grain.
5. For a forage crop it is found most profitable,
and less dangerous to cut the grass when in blos-
som. I know farmers who grow large crops of it,
cut at this stage of maturity and feed exclusively
to team-horses. They feed no grain.
For the New England Farmer,
THE BACK BAKTSr DOOB.
BY R. F. PULLER.
I've a place, you would not choose.
As for thought, or fancy fit ;
Yet, I have the sweetest views ;
Looking often out of it.
You would scorn it, I am sure,
For it is a back barn door !
'Mongst the ruminating kine,
Once I chanced to ope the door—
What a sweet surprise was mine !
For, a view, unknown before,
Was unfolded ; and a frame
Of abstraction o'er me came !
'Twas the porch of day, I saw
Open in the gorgeous east,
O'er a lake, meet mirror for
Beauty's face and fancy's feast ;
And, beyond, were deep, dark wood&,
Peopled with ideal moods.
Since, I've often sought the place.
And have found it ever fair,
Yet, with always varied grace,
And a changed expression there,
Hope-bright, beaming fresh and full
Of the glad and beautiful.
I have seen Aurora there.
While the day star gems her brow.
And her grape-like, purple hair
Hides but half her naddy glow.
Till the sun, like Cyclops-eye,
Full-orbed flashes in the sky.
Spotless ermine there I've seen
In the woods' unsullied snow.
Gilded with the winter sheen
Of the sunbeams' yellow glow ;
And I've seen the clear lake's brim
Boys and birds alternate skim.
Every season lends a grace
To that prospect ; yet, 'tis not
Only nature's lovely face
Makes the beauty of the spot:
'Tis my thoughts, that please me more,
As I look out from the door.
Thoughts : In other places oft
I have missed their wayward train.
In broad day, or twilight soft ;
Here I never look in vain.
Inly tides id-al pour
As I opi; the ol 1 ' • • ' v.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
317
Far the New Ensland Farmer.
FERTHilTY OF CLAY SOILS.
In my agricultural reading, I have seen within
a few years past occasional notices of "The Lois
Weedon system ;" which I understand to be a
theory advocated by an English clergyman named
Smith, that wheat may be raised on the same land
indefinitely, without manure, under his system of
tillage. His plan is, to plant or sow the wheat in
drills, or rows, leaving intervening spaces, which
are thoroughly cultivated while tlie crop of wheat
is growing alongside. The next year these cultiva-
ted strips becomes the beds for the wheat, and the
space on which it grew the year before is, in its
turn, carefully cultivated. Mr. Smith's success has
been such as to encourage him to publish quite
confidently the opinion that manure may be entire-
ly superseded by thorough cultivation, not at Lois
Weedon alone, but wherever farmers will stir the
soil thoroughly. The following statement, by an
English writer, accounts for the wonderful success
of the "Lois Weedon system," in a manner quite
satisfactory to me, and I should like to see it
published in the Farmer.
"Wet and boggy land, or hecarj/ clay wet soils,
like the Lois Weedon soil before Mr. Smith
worked it, gradually accumulate a large amount
of inorganic and nitrogenous vegetable food. The
wet condition produced by the clay and humus,
prevent the exhaustion of the land by vegetal)le
growth, and the humus prevents the rains from
washing out the accumulating plant food. Final-
ly, if this land is drained, or its soil is thoroughly
worked, forked and dug up in ridges (as is done
at Lois Weedon,) so as to let it dry, the humus
will decompose into carbonic acid and water, and
the plant food it contained will be set free for the
plant For this reason, all swampy, wet, heavy
clay and boggy land, if thoroughly reclaimed by
draining and proper tillage, are much more pro-
ductive than light, dry uplands.
"Mr. Smith has fallen into the error of suppos-
ing that his system of farming would give the same
marvellous i-esults — they are marvellous — 80 bush-
els of wheat to the acre after one year of fallow —
upon all land that it does upon his. If the rever-
end gentleman were as familiar with the principles
of agricultural science, as he is with the hospital-
ities of his own pleasant little rural parsonage, he
■would never have proposed his system for adop-
tion by farmers generally. To the scientific eye,
the results are so obviously such as could only be
obtained under peculiar circumstances, that I was
surprised to learn that Mr. Lawes should repeat
them upon dry upland soils, where it was, a priori,
evident no such result could he obtained. Mr.
Smith denies that Mr. Lawes followed all his di-
rections, but there certainly was no essential devi-
ation from them, and he got, as might have been
expected, (or rather known,) no increase of crop."
In connection with the foregoing extract per-
mit me to make an inquiry which its perusal has
suggested to my mind, viz. : Is it not as unreason-
able to suppose that the same favorable results
which have followed the thorough drainage of the
rich clay soils of England, and of such farms as
that of the king drainer of our own country, John
Johnston, and others, wliose lands border our
rivers and inland lakes, will attend the draining
of the thin soil of New England generallj-, as it
was for Mr. Lawes to think that the "Lois Wee-
don " of the bog and clay, would be realized on
his " di-y upland soil ? " Query.
For the Keu> England Farmer.
GRAPE CULTiniE, "WINES AND WINE-
MAKING— No. 2.
Coat of Johannisberg Wine.
Col. Haraszthy then proceeds tu visit the vine-
yard of Steinberg, at Biberich, belonging to the
Duke of Nassau, and that of Johannisberg, belong-
ing to Prince Metternich. These are considered
the best vineyards on the Rhine. The former is
of about 100 acres and produces, on an average,
10,000 gallons ; the latter of about 60 acres. The
prices of the wines from these vineyards are enor-
mous. For a cask containing 175 gallons of
Johannisberg — 84,800 were refused — but that is
more than S-7 a gallon. From these quantities and
prices, the probability of our getting many baskets
of these wines, genuine, may be easily inferred.
The best of the land here is worth 20,000 guldens
a morgen ; about $12,000 the acre.
It is universally admitted that a very large cask
is better than a small one for the wine, while fer-
menting and ripening, as the processes are thus
rendered more uniform.
From Frankfort, by Mayence, to Heidelberg,
where he makes a visit to the great tun, the larg-
est in the world. This is 32 feet long, 22 feet in
diameter at the ends, and 23 in the middle, and
cost, in 17ol, $32,000. It has been only three
times filled with wine. Up the Rhine to Basle,
and on to Geneva ; thence by Mount Cenis, to
Turin ; on to Genoa, almost made sick, on the
way, by Asti wine. In the neighborhood of Genoa
he visits and examines the mulberry orchards and
silk worm raising.
From Genoa, he goes by steamboat to Mar-
seilles, having been detained twelve hours on the
way, in perfectly fine weather, apparently for no
purpose but to give the captain an apology for ex-
torting $4 additional from each cabin passenger.
Without making any stay at Marseilles, he pro-
ceeds immediately by rail towards Bordeaux, mak-
ing numerous observations, by the way, upon the
cultivation and produce of the country. Passes
through Fronlignac, where the Frontignac wine is
made from the red and the white Muscat grape.
An acre of the land on which these vineyards grow
is worth from $3000 to $4000, and the vineyards
give generally ten per cent, on the value of the
land. This is close by Cette.
Notwitlistanding this productiveness of the land,
"Cette is the great manufacturing place for spuri-
ous wines, millions of gallons of imitations being
made here, of every brand in existence, and sold
to all ])arts of the world, a few drops of the genu-
ine being used to give the taste of the difl'erent
qualities. So perfect are some of these imitations,
that it is with difficulty you can distinguish the
spurious wines from the genuine. The country
around being flat, and the soil sandy, the wine is
very poor, and, as the vines yield largely, the wine
is almost as cheap as water. The manufacturers
buy up these wines, and by their chemical prep-
arations give them a peculiar character, and sell
them, mostly to the American market, for good
prices. Such are the wines we drink at Chateaii,
Margaux, Lafitte, Chambertin, etc. ii.
318
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL "WOOL-
GRO"W"ER.
On Jan. 1st, 1860, I purchased and had driven
to my barn twenty fine wooled, old ewes, taken
from one of the best flocks in the county ; and
paid for the same forty doUars. These twenty had
been the good sheep, in their day, in a flock of
eighty. My friends told me they would rejuve-
nate, as it were, upon my place. I had no sheep,
no knowledge of sheep, no practice in tending
them, and hence, tried to follow the advice of ev-
ery one in managing them. A first-rate, full-
blooded Spanish Merino buck had been with these
sheep.
The first season, lost two sheep, raised twelve
good lambs, and took 3^ lbs. of clean wool aver-
age per head from my sheep. Used one of the
best bucks the fall of 1860.
Second season ; lost two more ewes, raised six-
teen nice lambs, sheared upon an average four lbs.
per head. Fall of 1861, used an ordinary buck.
Wintered fifteen of my old sheep and each raised
a lamb.
My old sheep had really recruited. Their fleeces
increased yearly, and upon the third clipping sea-
son averaged 4^ lbs. ; yearlings and two-year-olds,
6 lbs. Sold my lambs fall of 1862 for a high price.
My sheep came to the barn in November in a first-
rate condition. The old sheep looked three years
younger than when I got them. Pleased with
my success, I had learned something of sheep, and
the way to tend tliem. Bought ten more old
sheep from the same flock. Used in November,
1862, a yearling buck of my own purchase, select-
ed for his many and promising qualities^— a full-
blooded Spanish Merino. His first fleece of 13
months age, weighed 16 lbs. nice wool. Spring
of 1863 raised 30 very nice lambs. Those from
my young sheep are second to none. The fourth
clip of these old sheep and their off'spring aver-
aged 5 3-5 lbs. nice, clean, fine wool, per head.
My buck sheared 22^ lbs. one year's growth.
Live weight before shearing 153 lbs. Sold 8 fat
wethers just after shearing, whose average live
weight was 85 lbs. Reckoned in the last clip was
the fleece of the first lamb of my buck, dropped
from a small yearling cosset Nov. 25th, 1862,
which fleece weighed 33 lbs. I now have lambs
after that buck, which sheep men have lu'ged me
to sell to them for ten dollars per head, and two-
and two-year old ewes for double that sum.
During this three years' experience, I have sat-
isfactorily learned that there is a profound science
in sheep-raising and wool-growing. This science
has both its theory and practice, which requires
thorough study and careful observation.
To young men entering upon the sheep busi-
ness, I ofl'er the following practiqal observations :
1, Begin with a few common ewes, and improve
by using the best bucks.
2, Keep no more sheep than can be kept well
the year round.
3, Tend them carefully ; thus losses other than
by accident will be avoided. Franklin, N. H.,
July 14, 1863. J. W. Simonds, in Stock Journal.
Vitality of Seeds.— In addition to the old
story of the vegetation of wheat found in an
Egyptian mummy, the New Hampshire Journal
of Agriculture, in reply to the inquiry of a corres-
pondent as to the length of time that seeds retain
their vitality, quotes the following statement from
an English paper,
James Binks, in the North British Agricidturist,
stated that he had recently cleared otf some old
Roman encampments on his farm near Alnwick, a
farm which he had lived upon for 64 years, and
forthwith among the barley there sown, arose some
74 varieties of oats, never seen in that section be-
fore. As no oats had been sown, he supposed the
place to have been an old cavalry camp, and that
the oats which were ripened under other skies, had
lain covered with debris for 1500 years, and now
being exposed to the action of sun and air, they
germinated as readily as though but recently sown.
For the New England Farmer.
RETOSPECTIVE NOTES.
Manures — Why so Much Neglected and
Wasted. — In the issue of this journal of August
1st, we find two quite noteworthy articles on the
many-sided subject of manures ; one by "K. O,"
on "Preparing and Applying Manure," and the
other by "'Capt. Elijah Tucker" on various top-
ics comprehended under the several departments
of "Making, Preserving and Applying Manures."
In the course of these two articles, we have found
remarks of jn-actical use and value on several of
the many questions which have been raised in in-
vestigations and discussions relating to the gener-
al subject, the use and value of which remarks
consist, partly, in denouncing and exposing erro-
neous opinions and practices which have not yet
been discarded, and, partly, in the statement of
correct views and the description of improved
modes of practice. The candid and progress-lov-
ing reader will find but little, if any, occasion for
dissent or criticism ; but abundant occasion for
commendation, and opportunity for a grateful re-
cognition of the services of two brother-farmers
whose aim has obviously been to increase the
knowledge, or refresh the memory, and thus pro-
mote the interests of their readers. All such ser-
vices should be more highly appreciated.
Notwithstanding that, with similar public-spir-
ited and good aims, so many have endeavored, and
are every now and then endeavoring, to teach their
brethren what experience, observation and reflec-
tion have taught themselves as to the proper man-
agement of manures, there is yet one fact in this
connection which must be apparent to every one
who closely observes the management of their
neighbors and of farmers generallj^. The fact re-
ferred to, is this ; that, the majority of farmers are
wonderfully apathetic and indifi'erent, slack and
heedless in regard to saving manure or whatever
may be used to fertilize their lands, and as to pre-
serving all such material from waste. Neglectful-
ness and wastefulness, slackness and poor man-
agement as to manures, are prominent characteris-
tics of the bulk of farmers everywhere.
Now, as this negligence, wastefulness and mis-
management are a source of much loss, low profits
and poor crops, and aff'ect the interests of the
whole of a county or State as well as those of the
parties practicing them, it seems very important
that the root or cause, whence these general char-
acteristics of our farmers spring, should be sought
out and corrected or removed. What then is the
\
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
819
cause of these neglectful and wasteful habits? In
our opinion the cause will be found, when we go
to the root of the matter, in the want of a deep,
influential conviction that it will pay to be greatly
more careful about manure, that is, to an under-
estimate of the value of manure. To a want of a
correct and influential estimate of this kind may
be attributed much or most of that carelessness,
Avastefulness and ill-management generally, which
so commonly prevail in the department of making,
preserving and applying manures ; and to the
same Mant, as its remote or ultimate cause, must
be ascribed the immense amount of loss to individ-
uals and the country at large which comes from
poor crops, and which is the direct result of the
wastefulness and mismanagement as to manures
which have just been alluded to.
We place this consideration as the first of our
suggestions having the improvement of American
farmers and the promotion of their interests in this
department as tlieir object, because it cannot be
expected that ihev will seriously and earnestly set
themselves to work to correct evils or prevent
losses and low profits, unless they are convinced
of their reality and magnitude. Without feeling
convinced that they are accomplishing much less
in the way of making their business profitable
than they might do by a change in their estimate
of the value of manures, and in their mode of
managing them, they can hardly be expected to
re-examine and re-consider their views, or to make
the changes needed to secure better results and
larger profits.
Let us endeavor then to determine whether or
no there is a general under-estimatc of the value
of manures among us, and whether or no our con-
sequent neglect and waste of them do not produce
poor crops and low profits. What little is known
as to the agriculture of China and Japan has some
bearing upon these questions, and especially the
two facts, (1) that a dense po]ndation is subsisted
mainly or wholly upon the products of their own
soil, and (2) that they employ every particle of cx-
crementitious matter which we so generally allow
to go untouched, unftsed and utterly to waste.
The probability seems great that the ability to sub-
sist so dense a population as that of either of these
two countries from their own soil, is dependent
chiefly upon their known carefulness in saving all
kinds of fertilizing substances.
Next, the contrast in the average amount of
crops per acre in Great Britain and this country is
a fact which throws some light upon the matter
under investigation. Take the wheat crop for an
example, and it will be found by statistical returns
that while the average crop in Great Britain is 28
bushels per acre, the average in this country does
not exceed 14 bushels, while in some States it is
below even this inconsiderable amount. Ohio has
usually been considered a peculiarly fertile State,
and yet by the statistics of that State which we find
in the Coniitri/ (Jentleman of July JJOth, the aver-
age per acre of the wheat crop in 18G2, was less
than 14^ bushels.
The contrast is quite similar in other crops com-
mon to the two countries. Now, why is there
such a contrast? Why do the crops in this coun-
try average only about half as much per acre as
do those of Great Britain ? It is mainly because
■we do not feed our crops half as well, or do not
manure them half so liberally. If we were to sup-
ply them with more manure, which is the food of
plants, what Mould hinder our average of crops from
risinf,' to an equality to theirs ? There are, let us be
thankful, some farmers in several of our States,
whose croj)s of wheat more frequently are above
than below 30 bushels ])er acre. If we would feed
our crops like these men, we might get similarly
remunerative returns. What those lose or tail to
realize who neglect to feed their crops may be cal-
culated from the data referred to, that is, from the
difference between 14 and 28 or 30 l)U8hels.
The readers of this journal may jicrhaps recol-
lect that it contained some months ago an estimate
by Secretary C. L. Flint, of the loss in the State
of Massachusetts from wastefulness as to manure.
Mr. F. says that there are in this State more than
75,000 barns, and that about five cords of manure,
or Bcventeen loads of about 34 bushel each, would
be above rather than below the average of the ma-
nure for each barn. Supposing this to be worth
only $1 per load, the value of all the barn-yard
manure made in the State would be only $1,125,-
000. Good judges, however, think this amount of
manure might be easily doubled throughout the
State, by a reasonable degree of care and atten-
tion ; and if this be true, then the State annually
sufli'ers a loss of $,1,125,000 at least, by neglect in
this single department. The loss of each farmer,
taking the average, would of course be $17, or, in
other words, his profits might be increased to that
amount by a reasonable degre of care and atten-
tion in saving and using manure.
These, and other similar facts and considera-
tions, which might be collected and adduced, show
conclusively that American farmers, as compared
with those of other countries, and with what they
themselves might be and do, are very negligent
and wasteful in the saving, making and a])plying
of manure , which is the food of crops, and that,
consequently, they obtain smaller returns and prof-
its from their crops than what they otherwise
might. And to what can this neglectfulness and
waste be ascribed with as much reasonable as to
an under-estimalion of manure, as the ultimate
cause ?
In the correction of this jjrevailing under-esti-
mate of the value of manurial and fertilizing sub-
stances, is to be found the most sure and stable
foundation for the building up of such new views
and habits, and modes of management, as can
best secure the full development of the agricultu-
ral resources of individual farms and of the farms
of a State ; and thus the attainment by the many
of a ])ros])erity and self-satisfaction as yet known
only to a kw. More A.nox.
THE FAKMERS' ORACLE.
"We have received the third number of a paper
with the above title, dated "Spring Lake Villa,
Utah county, Utah, Tuesday, June IGth, 1S63."
J. E. Johnson editor and publisher. It is a small
quarto sheet, and, as its name imports, is mainly
devoted to agriculture. The number before us is
somewhat way wom and badly stained ; but wheth-
er it took a bath in its own Salt Lake, or was
obliged to ford the unbridged Rocky Mountain
streams, we do not know.
The editer alludes to the disadvantages result-
ing from the want of a light, circulating medium,
320
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
and offers to take in payment for subscriptions :
"Wool Rolls, in order, $1 per lb. ; raw cotton,
clean, 50c per lb. ; good, yard-wide Jeans and
flannel $1,50 per yard ; Wheat $1 per bushel."
"Bishops and postmasters are requested to act as
agents."
We infer there is some trouble in raising sheep
in that section, as the editor says, "Herd the flock
on bench land — the more rocks the better. Cover
the bottom of your kraal with rock or gravel, or
what is better, select a spot covered with rocks.
Keep them from the bare ranges, damp bottoms
and saleratus beds. Give them a dry, open shed
to protect them from storms of rain and snow, and
as far as possible, keep the skin fi'om dampness
or wet, and then wash well before shearing, and
you will have healthy sheep."
Our readers may be interested in the following
summary of editorial correspondence :
James A. Martineau writes from Logan, Cache
county, under date of June 7th, and says that
crops will be short in Cache county, on account
of the drought and grasshoppers. Two mountain
lions have lately been killing young stock in that
vicinity, and the boys had the fun of chasing them
into the mountains. No farther trouble with In-
dians. The man who was shot near Franklin, is
recovering.
W. H. Crawford writes from Washington, U.,
under date of June 1st, and says that the crops
are all in and prospect is good for a fine crop of
cotton, as well as for fruit. The people are pre-
paring to build good houses and substantial fences.
He has fine plants of the cotton tree, looking well.
They are also growing, successfully, the bamboo
cane — the right article for making reeds. There
will be nice crop of grapes, considering the age
of their vines. Quite a show of flowers will also
be made this season.
SPEAK KINDLY TO CHILDBEN AT
NIGHT.
Parents should always speak kindly to their
children when retiring or going to bed. Then,
more than any other time, is it important that
children should have their hearts softened by
voices and looks of tenderness and kindness.
They should go to rest with thoughts of love and
affection for their parents, and gratitude and love
to their Heavenly Father for His goodness to
them. How can we expect children to say their
evening prayer acceptably and with a blessing to
themselves, if they are required or permitted to
retire to bed ill-humored or vexed by a frown or
unkind words from their parents ? And yet many
parents send their children to bed, not only in bad
feeling but often hungry, as punishment for some
offense. No course can possibly be more objec-
tionable. Not long since, I spent an evening at
the ho'ise of a friend, with several other friends
and acquaintances. This friend had two interest-
ing and lovely boys, about ten and twelve years
of age, who very much enlivened the company
with their innocent prattle and childlike hilarity.
About half-past eight o'clock the father called his
little boys to him, near where I was sitting, and
taking each one by the hand, he said, very kindly
and pleasantly to them : "My children, it is time
for you to retire. You will feel dull and heavy at
school to-morrow, if you sit up any longer." They
both hung their heads for a moment ; then, both
with a pleasant smile, kissed their father, then
their mother, and then took leave of the company.
A lady, one of the company, who sat near us, ex-
pressed great surprise that "the little boys should
retire so willingly, when they appeared so happy
with the company and the musis." The gentle-
man replied: "I always speak kindly to my chil-
dren, and they never disobey. To-morrow morn-
ing I shall say to them, my children, I was much
pleased that you retired so willingly last evening ;
and your conduct was very highly approved by
Mrs. , who saw you retire so pleasantly and
quietly. This," said he, "is their reward, my ap-
probation, and the approbation of their friends."
SMALL TALK.
But of all the expedients to make the head
weak, the brain gauzy, and to bring life down into
the consistency of a cambric handkerchief, the
most successful is the little talk and tattle which,
in some charmed circles, is courteously styled con-
versation. How human beings can live on such
meagre fare — how continue existence in such a
famine of topics, and on such short allowance of
sense — is a great question, if philosophy could
only search it out. All we know is, that such men
and women there are, Avho will go on dawdling in
this way, from fifteen to four- score, and never a
hint on their tomb-stones that they died at last of
consumption of the head and marasmus of the
heart ! The whole universe of God, spreading out
its splendors and terrors, pleading for their atten-
tion, and they wondering "where Mrs. somebody
got that divine ribbon to her bonnet !" The whole
world of literature, through its thousand trumps
of fame, abjuring them to regard its garnered
stores both of emotion and thought, and they
think, "it's high time, if John intends to marry
our Sarah, for him to pop the question !" When,
to be sure, this frippery is spiced with a little en-
vy and malice, and prepares its small dishes of
scandal with nice bits of detraction, it becomes en-
dowed with a slight venomous vitality which does
pretty well, in the absence of soul, to carry on the
machinery of living, if not the reality of life. — E.
P. W/dpjile.
Pictures. — A room with pictures in it and a
room without pictures, differ about as much as a
room with windows and a room without windows.
Nothing is more melancholy, particularly to a per-
son who has to pass much time in his room, than
bleak walls with nothing on them, for pictures are
loop holes of escape to the soul, leading to other
scenes and other spheres. It is such an inexpres-
sible relief to a person engaged in writing or even
reading, on looking up, not to have his line of vis-
ion chopped oft' by an odious white wall, but to
find his soul escaping, as it were, through the
frame of an exquisite picture, to other beautiful
and perhaps heavenly scenes, when the fancy for
a moment may revel, refreshed and delighted.
Thus pictures are consolers of loneliness ; they are
a relief to a jaded mind ; they are windows to the
imprisoned thought ; they are books, they are his-
tories and sermons, which we can read without
the trouble of turning over the leaves. — Downing.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
S21
EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES.
PREMATIKE BIRTHS — APPLE TREES.
You requested my views relative to the canse of pre-
mature Ijirths of calves. Those births, I think, arc
caused by certain noxious substances eaten by cows,
and not by a disease impregnated by the male. The
latter theory is ajainst all the known laws on the sub-
ject, and all the practice of the medical fraternity on
human subjects, whose laws on paternity are the same
with the beast of the field and the wild animal of the
wood. Every one who has had much practice in ob-
stetrics kuow that many are the cases of prostitutes who
become mothers. Cows which have produced prema-
ture births were found to be free of disease, but in
some cases malformation existed. Now for my theo-
ry. Ergot is used by the abortionist to bring on labor
and premature births of children, and it does its work.
That sul;stancc exists in diseased rye, and in those lo-
calities where great quantities of rye bread are used, in-
numerable are the cases of premature births, and cases
are on record, in which it has been supposed that ab-
sorption through the body which was in contact with
rj'e straw, prudiuod the same effect. If so, why not
acton the herds of cattle? So numerous were the
cases in France, that Louis Napoleon issued a com-
mission to certain skilled persons to make a thorough
investigation of the causes of the disease. They found
that other than diseased rye had the effect. Smutty
wneat, black cars which affec loats and barley, in
warm, damp seasons, diseased club roots of calibage
and turnips, when eaten, produced the same effect as
ergot. I have no doubt but there are various wild
weeds of the field which are of that class. I would
like to hear the opinion of others on the subject.
It is a fact, that apples trees raised from the seed of
grafted fruit do not hear. 8. p. m.
Cape EUzcibtith, Me., 1863.
Remaks. — This subject underwent a most searching
discussion, some time ago, by the Concord Farmers'
Chd), at a meeting when that distniguished farmer.
Gov. HoLBROoK, of Vermont, was present, and in
which he took a part. The theory now spoken of by
our correspondent, was then introduced and urged as
the cause of abortion. In reply, it was stated by one
of the members, that not a peck of r3'e had been
raised on his farm, nor any rye straw used, for ten
years, and yet he had nine cases of abortion in one
season ! Every weed theory was met with just such a
negative argument. Some imputed the disease to the
presence of a plant called "stink weed," but others
stated that while such a plant did not exist on their
farm, cases of abortion were often occurring in their
cows.
Some time since, this whole matter was referred to
a committee of the "Farmers' Club of Little Falh, X.
F.,"to investigate and report upon it. They did both,
but without throwing the least light upon the two lead-
ing points, Vjz. : the cause and the remedy.
PICKLES.
Your untiring correspondent on "Little Things, Or
a Walk in my Garden," never failed to interest the
reader. His "Little Things," tell. His treatment of
the cabbage plant, to keep it from the cut worm, is ex-
cellent, as alM>, the i»rescrvation of the tomato from
ripening and rotting on the ground. But pickles is
the text. Small cabbage heads cut in quarters make
a delicious pickle. Mrs. P. would think her pi«kle
department short, if she had not her dozen red cat>-
bages in spiced vincsar. Would not the white Savoy
be more tender ? While I would eschew grapes, but-
ternuts and tough string beans for pickles, I would
adopt the countrj' artichoke, the red or Savoy caVi-
bage — the martynia, with its mousy resemblance, and
finish with the indispensable cucumber, as old as the
ancients.
P. S. Acres of artichokes are cultivated in New
Jersey for pickles and salads, and sell for a dollar a
peck "in New York market.
New York, August, 1863.
A PUZZLING MEADOW.
I have a meadow that is capable of raising two tons
of hay to the acre, but it yields but about one. I am
afraid to plough for fear it will wash. Will the editor
or some reader of his valuable paper, inform ine how
I can bring it in again ? It seems to be bound out;
the grass is a short, fine meadow grass, that now grows
on it. A aEADEB.
Norway, Aug. 12, 1863.
Remarks. — Will our correspondent send us a more
particular description of the meadow in question,
— whether it is nearly level or not, whether it is muck,
and if so, how deep, and whether it can be drained at
moderate expense. With these questions answered,
we Uiink some suggestions may be made that will be
useful.
NATIVE COFFEE.
That coffee can be successfully raised in this State,
my neighbors have long demonstrated, but they know
nothing of the method of curing it. Will you inform
me whether the flavor of native coffee is cuual to that
from the tropics ? Whether the leaves contain any
nutriment ? Whether the pods should be cut srreen,
or left to ripen on the stalk, and when should they be
gathered ? And state the process of removing the
covering of the seeds ? My neighbors, not understand-
ing the process of curing it, have been obliged to l)oil
the coffee whole, skin and all, and the prcsc'iice of this
latter substance has so mueli Impaired the flavor of
the drink as to convince me that the skin should be
thrown away. Enclosed find a specimen of mj' cof-
fee, gathered to-day. Amanda Gilbert.
South Leeds, Me., Aucfust, 1863.
Remarks. — The "pod" of coffee sent was received
in good condition, but does not answer the description
given in the books of the appearance of the common
coffee of the shops. The description before us says,—
"The berries and fruit are somewhat of an oval shape,
about the size of a cherry, and of a dark red color,
when ripe. Each of these contains two cells, and
each cell a single seed, which is the seed as we see it
before it undergoes the process of roasting."
The account adds, — "When the fruit lias attained
its maturity, cloths are placed under the trees, and
upon these the laborers shake it down. They after-
wards spread the berries on mats, and expose them to
the sun to dry. The husk is then broken off, by large
and heavy rollers of wood or iron. When the coffee
s thus cleared of its husk, it is again dried in the sun
and, lastly, winnowed with a large fan, for the purpose
of cleaning it from the pieces of husks with which it
is intermingled."
The questions as to the comparative flavor of cofibe,
and the leaves, we are not able to answer.
PREMIt'MS ON WHEAT.
Do vou notice in the advertisement of the great In-
ternational Wheat Show, at Rochester, N. Y., that no
l)remiums are offered on spring wheat, while large
preiiHnms arc offered on winter wheat ? This is proof
of the great superiority of winter over the spring grain.
It is to be hoped there are some New Englmul tarniers
to compete for the prizes, the writer having raided
wheat weighing 62 pounds to the bushel in "old Es-
sex." Yankee land "can't be beat" in wheat growing.
p.
A -WITTY AUCTIONEER.
Many years ago there flourislied in New York
an auctioneer named Keese, who had quite a rep-
utation for wit and humor. A correspondent of
the Publisher's Circuhtr says of him :
"Keese is remembered by the trade with affec-
tion, lie was a bright, intelligent man, and an
322
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
estimable member of society. Of an old New York
family, he was brought up to the book trade, I
think, by one of the Quaker fraternity — the Col-
lins'— and it was only in middle life, after various
experiments in business, that he became an auc-
tioneer. He beo;an, if I mistake not, somewhere
about the year 1845, with a sale to the trade in a
large back buildins? in Broadway, near Courtland
Street. He certainly opened proceedings with an
excellent entertainment of oysters and champagne.
He was the life of the company, and was called
upon of course, for a speech — probably for half a
dozen. One of his good things, toward the close,
is worth remembering. It particularly pleased the
trade at the time. 'Gentlemen,' said he, in allu-
sion to the entertainment, 'we are scattering our
bread upon the waters, and we expect to find it
after many days — buttered !'
It was in retail sales, however, in the small
change of the auction room, that his wit ai)peared
to the most advantage. No catalogue could be too
dull for his vivacity. He was always rapid, and
an unwary customer would be decapitated by his
quick electric jest before he felt the stroke. The
following, among other things of the kind attrib-
uted to him, will give some notion of his pleasant-
ries:
'Is that binding calf?' asked a suspicious pur-
chaser. 'Come up, my good sir, put your hand
on it, and see if there is any fellow feeling,' was
the ready reply. A person one evening had a
copy of 'Watts' Hamns' knocked down to him for
a trifle, and interrupted the business of the clerk
by calling for its 'delivery.' Keese, finding out
the cause of the interference, exclaimed, 'O, give
the gentleman the book. He wants to learn and
sing one of the hymns before he goes to bed to-
night.' Apropos of this time -honored book, in
selling a copy on another occasion, Mhen there
was some rivalry in the profession, he turned ofi'
a parody as he knocked it down :
'Blest is the man who shuns the place
Where othtr auctions bo ;
And has his money in the fist.
And buys lus bi-joks of me.'
His puns were usually happy, and slipped in
adroitly. Offering one of the Rev. Dr. Hawks'
books, he added, in an explanatory way: 'A bird
of pray.' 'Going — going — gentlemen — one shil-
ling for Caroline Fry — why, it isn't the price of a
stew.' Akin to this was his ol)servation to a pur-
chaser who had secured a copy of 'Bacon's Essays'
for twelve and a half cents : 'That's too much pork
for a shilling!'
Selling a book labelled 'History of the Taters,'
he was asked : 'Isn't that Tarters ?' 'No !' he re-
plied, 'their wives Mere the Tartars !'
'This,' said he, holding up a volume of a well-
known type to critics, 'is a book by a poor and
pious girl, of poor and pious poems.'
No one could better introduce a quotation.
Some women one day found their Avay into the
auction room, to a miscellaneous sale of furniture.
They were excited to an emulous contention for a
saucepan, or something of the sort. Keese gave
them a fair chance Wi.n a final a])peal : 'Going —
going — the woman who deliberates is lost — gone !' "
^^ A certain gentleman in Southhridge who was
curious to know how much a pumpkin grew in
twenty-four hours, found by actual measuring that
it enlarged just 3 3-4 inches in that tiiue.
OUR VILLAGE AT DAYBREAK.
'Tis daybreak over the village ; I look from the rustic inn,
And watch the widening sunshine its day's bright march begin,
As the burnished clouds turn fiery red, and the lark awakes his
kiu.
!n the very heart of the villfifre, where the double hammer rings,
You hear the joyful blackbird in the irirson's croft that sings"
Where the thankless wasp sucks at the grapes, yet while they
feed him, stings.
The cobbler, up an hour ere dawn, carols long psalms all through,
Stitching away with prying eyes at the miller's daughter's shoe ;
She's the deftest foot in the country-side, and beauty enough for
two.
The wagon-team went jingling out a good half-hour ago ;
The sturdy lad, who smacked the whip, seemed to be all of a
glow ;
The ploughman's horses stride along, broad-chested, in a row.
The cocks crow shrill ; the lark is up, the rooks are loud on the
tree ;
The flowers are out ; the brook chirps on, each happy in its de-
gree ,
And the ripples of red run over the sky as the wind shouts in
its glee.
Now the doors slip back their trusty bolts, and the shutters rat-
tle down ;
Glad faces look up at the morning sky, and voices fill the town,
While drowsy girls at the village pump brim up the pitcher
brown.
Day's up ; and I must sally out for many a happy mile.
Through flowery lanes, by river sides, resting at many a stile,
(A vagrant arUst, on the tramp,) and singing all the while.
— C/iamber's Journcd.
CHILDREN AND THEIR MEMORIES.
It seems to me that nothing could have pre-
served our nursery rhymes and legends, even in
their present comparative purity, but an intuitive
sense of literary justice in children and a peculiar
tenacity of accuracy lost at a later age. A lady
who teaches a number of very little boys and girls
in a Sunday school has told me that one Sunday,
to the unbounded delight of her children, she ex-
plained to them a colored print of the sale of Jo-
se])h by his brethren. Of course the brethren had
to be named ; but on that day week, when the
picture was called for ag'nn, she was so unfortu-
nate as to transfer one of the names of the previ-
ous Sundaj' — the Issaciiar of last week was now
Zebidon. To her the brethren resembled each
other much as one ninepin does another; but for
them the personality of each was strongly marked.
Her error was very quickly perceived ; she was
corrected, and wisely admitted the mistake. The
sense of truth, however, of her class was wounded,
and it was some time before she regained the full
confidence which she possesed before. I have
seen a very serious difTerence respecting the per-
sonality of Noah's sons in a small ark ; and when
the case was referred to me I did not hastily de-
cide, but deliberately examined Shem and Japhet,
and then without lightness or hesitation, pro-
nounced a final judgment, and both ])arties were
pleased and thanked me. That was a cruel and
thoughtless answer of a showman, when he was
asked which was Wellington and which was Na-
poleon : "Whichever you like !" as if one were not
really and immutably the English, and one the
French General. I am sure the little girl was
deeply hurt — not because a rude return was made
to her innocent question, but to think that there
could be such, a disregard of right and wrong, such
an utter carelessness of truth. — Temple Bar.
^W Emancipation in Russia proceeds peacefully
and successfully, in spite of all op^iosition. Schools
are opening everywhere for the children of the
peasants, and Russia will soon have an educated
population.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
323
THE AGRlCUIiTUI.AIj DEPARTMENT.
From an article in the August number of the
Wisconsin Farmer, by the Editor, Mr. J. W.
HoYT, who has recently spent several weeks in
Washington, we learn that the working force of
the newly established Agricultural department of
the General Government, is at present about as
follows : — Commissioner, Chief Clerk, Chemist,
Entomologist, Superintendent of Experimental
Gardens, Statistician, with some 15 clerks. Of the
incumbents of these several offices the follo^ving
sketch is furnished by Mr. Hoyt :
Commissioner Newton is understood to have
been a Pennsylvania farmer of much experience
and good success. Of this we know nothing per-
sonally. We arc fully satisfied, however, that he
is a man of earnest desires for the progress of in-
dustry, and withal so identified with the origin of
the Department that the country is sure of the
best efforts of all his energies. His plans, as far
as unfolded, give evidence of sagacity and his
nominations for the several official positions in his
Department are further proof of good practical
judgment. We shall continue to look for results
during his administration.
James S. Grin.nell, Esq., appears to us es-
pecially well qualified for the important position
he holds. An attorney by profession, but also the
successful manager of a good Massachusetts farm,
and for several years secretary of one of the most
flourishing county agricultural societies of that
commonwealth, he readily makes himself at home
in both the business and the practical departments
of the office. He is, moreover, possessed of those
graces of temper wliich, although so essential in
such a place, are too often quite wanting on the
part of those who must deal extensively with the
public. Moreover, his course, thus far, has been
characterised by a most commendable promptness,
energy, and faithfulness to the discharge of his
arduous duties.
Prof. Wetherell we have never seen. As a
chemist he has something of a reputation in the
country, and, we doubt not, is quite competent to
the important duties of his office.
Prof. Glover, of Philadelphia, the Entomolo-
gist, is an enthusiast, and (if he does not now) is
destined to stand at the head of this department
of Natural History in this country. He had pur-
sued the study of his profession and the work of
making collections many years previous to receiv-
ing his present appointment, and is now prepared
to give to the Agricultural Department the rich
fruits of a lifetime of laborious research. He is
about completing a valuable work on entomologi-
cal classification, which appears to us very superi-
or to anything now extant.
Mr. William Saunders, long and favorably
known as a leading landscape gardener and a pop-
ular writer on horticultural sulyects, is, by late
appointment, Su])erintendent of the Experimental
Gardens. Trained to his profession in Great lirit-
ain, endowed with good natural capacities for ad-
vancing the art and science of gardening, and fit-
ted by many years of ])ractice and study in this
country to serve the public in this new field, we
rejoice in his appointment as an important ele-
ment in the prospective success and popularity of
the Department. Instead of a mera fancy garden,
growing useless ])lants by the thousand, and yield-
ing scarcely anything more than a crop of boquets
for Washington officials, he will make it a garden
for proving, in the most economical manner, the
qualities of really promising foreign plants, and
for determining, l)y carefully conducted experi-
ments, the best methods of culture.
Mr. BOLLMAN, of Indiana, lately appointed to
to take charge of the Statistical Bureau, has ar-
rived and entered upon his duties. By profession
he has been a farmer, newspaper correspundent,
legislative reporter, &c. He seems to be a man
of sound practical views, with habits of thought on
all the important industrial topics of the day ; and
imbued as he is v.ith a strong sense of the great
importance of his bureau, we have good hopes of
his success. The ])lan instituted by Mr. Grinnell
for collecting and ])ublishing monthly statistics of
the most important crops, in all parts of the coun-
try, meets with his cordial approval and will en-
gage his best endeavors.
For t/ie Xeir KnL'larnl Frimier.
CULTURE OP THE TURNIP BEET.
While pulling some turnip beets from my gar-
den the other day, I could not but be impressed,
as I have often been before, with the value of this
beet as a root crop for stock. It is now the sixth
or seventh year in succession that I liave raised
beets upon the same ground, with the addition
each year of a slight amount of compost manure
to the soil, and the crop was never larger or hand-
somer than it is now. My usual course has been
to spade up the ground, make a small drill with
the hoe, scatter a small quantity of compost in the
drill, sow the seed, and cover it about an inch in
depth. When the ]ilants were of a suffiicient size
for greens (for which, by the way, they are excel-
lent,) I have usually thinned them out so as to
leave the plants about three inches apart, hoed up
the weeds, and then let the crop take its course —
which course has uniformly been satisfactory. I
have always found this crop the most certain of
all root crops. No insect except the cut worm
(and that can easily be eradicated,) seems to touch
it. In this it has a great advantange over the ru-
tabaga or Swedish turnip, which it is almost im-
possible to produce an old land, on account of in-
sects.
Some twenty odd years ago, the late Mr. Joseph
Wind, who then owned what is now called Wy-
oming— a large farm on the easterly shme of Spot
Pond, in Stoneham — experimented successfully in
the manufacture of beet root sugar. He pro-
cured the seed of the genuine sugar beet from
France, and raised the roots and seed in consider-
able quantities. He sent me some specimens of
the roots, which I found quite too hard for a suit-
able food for cattle. In return I gave him some
specimens of turnip beet, with a request that he
would ascertain the comparative amount of sugar
in the two kinds. Apparently, very much to his
surjirise, he found the turnip beet contained the
most sugar, pound to pound.
There is an objection to feeding milch cows with
any considerable quantity of turnips of any kind,
on account of the bad taste which they impart to
milk, butter or cheese. This objection does not
apply, (certainly not to the same extent) to the
turnip beet. The comparative number of tons
324
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
which may be produced per acre of beets and tur-
nips, I am unable to state ; but my impression is,
that, under equally favorable circumstances, there
would be no very great difference in the weight of
the several crops. But when it is considered that
the beet is by far the surest crop, that it contains
at least an equal quantity of nutriment, and that it
may be raised with less manure and less labor, it
seems to me that it is beyond question the best
root crop for stock. E. c. P.
Somerville, August, 1863.
LETTER FBOM MR. BROWN.
Provincetown a Queer Place — A Companion — Major Phinnej'—
A Ball and Two Girls — A Boat Ride and Cranberry Planta--
tions — Towns on the Way — Highland Lights — A Funereal Foi-
est — Wild Cranberries — Plowing tlie Sea— A Splendid Morning
— Scenery — An Old Wind Mill — Young Pine Forests — How the
Seed was Sown — A Street in Provincetown — Front Yards —
Town House — Wreck of tlie Caledonia — The Pilgrim Fathers,
and the First Com They Found — Places Recognized — Seasick-
ness.
Provincetoion, Mass,, Aug. 31, 1863.
Gentlemen : — This is a queer place ; it seems
to be made up of the sifting of the sea, thrown up
from its depth in its hours of agitation, roused in-
to terrible activity by successive days of east wind,
rushing unobstructedly over the almost illimitable
sea.
But, how did you get there, you may ask ? I
will tell you. Tired and almost discouraged in the
effort to "make hay," I concluded I would leave it
to other hands for awhile, and take a trip to this
unique portion of our good State — the only por-
tion which I had not visited. So, in the compa-
ny of an excellent friend, Albert Stacy, Esq.,
the faithful and obliging Postmaster of our town,
I proceeded, and made Barnstable the first halting
place. Calling upon brother PlllNNEY, Editor of
the Barnstable Patriot, after tea, I found himself,
family and friends just leaving the house to attend
a ball at Agricultural Hall, the proceeds of which
were to be devoted to a Soldier^s Aid Societt/, of
which Mrs. Piiinney is the efficient President.
I bad no scruples about the mode vt'hich they had
adopted to raise their funds, and hurriedly sum-
ming up the probable cost of my trip, found I had
a surplus which I could devote to no better ob-
ject. As I could not become a hero, by
"Shouldering my crutch and telling how
fields were won,"
I offered my dexter arm to a charming young la-
dy in the group, and led the way to the revellers !
When we arrived, bright lights and brighter eyes
were flashing, and youth, and middle life, and even
some in years beyond, were
'•On the light, fantastic toe,"
tripping gaily to the inspiring music of the band !
My younger companion, not much better versed
in the wars of Cupid than of Mars, rather demurred
at the bold push, and spoke of dusty boots, rusty
gloves, and other rigging, but the nymph at his
side soon drove all these follies out of his head.
All the world was there. The feast and the fun
were excellent, and the clock had struck so many
times while we were there, that it wovild only
strike once when we departed !
The next morning our researches were more of
an agricidtural nature, though we were not in Ag-
ricultural Hall. The courtesy of the Major had
not been exhausted by introducing us to the fes-
tivities of the evening, for before our coffee had
been swallowed, he appeared and announced that
his yacht was ready to take us across the bay to
look at his cranberry plantations. The trip was
soon made, and we were among the sand hills and
the cranberries. With others, he has been exper-
imenting in the culture of this delicious fruit, for
several years. To describe the modes adopted
would require an article too formal and too long
for this familiar letter. He has entered upon the
cultivation extensively, and with every prospect of
success. I examined several plantations, and found
them in the most encouraging condition. At a
future time I will describe some of the processes
pursued, and the results obtained.
Proceeding to Yarmouth by rail, we took the
stage to Orleans, dined, and continued on to Well-
fleet, where we halted for the night. This town
extends across the Cape, between Eastham and
Truro. The village is a small one on the west
side of the Cape, and its people are mostly en-
gaged in the fishing business. It was formerly
a very flourishing town. One of its former resi-
dents. Col. Elisha Doane, is said to have ac-
quired a fortune of $600,000, on this sandy spot.
The ride to Highland Lights, six miles south of
Provincetown, the next morning, was over a san-
dy road, and for miles in succession, through a
yellow pine forest, mingled with shrub oaks. Both
were hung with a drapery of gray moss which im-
parted a gloomy and funereal appearance. Hun-
dreds of acres were covered wiih the wild, or
mountain cranberry. The open places afforded
but little grass, and I saw but few cattle between
Yarmouth and the end of the Cape, or fields of
grass, corn or grain of any kind. There were oc-
casional patches of each, whose products must be
trifling compared with the wants of the population
of the Cape towns. They are not, evidently, an
agricultural people. They plough the sea, more
than the land.
To us, "Highland Light" proved the most at-
tractive spot we found. It is on the extreme verge
of land, ending in a precipice or bluff, of nearly a
hundred feet in height. The light-house is erect-
ed near its edge, and with the Cape Race Lights,
farther down the Cape, are the lights first seen by
the mariner on approaching our dangerous coast.
Going out at six o'clock the day after my arrival,
I found the morning as beautiful as ever shone
upon the earth. A shower during the night had
washed the plants, so that thtii* foliage looked as
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
325
though they had been polished. The air was clear
and bracing, and the wide ocean, that had been
rolling in all the day before in sullen tones, and
breaking in low thunders upon the beach, was now
quiet as though it had passed a night of rest.
The day before, it swallowed a barque before our
eyes — this morning it seemed as though a cliild in
its cradle, might rock with safety upon its placid
bosom. Near the light-house is an old windmill,
racked and broken by the elements of more than
half a century — but aged and crippled as it is, still
able to grind all the grain that comes to its hop-
pers. Similar mills may be seen all over the Cape,
as there is not, probably, a single grist mill, with
water power, upon it. Everytliing was so quiet
compared with the varied sounds of the day be-
fore, that the contrast was impressive. The gun-
ners were enjoying their morning nap — no wail or
twitter of a sea bird could I hear — nought, but the
low, never-ceasing murmur of the waves far below
my feet, coming and receding, as they probably
came and receded, thousands of years ago. The
thoughts inspired were grand and sublime, but too
■vast long to be entertained. Far beyond me,
white sails dotted the sea, on their errands of ci-
vilization and power, while behind, and on either
hand, broad marshes, cut with serpentine creeks,
and naked sand hills, torn with deep gulches, or
occasional hills covered with shrub oaks and wild
rose bushes, were mingled in inextricable confu-
sion !
In going from the "Light" to Provincetown, I
passed through a tract of land sowed with the yel-
low pine by the Rev. Mr. Miurick. The tract
contains, I was told, some sixii/ acres. Large por-
tions of it are now finely covered with pines vary-
ing from three to fifteen feet in height, while on
other portions, they are quite scattering, or have
not come at all. In some places, the seed was
sown twice, but did not come. Shallow furrows
were ploughed four or five feet apart, and, by
some ingenious arrrngement, the seed dropt from
a hopper at the same time. Others have planted
considerable tracts, so that the area now covered
with flourishing growth, is quite large. Major
PiljXNKY was one of the pioneers in this good
work, and has a tract of 25 acres covered with
trees 10 to 20 feet in height.
Provincetown is a most singular place. It lies
on the noted harbor which was the first port the
Mayflower made, on her passage with the Pilgrim
Fathers, in 1620, and is situated on the end of
Cape Cod, and lies in the form of a hook. The
township consists of beaches and hills of sand,
shallow ponds and swamps. It has but one street,
which extends two or three miles along the water's
edge. It is only 18 feet wide, with a plank side-
walk, four feet wide. The houses are small and
crowd'^i' ' hind each othr'- ■ nrc few
trees or shrubs, the little yards being filled with
the coarse sand hill grass. Here and there a nar-
row lane runs at right angle with the main street,
and extends back a score or two of yards until it
runs into a sand hill. These are so narrow, that
carriages cannot turn, or pass each other, when
once in them. One party or the other inu.st back
out ! On these lanes, some of the best dwellings
are situated, and about a few of them an attempt
has been made to cultivate the elm and some oth-
er shade trees. I also saw a few dwai f pear trees
and grape vines in one or two gardents of oO or
60 feet square. IJut, generally, instead of ihe ver-
bena, dahlia, gladiolus and other commun flowers,
that grace the garden, rank beach grass has full
possession of the little spaces about the front
doors. Other ornaments, however, of a more gas-
tronomic character, were everywhere seen — these
were the Jish Jiake-f, or lattice work, upon which
the cod fish are placed to dry in the sun, which
the hardy fishermen bring from Newfoundland or
the Straits. Every available foot of level sand,
(not land,) is covered with these flakes, and they
frequently are extended to the very door steps of
the front yard. In fair weather, the fish is placed
upon them to dry, and at night is packed away
again in the store-house — a day or two, only, of
clear, west wind weather being required to com-
plete all the solar cooking they need.
The Town-House — The Caledonia.
Perched up<in a sand hill, directly behind the
houses, and elevated a hundred feet above the
water, the good people of Provincetown have
erected a Town-House. It is a handsome struc-
ture, and is a most conspicuous object from nearly
every portion of the Cape, as M'ell as a beacon to
approaching mariners. The view from the belfry
of this house is very fine. Nothing intervenes to
interrupt it, as far as vision extends, seawiird, or
across the bay. Behind the sand hill';, eastward,
the dark masts of the Caledonia loom up, remind-
ing the behqjder of the wreck of that splendid Eng-
lish steamer, sometime last year. She was sold
at auction, where she lies for about .Sl"J;n()0 ; her
engines were taken out, and it was hopeil that she
could be got ofi' — but all efforts have so far proved
unavailing.
The PilgrimB, and the First Com Found.
Jamks Small, Esq., the owner of the farm upon
which I stopt at Highland Lights, informed me
that several years since, the Rev. Dr. Yol'xc, of
Boston, passed a day or two with him, and during
that time, stated that he had examined the records
of the Pilgrims, in England, and taken coj)ious
notes from them. He projwsed to read from
these notes to Mr. Small, who is now 7G years
years of age, to learn whether he could recognize
anv of the places mentioned in them. Me did so,
XEW EXGLA>-B FAPJklER. Oct.
csii Mr. 5~i_ T:ir.:ei :u: 5:r:= •:: tie rlsoe* a rDb5'nt::te fcr i: vliicii bids fair to put us above
~i-^-"---i "~!".~:t: 'rr.^r:: "~t r-r: -;-■:: •!r"i:;h "^ rriscnoiis eS^ccts cf that lead, and t'^^-'-t is the
cizii'- pipe, pvitent^d. by B. liveimore. We
biTr :: £: :ur rlic*. ir.i it sives st>od sausfaction.
n.. 1^^.
_r>5 en the
X BBO"W3r. sti-
3J
jblhne used tibe t-
: za'orfiwmlMg the r
^cpplied to Ae seed, I h-
used oonuBOO tarviJi g<:
on seed con voald prer^
ez'B gieaiett pet; il waal -
I beard Ji gmtlfttM ki —
-B-sv, be Is one tbac tbinj: -
' I !■ ihn ibi rr ii ■ rw
Xcw K diiB A €Kt ? Ha^'.
t5 posted wen on fbe wc
i^arfkxs bare an ilwrM :r
T/inmia, X. H-, SepL^ 1 :^;.
ExxASXS. — ^We are ik : --::b-
F2il MumuUi of wo .
bsrdfy' be ooDSEfios "
ba§ existtd fiv Bive tj:_^ t~;
We ekan keep oar readers &; : s-
■ -=, m if^gBd to q - ; : : e-ri-
-jij X ^sgosiaaa:. ^tcp
^~ tBMOa as mmA ■ ._
tz. vj K exj-:ir: 'o i^ ai Aagut Hiir-
-Irishes iaSonmatiac
kept rihmiM have z ^^ fmrnM-m^' T
ed witiout one, myd?r ^i°^r S? ««. «.-
a -r Tl — -- *■ bad one pn:
- -ed. In fee— -2Te«*eo5l
^•e IBB feuniTOPT
--.tT £u^ is danl:
uu», Isaac InUe :
ibax a cbUd af fioar
ik The cost uabou. r
Oye, ^liy. 27, UG3.
DojnoaBfOtieeiB -
tenatJOBalWbat -^
taptajaan aie oAer
;-'■ ciaiaMs are cfcrt
' 'begteatcaperit/:
; to be boped ib^
.r:i>e3le for tfc^
18f53.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
rS" THE FAXuL.
H;-r oS :
He' "- ;"
ii5 iri.::.
r 1 pili:
If veful U
OeitM here -in ;
HOVT TO
FODDES.
COHX FOS
Having received several letters making inqui-
ries in regard to my method of curing com fod-
der. I thought, as the inquiries came from read-
ers of your valuable paper, I would give you my
method for publication.
In order to have the fodder good, the com
should be cut up while it is yet green — that is,
before the leaves and stalks b%in to dry up. Any
time after the com becomes hard (or glazed) the
com may be cut without injury to the grain.
I make a stanchion for the shock by tying the
tops of four hills together, thus X — then the fod-
der 5'. i:.l be set up in the angles as neariy per-
. as possible. After setting up six or
t - -. the tops should be tied together with
a wiap 0: grass or stalk ; this makes a firm begin-
ning for a shock. The shock should contain at
least 144 hills, as the lai^r it is the less propor-
tionately it will be exposed to the weather. Bear
in miral that the stalks should be set up as nearly
perpendicular as possible. Lastly the shock should
be well lied at the top w!-- - • ■ -f rye straw.
Com put up in this m:.- rA fall down
before huskiiLj-time. I ui __ .i my com in
from four to six weeks after cutting it up. ^Vhen
the com is husked, the fodder should be tied with
straw in convenient-sixed bundles for pitching.
and it is better to put the stalks from two shocks
into one. and tie xhe tops as before ; then, if the
'veather is dry. it may be hauled at any time and
pot in siitcks convenient to bam. There is no
safety in putting it in the mow, however dry it
may 37 7 car, for the pith in the butt of the stalk
is a gre.it absorbent, and as kto^ as the stalks
stand 0- :he grv:iund it will retain moisture enough
to spoil the stalks if pot into a bot, but wbea
thej are stacked ap so that the bvtts coae to the
son and air the stalks will not spoiL
I make mj stacks in the toDo'miog Minari. ao
dnt ve can always haul in an entire stack Sft
times : Take a pole, from 4 to 6 inebe* thick «»M
frxMn 15 to 18 ieet long, and set it firaly in the
groond; then baild die stack arou- ' ' •" ^
tops in gainst the p^ and the
ing the middk foil as in other stacks, .-it uie top
I make a cap of a bundle of stalks.
Com that is sown for (odder shoald be treated
as nearly in the same manner as possible, and ram
will have good sweet food for yoor cattle, v£idi
they will need no coaxing to eat.
Your motto, in prep>aring com fodder for stock,
from first to last, must be — -WhateTer k worth
doing at all, is worth doing welL" It is no wo»-
der that cattle shoold refuse to eat stalks, that
have stood where they grew till the winds aad
frtists of autumn hare bleached aad tried ovt er-
' ery panicle of nutriment — then eat aad tkromi
in heaps, (they do not deserve the Bcoae of stacksi)
where they are completely soaked by the rain ;
then after being basked, tiffown into maws or
large stacks, where they heat and moald, and (nlr
come before the cattle when half are rotten, ana
the other half tainted with the fame* of that vfaicfa
is fit only for the manure-yard.
There is a very great waste for want of care,
in the ctirin* of this crop. This year. espeeiaUy,
owing". -jht and conseijuent short crop
I of ha}
care, a:
A T.T FN
hould be secured, with great
_e most economical way. — ^L M.
-'/ GeTftlemca.
DOM'SSTIC •R^i.h.iPT**
ToUATO Ftddlng.— Slice tooatoes, piirr •
, layer of them in the bottom of an earthen &h,
, cover with bread crumbs profuisely seasoned : add
! another layer of tomatoes and cover with b*cad
I crambs as before, and when the dish is fiUed. {dfeee
on ibe top a piece of butter. Put the dL«h into a
mcderate even, and if two layers of toi&aUje« fiU
it, twe' ■ .5 will be long enough for them
to be 5 : -cked.
Becili: -. — In order to hare totaa-
toes ni'ce, c > canner, the largest ones
most be stir.c— \.-^t them into rather thick
slices, seasoning each piece with pepper and salt.
Use an oys'er gridiron to boil them on — a cco»>
mon one will answer — and cook them bot a few
moments. When set:t to the table, add batto'.
! The QrTE>- of PrrDtNG*. — One pint of nice
bread crumbs to one quart of milk, one cup of s»-
gar. the yolks of four egjrs beaten, the grated rind
of a lemon, a piece of butter the siie of an egg.
Bake until done, but net watery. TThip the whites
of the eggs stiff, and beat in a teacupful of sogar
in which has been stirred the juice of the fenea.
Spread over the podding a layer of ieUr or aaj
swcetn:e.i:s voa prefer. Poor the white* of thie
eggs over ttils and replace in the oren and bake
lightly. To be eate^ with cold cxeaa. It is aec-
ood only to ice cream, and for some icesoos better.
To Cook Vegetable Otstexs. — Slice and
' boil in water about twenty minutes : add half as
' much milk, let it boQ a^ season with batter, salt
and pepper, and serve dfth oackers as j<o« voakl
ovsters.
328
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Oct.
CO?fTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoaghts abmt October Page 296
Vermont State Fair 298
Cotton r.fowinj: in Africa .....300
Potato Rot— ^itiinjT in Small Pox— Nature's Music 301
■VTheiit after Sur^lium— Asbea for Swine 301
American anil Scotch Dairies Compared— Keeping Fruits... 302
Cotton Growing in Egypt— Cost of Harvesting Hay 303
Vision of Rtv^am Farmi tip-— Soiling Cattle 304
Poison fro<n Ivy— Hayfielil Thoughts— New Barometer 305
"Boys, Stick to the I^arm'' 305
Put Flowers on Your Table— A Brazilian Forest 306
Gas Tar on Sued Corn — Hints on Dahlias 307
Importation of Wool in 1862 — Summer Butter 307
Exti-acts and Replies 307, 321, 326
Agricaltara Honored by the China^e 308
Grape Culture, Wines and Wine Making 309,317
To Preserve Health in Hot Weather 310
One-IIorse Farmers. 308, 311
My Field— Letter from the Farm 311
Irish Bar in Olden Times — Hessian Fly, Birds, Insects 312
The Season, Haying, &c. — Durability of Seeds 313
The Season, Crops, Fruits, Kentucky Blue Gras 314
An Up-Co«ntry Letter 315
Hungarian Grass for Horses — The Back Barn Door 316
Fertility of O.iy Soils 317
Experience of a IJi-actical Wool-Grower 318
Retrospective Notes 318
The Farmers' Oracle 319
Speak Kindly to Children— Small Talk— Pictures 320
Witty Auctioneer 321
Our Village at Daybreak — Children and their Memories . . .322
The ALjricultural Department 323
Culture of the Turnip Beet. 323
Letter from Mr. Brown 324
Barns, Barn Cellars, Water 326
ladKan Corn for Fodder — Domestic Receipts..... 327
In the Fall ^ 327
Cattle Market Report. 323
PRICES.
Aua.lS. Jus. 26. Sept. 2. Sept. 9. Sept. IS.
ffeef,lst,2a,3dqual..5^a8i 5138^ ^lUH 6Jg8i 5^(584
" a few extra ®83 8|@8| S^.gSJ 8J®9 QSJ
Sheep & lambs, each. $2.^1544 $2 iS4J $2|.fl4J $2|@4i $2J(a4i
Swine,stores,w'sale...5 ig6J 5 (g6J 5 @6 5J@6 5 ©6|
ig$i
7iS8
" " retail.. 5J(g7
Hides, ^ lb 7^g8i
Pelts, sheep & lambs. 37 @$1
Tallow, #■ ft 7JS8
5^27
5^7
6J®7
n^sh
7Jffl8J
8 (g9
@$l4
—
—
tg8 7J ®8 7
©7^
Remakes. — It appears from the foregoing statement that the
whole number of cattle at market during the past five wc-ks is
4o7o greater than for the corresponding five weeks last year,
and that the number of sheep and lambs is also larger by 4899,
Notwithstanding this large supply, and an increase of about $2
■If 100 ttis. on dressed beef, or something like an advance on
oxen of eighteen to forty dollars per pair, above the selling
rates twelve months ago, the market is quicker than it was last
fall. Sheep and lambs are sold at aViout last year's prices ; and,
notwithstanding the fact that, including dressed muttons sent
from Maine, about ten thousand per week have been disposed of
during these five weeks, the close of the last market was as
spirited as on any other week, and the supply seemed to be hard-
ly equal to the demand.
The tr.ide in working oxen, and young stock to supply the far-
mers of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, who
prefer buying to raising their own young stock, is quite fair,
although farmers complain of high prices. Droves of one hun-
dred or more, including many beeves, are weekly purchased and
driven off to various'parts of these States.
The retail dealers in milch cows, whose stock makes some
noise and show at Brighton on Wednesday, complain that theii-
trade is dull.
CATTLE MARKETS FOR SEPTEMBER.
The fallowing is a summary of the reports for the five weeks
ending September 16, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. Shee-p. .Shutvs. Fat Hogs. P'eah.
Aug. IS 26S3 9.574 200 700 175
" 26 291Y 8S32 350 — 100
Sept. 2 2140 8250 400 — 100
" 9 3578 9776 400 17C0 125
" 16 3168 6050 400 1500 100
Total 14,486 42,482 1750 3900 600
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for the correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS TEAR. LAST TEAR.
Catt'c. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 3794 74.36 1770 4538
Kew Hampshire 2045 4224 1480 3884
Vermont 3660 15,405 4257 17,588
Massachusetts 160 847 173 419
Korthern Kew York .557 3827 355 3018
Western States 3625 1131 3771 715
Canada 645 9611 290 6234
Total, last four weeks 14,486 42,482 12,096 36,396
Total, since Jan. 1,(38 w'ks,) 00,565 151,341 55,980 146,442
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, Sept. 16:
De Wolf & Sabin sold to S. S. LearnardG extra oxen raised and
fatted by Mr. Shattuck, of Putney, Vt. All of these oxen wero
good ; but there was one pair of grade Durhams, only three yrs.
of age, laid to dress from 2300 to 2400 Ihs., which were very rici^
bullocks, and a credit to Mr. Shattuck, who has before now sent
extra oxen to this market. These three pairs were previously
engaged by Mr. Learnard, on condition of their proving to be, —
as recommended, — "of his sort." After having looked at the
bunch he was asked, "Will you take them.'"' "Yes, at any-
thing short of a sliUling a pound," said he, playfully. He als9
bought 4 othersJaid at 4000 lbs., for 8c V ft.
E. Wheeler sold a carload of 12 oxen to Saunders & Hartwell,
laid at 1000 fts. each, 2 at Sj^c, 7 at So and 3 at 7,^ic ; 8 good
"(jver the-mountain" two-year olds at C'jC, and 5 other steers
at $33 each, laid to dress 600 lbs.
G. Clark sold a pair of extra oxen raised by Stephen Smith, of
Holderness, N. H., which he laid at 2000 lbs. or more, for $170,
Lazell Elms sold a pair of twin eighteen months-old "yearling
fancy steers" They were grade Devuns, every way hand-
some, thrifty and good shaped — (heir form, color and marks
alike — and heavy enough, the owner thought, to dress 900 lbs.,
but are not to be slaughtered. They were raised by L. B. Mar-
ble, who now runs the grist mill, near \\'oodstock Green, Vt., to
which in our younger years, and before the days of barrel-floup,
we went with many a bag of wheat to be • ground and bolted ;''
but where we never happened to see such "yearlings" as these,
although as good cattle grow in Windsor Co., as elsewhere.
Scollans & Andrews sold 33 Western steers, 1240 fts. each,
live weight, at 8'ic, 35 sk ; 3 of 1050 lbs. each, 7?ic, 32 sk ; H
of nearly 1100 lbs., for 7,'4'c, >i to 34 fk ; 17 of 1144 fts., 7c, 3d
sk ; 4 of 1100 lbs., at 7>ic, 35 sk ; 17 steers of S48 fts., at 6c, 40
sk ; 7 of about 1000 fts., for 6>^c, 30 to 36 sk ; 7 of 1474 fts., at
8^^c, )i sk; 17ofl3S5fts.,at8c,,36sk; 4of 1135 fts., 7c,35ak.
I
DEVOTBD TO AQKICUIiTUBE AND ITS KINDRED ABT3 AND BCIENCES.
VOL. XV.'
BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1863.
NO. 11.
NOtTRSE, EATON k TOLMAN, Propeibtobs.
Office. . . .102 Washisoto.n Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editor.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY NOVEMBER.
"I remember, well remember.
When I was a chiM at play,
Life h:«l then no drear November,
But wa8 one continued May.
Then, November's days were gladness ;
Still and fresh flowed life's young tide ;
Not a scene was tinged with sadness,
Though sweet Nature drooped and died." Edmond.
HE other even-
ing a lady ask-
ed U8 whether
the season of
Spnng or Au-
■^^tuimi excited in
ir^ the mind the
most pleasing
sensations ? In
t h e_, conversa-
ti 0 n that en-
sued, we found
that she gave a
decided prefer-
ence to the Au-
tumn. Our re-
ply was, that
the seasons act
differently upon
different temperaments — that to minds having a
morbid tendency, the season of Spring, flushing
with new life and fresh hopes, has a cheering and
encouraging tendency which makes both mind and
body vigorous and elastic, and gives to existence
new powers and charms. In such minds the sea-
son of spring excites almost rapturous emotions,
but emotions too apt to be as fleeting and uncer-
tain as the sun and showers of April or May.
To a different class of minds, to the serene and
meditative, the mind that is more surely balanced,
though it may not possess much of the essentially
good qualities than the less firm, Auiuvin comes
"In its sober livery clad,"
without inflicting a wound or even tinging the
mind with sadness. It sees in the natural process
of decay around it, — the falling leaf and ripened
fruits, — the beautiful and beneficent result of the
increasing operation of God's laws, and is con-
stantly filled with adoration and love for the im-
pressive evidences of his wisdom and care. What
suggests to other minds, approaching decay and
dissolution, and brings heaviness and sorrow to
the heart, only animates the hopeful to a firmer
faith, and more untiring exertion. Such, briefly,
was our reply, — but the conversation was contin-
ued and brought out many beautiful and instruc-
tive thoughts.
November has gathering clouds and sweeping
winds that bear away the leaves, that roar among
the tops of the tall forest, or scream through the
the cracks of the apartment. It also brings heavy
frosts, and occasional snow-flakes; the pools some-
times receive a glassy covering, and late in the
month the roads become rough and hard. Crows
sit in the sun on the top of some favorite tree,
and catv to their neighbors on other trees, while
the squirrel and blue jay are industriously carry-
ing away the farmer's corn, left too late in the
field, or gathering up the nuts that have fallen to
the ground, to supply their wants when winter's
winds and snows forbid their going abroad.
What a beautiful instinct ! IIow impressive are
the words of the Psalmist, that "He provideth
their meat for them in due season."
So Novcmher is full of instruction if our hearts
are fitted to receive it. The evidences of decay
around us, certainly should suggest the brevity
and uncertainty of our own mortal existence, but
not in any trembling and slavish sense. It is true,
that "the year is going away like the sound of
bells. The winds pass over the stubble, and find
nothing to move, only the red berries of that slen-
der tree, which seem as if they would fain remind
us of something cheerful ; and the measured beat
of the thresher's flail calls up the thought that in
the dry and falling ear lies so much nourishment
and life."
830
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
All these peculiarities are just as natural as June
or July suns, and just as essential to the pro-
duction of the crops upon which we expend so
nnich labor and care. Let us but wisely improve
them, and they will greatly add to the comfort and
serenity of our lives.
They should suggest to us, first, that prepara-
tion for a future existence, which the perfect seed
of our crops have acquired,— the power to pro-
duce a new and beautiful life, — and, secondly, the
preparation for winter, which will secure the pro-
tection and comforts we need when wind and
storm and severe cold make it impossible to pro-
vide them. When these are furnished, the win-
ter becomes to the farmer a season of compara-
tive rest — a season for the highest domestic en-
joyment, and for social and literary improvement.
It is certain that "the family circle is God's blessed
ordinance, and is the sweetest, the happiest, and
the most hallowed spot on earth. It is the nur-
sery of affection, of friendship, and of virtue ; the
place where those ties of mutual dependence and
help are first formed, which, in their expanded
1 state, unite human society ; and, according to the
-manner in which the rights of the family circle
are enj-oyed, its duties discharged, and its true
benefits realized, are the moral character, the sta-
bility, and the grandeur of a country." Let all re-
niembfir that '.it is inidlirient industry that supplies
the power and permanency of our government
and country, — that they derive that power and
permanency from individuals, of which number,
attentive reader, you are one, and that it is your
imperative duty to improve your mind as well as
your soiL Indeed, the soil will be improved, cor-
respondingly, as the mind is — one is consequent
upon the other.
November is upon us. Gloomy clouds, it may
be, shut out the cheerful sun. Chilling winds rus-
tle the dry leaves, and hurry them in fitful eddies
away from our sight. The cattle that depend upon
our care, seek sunny corners, and look wistfully
at their winter home, as though anticipating the
comfort and plenty of the accustomed stalls, while
the trees and shrubs have cast off" their rich and
variegated foliage, and stand bare in the cutting
blast. All this strengthens the contrast with the
domestic health, and gives it value and tone.
Forget not that this is a month of preparation,
rather than of consummation. October discharged
the latter duty, mainly. November must see all
things prepared for a period of tempest and cold,
and in-door life.
Happy, indeed, shall we be, if that preparation
is made, and we seek that wisdom which will make
us strong as individuals, and impregnable as a
Nation.
The mind, like the body, wearies more from
the want of action than from excess of it.
CATTLE-SHOW AT NASHUA, M". H.
The meeting of the Merrimack River Agricul-
tural and Meclianical Association took place at
Nashua, on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 7th
and 8th. The society is made up of some twelve
towns, two of which, Pepperell and Dunstable,
are in Massachusetts. The weather on the first
day was warm and bright. JJut • little was done,
however, beside general preparation. Not much
stock was brought to the grounds. Two or three
mowing machines were all the agricultural imple-
ments we saw. A collection of showmen was
about all that gave the scene any animation on
first day, notwithstanding the bright and beautiful
weather.
On the second day it was rainy, — and especial-
ly in the early morning, — so that hundreds, if not
thousands were deterred from coming out. Events
came slowly and heavily. The cheering music of
four bands could scarcely inspire one with much
spirit. The clouds drizzled and the mud grew
deeper as the various cavalcades splashed through
it. When the procession was formed, however,
the skies kindly withheld their tears, so that the
march to -the grounds was rather a grand and im-
posing one. The Dunstable town team was a
fine one. On reaching the enclosure we fouud
many accessions to the meagre amount of the
day before. Some fine cattle, sheep, horses and
swine had been brought in. Mr. P. W. Jones,
of Amherst, had Dutch, Durham -and Devon stock,
and Cotswold, Southdown and Spanish Merino
sheep. Mr. Taft, of Nashua, had a sow and nine
five-months old i)igs, which we never saw ex-
celled.
In the exhibition room, there was a very fine
display of the taste and skill of the women in
articles of domestic industry. It was certainly
highly creditable to the ladies of Hillsborough
county. The butter and cheese, from their hands,
were very attractive. Some tubs of the former
were very near perfection, and gave the exhibi-
tion credit and character. We were glad to see
this, as this branch of our exhibitions has been al-
together too much neglected. The show of vege-
taljles was very good. That of fruit included fine
specimens of apples and pears, but there was not
a large collection of either.
After the procession had taken a look at the
stock, the shrill bugle note called the scattered
crowds together around the stand, and after re-
marks by the President, Col. Otis Wright, brief
addresses were made by Dr. Loring of Salem,
Hon. Frederick Smyth, of Manchester, Mr.
Tenney, Secretary of State for New Hampshire,
and the writer. All the addresses were brief.
That of Dr. Loring was humorous, yet practical.
He illustrated his points Avith much force. Mr.
Tenney read a patriotic and excellent letter from
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
331
His Excellency Gov. Gil:more, and followed it
with some most appropriate and eloquent remarks,
both upon agriculture and the condition of our
country. He is a young man of rare ability, and
of the most urbane and winning manners. If
life and health are granted him, he will yet be-
come a distinguished and influential person. The
remarks of Mr. Smyth, were of the most practical
character. He dwelt, mainly, upon the wasteful
practices of most farmers in manures, fences, &c.
After a capital dinner at the Pearl Street House,
the procession re-formed and marched back to
the grounds. A change had come over the face
of things — a trot was expected and a sea of heads
and horses and vehicles now pressed upon the
track. Nothing appeared against Mr. Jones'
mare, Emjjrest, so, after she had been put through
her paces a few times over the track, a racer was
put by her side, and the gratified crowd rent the
air with shouts, Empi-ess is a sjilendid animal.
She greatly resembles Flora Teni])le, and her ac-
tion and appearance are superb. We were told
that her owner had refused $6,000 for her.
Had the weather of the second day been like
that of the first, there wotdd probably have been
a great turn-out of the people of the county, as
they have, through the railroads, fine means of
access, in addition to their own means of locomo-
tion.
Nashua is a pleasant city. Its streets are hand-
somely ornamented with shade trees, and have
upon them many tasteful buildings and gardens.
The building of the Nashua Manufacturing Com-
pany is 600 feet long, having a single shaft its
its whole length, and the machinery is moved by
water power.
Bushes. Bushes should never be allowed to
grow in mowing fields. It is often the case that
we see large and dense "clumps" or "patches" of
bushes, and even small trees, interspersed with
bushes, growing in the midst of mowing grounds,
or by the sides of fences, where they occupy land
to no advantage, and operate detrimentally upon
the useful vegetation through the influence of both
branches and roots. Vigorous jdantations of bri-
ars and buslies are often seen vegetating in the
corners of cultivated fields, as well as thistles and
other deleterious productions around stones aud
stumps.
No correct farmer will permit his fields to be
defaced by so slovenly a practice. *
Every rod — aye, every foot of enclosed and tax-
able soil should be made to produce something of
value. A few days labor judiciously directed, will
enable one to put a new face on his fields in this
respect, and when the improvement has been once
fairly commenced, there is little danger but that
it will be pursued.
INSTINCT OF APPETITE.
About three years ago the little daughter of a
farmer on the Hudson river had a fall, which in-
duced a long, painful and dangerous illness, end-
ing in blindness ; medication availed nothing. By
accident, a switch containing maple buds waV
placed in her hand, when she began to eat them,
and called earnestly for more, and continued to
eat them with avidity, improving meanwhile ir ,
her general health for some fifteen days or more,
when Ibis particular relish left her, and .she calle(!
for candy ; and as in the case of the buds, at-^
nothing else for two weeks, when this also was-
dropped — a more natural taste returned with re-
turning eyesight and usual health. This was in-
stinct calling for those articles of food which con
tained the elements, the want of which lay betweei
disease and recovery.
A gentleman, aged thirty-six, seemed to be ii
the last stage of consumptive disease, when ht
was seized with an uncontrollable desire tor com-
mon salt ; he spread it in thick layers over hi-
meat, and over his bread and butter; he carrier
it in his vest pocket, which was datly emjitied b^
eating a pinch at a time. He regained his health,
and remained well for years afterwards.
There are many persons who can record, fron
their own personal experience, the beginning of •
return to health from gratifying some insatiate de-
sire. The celebrated Prof. Charles Caldwell wa-
fond of relating in his lectures that a young lad_\
abandoned to die, called for some pound-cakt .
which "science" would have pronounced a deadl
dose ; but, as her cose was considered hopelep;
she was gratified, and recovered, living in goo<
health afterwards.
But in some forms of dyspepsia, to folio w^ th
cravings of appetite is to aggravate the diseas;
In low fevers, such as typhoid, yielding to tl.
cravings is certain death. To know when an
how to follow the instinct of appetite — to gratil'
the cravings of nature — is of inestimable valui
There is a rule which is always safe, and will sa%
life in multitudes of cases where the most ski
fully "exhibited" druis have been entirely un.
vailing. Partake at first, of what nature seen
to crave, in very small quantities ; if no uncon.
fortable feeling follows, gradually increase tl
amount, until no more is called for.
These suggestions and facts find confirmatie,
in the large experience of that now beautiful ai
revered namC) Florence Nightingale, whose mer
ory will go down with blessing and honor side 1
side with that of John Howard. She says : '
have seen — not by ones or tens, but by hundre
— cases where the stomach not only craves, h
digests things which have never been laid down '
any dietary for the sick, es]iecially f."r the si
whose diseases were produced by bad food. Fru
pickles, jams, gingerbread, fat of ham, of bacc'
.suet, cheese, buttermilk, &c., were administei
freely, with happy results, simply because the si
craved them." — Scieniijic American.
The Cincinnati Price Current says that the p;
tial failure of the corn crop, and the high pric
to which corn has advanced, have produced c>
sidcrable excitement among the farmers, and j"
up their ideas of prices to a somewhat extravagr-
point, and consequently there have been but i
contracts made.
332
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Not.
SHORT TRIP AMONG THE MOUNTArNS.
Haverhill — A Beautiful Town — Shoe Business — The Indians, and
Mrs. Duston — Dr. Nichols — A New Fertilizsr — The Roads —
Crops — Dea, Tenney's Farm — Draining — The Country Beau-
tiful.
Haverhill, Mass., Sept., 1863.
Gentlemen : — This is a beautiful town. It lies
directly on the north side of the Merrimack River.
One long business street runs parallel with the
river, and is lined with stores and shops where
goods of one kind or another are manufactured or
sold. The shoe business is the leading pursuit,
and employs a very large capital. Other streets,
at right angles with that on the river bank, ascend
the hill, upon which many fine mansions have been
erected, and rising one above another and inter-
spersed with shade trees, give the town a charm-
ing aspect. From some high points, the view of
distant hills and towns, the rich and wide spread-
ing fields, and the sweet Merrimac flowing calmly
through the winding valley, presents a picture of
uncommon beauty.
This town is celebrated as the scene of the de-
scent which the Indians made upon it on the 15th
of March, 1698, "where they took Mrs. Hannah
Duston, who was confined to her bed with an in-
fant only six days old, and attended by her nurse,
Mary Niif. The Indians took Mrs. Duston from
bed and carried her away with the nurse and in-
fant. They soon dispatched the latter by dashing
its head against a tree. When they had proceed-
ed as far as an island, which has justly been called
Duston's Island, in the Merrimack, near the
mouth of the Contoocook, on their way to an In-
dian town, situated a considerable distance above,
the Indians informed the women that they must
be stripped, and run the gauntlet through the vil-
lage on their arrival.
Mrs. Duston and her nurse had been assigned
to a family, consisting of two stout men, three wo-
men and seven children, or young Indians, besides
an English boy who had been taken from Worces-
ter.
Mrs. Duston, aware of the cruelties that await-
ed her, formed the design of exterminating the
whole family, and prevailed upon the nurse and
boy to assist her in their destruction. A little
before day, finding the whole company in a sound
sleep, she awoke her confederates, and with the
Indian hatchets despatched ten of the twelve !
One of the women, Avhom they thought they had
killed, made her escape, and a favorite boy they
designedly left. Mrs. Duston and her companion
arrived safely home with the scalps. The general
Court of Massachusetts made her a grant of fifty
pounds, and she received many other valuable
presents."
Just out of the thickly-settled part of the town,
I visited a fijie tract of land recently purchased by
Dr. J. R. Nichols, a chemist of your city, but
who resides here. A wooded portion of it lies
upon a beautiful lake, and the rising lands beyond
were coveredhalf knee-high with uJooming clover.
He contemplates laying out roads on the margin
of the lake, and over various portions of the es-
tate, and bringing the whole farm into a high de-
gree of fertility. In the pursuit of his business as
a manufacturing chemist, he has had large oppor-
tunity to learn the nature and value of minerals,
and has given them much thought and investiga-
tion with regard to their use as fertilizers. From
my own knowledge of the wonderful efiects of
some of them upon the growth of plants, and
from some quite imperfect trials of a preparation
which he may yet introduce to the public, I am
satisfied that it will possess more merit than any
guano, superphosphate, or other specific fertilizer
yet used. Though crowded with profes^onal busi-
ness, the Doctor has long found an irresistible
charm in the soil, and has given much searching
thought in this direction, and the results which he
has reached, will prove of most essential service
to the farmer. His mind has a practical and be-
nevolent tendency. The device of his for heating
dwelling-houses cheaply and perfectly by steam,
will yet come into general use in cities and villa-
ges. I have used it five years, with economical
results, and with a degree of safety and comfort
never before realized in any other mode of heat-
ing. My visit to him has been one of interest
and improvement. I only wish, gentlemen, that
you could have joined us in our evening conversa-
tions.
In this ramble of about a hundred miles among
the farmers, I went into the eastern portion of New
Hampshire. Everwhere on my way I found the
roads badly washed by the excessive summer rains
— for I travelled in my own carriage, with my wife
by my side. Men were everywhere haying, and
nearly as many engaged on the Jirst as on the sec-
ond crop. The hay is dark-colored, and the barns
ai'e without their usual autumnal fragrance. Oth-
er crops generally appear well. There will be a
fair crop of ajyjjles. Com has run to stalks more
than usual, mieat has been almost a failure,
wherever I have inquired about it, and rye not
much better. Disease has appeared in some po-
taioe fields, but they pi'omise a good crop, gener-
ally.
I find that the practice of draining farm lands
is gaifting favor. Upon the farm of Deacon Wil-
liam Tenney, of Chester, I found some excellent
examples. An orchard of four or five acres, thor-
oughly tile-drained, was as soft and pliable as a
garden bed. Before it was drained, it was difficult
to plough it in season for any of the usual spring
crops. Uncle Sam's agents have found the way
to most of the timber lots, as I find forest giants
jirostrate in all my rambles.
186a.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
333
The summer has been so moist that the coun-
try appears rich and beautiful. The fields are
green, many of them blooming with clover, and
tlie foliage of the forests bright, and of a dark,
rich green.
Very truly yours, Simon Brown.
Messrs. Nourse, Eaton & ToiMXS.
For the New England Farmer.
ON" RAISING SEEDLINGS.
Fears.
AM New Varieties from Seeil— Interesting Subject — Influences
Independent of Pollen — Theory of the Belgians — Our Success
— Natural and Artificial Hybridization — Van Mons's Trogress-
ive Theory — Is it the Best .'—Influence of the Stock on the Seed
— Voung Seedlings — Signs of Good Ones — Complexity and Un-
certainty,
Much attention is now given by some horticul-
turists in this country to the raising of new varie-
ties of j)ears, apples and grapes. It is from seed
alone that all new varieties are produced. Of
course, alPour old, as well as new sorts, are seed-
lings, though in horticultural language only the
new ones, before dissemination are designated by
that term.
The raising of new varieties of fruit is a very
interesting matter, exciting new hopes from year
to year, though attended with much disappoint-
ment, as the general tendency of ameliorated fruits
is to run back to their original type. It would
seem, then, that there are other causes — besides
the pollen of surrounding trees — which tend, in
most cases, to impair the quality of fruit, or in
others to improve it ; for if the seed were in-
fluenced by the poilen alone, its fruit could not be
any worse than those surrounding it, (and in cul-
tivated gardens they are good ameliorated sorts, to
say the least,) nor can we conceive how it could
be any better than that of some one adjoining it.
Perhaps it is not ; but the tendency the other way
is proverbial. We should not forget, however,
that the whole subject is very complex, and but
few if any certain laws are deduced from it.
The raising of impwced varieties of pears, it is
believed by some, has not been accomplished so
successfully from the seed of the best kinds as
from those of ordinary quality, continued to the
fourth or fifth generation. At least, such is the
experience of the Belgian cultivators, as Van
MoNS and others, and of Duiiamel and the Ai.-
FROYS in France — the two latter never being able
to raise a good seedling from the best pears of
that country, although their atteinpts were many.
But in America our experience is the reverse ; for
we have been able to produce excellent sorts from
other excellent sorts, many of them having in ail-
dition, good size, hardiness, fruitfulness, &c. Im-
provement is an accidental matter, unless we re-
sort to artificial impregnation ; and even then the
result of the two varieties may not be what we
had a physiological right to expect.
The seeds of fruit trees reproduce their species,
not their varieties, except generally some wild
fruits of the forest. For instance, the seed of a
Bartlett pear will produce a pear, but not a Bart-
lett pear ; it may be better, probably worse. The
winds and insects carrying pollen for miles, there
is no approach to certainty m producing fruit, ex-
cept by a resort to artificial hybridization, by which
we hope to get a cross between two kinds.
In raising new varieties of the pear, the in-
defatigable Van Mons, of Belgium, fills a bril-
liant page in history for his unwearied efforts and
success. Probably very few, if any, will have the
courage to do likewise ; and we think there is no
occasion for it. This gentleman, as is well known,
believed in the progression of ordinary sorts to a
better, by the continued replanting of their seeds.
His aim was to check the wild vigor, to soften the
austerity, and to lessen the acidity of the unculti-
vated varieties. To this end he picked his fruit
before fully ripe, suffering them to mature their
seed off' the tree, and kept his trees well trimmed
in nursery rows. In harmony with his idea of
progressive amelioration, he fo'rebore to graft his
new seedlings on foreign stocks, through fear of
the influence of such stock and the interruption of
the progressive order. The idea, however, of
compelling seedlings to bear on their own stocks,
did not seem to be a necessity among the Belgian
horticulturists as with him. Besides shortening
the process by earlier fruiting, we should suppose
that, by transferring the new fruit to other stocks,
the amelioration would also have been hastened ;
for the tendency of grafting is to improve the
quality and size of fruit, besides inducing earlier
bearing. Further, it is difficult to admit of any
order of progression in the generations of his seed-
lings, where in a large nursery so much and varied
pollen is afloat. His system was founded on acci-
dental impregnation — a very difficult matter to re-
concile with any .order, rule or sequence, aside
from the supposed or real influence of a foreign
stock. Nevertheless, Van Mons has given the
world some excellent pears, whether in harmony
with his theory, or in spite of it, it is not for me
to say. But he raised thousands of seedlings, and
the question whether a greater proportion of good
ones may not be obtained some other way, is per-
haps an open one, although some have thought
that Mr. Dana, of Iloxbury, has decided it, who
planted from the best sorts, and transferred their
scions to foreign stocks.
What the influence of a foreign stock is upon
the seed of an inserted fruit, we shall probably
never know. It may sometimes be favorable, and
at others unfavorable. One thing we do know,
that seedlings as excellent as those of Van Mons,
(to say nothing of proportion, in this connection,)
can be raised on such stocks, as is shown from our
numerous and valuable native kinds, which prob-
ably were nearly all from the seed of grafted fruit
accidentally hybridized. Nearly a hundred of
these pears are in the catalogues, and their num-
ber is annually increasing. The new and excel-
lent seedlings of Mr. Clapp, known as "Clajip's
Favorite," is thought to be a product of the Bart-
lett. One would suppose that the order of pro-
gression in so excellent a fruit as the Bartlett had
reached its culminating point ; but if there is such
a law, it would seem that it had not, for this new
seedling has the reputation of being a little better
than its parent. And so by carrying some of Van
Mons's seedlings still farther, we may get better
fruit, even if these seedlings have been grown on
other stocks.
Very young seedling pears vary much in their
power of growth, as everyone would suppose;
but some of them are remarkably slow, remaining
almost stationary in size for several years, after
having reached a few inches in height. In the
winter they shoidd be mulched, to prevent the
334
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
Nov.
frost from heaving them. Frequent transplanting
and chpping the tap-root, improves their thrifti-
ness, and grafting upon more matured stock re-
veals at once the external characteristics of the
tree — its vigor, size of leaf, stockiness, color of
shoots, length of joints, &c. These things are im-
portant, for it is by them that we form an idea of
the prospective character of the fruit, though they
■,'ive us no certain ground for such prognostica-
tion. It is purely a matter of observation, liable
to much doubt. When we find in a young seed-
ling pear some or many of the characteristics
possessed by known excellent fruit, we have
a right to expect well of it. But what are these
signs ? Herein rests the confusion.
A rapid grower, or great luxuriance, is consid-
ered more unfavorable than a moderate grower.
Van Mons thought that what he could check in
vigor, he might gain in quality of fruit, and to an
extent he was right. It is recorded of the Belgi-
ans by Gen. Dearborn, that "when tht-ir plants ap-
pear, they do not, like us, found their hopes upon
individuals exempt from thorns, furnished with
large leaves, and remarkable for the size and beau-
ty of their wood ; on the contrary, they prefer the
most thorny subjects, provided that the thorns are
long, and that the plants are furnished with many
buds or eyes, placed very near together." This,
if true of their theory, is a remarkable fact, unless
they were determined to progress their seedlings,
(if we may use the term,) rather than avail them-
selves of those already advanced, as we sliould
suppose the seedlings which they reject would be.
Even then it involves a contradiction. That
man is considered wise who reaches at a single
bound what others acquire by gradation. But
v.hat, in foct, is the character of their best seed-
ling ti'ees which they (particularly Dr. Van Mens.)
have sent out into the world ? Are they not the
same as those mentioned above, upon which they
could found no favorable hopes ? If then, tlieir
trees, and the best of trees, are free from long
thorns, have large, soft leaves, straight and beau-
tiful wood, &c., why select seedlings with opposite
characteristics ? But we were sjjeaking of ra])id
growers as not being the most indicative of a good
quality of fruit. How many great growers of eery
poor fruit have been raised, we have no means of
knowing, as very ])oor fiuit is not propagated ;
but the Jargonelle, Buffum and Vicar of Wake-
field may be mentioned as rapid growers, with
fruit of ordinary qualitv. Yet the Seckel, Bonne
de Jersey, Rostiezer and Winter Xelis, arc hardly
less thrifty, with fruit regarded as unsurpassed.
On the contrary, we have tlie Bartlett, the Beurre
Bosc, Maria Louise, Belle Lucrative and others,
whose fruit is excellent, but whose vigor is com-
paratively less. In a word, perhaps it may be
safely said, that most of the inferior pears are vig-
orous, but that all the vigorous pears are not infe-
rior.
A small, round, tldn leaf, indicates worthless-
ness, especially when the growth is thick and
scraggy.
A long, narroio leaf is rather favorable — proba-
bly more so than a large, round one. Witness
the Winter Nelis and Urbaniste. Both of these
fruits, however, we think would be likely to be set
aside, if judgment were passed upon them as new
seedlings — more especially the slender, erratic
Winter Nelis.
A large Zerj/" is very favorable, Ihe longer the bet-
ter.
Straight, erect shoots is a good omen, and if the
joints are short, it is evidence of a good bearer.
Shoots of a dark yellow or a brown hue are pref-
erable to green.
Bhint spurs indicate better than slender ones.
By propagation they disappear.
But after all, pears of ordinaiy quality are some-
times seen with all the favorable characteristics of
tree, though we rarely notice any very good ones
without most of theiu. In fact, the art of origi-
nating good fruit is quite uncertain ; yet it is not
without encouragements. By planting seeds from
good or the best kinds, and selecting the most fa-
vorable and working them upon matured stocks,
success is not without hope.
D. W. LOTHROP.
West Medford, Sept., 1863.
Fvr the New England Fanner.
OBSTKUCTIOWS IN" DRAIIMS, AiJd HOW
TO KEMOVB THEM.
Mr. Editor :— I have a marsh of some tM'elve
acres, through the centre of which runs a small
though never failing stream, in an open ditch cut
for the purpose.
In the fall of 18G0, I commenced on one side
of the ditch where it enters my land and drained
about three acres, the main drain being of 3^-inch
pipe tile, with parallel lateral drains of two-inch
pipe tile, 40 feet apart, intersecting the main at
right angles.
Much of this three acres, though previously well
supplied with open ditches, produced only a coarse
water grass, the large wiry roots forming a thick
sod of the very coarsest and toughest description;
and much of the ground under it so soft that the
cattle, walking in the fuiTow, would generally sink
above their knees.
This was ploughed the same fall, the sod being
handsomely turned over and rolled down ; in the
spring, was sowed liberally with oats, and har-
rowed thoroughly witli a light harrow, and was
cross ploughed the next fall without difiicultjr.
In the following June, (1S62) was again ploughed
and harrowed, when the sod was found to be thor-
oughly pulverized, the soil light and friable, free
fi'oni water, and in the best possible condition for
tilling purposes ; and all this change had taken
in 19 months after the drains were completed.
It was then sowed with redtop, with a small pro-
portion of timothy.
The main drain was laid at that time about 400
feet in length, had a fall of six inches to the 100
feet, and discharged temporarily into the open
ditch wheie the work was for the present suspend-
ed. A large quantity of oxyde of iron, in the
form of a slimy deposit, was constantly discharged
at the outlet, coloring the water in the ditch for
some distance below.
At the time of seeding this ground in June,
1802, the balance of the marsh on that side of the
open ditch, in all about six acres, was drained by
abandoning the old outlet and extending the main
drain down nearly 700 feet further, having a fall
of 3^ inches per 100 feet, with lateral drains oO
feet apart ; making the total length of the main a
little over 1000 feet, with cast iron "peep holes"
at ])roper distances.
Now mark. Before the lower main was fin-
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
335
ishecl, this oxyde of iron so obstructed the drain
that the water in the "peep holes" began to rise
above the tiles, and the evil continued to increase,
till, at the time of the fall rain, flie ground, for
the whole length of the main, except near the
outlet, was completely saturated with water, and
Btood in the "peep holes" about on a level with
the surface of the surrounding grounds ; showing
that the drains were nearly or (piite useless.
They remained in this condition till last June,
and though this season was much dryer than the
last, the land which was in such fine condition just
one year before, had, for several of the spring
months, been covered with water, and was now
80 thoroughly saturated that a man would sink
ankle deep at every step in walking -over it.
The experiment in this field seemed to prove
three things.
First, — The unmistakable and beneficial effect
of tile drains when they are unobstructed.
Second^ — That where water is impregnated with
iron, a rusty colored, slimy oxyde is rapidly formed
by exposure to the atmosphere in the drain. It
should therefore be discharged as soon as practi-
cable, for the longer the water remains in the
drain, the greater will be the accumulation of oxyde
fi'om it, which, if allowed to flow down a long dis-
tance, most of it will adhere to the sides of the
tile and soon entirely close them.
Til i id, — That unless some remedy for obsruc-
tion from this cause can be found, the draining of
this six acres, in which neither pains nor expense
had been spared to do the work in the most sub-
stantial and thorough manner, would soon, if it
had not already, become entirely worthless ; and
further, — that there is little or no safety in drain-
iny lends of this description.
The last conclusion has been adopted with great
reluctance, for, if correct, this difficulty will ])rove
a serious obstacle to the improvement of our
marsh lands in Michigan, a large portion of which
are of this character.
The usual remedies mentioned in the books for
cleaning out this oxyde, were tried without much
success. Washing out, by closing the outlet for
a few hours, seemed only to affect it near the out-
let ; and the drains had been laid as deep, and
with as much fall as could be had with a free out-
fall at the lowest stage of water in the stream ;
and I would here remark that, where the fall is
as much as could be desired, there must, even
then, in my opinion, be a constant, though slow,
accretion of oxyde inside the tile that will, soon-
er or later, entirely prevent the passage of water.
AVhere this difficulty does not exist, and where
the drains have sufficient fall and have been prop-
erly laid, they have, so far as my observation ex-
tends, invariably produced the most satisfactory,
and often the most surprising results.
How to Bemove the Obstructions.
Finding the main drain effectually closed as
above stated, which of course rendered all the side
drains emptying into it useless, there could be no
other conclusion than that if they were allowed
to remain in this condition, it was no better than
60 much money thrown away.
An effort was therefore made to clean out the
main drain, and, after some experiments, I sub-
stituted a cast iron box (which is practically noth-
ing more than an iron tUe with a movable cover)
for the tile, at intervals of about 100 feet the whole
length of the drain, placing them at less distances
where there were curves. Then took 12 "Bra-
zier's rods" (:i-inch round iron, 10 feet long) and
linked them together by eyes on the ends of each,
first drawing the end of the rod a little smaller,
so as to bend the point around the rod to prevent
it coming apart in the drain ; then bound two
round lamp chimney brushes together, to make a
brush of proper size, and fastened them with cop-
per wire on one end, and a swab of a ball shape
on the other ; then put the brush end into the
outlet and pushed it up to the first box, and from
that to the second, and so on the whole length of
the drain ; then ran it back in the same manner ;
the water in the meantime washing out the ob-
structions as they were loosened by the swabs ;
the ball on the back end allowing it to slide over
any ])rojecti<)ns of the tile.
This left the drain perfectly clean, and the re-
sult in this respect was entirely satisfactory.
As the.se drains are already laid, it will no doubt
pay, as a partial remedy, to swab out the main
every year, which can be done in a few hours, but
as the laterals can never be reached in this man-
ner, they can be of uo further use when once
closed.
It is not supposed that any farming lands will
justify the laying of drains with a view to keeping
them open in this way, but there are sometimes
important drains from sinks, cellars, iSrc, /7tof ?«?«■<
he kept dear, and in such cases this mode may, for
want of a better, be adopted with advantage.
These statements and suggestions have been
made ]iartly for the benefit of others, but more
especially in the hope that some effectual remedy
may be suggested for the difficulty to which I have
alluded. E. J. c.
Jaclcson, Mich., August, 18G3.
For the Aew En aland Farmer.
rVTT POISON— CAUTION.
Mr. Editor : — In your last paper I noticed a
communication from Mr. Z. Brekd, of Weare, N.
H., recommending the chewing of the ivy leaf itself,
as a preventive and a cure for ivy poison. As a
"burnt child dreads the fire," and I must confess
I have been terribly burned by the experiment, I
feel it to be my duty to utter one word of caution
by relating my own sad experience. More than
fifty years ago, I was persuaded by some of my
kind and well meaning friends to try the experi-
ment recommended by Mr. Breed. I did so ; and
I cannot fully describe to you the dreadful effects
of the poison upon my whole physical constitu-
tion. Besides, the experiment did not prove to
be a preventive, nor a cure for ivy poison ; but
ever since, every time I have come in contact with
ivy, I have l)een poisoned by it. Why the exper-
iment should ever have been recommended, as
such, I know not, except it be on the supposition,
that "the hair of the same dog will cure." But
so far as my observation and experience extend,
the less hair any one takes, the better he is off.
Mount Grace.
Wai-wick, Mass., Aug., 24, 18G3.
Tea Culture. — ^Mr. H. Sontag, near San Fra-
cisco, has put out one thousand tea plants, raised
from seed obtained from China.
336
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
For the New England Farmer.
OBAPE CUIiTTTEB, ^VINES AND WINE-
MAKING— No. 3.
Botanic Gardens in France — Port Defences.
There is no more striking evidence of the civi-
lization of the country than the public gardens,
commonly called Botanic Gardens, which belong
to nearly all the cities and large towns of France.
Here are collections of all the useful plants of the
country, with many curious and valuable ones
from foreign lands. These are usually cultivated
with great care.
In the vineyard in the botanic garden at Bor-
deaux may be seen plots in which ai'e exhibited
all the modes of cultivation of the vine, practiced
in the south-west of France. Mr. Haraszthy com-
monly finds time to examine these gardens in all
the towns he visits.
Here, also, among the many ships in the harbor,
he is touched by "the beautiful Star Spangled
Banner. In beholding the flag of my country, I
felt rush into my heart a thrill of pleasure and of
pride. Even without the flag, it was easy to rec-
ognize at once our American ships ; their high
masts, towering above the forests around them,
their sharp-cut bows, their finely-moulded lines,
pronounced them American."
•'I saw, building in the harbor, two iron gun-
boats ; the steel plates were being put on ; they
were five inches thick. These boats are meant for
the protection of the harbor. They are anchm-ed
at the entrance, and defend its passage". Here is
evidently a forethought of a war with England or
Russia.
At Bordeaux, a gentleman of the house de Suze,
a family which has been prospering in the wine
trade for four generations, conducted him through
all parts of their establishments, from the cooper's
shop to the cellars, in which he saw innumerable
rows of hogsheads, sometimes five or six tiers high,
and bottles by the hundred thousand. The cellar
of one house contained in hogsheads and bottles
not less than half a million of gallons.
Casks for fine Cognacs, made of Russian oak,
which alone gives no unpleasant taste to the bran-
dy, cost about $4 each.
In another establishment he saw the processes
of drying, preparing, and boxing prunes : the fin-
est in glass jars ; the second best in paper boxes ;
the third in tin boxes, round or square. The
House now employs 85 women and 12 men. Be-
fore the breaking out of the war in the United
States, it employed 280 women and 35 men.
"Why do not we Californians," asks Mr. Harasz-
thy, "try this trade ? Our soil is much richer
than that of Europe, and the method of drying the
prunes is comparatively easy. We might, with
the greatest ease, furnish all America, North and
South."
He next went out, eighteen miles, to the village
of Margaux, where the celebrated Chateau Mar-
gaux is made. He describes the process. When
the grapes are in the vats, "the fermentation lasts
from seven to ten days. Then the wine is taken
out." This is the true first quality wine. "The
residue is put into the press and pressed. This
forms the second quality wine." The remaining
mass is thrown into a fermenting tub, water is
poured upon it, aud after the fermentatian, the
product is the common wine which forms the
drink of the workmen.
The Bordeaux wines are divided into four class-
es, according to excellence : — 1. Vins de Medocj
2. Vins de Gr^e ; 3. Vins des Cotes ; 4. Vins de
Palus. Of these, the best, the Medoc wines, are
produced principally from a grape called the Cab-
ernet-Sanvignon. The quality varies with the soil }
and wines of very different degrees of excellence
are often produced from different parts of the same
vineyard.
The superior wines of the Medoc are of fire dif-
ferent qualities, the first of which consists of only
three wines :
1. Chateau Margaux. 100 to 110 tuns— 4000 to 4400 gals, a year*
2. Cliateau Lafitte...l20 to 150 tuns— 4800 to 5000 gals, a year.
3. Chateau Latour. . . 70 to 90 tuns— 2800 to 3600 gals, a year.
Of the vineyard of Chateau Margaux there are
200 aci-es, the whole of which was sold in 1836 to
M. Aguado for 1,300,000 francs, that is at about
$1300 an acre. The Langon vineyard of 100 acres,
which produces St. Julien wine, was sold in 1851
at the same rate. The vineyard of Monton, of 62
acres, was bought, in 1853, by M. Rothschild, for
1,125,000 francs, that is, at about $3600 an acre.
£.
SANDCRACK IN THE HORSE'S FOOT.
We continue our brief sketches of the diseases
which afflict the horse when he is so unfortunate
as to have a hard or careless master, or when
he possesses them hereditarily, or contracts them
through unavoidable circumstances.
Most horses — even the best of them, will not
continue to travel over the road at a rate of more
than Jive to seven miles an hour, when 30 or more
miles per day are required of them, unless they are
■urged to it by the driver. They may be trained to
a more rapid movement, — but it will not be the
voluntary, natural movement of the animal.
A good horse, with a light carriage and two per-
sons, will travel fifty miles per day, for several
days in succession, if permitted to take a five or
six-raile-an-hour jog, and allowed a reasonable
time for feed and rest. This will not hurt him»
and probably never induce one of the thousand
dire diseases with which the noble animal is so
often afflicted. But urge him over this distance
in half the time, and he becomes strained so as to
injure some of the delicate machinery with which
he propels himself, so as to lame him for life ; or
he is so heated as to be ruined by a mess of grain,
a drink of cold water, or a slight exposure to a
current of cold air. These risks are trifling un-
der a slow movement, but are greatly increased
under a rapid one.
Rapid driving is, then, the chief cause of the
lameness and disease of most of our horses, and
of their swift decay and early death. Overload-
ing them is another cause, but not the chief one.
It often causes lameness and induces diseases, and
some of them of the most painful and disgusting
character, such for instance, as the glanders, —
but rapid driving is the fruitful source of lame-
ness and disease in the horse.
Among these diseases, a common one is the
1^3.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
337
saildcrack. In Mayhew's excellent work on the
Horse, we find some illustrations which we have
secured and now present to the reader, hoping
they may aid him in performing a cure, if he pos-
sesses an afflicted horse. He says any cause which
weakens the body of the horse by interfering'with
the health of its secretions may induce sandcrack.
Treading for any length of time upon a floor from
which all moisture is absent, by rendering the
horn hard or dry, may cause the hoof to be brittle
and give rise to sandcrack,
Sandcracks are of two sorts. Quaiier crack,
which chiefly happens among the lighter breed of
animals ; toe crack, which occurs principally with
cart-horses, and mostly with those which work
between the shafts.
Quarter Crack. Generally met with, in
fast horseS; upon the inner side of the fore
foot.
Quarter sandcrack, which is illus-
trated above, is of the least impor-
^^tance of the two. It is oftenest
seen upon the inner quarter of the
hoof, where the horn, being thinnest, is most sub-
jected to motion. It usually commences at the
crown of the hoof, that is, where the hair ends,
and extends to the sole. A horse thus afiected
should be placed loose, in a large stall, or box,
and receive soft, nutritious food, such as boiled
oats, scalded hay and grass. Greased rags should
be placed over the hoofs and under the sole, and
a hot iron may be drawn across each end of the
crack to prevent its extending.
The illustration on the left hand, below, shows
a partial sandcrack, dressed and shod, and that
on the right hand the methods of eradicating a
sandcrack. The lines represented are made with
» red hot iron, and need not be made so deep as
to cause pain to the horse. Either the semicircu-
lar or the angular lines are equally effective.
By gradually scraping away the edges of the
crack with a sharp knife, keeping them clean and
smooth, they will be much more likely to unite.
But the horse should have all the rest possible,
and if used, the foot always thoroughly cleaned
before he is put up.
^p* The third Massachusetts account with the
United States has recently been transmitted to
Washington by the Auditor, Levi Reed. The
amount disbursed on belialf of the general govern-
ment has be^n $3,305,110 52. The amount due
the State is $1,829,922 25. There has been paid
by the State on account of the United States, since
Jan. 1, 1863, to the present time, $28,905
SELECTION OP SEED.
We cut from the July number of the TT't'^^mj'n*-
ter Review the following passage as containing a
most remarkable experiment upon the effects of
carefully selecting seed wheat :
"In pacing through the Great Exhibition of last
summer, many of our readers may have noticed
among the agricultural products in the Eastern
Annexe some magnificent ears of corn, bearing
the somewhat novel title of "pedigree wheat,"
which excited the admiration of all those interest-
ed in such matters — except, indeed, the jurors,
who left them unnoticed. This wheat was exhib-
ited by Mr. Hallet, of Brighton, who has given its
history in the Royal Agricultural Society's Jour-
nal, vol. xxii. part 2. It appears that this gentle-
man having conceived the notion that careful
breeding might produce some of the same advan-
tages in cereals which it has been found to do in
cattle and horses, commenced some years ago a
series of experiments with the view of carrying
out his idea. Having selected one ear of wheat
of remarkably fine quality, he sowed the grains
se])arately, at a distance of twelve inches apart.
The next year he further selected the one finest
ear produced from the former; and treated that in
a similar way. The following table gives the re-
sult at the end of the fifth year from the original
sowing :
I'ear. Length. Containing Number of JEars
Inches. Grains. on Stool,
1857— Original ear 4?i 45
18.08— Finest ear 6'^ 79 10
1859— " " 7Ji 91 22
I860 — Ears imperfect from
wet season 39
1861— Finest ear 8% 123 62
'Thus,' says Mr. Hallett, 'by means of repeat-
ed selection alone, the length of the ears has been
doubled, their contents nearly trebled, and the til-
lering power of the seed increased five-fold.' By
'tillering,' we should perhaps mention, is meant
the horizontal growth of the wheat-plant, which
takes place before the vertical stems are thrown
up, and upon the extent of which, therefore, de-
pends in a great degree the number of ears which
the single plant produces. Now there can be no
doubt that a great dealof the maivellous improve-
ment shown in the above table is due to the treat-
ment to which Mr. Hallett subjected his wheat ;
that is to say, to the fact of its being sown singly
and apart, so that each plant has been allowed to
develop itself fully ; but we cannot attribute the
whole to this cause."
May not the course here illustrated be followed
with advantage in many cases ? A correspondent
of the X. E. Farmer, "E. K.," of Hardwick, seems
to have pursued a similar course with Indian
corn, whereby he has, within twenty years, in-
creased the yield from forty or sixty bushels per
acre to seventy or nearly a hundred. Something
vsimilar has been usually done, in the case of Indi-
an corn, very generally, for many years. Would
it not be worth the labor it would require to select
the largest, longest heads of rye, from such stocks
as had tillered most, and continue to do this for
years in succession? Why should we not do the
same thing with all our garden vegetables ?
338
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
For the Neir England Farmer.
PLOWS AND PLOWrSTG-.
[Read by J. 'Warrex Brown, before the Concord Farmers'' C!uh.]
In sj)eaking of plows let us look back for about
thirty years, or so, and see what iniprovemenls
have been made. Then, we had a huge frame of
timber and ])lank framed together, and covered
■with strips of iron, so that the dirt, some of it,
might slide off the mold-board. With one of
these ploughs, it used to take six oxen to break
up a jiiece of land, with two men to drive and one
to ride on the plough, which, with the holder,
made Jour men and six oxen ! Now two yokes
of oxen are considered a heavy team for plough-
ing almost any land, and for light land, one pair
of oxen, or a pair of horses are considered team
enough, thus reducing the expense one-half or
more, and at the same time doing tlie work much
better. This difference is accounted for in the
improved ploughs which are now in use. There
are so many different kinds of them, that it is dif-
ficult to tell which is best, until we give them a
fair trial.
The first cast iron plough I ever used was a
small" seed plough, made by J. Dutclier. This
must have been thirty years ago, or more. It
was the first cast iron plough M-hich was ever on
my father's farm, — and the only one for a num-
ber of years. Then came the Hiichcock plough,
and it was thought to be a wonderful thing. And,
indj&c-d, it was, — for I wrll remember, v.-hen driv-
ing the team, and my elder brother holding the
plough, that he would let go the handles, and it
wouid "go some distance alone, and turn a nice
furrow, and I thought it a wonderful sight, indeed.
But this was destined soon to be given up.
The next plough among us was one got up by
Mr. ils^'-Hoicanl, but this did not work well, and
^'iiJ_.sogn thrown aside to give place to Mr. Jud
NmLF^.s celebrated EayJe ploughs, which, in my
estimation, arc the best ploughs which have ever
b&eii- invented. They are of easy draft ; they
w-ork-well among stones ; being of medium length,
they are easily handled among trees ; will turn a
yery_ wide furrow, and turn it over fiat and hand-
,JX]^-fiOgh 20 is the best breaking up plougli I
base eypr used for heavy work. Then the Eagle
2.13, excellent for a stubble or seed plough, and
by-.lw.ving a cutter and wheel attached, makes a
good ..breaking up plough for light land. The
EiujleB, is just the thing for a light pair of cat-
tleur a horse.
It is of great importance for a man who is go-
ing to select a set of ])loughs for a farm, to look
around and satisfy himself what arc the best kinds,
so-thatrhe may be able to get such as he will be
satiiijficd with, and save the expense of having
two or three times as many as are necessary on
the farm. I have suffered considerably in this
way myself, for in looking over my stock of ])loughs
I find I have tea in all, when I do not really need
■l>«t fottr. Every farmer should have one side hill
■pilougU- on his farm, for in ploughing a field for
seeding down, it can be left much more level with
tills, than with the common plough.
(Jheword about taking care of ploughs after
-we get them. It has always seemed to me to be
bad po-Hcy to liovse the ploughs in the field, or by
the side of the fences or roadside. They should
be put under cover, and cleaned as soon as we
are done using them. I shall say but few words
as to the depth of ploughing. I do not agree with
some farmers who want their land ploughed twelve
or eighteen inches deep. I think eight or nine
inches is enough on most land.
Fur the Neie Ennland Farmer.
• HOKTICUIiTUBAIi NOTES— No 2.
Deferring m_y talk about the best manner of
cultivating strawberries until a more convenient
season, I will speak of raspberries, the fruit that
comes in next after strawl)erries. This fruit can
be more easily and cheaply grown than strawiier-
ries, and for that reason sells at a lower price. A
plantation of raspberries will last many years, as
they are, of course, renewed to a certain extent
every year, by cutting out the old wood that dies
after ripening the fruit. Tliey should be cultivat-
ed in hills or stools, and should be set in rows
three and a half to four feet apart. I should prefer
the latter distance — and about three or tlu-ee and
a half feet apart in the row. All the suckers or new
shoots outside of the stools should be hoed up un-
less they are wanted for new plantatiors. They
should be nicely tied up to a stake in the spring,
soon after they are lifted. Most, if not all, of the
finer kinds of raspberries in cultivation need to be
laid down and covered in winter — the better way
is to cover with earth. The ground should be
well manured either fall or spring. The demand
for this fruit in the market is not extensive, as
compared with the demand for strawberries. The
time is so short between that fruit and blueberries,
and other berries M-hich can be bought for a much
less price, that sometimes raspberries will hardly
pay for picking ; still, every garden sliould have
its plat of raspberries, that a succession of fruit
may be secured for the table. The variety cunsiil-
cred best and grown most for market, is the Fran-
conia. It is not so large as some, but it is a firm-
er fruit, and bears handling and transportation
better. Fair equality. Color red, good bearer.
The Knevett's Giant is one of the l)est raspber-
ries— perhaps the very best one — cultivated in
this region. It is quite large, fine fiavored, early,
red, fruit tender, and for this reason not grown to
any great extent for market. No garden should
he without this fine variety.
The Fastolff' is almost as good as the Knevett's
Giant, red, large, and good flavor, but tender in
fruit; not fit for market, fine for home use.
Erinckle's Orange is an elegant looking berry,
and of fine quality. It is of a beautiful orange
color when fully ripe ; good size, great bearer,
should be grown tor home use only, as a yellow
raspberry is not a popular fruit for market. This
variety and Knevett's Giant are good enough, and
one need not look further for raspberries, accord-
ing to my experience.
The Catawissa is more like the wild black ras])-
herry in size, color and flavor, though better. It
often produces a full crop of ripe fruit quite late
in the season. I think it worthy of a further trial.
The Red Antwerp has mostly gone by in this
region.
There are other varieties that might be spoken
of, but I have given the best and will not take
time to refer to others.
With raspberries, come currants, a fruit that can
be grown almost as easily as weeds, and that does
not sell much better. I don't believe currants can
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
339
be a profitable crop at seventy-five cents to one
dollar a bushel, curried to market, costing; fifty
cents a bushel to jjick them. Still, they should
be grown extensively for home use, as no fruit is
more paliituble or UK)re healtiiy, perhaps, during
the warm weather than currants, cooked or raw.
There are many varieties in cultivation some of
which are of very largo size.
The largest of them is the Cherry currant.
Many of the berries are triHy as large as Mazzard
cherries. Bunches medium lengtli, very large
seeds, acid and watery, poor bearer, and I think
on the whole, not worthy of extensive cultivation.
La Yersaillaise is a large, dark, red fruit, but
little inferior in size to the last named sort.
Bunrhes longer, better bearer, fruit some better in
quality, though rather coarse and acid. I think it
may do to grow this variety for market.
May's Victoria was claimed as a splendid sort
when uitroduced, but lias failed to come up to the
mark. Bunches long, color light red. Berries
medium size to small, at lower end of bunch,
great bearer, quality good, no great account.
La Caucase resem'oles the Yersaillaise if not
identical with it ; may do for market.
Dana'p Transparent is a new, white currant,
originated by FiiAXCIs 1>ana, of Roxbuiy ; very
large size, the largest white I ever saw, great
bearer, more acid than White Dutch. I regard it
as a valuable variety.
The White Dutch is the very best white currant
so far as quality goes that I know. Good size,
good bearer, bush rather slow grower, fruit less
acid than most currants. This is one of the vari-
eties that I would always recommend for home
use, and fur mai'ket where a white variety is de-
sired.
White Grai)e is a good wliite variety — consid-
ered by some cultivators superior to White Dutch ;
it don't seem to me so.
Wliite Gondouin is very much like the \'Miite
grape, and a good currant.
The Red Dutch is the variety so extensively
cultivated about Boston. Good size, great bearer,
fruit of excellent equality, more acid than the
White, but not nearly so much so as some of the
larger sorts.
13urton's Seedling is a fine looking variety ; new,
I have not tested it, but promises to be valuable
where size is desirable.
Black Naples is the best black, and is a profita-
ble sort to grow for wine or jelly.
The red curraiits are the most saleable of all.
There are many other vajieties more or less valu-
able, such as Fertile de Angers, a large red varie-
ty', fair quality, not a great bearer. Fertile de
Pallau, red, small, great bearer. Imperial Jaune
a French sort of good quality. Gliore de Saljlons,
a pretty, striped sort, of no great value. Cham-
pagne, a pink fruit of fair quality. None of these
can be considered veiT valualjle as compared with
the sort previously described.
Gooseberries come along with currants, or soon
after. This fruit is not grown extensively in this
part of the country, and when raised, are usually
picked and sold green for cooking. Our English
cousins across ihe pond, place a much higher value
on the gooseberry than we do, and have in culti-
vation many sores. The varieties grown by them
mostly fail here, owing principally to mildew. It
seems to me that we ought to raise more goose-
berries than we do. The leading .\merican varie-
ties are Iloughton's Seedling, a fruit of good qual-
ity, red when ripe, skin smooth and thin, great
bearer, seldom mildews, bush low, spreading.
1 he Mountain Seedling is another and a valuable
kind. It was introduced by the Shakers at Xew
Lebanon, N. Y. I'ruit large, red, smooth, skin
moderately tliin, fruit hangs in bunches, one to
two inches below the branches, never mihrews,
strong, nearly upright growers. I regard it as a
valuable variety.
The American Seedling is a new variety, intro-
duced by Mr. Ciiaui.ks Downing. Fruit medi-
um size, quality good, upright grower, free from
mildew ; have fruited it but one year, and can only
say that it promises well.
Foster's Seedling is a large, fine looking fruit,
of good quality, evidently a seedling from some
English variety, and like those, sometimes mil-
dews. These comprise most of the American va-
rieties. Some cultivators are successful witii the
best English sorts, but generally they fail from
mildew. Gooseberries need to be pruned every
year, cutting out the coarse, strong suckers that
would otherwise take the strength of the plant.
Newion Centre, Sej^t., LSG3. J. F. c. H.
Illinois Cheese, — The Illinois Farme^- copies
the following from the price current of a Chicago
daily :
CHEESE— Dull. II;imbnrgU®ll)Sc; Western Reserve 10
-glOiic; Illinois 8 g 9c. , . ...
And pronounces it not only afraud on the cheese-
makers, but a slander on the State. "Hamburg,"
he says, is simply No. 1, "^Vestern Reserve" No.
2, and "Illinois" No. Z;:<pf jilinois-made cheese.
The editor knows of whola- daii-ies in that^State,
that are sold for IfambUlqg, aaid he censures both
dealer and manufacturer for a "trick in" trade,"
which "advertises to-the world that either our
clieese-makers are incompetent, or that the cow8
and pasturage ai'e rrof ada|ited to the making of
fi,rst-rate cheese, when nothing is further from t&e
truth." ^ . ,;""__ ':'.'-.'^'.-_. : ' ;.- ; .'.-.Z'"
Sajlteso Hay.^^A cbnespoudent: of. tbe:0«m-
try Gcnileman says he abandoned the, olcL prajetice
of putting salt on hay, a« it addsNtoiilft^s&oistasre
instead of lesseniug it. - •—. ; -.. ;".■?'
This opinion is backed with a will, by a writpr
for the Boston Cullicuior, who lays.down the law,
as he understands it, in the following unequivdcal^
manner: - .:^:- y >^
It is time this absurd custom was do««-^way.
It is beyond conception how so transparent a hum-
bug ever got so widespread. Every particje^bt
salt used on hay is a positive injury to it.t-' The
practice of salting hay ought to be almost as much
discountenanced and discouraged as though it
were an actual poison. Men will make almost su-
perhuman exertions to get their hay up dry, and
then immediately icet it tcith salt.
|;^The work of boring a new artesian well, to
supply Sacramento with good drinking water, has
been commenced on the bank of the river in front
uf the Water Works building.
340
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
LETTER PBOM THE FARM.
Concord, Sept. 19, 1863.
Gentlemen : — The Middlesex Agricidtural So-
ciety held its annual Exhibition on Thursday, Sept.
17, in this town. The day was fair, but extremely
hot. A large number of persons were in attend-
ance -who seemed to enjoy the occasion, and among
them I was glad to notice many ladies,
This Society was established in 1793, and, con-
sequently, is now seventy years old — the oldest in
the State, by several years, and has undoubtedly
had a large and beneficial influence upon the agri-
culture of the county, and perhaps beyond the
1 mits of the county.
The exercises of Thursday were the usual ones.
The Ploughing-Match was contested by eigld two-
horse teams. Jive two ox-teams, and two double, or
four ox-teams. The work, was well performed.
The first premium for two-horse teams was award-
ed to Jubez Gowing, of Concord ; the second to
Henry A. Parmenter, of Wayland ; single teams,
first premium to George M. Baker, of Lincoln ;
second to A. H. Wheeler, of Concord ; double
teams, first premium to Samuel M. Thomas, of.
Wayland ; second to Elijah Wood, of Concord.
. There was a good show in number of very fine
cattle on the ground. The Dutch cattle presented
by W. W. Chenery, of Belmont, consisted of five
bulls, ten cows and heifers and four oxen. He al-
so exhibited some Angora goats, imported from
Asia Minor, and sheep of the Texal breed, import-
ed by him from Friesland.
Mr. J. L. Hurd, of Concord, exhibited fine spec-
imens of pure Jerseys, and Wm. Mackintosh, a
bull of the same breed. Mr. George M. Barrett,
of Concord, exhibited fine Ayreshire stock.
Grades were also on the ground of Devon and
Ayreshire. Wm. Buckminster, of Framingham,
exhibited some fine Devon stock. B. W. Gleason,
of Stowe, offered a yoke of fat oxen, weighing
2606 and 2437 pounds respectively. Among the
other exhibitors of neat stock were Asa G, Shel-
don, of Wilmington, Jonas Viles, of Waltham,
Wm. Hastings and A.S. Lewis, of Framingham.
The Swine exhibited were excellent, but the
number small. The Chester county breed exhibit-
ed by Mr. Blinn, of Lexington, were as clean, sym-
metrical and perfect as any swine we have ever
seen. They attracted much attention. There
were several coops of very beautiful Poultry,
The exhibition of horses was large and included
some excellent animals.
That of Apples was not as large as is usual in
our show — but some of the specimens were fine.
I had the pleasure of showing twenty varieties,
some of them new in this county. Pears and
Grapes were not in abundance, but still some very
fine ones were on the tables. Mr. Morse, of Cam-
bridge, entered about a dozen varieties, Simon
Brown, of Concord, seventeen varieties, and sev-
eral others in smaller parcels.
The display of Bread and Btdfer waa very at-
tractive. All the samples of butter which I ex-
amined I should pronounce of the best kind, — and
I was glad to see so much of it presented. The
bread, also, was pronounced excellent by those
who had opportunity to examine and taste it.
The display of articles of Domestic Industry
gave ample evidence of the fine taste, as well as
the industr)' of the women of Middlesex County.
There was no dinner by the Society, and no
written address, — but after the examinations and
exercises were concluded on the grounds, the
Town Hall was thrown open to all, first to hear
addresses and then to choose officers of the So-
ciety for the ensuing year. The speakers were
the President, E. W. Bull, John C. Bartlett,
of Chelmsford, Geo. B. Loring, of Salem, L.
Wetiierell, of Boston, Simon Brown, of Con-
cord, J. M. Usher, of Medford, Mr. Grout, of
Framingham, President of the Middlesex South
Society, and Mr. Bradford, President of the
Worcester North Society. The speeches were
generally short, pertinent, and energetic.
Oflicers were then chosen, as follows, which
closed the exercises of the exhibition for the year
1863.
W. W. CuEN'ERY, Belmont, President. .
Annisox Gage, West Cambridge, ( y- presidents
Asa Clement, Dracut, ^ '^"^^ i-resiaenis.
John B. Moore, Concord, Secretary.
RiCUARD Barrett, Concord, Treasurer.
In this exhibition, which has just closed, I was
sorry not to observe any specimen of grain, with
the exception of a few traces of Lidian corn. The
vegetables, also,Avere quite limited in quantity — so
that these prime articles, including the small ex-
hibition of fruit, seem almost to have lost the im-
portant position which they once held in this an-
cient Society. Indeed, in the amount of stock, of
every kind, exhibited, as well as fruits, vegetables,
grain, and inventions and implements, there has
been a decided fixUing off in our exhibitions in lat-
ter years. I well know, by long experience, what
cost of labor, of vigilance and energy it requires
to sustain these annual exhibitions, and that when
these yield, the interests of the enterprise will suf-
fer.
The Potato Rot.
I am informed that this disease has been dis-
covered in many fields in this region, and in some
cases, to a very considerable extent.
The haying season — even of the first crop, — is
not over yet. Many tons are now lying in cock
within view from my window.
Beans Still Running.
1 have a piece of rich land jdanted with the
white pea bean — the smallest bean we have, I be-
lieve. The vines have i-un from one to eight feet,
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
341
■wherever they could find a stake or tree to mn
upon, and where they could not, have run among
themselves on the ground! The vines are now
as green as in July, and continue to blossom on
their top ends, vp in the sky ! Near their routs,
there are many well-filled pods, and other pods of
various growth continue till they reach the blos-
soms. Is there anything but King Frost that will
etop them ? How can they be harvested ? Who
will inform me ?
I am truly yours, SiMON Bbown.
MiasBs. NeuRSE, Eatox & Tolmas.
For the Near England Farmer.
GRASS.
An Essay read by MInqt Pratt, before tbe Concord Farmers'
Club
Mr. President : — The importance of the grass
croj) to this country is so well understood, that it
is not worth while to say much about it now and
here. If I say that its annual value in the United
States has been estimated to exceed $300,000,000,
I shall name a fact that only the most thriving of
farmers can fully appreciate. Probably in this
town no other crop equals it in value ; and on very
many farms it exceeds all others ])ut together. As
the population and wealth of the country increase,
there will be an undoubted necessity that this crop,
as well as others, should increase in at least an
equal ratio. It becomes then an important ques-
tion how this increase shall be brought about.
Shall it be by devoting a larger area to its cultiva-
tion ? That may be dope to some extent, but our
hoed crops, our grain crops, and our wood crops
will then suffer. There are other ways in which
the amount of our grass may be largely increased,
and at tlie same time be made to give the means
of greatly increasing all other products of the
farm. By cultivating those species that yield the
largest growth, and of the best quality, by liber-
ally ap])lying to the soil the best fertilizers, by
draining fields now so saturated with cold and
sour moisture that no respectable grass will con-
sent to grow there, and by adapting different spe-
cies of grass to the most favorable soils we may
have, it is quite likely the maximum will not be
reached till the aggregate of our crops is at least
trebled.
This may, to some, seem an extravagant esti-
mate, but I believe it to l)e more than ])ossil)le,
and desire that it should be taken as my deliberate
prophecy of what is yet to be realized by many
farmers of Concord, who will intelligently and res-
olutely set about it.
Strictly speaking, as botanists have classified
plants, the term grass includes only those plants
which have long, single narrow leaves, each leaf
having many fine veins, or raised lines, running
parallel with a central ])romiiient vein, and a long
sheath that clasps the stem ; the stem being usu-
ally hollow, and divided into separate sectinns by
what arc properly called j )ints. Timothy, red-top,
oats, rye, millet, are familiar examples. I5ut as
the clovers and some other plants nearly related
to them, are usually counted among the grasses,
and are excellent forage cro))s, I shall take the lib-
erty to include them as belonging to the sulyect
•which is iH'fore us for discussion this evening.
It is important to decide, in tlu; fuRt place, what
grasses are worthy of cultivation. In this neigh-
borhood the general opinion seems to be in favor
of timothy, red-top and clover. Indeed, I am not
aware that any other grass is cultivated to any
considerable extent for permanent mowing. There
are other grasses, which, on favorable soils, and
for special purposes, may be more profilal)le ; and
I am inclined to the opinion that the sowing of a
greater variety of seeds together, even if the si)e-
'cies are a little inferior to tiie best, both for mow-
ing permanent pasture lands, would be to our ad-
vantage. The law is as imperative that cattle shall
not live by clover alone, as that "Man shall not
live by bread alone" — taken in a physiological
sense. Cattle often manife.st their preference for
a variety of food, and as that doire is easily grat-
ified, and tends to keep them in better health, it
is better to indulge them. If any one grass alone
is best for the animal, it is a pity that Nature h.is
taken pains to mix up so large a variety, pos.ses3-
ing such difi'erent qualities. Besides, where
grasses of different si)ecies grow together, a larg-
er numl>er of plants, and therefore more weight of
forage, will grow on a given space, than where
there are only one or two. On much of our New
Enghind soil. Nature assists us in this matter, by
mixing in a considerable variety, though we may
sow but one sort of seed, iii'.t if we would take
the business into our own hands, perhaps we could
improve on Nature, by selecting some of the best
varieties that we can find, instead of accepting the
often comparatively poor sorts which she chooses
to offer us. A square foot of rich pasture has been
found by careful counting, to contain 1000 plants,
of 20 different species. A square foot of irrigated
field contained 1798 plants. Sods from three oth-
er fields six years old, with a single species on
each, contained respectively l)ut 1U2, 90, and 75
plants to the .square foot. Now as different spe-
cies of plants do, to a considerable extent, take
different food from the soil, or in different propor-
tions, no one element of fertility which the soil
may contain, will be so soon exhausted where
there is a variety ; and among the variety we shall
be likely to get one or more sorts to which the
soil is well adapted. In arranging for mowing
lands, care should be taken to select varieties of
grass which mature at nearly the same time;
while for pastures the rule should be just the re-
verse, as there we want to keep a succession of
feed for the whole season. In both cases it wouUl
be well that a part, at least, of Uie varieties sown
should have the habit of freely .sending up a sec-
0!ul growth, after being croi)ped. Grasses difler
much in this respect. Orchard grass, blue gras.<,
the clovers, Italian rye grass, tall oat grass, may
be named as having this habit.
IJut there may be some difficulty in procuring
seeds for this desirable variety, as our custom of
using but few sorts has not encouraged seedsmen
to procure and koe]) on hand any but the few most
commonly called for. Others can be obtained,
but as tlie rule seeins to be that seeds once pur-
chased, must he sold cither before a new stock is
sought for, or else mixed with the new, the less
common seeds are not so reliable as those for
which the demand is certain and regular. IJut I
think that in addition to iimotlnj and red-top, we
might find the hlue grass, and tatl oat grass, and
they would be worth trying. The Italian riia
gras^i might al.so be worthy of trial. In all i>arta
NEW. ENGL AND FARMER.
Nov.
of Europe it is ranked amon" the most valuable.
Those that have been named all mature at nearly
the same time, and might be sown together. The
oivJiard </rass is good also, but it comes forward
earlier, and would ripen its seed by the time timo-
thy would be in bloom, and when it is over-ripe,
the stems are hard and wiry. But I have li/de
doubt that it would be an excellent addition to clo-
ver, and would be ready for the scythe at the same
time. Some ten or twelve years ago, I sowed'
some of this seed on a part of my dry pasture
that I had ploughed, but for some reason it never
came up. In another trial, a few years laler, I
sowed a little on some moist clayey loam, where it
came up and promised well, but the firet winter
killed a large part of it. What survived, however,
still liv«s and flourishes. I have saved seed from
it at various times, and sown it around under ap-
ple trees, and find it more hardy than I at first sup-
posed. I saved seed last summer which I intend
to sow with the clover next spring. It is highly
recommended as a pasture grass, on account of its
early growth in spring, by starting rapidly after
being cropped, and its abililj'^ to resist severe
drought, iicd clove)' is in my estimation a very
valuable forage plant. In favorable soils it will
give a very large amount of food for stock, M'heth-
er used green for soiling, or made into hay. I
think we have no one kind of grass more accepta-
ble to milcli cows, or that better answers all pur-
poses for which we feed these, whether our object
be to fatten our stock, or to produce milk. It
should enter largely into our arrangements for
forage, especially that part which we intend to use
up at home. It has also been found to be very
serviceable as an aid to the improvement of the
soil. The manorial results from clover must be
rich in lime, potash, soda, and other important
elements, which exist in lesser quantities. These,
with the organic portion of the excrement, will
make an excellent fertilizer for any soil to which
it may be applied. One may be pardoned, how-
ever, for wishing that clover were not so liable to
sufi'er in sum.mer, if it is sown with grain, or in
winter, if the ground is not kept well covered
with snow. Perhaps the best way -to arrange it,
is to sow it in the spring, without grain. It will
then bear the summer heat, and give, on good
soil, a fair crop the first season, and be in better
condition to bear the severities and changes of
winter.
WJiite clover in also a valuable grass, both for
pastures and mowing lands. It should be sown
always with other grasses. By its thick growth at
the bottom, the amount of hay is largely increased,
and its quality improved. On lands that are in a
condition to give a second crop, it is especially to
be valued, as it starts quickly after being cropped.
It is a rich and nutritious grass, not greatly infe-
rior to red clover.
If lucerne can be made to bear our winters, it
also should take rank among our best forage
plants. It has not yet proved itself sufficiently
hardy to be a sure crop here. It requires a good
and deep loamy soil, well fertilized, with a dry and
permeable subsoil of sand or gravel, for its roots
penetrate to a great depth. It will not flourish in
a compact clay. In a favorable soil it will give
three or four crops in a season, the first crop be-
ing ready to cut from the lOth to the loth of May,
and the second five or six weeks after. It should
be cut as soon as it begins to blossom, otherwise
the stems become hard and woody. Its roots pen-
etrate so deep that it never suffers from drought,
but holds up its stem fresh and green in the driest
and most sultry weather, Avhen every blade of
grass droo])S for Avant of moisture. I sowed a
small quantity of the lucerne seed, about ten years
ago, in a light, sandy soil. It promised well the
first season, but the winter killed most of it.
What survived still remains, and grows more
thrifty than the clover on the same soil. I pur-
pose to try it again the coming season, believing
that if it can be carried safely through our win-
ter, it will become more hardy, age giving firmness
to its fibre.
INIuch of our wet meadow land that cannot be
easily drained, might be improved by the addition
of the most valuable grasses that flourish in such
a situation. On some of these probably, the fowl
meadoiv grass would thrive. This has been high-
ly recommended for the large amount of hay it
gives, and also for its good quality. Some years
ago I attempted to introduce it into some of my
low ground. The seed took only in some small
patchfs, and the plan failed. The seed being ex-
pensive ($5.00 a bushel,) I was discouraged from
trying again. This grass has several good quali-
ties. It is supposed to be more nutritious than
any of the wet meadow grasses. Its habit being
to send up new shoots from the lower joints, it
would probably give a good second crop if mowed
early ; and it accommodates itself to the conve-
nience of the hay-makers belter than any others,
making good hay if cut at any time from July to
October, the first stems remaining green while
sending up numerous new ones. It thrives best
on moist intervales that are occasionally over-
flowed, and I have sup[)osed it might thrive on
the outer borders of our river meadows, and per-
haj^s on every part of tliem, when the dam at Bil-
lerica is removed, and the river cleared.
Many years ago I was informed by some friends
from Plymouth that the product of some wet
meadow lands in that vicinity had been greatly
improved by simply sowing red-top on the sod.
As this will grow in quite wet situations, it might
pay to try it on some of ours, and this might be
done with little cost.
Blue Joint is ar other valuable grass for wet
lands, and where the soil suits, it yields a very
large crop, growing to the height of 4 or 5 feet.
The quality places it among the best of the swamp
grasses. I have seen it growing in great luxuri-
ance and abuHdance on the Charles River mead-
ows, in West Roxbury and Newton, where the
meadow is annually overflowed in spring, and I
see no reason why it should not do on our river
meadows. It is a very common grass in low
grounds, but I have not seen it pure in such mas-
ses as in the Charles River meadows.
The Bced Canary grass, which grows very rank-
ly along the mill brook, and by the river side
in this town, — by some called hlue joint — would
seem to be a good grass for similar situations, and
perhaps if once introduced might flourish in our
wet meadows generally ; more especially wliere
the water at some seasons flows over the surface.
I have noticed it growing on uplands quite luxu-
riantly, but do not suppose it would be a profita-
ble grass to cultivate where more nutritious grass-
es would flourish. It looks very beautiful in its
1863.
NEW EXGLAND FARMER.
343
flowering season, with its bluish-green leaf and
stem, surmounted by a panicle of white-anthered
flowers.
Every one must have noticed in feeding stock,
a difference in the nutritive vulue of difl'erent
gi-asses. The difference between the richest and
poorest is very great. It would require a long sc-
ries of very careful experiments to make sure of
their relative value. Several things have to be
taken into account when we undertake to decide
which will give us the largest profit. We want to
known which will give tlie heaviest crop on our
soil, which is ricliest in flesh — and which in fat-
forming principles, which will give most strength
and jiower of endurance, and which will produce
most milk ; because we nt times have all these
objects to provide for, and might find it for our
advantage to select our grasses with reference to
the end we aim at. A careful, study of the qual-
ities of various grasses, as shown by their effects
on stock, might enable us to improve on our pres-
ent practice. To aid us in this endeavor chemists
have given us careful analyses of many varieties
of grr.ss, showing their composition and theoretic
nutritive value. Probably these analyses are not
to be relied upon as absolutely accurate. Still, they
show us something near the fact. It may be pre-
sumed that the stomach of a cow has a laboratory
where results are often obtained, varying consid-
eral)!y from those that would be obtained by Lio-
big, Von Shaer, Wav, or Jackson. The action of
the vital chemistry of 'the animal cannot be imi-
tated by the imperfect science of man, and its
mode of action is not clearly understood. The
chemist will tell you, to the hundredth part of a
grain, the comparative parts of grass or fiesh — so
much oxygen, so much nitrogen, so much h\dro-
gen, tec, — but he cannot weigh vitality, nor meas-
ure its energy as applied to the combinations of
which his gasses are susceptible. Still his conclu-
sions are of value, and will generally agree with
the ex])erience of the careful feeder. And as ap-
proximation in this matter is all that we can rea-
sonably expect at present, it is better to take ad-
vantage of all the means presented to us for infor-
mation. Prof. Way, a distinguished English chem-
ist, has carefully analyzed a variety of grasses, for
the purpose of ascertaining their relative nutritive
value, and from his tables, as quoted by C. L.
Flint in iiis book on Grasses, I have taken the re-
sult he arrives at in regard to a few of those most
commonly cultivated iiere, and a few others that
are elsewhere consitlered valuable. The grasses
were cut when in blossom and dried till all water
was evaporated from them. In that state the per
cent, of nutritious matter contained in each grass
is
^.S S^s •
3 I S .5 S g,=^
''5 ■*< s "S
Timnttir. in caloareons loam 11.36 3. .55 51.70
Red Cli'.ver, in tenacious loam 22.o5 3.07 44.47
White llover, in forest loam 18.7 64.38 40.04
Fall Oat Grass, in forest marble loam 12.9 53.19 33.03
Jiini; (;r:!-:s, in dry caloarcous loam 10.35 2.63 43.06
Oi-chanUIrass, in calcareous loam 13.53 3.14 44.32
Ifali tn Rve Grass, in f rest marble do. . .10.10 3.27 57.*2
Lucerne." 12.06 2.76 40.16
Of the Red-top 1 can find no chemical analysis,
but it has a reputation, founded on experience of
its value, that is likely to retain for it an impor-
tant ])lacc among our cultivated grasses, without
the chemist's aid.
It is supposed to be ascertained that the gluten
or albumen of grasses and grains goes mainly to
the formation of flesh, while the fatty matter, and
starch, sugar, gum, <S:c., arc largely used in respi-
ration, what is not so used being deposited in the
form of fat in various parts of the body. So when
we know the composition of an article of food, we
can tell pretty nearly wliat will be the effect on the
animal eating it. Put the chemical properties of
grass are probably somewhat modified by the soil
on which it grows, and this adds to the uncertain-
ty of the chemist's analysis. Those species, the
qualities of which I have just stated, grew on a
lime or clay soil. Every one knows that Timothy
and Red-top grown on reclaimed swamp lands are
inferior, both in nutritive and palatable qualities,
to the same sorts grown on uplands. But then,
again, the upland soils differ, and give different
properties to crops grown on them, as different
kinds of food given to an ox will cause differences
in the qualities of his flesh. True, that to some
ex'tent, the organs of both the plant and the ani-
mal will secrete and assimilate those elimentary
principles that are suital)le for them, yet if there
is a deficiency of any, or any exist in dispropor-
tionate quantity, or in unsuitably modified forms,
the organs must take what they can get, or starve.
It has been found by experiment, in Germany,
that vetches grown on well-limed land promote
the production of cheese, while after being ma-
nured with good ashes, they increased the quanti-
ty of milk and cream. And in the County of
Leicester, England, the manuring of an old pas-
ture with good farm-yard manure is said to have
greatly injured the quality of the cheese made
from the cows fed on it. So before we can be sure
of the quality of grass of any species, we must
know upon what kind of soil it grew, and it is but
fair to presume that some of the difference noticed
in the analyses of the several chemists should be
attributed to the various (jualities of the soil. We
have yet much to learn in this matter of adapting
grasses to their most appropriate .soils, and also in
suiting our manures both to crops and soils.
Most grasses will grow to some extent in any
place where they can get a place to stand, but, for
all that, there Is a soil where they will thrive best.
We want to know where to put each plant, and
what dressing to give it, to produce the best re-
sults. Opinions now differ on these points ; for
instance, Mr. Flint says, "The soils best adapted
to clover are tenacious or stilT loams, containing
more or less of lime or clay." I. P. Moore has
said "Clover is a good thing to sow on dry soils."
And two of the best crops of clover I ever had grew
on light sandy loam. One of the lots was ma-
nured early in the spring, with a compost of peat,
lime and salt. The ashes of a plant will, to some
extent, indicate the nature of the soil l)est adapted
to it, for, though, "on whatever soil a plant is
grown, if it shoots up in a healthy manner, and
fairly ripens its seed, the quality of the ash is near-
ly the same ;" yet where the appropriate food
abounds, it is evident the plant will flourish most
luxuriantly. The ash of red clover contains about
G^ per cent, of phosphoric acid, 23^ per cent, of
carbonic acid, 2 per cent, of sulphuric acid, 22!i
344
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
per cent, of lime, 4 of magnesia, 36^ of potash, 2^
of chloride of potassium, and li of common salt.
So these substances, or the elements that compose
them, should exist in the soil iu liberal quantity
where we undertake to raise cheese. The ashes
of other plants show most of these constituents,
but in very different proportions, and a knowledge
of these differences, with a careful study of our
crops (in various soils, will enable us to improve
upon .tlie bad ])ractice of putting the same grasses
on all sorts of soils, which some of us miserable
farmers have been guilty of.
One fact in regard to the analyses of these ashes
strikes me as having an important practical bear-
ing for us. It is this — that the ashes of those
plants that had ripened their seed exhibit invaria-
bly a largely increased per centage of lime and
salt, above those of the same species taken when
in flower. May not this be supposed to indicate
that lime and salt would be useful additions to the
soil, when the seeds of plants are the desired part
of the crop, whether of the cereal or of the forage
grasses ?
OUB BEST CATTLE AND SHEEP.
One of the serious evils of the day, so far as
agricultural improvement is involved, is the al-
most universal practice of d'mjwsing of the best and
viost perfectly developed animals to the butcher, and
retaining the poorest and most insigmficant to
propagate from.
Our herds and flocks are annually "picked" in
this way, and of course, annually diminished in
value by it. If a farmer has a good lamb or calf,
he is, usually, as certain to dispose of it as he is
to receive an ofiier for it, and to supply its place —
often by purchase — by a poorer and "less expen-
sive" one.
The analogy between the vegetable and animal
kingdom is very close and ■ obvious so far as the
laws of propagation are involved ; yet very few
appear to consider this fact as they ought. No
farmer plants poor corn, or sows poor wheat if he
can avoid it ; and no one should think of breed-
ing good and well-developed animals from parents
which are unhealthy, or physically deformed. If
you have a well- formed colt, calf or iamb, let no
price induce you to part with it. It is often well
in agriculture, as in commerce, to disregard pres-
ent profit for the sake of future gain. The "points"
of animals, whether good or bad, are hereditary,
and we are often enabled to trace the progeny of
a good or indifferent animal through many gene-
rations.
Witness our horses, where the several breeds
are recognizable at once, and by marks which be-
come more perfectly and strikingly developed with
the lapse of every year. A breeder, in whose
sheep fold we stood was offered six hundred dol-
lars each for two of the lambs before ns, and yet he
declined the offer, and most wisely, too. He has
since taken many high prizes for his pure and ex-
cellent stock, and it is just reported that he has
taken one or two prizes on his sheep at the great
agricultural fair in Germany ! He went to Spain m
in the first instance, and selected his flock from
the best he could find in that country. If the of-
had been $1,000 each for the lambs he would,
probably, have refused it. His knowledge and
practice are in harmony.
In another column, an article may be found on
another branch of this subject, to which the read-
er is referred.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
JERSEY AND ALDEBNET CATTLE.
Will the editor of the Farmer please inform me
whether the "Jersey" and "Aldcrncy" breed or breeds
of cattle are identical or not ? If not are they alike
in many respects ? Monthly Reader.
Remarks. — There is no difference in the Jersey and
Alderney cattle. They .ire descended from the Nor-
man stock, introduced into the Channel Isl.inds from
the north of France, and the breeding of so many suo-
coessivc generations tnay have slightly changed some
of the characteristics of the breed, as shown in the
animals from the different islands, but the names are
applied indiscriminately to the Channel Island cattle.
HEMLOCK bark.
Intended to peel 100 cords of hemlock bark this sea
son, as it is wortli here $6 00 per cord. The weather
was fine for peeling, drying and piling in June, but it
soon came on foggy, hot ancTdamp. Notwithstanding
the bark was well dried and packed up, it was found
to be contractnig moisture, mikh wing and moulding.
It is badly spotted, and looks some like a boy's face
that is well tanned. It is spotted with large black
spots, but not rotten or fermented. Tanners and buy-
ers say this has injured it. Others, as well informed,
say that it has not, and that the strength is all still re-
tained in the bark. If some person who is competent,
will test it, I will send different samples of the bark
to experiment with.
I think if some one who is qualified would publish,
in your paper, or iu pamphlet form, the best mode of
curing hemlock bark, and the percentage it loses by
taint, or mould, he would do the public a special favor.
The question which I wish answered is, — IIoic tmich
injury has this bark, which I have described, received, if
any, from the moisture ivhich it contracted dining the
hot, damp weather which occurred not 'ong after it
was peeled ? I hope sonic one will favor me, and
many others, with an early reply. k. t.
Marlotc, N. H., Sept., 1863.
Remarks. — We have searched the books in vain to
find something to aid our correspondent in his inquiry.
Hemlock does not abonnd in this region, consequent-
ly there ai'e no persons engaged in preserving the bark
for the purposes of tanning, of whom we might make
inquiries. We hope sonic of our readers will be able
to answer the question propounded.
west's improved pump.
In the Monthly Farmer for August, 1862, yon men-
tion West's Patent Pump, and say that you will tell
us how it wcjrks after j-ou have tried it. I want a new
pump, and don't know what kind to get. 1 should
like to know how yours works, and if it is a good
pump for a f;\rmer who pumps water for the family
and for the cattle from the same well ? Does it freeze ?
Does it work casj' ? Is it lial)lc to get out of order?
If you will answer these questions for an old sub-
scriber and give such other information as will be use-
ful, you will greatly oblige
Byficld, Scpte?nbcr, lS6i3. Geoece C. Notes.
Remarks. — We have used West's Patent Pump for
two seasons, taking it down in the winter, as wc only
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
345
nsed it for garden purposes. We have sometimes
pumped three hundred gallons at a time, and as far
as ease of working and liability to get out of repair
are concerned, we can say that no pump in our knowl-
edge is more desirable than West's. Our pump not
being in use in the winter, we cannot say whether it
is liable to freeze, if the water is not let off after pump-
ing, but should think the common pattern would have
that objection. The pump is constructed, however,
from another pattern which allows everything but the
handle and spout to be below the curb of the well, and
if it is to stand in the yard we should prefer this pat-
tern for all seasons, as the heat of the sun in summer
dries the valves unless the pump is kept in daily use.
The pump is made ♦"or service, and has no ornamental
features, and is very heavy and durable. It will throw
twelve gallons a minute easily.
A 15arge crop of grass.
There is a lot of land in Shrewsburj', Mass., of less
than four acres, owned by L. S. Allen, Esq., upon
which there has been a little less than thirteen tons of
dry hay taken off the ground this season. Out of
these four acres there is one and a half acres that was
mowed twice the last year. w. r. s.
PORTABLE MILLS.
The portable mills which can be transplanted
frono place to place, and operated by horse power,
are likely to prove of great convenience to farm-
ers. The portable saw mill is carried to the logs
instead of carrying the logs to the mill, and being
ojjerated by horse power, transforms the logs to
such shape as is desired, and in that every large
farmer may have a mill at his own woodland and
his logs sawed where they lay, or where they are
to be used.
In like manner portable grist mills may be still
more convenient, as the farmer has' every year his
grain to be ground. Clarke's Patent Flour Mill
was described in the Farmer of Feb. 15, 1851.
It does not appear by the statement there made
whether the mill is worked by hand or by horse
power. The merits of that mill we are not ac-
quainted with further than the statement referred
to makes it known to us. But it is as practicable
and easy to operate grist and flour mills by horse
power, that will be sufficient for the purposes of
grinding and flouring, as it is to operate a saw
mill by the same power. Clarke's mill, it is said,
makes flour equal to the best. These mills, when
set up, might be operated by steam, or by both
steam and horse power.
Heavy Seeding. — The editor of the Oenesee
Farmer, in a late visit to Connecticut, called on a
Mr. Collins, of Collinsville, a milkman, who it
seems believes in sowing grass seed with a liberal
hand. For hay he uses the following :
9 lbs. Timothy, 7 lbs. Ilnlian Rye Grass,
9 lt>s. Oi-eli:i»l Grass, Sfcs. Pfrc-iini;il Rye Grass,
3 lbs. Rfil Clover, 2 lbs. Tall Meadow Uat Grass,
3 lbs. Red Top, 4 lbs. Wliite Clover.
tW Since the 1st of July, one thousand Cana-
dian iiorsi-'s have crossed from Windsor, opposite
Df'troit f(i- the United States service.
For the Kew England Fanner,
NOTES FROM THE MONOMACK.
B\ SAGGAUEW.
"Walka and Talks with Essex Co. Farmers.
])EAR Farmer : — During our annual family
"camjjs out,'' a few weeks since, — which this year
happened to he at that romantic and really desi-
rable place, "Marblehead Neck," where were some
forty other families, in tents, for several weeks,
the writer, in company with a camp com])anion
and brother "quill driver," paid flying visits to
the farms of Horace Ware, Jr., in Marblehead,
and Dr. George B. Loring, in Salem. These vis-
its were especially pleasant and suggestive to the
visitors, and perhaps a few "Notes" may not be
without interest to the readers of the Fai-mer.
The farm of Mr. Ware contains about seventy-
five acres, all fit for cultivation. The soil is most-
ly a rich and deep sandy loam, with some gravel,
and with a clayey subsoil under a part or all of
it. The owner was "born and bred"' a farmer, and
by his intelligence and skill is fairly entitled to a
place in the front rank of his profession. He
purchased the farm upon which he now lives most-
ly upon credit, and run in debt for manure for his
frst crop. From this beginning, he has risen to
the honorable position of a truly "independent
farmer."
The farm is situated about fifteen miles from
Boston, and is carried on as a market farm, the
owner driving his market wagon to the city almost
daily, the year round. One of his largest crops
is onions, of which he this year has fourteen acres,
from which he was confident of realizing five hun-
dred dollars per acre — or seven thousand dollars
fortius crop alone! We understood him to say
that the total cost of raising the crops was only
about one hundred dollars per acre. Think of
that, readers of the Farmer ; four hundred dol-
lars per acre clear profit in one year ! One way
he does it, is to "keep the run" of the market.
Last year he was confident that the harvest prices
were too low, and ke])t his crops until nearly
spring, when he realized over tipo thousand dollars
advance on the fall prices. He has been "looking
around" this season, and knows very near how
many onions will be raised, and he intends to
govern himself accordingly. So much for onions.
Last year he sold from his farm 1000 barrels of
apples. His trees are planted around the edge
of his fields, and thus occupy hardly any room.
This mode of planting an "orchard" is one which
the writer has long favored, and endeavored to
encourage by word and pen. Its advantages are
obvious and positive. Both the trees and the land
will in most cases get better care if this plan is
adopted, than they will if the more common plan
is followed. The land will be cultivated, and if
land is cultivated, the trees will be sure to reap
their share of the benefits from such cultivation.
There is no secret about Mr. Ware's farming.
He will tell anybody just how he does it. In con-
versation with him, he expressed the opinion that
about the only limit to crojjs was — nuimire. Tiie
more manure, the more crops. He makes all he
can, gets all he can, u^es all he gets, and contin-
ually wants more. He uses large quantities of
"sea manure," and so highly does he praise it, that
he assured tiie writer he would call his entire force
ctf hniid« RPfl teams awav at aov bour. fi'^m anv
316
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
kind of work, — "except gdting in hay, with a show-
er coming" — to collect the kelp after a storm.
Mr. W. markets his own products, and thus
Icnows all about what is going on in his line of
t ide. As time is money, he cannot afford to
g end it unnecessarily on the road — which fact
w s elicited by a complimentary remark upon his
p lir of strong-limbed horses. They looked as if
they were well fed and well governed, which
brought out the remark that it was economy to
feed well. He wanted his horses and oxen always
"ready." This hint is worth remembering. At
the time of our visit, Mr. W. was marketing his
early potatoes and cabbages. For the former he
was then realizing $2 75 per barrel, and for the
latter $15 per hundred- heads, — the season being
somcv.'hat advanced.
All may not have the advantages and facilities
enjoyed by this Essex farmer, but all may learn
from him, and his success, that well directed en-
ergy and skill are as important, and will )ield as
ready a return — if not as large — in farming, as in
most other callings. There is ample room for
more examples of this kind, even in old Massa-
chusetts.
The farm of Dr. Loring is sitaated about two
miles from the city of Salem — toward Marblehead
— and consists of a little more than five hundred
acres. The soil is of almost 'every variety. At
present, the farm is princijially devoted to the
raising of stock and milk. Some over forty cows
are kept for milk purposes the year round, and a
milk wagon is run to the neigliboring city daily.
The average stock of the farm numbers about
ninety to one hundred head, nearly -all of which is
now either pure blooded or a high grade of Ayr-
shire— a favorite breed with the Doctor. He is
firmly of opinion that this breed is the one of all
othei 5 best adapted to the sliort pastures and long
wRii/rs of New England. Their fine forms, pleas-
ant and intelligent faces, well known gentleness,
and milking qualities, are certainly large recom-
mendations in their favor. The stock of the Doc-
tor is probably unsurpassed in the country, and
includes some of the finest animals of the breed
to be found in tlie world. Among his imported
stock is the finest prize heifer from the Royal Ex-
hibition in Scoiland, selected as the finest speci-
men in that country — the home of the breed. A
visit to the hundred-acre-pasture, in which he
keeps his young stock, is enough to quicken the
pulse of the most inveterate old fogy farmer in
existence. Tlie eye must indeed be dull that can-
not see and admire the beautiful symmetry of his
"pure bloods," of which he has quite a large num-
ber. The writer was especially pleased and in-
terested in a pair of twin yearling steers of the
above breed. This is the only attempt, within
his knowledge, in this country, to make Ayrshire
working oxen, and the result will be looked for
with great interest. As far as size, muscles, sym-
metry and temper are concerned, the experiment
thus far appears most flattering. The pair are
literally "two beauties."
'I'he horses upon the farm are principally Black
Hawk iMorgans, of which the Doctor has several
fine specimens. The writer agrees entirely with
the opinion that these combine more good quali-
ties, and fewer poor or undesirable qualities, than
any other breed, for New England farm and fam-
ily purposes. Their size, temper, speed and bot-
tom, are as yet unsurpassed — if equalled — by any
other breed in the country. If any one doubts it,
a careful looking over of the stocks of Dr. Loring,
and of Mr. Maynard, of Bradford, will be most
likely to settle their doubts. They are hardy,
compact, well-built in every way, sagacious," good
tempered and enduring. More than this can
hardly be expected or wished for.
Although the farm cuts about three hundred
tons of hay — two-thirds English — it is all fed out
on the placp. Li addition to this, large quantities
of roots are raised, and corn, shorts, &c., are an-
nually purchased in no §linted amounts, to add to
the growth of bone and muscle and the flow of
milk. From all this a very large quantity of ma-
nure is made, which is increased Ijy various means,
and is all used on the farm. The Doctor has a
high opinion of sand for bedding his cattle, and
uses large quantities of it. \n his 'Case the opinion
is well gi'ounded. His land is principally a moist,
and therefore cold, clay, and the application of
warm sand is of unquestioned benefit ; sand is
a very good absorbent for stable use ; it is easily
used and applied ; and, in the Doctor's case, is
easily procured — his "bank" being but a few rods
from his farm.
He has proved to his own satisfaction, by re-
peated experiments, that there is an actual econ-
omy in using cut and steamed feed for milch
cows. He feeds in winter a mixed diet of cut
hay, Lidian meal, or shorts, and roots. His steam-
ing appai-atus includes some valuable improve-
ments of his own, and is well worth examination
by any one who proposes erecting a similar one.
Of swine, his pens show good specimens of both
the Suffolk and the Chester County breeds. JFrom
a cross between these he raises quite large num-
bers of ])igs for sale, to the Irish people, who like
to raise large porkers.
x\mong his growing crops we noticed one piece
of fourteen acres of barley — probably the largest
"field" of barley in Massachusetts.
Much to the regret of the owner there are no
sheep upon the farm. The risk from dogs will
not allow of their being kept so near the city.
This is too bad. We are of opinion that the profit
from one good flock of sheep will more than bal-
ance all the real advantages derived from all the
dogs in the above city.
Much to our regret we were our obliged to take
leave of the Doctor to reach the cars, and we are
now ol)liged to "switch off" our train of pleasant
reminiscences for fear of a collision with the printer.
How Nature Covers up Battle Fields. —
I saw on the Bull Run battle field, pretty, pure,
delicate flowers growing out of emptied ammuni-
tion boxes, a rose thrusting up its graceful head
through the head of a Union drum, which doubt-
less sounded its last charge (or retreat as the case
may have been) in that battle, and a cunning scar-
let vei-bena peeping out of a fragment of bursted
shell in which strange cup it had been planted .P
Even so shall the graceful and the beautiful ever
grow out of the terrible things that transpire in
this changing but ever advancing world. Nature
covers even batile-grounds with verdure and
bloom. Peace and plenty soon spring up in tlie
track of devastating campaigns, and all things in
nature and society shall work out the progress o/
mankind and harmony of God's great designs.
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
347
For the X&iv England Fanner.
LITTLE THINGS,
Or a Walk in my Garden.
While looking vrith a friend at a handsome bed
of cucumbers in my garden, I remarked tliat I did
not succeed in salting down cucumbers for pickles.
"O,'" said he, "there is one little thing you omit.
Wet your cucimibers bef"re you i)ack them in salt
and then pickle enough will form to preserve
them." I suppose ever; body else knew this little
•thing about salting down cucumbers, but I did
not. This reminds me of another question he put
to me. "Do you not find that the paint wears off
from your kitchen floors very quick?" I replied
jn the afTirmative, "Well," said he, "there is a lit-
tle thing worth r^•membering about
Painted Ploors.
Just mix varnish with your paint and it will last
as long again." I have since found it so. A final
coat of varnish will make it look finished. A
word more about
Cabbages.
My practice has been for many years to break
off the loose leaves of the cabbage as soon as they
begin to head and give them to the cows. Young
pigs are very fond of them. They will head full
better for it, especially if they are close together.
But I must say a w-ord here about
Keeping Apples.
Many persons complain that their apples rot
badly. No wonder. They v.ill barrel them up,
keep them in an old shed till they are as cold as
November can make them without freezing them,
and then place them in the cellar where th.ey con-
dense all the moisture, and call it apple sweating.
Then they will set the Ijarrels on the damp grouud
or floor to gather moisture all winter. Perhaps
they are barrelled up tight which will help them
to rot all the sooner.
Now for a different' plan. Barrel them up in
the orchard, hut not perfectly tight; take advan-
tage of a warm day eaily in October, and put
them into the cellar warm, and they will nst sweat.
Place your barrels on shelves as high, in the cel-
lar, as you can get them. If your cellar is prop-
erly ventilated they will keep well. I preserved a
barrel of winter sweets last year into June, with
scarcely an affected apple. Sqiiashes should be
placed in the same position. A shelf in the higli-
est part of the cellar will be found much the best
for this purpose. Other metliods for keeping ap-
ples are valuable, but this course is recommended
for its simplicity and efficiencj. An exception
may be made to this mode where a furnace for
warming the house is kept in the cellar.
Need of Sunshine on Tomatoes.
I have tomatoes which blossomed the middle of
June, and yet they are perfectly green the first
week in Septembei*. So much wet has fallen and
so little sun has shone upon them that they can-
not ripen. While heading them in, one of my
boys came along and said that he could not un-
derstand his lesson. This set me to thinking bow
to manage
Dull Beys.
A boy may be dull and yet have a superior
mind. There is all the difference possible between
a dull boy and a dunce. The latter can never
know much ; on the contrary, a dull boy only re-
quires that the instruction given should be slowly
communicated, and in greater division and sub-
division. Many a clever boy is ruined by being
hurried over subjects more ra])idly than he can
comprehend. So I sat down with the boy, and
taking a tomato in my hand, used it for illustra-
tion, and soon had the satisfaction of knowing that
my lecture was just as valuable to him as one
from a scientific professor to a learned audience.
Yours, as little as ever, N. T. T.
TRIUMPH OP THE UNITED STATES.
Vermont Against the World.
At the "World's Fair, recently held at Hamburg,
Germany, Mr. George Campbell, of Westminster,
Vt., received the two highest ])remiums for Meri-
no sheej), having the mod vabiuhle fleece, and one
second premium for the same.
As is well known, Germany is the great wool
producing country of the world, while several oth-
er Euro])ean nations have paid great attention to
raising sheep.
Ill order to have time to make suitable arrange-
ments for stock at the exhibition, entries were re-
quired to be made some months previous to the
time of holding the Fair, and the same having
been ])ublished in the German newspa]>ers — before
Mr. Campbell arrived in Germany with his little
flock — ridiculed the idea of bringing sheep from
America, to compete with them and other Euro-
pean countries, in a class of animals for which
they have been long so celebrated.
The number of sheep entered for the Fair was
1770, but more were presented, swelling the num-
ber to about 2000. Among them was a lot of for-
ty from liOuis Napoleon, Emperor of the French.
At the close of the Fair, JNIr. Cami)hell sold his
twelve sheep, six bucks and six ewes, for five thou-
sand dollars (^5,000), to Count Scherr Thoss, of
Silesia. lie has a single buck, at home, called
"Old Grimes," which he values at five thousand
dollars (.5,000), and does not desire to sell him for
even that large sum.
Mr. Campi)ell has for several years been dili-
geijjlly laboring and spending money freely to im-
prove and perfect • the breed of sheep. He has
traveled through foreign countries, and imported
foreign breeds from time to time ; but finally be-
came convinced that J'crmoid pofofesscd tlie best
Merino sheep in the icorld, and he therefore deter-
mined to exhibit specimens at the International
Fair at Hamburg. He may now be considered
the chamjiion of the world in this very imjjortant
branch of agricultural jiursuit.
It should, perhaps, be remarked here that the
sheep for wliich the premiums, as above, were re-
ceivHjd, are descendants from the early im])orta-
tious of Spanish Merinos, by Jarvis Ik. Humphrey,
some fifty or sixty years ago.
Mr. Campbell took a large proportion of the
first premiums at the State Fairs of Vermont and
Ohio, and all of the first premiums at tlic State
Fairs of New York and Michigan, held last fall.
And also the premiums at the United States Fairs
previously Iield at Philadelphia and Boston.
Consideiing that our government made no ])ro-
vision fer transporting articles and stock to the
Fair, the United States was very creditably repre-
sented, having one large shed well filled with ag-
ric'iUural tools and implements of husbandry,
which attracted more attention than any other
348
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
shed on the grounds, and received a good propor-
tion of the premiums, among which are the follow-
ing : McCormick's Reaper and Mower, a gold
medal, being the highest premium in the Depart-
ment of Implements and Machinery ; John Jvel-
sey, of Pennsylvania, a large bronze medal, for
Harrow ; A. S. Clark, of Bellows Falls, Vt., a
large bronze medal, for best Turnip Cutter ; and
many other premiums.
Mr. Campbell and the Hon. Mr. Needham,
Commissioner from Vermont to the late Fair, were
fellow-passengers with the writer of this, on board
the Canard steamship Asia, Avhich recently arrived
at Boston from Liverpool, from whom the forego-
ing facts were obtained.
Mr. Campbell is a plain, practical farmer, (prob-
ably about forty-five years of age,) very modest and
unpretending, and a good specimen of our intelli-
gent, persevering, and industrious Ncav England
yeomanry. Such of the foregoing facts as were
communicated by him, were given by my solicita-
tion, but in no boastful spirit. — J. D. \v. in Journal
of Agi-iculture.
HAKVAHD FARMER'S CLUB.
This association had its annual meeting in the
public square at Harvard, on Thursday, Septem-
ber 2-3. The weather was cool, but pleasant, and
the attendance was quite large. Notwithstanding
it is only a town affair, they have their cattle pens,
their drawing match, sheep, swine, poultry, pub-
lic dinner, address and music, with as much sys-
tem and dignity as any State or County society.
Some fine cows and heifers were on the ground,
a few sheep, some excellent swine and a number
of very promising colts. We saw only three or
four pairs of working oven. Where were the oth-
er fifty yoke which are probably owned in the
town ? The tables in the Town Hall were covered
with fine specimens of the vegetables, grain, and
fruits of the town. The collections were not large,
but some of them embraced as excellent samples
as have been seen at any show in the State. Beau-
tiful specimens of needle work adorned the walls,
and various articles requiring skill and taste to
construct, were spread upon the tables. The Pres-
ident of the Society is A. J. Sawyer, Esq., and
the Secretary, Trumbull Bull, Esq. We trust
they will see that the Association is not only fully
sustained the coming winter, but that it will re-
ceive new and life-giving impulses.
The dinner was eaten in a grove near the pub-
lic square, where it was intended to have the ad-
dress, speeches and music, but a cool wind spring-
ing up prompted the officers to adjourn to the
church ; so, after dinner, a procession was formed
and marched to the neat and convenient Orthodox
church, where the unfinished exercises of the day
were attended to.
The address was by the Rev. Mr. Hurd, of
Fitchburg. Its subject was, ''Agriculture in its
Relaiions to the GuvernmenL" It touched upon
many interesting points — points that ought to bo
better understood than they generally are by farm-
ers ; it was logical, and abounded with many
striking and eloquent passages. The speaker was
earnest in his manner, and kept his audience close-
ly attentive during the hour which he occupied.
This address will undoubtedly open a new chan-
nel of thoughts in the minds of many who were so
fortunate as to hear it. Mr. Hurd was followed
by Dr. Joseph Reynolds, of Concord, who made
a short off-hand practical speech, principally upon
the thoroughness which is not only desirable, but
which is profitable in farming. The reading of
the reports of committees, and the payment of
premiums closed the exercises of the day, so far'
as the show was concerned. What the young folks
did in the evening we did not remain to see, but
from what we did see of them, we feel quite cer-
tain that they well know how to have a good time
when they set out for it.
While in town we visited the cold grapery of
Trumbull Bull, Esq., and were much pleased
with the success which he has gained in the cul-
ture of some of the finest varieties of grapes under
glass, but without artificial heat. This mode of
cultivating grapes is commending itself more and
more every year, and we hope will continue to
find favor until it becomes quite common among
farmers. Cold graperies are not expensive nor
difficult to manage, and may be made the source
of profit, as well as a beautiful adjunct to the
dwelling, and a healthful and acceptable source of
luxury to all. They are, also, a delightful resort
for invalids, in which the eating of the ripe fruit,
and the pleasant care of attending to the house
and plants, would be more likely to restore health
than any skill of the physician.
A Trot at the Vermont State Fair. —
This society having offered a premium of $60
for the fastest trotter, and open to all competitors,
Messrs. Peter W. Jones, of Amherst, N. H.,
M. Norton, Tinmouth, Vt., C. Goodall, Bran-
don, Vt., entered as follows : Mr. Jones entered
his b. m. "Empress," Mr. Norton, "Darkey," and
Mr. Goodell, "Boy." "Empress" won in three
straight heats, as follows : First heat in 2.40^ ;
second heat in 2.40:^ ; third heat in 2.34f . "Em-
press" is a perfect fac simile of Flora Temple,
and time will show that she is no disgrace to her.
"Darkey" is a grandson of Hill's Black Hawk,
and is said to have trotted a straight heat on the
ice at Lake George, last winter, in 2.2o — his own-
ers hold him at a price accordingly.
!E^ Mr. WHliam Lawrence, of Falmouth, who
has reached the advanced age of eighty-six years,
owns a meadow lot in that place which he has
mowed regularly for seventy successive years, eat-
ing his dinner farmer-like, in the field.. He might
pass now, scythe in hand, for "Old Time" himself.
1863,
NEW ENGLAND FARAfER.
349
OYSTER SHELLS AS A MANURE.
Several times, within two or three years, we
have spoken of the excellence of ground oyster
shells as a manurial agent, and especially for a i)o-
tato crop when placed upon old land. We recur
to it again, hoping to call the attention of farmers
and market gardeners, more particularly to the
subject, A friend who has had much experience
in agricultural and horticultural matters, and who,
in addition to his practical knowledge in the arts,
is also a skillful entomologist, informs us that he
has never applied this arlide to his vines without
finding them greatly benefited by it, as the yellow
bug — one of the most pestiferous depredators —
will not alight where there is a sprinkling of oys-
ter shell dust on the surface. He regards it as a
prevention of other evils also, as well as a most
valuable adjunct in promoting the development of
the crop and amelioration of the soil.
A writer who had used it on corn as a substitute
for plaster of Paris, or gypsum, says : "There is
a marked difference between corn on which ground
oyster shells have been put — it looks well, and the
growth is very thrifty."
In many localities, oyster shells may be obtained
in almost any quantity, and at a mere nominal
price. The larger cities along our sea-board, for
instance, furnish annually a large amount, which
are ordinarily cast away as worthless. If the
farmers in the vicinity would but rightly appreciate
their interests, they would find that there are a
variety of sources open to their enterprise for agri-
cultural enrichment of which they have at present
little idea. Clam shells are also valual)le. The
brine they contain is a substance essential to veg-
etation, and consequently, to the soil, and must be
supplied artificially, when it does not exist natu-
rally in sufficient quantity. We have seen hun-
dreds of bushels of these shells piled in heaps
along the sea-shore, covered with a greenish moss,
which, while it attested to the long period dur-
ing which they had remained there, also reminded
the scientific observer that they should be applied
immediatdy to a more valuable use.
It is sincerely to be hoped that those of our ag-
ricultural friends who are favored with the requi-
fite fiicilities will, this year, endeavor to test the
lelative value of the various artificial manures now
60 highly recommended, and favor us with the re-
sults. If any means exist whereby it is possible
for the farmer to obviate even a part of the
expense to which he is at present subjected in
managing his lands, he should certainly lose no
time in doing so. Valuable discoveries have been
made — why should he not avail himself of them ?
Oyster shells are now ground in large quanti-
ties, in Boston, into the finest flour, and are put
up, and for sale in any quantity. We have used
it with the most satisfactory results, and believe it
is greatly needed on nearly all our lands that have
been long undar cultivation, and especially for
wheat crops, and where we feel obliged to put the
potato crop on old land.
The shell flour is easily transported, and ap-
plied, either in the broadcast form or in the drill,
or hill. It may be safely applied to the compost
heap, we think. In this way, its proper action
would be secured in the simplest^ possible manner.
We speak of it confidently, from actual experience
in its use — and earnestly, because the material is
abundant, comparatively cheap, and, unlike some
fertilizers, will do no harm, whenever or however
applied. Try it.
For the Ketc England Parmer.
GRAPE CDTiTURE, "WINES AND WINE-
MAKING— No. 4.
Champagne Wines — Visit to Spain — Cultivation of the Grape in
California.
The manufacture of wine in Champagne has
been made a special art, often entirely disconnect-
ed from the culture of the vine. Nearly all the
wine of the district is made into sparkling Cham-
pagne, of which there are four varieties — Grand
Mon?seux, or Superior Sparkling, Mousseux Ordi-
naire, or Common Sparkling, and the Uemi-Mow-
seux or Crcmaat, llulf Sparkling or Creamy. Be-
sides these, there is a wine of a light, sweet and
slightly sparkling quality, called Tisane de Cham-
pai/ne. The sparkling wines attain their maturity
after being three years in the bottle, and retain it
fully for a dozen years.
Connoisseurs consider the Half-sparkling, when
of a good quality, as "the king of all the White
Champagne Avines."
"In first rate years, the Champagne district will
produce not less than 15,000,000 bottles of White
wine, and the average production may be rated at
seven millions per annum."
A particular account is given of the soil, expo-
sure, selection of vines, planting and management,
and of the gathering and treatment of fruit and
the fermentation and treatment of the wines,
After finishing the wines of France, Mr. Harasz-
thy sets ott' by way of Bayonne, to look at the
wines, raisins and olives of Spain. The journey
l)y diligence is described with great spirit. As a
specimen :
"At the next station they hitched on thirteen
mules, and away we went, full gallop, up and
down hill, the driver hallooing, shouting, yelling,
and cracking his whip. His yells would have
done honor to an American savage. What, how-
ever, most astonished me, was the driver's descen-
ding and mounting to his seat, while the mules
were in full gallop. It was at least ten feet above
the ground. When his mules would not pay any
more attention to the cracks of his whip, or to his
voice, he would quietly descend, and, after whip-
ping them from the last to the first rank, all the
while uttering the most unearthly sounds, he
would climb quietly up to his seat again, although
the whole equipage might be on a full run. No
sooner would he be in his seat, than he would re-
commence his yells, and ply his whip most vigor-
ously. There is, on the leading mule or horse, a
postillion, whose only duty is to halloo to wagons
*50
XEW ENGLAXD TXRyiEIL
Kov,
cr c-i-ns. »ri;a ire net, to rim oat c: tae rc«c.
• • * AliBCKL^i tbe p-.'^-'.i-i: cocuois onij
&e fint tro Bsles, aad tbe driTa- the last tw : .
tiber 4aA vmtj at die greatest speed, plrii^ tbeir
WiBiiif—iliiiil II mil I wi iIm if I I
lied aiat tmA ante,4w the Isuk afpRc:'
cesfroB 200 taSOO feet, br twelve to mxX&
OMies vitboot razs, be iorclaitfaziir Eimts ins
eres. zxd recoonwads Is eool to Ins Maker."
. iHVBgiwHt Spam, toe tio?
ocviBe andeaad pRMncn in
tise saoctcaicfeKaBd doveniyanaHE. Ittsofteo
p~t hito dirrT ^iss §tm ptesaralaoa aad tracspor-
t-*ivn, issiead of tiie niee cai^s nsed ^sevbere.
'Sodns^ m'BW'd of scficKst mtcsc^ m tlus euuii-
ttv, to be care&Ih- desexibed, except tbe drns?
aid pteparftiam rf' the laiaaa aad i^ofHaii^
Theee^aa tkty deaerve^ are eaxefelfy aoied.
tbe Mf^\ I iliT, Taiaaiile Bjlbnaasun m ngaid ~
cpsikfi^ viaes is 'gjvai. Froat Mak^a >:
yi-M^Ay ^oea to Matae^ea, and tfaenee hack tc
Pars, and tbioi^ Fjgiand. booae.
A caiaable ekjytei is pvea todks eakiYatiaa ' ~
tiae gnpe ia Caiifena. Tbe antborbaaesth-ec'-
iaases dK ■isratfff be had fimesij aaade, a:
vbicfc Im obaemtfHB ^on tbe beat nodes cit-
tBve in luiiL'i^a eonatziea mrfiiiH U^ to eorreet.
This cbaflereoetaiaB aa exact accooot of idant-
ia^aad aHna^asg a tioe^aid of IflO aerea, in
vndi be aBomt a aost Hbexal ptiee tor labor.
Tbe total coat o£ pbntia^ aad eahiratiao, for tbe '
first vear, is ^!MSfi^ ; second jaai'* cxpeadkore
$803 ; dibd, $86», —aArog toe toCzl expeoae fw
t ixee f ean op to beada^, $iOi9j6i, less tban
S-^JJJ'J ior aa acre.
Mr. U. t^[^ there is bo daag;er ot orerdoi: v
tbe prodaeaoo of viae in Ca2i£araia. b Fraa: .
as be staler oq good autbcsitj, five ■'HK""*
sens aie ptantrd witb vines, aad tbe avets.
assaaal |iindafp is ISOfiOOflM gaSaaa, or ISO t^.
aa acfcu Sdil,ao6B-is tbisenegaaoBapro&ictip-
soficaent for tbe detssaad, toed, mamj laifi'iTi of
giffr*^ ociaiitasive viae* are jcarir made at Ce:
aadiaPasis. H}estaiidj OBe^balf of tbe Parisiii
pcyolasion drink, ander tbe aaae ci vbae, a nix-
tare ia vbiebtboeisaotoaediDpof grspe jrc-^e."
. laHugny.S/iODilOOof aevesaieplaBte
tiK Tin^ aad prodMe 36OA)Ov00i> gaUoBs c:
120 gallons to tbe acre. Yet Terr little U vjt
Haaganaa viae gets mto tbe wettvt Eorope.
"Tbe aggregate nmsber of acres aader air. t
caitare iaEar^ie, k 12,3%§,780 ; the total avexa:^^
yidd per jcai^ is Z,\blMbjiOb ^tkuxkT Tbc=^c
viaes. at 2» eeats a gaUoo, vooM bsing $116.-
754,760 ; beiag a peid c^ aMre tbaa fi^ to tb^
acre, lias vast iiwsoiint tbe i«odaeer leeeiTe^
'-so tbat it aoold be safe to calculate tbat die bk: -
cbaaU leceiTe doable tbia sob."
'*ltalj> tbem% tbe bi^tfat jield to tbe acre, (441
gaDoBS.) and fei, does not ecMoe ap to tbe Califor-
mz fieid vitbin lOD percent.'' -It is adi koovn,
tbat CalifcRda kstt, vitlan ks boBodsies, at least
S/KNMOOO oC^waea of land veil adapted to tbe Tine
colture. Tbe pndaee of tbu land, evea tbong^
it jifM BO better tbaa Itdv, viU still aaMant to
$3dl,8a6,20M3. Tbls ^a^e ana WMf astanab
toe Moot ■ii^iiiiw ; BeTatfaeleas, m aaotber gm-
etatioa, CalifiBcaia vill prodace tfab aeaolt."
laaescnl appeadieea, anat iaqwttant and de-
Uaed ialbrantioa is givea reiatiTe lo aQ tbe Eanv
^e5 Ivjjr.
:ed wroe :
erf -^
aboct.
t.
r:
km',.* n^jun.-
laige biOs, c:
lent tillage ^
elasa, are i:
men; ibej :
BBodern vBf:
xbetn beieg i.
1S63.
XEW EyGL-\>~D F-^RMER-
3^
:-:. .- .-_
evening •
ih^
r.. : r ft ' aAUBMQ HA7.
MlEutos:— b TOUT iwaet/ S«pL 12lb. I
~3d aa aitkfe, Ae p«ip«it of vliirk appean to lie
.::% opiciao of two aea oo the idbyect cf cdtine
-»- bar. Tber apeak cf tfe iAea of Ike «hi^ as li^
at ; iag; ao abanrdsT, a kii^iai& &e, aa Aaagh tkey
- ir , iokd anddnth- Ltujuau vne above vfak is TnBen.
■? Xrr I ^^i leave to dtsseitt froai then. I *m
"fsrs dd, antBstg nas oees kt uitue
m BT Toath vp. I hare Jbr a kc^
=ie ^^ frzm 40 to 90 tnan of baj- aaBnalj aod
r^i oat the saaae. I hsTe cat bqr b aH abides of
Its growtk, aad n aO kinds of veBtber, and pet
~ n- I hsT into tine bara in asy eon£tiaa. finsiB g^teji to
^^ vvf, and &om wet to dir. vidi salt, and oillMittt
jf sah. Hid I a<a sauAd, froaa pnedcal experieace,
•c diat sak naj be used to gie^t jJiaaUge ea haj
% in a eatdwjg seasoB. It «S ptevei
--- a<wr banuEg, aomuig. aiad — BCag^ Asadsol
^ catde re^nlrtf the cooiSaBt nse of skk, it ariA
resore hay ia a pahtahilr I'-mfitiirt. if jailii iiiai
-: ;j applied.
---^' ^ ben Idmria bay TexTaiaBt,IaBe Bxqaaita
^:::> of to tbe tec, lad is kss (paatkj if leas vet, aad «•
duit or well drj'sd^ rxme. Ia tbis way I saie aneb tiaK,
:^ and sod I tbx&ik iKicb "valae ia the bar, ia a ihnai 1 1
^ betha seasoa. I vodU aa aooa talk oT miiiiBiM^ pa^
-^thsa^aaspoffiagbay, if nsediapfsfMi fti-
rs. I speakfroaapmawalespeneae^aadafiia
~ ..::^t I do kaov. A>d I defirthe aigyuaent of aay
-le man to cacTiace ne to the cootnty aztt3 be pntTS
ssit to be £B inmiy to stock, in any feca.
stro: -
Tr
chase rl
A
sonb. ;-
cisilv in !
- VTCHTQATy A<SBICOIiTfIBAI. fnTTiTJWIlg
^ T"_:« •"r<r:r2':-"c-!i wa? ??eaed Ibr tbe adatrwMin
I iiiiail ii and IwiTi^iiij' t
^ ^~ ,JiO0L Tbecmcatcx-
ases £Dr tbe int two yean veic^aOgKIO per aa-
^.^-^ -.:ai ; and for tbe next foor yean, ea£a^ vitb
if aei 156:2. tbey aven^ $10,1^ per aacaa. Mu-
. i^S tbe aboie oaday finaaa the pab&e maaaij' of
j_ the State nm>\rtftewi apoe iiilililisMai, tbe Cti-
- e ^(^ *B<1 ^<*?<^ i^ ™ raBDiB^ order fer dK bx
a ym9 fhca l$a7 to 1S63, aaooaft to 9130,3301
-^ Tbe aonber of atadeats. tbas &r. bas beea snaS.
•'^ andcoaiadt«Mea|ipiitinaba«beeaaBideto tbie
;^. I yeariy appropriadaas of aoaey fioaa tbe
- ^s for Its sappor^ Tbe p<tpalar onr of '
- . has been raised, and ^ alaiaa sMaided that tbe
-'^ Colkge wookl '•svai^i tbe State." Tbe la;:e ap-
fnropnatioa of several tboaaad acres of pafafie
nds by Coagress baa leccatly. baavvcr, greally
■^omaged tbe fiieads of agrieahaFal edmaliua
rin Miebigan, and it isaovbcSered tiat tUi iasti-
. , tnaoamillbecoaae indepeadaatof tbe State Tieas
iny m ovr land, esp^ _ . , ,_^ „.,-:-. ,v^ _______ ._i .*__
._,1j^ ■ ,v_ i.;_i^. xiTT, and sooa atuaiie taas penasaeacT aaa Ka-
stands upon the faiebest - , . ' T. . '^ . , • .
^nb, ia all that re- biniv of ebajarter abaeb are esscabal totikesac^
. BKMraliiy. and re- ce« of edacadoaal inatitalioas. Aa utide in a
,.-;^.^ _.:,,. . .^ nnaaber of &e Michigan JVaMT, viittea by
^"lefike tiwoaelbaTe de-^
.. W. DSAXZ, frtaa aback tbe fonieoiag
rrve. orire,i and =*«* » rnadtast^, caadaksailb tbe
S, L. Warn. P«'^»^:
>. I •'If the proper coane at
352
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
the practical application of those studies carried
out and exemplified sucesssfully in the field and
the garden, as there is every reason to believe
they will be, we may hope for great results. It
would be a sad disappointment, if, after many years
of toil and patience and hopefulness, and the out-
lay oT large sums of money drawn from the pock-
et of the tax payer, together with extensive grants i
and endowments, it should fail to meet the expec-
tation of its friends — fail to be of any practical
utility to the farmer — fail to teach the agricultural
student the lessons he has reason to expect when '
he enters its enclosure ; but if, on the contrary, it
should, after a few more years of preparation, mod-
erately realize what its friends so anxiously anti-
cipated, what a triumph it would be for Michigan !
She would then rank among the first of States for
her Agricultural College, as she does for her truly
noble University and Primary School system."
THE ■WORKING FARMEK.
This well known paper, long conducted with de-
cided ability by Prof. Mapes, is still made attrac-
tive by its new editor, Wm. S. Allison, Esq.
The September number, which we have just laid
down, is filled with valuable articles. Those from
the pen of the Editor are written with freshness
and taste, while they are plain and practical. In
an article on "The love of the Beautiful" he says :
"The great and pervading want of the farmer's
life is the cultivation of a love of the beautiful.
The actual necessities of labor, the incessant de-
mands upon his time and strength in performing
the duties of the farm, have too often monopo-
lized his thoughts to the exclusion of that love of
the beautiful without which his soul is denied the
very pabulum of its growth in all that is noble
and refined."
In another pleasantly written article upon
"Shade Trees," he says :
'iNo other section of our country is so grandly
provided with shade and ornamental trees as the
Eastern vStates. There the elm, the oak, the hick-
ory, the maple, the horse-chestnut and the willow
— the natural growth of the land, transplanted by
the careful hands of the forefathers, in the very
{)iaces where they are most wanted — \5ill be found
ending their beauty and grandeur and welcome
shade to every landscape, to the streets of every
village, city and town, rendering the most dilapi-
dated tenements and farm-houses comely and in-
viting to the wayside traveler. How fortunate
for the loveliness of the New England landscape
that those majestic shade trees were fixed in their
places before the noxious Ailanfhus was introduc-
ed into this country ! Every village or city which
has sprung up during the last few years, and many
isolated dwellings in the country, it pains us to
say, are disfigured and cursed by that pestiferous
visitant from foreign parts, which has no single
quality to recommend it except that of shooting
up like the poisonous Upas, with a rapidity that
none of our indigenous shade trees can compete
with. We advise every man who has them on
his premises to cut them down at once, and substi-
tute others which will not breed worms to drop
down upon him unawares, or send forth a disgust-
ing fragrance, or diffuse a deleterious atmospliere
about his premises. Let every man, citizen as
well as farmer, plant shade trees everywhere for
man and beast, but not the Ailanthus. Let that
be banished, from American soil."
We agree with him in regard to the Ailanthus.
It affords a poor shade compared with our grace-
ful elms, or the more compact but majestic rock
maple. When in blossom, the Ailanthus diffuses
an odor so sickening as to become a decided nui-
sance to many persons.
THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE.
This paper is always welcome. It comes printed
on large type, and with its cheerful and instruc-
tive editorials and judiciously selected articles,
never fails to be attractive. It is published at
Springfield, 111., and is edited by M. L. Dcxlap.
We take the following from the August number :
Preserving Frviit in Cold Air.
A late number of the Gardener's Monthly con-
tains a report of the experiments of Fletcher,
Williams and Van Camp, of Indianapolis, with
Nice's patented method of preserving fruit in air
kept by ice within a few degrees of freezing, and
rendered dry by chloride of calcium. About a
thousand bushels of apples were experimented
upon the first winter. They kept till the follow-
ing June in perfect condition. The following
summer small fruits were tried. Raspberries and
blackberries kept eight weeks, and then lost their
flavor without decaying. Peaches, after ten weeks,
showed evidences of decay ; gooseberries, cur-
rants and cherries kept much longer. Of pears,
two hundred and fifty bushels were tried, of such
sorts as Bartlett, Seckel and Flemish Beauty,
which, it is thought, may keep the winter through.
Grapes, as might be expected, kept a year, but
they should, of course, be well grown and thor-
oughly ripened.
The same number contains a beautiful and glow-
ing tribute to the late Dr. JoHX H. Kennicott,
of Cook County, 111. The writer says :
"A loving husband, a fond father, a truthful
brother, a kind friend, an obliging neighbor and
one with a heart and hand for the general good,
has gone home — his name needs no other monu-
ment than the living, waving, leafy treasures that
have been his care. His many virtues shall not
die, for his name is on the first page of the histo-
ry of rural progress in the Northwest, and shall
he handed down to the time whcH floral decora-
tions and love of home shall have ceased on the
prairie and wof d-crowned slopes of the west."
Advices received at the Agricultural Bureau
since the occurrence of the frost, show that the
damage done to crops is not so great as at first
anticipated. The injury to the sorgo is compara-
tively slight, and proves that the plant is more
hardy than corn and tobacco, with which it has
hereiofore been classed.
Test for Genius. — The great and decisive
test of genius is, that it calls forth power in the
souls of others. It not merely gives knowledge
but it breathes energy.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
353
PLUMS AND CUBCUIilO.
It has been often published, on what authority
we do not know, that plum trees whose limbs
hang over water are unmolested by the curculio-
It has been suggested that the little creature
knew by instinct that such a situation would prove
fatal to its oflFspring. Perhaps the following fact,
stated by a correspondent of the Albany Culti-
vator, may be explained on the same principle :
A few miles above Indianapolis, lud., is an is-
land in White river, covered with a growth of
wild plums, which I am informed have never failed
to yield, and do not seem to be subject to the at-
tacks of the burculio. The island is but a few
yards from the shore, and in a neighborhood where
the plum is always attacked. The island is over-
flowed yearly — during the spring months, as well
as fall and winter, and the last of April or first of
May neaily always finds it under water.
DOMESTIC RECEIPTS.
Nice and Nameless Cake. — Two cupfuls of
sugar, a small lump of butter, half a pint of milk,
four eggs, one cocoa nut, grated, one teaspoon-
ful of soda, two tea-spoonfuls of cream of tartar.
The Queen of Piddixgs.— One i)intofnice
bread crumbs to one quart of milk, one cup of
sugar, the yolk of four eggs beaten, the grated
rind of a lemon, a piece of butter the size of an
egg. Bake until done, but not watery. Whip
the white of the eggs stiff, and beat in a tea-
cupful of sugar in which has been stirred the juice
of the lemon. Spread over the pudding a layer
of jelly or any sweetmeats you prefer. Pour the
whites of the eggs over this and replace in the
oven and bake lightly. To be eaten with cold
cream. It is second to ice cream, and for some
seasons better.
To Protect Dried Fruit from Worms.
It is said that dried fruit ])ut away with a little
sassafras bark (say a large handful to a bushel,)
will keep for years, unmolested by these trouble-
some liiile insects which so often destroy hun-
dreds of bushels in a season. The remedy is
cheap and simple.
How to Cure a Felon. — A lady writes as
follows : — Allow me a few lines in your columns,
to give the public the benefit of the experience of
a score of my friends, in arresting the ])rogress
of that painful disease called a felon. When one
of these painful torments ajijiears on the hand,
applv a piece of rennet soaked in nilk to the af-
fected part, and renew the ai)plication at brief in-
tervals until relief is found. The rennet may be
obtained of any butcher. This article was first
recommended to me by a skillful physician, now-
deceased. It has been tried in many cases under
my observation, and has never yet failed to afi'ord
relief.
Buttkr that is made m September and Octo-
ber is best for winter use. Lard should be hard
and white, and that which is taken from a hog
not over a year old is best.
C^ A certain gentleman in Southbridfic who was
curious to know liow much a pumpkin grew in
twenty-four hours, found by actual measuring that
t enlarged just 3 3-4 inches in that time.
ROAKINa HORSES.
Among the thousand ills to which the horse is
liable, and which arc mainly brought on by really
bad, or injudicious usage, is one called roaring.
There are two kinds of it — acute and chronic.
The acute is merely a symptom of disease, and in-
dicates that something presses too heavily upon
the windpipe. The chronic roaring w hich may be
heard when a horse that is sul)ject to it is driven
hard, results from the abuse to which the ani-
mal is subject. For an illustration we have se-
lected from Mayhew's work on the Horse, two
engravings.
The first represents a horse undergoing the tor-
ture of the bearing rein.
The second exhibits the horse carrying its head
as it would were it free to exercise a choice.
"Which of the foregoing," — says Mayhew —
"looks most at ease ? Does not the fashionable
horse appear to be suffering constraint and tor-
ture? The face is disguised and concealed by the
harness ; but enough is left visible to suggest the
agony compulsion inflicts. 'Pride,' says the prov-
erb, 'has no feeling.' "
.There are those who assert that roaring is no
injury to the powers of a horse, — but that which
impedes the free passage of air to the lungs must
be a rather serious detriment to exertion.
City teamsters usually "check up" their horses'
heads to make them "look gay," as they say; but
such checking greatly abridges tlieir power of
draft, as the horse cannot throw the weight of his
body down on a line with the load. Such persons
should wheel a loaded barrow up hill, with their
head "checked up" so that they cannot stoop at
all. After a few such exertions, they might have
' some compassion on the poor horse.
354
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
OUB AUTUMNAIi CATTLE SHOX^S.
These annual festivals have been taking place
through the month of Se])tember in every portion
of our State, and a few are still to be held in this
month. The attentive reader may have observed
that we have not encumbered our columns with
detailed accounts of any of them, and in some
cases have not referred to them, only to publish
the time of their taking place.
There was a time when these shows were of un-
questionable advantage to the farmer — when
ploughs were heavy and awkward, and when men
were seeking to construct them upon more scien-
tific principles, and needed to witness their work-
ing in the hands of many different persons who
best understood the art of ploughing ; when the
principles of hreeding had scarcely been introdu-
ced to the mass of our farmers, and it became
necessary to call their attention to them by some
new and attractive expedients— when the advan-
tages arising from the drainage of our tcet lands
had been declared, but the princi;iles involved had
not been explained and established — when the va-
rious modes of seeding grassland were not well
understood — and when the rotation of a-oj^s, the
cidture of grain and roots, the modes of managing
orchards, reariiig of sheep, horses, swine and jJoid-
try, were all conducted without system, and with-
out any definite knowledge of the princi])les to be
regarded in order to produce each profitably, and
the best of its kind.
So the structure and location of farm buildings,
was imperfectly understood, and consequently, a
waste of material, of time and of labor, was the
result. Evidences of this are scattered all over
the State — the more modern buildings, and the
more convenient arrangement of them afi'ording
to the beholder a striking contrast between them
and those erected a generation or two ago.
For twenty years now just passed, all these
things have received the most careful attention,
80 that, so far as theorg -Aud jJruciiceixre concerned,
the farmer stands very well.
Deep prejudices, however, still exist with regard
to some things. That against the employment of
machinery, is still stubborn and deep-rooted in the
minds of many persons — and nothing but the su-
perior success of their neighbors, who use it, will
ever break it down. They must, eventually, come
to the conviction that, wherever the muscles of the
horse can be convenientlj*used on the farm, the
muscles of man must not be employed. He must
preserve his physical, and put forth more mental
power in his business. He must know the rea-
sons whj he does all his work in order to produce
a desired result. When he understands this, his
labor w'l' not be a labor of chance, so much as it
now' s
lie object of our Cattle Shows is Improvement.
The bounty of the State has been liberally award-
ed to encourage effort, and stimulate the farmer to
reach a higher standard in his profession. This
he has done, in ploughing, for instance, so that any
tractable farmer's sou, at eighteen, may be as good
a ploughman as it is desirable to be, He has ac-
quired nearly a perfect knov.ledge of the art, and
it may be continued from father to son for all
coming time, and there is no longer any necessity
for awarding another [iremium on that branch of
farming. And so it isjwith regard to most of the
branches included in the premium lists. Reports,
by scores, have been made upon them, year after
year, until every thing is known of them that can
be known by any superficial attention. The game
is played out — and instead of a wholesome stimu-
lus being excited among farmers, by the bounty of
the State, jealousies and dissatisfaction are too
often generated, because so large a portion of the
premiums are borne off by those who have been
receiving them for a long series of years !
In order to 23rogress and improve, and make the
State bounty and individual effort bear fruit wor-
thy of the cause, some new and untried expedi-
ents should be adopted that will arrest attention,
and result in the general good of all. The old
routine should be abandoned, and something more
worthy introduced in its place. It can be done,
and should be done, or the State bounty be dis-
continued.
We know that others — persons who have well
considered the mattei* — think with us on this sub-
ject, and look at the large sum annually expend-
ed in these shows as being expended without re-
turning a fair equivalent. We fully appreciate
the social aspect of the case, believing that, as
things are at present, this is tlie most impor-
tant. But even that may be greatly enhanced
upon a proper system being introduced. We trust
that something will be done by the Trustees of the
several Societies at their business meetings, that
are to take place to arrange matters for the next
year, that will ensure a new and better order of
things.
SKETCHES OF NEW ENGIjAND.
One of our correspondents recently sent us a
brief sketch of the town of Leominster, Mass., in
which he spoke of its social condition, business,
schools, churches, — population, surface, streams,
ponds, &c.
We shall be glad to receive similar sketches of
other towns. Written concisely, they will prove
interesting and useful. What say our correspond-
ents in some of the dairy towns in Vermont, or
the sheep and wool growing towns, or where the
sons of Nimrod produce the finest horses of the
world ?
Brief statistics of these, or any other depart-
ments of industry, with allusions to manufacturing
1863.
NEW EiVGLAXD FARMER.
355
or other peculiar occupations of the people, togeth-
er with notices of farmer's clubs or other iustitu-
tions, could not fail to be interesting and instruct-
ive to a large number of readers.
.Let us have a few examples from each of the
New England States.
NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HORSES.
The idea so commonly expressed at the com-
mencement of the present war that the Southern
cavalry are superior to those of the North, is ably
discussed by S. B. Buckley, in a late number of
the Country Oeuileman. He says that compara-
^ively few horses were raised in the slave States,
excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennes-
see and Texas, and if the planters wanted to im-
prove their stock of horses, they sent North for
the material, and if a wealthy gentleman wished
nice, elegant horses for carriage or family use, he
went or sent North to buy them. The annals of
the turf show that Northern horses have beat the
Southern, even in speed as well as trotting, and
they certainly are their equal, if not more than
equal, in their power of endurance. Indeed, this
was all admitted at the South previous to the re-
bellion.
Mr. Buckley ascribes the supposed superiority
of the horses of the Southern cavalry to the more
considerate and judicious treatment which they I'e-
ceive, both at home, and after they enter the ser-
vice. He says :
At the South, riding and traveling on horse-
back is, or lately was, much in vogue, and more
especially in all the region not intersected by rail-
roads ; but they rarely urge the horse to a greater
speed tlian a fast walk, or a moderate pace, the
last being preferred, and considered the easiest.
Thus moving, they will average from thirty to for-
ty miles per day for weeks, and even months in
succession, with little or no damage to the horse.
Those in the Southern service are generally owned
by their riders ; and in cases where they are not
thus backed, their owners are in the same compa-
ny or regiment, to see that their horses are rode
carefully, and that they are well fed, and cleaned
at night ; and before mounting, that the blankets
are evenly and smoothly fixed beneath the saddles,
so as not to hurt the back of the horse.
In proof of the correctness of iiis position, that
the inferiority of the horses of the Northern cav-
alry is owing to mismanagement and abuse, he
cites the example of the 3d Indiana cavalry, whose
men own their horse«, and consequently feel a
personal interest in having them well fed and prop-
erly cared for, nor do they, without reason, ride on
a gallop or a run on every frivolous occasion ; and
adds :
Their horses are now in as good condition, with
verj' few exceptions, as when they entered the ser-
vice, nearly two years ago. I was recently told by
an intelligent private of this regiment, that their
dead and disabled horses amounted to less than
fifty, besides which a small number (about 20,)
had been captured by the rebels. There is, I be-
lieve, but one other regiment in the United States
service, where the ownei-ship of the horses is^est-
ed m their riilers, and this is from Pennsylvania.
Mr. Buckley closes with a few remarks at the
manner in which horses are generally used in the
army of the I'otomac.
Uncle Sam owns the horses, and Uncle Sam's
boys, old and young, officers, surgeons, privates
and contrabands, think that he is rich enough to
buy them all another horse whenever required.
So they gallop up hill and down hill, ami very
often this gallop is increased to a run, as I have
witnessed at Aquia, tinough the sands of the Po-
tomac, or over the hills in that vicinity. Even in
the city of Washington, persons have l)ecn in dan-
ger of being over run by these fast riders.
When I first arrived at Washington, several
months ago, I sup|)osed those fast men on horse-
back Mere bearers of important dispatches, and
that some great military-movements were in pro-
gress, but all remained quiet in the army, and I
soon learned that this go-ahead-ativeness on
horseback was a mere army custom.
It is this unnecessary fast riding, and the want
of j)roper care when the horse is unsaddled, which
has killed and disabled thousands of horses in the
army of the Potomac. A gentleman connected
with Buford's brigade told me on tlie 18th inst.,
that there were 1,101 dismounted men belonging
to it at Dumfries, in Virginia, waiting for afresh
supply of horses, in order to move. Yes, we
had tliousands of men belonging to the cavalry,
without horses at the very time when the rebel
cavalry was entering Maryland and Peijnsylvania
on the raid now progressing.
The "Universal Yankee." — The following
item from the correspondence of the St. Louis
Ilepuhlican, while displaying considerable of the
old leaven of prejudice, is good evidence of the
go-ahead character of the true Yankee, who car-
ries his "institutions" with him :
Baton Rouge has'degenerated, and is now noth-
ing more than a Yankee village. The greater
part of the male population have gone into the
rebel ranks, and the females have either departed
for the heart of Dixie, or else take their simff in
the seclusion of back parlors, where tho Yankee
entereth not. Yankee cavalry kick up the dust ;
Yankee idiom is the medium for the interciiange
of ideas on the street ; the roll of Yankee drums
has superseded the tinkle of the ubiquitous piano ;
and the "Bonnie Blue Flag," which bears but one
single star, has given place to "John Brown's
Body." In walking the streets you can almost
fancy that you hear the sound of the hammers of
the shoemakers of Lynn ; and the other day, in
the course of a prospecting tour, to see if there
was anything left that I had not seen before, I
was elecrified by coming suddenly upon a sign of
"Fresh Doughnuts for sale !" Shades of the
Cavalier and lluguenot ! Fresh Doughnuts !
^F* Letters received at the Agricultural Bureau
at Washington from Wisconsin, say that tliat State
will have twenty millions of bushels of wheat to
spare this year after supjilying the home demand.
356
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
GRAPES FOR THE MILLIOIT !
Messrs. Strong & Spooner, the skilful and
enterprising proprietors of the extensive nurs^-j'
grounds at Nonanium Hill, in Brighton, recently
sent us samples of some of their products, which
encourage us to believe that sweet, delicious
grapes may yet be grown in our climate, and in
such profusion as to justify using them as an arti-
cle of food, instead of as a mere luxurj'.
Among the several verieties of grapes was Al-
len's Hijhrid, which, to our taste, entirely surpass-
es in good qualities every other out-door grape
in our knowledge. They state that, when the
vines are covered with earth in the winter, "the
Allen is perfectly hardy, and in summer is very
vigorous, and resists sun and mildew as well as
any ; it is very productive, and ri])ens with the
Concord. Why does it not promise to be to
America what the Chasselas is to France ?"
It may become so, in degree. The grape there
takes the place of bread and meat with certain
classes of the people. Would it not be better for
us if more fruit were used, and less flesh, as a
part of the meal ?
Allen's Hybrid is a sweet grape, and would
prove acceptable to most tastes. We are greatly
gratified with the success of this grape, shall cer-
tainly make haste to plant it in our own grounds,
and advise all lovers of so wholesome and deli-
cious a fruit to do the same.
A specimen of Seedling Crab Apple sent is
fairly entitled to'the term superb. The tree would
be highly ornamental on a lawn.
Messrs. Strong and Spooner will please accept
thanks for calling our attention to the excellent
products of their care.
Frost in the Tropics.— A correspondent of
a Michigan paper, writing at the ancient city of
Augustine, Florida, makes tbe following state-
ment as to the destruction of orange trees by a
severe frost, nearly thirty years ago :
Prior to the year 1835 this vicinity was an im-
mense orange orchard. Matured thrifty trees,
sometimes produced 6,000 oranges, and the aver-
erage produce per annum, of a single tree, was
500. When the business was in its prime the
yearly export was between two and three millions
of dollars, from this city alone; but one night in
the month of February, 1835, a frost cut off the
entire species of the orange tribe. Thus one of the
greatest resonrces of the city was cut off, many
were hurled from the seat of affluence, into pover-
ty and distress. The city has never yet recovered
from tlie blight of that stroke. Many shoots have
sprung up, but have struggled under the pressure
of disease, and the ravages of animalcula, which
prey on the life of young shoots.
Col. Dudley, of Royalton, Vermont, has cut
six tons of hay to the acre this season, which is
recorded as a big yield in the Green Mountain
State.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
SICK CALVES.
There is a disease among my calves that I know
nothing about. The symptoms arc a dry ,husRy cough,
loss of flesh, and in the last stnges short breath, droop-
ing of the head, and froth at the mouth. I killed one
of them and made an examination, and found the
lungs very large and filled with white worms from two
to three inches long, and as big round as a common
pin. My calves were pastured where I have pastured
calves for a number of 3-ears. They have had plenty
of feed and water, and have run alone, except a few
diiys in haying I put my oxen in with them. If you,
or any of your correspondents, can give information
it will be thankfully received by J. F. Whittle.
Jrasburg, Vt., Sept. 1863.
koger's hybrid, and other grapes.
I wish to get some information concerning the nevy^
Hybrid grapes of Mr. Rogers, presuming that somo^
of your readers have this season either fruited them
or seen them fruiting. From what I h.ive been able
to learn concerning them, I have supposed that No. 19
was the most promising one fur Masbuchusetts culture.
Is this opinion correct } Does it prove to be as early
us the Concord ? I should also like to ascertain wheth-
er No. 5, or any of the other numbers, are proving to
be valuable for us here in New England. Will your
correspondent "Saggahew" please throw a little light
upon the matter ?
Brackett's SaedUng was highly commended in your
last volume, and the present season has given further
opportunity for testing it ; no dout>t many your read-
ers would like to hear more about it. Does it ripen as
early as Concord — and prove as valuable as was ex-
pected .' VlTIS.
Remarks.— If "Saggahew" has not the means "of
answering the above, perhaps our horticultural corres-
pondent, Mr. Hyde, of Newton, may be able to. Col.
Wilder is cultivating and tcstingthese grapes, and un-
doubtedly has an intimate knowledge of their merits.
Perhaps he may be able to answer the inquiries.
FAKM DICTIONARY.
Will you let me know through the Neio England
Farmer Monthly, which is the best and most compre-
hensive "Farm Dictionary" published, and where it
can be oljtained, and the price ? I want something
which gives the dctiaition of all "Farm phrases."
Remarks. — The best work in our knowledge is the
Farmer's Encyelopredia. It may be procured at-thid
office for about $'4.00.
"PTJMl'S."
In your last number Mr. Noyes makes some inqui-
ries iu relation to pumps. I hive been experimenting
with pumps for the last forty j^ears, at the cost of somti
hundred dollars — I have tried many of the highly
extolled patent pumps in that time, and have aban-
doned them as humbugs. I know nothhig of West's
l)atent, never having heard of it before. But from my
long experience I have come to the conclusion that
the old-fashioned log pump, when scientifically made,
is the l^est pump for family use, or for watering stock,
yet invented.
Mr. Elkanah Wood, Jr., of Norton, Mass., perfectly"
understands the business, and will furnish an excel-
lent pump at a very moderate cost. 1 have known Mr.
Wo(jd for many years, and have employed him in the
pump line, as have many of my neighbors, and he
has given perfect satisfaction to all. d.
No. Pembroke, Sept. 28, 1863.
pure shake bag FCrWLS.
win yon, or some of your correspondents, inform
me where I can purchase some pure Shake Bag Fowls f
Claremont, N. H. O. D. Blood.
Remarks. — We do not know. Perhaps Mr. J. S.
Ives, of Salem, or some other poultry dealer, can in-
form our correspondent.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
357
For the New England Farmer.
BEMEDY FOK PEACH AND QUINCE
BOREKS.
I have been a constant reader of the Faitner
from its commencement, and have a complete set
of the bound voUimes. As a book of reference, it
is invaluable. The time has come when the farm-
er might as well dispense with the plough and
hoe, as an agricultural paper. The N. E. Fanner
has no superior in this class of journals. The ed-
itors and contriI)utors are practical men, who have
testfd what they recommend to others. Such
teaching will generally prove reliable. I am
f)leased with the interest this journal takes in
ruit culture ; which has become an interest of
much importance in this country.
As choice fruits increase, and improved modes
of culture, the depredators upon fruit seem to mul-
tiply. I'here is none more destructive than the
borer. The peach and quince Aiil mainly through
Its operations. Remove the ])est, and we can raise
these fruits as formerly. Would not an effective
remedy against this evil be of great benefit to the
country? Such a remedy has been found. In a
peach orchard of 150 trees, four trees treated with
this application were never molested ; the others
received every attention, and the borers were often
dug out, still the gum oozed from their trunks, and
in three years they were all dead ; whilst the four
above-named were vigorous. Apple trees were
treated the same, and their vigorous growth and
lively foliage were in strona contrast with those
marred and disfigured by the borer.
This remedy not only protects the tree, but des-
troys many insects, and if all fruit-growers would
make use of it, their numbers would soon dirain-
isli. No person planting a new, or having a
young orchard, should neglect this safeguard.
Now is a good season to attend to it. The trouble
is much less than using the chisel and knife and
without any injury to the tree.
Persons wishing further information, may get it
by addressing F. N. Tiiaykr, of this town.
Blacksfone, Sq^f. 14, 18G3. H.
Remarks. — We have omitted a few lines origi-
inally in the above article, because they came in
the form of an advertisement. The subject, how-
ever, is of such importanc^i that we are williiig to
open the way to a better knowledge of it.
For the Naw England Fanner,
BETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
Economy and Skill in Managing Manures.
— In the last of this series of "Notes" the writer
took occasion, from finding, in a recent issue of
this journal, two excellent articles on the suljject
of manures, abounding in hints and directions of
much value, to commertd the same to the atten-
tion and adoption of all who desire to make their
farming not merely profitaljle, but also a source of
that kind of enjoyment and satisfaction which
arises from a consciousness of judicious or first-
rate management. The writer intended at first to
make a few comments upon some of the many ex-
cellent suggestions contained in die two articles
referred^o, and to add a suggestion or two of his
own, so as to increase, if possible, the practical
utility of said article; but on taking pen in hand
for this nuroose. the discoura.'fin? fnct occurred
to him that there is an almost universal neglect-
fulness in relation to manures, and hence much
occasion to fear that even the most sensible direc-
tions about managing manures would not arrest
the attention of those concerned as much as their
utility and value might give them a valid claim
thereto. This fear made his proposed task seem
so little likely to be productive of much good that
he set it aside, and devoted his time to tracing the
general neglegence and wastefulness as to manures
to its most probable source, and to the presenta-
tion of such facts and considerations as might
prove that there is a quite prevalent undcr-cslima-
iion of the real value of manures, and as might
contribute to the removal of this radical mistake.
It seemed that it might be almost in vain that O.
K., or Capt. TUCKEU should write the mo.-'t valu-
able suggestions, or that another should attempt
a similar labor for the benefit of brother-farmprs,
as long as there existed so extensively such a gen-
eral indifference as is manifest in the prevalent
wastefulness and negligence as to making the very
most of everything that will fertilize. It was the
purpose, therefore, of the preceding communica-
tion to show the erroneousness of the common
under-eMimaie of manorial mdterial, and to give
examples of the losses incurred by those who fail
in supplying this essential r.utriment to their
growing crops. The loss from this source must
be a large one, taking all the States into the ac-
count, if the estimate by Sec. Flint that Massa-
chusetts alone suffers a loss of a million and a
quarter of dollars, or each of her farmers on an
average about twenty dollars annually, for want of
a reasonable degree of care and attention in say-
ing and using manure.
If, now, the facts and considerations presented
in our previous communication (Retrospective
Notes in issue of N. E. Farmer for Sept. oth,)
should have availed to produce the intended im-
pression, there will be on the part of many a high-
er estimate than ever before of the value of ma-
nures for fertilizing the soil and feeding the crops
of a farm ; a greater readiness to give attention to
such suggestions as those of O. K., and Captain
Tucker in the weekly issue of August 1, and the
September number of the monthly edition of this
journal ; and more or less of a fixed R-solution
henceforth to em|)loy more economy and skill in
the managing of manures, and to save and use
everything that can possibly contribute to fertilize
the soil or feed the growing crops. Ifwliat has
already been said has availed to produce a con-
viction that much loss in crops and profits is the
consequence of the common negligence and waste-
fulness as to manures, there will be more or less
of a determination to accjuire all ])ossil)le informa-
tion and skill, and to use all possible economy in
this department hereafter.
To such as may have formed such a resolution
we would again commend the articles of O. K. and
Capt. Tucker already mentioned, and submit, also,
the following additional suggestions relative to
skill and economy in the use of manuriul and fer-
tilizing substances generally.
C^ne of the most notable instances of a want of
economy in the management of manures is that
quite common one in which the barn-yard is not
hollowed out in the centre or otherwise ])repared
to prevent leadiing away of the very riciiest por-
tions of tlie contents. Unless the barn be snout-
35^"
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
ed, and other measures taken to prevent water
getting into the yard, beside what may fall direct-
ly upon it in ram, and if liquid in any quantity
runs from it after rains, there is a loss of a half or
more of the original value of the contents of such
a yard. But this is a kind of mis-management so
often reprobated as to make farther remarks upon
it but little needed.
In some sections of our country, perhaps even
in thrifty New England, there is a great want of
economy in allowing the dung of hens and other
poultry to go to waste. Bushels and even barrels
of it go to waste on a great many, or perhaps a
majority uf farms every year. This is certainly
the more remarkable as it is pretjry generally
known that, tcJicn kept dry and othencise properly
cared for, it is not far behind guano in real value.
Perhaps as guano is sold at about $60 per ton, or
three cents a pound, in and near seaports, and as
transportation would make it cost considerably
more in inland localities, it would be no over-esti-
mation of the value of good hen-manure to call it
worth $40 per ton or two cents per pound, in any
locality more than 50 or 100 miles from the sea-
coast. Now as guano, when unadulterated and
when judiciously used, almost always produces
ample paying returns, and as hen manure, when
composted with muck or other suita1)le material,
has been found to yield returns, in corn and other
crops, not far behind guano, is it not almost unac-
countable that a manure well worth twenty or thir-
tj' times as much as ordinary yard manure per ton
should be so generally neglected and unused ?
Of other neglected sources of fertility and plant
food, and of other opportunities for the exercise of
economy and skill, we may have occasion to speak
at some future time. INIORE Anon.
For the Ke:c England Farmer.
S"WALIiO-WS AND GULLS.
Being one of your subscribers, and a constant
reader of your paper, T notice that your ear is
open to listen to all why may have anything valu-
able to communicate, as well as answers for the
many questions asked by your inquisitive subscrib-
ers. Living up here in a high, hilly section of
New Hampshire, I have noticed this season a few
incidents which may be useful to some, and en-
tertaining, perhaps, to many.
You, or some of your subscribers, in one of the
July immbers of your paper, observed that the
martins and swallows leave your vicinity some
time about the 27th of July. I noticed that here
the swallows' were more plenty than usual at tliat
time ; that they were together, often on the roofs,
of buildings and fences, and were full of chat and
very sociable, and there appeared to be many young
ones with them. They remained, however, with-
out any apparent change until past the 20th of
August, when we had a very heavy shower with
much thunder and lightning. The next day there
were but few swallows about, but they soon began
to be more plenty, and some of them evidently
but lately out of the nest. They began again to
gather upon the buildings and fences, and were
quite plenty until the 27th and 28th of August.
Occasionally we saw a few flying up high until 1st
and 2d of Sept., then all disappeared.
Their first appearance here was somewhat duri-
ous. Quite early in May, or last of April, one
pleasant evening, I was riding down a hill, the
road running in a gorge, or valley, north west.
As I came near the muddy marshes, or meadows,
the swallows came rushing up the valley by thou-
sands, flying northwest to southeast. I never saw
them ia such flocks before. This was the first of
their appearance last spring. Where did they
come from ?
Another incident occurred here on the first of
August. We had a very heavy shower of rain
with thunder and lightning, and a powerful wind,
which concentrated upon the road leading from
Marlow to Stoddard in a perfect whirlwind, tear-
ing up trees by the roots and damaging buildings.
The next morning after the rain, in the road near
the Ashuelot river, I saw a most beautiful bird
somewhat larger than a dove. He was in the
road, which was lined on either side with alders,
weeds and tall grass, and was trying to make his -M
escape. ^
I caught him and found one of his wings brok-
en. This was tied up and cared for and soon got
well. It proved to be a sea-bird of the gull spe- ■
cies. He was very fond of fish and and a bath, fl
and would wash himself several times a day,
seeming all the time to be entirely contented with
us. On Sunday, August 9, however, while all
were at meeting, he left, and is probably in some
of your Massachusetts bays. How came he so far
from the sea coast up among our rugged hills ?
Marlow, N. H., 1863. p. T.
For the New England Farnier.
TOBACCO IN HAMPSHIRE COUTSTTY.
Tobacco. Who would have thought that this
lovely valley was destined to become a tobacco
growing region ! That these beautiful fields were
to be perverted to the production of the filthy
weed ! Yet such is the fact. The tobacco fever
has become an epidemic, and is fast becoming a
mania. Very few escape. Unlike other fevers it
never turns, but goes on, increasing in intensity
until it becomes chronic, and will doubtless burn
while the fuel lasts. Many, who last season
boasted their "virtue fixed" — who were principled
against the heresy and would never defile their
hands or pollute their soil with the filth, are now
letting land to their neighbors, or, mayhap, per-
mitting the "boys" to raise an acre or two, or three
or four — the father, lil^ good old Eli, winking at
the pecadilloes of his sons, by building a large
barn, tobacco sheds, in which to screen their j:>fe«-
der.
Church members seem about as eager as others
to enter this scrub race. There are, however,
some worthy exceptions — some who have not yet
"bowed"' down to this idol. I know of no cler-
gyman whose love of the narcotic has led him to
engage in its culture. And multitudes of good
men all around us, (on the hills,) though they
have looked down upon our golden fields with
moistened eyes, have refrained entirely from the
production of the stinking plant. Cause — why?
They had not a foot of land adapted to its pro-
duction. Our friend Trask will need a new engine,
if he is to withstand the mighty current which is
now surging up through this valley. I opine that
it is no easy matter to make even a good man see
a moral consideration, when a gold dollai^s press-
ing down each of his eyelids. Well, we are most-
ly in for the production of the weed. It would fill
your down-easter with wonder and amazement to
1863.
NEW EXGLAXD FAmiER.
359
see with what a rush we go in for getting rich on
other men's sins.
Like slavery, tobacco must have room. The best
ground upon the farm must be taken. All the
manure upon the place, and as much as can be
purcliasc'd is collected; as if to secure a con<jlom-
eratiou of filth that would make a grateful offer-
ing to Cloacina herself. Then from early s])ring till
frosts come the tobacco crop is the pet child. .It
must be cared for, nursed, dressed and caressed,
at the expense of every other crop. The next
thiuii: is to h'in<j\t. After fondling and dandiingit,
all sunnner, the j)roducer turns hangman and looks
about for a gallows. The ordinary barns and
sheds of tlie farmer will not answer. A tobacco
shed must be erected. What grows upon an acre
and a half will require as much ground as is cov-
ered l)y an average-sized Xew England barn. In
providing tiiese sheds there must be no delay, so
great has been the demand for shelter in this re-
gion, that the whole working population has been
in a state of fever for the last two months, grow-
ing out of tobacco. All the lumber yards have
been stript and every lumber mill, within reach,
has been put to the top of its speed to produce
the needful for building siieds. Every laboring
man whom money could induce to work has been
detailed to cut, haul and hang tobacco.
Ask a laborer to assist yi/u in gathering your
corn or hay, — "Don't talk to me about such tame
business as that till the tobacco season is over."
Thus you see, we, wliose convictions have not
yet been entirely obfuscated by tobacco fumes, are
made to suffer by the prosperity of our neighbors.
As the frogs said to the boys who were pelting
them, ''It may be fun for you, but to us 'tis death."
Hampshire, Sejit 20, 1863. U. B. II.
DIVORCE AJSTD BEVENG-B AMONG BIRDS.
The Shields (England) G'ro'Ke has the follow-
inj» curious story of animal life: "In the interior
of the Tyno Dock wagon shops the attention of
the workmen was, aijout a week ago, attracted to
the movements of two sparrows engaged in con-
structing a nest in a hollow where two girders met
for the support of the iron roof. For several days
they l.ibored most assiduously in preparing their
abode, when, by some sudden freak, the progress
of the tiny fabric was suspended. A few morn-
in;rs afterward the ears of the workmen were sa-
luted by loud chirruping and liuttering of wings,
and from what transpired subsequently it was evi-
dent that the female bird had severed the connu-
bial bond, and enlisted the affections of another,
who now vigorously contended with the rejected
bird for the possession of the nest. For several
hours the conflict continued, until the usurper
proved the strongest. The rejected bird shortly
afterward returned and hovered about the spot,
apparently watching an opportunity for revenge.
This speedily occurred, for in the course of a short
time the newly-joined pair left for a brief period.
In their absence the defeated sparrow approached
the nest, and placing his back beneath the feath-
ery mass, raised it from its resting place and sent
it to the ground. The surprise of the other birds
on their return, at beholding the demolition .of
their dwellin.;;, appeared to be great, and was
amusing to observe. Notwithstandin;^ this disas-
ter, however, they commenced to build a second
nest in the same place, the rejected mate watch-
ing their proceedings with apparent interest. Af-
ter two days of incessant labor they again left for
a short time, and taking advantage of their ab-
sence, the disappointed bird again demolished
their feathery residence.
A BATTLE SONG.
The effect of a stirring song or tune is oflten
electrical. The western armies have one of this
character called "The l^attle Cry of Freedom,"
which is described in one of our exchanges as of
most potent effect :
"In either Grant's or Rosecrans' army it only
needs to be started to be cauglit up from camp to
camp, till it spreads for miles over the wliolc army.
Dy order of a general commanding one division
of tlie Army of the Cumberland, the "colonel of each
regiment is directed to start the 'Battle Cry' when-
ever the army goes into action, and the effect of
thousands of voices united upon the chorus :
'Tlic I'nion forever, hurrah ! boys, hurrah 1
Hown with llio traitor, up with the star,
While wc rally round the (lag, boys, rally once again,
Shoutins; the I3at!le Cry of Freedom I '
is described as awakening a frenzied enthusiasm
perfectly indescribable.
It is evident from its effect that this is one of
the few songs not written 'to order,' but written
because the author cotdd not help it. The great
number of thrilling circumstances under which
this song has been sung in tlie army, added to its
popularity. When Gen. Blair's Brigade, that led
the assault upon Vicksburg last fall, after being
hialed again and again upon the enemy's fortifica-
tions only to see each time a ghastly proportion
of their numbers go down in death, were at last
ordered to retire, the brave fellows closed up their
shattered battalions, and came out of the smoke
of that terrible carnage singing :
' Yes, wf'II rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the Battle fry of Freedom ! '
We are not surprised that the remembrance of
that scene drew tears from the officer who des-
cribed it to us. And when, after months of hard-
ship, assault and battle, these same troops ran up
the Stars and Stripes over this same rebel strong-
hold. Gen. McPherson and staff, on the cupola of
the Court House, fittingly started the same song,
and we can iinagine with what a will it was sung
by Grant's entire army."
Tuep: Planting. — It was stated in an article
lately published in one of our daily papers that
the French government encourages the owners of
mountain land to jdant forest trees, and that ac-
cording to official returns nearly 30,000 acres were
planted last year. The government have six houses
for drying seeds of forest trees. In 1861 it had
473 nurseries, and 359 were added to them in
1862, capable of producing -10,000,000 plants. As
an encouragement to further efforts, one instance
is mentioned of a tract of 150 acres being offered for
sale in 1844 at 7000f , but no buyer could be
found at that price. It was then planted with the
Scotch fir, and is now valued at more than 70,-
OUOf.
Opportunities, like eggs, must be hatched when
they are fresh.
360
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Nov.
PEOSPECTUS FOR 1864. j PRICES.
We call the attention of our Monthly subscri- ' Sej^t. 23.
bers to the Prospectus of Volume XVL, for 1864, Beef,ist,2a,3dqual o\n%i
, -, rrr ^ ■ " extra and premium. .. ..8| a8J
upon the fourtn page of the cover. We desire sheep* iambs, each $3^54^
to enter upon the new year with an increased cir- j " (old) ^ & 5 a 6
culation, ar.d hope they will make up and forward '''"'»e,8tores, w'sale 5 asj
their club lilts as early as praciicable. For terms, ! ^j^^ ^^^^ j^ '^^ ' _!»_
which are exceedingly low for such a publication, Betf bides, ^ ft 8 §9
we refer to the Pro.sp'ectus. ' P^its, sheep & lambs — S—
Tallow, ^tt. 7 37 J
Sept.30
Orf.7. Oct.li
0JS8J
0 @8J 5 @8J
8159
H%H S4§9
$31344
$3is44$3iS4i
5 S6
5 86 5 aSJ
5 afi^
4ia6 4iS5i
oJ«7
SJaej 5 g6
— 3—
ajgC 55 g8
8 59
8 §9 8 g9
— 5—
$ija-$Hti|
7 a7|
'i 59 Tias
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Remarks. — The foregoing figures indicate a large supply, a
steady market, and high prices. Xotwithstanding the fact that
l>eef is nearly one- third higher than it was one year ago, and
stores in about the same proportion, it will be noticed that the
number of cattle at market during the past four weeks has aver-
Thoaghls Saggeeti d by Jfovember Page 329
Cattle f^how at .Nashua. N. H 330
Instinct of .Vppetite — Bushes 331 I aged over one thousand per week more than for the correspond-
Short Trip .Among the Mountains 332 ' ing four weeks last year, and for the previous five weeks the ex-
On Raising Seedlings 3-33 | cess this year but little less ; and that the sheep and lambs at
How to P.<.move <Jbiiruction3 in Drains 334 1 market during the pa?t two months have also outnumbered those
Ivy PoiKm. Caution 3:}5 I sold during the same time, last j'ear, full one thousand per week.
Grape Culture, Wines and Wine Making 336, 349 | -And yettrade was more spirited, the stcSck was sold off cleaner,
Sandcracks in the H«<rse'g Foot. 336
Selection of Seed 337
Plows and Plowing — Horticultural Xotes 338
Illinois CTieese— .^Salting Hay 3-39
Letter from the Farm 340
Grass, an E-jay 341
Our Best Cattl-; and Sheep .344
Extracts and Replies 344, 3o6
Notes from the Mo-iomack — Portable Mills 343
Little Things — Triumph of the United .-^tates 347
Harvard Farmer's Club — Trot at Vermont Slate Fair 348
Oy.sler Shells as a Manure 349
A Sketch of L-.ominster, Mass 3MJ
Salting Hay — Michigan Agricultural College 351
Working Farmer — Illinois Farmer 3.52
Plums and Curcali>— Domejtic lieceipts 3.03
Roaring Horses 3-,3
Our Autumns i Cattle Shows — Sket'?hes of New England 3.04
Northern and Southern Horses — The "Univ-.rsal Yankee'". .3;' 5
Grapes f'jr the Million — Frost in ihe Tropics ZrA
and the market closed raore favorably for the drovers, and con-
sequently for farmers, on the last market day than on either of
the other th ree above reported, with perhaps the exception of
sheep, of which there was a large supply last week.
The trade in store bogs is dull and the number at market
small.
Hides and tallow firm, and pelts advancing.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, October 14, will in-
dicate the state of trade during the month, and will be valuable
for future reference as an example of prices in "'war times."
I. A. Blake sold 7 three-year-olds for $297, or 6J^c ^ ft. ; 7
heifers for $196, cr 6c i? lb., and 9 others to Mr. St .-wart for
§193, OTo'^c^ tb
Mr. Miller sold 11 steers and 1 cow the last of his lot of Cana-
da rattle, to W. E. Gowing, at 5>ic#'ft.,on the seller's esti-
mate.
Mann & Fields sold their best oxen, 4 at 8c, and 2 at 7,'^c.
Remedy for Peach and Quince Borers .3.57 I ""'"" "^J" f "ff", young cattle and cows, according to quality,
from b to 7c if' lb.
F,. Flint sold 2 oxen or steers, plump little fellows, to dress
about 1700 lbs., at 7 >ic, and a pair some 200 fcs. heavier but
coarser, for 6y,c ^ ft.
O. & H. E. FiGeld sold one forward and one fat two year old
heifer, of their own raising, and "worth the money," for $30
each.
E. Wheeler sold one pair of oxen at 8c, and one pair, 16 cwt,
for 7c, and young cattle, a good lot, at 6 to 6,yc f lb.
M. T. Shackett sold an extra pair f f 2400 ibs. oxen for 8)^c,
CATTLE MARKETS FOR OCTOBER.
The fjUowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending October 14, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Retrospective Notes ^\
Swallows and G ilU — Tobacco in Ha.-np^hire County 3.08
Divorce and Rnvew^c among Birds — A Battle Song 3.j9
Prospectus for 1864— CaUle JIarkets for October 360
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial I.,etter "T" ...^ 329
Sandcrack in Horse's Foot— 3 cuts 337
Roaring Horses— 2 cuts 353 I ami 10 of 975 fts. each, for 73/ci to Saunders & HartweU; d
■ I Ih -ee and four-year-olds to Mr. Chapin, laid at 800 lbs., for 7c ;
^""""^ - ' 8 three-year-oMs to Mr. Lowell at 6,'.jC, and 4 two-year-olds for
6c, and 2 two-year-olds and 2 three-year-olds to Mr. Knights, at
6c, He had also in his yards one large fat cow that he laid at
lO-'O lbs., and a couple of fat two year old heifers to dress about
800 Ibs. each. A butcher who was looking at lliem remarked,
"Those look like Wcstim." "They are Western— Western
Vermont," was replied, "which can raise as good cattle as any
other West."
W. I. .Sabin sold one extra pair of oxen to S. S. Leamard for
S.'jC W &., and another pair laid at 2200 lbs., for 7J.^c ; one ox
to W. E. Gowing for 6c and 2 steers to Mr. Sampson for 7c.
A. N. Monroe sold 30 Western steers live weight 13.50 lbs.
each, at 8>^c, dressed ; Gof 1347 lbs., at7c,35sk ; .5 of 910 fts.,
6J^^c, 37 sk ; 40 premium oxen as follows: 1 pair -3330 fcs., at
I 9c, 3< sk ; 10 of 1476 lbs. each, 9 , .30 sk ; and 28 of 1464 fts..
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep 9c, 34 sk ; 21 others, 1S64 lbs., at8%c, 30 sk ; 3 at 8/^c, 30 sk ;
from each State for the la.*?! four weeks, and for the correspond- ' and 3 others of 1022 fca., at 7 J^c, >i sk.
ing four iveeks list year ; also the total number since the first of 1 J. A. York sod a fiair of good work'TS, 6 ft. 8 in., five year-
Jaattary, of each jcir: I old, for $102 ; a pair of five year-old. 6 ft. 8 in. at home, well
THIS TEAE. LAST TEAR, | matched, for $1(8 ; a pair of straight five-year-old, good 6 ft.
Catt'e. S/iffp. C'ttt'e. Slifep. ' 6 in. at market, for .$115 ; a pair of seven-year old, 6 ft. 6 in.,
5497 2127 4491 , for $75 ; 10 yearlinjrx at .S1O..0O each ; 15 two-3;ear-old3 at $16.00
.3418 1.^569 1.J78 , each ; 4 others lor $82 .oO, and an extra pair of two-year-old
12,263 44^0 12,435 '• steers, 5 ft. 11 in., f ;r $00.
— 254 72 i J. L. Prescott, of E. Wilton, Me., sold one pair of four-year-
23.37 707 2108 ' old oxen, fine form, well matched and trained, weighing at home
1210 2577 940 3100 lbs., and measuring tt;ere 6 ft. 8 in , for $135 ; also two
9921 231 8906 oUier pairs 7 It. oxen, 6 and 7 years old, but more ordinary, for
' $115 V p^iir. He sold tTO-ycar old heifers for $15 to S-^O each,
one three-year old heifer and calf for $25, and another one of
the same age, for $45, and better worth the money.
Sept.. 23.
" 30.
Oct. 7.
" 14.
Cattle.
..3907
..4205
..4129
..■ifi-j:i
SJteep.
8708
8872
8200
8^03
Total.... IS,*!?'!! .34.645
ftltotcf.
6.v0
GOO
7tO
400
2400
Fat 11(1 i;t.
12fJ0
1725
3<J00
ICOO
6925
Fcali.
75
£.0
50
50
225
Maine 4875
New Ilarapshiie 2-014
Vermont 4021
Mas'-achu'^ett-' 102
Northern .Veiv York 483
Western States '2808
Canada 1 0<J5
Total, last four weeks 15.868 34,646
Total, since Jan. 1,(42 w'k8,).76,42a 385,987
DEVOTED TO AGRICDT.TUKE AND ITS ELLWDK^
VOL. XV
BOSTON, DECEMBER, 1803.
NO. 12.
XOURSE, KATO.V & TOI^AX, Pkopriktoes.
Office... .102 Washington Street.
SlilOX BROWX, Editor.
GITR HEXT VOLUME.
A j'ear ago, at the commencement of the pres-
ent volume_ of the Fanner, we were obliged, by
the rapid and unprecedented advance in the cost
of paper and all the materials of printing, to
adopt some course by which the additional ex-
pense of publishing our journal could be met. Of
the two alternatives presented, that of reducing
the number -of pages, or of increasing the price, we
decided for various reasons to adopt the former
one, hoping that the progress of the war would
soon restore business to its customary channels,
and enable us to return to our regular size. We
have been disappointed. The year has passed
awav without ending the war, and the price of all
kinds of commodities has continued to advance.
Under these circumstances we shall be obliged to
continue on for the present without increasing the
size of our magazine.
We regret this as mum as any of our readers
can do. We should be very glad to have so large
a list that a very small per cent, of profit would
compensate us for our time and labor, but with a
small list the proportionate expense of publishing
a paper is much greater, as there are certain ex-
penses which are always fixed, and are neither re-
duced by the reduction of circulation, nor enlarged
by its increase.
The demand upon the advertising columns of
our weekly issue has become so great as to com-
pel an enlargement of that, and as that will some-
what increase the amount of agricultural reading
we shall be able to give, the contents of the
Monthly Avill be carefully selected, and only such
matter published as is of permanent value.
We believe we shall make the Fnmier deserv-
ing of the support of every agriculturist in New
England, and we hope not only to preserve our
present list, but io add largely to our circle of
readers.
W'" - :* rv^ry one of our subscribers, besides
con, : ias (iwu subscription, send us the name
I of one or more of his neighbors, to be put upon
, our books for the new year ? We offer no large '
' sounding premiums for this service, but reduce
our terms to as low a figure as we can afford, and
intend to give our readei-s the value of their pay-
' raents in the pages of the Farmer itself, without
feeling that we must make it up to them in some-
other way.
I Now is the time to make your effort in this di-
rection, and we ask all, either single subscribers
or clubs, to send in their orders promptly for the
: year 1S64,
IMPLEMENTS AT THE ILLINOIS FAIB-
The show in this department, it is said, has never
been excelled in the character and variety of im-
plements and machinery-. The Prairie Farmer
speaks of two new ones which we noticed some
months ago :
CoMSTocK's Rotary Spader. — There was
much interest expressed to see this implement
tried. As promised by Mr. Comstock, the ma-
chine was on the ground and was the centre of a
crowd of spectators during the whole fair, A s]x»t
of ground within the enclosure was set aside for
his use, and the machine was frequently put into
use, cutting up the ground three feet wide and
eight inches deep, being drawn by two horses, al-
though the team that should be used would be
four horses. The impression made on the people
I present seemed to be of the most satisfactory
I character.
I TJirson's Grain DixnrR was on exhibition by
' the inventor, W. W. Ilurson.of llockford. It was
attached to tlie J. II. Manny reaper, the same as
at the trial in IMxon. The machine was constant-
: Iv thronged with visitors during the week, mak-
ing a very favorable impression.
[jp* The culture of sorghum or Chinese cane for
syrup is becoming extensLve in Connecticut. In
tlio south "part of the St.itc largo crops have l>een
raised for three or four years. In tlio vicinity of
New Britain, this year, the crop has been exten-
sivtly cxperimcntod upon, and so fir lias proved
a success.
362
NEW ENGLAND FAR^EER.
Dec.
THOUGHTS FOK DECEMBEK.
"Wljen icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick, the shephtrJ, blows the nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall.
And milk comes froien home m pail :
When blood is nipt." — Sha^sfea&e.
"Poor, naked wretches, whereso'er yoa are,
That bide the pelrings of the pitiless storm,
Hoir shall your houseless heads and unfed sides.
Your loop^ and windowed raggedness, defend yon
From seasons snch as these ?" Shakspeake.
IXTER, in this
region, is truly
a season of
dreariness and
desolation, t o
such as the po-
et describes. It
comes upon us
^^^J^ with its stem
^^^^^ and forbidding
brow wreathed
about with clouds,
and mounted on
the car of storms as the conquer-
"^ or and annihilator of all that is
bright, and beautiful, and lovely on earth. Des-
olate Winter ! The shorn fields are palely gleam-
ing in the spectral sunlight — the grand old woods
are the temples of silence, sa^ where the icy
winds, moaning through their verdureless aisles,
tell us that "Nature is passing through the dark
valley typical of death." Yes, Winter is here in
all bis stern and stirring pomp. The long nights
have come, the long, dark, winter nights, when in
social isolation we draw the heavy curtains, and
sit down by our hearths to meditate and to dream.
The light has left the starry skies that bended
over us in youth, and the heavy storm-charged
clouds roll up, and grow heavier and darker as we
muse. From the present we turn back with mem-
ory, and over all the past we wander.
"Once more the fiiggot blaze is bright
rx>on onr father's hearth ;
Once more the shalows en the wall
Invite to sinless mirth.
Once more our mother's voice we hear,
An echo from the past.
Recalling love too sweet and pore.
And scenes too bright to last."
How well, at such times, do we remember the
little cottage nestled, amid the gray old hills, and
the whole picture of our childhood's home — its in-
nocent sport-1, its warm and unselfish affections,
and the old familiar words that rang out from the
old familiar lips their silver syllables. And with
what an intense joy, as this cloud-land rises upon
our mental vision, do we listen again to the joy-
ous laugh, the gush of the heart's sweet song, and
fancy that we feel the pressure of lips long cold,
once more warm and loving upon our own. Again
"They come in dim procession led,
The cold, the faithless and the dead ;
Each hand as warm, each brow as gay.
As if we parted yesterday."
The glad beaming face of the young creature we
first worshipped with all the innocence of love's
first delusion, sparkles with the radiant beauty of •
those happy hours. The mother, in that quiet
chamber, with the dim lamp and snowy curtains
gleaming out from the comer, where we knelf at
her side and listened to the evening prayer, lifts
her white hands to her brow again, and says, —
"God bless and keep thee, my boy !" God help
us now ! how have we wandered since our souls
first felt that earnest benediction ! At such times,
if ever in this life,
"We lift our tmsting eyes
From the hills our fathers trod.
To the sunshine of the skies,
To the Sabbath of our God."
But hark ! 'Tis the voice of the tempest in its
wrath. It has the voice of a demon out there.
Our thoughts are driven homeward by its wild
tones, and the Present once more triumphs over
the Past. Another picture is presented for our
contemplation — a picture of the poor, the needy
and the desolate, who sit shivering ragged and
desolate. The pallid brow and sunken eye of the
invalid mother, around whose slowly-beating heart
no earthly hope sheds its blessed light, sits sur-
rounded by her starving and helpless ones, and
growing paler and sadder as the storm rolls on.
To her, alas ! beyond the sombre and desolate
walls of her own dwelling, the world is a blank.
Its sympathies and its charities are foreign to her
wants. Pale weeper by the cheerless hearth !
the winds that are eve# now wailing thy requiem
up in yonder sky , are not colder than, sometimes,
the charity of this cold world, — but it is not all so.
As we sit by our own bright hearths, surround-
ed by the blessings of God, let us remember the
poor. As we partake of His bountiful goodness,
we should think of those upon whom the storm of
adversity has broken, and the clouds of affliction
poured their bitter rain. A little, judiciously dis-
pensed from the basket of our abundance, will
cause many a cold heart to throb with gratitude,
and bring the sunshine of joy to many a desolate
home. No man can better afford to be charitable
than the farmer, for, of all men, he is the most di-
rectly and abundantly favored of Providence, and
should, therefore, be the most willing almoner of
His bounties.
"He who giveth to the poor, lendeth to the
Lord."
^^ Late English papers state that the potato rot *
has suddenly appeared in Ireland, destroying a
large portion of the crop. This fact has tended to
increase emigration, and the people were leaving
in large numbers for Canada and the United States.
1t«53.
XEW EVGLAXI> FaSMTR.
5«3
ba:d
Toe
neuee :
CsimtT, P^
the .ilaeir
:: i'v-cr h if :: :^? -TTiid*
i-iuT to c: r:~ '-' - : 1"- "r detail* -»f
icid :*:r:-r I'TStj- I bi-^r 1 bos-? t'
ranai?- ihrc-:-^ wbiM I ciaa tlriw winter
tjZ .-.■-.
iaUt tike Jaarvest w^ca, v:
bat oee board of sboat&f.
ton. Thecdf wasbeld inthe • —
its l«s fieqaerth- &fiiag tfcn^r'-
sdn^of 1^ miffl» boi, r'
brnxA tmi verr coBch fiipi
a ilwrant fieid wad tnaed i:
lieedS:^ sseen, -v^duBBti
raa tbe e^ srovnd the fidd
«f Itomdi a£ber a fox, t31 '.
I ihwiMlMl IIB III III IM llllllj
tihwghl w^ drill &e; tt M^:
^er apoened as v2d as a -
vouli go icts the field. At irree veic
a eali. and mitt coi»id?rz*:*e ::::^rr
got it <o qoiet as to &ii
It ^t i^bia twemg ir-
Sbh^ vhea a bmb v&» i^c^.
nasesif aad was nearly as wiLi £-
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364
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec
PARING AND BURNING.
In England, when lands become exhausted and
foul, the farmer sometimes proceeds to renovate
them by what is called "paring and burning."
This process is carried on with great facility and
despatch, and, as we are assured, with results al-
together satisfactory. In this country, however
the attempt to renovate impoverished lands by
this operation has rarely been made. We have
experimented on a few acres and found the pro-
cess encouraging. Mr. SoTlIAM, at Hereford Hall,
near Albany, is the only individual this side the
Atlantic, of whose experiments in this depart-
ment of agricultural improvement we have any
definite account. His experience demonstrates the
practicability of renovating exhausted fields by
this process, as well as its economy. The opera-
tion consists in cutting a thin slice from the sur-
face of the soil, whether in grass or foul with
heath, fern, or other spurious vegetation, and after
allowing the sods, thus detached, to dry thorough-
ly in the sun, — to facilitate which they are gener-
ally deposited in heaps, burning them slowly,
without open combustion or a very intense heat,
to ashes. The product of the combustion is a
mixture of burnt earth, charred vegetable matter
and the ash of that part which is entirely consum-
ed. The object of paring and burning may be
considered as three -fold — each distinct: First,
the destruction of insects; second, the clearing of
the soil of spurious vegetation, and, thirdly, the
supplying a healthy and stimulating food for the
sustenance of valuable crops. The manure thus
obtained ])ossesses a specific charactei', and is very
powerful, being liberally impregnated with alka-
line salts and carbonaceous matter, and acts as a
powerful promoter of vegetable development,
r "In England," says a late writer, "paring and
burning the surface is an almost invariable pre-
liminary in the conversion of waste lands into til-
lage, and when these lands are in a 'state of na-
ture,' overrun with wild plants, which cannot be
easily brought to decay by simply burying them
in the ground, burning is the readiest and most
effectual mode of destroying them. In this case,
the practice is recommended and approved of."
We have in ihis country a large amount of land
— now in a state of partial or entire unproduc-
tiveness— which might, perhaps, be rendered high-
ly fertile by the adoption of this method of re-
clamation. Indeed, it has been resorted to quite
■extensively in our swamp and bog lands, but these
are not, in our judgment, the lands whence the
greatest benefits of this process may be derived.
We should be glad to see it introduced on upland
soils, which, in consequence of excessive cropping
and neglect, liave become foul with spurious veg-
etation, and req\iire some cleansing process before
they can be profitably worlied, or made to produce
a remunerating growth of any kind. There are
thousands of acres of old pastures of this charac-
ter in New England, densely covered with low
bushes m spots, and occupying one-half or two-
thirds of the whole surface. Cutting these bushes,
and merely burning them on the ground, Mill not
effect a cure — the remedy does not go deep enough
— but if the whole surface over a given limit is
pared, and when the roots, bushes and turfs are-
dry, the whole is slowly burned, the ashes scat-
tered, and a little grass seed of various kind*
sowed and raked in, we think there will be an ef-
fectual reclamation. It may be objected that great
labor will be required to accomplish this. We ad-
mit it — but if great results follow, that labor will
be well expended. We hope some of our enter-
prising farmers will try this method, on a small
scale, at least. Where ^a?m^ is done, the bushes-
need not be cut, as they are so many levers, or
handles, to assist in peeling off the surface. In
all old soils, also, there are generally multitudes
of insects which prey upon the roots of vegeta-
bles ; and these will be either destroyed by the
fire, or expelled by the ashes spread upon the sur-
face after the burning has been completed.
The grass growing on one acre of land thus re-
claimed, would probably be worth more for pas-
ture feed than that growing on five, or even tea
acres, of old bushy and mossy pasture-land. An
important question with our farmers for many
years has been, "How shall we reclaim our ex-
hausted pastures ?" Let this plan be tried, if only
on a few square rods, and ascertain what the re-
sult will be.
BINDING MACHINE.
At the late "Reaper Trial," held under the di-
rection of the De Kalb Co., 111., Agricultural So-
ciety, there were some twenty different reapers,
mowers and binders tested, during two days.
From a lengthy report in the Fiur^d New Yorker
we copy the following notice of "Marsh Brothers''
Self-Raker and Hand-Bind'er."
It is a novelty. It is drawn by two horses,
driven by a driver who sits elevated high over a
large driving wheel which propels the sickle, reel,
and an endless apron. The grain falls on this
endless apron, and is carried on it up over the
driving wheel and over an upper cylinder at the
right of the driving wheel, falling into a trough.
On a platform beside this trough stands two men
who bind the grain as fast as it falls there, — each
alternating with the other in binding a l)undle.
These men stood under an awning of cotton to
keep them from the sun. This machine cut five
feet wide. Its draft, according to the report of
the Committee, was 325 pounds. It carried three
men. The team did not appear to labor hard. It
is true they were not hurried. After cutting once
around the field, both men binding, one of them
sits down on the binding table, quietly folds his
arms and looks on. The other, one of the Marsh
Brothers, binds the balance of the acre as T st as
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
365
the marhine outs it. It is pretty snug work ; but
the binciiug is well done, and without great efl'ort,
apparently. Yet some one suggests that he can-
not do it all day. His blood is up instanter ! lie
oflfers to bet that he can cut, with one man to
drive, and bind alone, twelve acres in twelve suc-
cessive hours. No one takes the bet ; but sundry
neighboi-s who know what he can do, cry, "Yes,
Sir, and he will do it, too." But let us see what
data he has from this time test upon which to
base this bet. How long was he cutting and bind-
ing this acre ? Fifty minutes, the official timer
eays. The wheat stood up finely, was a pretty
good stand, and was probably a fair average test.
Tile field was well cut. There was not a particle
of waste. No cleaner field was found after any
machine. No better bound grain was set up dur-
ing the two days. These are very suggestive
facts, which will not be lost upon the inventors
and reaper men present, you may be sure.
"OF MY OWN" RAISING."
In a late number of the New Hampshire Jour-
nal of Agriculhire, Mr. Z. Breed gives the result
of six years' experience in wheat raising. He first
tried winter wheat, but now prefers the spring
wheat, for ihe cultivation of which he gives the
following brief directions :
In the first place, the weevil is pretty sure to
attack it if it blossoms when the fly is ready for it.
To avoid this difficulty the seed should be put in
early. To accomplish this the plowing should be
done late in the fall. A slight coat of manure on
the surface is what I begin with in the spring.
The ground is well harrowed and levelled. The
wheat is washed, poured upon the barn floor and
thoroughly coated with slacked lime. My grass
seed is mixed with the wheat. It is all put on the
ground together, thoroughly harrowed and rolled.
Thus managed, my crops are all good, and six
years of this kind of experience gives me full con-
fidence in the plan. Good crops are raised on
sward ground, turned under in September, and
treated in the spring as described above. The ex-
posure of the soil to the frosts of winter prepares
it for the grain, and the straw will stand up better
and the grain will be more perfect than when the
plowing is done in spring.
Mr. Breed thinks his success authorizes him to
assure the farmers of New England that many of
them may enjoy, with him, the satisfaction, bor-
dering on pride, of being able to say to their
friends who eat bread at their tables, "This is
made from wheat of my own raising ;" a remark
he suggest, that makes one feel a little larger —
as though he occupied more space in the world
than he does when tt^ling the price of his last
barrel,, or saying whether it was branded "St.
Louis" or "New Orleans." Mr. B. further dis-
courses as follows, upon the interest which we all
have in the result of the labor of our brain or mus-
cle, and which is as much a part of our reward as
the pecuniary compensation received or expected.
One always has an affection for his own. The
products (^f his own labor are nearer and dearer to
him than any other. They are a part of him. He
has worked himself into them. His thought and
his muscle have been expended in their produc-
tion. No matter upon what one labors with brain
and hand — it becomes his own. It is the result
of his effort. Let him scrub up the bushes and
stum])s upon an old bog ; dig in mud and water
and drain it; the time comes when he will go a
little out of his way to walk over that ground and
compare it with what it was before. He treads
the firm ground under his feet with an earnest,
proud step that others know nothing of. This is
all right. He is getting his reward. His pocket
feels it, too, but the lover of improvement does
not reap his reward entirely in dollars and cents.
He has changed tlie future of nature from a for-
bidding, unproductive aspect, to a pleasant and
productive one. In the contemplation of the
change he has wrought he gets a portion of his
pay for labor expended.
PRICE OF ■WOOL.
A New York farmer who is holding on to his
clip of wool for a higher price, which he believes
will yet be offered, gives the following reasons
through the FMral New Yorker, for the faith that
is in him :
I claim that wool is absurdly low, — I mean the
yarme/s wool, — though I am by no means sure
but it will stay so. I think forty cents ])er pound
would be about the average that Western New
York farmers have received for their wool in past
time. JkVhenever it has taken a plunge down, as
it often has, it was owing to a sudden contraction
of our currency. A short supply of hank favors
has very frequently tumbled wool down ten or
twenty cents per pound, and now that there is no
limit to nfoney that can be had for "good paper,"
I know ivot why wool should not tumble tip at
least ten cents per pound ; — in fact, the deprecia-
tion of our currency is such that fifty cents now
is not more than equal to forty cents in the aver-
age of years ; so we will call it fifty cents. The
army demand may reasonably raise it five centfs,
by reason of the greater consumption and destruc-
tion of garments, so we will call it fifty-five cents. We
muH import a part of our supply, the price of
which determines, by a law of trade, the value of
the remainder; and as we virtually pay for it in
gold, worth about thirty-one ])er cent, premium, this
should advance wool about twelve cents, from which
we are to deduct the five cents already allowed for
inflation, making seven cents, which leaves wool
at sixty-two cents per pound. The absence of
cotton, (and it can't come again in a month at the
wave of a magician's wand.) creates a very great
additional consumption of wool, and ought at the
least to advance wool eight cents, which leaves it
at seventy.
Now it is well known that as cloth advanced,
we hung to our old garments till they would not
hang to us ; and there is now a necessity for more
than an average purchase of clothing through the
length and breadth of the land, and the universal
emi)loyment given to labor, and the abundance of
cash, will insure these purchases to be made, se-
curing a fall and winter trade never better in the
history of the country, and this should advance
wool at least five cents, making scventij-fne cents
per pound, which is all that I ask for my clip! I
don't say that wool will bring this, but I do say,
366
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec
that if it don't, farmers arc cheated out of their
Just dues. We must take the twenty-five cents a
pound that is vounchsafed when our miserable
currency system takes a tumble ; but when pro-
pitious gales blow we are denied the benefit,
tiirough preposterous fears and unscriptural com-
binations ! One of my workmen has just bought
a coarse gray coat for nine dollars, — that could
have been bought for five before the war — and
since the ])rice of making it has by no means
doubleil, the material in the coat costs the con-
sumer twice what it once did, and yet wool is sell-
ing hereabouts for fifty-five and sixty cents a
])ound. I advise nobody — I protest, as in duty
bound. H. T. B.
For the New England Farmer.
LETTER FROM THE HILLS.
The best farms and best roads are in the valleys.
Ilence, those who ramble will rarely write yon
about farming upon the hills, which are either a
majority, or plurality, in New England.
This is Orange County, Vt., very hilly, — indeed,
all hills, did not hills mean valleys, too. From
many good pastures all the high mountains in this
State and New Hampshire can be viewed, and the
tourist can be well paid for rambling over ihem.
Their sides are so steep, that the man who cleared
them would, at first thought, seem to have been a
simpleton. Cattle, feeding on their sides, some-
times lose their balance and roll down, as I saw,
yesterday, was the case of an unlucky ox. The
soil itself, once clasped by the roots of tl^e trees,
falls by its own weight. Great ti"ees grow at the
height of 3000 feet above the sea. Mount Mans-
field has timber all around the Tip-Top House fit
for firewood, though the last three or four hun-
dred feet of the peaks are naked.
Vermont, thus clothed with forests and soil, has
little waste land, and is amazingly rich in sheep,
cattle, horses, and in butter and cheese. Sap-
sugar, the best of all good things, is had almost
for the asking. The sugar maple is llie natural,
spontaneous shrub, bush and tree. Cut off the
first growth and up spring the maples — so thick,
that an old resident assures me tlictt at the end of
twenty-five years, the soil is exhausted and spoil-
ed, so prolific is the second growth. Many of the
sugar orchards have an undergrowth of maple
chapparal, requiring roads to be mown every year
in which to gather the sap. This county is riven
in twain by a fissure, through which an affluent of
White River comes to the South Royalston depot.
On one side cattle are sometimes troubled with
bone-ail, showing a deficiency of phosphate, while
on the opposite side of the valley there is no com-
plaint yet, and milch cows fatten or fail-up as
they are driven from one side to the other. Glanc-
ing at the deficient soil it shone in the sun like a
silicious loam. But such sand, on such hdls, when
was it made? That boulder tlicre glitters, too.
Limestone — mica. Is mica magnesia ? I don't
remember. Well, this soil is very soft, ploughs
and works easily, grows great potatoes, (none for
your market this year,) fine buckwheat — or the
Indian wheat as it is called here — oats and spring
•wheat. Some fields come into red-top easily and
naturally, others into red clover. In June, the
the dandelion colors the pastures as far as the eye
can reach. I am assured that newly cleared land
will not give a good crop of spring or winter wheat
as it did forty years ago. Hence, timbered land
often is w'orth no more than pasture, and the own-
er will give the timber, Avood and first crop, for
clearing it. The first crop will be potatoes, sec-
ond oats, or wheat, with risk of mildew.
There is some tendency to an absorption of
small farms into large ones, with tenants, or mort-
gagors, though Vermont's energetic young men do
not all emigrate. I see my friend's A\ E. Fanner
is receipted to 1865. His hay crop looked formid-
able. One, "Davis' Improved," was all the mow-
er in market. May be he could cut over some of
his smoothest land with a machine. He ventured,
carefully, a little further, and further, walking be-
hind and watching and tending over the most ap-
palling rocks and ofi"sets, stone-heaps and trees,
cutting a maple an inch in diameter inside the
bark. His team, by the way, was a light one and
soon learned not to go through even a light ob-
struction, but back out. It is true that knives
and guards caught it somewhat. But these are
plenty. The mowing-machine has gone up, with
a witness, to the hill-tops and Mill never come
down. So, builders, go on ! Be ready for the
next camjiaign. The haying w'as finished mostly
by the loth of September, though a little grass
yet remains to be cut. The potato blight came a
little before the 1st of Sept. What is it, physio-
logically ? It arrested them instantaneously, to
all appearance, when but one-third grown. The
rot also prevails to some extent. Instead of send-
ing two hundred thousand dollars' worth to mar-
ket, as she has done some years, Vermont has no
more than enough for herself. Hay is large in
bulk, corn is uncommonly fine, oats and wheat no
more than middling in quantity or quality. Ver-
monters are good livers, good citizens, good pat-
riots, hos])itable, and if your correspondents by
habit will but encounter her hills as well as vales,
lying so often like a half-opened fan, they will find
ample materials for useful and entertaining letters
to your readers. A. M.
Chelsea, Vt„ Sept. 24, 1863.
For the New England Farmer,
HORTICULTURAL K"OTES— XyTo. 3.
A few words about cherries, a fruit that ripens
with the raspberries. It has been a valuable fruit,
though of late it has not done well. The trees are
recovering, however, from the injury they received
a year or two ago, so that there was considerable
fruit this season. Years ago, the Black Tartarian
was, perhaps, the very finest variety raised, but it
is now hardly worth growing extensively. The
trees become diseased. Very early cherries are
of no great use, for the birds take them all. There
are many varieties in the catalogues of nursery-
men, but not a great many of them are planted to
any great extent. The leading sorts for market
are : — Black Eagle, a very fine cherry by the way.
Downer, a rather late red cherry, tree hardy, pop-
ular market variety. Black Tartarian, very large
and fine, not so popular as formerly. Sparhawk's
Honey, or Honey Heart, a red cherry, very sweet
and good. Napoleon Bigarreau, a hard-fleshed,
red variety, cracks badly in wet weather. Black
Heart, is an old, and somewhat popular sort.
Coe's Transparent, is a very handsome, light-color-
ad fruit of lai-ge-size ; promises well. Mayduke, a
very early, red cherry, quite acid, good for cook-
ing. Early purple Guinge, a dark purple fruit,
\
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
367
very early, the best of the season. A great many
fine cherries are annually gathered from trees that
never have been budded or grafted, and yet are
good cherries. The varieties that have been shown
at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, this year, were Elton, Belle de Choisy, a
pretty good cherry. Napoleon Bigarreau, Black
Bigarreuu, Walsh's Seedling, &c. The exhibition
of this fruit has been very meagre.
The cherry crop comes at a very busy season of
the year, just in haying time, so that with the oth-
er obstacles in the way, its cultivation is hmited.
I cannot think it can be very profitable.
Blackberries have attracted considerable atten-
tion within a few years. First in the list, accord-
ing to my experience, comes the Dorchester Seed-
ling. This, when well grown, is very large, long,
quite black, sweet, and of good flavor. Some say
bitter sweet, and prefer a more aci^} berry. If for
table use, I should say without hesitation, Dorches-
ter Seedling is the best, holds its color well, and
is valuable for home use or market.
The Lawton caused considerable excitement
among fruit growers when it was introduced to the
public. It*s a very large fruit, not so long as the
Dorchester, but thicker, color black, quite acid,
unless fully ri])e, when the fruit turns red, which
is a great objection to it as a market fruit ; great
bearer, and a desirable variety for those who wish
to make blackberry wine, or for home use, when it
can be left on the bushes until fully ripe. This
variety is more popular in New York markets
than it is in Boston. Winter kills badly, should
be laid down like the raspberry.
Rose of Sharon, is a large fruit, in shape a«d
color very much like the Lawton, later. When
fully ripe, is a good fruit for the table, not a great
bearer. On the whole, not a desirable variety. I
have dug it all out of my grounds, not finding it
profitable.
Needhara's White, was cultivated to some ex-
tent a few years ago, but is not worth the room it
occu])ies ; nor is any white blackberry I ever saw.
Holcomb, is a new variety exhibited at Horti-
cultural Rooms by Hovey & Co., and tested by
the committee. It is a good fruit, of good size,
and when fully ripe rather tender for market, per-
haps ; worthy of a further trial.
All the prizes this year were awarded for Dor-
chester Seedling Blackberry.
The blackberry does much better on a stony,
clayey soil, than on light lands. They should be
laid down in winter like the Raspberry, to ensure
a full crop. On a soil well suited to this crop, it
will prove profitable.
The Summer A])plcs are on exhibition with the
Blackberries, and I will devote some space to a
notice of the leading sorts.
Early Harvest, is an apple of fair quality, ri-
pens early in August, good size, not a great bear-
er,— fruit often cracRs badly, too uncertain, and I
should not advise any person to undertake to
raise it for market. A single tree for home use
will answer.
Sopsavine, is an old variety, and a favorite with
Bome, good grower and bearer, fruit fair quality,
rather tough, may do to grow for market.
Early Strawberry, is a small apple, beautiful, of
a bright red color, good quality, but too small for
profit for market — the tree is' a very upright
grower.
The Williams Apple is probably the most popu-
lar market apple among the summer varieties,
its size and magnificent color, when allowed to
ripen on the tree, make it very salal)le. It is not
a high flavored fruit, and for qualitj would rank
almost or quite second rate. It requires peculiar
cultivation, of which I will briefly speak. It should
be left to ripen on the tree, or it will not color up
well. It does not ripen all at once, but continues
to ripen and drop for some two or three weeks.
A person intending to make this variety profi-
table should have several trees of it, say from five
to twenty, which he should keep well trimmed
and rather thin of wood ; and which he should
manure freely — don't be afraid to do that — then
he should mulch the trees as far as the limbs ex-
tend, with meadow hay, or something of that sort,
so that the a]3])les as they drop, will not be bruised,
— for the Williams should never be picked from
the tree but allowed to ripen and color up fully,
and then drop, when they may be picked up daily
and sent to market. The advantage of having
several trees is that one or two days' picking will
furnish enough to make it an object to send them
to market. If treated as recommended above,
they will be very fine, and will always command
a ready sale with good prices ; this year a high
price. The best Williams apple tree I ever saw and
the one that produced the largest apples, stood
right by a cow-yard and got the benefit of a pool
of manure water.
No apple on the whole list will better pay for
cultivation than the Wdliams, when properly
grown. This variety took the first prize at the
Horticultural Rooms this year, for summer ap-
ples.
The River is a good apple, rather sour and not
a first-rate bearer, and for some reasons not very
popular.
The Foundling is a fruit resembling the River,
though more irregular in form and of superior
quality ; color yellow, striped and splashed with
red ; tree a poor, straggling grower.
The Red Astrachan is a very handsome apple,
of good size and quality, though rather too acid
to suit some ; it has a bloom like the plum ; fruit
usually of good size and fair ; good bearer alternate
years ; excellent for cooking.
I will close with the Primate which is one of
the very best of apples in quality, tender and fine,
good size, of a whitish color ; good bearer, but
will not probably be a popular market fruit. All
lovers of good apples should have a tree of this
sort. These comprise most of the early apjjles of
the finer kinds, or certainly those most generally
cultivated. J. F. C. H,
Sappers and Miners. — A farmer located in
Ridley County, Kansas, is much annoyed by the
gopher and'mole ; both of whom, he writes to the
New York Farmers's Club, "burrow under ground,
and in our light, rich soils, perambulate in every
direction, eating the roots, and thus killing vegeta-
tion. Many fields of sweet potatoes, which flour-
ish finely and produce abundantly here, and many
of the common potatoes, are nearly destroyed by
these animals. In many cases, in spite of all our
efforts, our gardens are nearly destroyed by them."
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
SOUTH DO^WIsr BUCK, ARCHBISHOP.
We present to our readers, this week, a portrait of
the buck Archbishop, imported by Samuel Thorn,
Esq., Washington Hollow, Duchess Co., N. Y.,
and the sire of the sheep recently purchased at
Mr. Thorn's sale, by our friend, Peter W. Jones,
of Amherst, N. H.
Archbishop was purchased by Mr. Thorn, of the
late Jonas Webb, Esq., Babraham, England, in
1860, at a cost of 250 guineas ($1250.) He was
'the winner of the first prize in the yearling class
at the show of the Royal Agricultural Society at
Canterbury, that year, and, as will be seen by ref-
erence to the catalogue of Mr. Webb's last South
Down sale, was more largely used by him than any
other sheep. Mr. Thorn has always purchased the
best sheep to be had in England, regardless of
expense, which accounts for the high prices ob-
tained by him at his sale. We know of no flock
of South Downs in America that wiir compare
with his. At his recent sale, a large collection of
people gathered, representing nearly every State
from Maine to Texas, and many who intended to
purchase were obliged to go away disappointed,
in consequence of the limited number put up by
Mr. Thorn.
We think our friend Jones will be able to show
some fine specimens of South Downs, having add-
ed his recent purchase of Archbishop- and Segar
stock, to his former flock which were bred from
Mr. Thorn's No. 112 Buck, and imported Webb
Ewes.
The Hop Crop. — Accounts indicate that the
hop crop will not be equal in quality to that of
two or three years ago. It is expected that there
will be a surplus over the demands of the Ameri-
can brewers of about 25,0(10 or 30,000 bales. Hops
of choice quahty will command a high price. I
MARES IN FOAL.
Mares near foaling should be treated gently,
and not be made to trot quick upon a rough road,
or be put to any work of a jerking or jarring na-
ture, lilv2 harrowing or ploughing rough, uneven,
.stony, or stumpy land. To enforce these words
of caution, a correspondent of the Albany Culti-
vator relates the following singular exhibition of
instinct in case of a mare in foal :
A neighbor was ploughing, near to where we
were at work, a field which had never been effec-
tually cleared of the stumps of large white oak
and hickory grubs. The piece had been grubbed
by job-work, and grubs which should have been
taken out by the roots, had been cut oS" merely at
or near the surface, so that the man ploughing
could not see or shun them. Of course, every
now and then the plough would strike one, and
either severely jerk or stop the team. One of the
team was a mare not very far from her time of
foaling, and whenever the plough was caught by
a grub, she would turn partly around and look at
the driver, as if she would have liked to tell him
that that was not proper work for her. Finally,
after showing more and more her reluctance to
start again, she refused absolutely to draw at all.
She had never shown any disposition to be balky
during a service of seven years ; and at our sug-
gestion that the mare instinctively knew that the
jerking Mas injuring her or her colt, she was re-
leased from attempts to force her to continue the
work.
Price of Apples. — The highest figures in
New York we learn are $2,65 per barrel. Many
farmers have contracted their apples in Orleans
county, for from $1 to $1,50. It is thought that
the winter fruit will be worth about $1,50. A
few days ago agents were pei'ambulating some of
the apple growing districts and offering three dol-
lars per barrel for the fruit. It was noticed that
they offered much more liberally than they bought.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
869
Fur the New England partner.
SEEDLING PEARS— DR. SHURTLEFF'S
LABORS.
Since the a])pearance of a former communica-
tion of mine (fcjept. 19,) on the subject of raising
seccUiniT pears, 1 have had the pleasure, by invita-
tion of the proprietor, of viewing the new native
pear trees and their fruit of Dr. Samuel A.
Shuktlkff, of Brookline, Ma!>s. It was a wel-
come treat, and would have been so to any one in-
terested in the subject matter ; for I know of no
one else in this country who can show fifty hand-
some pear trees, from twelve to fifteen feet high,
and from two to four inches through, all g-own
from seed planted ten or fifteen years ago, growing
as standards upon their own roots, and now in a
bearing condition. I say I know of no otehr per-
son, who has had the conception, the zeal, the pa-
tience aiid perseverance, in the matter of raising
new seedhngs, to enable him to gratify the profes-
sional horticulturist or tiic amateur with so rare a
sight as Dr. S. is enabled to present. If there is
such a person, he is morally bound to advertise
himself!
Dr. Shurtleff formerly resided in Boston, at
Pemberton Hill; but as his professional duties
began to undermine his health, at about middle
life he retired to llie place he now occupies. This
was something like a quarter of a century ago.
He has always interested himself in horticulture,
and now, v.hile in the "sere and yellow leaf,"' his
zeal is not abated. How can it be otherwise, with
fifty new seedling pears in bearing, and still oth-
ers coming on ? A taste for horticulture is a
source of llie ])urest enjoyment at any season of
life ; but particularly hai)])y is he, who, in its de-
cline has the leisure and the objects for its perpet-
uation.
The trees referred to are interspersed with oth-
ers over about three acres, I think ; and to make
room for some of them, a row of vigorous Baldwin
apple trees were uprooted ! They are from the
seed of some of the most hardy and ap|u-oved
kinds in cultivation twelve and fifteen years ago,
and no arts have been practiced to induce early
bearing, but they have been left to take their nat-
ural course and time. The soil on which they
stand, is a strong low land, (once the cow-pasture
of one 01 the Revs. John Cotton,) and the culture
has been only ordinary. Most of tliem show
thorns, but a few have none ; yet nolhing very def-
inite is decided from this fict. Of course, a di-
versity of growth is exhibited, but the proprietor
observed that they generally made more wood than
his grafted trees.
Dr. 8. has fruited fifty varieties, but ten of them
he woiked over, as they were quite ordinary ; and
he will be signally fortunate, if a large portion of
the remainder do not deserve the same treatment.
He has Ibrtj-four in fruit this year, ten of them
for the first time, while thirly-four fruited last
year. He remarked thatoneofhis seedlings orig-
nated from, or was influenced tiy the St. Michael,
Brown Heurre and Bergauiotte, and that the fruit
partakes of the qualities of them all. He has
aimed to |)roduce a few early pears, but more late
ones, liv planting the seeds of early and late kinds ;
and liis etlorts have resulted in fruit ripening from
August to the first of May, the latter of which he
calls the "May Flower."
Of the particular value or quality of these pears,
it is perhaps rather too early yet for any one to
decide, as they have just begun to fruit; and some
of them will probaldy improve. A few favorable
notices, however, have been received ; but the
Doctor says that some of them are "as fine as he
ever tasted." Those that were in eating at the
time of my visit, were very good. Indeed, it
would be very remarkable if he had no excellent
ones among the number he has fruited. Some or-
dinary, and others fit for nothing, are of course to
be anticipated ; for such was the experience of Van
Mons, and is of all others engaged in like enter-
])rises. Some of them, certainly, were very large
and handsome; the "President," for instance, be-
ing as large as the Beurre Diel, and very much
like it in appearance. Xo doubt it is a product
from that variety. One named "Gen. Grant" was
very handsome, being in size and apjjearance like
Sv;an's Orange. On one tree I noticed a bunch
of beautifully looking SQckels, as I thought ; but
no, they were seedlings — probably from that pop-
ular variety as its female ])arent. "But this is the
Vicar," said I, at another tree. No, it was only a
product of it. The one of these is almost a Seck-
el, and the other very near a Vicar. So of the
"President" — showing, it is quite clear, that the
female parent will sometimes very nearly produce
itself; and such has been previous observation.
The female parent generalbj seems to exert the
greater influence on the progeny.
The best of these pears will probably be dissem-
inated, and then a more decided opinion can be
formed of them. Some may stand the criticisms
of time. But whatever the proportion (jf good or
bad, the man wdio has labored so assiduously as
has Dr. Shurtlefl to produce hardy seedling pears
of good quality, deserves the gratitude of all who
know the fact, and will not be forgotten in the bis-
torv of the civilizing art of horticulture.
West Mcdj'vrd, Oct., 1863. D. W. Loturop.
OBJECTIOJJf TO THE RAREY PLAN.
Mr. Editor : — Evidence is rapidly accumulat-
ing, going to show that the Rarey plan of train-
ing horses is not likely to meet with favor for any
great length of time at the hands of horsemen,
either in America or England, as it is found that
curbs on the hocks of horses is caused by his
method of breaking colts. Much was said and
written in its favor in both countries, a year or
two since. Every other ])lan and device was
thrown into the shade. Rarcy's method was the
only one by which horses could be safely, speedily
and surely made subservient to the will of his
master — man. The tide of oi)inion has changed,
and horsemen of every shade are as much opposed
to it as they were formerly in its favor. This is
but what I expected. One extreme will always
leail to cniother. Why this change? Let us see.
Sprain on the posterior straight ligament of the
hock, curb, if you please, is the result, in the ma-
jority of cases, where horses have been brought
under the influence of Rarey's method. The whole
weight of the animal is thrown (by Rarey's plan)
upon the hocks and luiunrhcs ; hence, if the animal
be young, and much struggling, as is nearly always
the case, then c)/;-6 is the result. This is perfect-
ly natural, when undue weight is thus suddenly
and fbrcildy thrown upon the straight ligament of
this complicated joint. More of this hereafter.
R. McCluke, V. S., in L'uUurist,
370
NEW ENGLAND' FARMER.
Dec.
Fvr the Netc England Farmer.
THOSE HUNNING "WHITE BEANS.
"How can they be harvested ?'' There are two
ways in which the thing can be done. If you have
a spare loft in any of your farm buildings, having
pulled the beans and hayed them two or three
days — turning them each day — lay them round on
poles, loosely, in said loft, and most of them will
ripen in a couple of weeks. Those too immature
will shrivel up, and will not thresh out with the
rest. If you have not the spare room, pull them,
and cut or break the vine, where the well-filled
pods end. These will dry by haying in the sun ;
and the green vines with the immature pods are
excellent food for jour cows, Avho will greatly rel-
ish them. By all means, don't let King Frost
touch them while standing in the field. He spoils
all that are not dry.
Premature Birth of Calves.
In the Farmer of Sept. o, this subject is briefly
touched upon by a correspondent and by the Edi-
tor. I have no theory on the subject ; but some
facts I have learned by ex])erience. Five years
ago one of my best and healthiest cows dropped
her calf in February, four months before the proper
time. She showed no signs of illness before or
afterwards. By careful treatment she came to
milk, and did tolerably well. The next Novem-
ber another cow, in full health and in milk, drop-
ped her calf in the pasture, just before sunset.
She showed no signs of injury or of excitement,
and continued to do well. It at once occurred to
me that when I salted my cattle that morning, as
I was in the habit of doing once a week, by lay-
ing a small handful on some flat stones in the
pasture, all the other cows refused the salt and
went after api)les, wliile this one ate greedily, tak-
ing most of what I intended for five cows. Since
then I have salted my cows in the stalls. I lost
no more calves till last February : I was feeding
to my milcli cows some clover rowcn, which was
put in the barn rather green and well salted. One
cow was particularly fond of it, and in giving the
last feed at night, I put in her manger a large
flake of this clover just as I took it from the mow,
without shaking it up at all. The next morning
she had dropped her calf. Thus in two out of
three instances I can connect it with the eating an
undue quantity of salt, whether the connection is
that of cause and effect, I cannot say.
Framingliam, Sept. 28, 18G;}. a. H. T.
Fur the New Enslaiid Fanner.
FRUITS IJN" THE NOKTH-'WEST.
The impression has not only prevailed here at
home, but' as gone abroad, that a~i)i)les, pears and
other hardy fruits, would not do well here. Un-
der this impression, few trees were planted out.
A few, more venturesome people, jjlanted out or-
chards. Although many of them were sadly neg-
lected had little care, and in some cases were posi-
tively abused — to say nothing of the sins of omis-
sion— yet under all these discouragements, they
have yielded their owners fair supplies of fruit,
for_ family use, for the last half-a-dozen years.
This year, and for two or three years, several or-
chards in this county have yielded their owners
from one to five hundred bushels of fruit. The
mass have taken courage. Almost every farmer
has, or is about to .»^t an orchard. Yet "the fail-
ures will be numerous. Not caused so much by
the M'ant of the necessary constituents, either in
soil or climate, for successful fruit growing, but
from ignorance and want ot care in the oichardist.
No man, with a fair allotment of brains, ought to
expect a fruit tree to grow, bound down by grass
and weeds, or browsed down by cattle, or girdled
by mice and rabbits, or half-skiimed and torn out
by the roots, by long raking whifiletrees and care-
less drivers. Yet, this is the treatment that many a
farmer has given his trees. Such men begin al-
ready to cry out, that it is no use to try to raise
fruit in our climate. That they have tried it to their
satisfaction. Tell them to look at the orchard of
Farmer B. Thrifty, vigorous and ])roductive.
Trees loaded to the earth, with luscious fruit.
The reply is, "O, he has been uncommon lucky.
The first he will know his trees will all be dead,"
Why can't these men see that Farmer B has suc-
ceeded because he has taken proper care of his or-
chard ? We defy the whole lot of croakers to
point us to a single instance of total failure, where
proper care was exercised in the selection, setting
and tending of the trees. You might as well ex-
pect Indian corn, or j)otatoes, to grow sponta-
neously, as a]3ples. or pears. You, at the East,
understand this matter. We, at the West, will
lear'n it by experience, if not by precept and ex-
ample.
So far from the raising of hardy fruits, such as
the apple and pear, in the north-west, being a fail-
ure, the more intelligent vote it a decided success.
In my next, I may detail some of the experience
and practice of our more successful cuiuvators.
L. L. Fairciiild.
Rolllny Frairlc, Dodge County, Wis., Oct., 1863-
FIGHTIlSra WEEDS RESOLUTEIiY.
Mr. C. Close, of Grattan, gives the following
account in the Michigan Farmer, of his mistake
in sowing foul seed on a new farm, and of his late
persevering efforts for their extermination, until
they are now so scarce that he and his men pocket
all the stray intruders they find in the field, take
them to the house, aud put them carefully in the
fire.
Nineteen years ago I commenced on the farm
I now- own. — it was new, the country here was all
ViCw — and I sliould have saved myself much trouble
if I had taken the pains I have since learned were
necessary to procure clean seed, and prevent the
growth of the numerous noxious weeds which in-
fest our farms. The first wheat which I sowed
contained considerable chess and ccckle. I con-
tinued to sow the same, without much effort to
clean the seed for six years ; at that time, on ac-
count of sickness, I was obliged to sow wheat af-
ter wheat. The result was, that I had to run my
wheat three limes through the mill to make it
passably marketable. Chess and cockle grew al-
most everywhere on my farm. I made u]) my
mind it would not do ; and I set about fighting
the wiiole noxious tribe, and I think I have about
conquered, as I have not found a single he?.d of
chess in my wheat this year, and but a very few
stalks of cockle; and without attempting to argue
the interminable chess question, I can say, that I
know that wheat never turns to cliess. My method
has been to sow none but dean seed; to plow my
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARJIER.
371
fallows before chess or cockle had ripened ; atul
after a few jears they were so much reduced in
quantity, that, without taking much time, my men
at liarvest pockdcd cvcvij spenr iltcy could find,
and it was iuhen to the house and burned. Now I
think I have, in this matter, about arrived at the
goal I liave so long been seeking, viz: a farm free
from chess and cockle. Farmers sometimes say,
"I don't think it will pay to take so much pains,
1 raise chess and cackle, and get as much for
my wheat as any body." Well, I am sorry to
say that tliis is too much the case — buyers do not
make the difference in the price that they should;
bul'during the ])ast year I have got as high as five
cents a bushel above the market price for wheat
that had not received any cleaning except that
which was done by tlie separator when it was
thrashed. Then, again, if five or six thousand
bushels of worthless stuff is annually taken to the
market v.ith the wheat raised in this State, sotnc-
hody is the laser therelj/.
For tin: AVff England Parmer.
CHARLTON.
Mr. Editor : — Having been much interested
in the vivid picture of Leominster given by your
correspondent from that place, I venture to offer
a few words relative to anotb.er ancient town in
Wc^rcester county, to which I recently paid a
visit.
CliarKon is situated thirteen miles southwest
from Worcester, and is intersected near the north-
ern boundary by the Western railroad. It is near-
ly as old a town as Lecmiinster, having been in-
corporated as early as Hob, and from that day to
this has been almost exclusively an agricultural
community. No whirr of spindles is heard iiere,
no sound of forges, only the shrill whistle of the
])loi;ghman. One boot factory and a small auger
factory are the only exceptions to the leading pur-
suit of the ])eoi)le. But do not conclude from this
fact that we have nothing interesting to relate.
Charlton is a perfect type of rural enterprise and
prosperity. With one exception (Barre) it is the
largest town in Worcester county, occupying an
area of 25,878 acres. The lands are elevated and
somewhat rough, but the soil is strong and rich,
and well adapted to agricultural ])urposes. ^Lmy
small streams rise in the highlands and form the
head branches of the Quinebaug river, by which
the southwestern part of the town is watered.
The farmers of Charlton do not risk their suc-
cess on the fickle shiftings of any one source of
profit, but by a happy combination of all the dif-
ferent branches of agriuuliural investment ihey
manage to secure a bountiful harvest of some sort
every year. A few raise stock ; some make l)eef ;
many give their attention to the dairy, while oth-
ers pay more or less attention to each of these
branches. Of the latter class is Mosks D. Wil-
liams, whose farm is situated on a belt of the el-
evated land extending east and west through the
town from Oxford to Sturbridge. This belt is
probably as fertile a tract of land as can be found
in the county. Mr. Williams is one of the lead-
ing farmers of the town, both in respect to the
extent of his operations and the energy wiih
■which he prosecutes them. Possessing a rich,
strong soil, his farm is admirably adapted to dairy-
ing and beef tnaking, both of which inteiests,
judging from the long rows of cheeses, and the
whisperings of neighbors in regard to enormous
prices obtained for certain pair of fat oxen, are
carefully attended to.
Considerable attention is being paid here to the
improvement of dairy stock. On the farm of
Col. Caim;n I saw a thorough bred iJurham bull,
weighing 20jO pounds, which took the first premi-
um at the late fair at Sturbridge. And of native
stock there are some as handsome steers in this
town as any boy ever swung whip over. In short,
if any man wishes to see Yankee farming as it is,
wishes to see what enterprise and industry can do,
wishes to .':ee tasteful farm buildings, comfortable
school-houses, good roads and few paupers, let
him spend a day in old Charlton. Viator.
Worcester, Oct., 18G3.
For the y'ftr Fni;laiid Fnrruer.
BREEDS OF SWINE AND THEIK MAN-
AGEMENT.
An essay read before the Concord Farmers' Club, by N. H.
Warren.
Thomas G. Fessenden, in his book entitled the
"Complete Farmer," says, "Notwithstanding their
evil propensities, filthy and mischievous habits,
and insatiable voracity, swine are very profitable
animals to a farmer." I tlunk we shall all agree
that this is true, and that the hog is to the farm,
what the rag-bag is to the ju-udent housewife. I
am aware that there is much prejudice in the com-
munity against the hog, so that very many delicate
l^ersons who can drink a glass of wine stam])ed
out of grapes by the bare feet of a dirty perspiring
man in the south of Europe, cannot eat a piece of
nice fresh pork, because the hog is so gross and
filthy. Then others believe that some diseases are
aggravated, or brought on by eating meat as fat
as the lean of a good hog. But if these hog-,
haters will give the hog his due, and not ascribe to
his flesh what is due to hereditary taint, or their
own excesses, I am satisfied that the hog will come
out of the trial unscathed.
Of the breeds of swine which have been kept in
this vicinity within my remembrance, nearly all
have died out as pure breeds. Twenty years ago,
in order to have a good pig, you must have a Berk-
shire.
They were speckled black and white, and very
pretty pigs, but were discarded, I believe, because
the hind quarters were thin and light. Then a
breed called the Middlesex has had some attention
paid to it in this vicinity. They are a large breed,
and said to be remarkably quiet, and the sows will
rear a larger proportion of their young than any
other breed.
After these, I do not recollect any distinct breed
that were generally introduced with us excepting
the Mackay and Suffolk. The Mackays were very
popular, and it is quite likely that our common
breed have a strain of this blood. The Suffolks
are the beauties. No hogs ever had so many good
qualities before, but it was found by experience
that although they were very handsome, they were
not very profitable ; that although they would
take on fat readily after two months old, that it
was very difficult to get them up to that age. In
short they were poor breeders, which is a very un-
hoggish trait, and which has caused them to nearly
disappear from our midst. There is a breed of
swine which is attracting considerable attention
in the western part of this State, that if one-half
372
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
that is said about them is true, are worthy of a
trial. They came from Pennsylvania, are large
hogs, and after looking at a Suffolk, one would
pronounce them long haired and coarse, but I
have been assured by a farmer who breeds them
largely, that he has killed seven months old pigs
that dressed -50 pounds each, and that one of
them gained 50 pounds live weight in seventeen
days upon three quarts of meal per day. Yet I
see by the report of the Plymouth County Society,
that the committee on swine refused to grant ])renn-
ums on Chester county hogs, because they did not
look to them like a profitable breed, they not pro-
fessing to know anything about them, nor desiring
to. Judged by this standard the Ayrshires Jwould
not he selected as milkers, as the general belief is
that a good cow should be "rawny" built. Where-
as the Ayrshires are compact and loggy. 13ut
perhaps the Trustees, in selecting that committee,
took care to have men upon it who had one piggish
trait in their comjjosition, and who therefore did
just as they pleased.
There are many other breeds of hogs that have
a notoriety more or less extensive, among which I
find the Yorkshire, the Bedford grazier and the
improved Essex, but they are not probably better
than what we have.
I am satisfied by experiment that when shoats
can be bought for six cents per pound, and dressed
hogs will bring eight cents, that it will pay to give
one dollar a bushel for corn ; that the pork will
pay for the feed, and you have the manure for
your trouble. Pork, I am aware, will not average
as high as eight cents per pound, neither will corn
average one dollar ]jer bushel, and if six cents per
pound is too low for shoats, you must raise your
own, or else credit them some'^hing for the satis-
faction that it is to you to see them eat the weeds
that you throw them in summer.
Speaking of raising our own, reminds me that
/ have not been remarkably successful in that di-
rection. Last winter, I unexpectedly found my-
self the owner of a sow with ]iig. I speedily con-
sulted all the auth'iriiies to see how 1 must feed
and treat her in order to give her the best possi-
ble chance to do welL As the time drew near, I
actually found myself at times reckoning up how
much ten pigs would come to at four dollars apiece.
Well, imagine my feelings upon going to the pen
one morning to find that the sow had brought
forth her litter in the night and was eating uj) the
last one, and like a higher law fanatic, refused to
give up the fugitives notwithstanding my legal
rights as owner. But 1 was disposed to excuse
her, it was her first litter and she v>as inexperi-
enced, or she would never have undertaken to put
them through so joung.
Then I was satisfied that the hog comes in for
his full share of the abuse that man heaps upon
the lower orders of animals. As, for examjile,
when a man is mean and destitute of all good
traits of character, and si)ecially if he is selfish,
we call him a lior/. If he is stupid and stubborn,
we say that he is pig-headed, and all because the
bog loves a good dinner. And then, although the
roughest old worn out ox or cow must have a jjro-
fessional butcher when they are slaughtered, any-
body will do to kill a hog. How often have we
seen a hog, after being operated upon by one of
these buiTglers, running about and testifying by
his unearthly squealing as surely us if in so many
words, "I still live," and being required to sub-
mit to the very annojing operation of sticking
again, before he could leave the world in peace.
Then the hog has many good traits that I should
hardly think we give hini credit for. He is indus-
trious. Just suppose thai our Government and
military leaders had taken hold of this rebellion
as two good hogs would have taken hold of a
load of sods. Don't you see they would have
rooted and rooted and roofed until they would
have ropted the last of it into the Gulf of Mexico ?
And if they had not put Jeff. Davis and the other
leaders through as my sow did her pigs, they at
least would have disposed of them in as summary
a manner.
The hog is sagacious. No life-long hunter
knows the signs of his game, or blushing maiden
the step of her lover, with more unerring certain-
ty than the hog knows the approach of his owner
with a pail of swill. Then with what tact and
l^rudence the sow yields to the hourly demands of
her young litter. Secretary Seward, in the sur-
render of Mason and Slidell, may approach, but
he cannot ecpial it.
The hog has dignity, and sometimes tells even
man, "presume no farther." As when we chase a
hog to catch him in a pen, when cornered, he turns
and exclaims, "Woof!" Then, O, pursuer! be-
ware ! or, endeavoring to escape, he will run
against you and knock you into the mud. I know
it — I have experienced it. In fact, he embodies,
as no other animal does, that American idea, "Save
the pieces ;" and a well regulated farm without a
hog would be as unusual a spectacle as an old
bachelor of a tranquil frame of mind and tidy
wardrobe.
It is the part of wisdom to gain knoM'ledge
wherever it is to be found. It was a disregard of
this that caused the death '^f Gen. Braddock and
the defeat <jf his army. When Colonel, afterward
Gen. Washington, saw signs of the Indians, he
asked Gen. Braddock for i)ermission to lead with
his three hundred Vermont rangers, and when the
Indians commenced, to post his men behind trees
and fight them in their own way. Swollen with
rage, Braddock replied, "High time when a young
buckskin can teach a British general to fight."
The consequence wlis that his men were kept in
ranks — a fair mark for the foe — until they were
cut to pieces.
If we strive to attain to the industry, persever-
ance, prudence, dignity and sagacity of the hog,
we shall prosper as we deserve ; to whereas, if we
eschew those traits because they are hoggish, we
shall fail as Braddock did.
A Cheap Grape Trellis. — I have a grape
trellis that I like better than any I have seen a
description of. It is substantial, does not get out
of pdace, and is rustic in appearance. It is made
of five or six inch cedar posts, eight feet long, set
six feet apart, with spruce jjoles fifteen or sixteen
feet long, nailed on to the posts a foot apart, run-
ning the whole length. The posts cost eight and
ten cents each, and the poles three dollars a hun-
dred here. I have used this kind of trellis for a
few years past, and like it better than wire. Laths
can i)e nailed across the poles perpendicularly to
tie the growing shoots, if any one sliould wish,
although I do not use ihem. — C, Provincetown,
Mass., in HorUcidturist.
1S63.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
373
Fur the Neir England Fartnor,
MOTHEK EARTH.
BY R. F. POLLER.
Always with some ill or otlier
CbiiJi-en of tJie uarlh are tried ;
And, for all, tliey blame their mother,
And the poor oW parent'chide:
Yet the fond, iudulgent dame
Seems to love them all the same.
If, by their unkindness troubled,
Clouds her brow, her tear-drops rain,
Their reproaches are redoubled
Till she cheerful looks constrain.
Yet she wetps iu silent night,
Dew drops kissed aivay by lijjht,
When, to please her children striving,
Summer months of flower and fruit.
And the lavish autumn giving.
She has sought and failed tu suit.
With their humor, so self willed.
She is often winter killed.
Once I heard her, to their chiding.
Only once, make this reply, —
•'Am I changeful, ne'er abiding,
Cold or hot, too wet or dry ?
Eden still I would have been.
Were it no^for human sin.
"Eden I once more will blossom.
When my chiMren put away
Sins they harbor in the bosom ;
And, till then, I never may.
Ye, who marred me, must renew ;
For my blame belongs to you."'
fine, as Virj^il, Aristotle, and several other natu-
ralists recommend it, ought, in my opinion, to be
tliick, stron}^, and near the ear as possible, if only
in proportion to the size of the frame. Thickness
of nose and thickness of chest are often twins, and
so are thin, meager, irregular noses and consump-
tion. Small, siii|)y noses oft sniff the air into
frames of small cajjacities, and are joined to
moutiis that can crop but very small morsels ;it a
time. These observations I have found to be ap-
plicable to any of the kinds of cattle shown at
Newcastle market, liut besides the siiapes of an-
imals, the age and class must always have special
consideration, and be adapted according to food
and situation ; otherwise, the reahzation of remu-
nerative profit will be uncertain."
CHOICE OF ANIMALS FOR FATTElSriWG.
Mr. lledley contributes the following valuablt^
hints on fattening cattle to the Newcastle Club,
vhich we find published in the Agrk-nltitral Ga-
zette, England. He says :
"In my close identification with fat cattle for
several years, 1 have always found that the best
animals have the most massive heads, most capa-
cious chests, and the strongest spines. I have,
therefore, evolved a few rules to go by in the pur-
chase of lean ones, and scarcely with one e.\ce]i-
lion I have found them to be applicable. The
head of any of our hoxine races ought to have the
first consideration ; this is tiie taie index to the
vital acumen, and even bodily construction, and
■will be Ibuiid to foreshadow all good or l)ail tiiat
may be accomplished. Tiius an animal possessed
of a Ijfoad, full, capacious skull, with strf)ng, even-
ly-bent, deflective horn, will be found to have a
thick neck at the base, wide thorax, and strong
nervous system ; while one with long, narrow, con-
tracted skull, and puny, abruptly -bent horns, will
be cliaracterized by we-jkness, wildncss, and slow-
ness to fatten, A small, dull, suidven eye betok-
ens hardness of touch and inaptitude to fatten;
and a bright, large, ojien eye, i-ire versa. A star-
ing, dark, fiery eye often accompanies a small fore-
head and hereditary wildncss, and when combined
with small, drooping horns, and a chin with no
loose skin hanging from it, is a very despica!)le an-
imal indeed, weak in constitution, predisjiosed to
lung disease, and sterile in fatteinng pro|)ensilies.
Animals with weakly formed heads, have always
smill loins, and the width of these ])arts will al-
wiy •') ■ found in tin exact r>u»o wiili the strenj^th
of ■ iiead. The nosr i.i-.ea 1 f '.ami!;, long and
STRAWBERRIES.
The impression exists among American Atheni-
ans that in no other city of the Union can straw-
berries be found to compare with those usually
sold in Boston market. Certainly the diminutive
berries sent us from New York, are but a dim
foreshadowing of the large and luscious home fruit
soon to follow. Belmont is the banner town of
our State in strawlierry culture. As an evidence
of the sjnrit of this little town, its Farmer's Club
held an exhibition in .1 line, offering such prizes as
tlie following : "For the best basket of strawberries
containing-4 quarts, §.'J0. For the next best $20,
and a long list of other prizes in like liberal pro-
portion.
Though the palm of excellence may be disputed,
yet it must certainly be admitted that Boston fruit
growers are wide awake and interested. Your
readers may be inttresteil in a few notes upon the
most approved varieties.
The most successful cultivators do not attempt
but about one acre per annum. There is a limit
to the amount of help to be profitaldy employed ;
also the itind is to l)e prepared by yearly rotation,
and the bed changed every year, so that a bed of
one acre, changed year after year, will require a
lot of from three to five acres, according to fre-
quency of rotation.
Heavy clay loam is the soil preferred. Bottom
lands, inclining to be wet, but nnderdrained and
then thrown into beds by dead furrows, about 21
feet apart, so that surface water shall jjass off at
oneo, in the winter ; these give the most luxuri-
ant beds. Having been m good tilth the previ-
ous season, about ten h> fifteen loads of horse-ma-
nure are applied to each acre during the winter
or early spring. This is plowed in, and the plants
set in April. As stated, the beds are 21 feet wide.
At each edge and close to tiie dead furrow, is a
row of Brighton Fine. The remainder of the bed
is filled with the Hovey, in rows tliree feet apart
and one foot apart in the row. These arc culti-
vated by horse until they make runners. By Sep-
tember, the ground is coutpletdij covered, and the
plants so stout they seem to have all the elements
of fruit hid within themselves, and able to carry
thcni tinough the pinciiing cold of winter.
Salt hay, sedge and leaves are usetl as a winter
cover, the latter being considered best. Care
must be taken that the covering be not too heavy,
so as to smother the plants in case of heavy snows.
Early in s|)ring, the covering is rei""ved. The
large beds, say 201) feet long and 21 i, . ide, are
a thick mass of jilciis, the Bright. f being
374
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
the two outside rows to act as fertilizers, and the
inside being one sheet of the Hovey. Paths are
now cut, dividing the Hovey into sub-beds, three
feet wide and running the length of the large bed.
The winter covering is then put back, as a mulch,
upon the paths and worked into the beds wherev-
er any vacancy occurs. The ground is now so
thoroughly possessed by strong plants that weeds
will give little trouble, the planter may await with
complaoency for liis reward.
Four thousand quarts are considered a fair crop
for an acre. The fruit is of such size that the cost
of picking and arranging is greatly diminished.
Superior fruit is always saleable, and at advanced
prices. In our market, fruit of third quality will
average to the grower about 15 cents per quart.
The best growers say they average 25 cents per
quart.
From these data, the profit of strawberry cul-
ture may be easily calculated. One crop is all.
As soon as this is taken, the .field is plowed and
is ready for any late crop. The testimony is uni-
form, that this is the wisest course. In case a
second crop is grown, the sub-beds are cut to sin-
gle rows, three feet apiirt, immediately after fruit-
ing ; manure is again applied, and in the follow-
ing spring the old plants are cut out for paths, re-
liance for fruit being placed entirely upon the run-
ners of the previous season.
In regard to varieties, none of the new comers
yet equal those above-named. Jenny Lind is a
fine early fruit and productive. It deserves cul-
ture and might be substituted for the Brighton as
a fertilizer, though it is too early to fructify the
later blossoms of the Hovey. Triompho de Gai-tfi
proves quite hardy, large and prolific. Its sha{)e
and color are objectionable, and it separates from
the calyx with some difficulty. Still, its perfect
flower, its size and f Vuitfulness, we think will make
it valuable. La Constante went up like a rocket,
but the reverse curve is less brilliant. If, in Eng-
land, the pump is the "best manure for the straw-
berry," what shall we say in our dry climate ? La
Constante will give the amateur a chary quantity
of sjdendid berries, he first giving large supplies
of food and drink ; but for general culture it is
useless. Wilson's Albany has quite vanished.
So have the score of other new kinds. They may
do for the south or west. I only speak for this
latitude. W." C. Sthonc.
— Oardener^s Monihhf.
The Titans of America. — A correspondent
of the American Phrenological Journal says:
"While you have spoken of the I{<entuckians,
Tennesseeans, West Virginians and Marjlanders,
as being so large and finely developed, permit me
to say that the true Titans of America have es-
caped your notice — men among whom, though
nobody myself, I have walked, feeling myself
among gods — physically speaking, of course — men
beside whom the Highlanders are in a measure
pigmies — men among whom six feet three inches
are not uncommon — I mean the backwoodsmen of
Maine, to whom three generations, spent for the
most part in the open air, battling with the piny
monarchs that girt the Umbagog, the Moosehead,
and other lakes and streams of that wild, bracing.
Northern climate, have given the most gigantic
development of physical power which I ever saw
or had any authentic acconnt of."
/''or the New England Farmer.
A BAT IN A TILE DBAOT.
A fact is often worth more than a theoi-y, and I
will give you a liict about the obstruction of one
of my drains in a field at Elxeter, N. H. Last
spring I observed that on a side-hill, along the
course of a principal drain of three-inch tiles, the
water had burst out and was overflowing the sur->
face for many rods below. It had no definite
channel, but spread out and produced precisely
the effect of a natural spring, rendering the ground
which was in heavy grass, soft and swampy. The
flow of water was so great that we were unable to
open the drain till after haying, when we dug down
at the point of obstruction and found a dead rat
in the passage. Which way he headed I do not
know, but there are only two points at which he
could enter. One of these is at a peep-hole some
five or six rods above, and the other at the outlet
some ten rods below.
The importance of securing the outlets of drains
cannot be too much insisted on. True, it is very
little labor to open a drain and remove an ob
struction, if one has accurate plans of his drains,
and knows how to find the point where the ob-
struction is. A frog or mouse, even, in a small
tile, may entirely stop the water for a whole sea-
son, and en flat land, the cause might not be so
readily determined.
One great advantage of tiles over stones, for
drains, is that the former are more easily taken up
and repaired. Another is that tiles can be laid so
as to exclude vermin, which stones cannot.
Henry F, French.
SALT AISTD COLD WATER FOR SWINE.
It is not a common practice, we think, to give
salt to swine occasionally, while every farmer would
consider it a prime duty to offer it to his' neat
stock, horses and sheep, as often as once a week.
To be sure the swine get a little compared with
the amount given to other animals. In propor-
tion to their weight, why do they not need as
much salt as the other stock on the farm ? We
find an article going the rounds of the papers upon
the use o^ suit for fattening sicine. The writer
states (hat he "selected two pairs of barrow hogs
weighing 200 each. One pair received, with theii'
daily allowance of food, two ounces of salt ; the
other, similarly fed, none. In the course of a week
it was easily seen that the salted pair had a much
stronger appetite tlian the others, and after a fort-
night it M'as increased to two ounces apiece. Af-
ter four months, the weight of the salted hogs was
350 pounds, while that of the unsalted, five weeks
later, reached only 300 pounds. The experiment
was repeated with almost precisely the same re-
sults."
If such should prove to be the general result,
most farmers have not gained all the good advan-
tages they might have done from the food fed out.
From the example cited there is no indication that
the salt excited a morbid appetite, and produced
unnatural flesh and fat. Of course a sound judg-
ment must be exercised in the use of salt, as well
as of grain or any other food. Another neglect of
swine — and sometimes it must be a cruel one — is
that of not giving them a plentiful supply of j^i'^e
cold wafer. Why it is supposed that the hog
should not need water as well as the cow and
sheep is more than we .can tell. They do require
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
376
it. When water is not "iven them, although fed
with swill, they will drink heartily of the water
collected in the yard or barn-cellar, after visiting
their tiougli several times, and finding it empty
and dry. Nothing is more grateful to ihem in a
hot day than a bucket of cold water, drank from a
clean, sweet trough. We trust that fanners will
give a'tention to the matter, and ascertain for
themselves whether our suggestions are valuable
or not.
A GROWING LOVE OP FIiOWEKS.
It gives us much pleasure to notice, both in our
intercourse with the people, and in our agricultu-
ral and horticultural reading, frequent evidences
that the spirit which prompted the inquiry,
"What's the use of flowers ?" is gradually being
trained to an appreciation of their beauties and
uses which will give force to the truth that "Solo-
mon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of
these." As such an evidence, we have before us a
discussion, by the Philadelphia Gardener's Month-
ly, and a writer for the New York Journal of
Commerce, of the chams'of their respective cities
to the honor of pre-eminent fondness for flowers.
It is admitted by the Philadelphian that the New
Yorker has lately awakened to a sense of their
beauty and loveliness, and is just now subject to
quite a passion for floral displays, but that if eith-
er place is entitled to pre-eminence for an honest
love of flowers for any other purpose than mere
sho«-. that place is surely Philaaelphia, for Avhich
honor slie is indebted to the old Dutch Burghers
of Gcrmautown, of v,hose labors the Moniliii/ thus,
speaks :
"Those of us who can remember fifty years ago,
know how rarely flowers were seen in or about tlie
houses of any l)ut the wealthiest in any town of
the United States ; but in (iermantown ihere was
scarcely a dwelling, from the simple log cabin up
to the large stone mansion President W^ashington
lived in, but what had its cherished flowers.
Flower pots, to be sure, were rarely seen — but
cracked tea pots, pickling jars, and dilapidated
household utensils of every character were ready
sulistitules, and these, with tlie rarest of floral
pets, were made to adorn almost every window in
tlie town. The gardens were also stocl;cd witli
the most beautiful flowers, brought from Germany
by tlie growers themselves, or their immediate an-
cestors : and it was indeed a rare sight to find a
garden or window, that had not some blooming
evidence of floral taste. To this day, in the old
yards and gardens of old residents, many plants
and flowers may be found, that no modern horti-
cultujist believes to be in the country. Double
Lilies of the Valley were here twenty years ago,
and the double liosa lundn, and another variety
called the May Rose, prolxibly a double variety of
the Jliisa darolitiiana, and which the writer never
saw outside of Germantown, is still frequent in
nlan^ a cottage yard.
McArran was probably the first one to adopt
the plan of raising large tjuantities, and sefling '
low, in order that all might procure them. Koses ,
that usually sold for .$1 50 each, he increased ex- '
tensively, and sold all through the town for 15 and
jO cents each, to the dismay of his brother florists,
who saw nothing but ruin to him and them in
such a course ; but they soon found the increased
custom more than made up for the lost figures of
the high prices, and the example became generally
followed ; and we do not think we are far wrong
in guessing that Buist must have cleared 810U0 ia
one year on the Jeunc dcs Prez rose alone.
Bedding plants arc sold in Philadcli)hia by the
tens of thousands, at prices ranging from three to
ten cents each ; and we know of one firm which
does only this marketing and bedding business,
whose bill for flower pots for one season has ex-
ceeded $1200.
TOBACCO AND WHEAT.
In a late discussion of the tobacco question, a
correspondent of the I'ural New Yorker said, "I
will now venture the prediction that tobacco will
ultimately become one of the staple commodities
of the Northern States." This may be so, and it
may not. His prediction might be met by the
prediction of some body else of equal prophetic
powers, that tobacco raising can never reach the
dignity of a Northei'n institution. But some of
this writer's statistics are not so easily disposed
of, sickening as they are. We knew something of
the annoyances to which one is subjected from the
smoking, snufhng and chewing habits of his fellow
citizens ; have seen how the cabins and decks of
steamboats, the passage-ways and seats of railroad
cars and public halls, are rendered provokingly
filthy and nauseous ; and have been told by one.
of our native poets, that
"If you would know the deeds of him that chews.
Go to the house of God and see the pews."
Yet we confess we were not prepared for the fol-
lowing statement :
"It is perhaps not generally understood to how
great an extent the article of tobacco enters into
the commerce of our country. According to the
census of lSGO,its production in the year previous
amounted to no less than 429. ."390,771 jjounds.
Now computing its value at 40 cents a pound,
which is perhaps a fair average for all its ((ualities
in the manufactured state, the value of the tobac-
co cro]) of that year would be no less than $171,-
750.308.40. A glance at another column shows
that the wheat crop for the same year was 171,-
18^,.j)81 bushels. So it will appear that the to-
bacco crop of that year would purcliase the en-
tire wheat crop of the same season at the respec-
table price of l?I per bushel, and have a surplus
fund of $o72,027.40."
Thiidv of the market value of the tobacco grown
in this country exceeding the value of the wheat
crop, which feeds not only our own people, but, to
some extent, the hungry millions of Europe.
t^ It is estimated that the wheat crop in the
South this year will amount to nearly 00,000,000
bushels. In ISOO over 31,000,000 bushels were
harvested. This great increase is accounted for by
the fact that unusual attention has been paid since
the beginning of the war to the cultivation of the
cereals.
376
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
COST OP ANALYZING SOILS.
There is evidently a general truth expressed by
the homely adage, that "every dog must have his
day." A few years since much practical benefit
was anticipated by many from cheap analysis of
soils. Some men who jnofessed to be learned in
these matters, encouraged the idea that, at an ex-
pense of only from twenty -five to fifty dollars, an
analysis might be made with sufficient accuracy
to enable the chemist to detect the cause of the
increasing sterility of our farms, and to point out
the particular mineral or substance, which, when
supplied, would restore their original fertility. It
was a plausible theory, and many farmers forward-
ed more or less liberal specimens of their soils to
be tested by the crucible, and the acids of the
chemist. Other farmers sent the ashes of their
various crops to the laboratory of the professor,
to ascertain what had been taken from the soil on
which they grew, and how old mother earth might
be most chiefly remunerated for her loss in their
production. If these anticii)ations were not fully
realized by the Tables of Analysis returned, one
fact of no little importance was soon discovered :
that is, the cost of the time and materials neces-
sary to the operation were greatly underrated.
Our own impressions, however, have been that a
few hundred dollars would cover the expense of
as thorough an analysis as could be made in the
present state of chemical knowledge. But this it
.now seems is far below the mark. In a late num-
of the Philadelphia Farmer and Oardener, Dr. O.
E. Pugh, in reply to a correspondent who inquires
as to the value and cost of analyzing soils and
plants, briefly answers as follows :
"It will afford the farmer no practical benefit to
get either his soil or plant ashes analyzed ; and
this, if well done, will cost from $2,000 to $5,000
for one analysis."
HAVE ANIMALS REASONING POWEB ?
Prof. Agassiz, ii; a lecture in Boston on the ele-
phant, said : It is a fav&rite saying that men are
governed by reason and animals by instinct ; but
1 believe that is all wrong. There is no distinc-
tion of kind between the two, but only of degree.
As we come to the higher animals, we find the
brain larger in proportion to the size of the body.
But this does not |)rove a difterent kind of activi-
ty of these parts, l)ut only difl'erent intensity.
Now let us see if there is any difl'erence in the
mode of action on the brains of men and animals.
Every sensation, to be felt, must produce a reac-
tion. All animals see, hear, smell and taste as
well as we do ; therefore, the reaction must be the
same, and the operation, as far as the body is
concerned, is the same. Next, our perceptions
influence our actions, through the operations of
tire mind; and in the animals the same influence
upon their action is to be seen; here, again, is
perfect similarity. Although the difference of the
intensity of these actions may be great in diflt rent
animals, yet the principle is the same.
The animals gratify their appetites, and so do
we, and in the same manner. For instance, every-
body has seen dogs playing only for the i)leasure
of i)laying, just as men do. And what right have
we to assume that the motive which influences
them is not the same as that influencing us ?
Again, animals have memory, just as Ave have,
and they can trace the connection between cause
and effect ; and this is reason.
But I will go further ; only mind can communi-
cate with mind ; and if animals had no mind, we
could have no intercourse with them. Animals
can be trained, and this proves the existence of
reason ; a connection seen between cause and ef-
fect. The means of training animals are the same
as those employed for training children : certain
sounds are used as signals. This su])poses a per-
fect logical process, tracing the sequence of effect
from its cause.
WOMEN'S LONG SEIKTS.
Dr. Dio Lewis makes this distinction : "The
most earnest efforts looking toward dress reform
have had reference to the length of the skirt-
May I be permitted a word on this point? I
think one of woman's fii'st duties is to make her-
self as beautiful as possible. A long skirt, a trail,
even, is in fine taste. Amomg the dress features
of the stage, none is so beautiful as the long trail.
The artist is ever delighted to introduce it in his
pictures of women. I confess 1 admire it, and I
wish it could be again made common on dress oc-
casions. For the drawing-room it is su])erb. If
it is said that expense and inconvenience are in-
volved, I ask, are they not in paintings, statuary,
etc. ? When we meet on dress occasions, I cannot
see why we may noi introduce this exquisite fea-
ture. For church, and our usual afternoon sit-
tings, skirts which wottld nearly touch the floor
seem to me in good taste, and every way proper ;
but for the street, when wet^ snowy, or mudd},
for the active duties of housekeeping, which in-
volves much panning up stairs, for the gymnasium,
for mountain trips, etc., I need not argue, with
those whose brains are not befogged by fashion
that the skirt should fall about to the knee. If
Miss Fastidious suggests that the adoption of
such a custom w^ould expose the limbs, you have
but to^ point to what may be seen in wet weather
on the streets. The attem])t to lift long dresses
out of the mud displays the lower extremities
much more than the shortest skirts. Nothing is
more pitiable than this street exhibition, except,
perhaps, a woman's attempt to go up stairs with
a candle and baby in one hand, and a bowl of cat-
nip tea in the other."
Damage to Sheep.— In the report of the State
Board of Agriculture for Ohio it is stated that the
number of sheep killed by dogs, in 1SG2, was
thirty-six thousand seven hundred and seventy-
eight, and during the same period, twenty-four
thousand nine hundred and seventy-two were in-
jured— the total value of the canine destruction
being $lo6,347.
I^^Tho Utah correspondence of the agricultural
department shows that, notwithstanding the drought
in the Territory, more corn will be harvested than
usual. The discovery of mines in Northern Utah
has caused a brisk demand for agricultural pro-
ducts.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
S77
IMPORTANCE OP MAWXTBE.
It is useless — nay, worse than useless — for us
to expect that our crops will feed us, unless we
first feed them. The phenomena of the vegetable
kingdom are, it is true, in many respects, inexi)li-
cable , yet enough of light has been tlirown upon
the path of the husbandman, by the lamps of sci-
ence, to demonstrate the fact that vegetation is
capable of receiving very important assistance
from man, and that in a great variety of ways.
Without manure, the farmer can no more pro-
duce a series of remunerating crops — even from
the best and most affluent lands — than he can
produce fat animals without hay and grain. Every
plant which sjn-Ings from the soil, takes from it a
certain quantity of organic and inorganic matter,
which must be supplied to pre^'ent exhaustion ;
and this can be effected only bj- the application of
manure, or some equivalent means.
The sources from which we are enabled to sup-
ply this waste are numerous. Every product of
the soil contains within itself the elements of re-
production, and when the vitalizing spirit ceases
its functions, and the chemical affinities resume
their control, that product is speedily resolved
back to its elementary constituents, and becomes
pabulum, or food for plants. The leaves of the
forest, small bushes, rotten wood, the various spe-
cies of fungi, as well as many substances of an
animal and mineral character, present themselves
as vaUial)le assistants in the labors of the farmer,
and when judiciously applied, produce both imme-
diate and ])ermanent results.
^luck, which, in its purer state, is composed al-
most exclusively of organic matter in a state of
semi-putrescence, is a valuable adjunct, and one
that can be obtained in quantity on most
farms, or in their immediate vicinity. Mixed with
lime, or macerated in the barn-yard or stye with
the liquid and solid excrements of the stock, it
constitutes one of the most energetic and efficient
fertilizers that can be produced.
Comi)osting is a branch of farming which has
not yet received the attention it deserves from the
generality of our farmers. It should be studied
as a science, and will be, when men come properly
to appreciate its importance.
Brown Bkkad —Take one quart of buttermilk,
two teaspoonfuls of soda, four cups of Indian meal,
two cups of flour and half cup of molasses. Mix
and steam over a kettle of boiling water, for three
hours, and then bake for half an hour. This
makes very excellent bread, which is not unwhole-
some to he eaten when warm, as is raised bread.
E^ TFie Mormon immigrant trains, comprising
over four tliousand persons, had becrun to arrive at
Salt Lake City at hist accounts. The season had
been rein:\'kal)ly dry on tlie plains, and the hard-
sliips of liie trip and the loss of stock have been
much u " ler liian usual.
For the Keir England Farmer,
THE HARVESTS— APPLES AND TREES.
Another harve.vt has been gathered in. In these
parts, we have cause to be thankful for the boun-
tiful harvests tiiat we have. I hope uU have
made note of that wiiich they have seen which
would he of advantage to us, and put it down on
paper, and let you scatter it broadcast through
the land by the means of your jjaper. If one
make note of a fact and make mention of it to a
neighbor, it becomes limited in its peregrinations,
but if it is in the Farmer thousands are those who
see it. In most every locality they have different
modes of trying to reach the same results. I find
that in the part of the country in which it has
been my fate to tarry, that they farm differently
and perha])3 for the better. In future letters I
will make some reference to them.
It is a custom here to gather the apples prior to
the frosts, or before the leaves fall, as they wish
the skin of the apple to wither rather than to re-
main moist, as an api)le will if permitted to re-
main upon the tree until after heavy frosts. Those
near the seacoast pile up sea sand around their
young apple trees to jjrotect them from the mice,
and in the spring level around the trees, which re-
tards the grass from growing ; nicer fruit trees I
do not see. I have read of famed variety of grapes
puffed up to sell, but I have yet to see, in these
northern climes, better or larger grapes than grow
in the towns of Barrington and Strafford, on the
ledges and trees, unculiivated. s. P. M.
Newcastle, N. //., Oct., 1863.
Fur the Neic Knsland Farmer.
SHALL "W:E3 RAISE TOBACCO P
The fapmers of the Connecticut Valley seem to
have the tobacco fever this year in its most ma-
Ugnant form. Those who remember the multi-
caulis fever some years ago, and later still the
hen fever, will have some idea of the tobacco fever
now raging here.
Probably more tobacco has been planted the
present year in this valley than ever before in any
single year. Hardly a farmer can be found that has
not one or more acres, and we hear of some that
have ten, twenty and thirty acres of the weed. I
know of several instances where all the manure,
made on the farm fur a year, was ])Ut upon the to-
bacco land, leaving the grain, grass and root crops
to take care of themselves. This practice has
been followed for some years past to some extent,
and the consequence is, these farmers are obliged
to buy hay and grain to carry their stock through
the winter, that they may get manure enough to
raise another tobacco crop.
These farmers contend that by following the
above system they can make more than money
enough to buy the l)alance of hay, straw and
grain needed on the farm, and a handsome profit
besides, and that by changing the ground for to-
bacco each year, tliey will ultimately get their
farms up to a high state of fertility.
I will admit, that at present prices tobacco will
probably ])ay better than any otlier field croj), but
can we depend on such prices any length of time ?
And when the prices do fall, will not many a poor
farmer be caught with a crop of tobacco on his
hands, and not much else to carry his family and
stock through tiie winter ?
There are several objections in my mind to
378
NEW ENGLAND FARMER,
Dec.
raising this crop, some of wliich I will mention.
The former, who raises and sells a crop of hay
or grain, has the satisfaction of knowing that he
has sold a crop that will do somebody good. But
he that sells a crop of tobacco sells that which will
do no good to the world, and it is a positive in-
jury to many ; consequently, aside from the re-
muneration he receives, no satisfaction can be de-
rived from raising this crop.
Another objection is, that raising this crop is
attended with more care and anxiety than all oth-
er crops put together. From the sowing of the
seed to the disposal of the crop, constant care and
watchfulness are necessary to success. The seed
bed requires watering, weeding and constant at-
tention. The plants, as soon as set, are attacked
by the grub, or corn worm, and in many cases a
field must be set over two or three times before it
can escape its ravages. Then comes the tobacco
worm, a greedy, filthy fellow, requiring constant
vigilance on the part of the farmer to avoid his
depredations. Add to these cares the fear of hail
storms, of rust, frost, and, after housing, of pole
burning, heating, &c. Add to this the feverish
anxiety about prices, and you have a specimen of
the care required.
Another objection, and the last I shall name, is
that the labor required on this crop is harder,
more filthy and disgusting than that of any other
field crop.
As difl'erent men have different minds, I hope
to hear from other readers an answer to the ques-
tion, "Shall we raise tobacco?" Hampden.
Eohjoke, Oct. 12, 1863.
For Vie New England Fnnner.
TOP-DRESSING FOB GRASS LANDS.
Mr. Editor : — Few subjects have engaged the
attention of agricultural writers more than the ap-
plication of manure to grass lands, whilst some
writei's even doubt the expediency, and would in-
corporate all manures with the soil to avoid loss
from evaporation. Most farmers believe a top-
dressing to meadow lands is not only necessary,
but indispensable, yet but few writers agree as to
the proper time to make the application. Some
recommend immediately after the grass crop is re-
moved, others later in the fall, others when the
ground is frozen, and others in the spring. The
advocates of early application are met by their op-
ponents with the cry of loss by evaporation, that
the intense heat of the sun and atmosphere of
midsummer divests the manure of nearly all its
fertilizing qualities, that a later application in a
measure avoids that calamity.
We have had some experience in top-dressing
at the several seasons, and have come to the con-
clusion that the best time is August or September,
next best October ; the most objectionable, winter
and spring.
The loss by evaporation in early dressing is
more than balanced by the fertilizing efiects on
the roots of the grass before the frosts of autumn
put a stop to vegetation and should you happen
to have a shower soon after its application, you
are amply repaid for all loss.
Manure applied when the ground is frozen, or
in early spring, we think does little good ; in the
first case, the rains of winter wash out the ferti-
lizing qualities and the roots of the grass receive
little vy 110 benefit from it. The spring dressing
seldom gets washed into the soil in season to ben-
efit the crop, and if a drought ensues, it becomes a
total loss.
The present season has been peculiarly favora-
ble for early fi\ll dressing ; our frequent showers
have had a tendency to wash the manure into the
soil before the sun and atmosphere had sensibly
affected its value by evaporation.
We have top-dressed several acres of grass lands
with compost manure during the month of Sep-
tember, and the luxuriant and dark green foliage
plainly indicate the fertilizing effect of the com-
post.
North Pembroke, Oct. c.
For the Kew England Farmer.
STRAY HINTS FROM MY KITCHEN.
As boiled dinner is ilie dinner at the farmer's
table, how important it is that the farmer's wife
should know how to prepare it nicely, and as the
season is at hand when it is beginning to take aa
important place in the culinary department, a few
hints upon its skilful preparation may not come
amiss.
The farmer himself knows, or ought to know,
that beets, turnips, parsnips and carrots, should,
when carried into the cellar, be buried in dry sand.
Some do not dig parsnips until spring, but they
are nicer to dig them in the fall, and put them in-
to a barrel of sand in the cellar. They are not fit
to boil until the middle of winter. Potatoes
should, if kept in barrels, bins, or boxes, always
be covered to exclude the light ; if dumped upon
the ground, choose the darkest corner, if you want
nice potatoes along toward spring.
So much for the boiled dinner uncooked, now
for the cooking.
First, be in season ; I heard a lady say a week
or two ago, that ''being late about her dinner tired
her more than all her work." To get dinner rea-
dy at twelve o'clock, the general hour for dinner
at the farm-house, corned beef should be put on
by eight, or half-past, in hot water : beets washed
clean, but not cut, by nine, cabbage by half-past,
pork about ten, peas, parsnips and turnips by half-
past, squash by eleven and potatoes by half-past.
By making this your rule, your dinner will be all
nicely done, so you can take out your squash and
butter it, adding pepper, salt, and a spoonful of
sugar, if it is not nice and sweet ; mash your tur-
nips smooth, adding butter, ])epper and salt, don't
forget the pepper ; peel the parsnips and beets,
cutting the beets into quarters if large, having
peeled them by ilrop])ing them hot into a ])an of
cold water, and slipping the outside ofl" with the
hand, using no fork or knife, and have your din-
ner nicely dished, without confusion, at the proper
time.
Put your beef and pork upon a large platter in
the centre of the table near the foot where the
husband can carve it to advantage. Lay the pars-
nips, peas, beets and cabbage cut and drained,
each upon separate plates, putting the turnips,
squash and potatoes into deep covered dishes;
not pile two-thirds of the mass of meat and vege-
tables "helter-skelter" upon a big platter, and the
rest upon a smaller one, and think it just as well.
It is not. A boiled dinner relishes better, when
neatly dished up. Try it, and you will be ])leased
to see what a nice looking dinner the "boiled din-
ner" is. Sarah.
1863.
KFAV ENGLAND FARMER.
379
EXTRACTS AUT> BEPLIES.
HOLDFAST.
I would like to inquire throtiph the colnmns of your
valuable! jiapcr if tlierc is anj- cure for a hold fast? I
have a valuaMe three-year-old steer who has a hold-
fast on his under jaw, and unless it can be cured I
shall lose biui, and thus spoil the pair, m.
hauhkury pkeseuve.
Will any one tell me how to make it, and how to
can it up ? What is the price per bushel in Boston ?
N.H., Sept., ISGS. M.
DKAIX TILE.
I wish you would inform me tbou,£;h your paper the
cost of the different kinds and sizes of tile a rod.
Also, if you do not think that one and a half inch
round tile, laid in softish hard pan, where the land is
not very wet, and has considerable fall, would not be
Jarge enough and as good as any of the other kinds of
tile ? Please inform me, also, of ihe two nearest places
to Claremont where it is manufactured. AV. i'. h.
Cfaremont, X. II., Oct. 1863.
Remauks. — The size of two-inch tile is usually
about fourteen dollars at the yard, and about twenty-
eight dollars per thousand for three inch tile.
The round tile would probably answer every pur-
pose on sueU land as you describe.
I have an inquiry or two which I would be thankful
to have answered. I am about laying a lew drains on
apiece of land that has ample gradual descent; I
sink the trenches about three and a half feet deep, and
width of shovel at liottom. Now, what I wish to learn
is this ; would it do best to put in twelve inches depth
of stone at bottom and cover up, or lay in larger ones
so as to leave an opening for the water to pass through ?
There are stones suitalile for either way on the lot.
Grofoti, Oct. 3, 1863. o. P.
Remarks.— Make a gullet of the larger stones, by
all means.
/•'or t/ie New Ewjland Farmer.
TRIMMING THS "WHITE PINE.
Mil. Editou : — I had occasion a few days since
to visit' Exeter, N. H., and on the way oliserved
many white pine trees by the side of the railroad.
Many of thera were covered witli limbs from the
top to within four to si.\ feet of the ground. Will
such trees make valuable lumber ? Could not the
value of tiie trees for lumber be greatly increased,
by cutting off the lower limbs which could easily
be done with the aid of a ladder and saw or
hatchet P
Nt-arly all that buy wood to keep a fire are well
aware that wood is very high, and would it not
pay, or nearly pay for cutting. There are some
seasons of the year when the farmer has very lit-
tle to do, and this miglit furnish employment for
some of his leisure time. Perhaps you have a
poor neighbor who would be glad of an opportu-
nity to remove them for the fuel, which would not
only ir crease the value of the lumber, but also the
value and beauty of the farm. UlLL.
Mdhuen, Sept. 21, 1863.
The Hums. — One of the correspondents of the
American Institute Club closes a letter, blowing
up a *'new humbug of Wm. R. Prince's," with the
information that, although he has none for sale,
yet to accommodate his friends he will send a
dozen grains of a certain wonderful "Iowa sweet
corn" fcr twenty-five ceu^s reuntted to him!
MAHVELS OP MAN.
While the gastric juice has a mild, bland, sweet-
ish taste, it ])osscsses the power of digesting the
hardest food that can he swallowed. It has no
influence whatever on the fibers of the living an-
imal, but at the moment of death, it begins to eat
them away with the power of the strongest acid.
There is dust on sea and land — in the valley
and on the mountain top — there is dust always
and every wliere. The atmosphere is full of it. It
penetrates the noisome dungeon, and visits the
deepest, darkest caves of the earth. No palace
door can shut it out ; no drawer is so secret as to
escape its presence. Every breath of wind dashes
it upon the open eye ; which yet is not blinded,
because there is a fountain of the blandest fluid
in nature incessantly emptying itself under the
eyelid, which sjireads itself over the surface of the
eyeball, at every winking, and washes every atom
of dust away. This liquid, so well adapted to the
eye itself, has some acridity, which, under certain
circumstances, becomes so decided as to be scald-
ing to the skin, and would rot away the eyelids,
were it not that along the edges of them there are
little oil manufactories, which spread over their
surface a coating as impervious to the liquids nec-
essary for kecjiing the eyeballs washed clean, as
the best varnish is impervious to water.
The breath which loaves the lungs has been so
perfectly divested of its life-giving properties, that
to re-breathe it, unmixed with other air, the mo-
ment it escapes from the mouth, would cause im-
mediate death by suffocation ; while, if it hover-
ed about us, a more or less destructive influence
over health would be occasioned. But it is made
of a nature so much lighter than the common air,
that the moment it escapes the lips and nostrils it
ascends to higher regions, above the breathing
point, there to be rectified, renovated and sent
back again, replete with purity and life. How
rapidly it ascends is beautifully exhibited any fros-
ty morning.
But foul and deadly as the expired air is, na-
ture— wisely economical in all her works and ways
— turns it to good account in the outward passage
through the organs of voice, and makes of it the
whisper of love, the soft words of affection, the
tender tones of human sympathy, the sweet strains
of ravishing music, and the persuasive eloquence
of the finished orator.
If a well-made man is extended on the ground,
his arms at right angles with his body, a circle,
making the navel the centre, will just take in the
head, the finger-ends and the feet. The distance
from "top to toe" is precisely the same as that be-
tween the tips of the fingers wiien the arms are
extended. The lengtli of the body is just six
times that of the foot ; while the distance from the
edge of the hair on the forehead to the end of the
chin is one-tenth of the length of the whole stat-
ure.
Of the sixty-two ]uiinary alements known in
my nature, only eighteen are found in the human
body, and of these, seven are metallic.
Iron is found in the blood ; phosphorus in the
brain ; limestone in the bile ; lime in the bones ;
dust and ashes in all. Not only these eighteen
human elements, but the whole sixty-two, of which
the universe is made, have their essential basis in
the four substances — oxygen, hydrogen and car-
bon— representing the more farriliai nr-ncs of
360
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
fire, water, saltpeter and charcoal. And such is
man, the lord of the earth — a spark of fire— a drop
of water — a grain of gunpowder — an atom of char-
coal !
But, looking at him in another direction, these
elements shadow forth the higher qualities of a
diviner nature, of an immortal existence. In that
spark is the caloric which speaks of irrepressible
activity ; in that drop is the water which speaks
of purity ; in that grain is the force by Avhich he
subdues all things to himself — makes the wide
creation the supplier of his wants, and the servitor
of his pleasures ; while in that atom of charcoal
there is a diamond, which speaks at once of light
and purity ; of indestructible and resistless prog-
ress. There is nothing which outshines it ; it is
purer than the dew drops. "Moth and rust" cor-
rupt it not ; nor can ordinary fires destroy it ;
while it cuts its way alike through brass, and ada-
mant, and hardest steel. In that light we see an
eternal progression towards omniscience ; in that
purity, the good of divine nature; in that indes-
tructibility an immortal existence ; in that pro-
gress, a steady ascension towards the home and
bosom of God.
Cashmere Goats and Wool.— The editor of
the Ohio Farmer acknowledges a call at his office
by the "King of the Ohio Cashmeres," Mr. S. S.
Williams, of Grantville, Licking Co., and fui'nish-
es the following facts and figures in respect to this
new breed and its valuable fleece :
"Mr. Williams was just returning from West-
ern New York, where he has been delivering to
W. H. Spencer, of Livingston County, a half-doz-
en of his beautiful Cashmere Goats. This sale in-
cluded the buck Duke of Wellington, at $350, and
the following ewes— Adda $;J00, Cora $oOO, Eu-
genie $275, Louise $100,*and Gipsy $100. Mr.
Williams informs us that he has still other orders
from New York, and that the demand for Cash-
mere is constantly absorbing all his extra stock.
Through a house in Cleveland he has just made a
shipment of his Cashmere wool to England — the
first shipment of Ohio Cashmere to Europe. From
him we get the following as the last quotations of
Cashmere wool: — half pure $4 per pound, three-
fourths $6, seven-eighths $8, fifteen-sixteenth and
pui-e $8,50, extra, pure $10.
Drought and Frost in Illinois. — The IIU-
nois Farmer, published in Springfit^ld, says that
the section thereabouts has been a severe sufferer
by drought and frost, and we doubt if the corn
crop will average ten bushels to the acre of a me-
dium quality ; a first rate article is out of the
question.
We have nine acres of potatoes, thoroughly
cultivated on new land, and the crop will be less
than two hundred bushels, not fifty of which will
be marketable. But why complain ? the farmer
meets no more accidents in his business than oth-
er classes of business men. Last year we had an
average crop of sixty bushels of corn to the acre,
this year ten, this gives us thirty-five for the two
years, with which we should be content.
We regret most the loss of sorghum, cotton
and tobacco, as they are comparatively new sta-
ples for our State, and we fear the disaster will
discourage their cultuie.
THE HTJSBAinDMAN.
BY MRS. L. H. 6I00URNET,
"Hate not husbandry, which God hath ordained."
—The Sok or Sibaob.
When the Creator's hand had placed
In this terrestrial scene,
Man, in His own high image formed.
Majestic and serene,
Bade He this ruler of the globe
To mountain summits soar?
Or for the wealth of gold and gema
Its secret mines explore ?
Or blow the rocks to atoms ?
Or boil the floods to steam ;
Or with harpoon and hook transfix
The people of the stream ?
Or bring with forge and hammer
Enormous shai^es to light ?
Or study till the midnight toil
Enwrapped the brain m night ?
No, 'twas the Arbiter's command
'Mid that delightful glade
To ^'■dress ana keep ilie garden,'''' where
His Eden home was made ;
And when no more his alien head
In Paradise might rest,
To till the earth from whence he came
Was still his Sire's behest.
So, look not with an eye of scom
ITpon the farmer's state.
Ye young and thoughtless sons of ease.
With luxury elate.
For beings of a purer sphere
A different balance hold,
And Cincinnatus' plow prefer
To Nero's House of Gold.
Earth, whom he clothes with com and frnitt,
Accounteth him her friend.
And yields him fragrance when he makes
Her clover harvests bend ;
And healthful vigor as he roams
Among his thriving herds,
Touching that key-tone in his heart
Which wakes the song of birds.
She folds him in her arms at last,
Like mother sad and kind,
And bids the daisy not forget
The curtaining turf to bind
That wnxps his bed in cool embrace.
Who, peaceful and unstained.
Filled with fidelity the lot
That Nature's God ordained.
Hartford, Conn., Sept. 5, 1S63. N. T. Ledger.
THE EIiM-
"If we ascribe to the character of the oak emi-
nent dignity," says a writer, "let us now claim for
the elm the epithets of graceful and elegant. This
tree is one of the noblest in the size of its trunk,
while the branches are comparatively tapering
and slender, forming themselves, in most of the
species, into long and graceful curves. The leaves-
are light and airy, of a pleasing light green in the
spring, growing darker, however, as the season
advances."
The elm is one of the mo»t common trees in this
country, well known since a remote period for its
graceful beauty and usefulness, and is entitled to
high regard. Though it is found in almost all
parts of the country, in no other is it so conspic-
uous as in the valleys of the Connecticut, Upper
Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee, and the Northeastern
States, where, from the earliest settlement of the
country, it has always been highly prized, and
planted as a shade tree, as an ornan^ent above the
proudest importations from a foreign clime. Stand-
ing alone as a single tree, or in groups of at most
four or five in number, it develops itself in all its
perfections.
It often rises upward, with an undivided shaft,
to the height of fifty feet or more without a limb,
and bending over with a gradual curve from about
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
381
the middle of its height to its summit, which is
sometimes divided into two or three terminal
branches. The whole is covered, from its roots to
its summit, with a fringe of vine-like twigs, ex-
tremely slender, twisted and irregular, and re-
sembling a parasite growth. At other times, it is
snbdivided at the usual height, into three or four
long branches, which are wreathed in the same
manner, and form a complete plume.
The elm is the most remarkable of the droop-
ing trees, except the willow, which it surpasses in
statehness, and in the varietj- of its growth. It is
also remarkable for the many forms which it as-
sumes in different situations. Often it has a
drooping spray only when it has obtained a large
size; but it almost invariably becomes subdivided
into several equal branches, dividing from a com-
mon centre, at a considerable elevation from the
ground. One of these forms is that of a vast
dome, as i-ei)resented by those trees that send up
a single shaft to the height of fifty feet or more
without a limb, and branching over with a grace-
ful curve from about the middle of its height to
its summit, which is sometimes divided into sev-
eral branches, giving it a spreading, umbrella-like
head.
These fantastic forms are very beautiful, and do
not impress one with the idea of monstrosity, such
as is produced by the sight of a weeping ash.
Though the elm has many defects of foliage, and
is destitute of those fine autumnal tints which are
80 remarkable in some other trees, it is still al-
most without a rival in the American forest. It
presents in its forms a variety not to be seen in
any other tree ; possessing the dignity of the oak
without its ruggedness, and uniting the grace of
the birch with the majesty of the Norway spruce.
The white elm we consider the most beautiful
of the family. Its branches first sjning up, em-
bracing the centre, then bend off in finely diverg-
ing lines, untd, in old trees, they often sweep the
ground with their foliage.
To a native of New luigland, like ourself, the
elm has a value more nearly approaching that of
sacredness than any other tree. Setting aside the
pleasure derived from it as an object of visual
oeauty, it is intimately associated with the famil-
iar scenes of home and the events of our own
early life. It our mind, it is pleasingly allied with
those old dwelling-houses which were built in the
early part of the last century, and form one of the
marked features of home archiieclure at that pe-
riod. They are known by their broad and ample
but low-studded rooms, their numerous windows,
with small panes, their single chimney in the cen-
tre of the roof, that sloped down to the lower
story, and their general unpretending a])pearance,
reminding one vividly of that simplicity of life
which characterized our people before the Revolu-
tion. Few, if any, of these old houses are now to
be found; but, whenever we see one, we are al-
most sure to find it accomjianied by its elm, stand-
ing upon the green open space that slopes up to
it in front, and waving its long branches in mel-
ancholy grandeur over the venerable habitation,
which it seems to have taken under its protection,
while it droops with sorrow over the infirmities of
its old companion of a century.
C. N. Bement, in Horticulturist.
V^ice can never know itself and virtue ; but vir-
tue knows both itself and vice.
COVERLNO MAirCTBE.
The Springfield llcpuljUcan rej)ort8 the discus-
sion of farmers at a late session of the Connecti-
cut River Harvest Club at which,
"One of the Granite State farmers present said
he plowed under coarse manures, and harrowed
in the finer. The de])th' of plowing should depend
upon the quantity of manure, just as the quantity
of meal regulates the amount of swill. People
who do not measure are apt to misjudge in the
depth of plowing, and think they plow deeper than
they really do.
Nelson Burroughs, of Gill, thought little bene-
fit was derived the first year from manure buried
eight inches deep. His largest crops were ob-
tained by harrowing in manure. He don't plow
as deep as formerly.
T. J. Field, of Northfield, spoke of two experi-
ments where light land was subsoiled with injury,
and thought manure buried eight inches deep was
seldom heard from.
President Severance, of Greenfield, thought the
roots of crops run deeper than is generally sup-
posed. He had measured corn roots that ran
down 12, 13 and I<5 inches deep. Broom corn
usually roots deeper than corn. A piece of clay-
ey loam, subsoiled by him 15 years ago, has ever
since borne two good crops of grass per annum.
Phineas Stedman, of Chicopee, said he harrowed
in manure chiefly, and plowed in long manure
about five inches deep. Thought the shallow
plowing of turf would give a larger crop than
deep plowing, but it woultl be more difficult to
hoe.
Messrs. Lyman and Purple, both of Northfield,
said they plowed six to seven inches deep, used
the Michigan plow, and manured on top more
than formerly. If manure needed covering, as on
old land, they would plow it with one horse, going
the same way as for the main plowing, to prevent
starting up the turf. Thev liked manuring in the
hill.
THE FARMER A MANTTFACTURER.
Every farmer, great or small, is a manufacturer.
In the manufactory which he superintends, is
made butter, cheese, beef, pork, corn, wheat and
potatoes — in fact, all the real necessaries of life.
No other manufacturer is engaged in a work of so
much importance. We could get along without
manufactories of silk, cotton, or woolen goods, but
let the factories that make our bread and meat
cease to work, and ruin — death in its most horrid
form — would stare us in the face. There is no
work that requires more thought and care — none
that makes greater calls for the exercise of the
highest faculties of tiie mind, than farming. To
no man, in any position of life, is a general knowl -
edge of the wonderful laws of nature of more im-
portance than it is to the farmer. Cotton, it is
well known, can be made into cotton cloth, and
wool into blankets and broailcloths ; but the great
question with the m mufacturer, is, how this can
be done by a judicious selection of materials, and
skill in their manufacture, as to afford a profit
over cost. On his wisdom in this respe«t, depends
the all-important question, whether his business
is a success or a failure. Manure acd labor will
manufacture crojis to an almost unlimited extent;
but on the cost of this manure, and the way and.
382
NEAT ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
purpose for which it is used, depends the success
or I'aihire of the farmer — the f:ict whether or not
he makes these crops at a profit over cost.
The farmer, like the manufacturer, pursues his
business to earn a livelihood for himself and fam-
ily, and to accumulate a small store for a rainy
day. No manufacturer would boast of his large
productions, or think that tie was doing a business
that he had reason to be |)roud of, if what he made,
cost all it was worth in its production. The farm-
er may grow sixty or seventy Ijushels of wheat to
the acre, and proclaim the fact all over the coun-
try— obtain the first premium for the largest crop
grown in the State or nation, and the wonderfid
performance be heralded through all the papers
in the land ; yet, if this large croj) cost more in
its manufacture than it would bring in the market,
what has been gained, and who would like to fol-
low such an example for a living P The farmer
that raises thirty bushels, at a price that would al-
low him a fair profit over cost, would be far more
worthy of praise and imitation. He that can
make corn and wheat at the lowest possible price,
and meat and butter cheaper than his neighbors,
is the best farmer ; it being always understood
that he is not using up his capital — the fertility of
his soil. — Rural New-Yorker.
SUSPENDED ANIMATION.
A friend communicates the following transla-
tion, from a Prussian paper, of an infallible test
■whether a person be really dead :
"To be buried alive is a most dreadful thought,
and occurs oftener perhaps than we aie aware of.
Yet there is a very simple and infallible way to
guard against it. All practicing physicians agree
that, wlien the eyes of a corpse are opened about
two days after death, and the pupils are found to
be mixed up so that nothing of them is to be seen,
but the whole of the eyes is dissolved into a whey-
ish or jellied mass, then real death is evident.
Where this symptom is wanting death, is uncer-
tain."
Turning Heavy Cheeses, has always been a
severe tax upon the strength of most dairy wo-
men. I saw a device for accomplishing tliiswork
in a safe and easy manner, in the cheese factory
of Mr. Cox, in Mesopotamia. In his curing room,
Mr, Cox uses, as supports for his cheese, two
stringers of scantling, some ten inches apart ; on
these scantling stand the cheese, each upim the
inverted cover of a cheese of a size a trille lager
than the size of the cheese. When the attendant
goes to turn the cheese, she takes another cover
of the same size, puts it on the top of the cheese
to be turned, then, with one hand on top of this
cover and the other hand at the bottom cover,
flops the cheese over, with only the strength of a
child, since, when the cheese is tilted up a little
to one side, the opposite side balances down be-
tween the two scanthng, and the cheese goes over
easily. Another and greater advantage of this
method of turning cheese, is that there is no dan-
ger of bruising or breaking the corners in turning,
as they are perfectly protected by the rim of the
co\*er. This mode of handling, is equally applica-
ble to cheese on shelves, hut in that case you do
not have the advantage of self-balancing, the same
as on stringers. — Ohio Farmer.
LOVE OF HOME.
"Inhabitiveness" is the name given by the
phrenologist to a protuberance on the head sup-
posed to be the outward and visible- sign of an in-
ward and earnest desire for a permanent home.
Bedouin Arabs and Yankee pedlars are said to be
deficient in this bump, and it may be assumed that
if the Wandering Jew could be caught and phren-
ologized, a considerable hollow would be found
where the organ of Inhabitiveness ought to be lo-
cated. Not being a fi:ngerer of skulls, we are not
prepared to assert that the magic pea, Inhabitive'-
ness, is exactly under the thimble designated as
its habitat by the conjurors who profess to read
character as the blind read books, with their fin-
gers and thumbs. It is quite certain, however,
that the faculty exists in more or less intensity in
I the minds of a large majority of tire human fami-
ly. Were it otherwise we should all be as erratis
as the itinerant tinmen of Connecticut or the no-
mads of Arabia.
Heaven be thanked that most of us appreciate
the value of a home, and that we live in a land
where every industrious man can acquire one.
The sentiment of Inhabitiveness is a grand sen-
timent. It settles new countries, builds cities,
forms governments, -erects mighty States. It is
the basis of all patriotism. We love the country
of our birth, or our adoption, because it is our
home. We defend its government and institu-
tions, because in their permanence we see the only
guaranty for home security.
It would be well, perhaps, if this instinct of In-
halntiveness — this longing for, and love for a per-
manent home — this desire to dwell under one's
own roof and on one's own land, and to make
them a family heritage, wei'e stronger in Ameri-
cans than it is. If we were more doniestic we
should be more patriotic. Surely that man has
reached the climax of human misery who exclaims
in the bitterness of his soul :
"A home and a country remain uot forme."
GET ENOUGH SliEEP.
We have often heard young men remark that
four or five hours' sleep was all they wanted, and
all the human system required. The habit of go-
ing without sufficient sleep is injurious. Thou-
sands, no doubt, permanently injure their health
in this way. We live in a fast age, when every-
body seems to be trying to pervert the order of
nature. If folks will persist in tui-ning night into
day, it is not to be wondered that few last out the
allotted term of life. No matter what be a man's
occupation — physical or mental, or, like Othello's
"gone," and living in idleness — the constitution
cannot last, depend upon it, without a sufficiency
of regular and refreshing sleep. Joe Hunter, the
great surgeon, died suddenly of spasmodic affec-
tion of the heart, a disease greatly encouraged by
want of sleep. In a volume just published by a
medical man, there is one great lesson that hard
students and literary men may learn, and that is,
that Hunter probably killed himself by taking too
little sleep. "Four hours' rest at night, and one
after dinner, cannot be deemed sufficient to recruit
the exhausted powers of the body and mind."
Certainly not ; and the consequence was, that
Hunter died early. If men will insist in cheating
sleep, her "twin sister, Death," will avenge the
insult. — Exdiange.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
383
THE CROPS OF 1863.
We have received a brief summary of a most
important report on the crops of the country.
The report gives a statement of the amount of the
summer and fall crops in the loyal States, for 1862
and 18G3. We shall probably have occasion to
refer to this subject again more fully, and at pres-
ent give only the abstract of the report. The
monthly report for September is said to be much
the best yet issued, and will soon be ready for dis-
tribution.
The answers returned to the circulars for Sep-
tember of the Agricultural Department, asking
information of the condition of the crops, are giv-
en in tenths, above or below the crops of 18G2.
During tlie summer the Department made an esti-
mate of the amount of the crops of 1863. This
estimate was based on the census returns of 1860.
As tlie crop of 1859, which was taken by the cen-
sus, was below an average, and that of 1862 much
above it, allowance was made for this difference,
varying in its amount according as the agricul-
ture of each State required. The general per
cent, increase of each State was added. One-
fourth of the amount given in the census was
struck off from the returns for Missouri and Ken-
tucky, on account of the war. Thus calculated
the crops of 1862 were made the basis for esti-
mating those of 1863, according to the tenths, in-
crease or decrease of each State, as reported by
the correspondents of the Department.
The summer crops of wheat, rye, barley and
oats for 1862 and 1863 are as follows:
Wheat. Rye. Barley. Oats.
Total, 1S63, ha. 101,068,239 20,708,-2S7 ]r,,760,597 174,858,107
Total, lS62,bu. 189,993,500 21.254,956 17,781,464 172,520,997
*1,074,739 • t-456,669 tl.020,867 *2,o27,170
•Increase, t^ecrease.
The fall crops of corn, buckwheat and potatoes
or 1862 and 1863 are as follows :
Com. Buckwheat. Potatoes.
Total, 1862, bush 586,704,474 18,722,995 113.533,118
Total, 1803, bush 449,163,894 17,193,233 97,870,035
Decrease 137,540,589 l,i29,762 15,663,083
The monthly report of the Department for
September shows that the amount of wheat and
flour exported to all countries for the year ending
September 1, 1863, is 40,686,308 bushels, and of
corn 11,680,343 bushels. The domestic consump-
tion, then, is as follows :
• Bushels.
Wheat crop for 1862 189,903,500
Exported 40,086,308
Domestic consumption 149 ,307,192
Corn crop for 1862.. 586,704,474
Exported 11,680,342
Domestic consumption 575,024,1.32
These exports and domestic consumption ex-
hibit the relative magnitude of the foreign and do-
mestic markets.
The report examines the probable foreign de-
mand for breadstuffs during 1864, and shows that
the principal portion of our exports of breadstuU's
are purchased in the English markets ; that the
average annual importations of all grains with
Great Britain and Ireland are 94,278,949 Ameri-
can bushels; but in 1860, the importation was
135,38(5,434 American bushels, and in 1.S61 142,-
529,106 American bushels ; that il was as great
in 1802, but not so large in 1863 ; that from the
present condition of the crops in England, the
demand for 1804 would return to the general av-
erage, rather than to the great amount since 1860;
that the home demand for 1S64 would be, at least,
equal to that for 1863, and tiiat the condition of
the currency would remain as favorable as it now
is ; that hence the amounts of wheat and corn for
1864 would be as follows :
I'uahtls.
Wheat crop for 1%Z 191 ,00-<,'239
Domestic consumption 149,3 j7, 192
Lcfivinp for export 41 .701 .047
Corn crop for 1SG3 4 ". MOo S94
Domestic consumption 57').024,132
Leaving;' a dtlicicncy of. 125,800,238
which must be provided for by greater economy in
feeding, and a greater proportional consumption
of wheat.
The number of stock Hogs is about the same
as in 1S62, and about five ])er cent, below a gen-
eral average in condition. These were early turn-
ed on the frosted corn.
The Buckwheat crop is not as much injured as
was generally supposed, l)ecause most of it is pro-
duced in the States of New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, where the frosts of August 30
and Sept. 18 did not injure the crops materially.
The Tobacco crop of 1863 is larger than that
of last year by nearly fifty millions of pounds, al-
though the frosts in the Western States were very
injurious to it. But about one-half the crop there
had been gathered before tlie frost of September
18, and seventy-five per cent, more ground had
been j)]anted tlian in 1862.
The Hay crop of 1S62 is estimated at 21,603,-
645 tons; that of 1863 at 10,080,482 tons, a de-
crease of 1,623,163 tons. Its quality is good.
The Meteorological division of the Keport is
much larger than usual ; giving a full description
of the frosts of August 30 and September 18.
■WHY HOGS EAT ASHES, &c.
Mr. Mechi, of Tip-Tree Hall, England, has dis-
covered that pigs, wiien shut up to fatten, are
very fond of cinders, tuid improve in condition by
eating a certain portion of ibem every day- Some
persons are unable to account for this singular
propensity in swine. Poultry are very fond of
egg shells, lime, sand, S:c., and it is well known
these substances are necessary in order to form
the shells of eggs, and to furnish material for the
bones of fowls.
Now, it is reasonable to suppose that swine eat
ashes and cinders for the purpose of supplying the
material for their bones, and this singular instinct
in animals so low in the scale of intelligence, is
truly wonderful, for oshes contain the ingredients
which are necessary to form bones, viz., carbonate
and sulphate of lime, and magnesia, clay, silica
gelatinized and made soluble by the fire.
When hogs are at large, they take in clay and
silica with their food, and eat bones and roots
which contain the necessary ingredients ; but
when they are pent up they endeavor to supply
the material necessary for keeping up their frames
by devouring ashes and cinders. Let them have
plenty of them.
384
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec,
EXTKACTS AND KEPLIES.
A COMPLIMENT.
Permit me to remark, that not having received the
September number of the .V. E. Farmer by due course
of mail, I had it sent to me from the office, and on
readinj; it, I came to the conclusion that there were
about half a dozen articles in it, each of which, to
those who were disposed "to marl?, learn and inward-
ly digest," was worth the subscription price of the
v-olume. J. B. Hill.
Mason, N. H., Xov. 1863.
HIGH PKIC«. »■
We learn that Mr. Edavakd Douglass, of Chelsea,
Vt., recently purchased a buck lamb of Mr. Edwin
Hammond, of Middlebury, Vt., for which he paid five
hundred dollars !
NE-W BOOKS.
The Practical SnEPnERn: A Complete Treatise on the Breed-
ing, Management and Diseases of Sheep. By Henrv S. Ran-
dall, L.L. D. Willi lUustra ions. Pliiladelphia: J. B. Lip-
pincott & Co. Rochester, N. Y.: D. D. T. Moore. 1863.
This is a work that has long been needed bj'
our people. It has been well ascertained that va-
rious localities in our country are admirably adapt-
ed to the culture of sheep, both for wool and mut-
ton. This fact, together with the knowledge that
vast sums have been annually expended for for-
eign wool, and the unusual demand created for it
by the existing war, have aroused our people to a
sense of the importance of producing more mut-
ton and wool at home. This importance was par-
tially appreciated, indeed, long before the war
broke out, and the progress made was of the most
encouraging character. Some thirty or forty years
ago, it was rare to find mutton that would weigh
a dozen pounds to the quarter, while now it is
produced so as to give fifty and sixty pounds per
quarter. We have a friend who informs us that
he expects soon to slaughter a sheep that Avill
■weigh three hundred j^ounds when handsomely
dressed ! At the former period, also, a six pound
fleece was accounted extraordinary, while now
they are sheared that will weigh tweniy odd pounds,
and the wool of a highly superior quality.
Under a course of systematic instruction, all
these advantages may probably be more econom-
ically gained, and the beginner in sheep culture
be enabled to compete on something like equal
terms with those of more experience. Dr. Ran-
dall's work will afford this instruction, and be
the means of greatly increasing effort in a busi-
ness which is yet to have an important bearing
upon our national interests.
It is now fifteen years since the author publish-
ed a work entitled "Sheep Husbandry." "In the
meantime," he says, "a great change — almost an
entire revolution — taken place in the character of
American sheep husbandry.
The fine-wool families which existed here in
1845 have, under a train of circumstances which
will be found recorded in this volume, mostly
passed away ; and they have beeii succeeded by a
new family, developed in our own country, which
calls for essentially different standards of breed-
ing and modes of practical treatment.
Our improved English, or, as they .are often
termed, mutton breeds of sheep, instead of being
now confined to a few small, scattering flocks,
have spread into every portion of our country,
represent a large amount of agricultural capital,
and throughout regions of considerable extent are
more profitable than sheep kept specially for wool-
growing purposes.
Some of the most valuable families of them are
wholly unknown in this country — indeed, had
scarcely been brought into general notice in Eng-
gland — fifteen years ago. And, finally, our ad-
vanced agricultural circumstances and interests
which materially affect, and, in turn, are material-
ly affected by, sheep husbandry, so that their re-
ciprocal relations must be understood to lead to
the highest measure of success in almost any de-
partment of farming."
The book is well printed and illustrated, and
seems to us to afford every needful instruction in
all desirable points, such as breeds, breeding, man-
agement— shelter, adaptation to climate, diseases,
wounds, medicine and dogs. It should be in the
hand and head of every person owning sh^ep.
Sorgo, or the Northern Sugar Plant. By Isaac. A. Hedges,
the Pioneer Investigator in the Northern Enterprise. With
an Introduction by William Clocgh, President Ohio State
Board, Cincinnati. Applegate & Co., 43 Main Street. For
sale by A. Williams & Co., Boston.
Some six or eight years ago, our people became
much interested in the cultivation of the Chinese
Sugar Cane, as it was then called. Experiments
were numerous all over New England, with vari-
ous results. Our friend and correspondent of the
New England Farmer, J. F. C. Hyde, Esq., of New-
ton, put up machinery for grinding the cane and
extracting its juices, and wrote and published anin-
telligent and highly interesting work upon the cul-
ture of the cane and manufacture of syrup and su-
gar. This, we believe, was the first work pub-
lished in this country upon the subject. It arrest-
ed attention, and was the means of more minute
inquiry and experiment.
After all this, however^ the cultivation of the
cane was mainly abandoned, as public opinion
gradually came to the conclusion that no advan-
tage could be derived from its culture, unless the
price of molasses should advance to $1 per gal-
lon. It was found, however, that our climate
would produce the cane, and that there was no in-
superable difficulty in transforming its juices into
good syrup and sugar. But the universal deci-
sion was, that it could not be done at a projit.
The conclusion seems to have been reversed by
our Western friends. They have entered upon
it with their usual energy, and from the tone of
the volume before us, with undoubted success.
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
385
We are really glad that it has proved
so. The author says that "the coun-
try is now being supplied with a
syrup of its own production, and not
only supplied in abundance for its
own consumption, but a surplus is
now flowing to the cities and towns,
and clamoring for recognition as an
article of commerce."
The work enters fully into details.
Its principal topics are : The Chi-
nese a?id African Canes ; Sugar-
producing Plants ; Varieties of Seed and their
Preservation ; Soils and Season of Planting ; Cul-
tivation of the Cane ; Cutting and Handling ; Ar-
rangements of Steam Sugar Works ; Mills and
Cane Grinding ; Defecators and Neutralizing Re-
agents ; Evaporating Apparatus, and its use ;
Sugar-Making Process ; Vinegar and Alcohol
from tlie Scum ; Bagasse for Fuel and other uses ;
Refining Processes and Materials, and how made ;
and Products, Markets and Profits.
The work is amply illustrated with engravings
of the plants, their seeds, and the various kinds of
machinery and ap])liances necessary to convert the
cane juice into syrup and sugar. The book is
•well printed. We predict that the enterprise is
yet to have an important influence upon the com-
mercial interests of our country.
EATOi^^'S PREMIUM SHEEP RACK.
The above cut represents this Improved Rack,
which is more convenient for feeding, with any
kind of fodder, grain or vegetables, and at the
same time more economical, (as none of the feed
can be wasted.) than any other kind or system of
feeding — while the wool on the necks of the sheep
is kept perfectly free from seed or chaff, or from
being jammed or removed by crowding against
the top or sides of racks, as with ordinary kinds.
The inclined feeders can be fixed stationary, at
a proper angle for the fodder to slide down, as it
is consumed from the bottom, with (when station-
ary) the lower half in width to turn up, to facili-
tate the sweeping of the cribs ; or hung upon the
posts of the rack in such a manner as to turn in
cither direction for the same purpose, and wlien
turned, ])revents the sheep from being in the way
while sweeping, or from reaching the grain, <K:c.,
till it is distributed and the feeder turned back to
its position.
There is a convenient and suitable walk the en-
tire length of the rack, between the inclined feed-
ers, and the attendant can step in from the floor
and place the fodder at the farther end first, and
evenly distribute it throughout, — the sheep feed-
ing from each side. The end of the rack next the
floor, or one-half of it in width, is hung with
hinges to lei down, for the purpose of stepping in,
or, when the cribs require to be swept (before
feeding grain,) leave no obstacle to cleaning them,
which can be done in a few moments.
Wlien desired, grain can be fed on one side, and
vegetables on the other, to diff"erent flocks feed-
ing from the opposite sides, none of which can be
wasted, or reached by those opposite.
The advantages of this Rack, which can be
made of any desired length, are —
First, great convenience in feeding.
Second, economy in cost of racks and in fodder.
Tltird, the preservation of the wool on the necks
of the sheep, and keeping the same perfectly free
from seed, chafi", or other impurity.
Fourtli, greater convenience to sheep in feeding,
as the racks are made of the height for sheep to
stand and feed in a natural position.
The gentleman who invented this improvement
is the owner and keeper of one thousand sheep.
After a careful examination of the sheep rack
illustrated above, we feel justified in adopting the
foregoing, which we have cojjied from a circular
of the proprietor of the rack. Our opiniun is not
formed merely from the examination made, but
from several years' experience in feeding and
tending sheep, and in realizing the want of some-
thing better than the old-fashioned stationary
racks. We have no doubt the rack will answer all
the purposes claimed for it, and unimportant as it
may at first seem, it is really essential in furnish-
ing the great amount of wool and mutton now de-
manded. The proprietor of the rack, is Robert
Halk, Esq., of Fitchburg, Mass.
IIVDUOPATIIY IN VeTEUINAKY PkACTIC'E. —
I have considerable fiiith in the hydropathic prac-
tice for the treatment of many diseases, sprains
and lamenesses incidental to horses. A. little
more water and less whiskey, antimony and phy-
sic, might be the means of saving the lives of
many animals.
In the practice of veterinary medicine there is
nothing so good as water for recent sjirains of the
fetlock, fever in the feet, and superficial inflamma-
tions ; it should be used freely in all cases of in-
flammation of the brain, eyes and throat. Water
is a very active sedative, (especially iced water)
tends to mitigate pain and thus lessens the foree
of the circulation. — JJr. JJadd,
386
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
"WHY IS THE FARMER DISCONTENTED ?
In one or two former articles we have spoken
of some of the causes which induce the discontent
of which those having always lived on the farm
complain. Some suggestions were offered, through
which a contented mind and happy home might
be realized while engaged in the manual opera-
tions, requisite in conducting farm affairs. We
close our remarks with one or two references to
the lower animated life about the farmer, and with
some general reflections.
The more intimate is our knowledge of the or-
ganism about us, the trees, plants, flowers, insects
and animals, the less labor shall we be required to
perform, and the more shall we adore that Wis-
dom which has formed them all.
We will dwell for a moment on one or two spe-
cies of this lowly life, and first, the common house-
spider. Place one no larger than the head of a
pin under the microscope, and his clear black eye,
set in a field of delicate blue, becomes distinctly
visible. The top of his head is studded with
brilliant gems, varying in hues as he changes po-
sition under the glass ; while along his back are
plumes of exquisite color and softness. Each front
foot terminates in a club or ball of hair, and this
varies in form in different individuals. But the
most wonderful part of this brilliant and beautiful
little creature, is its spinning apparatus ; more
wonderful in its construction than the organiza-
tion and power of any other animal, we have ever
contemplated. No art of man has devised machi-
nery so perfect, and yet so simple. With this it
constructs its own roads, manufactures its dwell-
ings, weaves its own nets, and snares, and ropes
to bind its prey when captured, and all with a
spinning jenny so small that it is impossible to see
it with the naked eye.
Standing by looms in the cotton mills, we have
often witnessed with astonishment the precision
and perfection of their parts, and how admirably
each wheel and segment performed its appoint-
ed office, and how the beautiful fabric grew under
the skilful hand of the craftsman, and his almost
intelligent machine ! But all this falls short of the
mechanism and artistic power of the wonderful
spider. A slight variation of ])osition renders the
loom useless; but the spider's is a locomotive
loom ! Destroy his house to-day and drive him
from his possessions, and lo ! to-morrow he is
quietly established in a new dwelling.
Did he not give the idea of the sjyinning jenny to
Arkwright, and through him confer the immense
benefits on mankind which are realized from this
invention? which has scattered calton duiJi, — one
of the greatest benefits conferred upon man — over
the whole habitable globe, and at so cheap a rate
as to be accessible to all, until quite recently.
All the principles of valuable powers, by which
we overcome the obstacles in our way, are sug-
gested in nature's works. The power used in all
printing presses is that of the human knee.
Is there not something to be gained, then, by
the farmer, in the study of the inferior creation
around him, however minute and insignificant it
may api>€ar? But, if there were nothing gained
in the mechanical powers, or protection to crops,
there would still be incalculable benefit in mental
discipline, and the moral elevation of the heart.
The study of Natural History, and Entomolo-
gy, fills the soul with grateful ideas of tb.e minute-
ness, as well as magnitude of the operations of the
Omnipotent Being; expands it wijth sentiments of
His benevolence and love, and strengthens the
bonds of affection between ourselves in this im-
perfect condition.
And shall not this interesting study commend
itself to the young farmer, impatient to penetrate
the mysteries around him, or find acceptance in
the maiden's heart, who seeks extended o])portu-
nities of observation, and finds little pleasure in
the dull routine of daily household work ?
Iluber, one of the greatest of French natural-
ists, devoted eight years to the study of Bees, and
thought the time thus expended was promoting
the happiness and welfare of man. The world
has sanctioned that judgment by ten thousand re-
prints of his researches. Time will not permit us
to enter into any of the interesting^ details of
their history here. But, lord of creation as man
assumes to be, shall he contemn the lowly life
around him and trample its mysterious organiza-
tion into the dust, or study its influences and
bearings on his own condition, and thus approach
his Creator ns a knowledge of his works increases ?
There is another name inscribed high on the
roll of honor, among the useful and distinguished
of our country — that of Audubon. Wiih a love
of the natural and beautiful tluit no hardship could
daunt, he devoted a life to the description of birds ;
passing consecutive weeks in the forest, or on the
mountain or plain, or by the sea-shore, watching
their habits. Leaning against some friendly free,
with his portfolio on his laj), he would patiently
sit through a long summer day, in writing an e.v-
act description of some bird, learning its peculiar
song, and transferring its varied plumage to his
note-book. His published works now command
the admiration of tlie world ; and his largest vol-
ume sells at $800 to $1000. The intensity of his
love of this pursuit was never dimned by any dis-
couragement ; it led him into remote forests away
from human habitations and the human face and
voice, for weeks in succession, where the earth
was his couch, and his rifle the means of obtain-
ing subsistence. His labors now give instruction
and delight to millions, and will inspire millions
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
387
more with a lovfe for this useful and beautiful part
of creation — the birds.
If this study occupied the life of an individual
distinguished alike for intelligence, and a desire
to promote the welfare of his race, shall not the
farmer find inducements to enter into its outer
courts, at least, and inquire whether there is not
in their contemplation some compensation for his
constant physical application ? Birds are emi-
nently the friends of the farmer ; without them it
may well he doubted whether his labors upon many
crops would not be utterly in vain. If so, they
demand our attention in a mercenary point of
view. But there is another gain— they exert a di-
rect influence upon the heart; many of our earli-
est associations are of the birds ; their habits of
migration and return, their amazing power of
wing and artistic skill, and their attachment to old
locations, and devotion to their young, have been
the themes of admiration in all lands. A study
of their habits gives sweetness of tone to the
heart, quiets its fears, allays its griefs. IIow
•wonderful, that when, warned by the approach of
winter, our pleasant summer friends have left us,
others, far into the Arctic regions, should come to
enliven the dreary landscape ! Then with glisten-
ing wing comes the Pine Grosbeak and the Snow
Bunting. The howling storm and driving snow-
are but pastime to them.
In the comparative leisure of winter and the in-
tervals of labor from field-work on the farm, and
in the house, the study of birds will prove a de-
lightful and profitable recreation. Knowledge ac-
quired of this piirt of animated nature, is jvncer, as
much as physical strength to guide the plow, or
swing the scythe, is power. It makes men and
women stronger, better, more useful, and draws
away the mind from what has become the dull
routine of life, delving on the f;irm. Such knowl-
edge heals the discontent which broods upon the ,
mind like a nightmare ; liea])s up the imaginary I
gold in California, or kindles the iynisfaimis light .
about the lawyer's ofSce, the merchant's desk, or
mechanic's bench, and brings compensation for |
sun-burnt cheeks, hard hands, and coarse apparel.
But there are numerous other attractions to study
and reflecticm, both in the animal and vegetable
kingdoms about us.
Have you examined the plant at your feet, the
tree at your door — investigated the currents of
the sap, and learned "how the sweet perfume and
delicate hues of the flower, the oil of the olive, the
sugar of the cane, the narcotic juice of the poppy,
the nutritious farina of the cereal tribes, and the
poisonous extract of the nightshade, are all elabo-
rated by the same mysterious process, and from
similar, if not the very same materials ?"
By visiting the leaves, the sap becomes a very
different substance before returning to the stems
and the trunk of the tree. It returns thicker, is in
a more concentrated form, and better adapted to
nutrition, after having thrown off its excess of wa-
ter. This change causes the fruit to become like
that of the branches and leaves through which
the sap last passes. Thus, if a sweet apple is en-
grafted upon a sour tree, the fruit is sweet, be-
cause the sap Is elaborated or prepared by a sweet
branch and leaves.
Have you investigatetl the functions of the
leaves, and noted the beautiful operations they
perform — how they exhale, absorb and digest ?
They exhale during the day, and throw off the ex-
cess of water in the sap; this exhalation is differ-
ent from mere evaporation, and depends upon the
state of the temperature, and the air.
Absorption is performed mainly by the roots ;
but if these are defective, the leaf assumes the of-
fice ; and you will see the invigoratinij effect of a
shower of rain on the leaves of parched and wilt-
ed plants, long before the water could have reach-
ed the roots, and been carried up to the leaves.
Respiration in plants, as in animals, consists in
the absorption of oxygen from the air, and giving
off of carbonic acid, and is performed mainly by
the leaves.
Di(/e.tti(Mi consists in the decomposition of car-
bonic acid by the green tistsues of the leaves, un-
der the stimulus of the Hglit, the fixation of the
solid carbon and the evolution of the pure oxy-
gen.
But we will not dwell on these particulars, in-
teresting as they are. The whole vegetable king-
dom is filled with wonderful manifestations of the
wisdom, power and goodness of God. On what-
ever side we turn on the farm, there is still some-
thing inviting our contem]jlation ; something ta
awaken new sentiments of gratitude, new emo-
tions of delight. In the morning the sun glances
on millions of liquid drops, changing them into
pearls. The questions should arise, How came
they there? What unseen Power has been at
work during the silent night, studding the blades
of grass, the bending leaf and fragrant flower,
with these crystal gems?
How many "brush with hasty step the dew
away," nor ever ])ause to contemplate it as a part
of that wisdom which has created and governed
all things — nor as the result of the operation of
certain laws. The air being filled with vapor, and
the earth becoming cooler than the surrounding
air, after the sun declines, condenses the moisture
into drops on the outside of the pitcher that is
filled with cold water in the hot summer noon.
But if it is cloudy, there is no dew. The clouds
hang over the earth like an immense blanket and
prevent the heat from escaping, or rather re-
transmit to the earth the heat which had been ra-
diated from it. The temperature of plants, there-
388
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
fore, does not fall so low as to cause the moisture
in the ah* to become condensed, and there is no
dew. The dew comes, too, when it is most need-
ed ; when the heat of the sun, unmitigated by any
cloudy screen, greatly increases the general evap-
oration.
Then there are the subjects of Physiology, of
Heat, Electricity, Hail, Snow or Rain ; each of
wliich is governed by laws which the farmer should
understand, and a knowledge of which would
bring a contentment and delight to his mind, far
overbalancing any gratification to be realized in
the crowded marts of mercantile and commercial
life.
You may study the principles of Irrigation, of |
Draining, Ploughing, Sub-soiling and Compost-
ing ; of the Grasses and Grains, of the cultm-e of ;
Fruits, Vegetables and Flowers. We have pur-
posely omitted them all, in order to take another i
view of the requirements of the farm. But they i
are all governed by immutable laws, controlled by
Infinite Wisdom for our good, and demand of us
such careful and earnest investigation as our sev-
eral circumstances will permit.
Then there are the domestic animals which
serve us, and without which it would be impossi-
ble so to increase the products of the earth as to
meet the wants of the increasing population. A
partial knowledge of the principles of the growth
of each of these, of the elements of which they
are composed, and of their comparative value,
would 80 occupy the mind with the useful and
agreeable, as to leave little room for complaint or
discontent.
Each and all of these have a daily and hourly
influence on your happiness and prosperity ; with-
out this knowledge in some degree, civilization
must decline, and man degenerate to barbarism.
Your beautiful cities, the pleasant homes of your
villages, and your fair fields, teeming with the
products of your industry and skill, would soon
sink to ruin and waste, and become the abode of
wild weeds and wilder beasts.
The time is coming when the success/id farmer
will be the intdUgent farmer, as well as the suc-
cessful merchant he who understands the ])rinci-
ples of trade.
When Lord Bacon said that "knowledge is pow-
er," he did not mean that it is power alone in the
law, in writing books, speculation, or surgery, but
that it is power over the earth to subdue it to our
will ; over the trees, and the grass of the fields, to
make them bring forth abundantly to satisfy our
wants and gratify our tastes ; power to introduce
new fruits and flowers ; power over the animal
kingdom, to improve the races for speed, for milk,
for draft, or the shambles ; and power over the
climate, even, so that tropical plants shall flourish
and ripen their fruits in these regions !
The possession of these powers will verify the
axiom of Lord Bacon. And while they cause
"the desert to blossom as the rose," they will ele-
vate your own characters, and bring that grateful
contentment and satisfaction with your occupa-
tion, to which it has been our object in these re-
marks to lead you ; a contentment and quiet cur-
rent of life, not often realized by professional men.
Then
" ^Oiild you be strtmi ? Go fullow the plough ;
Woul.l you be thoughtful ? Study fielcls and flowers ;
Would you be wise ? Take on yourself a vow
To f,'o to school iu Nature's sunny bowers.
"Fly from the city ; nothing there can charm —
Seek wisdom, strength and virtue on a farm."
Intelligent labor will gladden the heart of the
wife, strengthen that of the husband, and make
home attractive to the child ; will introduce ease
and refinement into domestic life, and through
these, lift the soul to Heaven to reap the reward
of faithful service while on earth, in new fields of
glory, where moth and rust will not corrupt.
TRAINED OXEN".
Because oxen, when compared with horses, are
slow of motion and patient of spirit, it is too often
assumed that they are dull and stupid, and no
Rarey has ever risen to eminence as a trainer of
oxen. Now and then, however, we see evidence
of careful training on the part of some appreciative
farmer, which we are always glad to notice, as we
believe that, in this fast age, the value and intel-
ligence of the ox is not fully appreciated. The
Journal of Agricidtiire thus alludes to a pair ex-
hibited at the late show at Milford, N. H., by
Samuel Hayden, of Hollis:
They were well-matched, weighed some thirt}'-
two hundred, and were the best trained oxen we
e\cr saw. They were exhibited without a yoke,
and made to change places, change fronts, haw,
gte, forward and back, cross over, about face, run,
walk, and halt, by the motion of the whip or word
of mouth, with military ])recision. In fact, they
were managed quite as easily and handsomely as
Williams handles his horses. They are noble cat-
tle, and an honor to their owner.
Kindness to Animals.— Gentleness, like char-
ity, is twice blessed — the effects of which on the
animals around the homestead are scarcely less
noticeable than iii)on the family of your house-
hold. No man can be truly kind to the latter
without letting his cattle feel the influence of his
spn-it. Soft, words and kind looks turn away
wrath among cattle as among mankind. Harsh-
ness has its curse in the hatred which the "brute
beasts" feel, tliough they cannot utter their scorn,
except in occasional kicks or bites, and by general
"ugliness," as it is called. An ear of corn, or a
little salt, or a lock of hay, or even a kind look
or gentle action, such as patting your horse, has
influence more or le.«s in making your appearance
always a source of pleasure to the animals around
you. It is a chea]) luxury, this rendering even the
brute beasts comfortable around your homestead.
18G3.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
389
■WEATHEK SIGNS.
Sudden changes of weather are the immediate
cause of the sickness and death of multitudes,
hence all persons owe it to themselves to study to
some extent the portenta of the heavens, from
their own observation, as to the localities in Vliich
they live, paying hut little attention, and relying
not at all, on the signs of the weather as read in
books, or detailed by others. Rules for farming
and weather signs are proverbially uncertain and
conflicting, arising from the one cause of applying
observations of one locality to those of another.
A wind blowing from the East brings rain to the
Atlantic States, K-cause it comes from the sea ;
but a wind from the West brings rain to San
Francisco, because it comes from the sea. The
dates for planting in Minnesota would not answer
in Louisiana. There are, however, some general
signs which are applicable to all lands. Parents
should begin early to draw the attention of their
children to the weather signs of their individual
localities ; this habit of observation will be largely
valuable in other directions, in practical life. —
HaIVs Journal of Health.
The following lines are attributed to Dr. Jenner,
written on declining an invitation to an excursion ;
these signs can be readily explained on strictly
scientific principles :
"The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low,
The soot fulls down, the spaniels sleep.
And spiders fiom their cobwebs creep.
Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head ;
The boding shepherd heaves a sigh.
For see ! a rainbow spans the sky.
The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
Closed is the pink-eyed ])impernel.
Hark ! how the chairs and tables crack ;
Old Betty's joints are on the rack ;
Her corns with shooting pains tortoent her.
And to her bed untimely send her.
The smoke from chimneys right ascends,
The wind unsteady veers around.
Or settling in the south is found.
The tender colts on back ilo lie,
Xor heeil the traveler i>assing by.
In fiery revl the sun doth rise,
Then wades through clouds to mount the skies.
Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry,
The distant hills are looking nigh.
How restless an; the snoring swiue !
The busy flies disturb the kine.
Low o'er the grass the swallow wings ;
The cricket, too, how loud it sings ;
Puss, on the hearth, with velvet paws,
Sits smoothing o'er her whiskered jaws.
Through the clear s'.ream the fishes rise,
And nimbly catch the incautious flies.
The sheep were seen, at earlj' light.
Cropping the meads with eager I'ite.
Though .June, the air is cold and chill ;
The mellow blackbinl's voice is still ;
The glow-worms numerous and bright.
Illumed the dewy dell last night.
At dusk the squalid toad was seen,
Hoppii.e, crawling o'er the green.
The frog has lost l.is yellow vest.
And in a dingy suit is ilresscd.
The leech, di3lurl>ed is newly risen,
Quite to ihe summit of his prison.
The whirliug wind the dust obeys,
And in the rapid eddy plays.
My dog, so altered in his taste.
Quits mutton-bones, on grass to feast.
And see yon rooks ! how odd their flight !
They imitate 'he gliding kite ;
Or seem precipitate to lull.
As if they felt the piercing ball.
'Twill surely rain. I see with sorrow,
Our jaunt must be put off to- morrow."
Cup Cake. — Three eggs, one cup butter, ore
cup and a half sugar, half clip molassiis, one cup
milk, four cups flour, one teaspoonful saleratus ;
spice to taste.
For the New England Farmer.
KETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
Salting Hay. — In your issue of Oct. 3d, "A
New llanij)shiie Farmer" exj)resses very decided-
ly his dissent from those who consider the appli-
cation of salt to hay as a practice that is absurd
and often injurious. In a previous issue, — that of
Sept. 12th, — the opinion of two men had been
quoted who considered the practice of applying
salt to hay a very absurd one, positively injurious,
and one that should be discountenanced and
abandoned. In opposition to this opinion the
Xcw Uampsliire Farmer says tiiat he is satisfied,
from practical experience, that salt may be used
witli great advantage on hay, in a catching season,
antl is of opinion that it will prevent heating or
mow-burning, souring, and masting. Another
advantage, in his opinion, is, that, seeing that cat-
tle require the constant use of salt, the practice of
applying it to litiy will preserve it in a palatable
condition, if judiciously- used.
Such are the opinions of your New Hampshire
CO! lespondi nt, and his practice, accordingly, is to
use al)out six quarts of salt to a ton of hay when it
is drawn in very moist, and a less quantity if less
wet, and on well-dried, none, liy this application
of salt he thinks he saves, not only much time, but
also mudi value in the hay, in a showery season.
In the statements above given and referred to
we have a s])ecimen of the very diverse and oppo-
site opinions which |)revail among farmers as to
the influence or efi'eet of applying salt to hay.
Meeting, not unfrequently, with persons holding
these opposite opinions, and amused not a little
at the j)i>.siiiv€iieifs with wliich some of them main-
tained the correctness of their own views on a
question which does not admit of any positive set-
tlenlent for want of accurate observations or tacts,
we have felt cimewhat of a curiosity to account
for the fact of this surprising opposition of opinion,
and of the corresponding contrariety of jjractice.
Perhaps a brief sketch of some of the thoughts to
which we have been led by this cuiiosity or desire
to account for a noteworthy diversity of opinion
and ])rs>ctice may interest some of the readers of
this journal, as also serve to throw some light on
the causes of diversity of opinion u|)iMt other ques-
tions and topics, while incidentally, also, some of
these thoughts may serve to assist those who are
not yet decided or positive in their views as to this
disputed point, in deternnning what opinion and
what practice are l>est entitled to their adoption.
The chief cause for the existence of a diversity
of o;)iiiion as to the expediency of applying salt to
hay, consists in the want of accurate observations
and reliable facts, such as would, if to be had,
settle all the point in disjiute. No one who has
ever given us his o])inion, either ))rivately in con-
versation, or jiul)licly through the press, has ever
pretended that he knew, on any well-ascertained
iact or accurate t)bservation which could be de-
pended upon as a positive and unquestionable
proof of any proposition or belief on the subject.
If any one had ever been at the j)ains to apply
salt to one half of a stack or mow, leaving the
oth.er half, containing hay, in exactly the same
condition as to moisture, without any salt, and
then have taken several accurate observations as
to condition of the two halves when the hay came
to be pitched ofi' for being fed, especially as to the
comparative presence or absence of mould, or
3J)0
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
other indications of having undergone heating or
other form of partial decay ; or if any one had
ever made a similar experiment with a load or
several loadf5 of hay in exactly the same condition,
and then have noticed very accurately how the
cattle to which it was fed out were affected by it,
whether it were -eaten cleaner or more entirely, or
with more apparent greediness, when salted, than
when unsalted ; whether or not any too much thirst
was produced, and whether or not there was any
undue action of the bowels and a consequent
standing still or falling off in flesh during the use
of the salted half. If any such experiment, and
any such accurate observations had ever been
made, then we would have had one fact or set of
facts which might have served as a foundation of
positive hwtvledge, and as one step out of the
region of guess-work and uncertain opinion. But
not even so much as this of a contribution towards
certainty and knowledge, in the place of uncer-
tainty and mere opinion has ever been made, so
far as w« have ever heard, read, or ascertained.
In the absence of facts and experiments accu-
rately conducted — that is, in the absence of abso-
lute certainties — farmers build up their opinions,
and shape their practices according to whatever
may seem to them the highest probabilities, one
man regarding this, and another that, as most en-
titled to be believed or accepted as a foundation.
Accordingly, in the present case, one thinks it
highly probable that salt will preserve moist hay
from heating, moulding, &c., while another thinks
it will only make it wetter, and do no good. One
tfiinks that putting salt on hay will be a good way
of salting stock, while another is sure that they
are thus forced to take more than nature craves,
and that they are scoured and lose flesh. One
thinks that uale-ss a man or boy is employed as a
third hand, to distribute the salt ece/i — a little with
every forkful — some of the hay will get too much,
and the rest of it none at all, while others believe
that when even several quarts are put on the top,
after unloading a load, the salt will find its way
evenly all through the whole hay. Of course the
opinion and practice of these several parties will
differ.
Meanwhile we approve most of the course fol-
lowed by Judge Colburn, of Vermont, and others
who have abandoned salting their hay, and furnish
salt to their stock by keeping it iu boxes always
accessible to tliem, so that they get only so mucli
as their instinct craves. But we need facts and
experiments. Who will give us any ?
More Anon.
Elderberries tor Wine. — Elderberry wine
is prized by many families for its soothing effect
upon invalids inclined to be wakeful, and for its
slightly laxative properties. The first account
that we have ever seen of the cultivation of the
fruit, is given in the proceedings of the American
Institute Farmer's Club. Mrs, Noyes, of Iowa,
writes: "We cultivate them eight feet apart ; and,
by using the shovel plough and cultivator cl«se to
the roots, have no trouble in keeping them in good
order. The fruit grows as large as red currants.
We had stems that weighed \h. lbs. each, last sea-
son."
Pur (lie New EnulaiiJ FunueT,
A"WAKDING PREMIUMS AT CATTLE
SHOWS.
Mr. Editor : — As this is the season of the year
when farmers are holding their annual Fairs, I
suppose a few words upon the above subject will
not be considered out of place.
On what principle, and for what purpose should
premiums be awarded ? Ought it not to be done
on the principle of justice, and for the purpose of
inducing as many farmers as possible not only to
become members of our Agricultural Associations,
but also to exhibit annually the finest specimens
of the various productions of their farms. Per-
haps these objects are best accomplislied by the
general practice of having first, second and third
premiums. It seems to mc, however, there are
some rather serious objections to tliis plan, or
method. In the first place, so far as the value of
the premiums is concerned, a few individuals are
benefited at the expense of the many, or, at least,
a larger number. And in the )iext place, more or
less persons, who really deserve premiums, do not
receive any. For instance, suppose a town socie-
ty appropriates twelve dollars for the purpose of
plougiiing, and six persons compete for the pre-
miums. The committee acknowledge that the
work is aJl well done, but they are compelled to
award the money to three of the ploughmen,
while the others receive nothing. Now, is this
fair and just? Then, again, it is sometimes ex-
ceedingly difficult for committees to decide be-
tween two competitors, both being about equally
deserving ; but decide they mmt, and one receives
the premium and the other nothing. Now would
it not be more in accordance with the principle of
fairness and justness to divide the money between
the two according to their merits ?
Cases will also occasionally occur when there
will be quite a large number of animals of one
claims or description, and but few or none of anoth-
er. At the exhibition recently held in this town
by the Farmer's and Mccliuiiics Association, I
chanced to be one of the committee on swine.
There were two jn-emiums for boars, but only one
in the pens. There were three fine, fat hogs, and
we had a premium for each. There were also
three premiums for breeding sows, but no animals
of that description ; there were, however, six fat
pigs, and all weli worthy a premium, but the com-
mittee had only two to bestow, and so the other
four went home grunting unrewarded, or rather
their owners received nothing for the trouble of
taking their pigs to the public pens, which is sel-
dom a pleasant or profital)le performance, howev-
er much fun it may sometimes aft'ord for other
persons.
Hovv often we hear committees express regret
in their reports that they had no more premiums
to bestow. Then why not allow them to distrib-
ute at least a portion of the money at their dis-
cretion according to circumstances, to those who
really deserve it ? Indeed, the plan of a more
general distribution is already practiced, at least
to some extent. Since the formation of the soci-
ety in this town, twelve years ago, I think the
money approjjriated for fiowers, fancy and manu-
factured articles, roots and vegetables, has always
been at the disposal of the several committees to
be awarded as their good jupgment should dic-
tate. And if I am not mistaken, this Ijus f ener-
I
1863.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
891
ally been done very satisfactorily. The same
course has also been pursued in regard to a])i)los,
and all other fruit, until the present year, when
the following plan was ado])ted:
There were to be six classes of competitors.
Those having the icfil specimois of one, five, ten,
fifteen, twenty or twenty-live varieties, there being
not less than five ai)ples or jiears on a plate, were
to receive s first, second and third j)vemiuni ; mak-
ing eighteen for ap])les, and the same number for
pears and other fruii. Now suppose the nund^er
of contributors to be but forty, and it will be seen
that less than one-half receive all the premiums,
while the others take their lime (which in the har-
vest season is certainly the same as money,) to
pick their fruit, convey it to the show and home
again — for what? why ail I'ro bono publico. Let
us take a case (and a real one) to show the ef-
fect or woriung of this plan. Here is a farmer
living in the outskirts of the town who has taken
particular piiins to preserve enough of !ns best
Bartlett pairs for a plateful, and with three oth-
er varieties carries them over to the show ; but
receives no premium, nor is any notice taken of
his pears by tiie committee in their report.) for
■which they are not to blame.) but another person
residing within a short distance of the place of
exhibition carries in a plane r full of seckel pears,
and is awarded one dollar for his pains, or rather
for his platter of pears, which were picked and
placed upon the table without any pains.
Now is this quite fair and just ? Will the farm-
er be likely another year to preserve his pears for
the ])urpose of carrying tiicm to the show ? I
can say pretty positively that he will not do it.
Some years since I attended a show in an ad-
joining town, and it was a vei-y good one for a
town exhibition, but I should think about half the
fruit upon the tables belonged to one individual,
and he of cour.se received a large, if not a "lion's
share" of the premiums. And does not the pres-
ent practice have a direct tendency to put an un-
due proportion of the money into the pockets of
those who already possess so much ])roporty that
they can do as they please in regard to' the rais-
ing of stock and fruit, thus making it almost im-
possible for farmers of small, or even moderate
means to compete with them successfully ?
It seems to me this subject of awarding premi-
ums is an important one, and what I have said has
been done partly for the purpose of drawing out
or obtaining a public expression of other persons
who may have had a larger experience, and more
extended opportunity for observation.
Leominster, Oct., 18(53. A. C. \v.
P. S. — Since writing the above I have read the
re])ort in the Fitchburg Iteveille, of the Horse
Fair and Cattle Show held in that town the last
of September, and was somewhat surprised at tlie
unusually large number of gratuities, and the
amount of money thus granted to competitor.'^ or
contributors. May we not consider this as an in-
dication that committees begin to have some com-
punctions of conscience, ami feel that it is hardly
fair and just to award all the money to a few in-
dividuals, while perhaps forty or fifty may have
done whnt they could for the good appearance of
an exhibition. A. c. w.
For the New England Fanner.
HOW TO KAISE RYE.
A friend of mine, in Franklin county, informs
me that he has sown r3e upon the same ground,
more than ten years in succession, without the ap-
plication of anything in the way of manure, and
that the crop has been gradually improving dur-
ing the whole time.
The latter portion of the time the average yield
has been about twelve bushels per acre. This,
witii the straw, now worth ten dollars per ton, is
a good crop.
The stubble is ploughed under the last of Au-
gust, and the first or second week in September it
is seeded and thoroughly harrowed, and nothing
more is done to it till another crop is ready to be
taken oft'.
There seems to ine to be involved in this fact
an important principle, which farmers need to
study.
From this soil — a light sandy loam — there has
been taken, in ten successive seasons, ten crops of
rye, each better than the one preceding, and that
without the application of any manure.
The skinning process has been adopted and
followed up, yet without exhaustion or apparent
injury to the land. The populai'idea of rotation
in crops, as essential to a healthy condition of the
"land," seems to be at fault here. There has been
no rotation, no cessation, no change, no attempts
to resuscitate or im])rove, but a uniform, steady
process of draining, skinning and exhausting.
I Unlike the horse, who learned to live without
eating, and then "up and died," it learned to live
without eating, and continues to thrive all the bet-
ter. And I see no re.ison to doubt that this pro-
cess may be continued indefinitely.
This same land, if left to itself, would, in a few
years, l)e covered with forest trees, which would
jearly draw heavily upon the soil for support —
the land meanwhile becoming richer. Now why
is this? we know of but two sources from which
plants can draw nourishment — the soil and the at-
mosphere. The former we know may and must
be exhausted by constant depletion. The latter,
as aff"ecting vegetation, we know very little about.
Hoping that some of your correspondents will
shed some light upon this subject, 1 leave it here.
li. B. II.
A SiNGULAU Case. — I have a fine-looking cow,
seven years old, which had a calf on Monday, the
L'Oth of July. She appeared all right, and we
milked her regularly, (but did not get as much
milk as we expected.) On Sunday, the 2Gth, she
had anotlier calf. 13oth were males, and of large
size. I have had cows vary twelve hours in hav-
ing twins, but do not recollect of reading or hear-
ing of a cow going six days apart. This is for the
querist and stockmen. — S. C Smith, in liiuul
New Yorker.
Most of the shadows that cross our path through
life are caused by standing in our own light.
ScuATCiiiis IX Houses. — C. G. Siewers, Camp-
bell, Co., ()., gives his experience as follows : "The
l)est remedy I have ever tried is to walk the horse
up and down in running water two or three times
a day, for a few days ; this always cures my horse.
The cause I ascribe to a filthy stable, as my horse
never gets the scratches, unless I emjiloy a cer-
tain lazy farm hand in the neitihborhuod for a
makeshift; he and the scr..t,-li<.;o '""tther."
392
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Dec.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Our Next Volume— Implements at the Illinois Fair. . . ,Page 361
Thouslits for December 362
Bad Treatment of a Calf— West's Improved Pump 303
Meteoroln;jiciil Record for August and September 3(53
Parinp; and Burninjj; — Binding Machine 364
"Of my Own Uaisint;" — Price of Wool 365
Letter from tlie Hills — Horticultural Notes 366
South Down Buck, Arcl)bi,-hop — Mares in Foal 368
The Hop Croi>^rrice of Apples ... .368
Seedling Pears -Dr. ShurtklT's Labors 360
Ohjeclions to tlie Rarey Plan 309
Running White Beans — Fruits in the Northwest 370
Fightiug Weeds Resolutely „ 370
Charlton — Breeds of Swine, and their Management 371
Cheap Grape Trellis 372
Mother Earth — Strawberries 373
Choice of Animals for Fattening 373
Rats in a Tile l^rain- Salt and Cold Water for Swine 374
Growing Love of Flowers — Tobacco and Wlieat 37 )
Cost of Analyzing Soils — Women's Long Skirts 376
Have Animals l\iasoning Powers — Dapjage to Sheep 376
Importance of JIanures — The Harvest 377
Shall we Raise Tobacco f 377
Top-Dressing for Grass Lands 378
Stray Hints from my Kitchen .' 378
Extracts and RepHus 379, 384
Trimming the Wliite Pine — Marvels of Man 379
Cashmere Goats and Wool— The Ilusbandnian — The EIm...3S0
Covering Manure — The Farmer as a Manuficturer 381
Suspended Animation — Turning Heavy Cheeses 382
Love of Home — Get Enough Sleep 382
The Crops of 1803— Wliy Hogs Eat Ashes, &c 383
New Books — The I'ractical Shepherd — Sorgo 384
Eaton's Premium Sheep Rack o85
Hydropathy in Veterinary Practice, , 385
Why is the Farmer Discontented ? 3«.6
Trained Oxen — Kindut-ss to Animals 383
Weather Signs — Retrospective Notes 3S9
Awarding Premiums at Cattle Shows 3'JO
Elderberries for Wine :;90
How to Raise Rye — Scratches in Horses 391
Cattle Markets for November 392
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter W ." 302
South Down Bi-.ck, Archbishop 3i)3
Eaton's Premium Sheep Rack 3Sj
CATTLE MARKETS FOR DNTOVEMBER.
The f jUowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending November 11, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. Sheep. Shotes. Fat Huas.
Oct.. 21 4150 7382 2C0 3000 "
" 28 3977 7098 200 3600
Nov. .4 4335 7021 — 4SOO
" 11 5214 7268 114 5400
Total 17,726 28.769 514 16,800
The following table exhibits the number of cattlf and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for tlie correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
.Tanuary, of each year:
THIS YEAR. LAST YEAR.
Cait'e. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 4703 3515 3700 4284
New Hampshire 2990 44S4 21C0 2870
Vermont 4639 10,703 7972 8924
Massachusetts 5U 21 381 —
Northern New York 722 1791 703 913
Western States 30S9 1025 1877 696
Canada 1072 7230 395 8.JG8
Total, last four weeks 17,726 28,769 15,238 2),257
Total, since Jan. 1,(46 w'ks,).94,149 2^,756 82,312 203,229
PRICES.
0-'i!.21. Oc<. 28. Nov.i. Aw'.ll
Beef,lst,2d,3aqual 5 ,H8 5 38 5 gS 5 ^iS
" extra and premium S^gSj SJgSj ^\a%l S'jgSJ
Sheep k lambs, each $84 S4i $3 ', <i4^ $3g 55 $3^55^
" (old) q;? II, 5 S5i 5^-36 5.^36^ 54o6i
Swine,stores,w'sale 41354 ^i'nhl 44g54 5 41,6
" " i-etail 5 36 6 ,36 5 36 5^37
Livefathogs 5336 6 ©6^ 6 36^ 6 36^
Beef hides, •<?' lb 8.ia9 8,159 8I39 8i'39
Pelts, sheep & lambs $1^ si J $1 JglJ $1| g2 $1^ §2
Tallow, ^ lb 8 (384 8 (gS^ 8 ©8^ 8 (38J
Remarks — The amount of stock at market this fall continues
to be much larger than it was either last year or the year be-
fore, and the number of cattle at the last of the foregoing four
weeks exceeds by some 600 or 800 that at any one market dur-
in.i^ the last three years. A large part of them, however, were
"light stufT," young cattle and partly fatted cows and small ox-
en, many of which, probably, were sent to market to enable
their owners to sell a few tons of hay, for v.hieh it is said buyers
from the cities are ofFering high prices in most parts of New
England. Two years ago many mechanics and very large num-
bers of operatives were out of employment in New England, and
quite uncertain jhow disastrously the continuance if the war
might alTect their interests. Resolutely, however, they looked
about thetn with a determination lo prepare as well as they
might for the worst. Among (he items of family expenses, the
meat bill was one of the first to be placed on the retrenchment
list, and Brighton market at once felt the effect of the patriotic
sacrifice. The constant increase since that time, of the con-
sumption of meat, is to our mind a most conclusive evidence of
the growth of confidence in our government and in ourselves.
The number of cattle and sheep at market, for the eight weeks
ending about November 11, this year, last year, and the year
before, is as follows:
1861. 1862. 1863.
Cattle 21,344 27.003 33.594
Sheep 42,865 56,787 63,415
Prices have been v^ry uniform during the past month, and
the stock arriving at market has been sold each week, e.xrept
the last, when there were about 1000 cattle and as many sheep
unsold at the close of business.
Cows that bid fair to yield a good amount of milk ai-e in de-
mand, at from $33 to $45 f)r cows and young i alves. Extra
good ones higher, and extra poor ones lower. The market is
overstocked for other kinds of store catile.
Sheep sell so well that the butchers generally pre-engage their
next week's supply. Pelts advancing.
The store-pig or shotc trade is quite small, in consequence of
the high price of grain.
Sales of Cattle and Slieep.
The following is from our report of sales, November 11:
E. Woodruff solil 8 oxen to N. & S. Jackson, one premium
pair, laid at 2300 lbs., dressed, fir 8;'jC, another fine pair, 2200
tbs., for S'jC, and 4 of about 9t 0 lbs. each, for 7,!3C ; to another
party 4 oxen, at 7'4C ; four fat cows at $45 each, or 7c F lb. ;
one two-year-old heifjr at $36, and another at $26, each to coat
the butcher abou^t Gc #" lb., on dressed weight.
M. r. Shackett sold to Saunders & Ilartwell 16 oxen — 8 laid
at 1200 lbs. for 8 '^c, and 8, 1050 lbs., at IKi: ; 6 four-year-old
steers, laid at 800 lbs , at 7c ; 8 three-year olds, 700 ttis. each,
for6;«c; 11 two-year-olds, of very extra size and quality, and
one three-year-old heifer, laid at 7C0 lbs., at about 7o i* ib. ; 11
jthrrs, 6ijO lbs., at 6c, and 9 three-year-olds. 675 lbs. each, for
9'iu.
S. Wilmaith sold to S. F. Woorthridge one pair oxen, live
wlight 2850 llis., at 7c, 35 sk., 5 heifers and cows at about 6^c,
7 two and three-year-old steers at 6>2. and 3 cows for $126, or
about Giadr lb.
T. J. Adams sold 8 two-year-old heifers, fair beef, .$23 1? hd ;
1 fat cow, .to dress 7(0 lbs, for §4:' ; another for $40, to dress
6-50 lbs. At Cambridge he was olTere 1 $103 (or a pair of oxen,
measuring 6 f«et 9 inches, one of which was fair beef and the
other not quite as good, which he thou/ht ought to bring him
about $113 ; he had stood with them all day iu Brighton, and
the best bid made there up to sundown, was $90.
Scollans & Co. sold 3-3 Western oxen, 153o lbs. each, to E.
Porter at 8c, >^ sk ; 7 to Saunders & Hartwell, 1800 lbs. each,
at 8 ',c, Jt sk ; one pair premium oxen, 3300 fts., at 9c, 28 sk ;
40 to*G. riavis, 120 lbs., at 7'<c, 35 sk ; 16 to Mr Mason, 1325
lbs. 8c, 15 sk ; 31 to Mr Wildes, M2S lbs, 7'4 c, 38 sk ; 13 of
1400 lbs, 7,^aC, 35 sk ; 19 to Col. Phipps, 9^0 lbs. each, at Oe, 40
shrink.
.r. Frost sold one pair of working oxen, 6 ft. 8 in., 6 years
old, for SIU8 ; one pair, 6 fi. .''i in., five years old, f.-r S90 ; 6
yearlings at $12 each ; and 3 pairs of two ye?r old steers re-
m.uned in his yards which iiad been traineil to the yoke, were
well matched and thrif.y, for which he asked $82, but would be
glad of an offer cif something less than that. A. C. Uolbrook
cleared his yiiids by the sale of 7 fair yearlings to Mr. Rice at
$3.50 per head.
S. A. Maxfield sol 1 a very nice pair of well-matched, str.aight,
long-bodied oxen, 7 ft. 2 in , G year old, for $133 ; one pair, 6
ft. 11 in., 7 years old, for $119; one pair 6 ft. 10 i.i. 6 yeara
old, for $105 ; and four well fatted beef oxen, laid at 4100 lbs.,
to Col. Dana for 8c ■If lb.
Lambert Hastings sold 09 lambs for $3.75, lOS for .yl.OO, 110
for $4 25 and 65 selected cossets and rich lauiTis at $3.75, or, by
estimate, about 6c •(f lb. on live weight at market ; W. H. Smith
sold 90 sheep and lambs at $3.50. E. Wooiiruff sold a lot of
sheep anil lambs at $4.25 each, one lot of about 100 small
sheep and lambs were sold for $3.25 ; Robert Fletcher, whose
eye for fat sheep is regarded am ng the keenest, went up Cana-
da way last week and brought bai:k 51 lambs with a few older
cossets, just such as suited him, and such a lot, the bur.ehers say,
as has scare, ly ever been seen in this market, weighingSObO lbs.,
which he sold to Dupee & White at 7c ij' ib. People were look-
ing at the mutton, this morning, at the market.
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTTJHE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, JANUARY, 18G4.
NO. 1.
NOURSK, EATON & TOLMAN, Propbibtors.
Office.... 102 WAsiiixaTos Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editor.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY JANUARY.
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth ; tliat
our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the
similitude of a palace:
That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store ;
that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands
io our streets:
That our oxen may be strong to labor ; that there be no com-
plaining in our streets, "
Happy is that people that is in such a case.
Psalm CXLIV: 12, 15.
ANUARY, 1864!
Happy, indeed,
must be the "peo-
ple that is in such
a case." And there
is no reason why
all the people in
the free States
should not be in
such a condition,
except our own im-
pei'fcctions. H e
who created us,
has given us all
that can possibly
be necessary to
satisfy every phy-
want. An extensive
diversified country,
teeming with the richest and most
substantial productions, when gener-
ously treated. A varied and delightful climate,
capable of bringing to perfection every grain and
fruit that man can desire, or that is required to
develope his highest physical powers. He may
find in it whatever degree of cold or warmth his
particular temperament may demand, and still see
around him the most ample means for subsistence,
and for mental and material ))rogress. Everywhere
the soil yields her increase, when wrought by
skilful and industrious hands, while seas and for-
ests contribute in a thousand ways to gratify his
tastes and supply his wants.
What can we ask more ! Only this, — the pu-
rity of Him who taught among the hills of Naza-
reth, and that our social systems be so jjerfected
that none can be poor among us. The ancient
Peruvians could not claim the exalted purity of
which we speak, but their government, though per-
fectly arbitrary, made it impossible that any of its
people should ever want for food, shelter or cloth-
ing. Under their laws, every one was obliged to
work. If not with his hands, then with his head
— in some way, certainly, so that every person
who was a conmuner must do something to pro-
duce supplies, or in some form promote the public
welfare. Each head of a family had his special
allotment of Lind,and he was obliged to cultivate
it, when in health ; if rich, his neighbors tendied
it for him, so that every allotment was produc-
tive. Government granaries were established, so
that if flood, or drought or tempests destroyed
the crops in any particular section, the people
were supplied from the public granaries, until the
sufferers could sow and reap their usual crops.
The inclemencies of the season lead us natur-
ally to these thoughts, and we are pained with
the reflection, that any should ever sufl'er for the
common necessities of life, in a land so crowded
with all that we need, and where all might enjoy
it, if our social systems were so perfect as to com-
pel all who consume to jvoduce, in one form or
another. Wc do not mean that this product shall
be limited merely to that which goes directly to
sustain life — fur he who introduces order or econ-
omy, teaches the arts, or imparts any useful in-
formation, is a producer, and is entitled to God's
sunshine and showers and to enjoy the fruits of
the earth. We are radical on this point. It is
wrong, in our opinion, to consume the earnings
of others, when we have had the nbiliti/, and yet
have failed in some way to promote the welfare
of our fellow-man. Had we the power of the
2
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
"Grand Turk," our first edict should be that
"those who are able, and will not work, sliall not
eat."
"With all the means at our command we ought
to become the people spoken of in our caption,
taken from the Holy Writ, — when "our daughters
may be as corner stones," — our "garners full, af-
fording all manner of store" — "our sheep bring-
ing forth thousands and ten thousands" — "our
oxen strong," and no ^^comiylaining heard in our
streets."
Let us, attentive reader, strive, this year, to do
what in us lies, to bring about such a blessed
state of society. It might, exist in January, 1865,
if all were true to duty. Let integrity, sincerity,
patience, reverence, faith and charity ever be our
aim, and all that happiness intended for us in this
mortal state will be attained. Let us remember
that "truth, in thought and sentiment, leads to
truth in action," and that what we do now is to
have its influence on future ages of the race, as
"men of all time, from the remotest antiquity,
have done a part in making our condition and
character what it is to-day."
January has its appropriate and important du-
ties as well as the other months. They are great-
ly varied from the mid-summer or autumnal
months, and they are all the more pleasant for
that.
" 'Tis now the time from hoarding cribs to feed
The ox laborious, and the noble steed ;
'Tis now the time to tend the bleating fold,
To strew with litter, and to fence from Cold,
The cattle fed, the fuel piled within,
At setting day the blissful hours begin j
'Tis then, sole owner of his little cot,
The farmer feels his independent lot ;
Hears with the crackling bUize that lights the wall,
The voice of gladness and of nature call ;
Beholds his children play, their mother smile,
And tastes with them the fruit of Summer's toil."
HOMPHETS.
We wish there were among us more cases of
"the crackling blaze that lights the wall," for
then there would be more voices of gladness, and
more roses on the cheeks of our young women.
In that exceedingly interesting book — "My Famn
of Edffewood" — the author says : "The days of
wood fires are not utterly gone ; as long as I
live they never will be gone. * * Coal may
belong in the kitchens of winter — I do not say nay
tothis ; but I do say that a country home without
some one open chimnej^ around which, in time of
winter twilight, when snows are beating against
the panes, the family may gather and watch the
fire flashing and crackling and flaming and wav-
ing, until the girls clap their hands, and the boys
shout in a kind of exultant thankfulness, is not
worthy the name." We wish that in every farm-
house this beaiitiful picture might become a real-
ity. In the long run, we thinii it would be econ-
omical, at least for the evening fire, when the
whole family is usually assembled.
But we must pause. And, 0, if we have touch-
ed one chord that will vibrate in sympathy with
any poor sufl'erer, and lead you to protect, to ad-
minister to, or comfort with kind words, then our
New Ye.ar's salutation will not be in vain.
FOKMOSAN TORTOISES.
A list of fifteen species of reptilia has been m
contributed to the Annals of Natural History by ^
Mr. R. Swinhoe her Majesty's Vice-Consul at
Formosa. Three living tortoises (Eniys Simen-
sis, of Grey) have been presented to the Zoolog-
ical Society, and are now exhibited in their gar-
dens. Other dead specimens haae been deposit-
ed in the British Museum. We give a few notes
respecting them. The Trionyx Simenis is a tor-
toise with a long projectile neck and very sharp
teeth. When once it seizes an object it is with
the utmost difficulty that it can be prevailed upon
to let it go. The Chinese boil it into sonp, and
esteem it a great delicacy. Another tortoise, the
Cisto Clemmys Flavormarginto, is the prevailing
species about Tamsuy, north-west of Formosa.
Mr. Swinhoe frequently observed it in ponds about
the rice-fields, with its round back showing above
the surface of the water and its head peering out.
At times several might be seen together on the
tops of stones in the water, basking motionless
with limbs extended. On being alarmed they
would shuffle ofl" the stones with all the energy in
their power, and, plunging into the water, sink
immediately. If the observer kept quite still,
after the lapse of a few seconds they would again
appear on the surface. The green turtle of Euro-
peans (Chelonia Virgata) is of frequent occurrence
in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, east of
Florida. The fishermen regard it with great rev-
erence as an emblem of longevity. When acci-
dentally entangled in the fishing-nets, it is car-
ried to the nearest large town and exhibited for a
short time. It is then usually j)urchased from its
captors by some well-to-do native, who has a few
"good words" carved on its back, in company
with his own name and the date, and fills in the
inscription with vermillion. The animal is then
decked with ribbons, and carried in a boat with
much ceremony out to sea, where it is consigned
with state into its native element. Some very
large specimens were brought from Sawo to Tam-
suy. They were kept in a boat filled with water
during the day ; in the evening they were brought
out on the deck of a vessel. One of them for sev-
eral consecutive evenings at eight o'clock precise-
ly would commence scratching the deck with her
fore flappers, and then set to laying eggs, usually
twelve in number. She would then turn round,
and commence pushing and scraping with her hind
flapper — evidently the manoeuvre she was in the
habit of going through on the sandy beach : first
scratching a hole for the reception of the eggs,
then filling it up. Mr. Swinhoe had one alive for
some time in the yard of his house. It used to lie
motionless in the rain puddles, with only the tip
of its head uncovered. When the thermometer
fell below 50° it would sally out of the water and
not return till it grew warmer.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
For the New England Fanner.
A HINT ABOUT DKAININQ.
Messrs. Editors : — Enclosed is three dollars
to pay for the Farmer for two years. It is un-
certain about my living to need it ; but as the
success of agriculture is my highest earthly ob-
ject, I do not know of anything better than to do
what I can to sustain the Farmer, both by word
and deed. I have told of my success in farming,
and will now tell of one mistake which I think
others may profit by avoiding.
I have a piece of land containing seven or eight
acres, lying in the form of a basin, which, when I
was a boy, was chiefly covered with large bushes
and brambles, except about one acre in the mid-
dle, which was too wet to bear bushes. My fa-
ther had a shallow ditch dug through the middle
of it before I took the lead. I have since cleared
the whole and underdrained one half. My mis-
take was, in not digging the main drain deep
enough. I hope that those who come after me
will be able to dig it one foot deeper, for the ditch
I have at present only drains the shoalest of it,
about fifteen or eighteen inches, and I would not
recommend any one to drain less than two or two
and one half feet. I have experienced so much
benefit from my imperfect draining, that I would
advise all who have land that needs draining, to
ifnderdrain so far as they are able. I would give
advice similar to that of the Dutchman to his
son, "Never to run in debt; but if he did run in
debt let it be for manure." I would say let it be
for underdraining. T. Haskell.
West Gloucester, Dec. 13, 1863.
Remarks. — Friend Haskell is one of the old-
est subscribers to the Farmer. He is now, we
believe, past "threescore and ten," but still full of
interest in the progress of the art which he loves
so well. That he may read and be edified, and
wiite and edify others for many years to come, is
our sincere wish.
For the New England Farmer.
THE "WAR AND AGRICUIiTURE— THE
MOON— PREMATURE BIRTHS.
As I ride along the road I have noticed that
not one-fourth as much land is plowed this fall
as usual. If there is little land plowed I am
afraid we shall fall short of products. Plow one
acre to help 8upi)ort our army in the field. If
you liave not the necessary men's help call on the
mother or sister to give you a helping hand.
They had rather do it than let the sons of the
country siifi'er. We read that in the time of the
Revolution the mothers, with their babes nestled
down by the side of the bushes, toiled from sun-
rise to sunset in the fields ! All men to war,
none to farm. Let that cry be an untruth, or
else let those mechanics who are building shojis
calculate to put their hand to the plow in the
spring.
The old women used to talk of planting in
the right time of the moon. I never thought
that there was anything in it, but this year I saw
that which ought to make me a believer. I saw
bean vines that were planted near tlie full of the
moon, and not ten feet distant, on the same kind
of soil and situation, were a lot planted ou the
decrease, and about the same time. Those which
were planted on the growing, grew well and bore
finely. The ofhers did neither bear nor run to
vines, but squat upon the ground.
I see that my theory in regard to premature
births does not coincide with that of yours, but
the reasons given by you, I don't see to hit or
controvert my theory. I saw that a correspond-
ent of an agricultural journal in England, consid-
ering upon the same subject, copies my article
entire, and then goes on to say that I express his
mind ; that he for years has been inclined to the
same opinion, but that he has of late become sat-
isfied.
Now is the time to turn up the muck ; the
frost will take out the acid and fine it up ; then
in the spring tumble it over ; if to plant after the
seed is in, throw on ashes and lime in equal parts,
but do not forget to put a little manure in the
hill. s. P. M.
Dover, N. K, November, 1863.
For the Next En'„'lanil Fanner.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR
OCTOBER, 1863.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of Oct. was 49° ; av-
erse midday temperature, 57°. The correspond-
ing figures for Oct., 1862, were 50° and 55°.
Warmest day, the 4th, averaging 64° ; coldest
day, the 28th, averaging 32°. Highest tempera-
ature, 7S° ; lowest do., 21°.
x^verage height of mercury in the barometer,
29.35 ins. ; do. for Oct., 1862, 29.28 ins. High-
est daily average, 29.70 ins. on the 29th ; lowest-
do., 29.08 ins. on the 4lh. Range of mercury
from 29.04 ins. to 29.74. Ruin fell on eleven
days ; amount of rain, 3.95 ins. ; sixteen wet days
and 3.52 ins. rain in Oct., 1862. There were two
entirely clear days — ou two days the sky was en-
tirely overcast. A. C.
Claremont, N. H., Nov., 1863.
■WINTERING BEES.
The Effect of Ice or Frost on Bees and
Comb. — When the bee."* are not smothered, this
water in the hive is the source of other mischief.
The combs are quite certain to mould. The wa-
ter mould or dampness on the honey renders it
thin, and unhealthy for the bees, causing dysen-
tery, or the accumulation of fieces that they are
unable to retain. When the hive contains a very
large family, or very small one, there will be les*
frost on the combs, — the animal heat nf the first
will drive it off"; in the latter there will be but lit-
tle exhaled.
Frost may Cause Starvation. — This frost
is frequently the cause of medium or small fami-
lies starving in cold weather, even when there is
plenty of honey in the hivu. Suppose all the
honey in the immediate vicinity of the cluster of
bees is exhausted, and the combs in every direc-
tion from them are covered with frost ; if a bee
should leave the mass and venture among them
for a supply, its fate would be as certain as star-
vation. And without timely intervention of warm-
er weather, they miuit perish ! — (Juiiiby's Mysteries
f Bee-Keeping,
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
SEEDINa- LAND TO GKASS.
In a former article, we spoke of some of the
leading points bearing upon this important sub-
ject, and will now briefly introduce a few more,
with such authorities as are at hand to sustain the
opinions which we advance. We shall be glad if
some of our intelligent correspondenfs will com-
municate their views, whether they agree with ours
or not.
1 The transpiration of plants — that is, the part-
ing with their moisture — is nearly confined to the
day, very little taking place during the night, and
it is much promoted hy Jieat. Another effect of
the grain plants, therefore, among the young
grass would be to keep the whole field cooler and
more moist, and consequently in the most favora-
ble condition to live and grow. Under such cir-
cumstances, grass seed would seldom fail "to
catch," as it is called, because it would be placed
in a warm and moist position, and where the vari-
ations of temperature would scarcely aff"ect it.
The action of the plants, like that of the human
system in health, would be regular, — not receiving
nutritive influences largely at one period and los-
ing weight at another, but steadily advancing in a
healthful and vigorous growth. For "the quanti-
ty of moisture imbibed by plants depends very
much upon what they transpire. The reason is
obvious. When the vessels are once filled with
sap, if none be carried ofi", no more can enter, and,
of course, the quantity which enters must depend
upon the quantity emitted." Checking rapid evap-
oration of the rains and dews, and preventing the
plant itself from sudden changes of gain and loss
of its moisture, keep it in a natural and healthy
condition and secures success.
Another important fact goes to prove the bene-
ficial influences of the grain crop upon the young
grass. If the latter were sowed alone, the sur-
face of the soil must be nearly bare for some days
at least after the grass is up, and before it could
grow sufficiently to cover the ground. If dry,
hot weather should take place at this period, it
would be likely to ruin the crop, because evapora-
tion from both plants and soil would be very rapid.
It is well ascertained that the earth becomes
heated much quicker and deeper under a bare sur-
face, than under a sod, or where any vegetation is
growing. From two or three experiments, "tried
in the coolest and warmest spots that could be
found, it was evident that the relative diff'erence
in the temperature was uniform, and that on a
hot summer's day, the earth, six inches under sur-
face in sod, was eigld degrees cooler than under a
clean, loose surface. This fact has a direct bear-
iag upon the question at issue, viz., whether it is
best to sow grain tcith grass seed, in laying down
grass lands, or not ?"
Few crops that we produce are more delicate
and tender when young, than most of our grasses.
They are small, quite succulent, and liable to be
injured by various causes, so that any cheap and
efficient mode of protecting them will prove of no
small consideration to most farmers. The fail-
ures in seeding this crop make up an annual heavy
aggregate of loss.
In a former paragraph we recommended the lay-
ing down of grass lands in August in the midst
of standing corn. A clear writer, and a practical
farmer, in an article upon "Corn, as a Shade for
Fruit Trees and Plants," says : Last spring I
planted about half an acre of strawberries. After
the second hoeing, May 23, 1 planted corn between
all the rows, using a variety called Early Six
Weeks. I planted also one hundred Concord
Grape Vines, between the rows of which I planted,
May 25, Canada or Eight Rowed Yellow Corn.
* * The drought this year was of short dura-
tion, about four weeks, but unusually severe, ow-
ing to the intensely hot weather. My strawber-
ries suff"ered to some extent, but comparatively
little. Of my grapes, two or three were injured,
but not more than one, I think, will be lost, white
the year before I lost at least twenty per cent, not
shaded by corn ! On a little more than half of a
newly planted patch of raspberries I planted King
Philip corn between the rows. None of that por-
tion of the raspberries was injured, but about half
of the rest died. Dwarf apple trees, planted last
spring on a gravelly soil with southwestern expo-
sure, have done much better where they were
shaded by small corn than where the ground was
planted to potatoes. * * From my experience
and observation, he adds, I am led to the convic-
tion that for this climate the cultivation of corn
among fruit trees, grape vines, raspberries, straw-
berries, &c., the first summer after they are set
out, is a practice of very great value.
A few more points present themselves for con-
sideration, which we will defer to another paper.
"WTCAT WILL BECOME OP AGRICUL-
TURAL SOCIETIES ?
This question, and the following paragraph in
reply thereto, closes an article on the subject of
the late organization of the "Illinois Wool-grow-
ers' Association," written by Mr. Blagden, one of
the editors of the JRiiral Neiv Yorker. He regards
this as a movement in the right direction. It is
no longer enough that farmers — as a class — should
combine ; each specific interest must have its spe-
cific organization, as is the case with the different
branches of commercial and mechanical business.
And this, in the opinion of Mr. Blagden, is what
M'ill become of our old Agricultural Societies.
He says :
The mission of these societies is ended. Their
work is done. They have been pioneers of pro-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
gress. The wilderness has been cleared of its
rank growth of heavy timber. Nothing remains
but the stumps in the way of the progress of each
class of husbandmen. These must* be cleaned out
by a different process. The way must be cleared
for the use of the reaper. The aye of machinery
is at hai)d. And the stimulus necessary ten years
ago is no longer needed. Miscellaneous exhibi-
tions do not do the work which needs to be done.
They do not yield the nutriment required. The
field is too large. Each class must concentrate its
power to remove the peculiar obstacles in its path.
Agricultural societies and their exhibitions do not
do this. They stimulate skill and labor, and show
the results of their application. But they control
nothing ; do not dictate to anybody ; have no pos-
itive influence in politics and in shaping public
policy. The time has arrived when the relations
of the different industrial classes in this country,
to each other, and to other classes, demand a dif-
ferent condition of things — demand combination.
And, while I do not profess to be a prophet, nor
the son of a prophet, I believe that the days of
the usefulness of these State and County organi-
zations are numbered — that the seeds of disorga-
nization are sown in them — that from their disso-
lution will spring up new combinations and pow-
ers of a character indicated above.
For the New England Farmer.
LITTIiE THTNGS.
Or, a Walk in my Garden.
While surveying my little garden, I am some-
times led to doubt whether even a kitchen garden
is profitable. It costs me so many hours to cul-
tivate a bed of carrots and beets — so much weed-
ing is necessary — so much bach-aching work, that
1 am led to say,
A Garden, or no Garden?
The old proverb, "Buy all and spend all, just
meets me every time I think of abandoning my gar-
den and buying what I want. I find, too, when har-
vest comes, that when I collect together my vege-
tables into my cellar it would require quite a lit-
tle sum of money to purchase as much.
"Land," says Emerson, "is bad, no land is
worse." Just so have I concluded in respect to
my own garden. Then there is something else ;
my humble garden seems more pleasant to me
than the most expensive garden in the land be-
longing to another. Here is a row of plum trees,
grafted by my own hand. Every other year I
may expect a bountiful supply of luscious fruit.
There is a rough trellis of grajies. They look
most agreeable to the eye. Their very luxuriance
seems to betoken thrift. The young apple trees
growing here and there look more expansive every
year.
Now I do not want to spend a mere negative
state of existence for the sake of getting through
the world as easily as possible. This world has
its positive pleasures, and why may not I enjoy
them? I must then strive to have something of
my own. The idea that I have a little spot of the
latitude and longitude of this world, whiih I can
call my own, serves to elevate ray manhood.
While walking or working in my garden I am
as free as anywhere from evil thoughts that are so
apt to disturb one's peace. I know of no better
place for meditation, and the only palliative I can
find for Mother Eve's weakness is the fact that she
had had no previous experience of the wiles of
the enemy of all peace.
A Sickly-looking Apple Tree.
I have just been tearing out by the roots a sick-
ly-looking apple tree. Labor spent on such a tree
is thrown away. If a young tree has a host of
sprouts coming up around it, the sooner a good
healthy young tree takes its place the better. A
sickly tree will grow worse and worse every year,
while a healthy tree will become better.
Rotation of Garden Crops.
There are some strange anomalies in gardening,
in spite of all theories. I knew a man who had
sowed his carrots and beets on (he same spot for
forty-five years. It was naturally an unpromis-
ing soil, composed of a coarse giiivel, but he al-
ways succeeded in raising very handsome crops on
the same spot till the year of his death. The
truth is, that a generous -supply of good manure
will reader almost any soil productive, if it be
well drained. Some one will say, "Who did not
know this before ?" yet how iew really practice it !
Fur the New En'jland Farmer.
HINTS FOR THjD FALL.
Mr. Editor : — Methinks I hear you say, as you
glance at the subject, that we have had enough of
this of late. I admit the truth, that nearly every
agricultural paper I have seen for a month has had
some of these hints, but they all tell us the same
thing, and what every farmer of ordinary under-
standing already knows, viz : that such and such
crops should be taken care of before freezing, &c.
Now we all know that, but we do not all know
the best icay of taking care of these things, in or-
der to have them keep in the best possible man-
ner.
It is the common practice for farmers to throw
their potatoes, beets, turnips, and the like, all
into the cellar promiscuously, and then throw the
cabbage, cauliflower. Sec, on top of some of the
rest, and leave them there to rot, if not used in a
short time. By using a little care in storing such
things they may be made to last a much longer
time, and be kepU in a far better condition than
is ordinarily done. Every one knows how much
more palatable a fresh vegetable is than one a lit-
tle wilted ; consequently, the nearer we can keep
vegetables to the state they are in when first taken
from the ground, the beVter they are. Potatoes
keep best when buried in the ground, but most
people have cellars large enough to keep all their
potatoes, especially in Eastern Xew York and the
New England States, and any plan by which they
can be kept as fresh as possible will be acceptable
to many.
I have experimented of late years in keeping
potatoes in the cellar, and find that the best way
I can keep them good and fresh for the next spring
and summer's use, is to make a briek partition in
one corner of my cellar for a potato bin, putting
the potatoes on the ground and ke(i])ing the light
entirely from them. I have no window to it, and
no light is ever allowed to strike the potatoes after
going into the bin, except candle light. I take
them in as soon after digging as possible. The
next best way is to take flour barrels without any
heads, set them on the ground, fill ihem with po-
tatoes and cover with sods. In either case the
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
cellar bottom should be dry, but not cemented.
Apples should be kept in bins — not in barrels.
The bin should not be over three feet wide, so
that a person can reach across it to sort the ap-
ples, which should not be over six inches deep in
the bin. The bottom should be made of slats l^
inches square, and one incli apart, which will give
a free circulation of air through the apples. If
picked with care, and placed in the bins without
bruising, and occasionally sorted over during the
winter, picking out all that are decaying, a few
bushels of apples will last a large family a great
while.
If all who have to buy apples would follow this
plan, they would not need to buy a third more
than they expect to use, in order to make up for
the loss by rotting. Onions keep the best in
bins the same'as apples, and should be placed in
the driest part of the cellar.
Beets and turnips for the next spring's use may
be kept in sand and retain all their freshness.
Take two boards and put them together in one
corner of the cellar bottom so as to make a bin
two, three or four feet square, as circumstances
require, anfl keep them up by driving some small
sticks into the cellar bottom ; then a layer of beets
and cover with sand ; then more beets, and so
continue to do until enough are put in.
A cellar must be kept very dry to keep cabba-
ges without decaying, more or less. The best way
of keeping it in the cellar is by hanging it up to
the sleepers as it is drier there than nearer the
ground. For spring use, dig a trench one foot
deep on a dry knoll, and running up and down
the hill, so that the water may run off; lay in
some slabs or rails to keep the cabbage off the
ground, then puU the cabb-ige and lay them, heads
dovvn, on the slabs ; put slabs or boards over, and
cover with dirt, flax shives, straw, or anything to
keep them from freezing. If covered with straw,
they can be got at in the winter, but they must be
covered very deep to keep out the frost. And
here I Avould remind those that like good cabbages
that they should save their best cabbage for seed ;
set it out, head and all, taking care not to have
any other cabbages or turnips of any kind go to
seed within twenty rods of it, aS they most assur-
edly mix. It is my candid opinion, that what is
known of club-footed cabbage is caused by rais-
ing the seed in close proxii\iity to turnips or ruta
bagas. Squashes and citrons should be laid up
from the ground, and handled without bruising.
Cauliflower may be set in a trench in the cellar, or
put in one out doors like cabbage, only reversing
them, and putting them in as they grew, then
cover so as to keep from freezing. Parsnips may
be kept the same as beets, although if not wanted
until spring they may be left in the ground.
Cellars should be kept as cool as possible and
not freeze, as all kinds of vegetables and fruit
keep better in a coul cellar than a warm one.
Windows should be left open in cellars as long as
possible, in order to keep the air pure, as impure
air will cause vegetables to decay. A good ther-
mometer for a cellar is a dish of water placed in
the coldest corner of the cellar, and as long as
that remains unfrozen there is no danger, but if
it freezes, the windows may be closed. Cellar
windows should always be covered with wire cloth
to prevent vermin from going in.
New York, Oct., 1863. Agriculturist.
For the New England Farmer,
AGRICTJLTXJEAL COLLEGES.
Several years ago the subject of agricultural
education was somewhat fully — at least quite free-
ly— discussed in the columns of the New England
Farmer. The liberal grants recently made by the
General Government to the several States to pro-
mote agricultural and mechanical education, have
given a new interest to the subject, and it becomes
all for whose benefit the appropriations have been
made, to inquire what kind of institutions shall be
established, or what disposition shall be made of
the funds thus entrusted to the respective State
authorities. My own views are so well expressed
by a writer for the Cmuitry Gentleman, that, with
your leave, Mr. Editor, I will borrow his language :
"If an agricultural college is to be a college for
the purpose of teaching agriculture, it must fail ;
because agriculture is neither a science nor an
art, but a handicraft or trade. As Well establish
colleges to teach shoe-making, or house-painting,
or cotton-spinning, as to teach agriculture. Scien-
tific agriculture, as it is called, cannot be said to
exist as a science. It is aimed at and hoped for,
but until analytical chemistry has been carried ta
a much greater perfeclion than at present, it must
continue to be among the things hoped for, and
not 'one of the things to be taught in colleges.
Analytical chemistry discovers no diS'erepce be-
tween the components of cotton and sugar. Even
in the common analysis of water, one of the most
eminent chemists of New England now confesses
that the method hitherto pursued has been all
wrong. If scientific agriculture is based upon the
idea that by a knowledge of the component parts
of vegetaWe products, added to a knowledge of
the component parts of soils and manures, a given
vegetable product may be obtained, very much as
a cook makes a pudding by compounding the ar-
ticles according to her receipt, the idea may be a
very pleasing one, but while the fact is tiiat chem-
ists are as yet able to analyze vegetable products
only in the rudest and most elementary manner,
the idea cannot be carried into practice. What
good farmer ever derived any benefit from an an-
alysis of the soil ? Is it not admitted that chem-
ists can detect no difl'erence between some of the
inost fertile and some of the most barren ? Some-
thing may be taught of botany and the physiolo-
gy of plants, but if agricultural colleges are to
graduate a parcel of young men with a smattering
of chemistry, a touch of botany, and an inkling of
vegetable physiology, who think themselves good
farmers, agricultural colleges will be a nuisance,
because they will increase the great defect of
American education, superficial knowledge. Sci-
entific agriculture stands to-day with phrenology,
and biology, and magnetism. It is an undevel-
oped theory, not a science. Of practical sciences
those only can be taught which admit of accumu-
lated knowledge of facts leading to theories, which
again are proved by the facts. But the known
facts of agriculture are of the simplest kind, and
discovered themselves for the most part while
Adam delved. The theories of scientific agricul-
ture are not yet ])roved by the facts.
"Agricultural colleges then '(jiugt simply be high
schools for farmers. What makes a good farmer?
The same qualities which make a good mechanic,
or man of business — intelligence, judgment and
industry. Can a school teach these to its pupils ?
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
To a certain extent, and indirectly, it can ; but as
it is the object of all schools to do so, your object
and means will be the same as those of other good
schools. If you wish to teach young farmers to
know when they know a thing, and when they do
not, you will n«t put them through a course of ag-
ricultural chemistry, for the result would proba-
bly be a ])ersuLision that they knew something of
that of which they knew nothing at all.
"If then the noble endowments of Congress are
to result in anything but a delusion and a snare,
let those who are to direct the organization of
these colleges pitch their profession low, and the
results will be higlier. If the colleges turn out
well drilled lads, thoroughly grounded in an Eng-
lish education, knowing something of surveying,
book-keeping, and mechanics, with such lessons
in farming as they may learn by example and
practice on a good farm, it will be well. Such
boys will have a better education than George
Washington. But if they graduate youths who
think they know something of vegetable physiol-
ogy, agricultural chemistry, and the theories of
Liebig, they will merely produce a considerable
number of badly educated men, who are worse
than uneducated men, because they use their com-
mon sense less, and are more conceited. u."
As a "coincidence" that attracted my notice, the
same pa])er (Co. Gent., Sept. 17, 1863,) in which
the foregoing communication was published, con-
tained also the commencement of a review by
Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, of Liebig's
latest and most elaborate work — "The Natural
Laws of Husbandry," — in which, it is claimed, the
learned, and world-renowned German has given to
the public his mature views on agriculture, after
sixteen years of experience and reflection. Here
if any where, it would seem, we might expect that
the "Science of agriculture" must be embodied
and illustrated. We find, however, -that Prof.
Johnson cannot get over the 4th page of the first
chapter without complaining that Liebig assumes
as uncontroverted the doctrine that plants excrete
matter into the soil, while Prof. Johnson shows
that this doctrine was long ago successfully con-
troverted, and says that there are no known facts
to support the theory.
Of another of the assumed facts of Liebig's
"Natural Laws of Husbandry," Prof. Johnson re-
marks : "This is no demonstrated fact, but a pure-
ly theoretical inference, and a hasty one at tliat."
Another assertion of Liebig, Prof. Johnson char-
acterizes as "one of the loose statements, 'glitter-
ing generalities,' whose ultimate effect on tlie
reader is injurious."
Of still another statement of the distinguished
German, Prof. Johnson says: "This statement
would be nearer true were it considerably qualified."
How would these men harmonize as teachers in
an Agricultural College ? And if such men as
Liebig and Johnson must be excluded, who shall
occupy our embryo "chairs" of scientific agricul-
ture r*
These disagreements of the Doctors go far in
my mind to confirm the conclusion that "the the-
ories of scientific agriculture are not yet proved
by facts," and, consequently, that "scientific agri-
culture, though aimed at and hoped for, cannot
be said to exist j" therefore it cannot be taught in
colleges.
With one more reference to the review of "The
Natural Laws of Husbandry," we close this arti-
cle. On page 28, it is said :
"A proper knowledge of theradication of plants,
[starting and growth of roots,] is the groundwork
of agriculture ; all the operations which the farm-
er applies to his land must be adapted to the na-
ture and condition of the roots of the plants which
he wishes to cultivate."
On this i)aragraph of Liebig's new book. Prof.
Johnson comments as fi)llows :
"There is great truth in the observation ; but
what are the facts which illustrate and enforce it ?
Wherp shall the inquirer look for that knowledge
that is the groundwork of agriculture ? * •
The mountains of the moon have been studied far
more thoroughly and successfully than the radica-
tion of plants, and we know more of the wherea-
bouts of long-vanished comets than we do of this
'ground- work of agiicullure.' "
The reader will please mind his quotation
marks ; as this is Prof. Johnson's language, not
mine. Yet he does not say that he should expect
the success of a college established to teach "the
mountains of the moon." s. F.
Winchester, Mass., Nov., 1803.
For the yew England Famier.
CIDEK APPL.es.
This is a familiar designation, and yet it is not
so easy to define what particular fruit is referred
to. No one ever saw a tree thus labelled in the
nursery, nor a ])late bearing this title at any po-
mological exhil)ition ; and a modern fruit grower
would scorn the inii)ulalion of producing apples
only fit for cider. 15 ut in almost every orchard
planted by men of other days, there is left, here
and there, a venerable tree (or offslioot from the
original) that is pretty sure to yield most when
grafted fruit is scarce ; and you can best describe
it by the title placed at the head of this communi-
cation. No trees looked more attractive in the
time of blossoms, nor filled the air with sweeter
fragrance. They fairly competed in this respect
with the more pretentious "Baldwin," and "Seek-
no-Further." When you come, however, to taste
the result of all this fair ])rumise, you will be vtry
apt to conclude that apple blossoms are among
the deceitful appearances. Some of the fruit
tastes bitter-sweet, and some bitter-sour. Some
sets the teeth on edge for a keener bite, and some
j)uckers the mouth so as to prevent another bite.
The only alternative is to let them be and rot, or
gather them up and cart llu-m off to the "press,"
wliich would contrive to reduce even "the apples
of Sodom" to cider.
But within a few years, until quite recently, pub-
lic sentiment has consigned them to decay, rather
than to the hopper. Moreover, many an old
cider apple tree has survived the old cider-mills.
While the former have been suffered to cumber
the ground, the latter have, one by one, shared
the fate of all cumt)erers — so that apples, good,
bad and indifferent, find it a rare jirivilege to go
through the mill. Especially was this the case
during the last year — not more remarkal)le for
its abundance of a])ples, than for the revival of
the old practice that cold water armies had so sig-
nally overcome. Everything that would press out
the juice, whether operated by horse power, or
hand, was called into requisition. The few old
presses that had come down from a former gener-
8
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan,
ation only to harbor rubbish and vermin, were
suddenly made to renew their youth and revive
the savory associations of their best days. And
in this year of general scarcity the cider apple
tree is hardly less conspicuous for its abundant
fruit, than for the attention paid to it. The
ground beneath is no longer littered, nor the
branches overhead bedecked with withered and
decaying apples — but every fragment has gone to
replenish the vinegar cask. Almost every prejudice
seems to have gone with the apples into the hop-
per. Men of professed temperance principles, that
shun the bar-room and distillery, are not ashamed
to be seen patronizing the cider mill. Men,' even,
that have stood out from raising tobacco, fall in
with grinding apples, for something sweeter than
"filthy lucre." No matter if the orchard contains
no tree especially set apart for this use, there will
be refuse fruit enough from the choice vai'ieties
for at least one barrel, or ten-gallon cask. What
is to be the result of this retrograde movement ?
Are we old friends of the temperance union turn-
ing traitors to this, if still loyal to the other?
And if we live to see another Presidential cam-
paign, will we carry the election on the strength
of hard cider, as was that of the "hero of Tippe-
canoe ?"
So far as the writer's own observation and ex-
perience go, one hopeful feature of this returning
love for cider is, the general disposition to pre-
serve the wholesome, palatable qualities of the
beverage, and exclude the injurious. If hard
cases M'ill adopt this policy, they will let their hard
cider turn to vinegar, sooner than turn it down
their throats ; and they would as soon get drunk
on lemonade or ginger-pop. The question only
is, how we can most satisfactorily exorcise the evil
spirit from the cider barrel. Some have recourse
to a preparation of lime — but this is very apt to
produce a beverage "flat as dishwater." At any
rate you are more reminded of acid lime-water,
than of the pure juice of the apple. Others still
cling to the old custom of adding mustard seed,
or charcoal, to a given quantity of cider ; but this
oftener fails than succeeds. A surer expedient
has been to filter the liquor through sand, and
thus a mild, pleasant beverage has been drawn
from the barrel late in the spring. Sometimes,
without any treatment, cider keeps comparatively
sweet till midwinter, as it is kept cool — and there
are certain cellars where it never really can be
converted into vinegar. But after a thorough
trial, the writer would recommend the Jieatiny pro-
cess, such as is applied in eastern countries to the
juice of the grape, to check fermentation and pre-
serve its sweetness.
It is a principle of chemistry that "the proper-
ty of organic substances to pass into a state of
decay is annihilated in all cases by heating to the
boiling point." So it has been my practice, for
two or three years past, to draw off several gal-
lons of cider just in the midst of its fermentation,
heat it to the boiling point, then quickly remove
it from the fire so as to avoid the burnt flavor,
and, while it is yet lukewarm, bottle and cork,
and store it in the cellar. When freshly bottled,
it tastes very much like cider fresh froni the vat ;
but, by January, will have the sparkle and foam
of ch;>.tnpagne — yet very seldom bursts a bottle or
forces out the cork. Cider thus prepared must
not be confounded with that kept boiling till it
ever after savors of the fire, nor associated with
what is made entirely of sweet apples, to be boiled
down to molasses for the old fashioned "saise."
It cheers but not inebriates ; is a most grateful
beverage to a fever patient or consumptive, and
lasts well into the warm season, if groperly put up. ■
The writer makes no pretensions to being a m
connoisseur in liquors, and cider has usually been
regarded as too vulgar a beverage to elicit such no-
tice. It has only been my aim, for one, so to pre-
pare the article as to off"er it as a beverage, with-
out the slightest compunctions, to the sti-ictest
temperance man. Nor does it matter particular-
ly what apples are ground for the purpose, pro-
vided they are ripe and only partially decayed.
The crab apple and "flier" may best suit those
who still yearn for the old, bottled, alcoholic
drink ; and a capital temperance beverage may
also be produced from them. But the beauty of
the foregoing preparation is that, while improved
by a choice selection of fruit, it turns to good ac-
count those poor outcast apples that have been
branded as only fit for cider. w. E. B.
Longmeadow, Nov. 2, 1863.
•WEST'S IMPKOVED PtJMP.
Our own recommendation of this pump, togeth-
er with the praise awarded it by Solon Robinson,
Esq., in our issue of the 7th inst., has brought us
so many inquiries that we have determined to an-
swer them all at once, and to anticipate any others
that may be made.
The pump is a combined suction and force
pump, drawing water from wells thirty feet deep,
and forcing it, through hose, if necessary, to any
distance.
Three kinds are made for farmers' use, the house
pump being somewhat ornapiental in design, and
intended to be set under cover. The well or cis-
tern pump (Fig. 1.)
is intended for yards
and exposed situa-
tions. The plate,^
through which the
piston-rod passes, is
fastened firmly to
the platform cover-
ing the well, the
pump being under-
neath, so that the
only parts of the
pump above the plat-
form are the rod,
and the standard
which supports the
handle, and attached
to which is the dis-
charging pipe. The
cut represents this with a hose attached. In win-
ter a small hole is opened in this pipe below the
platform, allowing the water to run out, so that
there is no water above ground and no chance for
freezing.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
9
Figure 2 shows the pump adapted to a deep
well. It is of course necessary, from the very
principle of a suction pump, that the working part
should be not more than thirty-two feet from the
surface of the ^ater, and where the well is deeper
than that, the pump must
be lowered till it is within
that distance of the water.
This cut shows the man-
ner of suspending the
pump, and also shows the
pump in section, so that
the arrangement of the
valves can be seen.
The pump is entirely of
iron, with leather washers
upon the piston, and these
washers are the only things
about the pump that can
possibly wear out. It
throws water at both the
up and down strokes of
the handle, and works as
easily, when the discharge
is not contracted, as it is
possible for a pump to do.
If you want the water
carried to a distance from
your well, the pipe can be
attached under the well
curb, and the water car-
ried by an underground
pipe to the place of deliv-
ery.
As a force-pump, this is
as good as a small fire en-
gine, for with a hose attached, it will throw fifteen
or twenty gallons of water per minute, to a dis-
tance of fifty feet from the hose.
This may prove a timely aid in case of fire, and
the "feeling of security which it gives is worth the
cost of the apparatus. The pump is now sold by
Calvin Horton, agent, at No. 2G Union Street,
Boston.
Wheat for a Barrel of Flour. — The ques-
tion is often asked, how much wlieat does it take
to make a barrel of flour? At the annual fair of
the Dubuque County Agricultural Society, in
1860, a premium of three dollars was offered for
the best barrel of flour made from winter wheat,
and also the same for spring wheat. James Pratt
& Co., of the Rockdale Mills, entered one barrel
of each, accompanied with the statement that six- 1
teen bushols of winter wheat yielded three bar- j
rels and 1()'3 pounds of flour — at the rate of four I
bushels and fifteen pounds of wheat to the barrel.
Of spring wheat, fifty bushels yielded eleven bar-
rels of flour, being four bushels and thirty-two
pounds per barrel. The wheat used was of a fair i
quality, and no more. 1
For the New England Farmer.
COVERING HASPBERHIES AND BliACK-
BERRIES.
It is the practice of horticulturists to lay down
their raspberries early in November, and cover
them with soil, to promote their fruit- bearing the
next season. This is a good custom, as it is found
by experience that they will hardly fruit at all un-
less they are somewhat protected from the sever-
ity of our northern winters. But tlie Catawissa
variety docs not need such protection, for, unlike
all other kinds which are cultivated in this vicini-
ty, its fruit is borne on wood Ihal is made the .same
year. Other kinds bear on cants which tjrew tlce
year before, and therefore need protection ; but
this peculiarity of the Catawissa raspberry is some-
thing of a consideration in favor of its more ex-
tensive cultivation. There is another peculiarity
about the Catawissa, which deserves notice. It
is, in a sense, overbearing ; that is, it bears a suc-
cession of crops through the season. The Sep-
tember crop is nearly as prolific as the July, and
the more valuable as such small fruits can hardly
be obtained in the autumn at any price. Though
the berry of the Catawissa is not as large as some
of the other varieties, and though its flavor is by
no means inferior, yet, for the r'^asun here stated,
it really claims a greater degree of attention than
it has yet received from cultivators.
I believe it is not the general practice of fruit
growers to protect their blackberry canes at all-
against the inclemencies of the winter. They are
thought to be so extremely hardy as to need no
protection, and besides they are very uncomforta-
ble things to handle. They doubtless suft'er much
less th»n raspberries and strawberries for the want
of protection ; but if any fruit grower will try the
experiment of covering them in the fall, he will be
so much surprised at the great increase of his next
year's crop, that he will hardly omit it again.
WaWutm, Xov., 1863. D. C.
Strawrerry Insect. — Heretofore this fruit
has been exempt from the depredations of insects
to a greater degree than most of our cultivated
fruits. At a late meeting of the Fruit-Growers'
Society of Western New York, the following re-
marks were made upon a newly discovered dep-
redator :
II. N. Langwqrtiiy had seen an insect within
the last year that eats holes through the leaves
and stems. (Mr. L. exhibited a strawberry plant
the leaves of which were riddled by the insect.)
It also attacks the raspberry. He feared it would
prove a very destructive enemy to the strawberry.
Jas. Vick said he had sent tiiis insect to an en-
tomologist, and it belonged to the curculio fami-
ly. It does not attack tiie strawberry till the fruit
is formed, but alter that it eats up the vines and
destroys them. If the strawl)erry beds are re-
newed every year, this insect does very little dam-
age.
By a vote of the Society, the Secretary was re-
quested to send specimens of the insect to Dr.
FlTClI, the State Entomologist.
I.N the Ionian district, Michigan, there were
taken up, in the month of October last, about 9000
acres of land, under the Homestead law.
10
NEW ENGLAND FARMEE.
Jak.
THANgSQrvnsro. I
The passing months have brought us to another '
period of time, when it has been customary for the '
authorities to fix a day upon which a universd
TJianksffivi?ig may ascend to Heaven, for the un-
numbered blessings which distinguish us as a
people. I
This period comes immediately after the au-
tumnal harvest, when the earth has yielded her ,
increase, and the husbandman has gathered that
increase in joy, and his barns and granaries are :
full and overflowing. When his flocks gather ,
around him from hill and vale, and wait with pa-
tient confidence for that food and shelter without
which they would perish long before green fields
and running brooks would again invite them :
forth. AVhen the labors of collecting and secur-
ing the food for man and beast are ended for
the year, man sees before him the rich fruits of
that industry and skill granted unto him by the !
same Being who gave him the early and the lat- j
ter rain, and who has promised that seedtime and
harvest shall never fail.
Such was the season selected by our grateful
forefathers, for a general outpouring of the full
heart for blessings few indeed compared with ours.
In gratitude to them for their pious example, and
with profound homage to the Lord of the harvest,
may oar hearts be filled with all that sincerity, and
all that deep and ardent devotion which inspired
them in the midst of their forest home an(> severe
privations.
Never had people greater cause for tTianksgiv-
ing than we. Our harvests have been abundant.
Our pastures have fed innumerable cattle and
sheep to fatness, and our valleys and plains have ;
teemed with "herbage for their winter, supplies. |
Bending com and grain have smiled in numerous j
fields all over the land, side by side with ripening |
fruits of various kinds. No sickness has decimat- I
ed our people, or convulsions of nature laid waste I
our cities and plunged thousands into sudden and
untimely graves. Commerce has spread her wings, '
•with humanizing tendencies, o\er the remotest '
seas ; the arts have progressed as they never ad-
vanced before ; and education was never more
highly appreciated, or had more devotees in its
walks. No man has looked for labor in vain, or
failed to find its ample rewards. The most active
trade pervades our cities, while a fully compensat-
ed and cheerful industry may be seen in all the
rural portions of New England. In some of the
manufacturing towns, labor may have been divert-
ed from the mill, but has at once found ample
scope in the field or in the family. None have
"begged leave to toil," but have been sought for,
and fully rewarded for every hour's application.
Indeed, public and private charities have been
greatly relieved from their usual calls, during the
year that has just passed, in consequence of the
activity of business and the constant demand for
all kinds of labor.
On the Thanksgiving Day that has just occurred,
every industrious and economical family in New
England, with few exceptions, might have had its
roasted turkey or pair of chickens upon the table,
with such superaddition as to make the meal a
bountiful and agreeable one. This would have
required the attention of kind citizens and friends,
in some cases, but in New England that attention
is never dormant among our people.
The causes for open public thanksgiving as well
as private, are innumerable, and not the least
among them is the enjoyment of free and equal
laws, bearing upon all, and protecting all alike.
So lightly do they touch him who does not offend,
that their very existence is scarcely recognized, and
the most humble find no oppression under their
operation. Our best powers, when all exerted,
are too feeble to express the thanksgivings due for
the blessings vouchsafed to us in this fair, fertile
and free land !
We may be told that our picture is over-
wrought,— that a state of war demands much from
us, — that the labor of our hands is diverted from
our personal use, and that our sons are dead upon
numerous battle-fields, or dying in the power of
relentless and cruel foes, — and that "mourners go
about the streets," in ever)- neighborhood in the
land.
While we are obliged to admit these sad facts,
it should be one of our chief sources of thanks-
giving and joy, that we are permitted to live and
take a part in a reformation upon which Heaven
smiles and will look upon with approbation, — the
redemption of millions of our fellow-beings from
an oppression which no terms in our power are
adequate to describe.
Twg years ago, the strongest mind was stag-
gered with the question, "How shall this stupen-
dous crime be stayed ?" No power on earth
seemed sufficient to cope with it. All the wisdom
of legislation fell like futile shafts before its ada-
mantine walls. Vice and cruelty stalked forth
into the open light of heaven, demanding to es-
tablish a nation upon slavery as its corner-stone !
It was not satisfied with this, but strove to destroy
the glorious fabric reared by our fathers, and ex-
tend its sway over the entire land.
Thanksgivings! constant, sincere and profound,
are due from all, that this terribly wicked power
did not prevail, — that God raised up deliverers in
our patriotic people, who have sacrificed, and are
still ready to sacrifice property, health and life it-
self, to sustain our glorious Republic and its free
institutions.
"Lives there a man with sotil 9o4ead,
Who never to himself hath said.
This is my own, my native land?"
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
11
So long as our iJiaJiksffwings are fresh and con-
stant, so long will a pure patriotism burn in our
bosoms, and love of country kindle a national en-
thusiasm and a spirit to defend the blessings which
industry and integrity have secured.
Let, then, sincere //ia/iA'^^irj/i^* go hand in hand
with industrious and economical habits, with skill
and energy to overcome all obstacles, with wisdom
to devise and execute, and our country will stand
before the nations of the world with a power un-
equalled, and spread its benign influences to the
uttermost regions of the earth.
ADMTNISTERiyG CHIjOROFORM TO A
HORSE.
Dr. Dadd, of the IUi)ioi.ti Prairie Farmer, gives
the following account of Chloroforming a horse
which he was treating for "spasms of the bowels,"
and which he finally cured, although this attack
was so violent that the animal would throw him-
self upon the floor and tumble about in the wild-
est manner, and would kick and strike with fury
if touched or nearly approached by any one.
"There seemed to be little hope for the animal,
and fearing that he might either kill himself by
■violence or injure thore in attendance, I concluded
to chloroform him, and thus put a stop to his
dangerous performances ; he had had the best of us
about long enough, and now it was for me to show
what science had in store for such otherwise un-
manageable cases. I procured a mixture com-
posed of four ounces of chloroform and the same
quantity of sulphuric ether ; next a sponge was
tied on to a broom-handle ; the latter enabled me
to chloroform at a safe distance.
The patient did not seem to relish my mode of
practice, he fought me some, — tried to strike and
kick me, but he being temporarily blind I had the
advantage of him. It was soon evidenfthat the
chloroform had begun to do its work ; he gradu-
ally settled himself on the floor and was soon com-
pletely etherised. As it is dangerous to keep a
horse under the full eff'ects of chloroform any
great length of time, I now removed the sponge
and only applied it occasionally, slightly satura-
ted, so as to insure a sort of incomplete state of
insensibility. It was an encouraging sight to be-
hold the once powerful and fuiious animal, now
lying free from pain and deprived of the power to !
injure himself or those in attendance ; and it is !
also gratifying to know that science ministers to I
the wants and necessities of the inferior as well as i
the superior orders of creation. I
At the expiration of an hour, during which time
the animal was more or less under the anaesthetic
agent, he was allowed to rise ; he gave himself a '
few shakes, seemed very much relieved, and much
more tranquil." I
Cork and Roots for Fattening Hogs. — \
In feeding dry corn, to fattening hogs, I have
found the most beneficial results from giving one
or two feeds a day of roots, — turnii)s or sugar I
beets. It serves them in the place of water, ren-
ders the corn less heating, and fed in this way a
bushel of roots ^e fully equivalent for fattening '
to a bushel of com fed alone. — Albany ChdlivcUor. \
GLANDERS.
In an article in the Prairie Farmer, on the sub-
ject of glandered horses, Dr. Dadd cites the fol-
lowing cases of the disease being communfbated
to the human system :
"Within the last quarter two veterinary sur-
geons— one residing in Walworth, and the other
Wolverhampton — are reported as having ^ed
from inoculation of glanders. This terrible dis-
ease is not often seen in Scotland, but very fre-
quently in England, and still more so in Ireland.
From the latter circumstance, the malady is often
found to be imported about the west coast of
Scotland. London has always been rather re-
nowned for the prevalence of glanders among
omnibus, cab and other horses. A very strict
supervision is maintained, and all glandered
horses are destroyed when discovered ; but never-
theless, we can state on good authority that the
omnibus horses of London have suti'cred very se-
verely from this disease, and do so still. The .
partial measures adopted by companies are not
sufficient to eradicate it, and the "glandered night-
team" is not altogether a thing of the past. The
danger to human life is so great that we feel hap-
py to seize any opportunity to urge the adoption
of the most effectual measures for the suppression
of any practice which tends to prolong the life of
the glandered horse." — Vet. Jour.
Another case as published in the Herald of Be-
form is as follows :
"Mr. J. P. Burns, a grocer, in Baltimore,
died a horrid death in that city, a few days ago,
in consequence of poison communicated to his
system from a horse afflicted with glanders. Dur-
ing the administration of medicine, Mr. B. thrust
into the animal's mouth his hand, a finger of which
had been previously cut, and the flesh laid open.
Through this wound the virus was absorbed, and
mortification supervened. A surgeon was called
upon to amputate the deceased member. Per-
ceiving, however, that the poison haa penetrated
to every portion of the unfortunate man's system,
he declined performing the operation, and stated
that no earthly skill could save his life. After
lingering in great agony, death closed the scene.
Still Another. — Death of a Russian Lady
from Glanders. — The awful death of Madame
Palesikoff, one of the most charming amongst all
that bevy of charming Russian Indies, who some-
times gladden the winters of Paris, has created a
terrible shock amongst the circles she so lately
embellished by her presence. The unhappy lady
left Paris but a short lime ago, on a summer tour
to Germany. While stepping from a door of the
opera house in Berlin, to gain her carriage, she
let fall one of her bracelets close to the pavement. V
Stoo])ing to pick it up, she noticed at the time, ■
laughingly, that "one of the horses belonging to
a carriage standing at hand, dropped his head so
close to her face, that he had touched her, and left
a moist kiss upon her cheek." In a few days the
unfortunate lady was taken ill with that most hor-
rible disease, glanders, and in a few days more
breathed her last, in spite of the attendance of
the first physicians in Berlin, and ever)- resource
to be obtained by wealth, or by the ceaseless ^ng-
ilance of friends. — Cowi Journal.
1»
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jau^
SEEDIlfO LAITD TO GRASS.
We propose to prepare one or two articles upon
this subject. Its importance is attested in the
fact that the grass crop in the New England States,
for the year 1862, as near as we have the means
at hand to ascertain, was nearly one hundred mil-
lions of dollars !
TJije practice of seeding down land to grass with
a grain crop is universal in New England — that
is, of sowing grass seed at the same time of sow-
ing a crop of oats, barley, or other grain, and lev-
elling and smoothing the ground in order to pre-
pare it for mowing. Universal, however, as this
practice is, the precise reasons for it have rarely
been, inquired into, or given. We have no recol-
lection of ever seeing it treated in books or in
newspapers, — but the principles which are appli-
cable are frequently advanced by some of the best
agricultural writers in this and other countries.
Last winter, during a discussion in which we
took a part,.vupon the best modes of seeding land
to grass, we made the remark that "the grain crop
might, in some measure, protect the young grass,
and give it an opportunity to escape drought, if it
should ensue." This idea was objected to with
considerable earnestness, — one person desiring to
"enter his solemn protest against any shade
theory."
Let us examine this point with candor and care,
and try to learn whether the uninterrupted solar
rays are always friendly to young grass plants,
or, as in the case of many other plants which we
are obliged to protect, they are riot sometimes
extremely hurtful. The question is not, what
course of culture will produce the largest crops of
grass, but, simply, what ciixumstances will best
promote the germination of grass seed, and its
early growth.
In the first place, all grain sown with grass
seed — if the grass crop is the object sought —
should be cut green — not allowed to seed — which
leaves the surface free for the grass after it has
got fairly rooted, and will not exhaust the soil as
it would if allowed to mature its seed.
Secondly, oats or barley, start quick, — partially
cover the surface, and thus prevent a large amount
of evaporation, keeping moisture in store for them-
selves and the young grass, by absorbing it from
the air, as well as exhausting it from the soil, —
for the plants are living and "breathing organisms,
and a mutual action is continually going on be-
tween them and the soil. "They are first fed by
the food which the root procures from the earth,
arod a part of the nutritive matter which is stored
up in the seed-leaves. They feed especially upon
the latter until the store is exhausted, and by the
time this happens, they are clothed with leaves
which are themselves able to feed them after the
seed-leaves have perished." This is the language
of Prof. LiNDLEY, — tban whom there is no high-
er authority, — and we cite it to show that the
grain plants among the grass receive a large amount
of their support from the atmosphere, and conse-
quently, do not — in their early growth — exhaust
the soil so much as they beneflt it by their shade,
and the moisture they bring to it from the air.
At any rate, not so much as is sometimes supposed.
Both Hales and Duh'amel — among the very
highest authorities — say ^that branches imbibe
moisture equally by either end ; and consequent-
ly, the sap moves with equal facility both vptcards
and downioards. Mr. Bonnet states that "leaves
will imbibe enough of water to suppoti tlie vegeta-
tion of a whole branch, and the leaves belonging
to it." This^does not look as though the leaves
of the grain plants were made merely to rob the
soil !
To illustrate : If the seeds of the birch, elm,
maple or pine, are sown on a piece of plain or un-
sheltered land, a large portion of the plants — if
they come at all — will perish ; but if one goes to
the forest, cuts trees and brush, scrapes away the
leaves, stirs the soil, and sows the same kind of
seeds tlicre, they will not only come up, but under
the genial protection of the surrounding trees and,
shrubbery,' will come and grow and flourish in
surprising numbers. This piece of soil in the for-
est, although no mulching lies upon it, will be
found moist and soft, when the pastures in the
vicinity are parched and barren.
It is the universal practice of the most intelli-
gent farmers all over New England to sow some
sort of grain with grass seed. It is to be pre-
sumed that this is not entirely because they desire
the crop of grain, but in the expectation that the
grain itself will be, in some degree, a protection
to the young and tender grass plants. A very
successful farmer states that he invariably sows,
three bushels of oats per acre with grass seed,
and that he secures the best results under this
practice, which has been continued through many
years, because a successful practice. Some equal-
ly good farmers use a less quantity.
We sometimes sow grass seed among standing
corn, in the month of August, and have never
failed of securing good results under ordinary cir-
cumstances,— but always the most satisfactory
ichere the corn stood the thickest, although on soil
of the same quality and in the same position.
This mode we recommend as a cheap and success-
ful one.
It is stated that where coffee is raised, it is done
under the protection of trees wherever they can be
em])loyed; that although the trees spread their
roots far and wide, they are condensers of moisture
from the air as well as extractors of it from the
soil, and are of essential benefit to the young and
tender plants. On the same principle, pasture
*i"S64.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
lands are much benefited hy occasional shade trees
scattered over them, — and we believe it is often
admitted that such pastures afford more and bet-
ter grass than those entirely bare of trees. That
though the trees sap the soil, their other benefi-
cial action upon it is more than balanced by the
drafts they make upon the air itself. FoURCROY,
another authority says : "In clearing up new lands,
the trees on the summits of hills should be left
standing. They attract the vapor that floats in
the atmosphere, and the rains, and serve as co}i-
ducfors of that element io 7noi.sten the ground.
By their shade they retain the verdure and the
feed." This is exactly to the point. But there
is a limit — they must not be too numerous.
Another advantage of grain is, that it cliecls Ihe
dtrrents of wind, and thus prevents evaporation in
a considerable degree. This point needs no ar-
gument, as all admit that hay dries much faster
in a bright day wheti there is a wind than when it
is still ; the wind rapidly carries away the natural
evaporation of the soil, which is continually suc-
ceeded by new moisture and carried off by fresh
currents, and thus rapidly dries the ground. The
grain tends to keep these currents from the young
grass, and consequently a large portion of the
evaporated moisture is kept among them. "The
sun robs jhe soil of it§ moisture, and the wind
robs it of its heat, two elements that have an im-
portant bearing on the resulting crops. ... A
single row of trees has a wonderful effect in check-
ing the force of the wind, and a belt two rods in
width will entirely check it and it will go over."
There are some excellent examples of this kind in
this country.
The difference of opinion entertained by farm-
ers on this point seems to arise from the fact thaf
no credit is given to jilants^ for the absorption hi/
them of water from the atmosphere. If they did
not receive and impart it, how long would it be,
jn the absence of rain, before the soil would be-
come utterly unfit to sustain a plant ? LiNDLKY
says : "If the branch of a plant is placed in a bot-
tle of water, and the neck of the bottle is luted
[or made tight] to the branch, so that no evapo-
ration can take place, nevertheless the water null
disappear ; and this can only happen from its hav-
ing been abstracted by ihe branch." This is just
the action which we ascribe to the leaves of the
grain plants as they stand among the grass.
He further says : "Since a plant does not per-
spire at night, and since its absorbing points, the
roots, remain during that period in contact with
the same humid medium [that is, the soil,] as dur-
ing the day, theij will attract fluid tnto the si/stcm
of the plant during the night, and consequently
the weight of the plant tcill be increased. In like
manner, if plants in the shade are abundantly sup-
plied with moisture at the roots, they will also gain
more than they can lose ; and as this will be a con-
stant action, the result micst necessarily be io ren-
der all their parts soft ami tcatery." The grain
plants, while the grass is young, — keep the grass
both shaded and moist, and the i-esult follows
which Prof. LiNDLEY has described.
The above shows the means of keeping the
ground moist, and the importance of such a con-
dition of the soil must be clear to all. "As a gen-
eral rule, therefore, we are authorized to conclude
that the ground should be abundantly supplied
with moisture when plants first begin to grmo,
and that the quantity should be diminished as the
organization of a plant becomes completed." [Lind-
ley, again.] Sir Humpiikey D.wy, Dr. Ingex-
iiorz, Sf.nobier, and others, all confirm the opin-
ion which we advance.
ANIMALS FOR STALL-FEEDING.
In his last weekly report of the New York cat-
lie market, Solon Robinson gives the following
advice, on the subject of choosing animals for fat-
tening, as the result of his observation and long
experience among cattle : —
•'We would never select an animal, particularly
of the bovine race, to fatten, which luul a long,
narrow, contracted skull, particularly if the horns
were puny, or abru])tly bent, because such an ani-
mal is apt to be wild, and to have a weak consti-
tution, and will not fatten like one witli a broad
face, with a full, capacious skull, with strong,
evenly bent horns, with a neck thick at the face,
and a wide throat ; for such an animal has a strong
nervous system, and always a good appetite, and
not being wild will take on fat rapidly, and by its
naturally quiet habits will retain it easily. An
animal to fatten well must have a caiiacious chest.
To bear transportation, il must have a strong con-
stitution, and this is indicated by its strongly built
form — its good back, loins and legs. Recollect
that some men never grow fat. Some bullocks
are just so; their nervous temperament wont al-
low them to take on fat half as fast as some oth-
ers. Hence the phrase "aptitude to fatten." This
should be studied, and then people wouKl try to
select such as have that aptitude, the first index
of which will be seen in the head. If that is not
good don't l)uy the animal, no matter how cheap
it may appear. \ slender-headed cow, with slim
neck and ])uny horns may be a good milker, but
you may be sure of a hard joii wheij you try to
fatten her for beef. Thewlxilc Alderney breed is
proof of ttiis. When other ciiaracterislics, at first »
view, appear favorable, look in the eyes. If they ^
are small, deep-sunken, or dull, or staring, dark, ^
and fiery, let that animal pass, and take one with
large, open, mild eyes, with plenty of loose skin
hanging from the chin, with a large muzzle, and
oj)en nostrils. Avoid slim heads and handsome
noses, that is if you esteem slim ones handsome.
Look well to the mouth, that it has strength and
cajiacity to take its food. Be sure, too, to get "a
good handler ;" that is, one with a soft, velvety
skin. Think of this and try experiments, and see
how much easier one animal fattens than another."
14
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
CATECHISM
— OF —
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.
Br JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, M. A.
Q. Wliat is agriculture ?
A. Agriculture is the art of cultivating the soil.
Q,. W/tcd is the ohjcd of tlie farmer in cultivat-
ing the soil 9
A. The object of the farmer in cultivating the
soil is, to raise the largest crops at the smallest
cost, and with the least injury to the land.
Q. Mhat ought the farmer especially to Tcnoiv,
in order that he maij attain this object ?
A. The farmer ought especially to know the
nature of the crops he raises, of the land on which
they grow, and of the manures which he applies
to the land.
I. — Of thie Nature of the Crops lie raises.
Q. Of what pads do all vegetable substances
consist ?
A. All vegetable substances consist of two
parts, one which burns away in the fire, called the
organic part, and one which does notburn away,
called the inorganic part.
Q. Which of these two paiis is the greater in
qiiantity ?
A. In all vegetable substances, the organic part
is very much the greater. It forms from 90 to 99
out of every 100 lbs. of their weight.
Q. Of what elementary bodies does the organic
part of plants consist ?
A. The organic ])art of plants consists of four
elementary bodies, known by the names of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
Q. Wiiut is carbon ')
A. Carbon is a solid substance, usually of
black color, which has no taste or smell, and
burns more or less readily in the fire. Wood-
charcoal, lamp-black, coke, black-lead, and the
diamond, are varieties of carbon.
Q,. What is hydrogen ?
A. Hydrogen is a kind of air or gas which
burns in tlie air as coal gas does, but in which a«
candle will notburn, nor an animal live, and which,
after being mixed with common air, explodes
when it is brought near the flame of a candle. It
is also the lightest of all known substances.
(J. What is oxygen ?
A. Oxygen is also a kind of air in which a can-
dle burns with great brilliancy, in which animals
also can live, and which is heavier than hydrogen
or common air. It forms one-fifth of the bulk of
the air we breathe.
Ci. What is nitrogen ?
A, Nitrogen is also a kind of air differing from
both the other two. Like hydrogen, a taper will
j not burn nor will an animal live in it, but unlike
I hydrogen, it will itself not burn, and therefore
I does not take fire when brought near the flame of
a candle. It is a little lighter than atmospheric
air, of which it forms four-fifths of the bulk.
Q. Do all vegetable substances contain these
four dew eidary bodies 9
A. No, the greater number contain only three,
viz : carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen;
Q. Name sume of the more common substances
which contain only these three ?
A. Starch, gum, sugar, the fibre of wood, oils,
and fats, contain only these three elements.
Q, 0/ what substances does the inorganic part
of the j^lant consist ?
A. The inorganic part of plants contains from
eight to ten different substances, namely : potash,
soda, lime, magnesia, oxide of maganese, silica,
chlorine, sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, and phos-
phoric acid.
Q. Wliatispotash^
A. The common potash of the shops is a white
powder, which has a peculiar tastejcalled an alka-
line taste, and which becomes moist, and at last
runs to a liquid when exposed for a length of time
to the air. It is obtained by washing wood ashes
(the ashes left by wood when it is burned,) with
water, and afterwards boiling the liquid to dryness.
Q.. What is soda ?
A. The common soda of the shops is a glassy
or crystallized substance, which has also an alka-
nine taste, but which, unlike potash, becomes dry
and powdery by being exposed to the air. It is
manufactured from sea salt.
Q. What is lime ?
A. Lime or quicJc-Wme is a "white, earthy sub-
stance which is obtained by burning common
limestone in the lime-kiln. It has a slightly burn-
ing taste, and becomes hot and slakes when water
is ]5oured upon it.
Q. What is magnesia ?
A. Magnesia is the white powder sold in the
shops under the nam^ of ccdcined magnesia. It
has scarcely any taste, and is extracted from sea
water and from some kinds of limestone rock call-
ed Magnesian limestones.
Q. What is iron ?
A. Iron is a hard bluish gray metal, which is
manufactured in large quantities in our iron -works,
and is used for a great variety of useful purposes.
Q. What is oxide of iron ?
A. When ])olished iron is exposed to the air it
gradually becomes covered with rust. This rust
consists of the metal iron, and of the gas oxygen
which the iron has attracted from the air, and hence
it is called 03:id.e of iron.
Q WliCd is oxide of manganese ?
A. Oxide of manganese is a substance very much
like oxide of iron, wiiich occurs in soils and plants,
usually in very small quantity.
Q. What is silica ?
A. Silica is the name given by chemists to the
substance of flint, of rock-crystal, and of sand-
stones.
Q. What is cldonne ?
A. Chlorine is a kind of air which has agreen-
ish-yoUow colur, and a strong suff'ocating smell.
A taper burns in it with a dull smoky flame. It
exists in common salt in large quantity.
Ci. What is sulj/hnric acid or oil cf vitriol ?
A. Sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol is a very sour
burning, oily liquid, which is manufactured from
burning sulphur, (brimstone ) It exists in com-
mon gypsum, in alum, and in Glauber and Epsom
salts.
Q. What is phosyhoric acid'}
A. Phosphoric acid is also a very sour sub-
stance, which is formed by burning phosphorus in
the air. It exists in large quantity in the bones of
animals.
Q. Are cdl these substances to be found in the
inorganic part of j)lants ?
A. Yes, they are to be found in the ash of all
our usually cultivated plants.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
15
Q. Do all have the same quantity of ash when
burned.
A. No. Some leave much more ash than
others. Thus 100 lbs. of hay may leave 9 or 10
pounds of ash, while 100 lbs. of wheat leave less
than 2 lbs. of ash.
Q,. Does the ash of different plants contain all
tliese sicbstances in the same proportion ?
A. No. They exist in different proportions in
the ash of different plants — the ash of wheat, for
example, contains more phosphoric acid than that
of hay, while that of hay contains more lime than
the ash of wheat.
For the New England Farntirr.
EXPERIMENTS •WITH POTATOES.
The ground on which they were planted was
a sandy loam, on the borders of a meadow, not
naturally fertile, which had been for many years
used as a pasture, but was so much grown up to
bushes as to be worthless for seed use. In 18G0
the bushes were cut and grubbed up and the land
plowed, and in 1861 moderately manured and
planted with corn. 'J'he crop being injured by an
early frost, was not remunerative. In 1862 again,
moderately manured, it was planted with white
beans and produced a good crop. Again, in 1863,
the land was moderately manured and the general
field planted with corn and beans. The piece ex-
perimented with was in an angle of the field, and
contained, by actual measurement, 1440 square
feet. It was marked out into rows by line, two
feet apart ; a slight furrow was made with a hoe
under the line, and with the top of the hoe liandle
marks about an inch deep at the distance of from
ten to twelve inches, were made in this furrow, in
each of which was placed a single eye of a potato,
cut out so as to be about the size of an old-fash-
ioned copper cent ; the eye placed downward and
the cut side up, and covered by leveling the fur-
row, and over the whole was spread a mulching
of meadow haj-, which, when the shoots appeared
above ground, was carefully removetl from the
shoots so as not to interfere with their uj)ward
growth ; and excepting the pulling of a few weeds
this was all the cultivation the crop received. I
They were planted the first week in June, and dug j
the first week in October. The yield was eight
and a half bushels, which is at the rate of neaily |
200 buslTels to the acre. The variety, the Davis'
seedling; the quality, first-rate; and when dug
not more than ten of good size were thrown out !
as diseased. |
In order to test the theory of Mr. Poor, and of i
the Long Island farmers, tliat the seed end of the '
potato is the author of "small potatoes," it was in ,
preparing for this experiment cut off", and the eyes !
planted wholly taken from the large end. The I
result did not correspond with the theory. The '
quaniity of sm:dl potatoes corresponded very near- 1
ly with that of a crop planted in the usuiil waj , I
on land near by. This land, though much more 1
highly manured, produced what was esteemed a I
good crop, but it was only at the rate of 1.56 bush- 1
els per acre. The plot above referred to, in one i
portion of it, suffered severely by being flooded by I
the excessive rains of July and August, by water
flowng from higher land. If the yield of the
■whole plot had been equal to ihat which was not
so flooded, the rate would have come up fully to
300 bushels per acre. I
I will add one incident in regard to the potato
rot. As already stated, when dug, the number
diseased was small. They were not carried imme-
diately to the cellar, but placed in a pile upon the
ground where grown, and covered with meadow
hay with which they were mulched, and with the
vines, or tops of the potatoes, and thus remained
about two weeks, during which time were several
rains. ^\'hen they were uncovered to be removed,
it was found tliat the rnins had not so jienetrated
the covering as to wash off the sand which ad-
hered to the potatoes when dug. It was found
that many of the potatoes showed small spots of
white mould about the eyes, and on examination
all so marked had the fatal disease. This mould
I have no doubt is the fungus of the Gi-rman the-
orists, and is the author of the mischief. It might
be communicated from the ground or from the
covering spread over them. The only remedy I
should rely upon is early planting upon warm, well
prepared land, so as to secure early maturity, and
early digging and immediate removal from the
ground. J. B. U.
Nov. 2, 1803.
For the Netc England Fanner.
CUHE FOB "HOLDFAST."
Mr. Editor : — One of your correspondents in-
quires in your last number if there is any cure for
holdfast on the jaw of his steer.
Before we speak of the cure, we must under-
stand the nature of the disease. Holdfast is a
disease of the bone. The structure of all bones
is cellular, that is, made up of small cells, filled
with blood vessels and other animal substances.
If you cut into a holdfast, you will find the cells
increased in size, and the honey mass somewhat
softened, the blood vessels enlarged, and more
than the usual quantity of soft animal substances
packed in the cells.
This change may be found expending through
the external layer of bone to the marrow, or it
may be found more superficial, involving only the
surface of the bone. The same disease is found
in the human subject, and the only remedy is to
lay bare the bone, and with the saw, chisel and
bone forceps, remove all the diseased portion, and
then replace the skin and soft parts, which will
soon heal.
Now that experience has taught that chloroform
can be easily and safely applied to animals, and
thus that operations that were formerly difficult, if
not impossible, can be performed on animals with-
out pain to the animal or danger to the operator,
the veterinary surgeon perforins many operations
for the removal of deformities and the cure of
diseases that were formerly deemed irremediable.
I think the deformity in question can be removed
by a surgical oj)eration. It has been usual to turn
such cases over to the butcher, but in a case
like the one mentioned, rather than "spoil the
pair," I think "M." would prefer having an opera-
tion done. The surgeon must cut freely, and re-
move all the bones in which the cells arc eidarg-
ed, or show any indications of disease. If he will
call on any young and enterprising surgeon, in his
neighborhood, he will probably find him willing
to undertake the operation. No other remedies
are of any value.
Concord, Ud. 30, 1803.
16
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
A NEW TKEE PBOTECTOK.
We have examined a new contrivance, patented
by Mr. Henry L. Ordway, of Ipswich, in this
State, for preventing the injury occasioned to fruit
trtes by canker worms, which is more simple than
any other we have ever seen. The protector is
entirely of tin, and the following diagram presents
as well as we can do it, a section of it.
The protector is in-
tended to be somewhat
larger than the tree, to
which it is oltached by
common cloth, extend-
ing a few inches up the
trunk of the tree. This
of course must be so tight that no worm can work
its way under it. The worms passing down the
protector, have a sharp turn to make, on the edge
of the tin at a. Being heavy with the eggs they
carry, few of them succeed in this, and those who
do, have another obstruction to overcome in turn-
ing at the angle b. It is said that, on repeated
trial, no worm has ever been known to pass this
angle, but should any succeed in doing so, they
must repeat the same operation near the outer
edge of the protector, before they can ascend the
tree.
The theory of the instrument taken in connec-
tion with the form and habits of the insect, is very
plausible, and we are assured that in practice it is
found to work perfectly. The inventor will give
any further information in regard to it ; and we
hope that an effectual stop is at last found to the
ravages of this pest.
THE 'WHEAT APHIS.
Prof. Glover, Entomologist to tlie Agricultural
Department of the National Government, gives
the following description of this insect which was
very destructive last year in Maryland, and which
threatened so much damage in various portions of
the West. It is also mentioned by Dr. Fitch, in
his report for 18G0, as having been found all over
the New England States, in New York, Canada,
and Pennsylvania.
"The ApJiis Avence, (Fab.) Grain aphis or
plant louse.
Eggs probably deposited by the unwinged fe-
males in the autumn upon late sown wheat, &c.,
where they remain all winter, and hatch the fol-
lowing spring.
Insects live solitary at first upon the leaves and
stems of oats, wheat, rye, &c., before the flowers
or heads are formed ; where, by means of their
suckers, they drain tlie sap from the plant. At
this time only females are found, which are of a
green color, and bring forth thcnr young alive.
When, however, the flowers and heads are formed
they discontinue their solitary habits and cluster
in great numbers at the base of the chaff which
envelopes the geain, and, inserting their piercers
into the plant, extract the juices which should
form the grain, causing the kernels to become
more or less shrunken and light of weight. When
feeding upon the juices of the young grain the
plant lice change their color from green to a yel-
low orange and orange brown. These clusters or
communities of plant lice at the base of each grain
consist of winged females and their youug ; which
last shed their skins several times before attain-
ing their full size.
During the summer, female aphides give birth
to living young, without pairing with the males.
These young, when perfectly developed, produced
young, likewise, without pairing, and so on for
several generations.
The males appear later in the season, when they
pair, the impregnated females flying to the late
sown wheat, &c., to deposit their eggs which re-
main uninjured all winter and hatch the following
spring.
Fur the New England Farmer.
"WAHRElyr.
This is the name applied to a township until
1834 called Western. Its name was changed to
Warren, in honor of the patriot of Bunker Hill.
It is situated on the Western Railroad, midway
between Worcester and Springfield, and covers an
area of 16,428 acres. It is quite hilly, and well
adapted to grazing, being irrigated by the Qua-
boag River which furnishes power for several cot-
ton factories. The well known Whipple Scythe
Works are located here, although they are at pres-
ent used for the manufacture of other implements
than those required by the arts of peace. It is
populated by a thrifty set of people, who point to
their vacant almshouse a=s an evidence of general
prosperity.
A portion of the farmers of Warren have, for
the past twelvei years, turned their attention to the
production of milk for the Westboro' Milk Com-
pany. During the summer months they furnish
one thousand cans per day, and in the winter sea-
son about eighteen thousand cans per month.
The annual receipts for milk amount to about
sixty-five thousand dollars. The present price is
thirty cents per can. A farmer, who produces as
much milk as any other in town, states that his
cows average an annual income of Jbrfij dollars
each. Neither cotton seed meal, oil cake, nor
roots, have been used much in this region, the
rich hill pastures rendering extra feed in summer
unnecessary ; and in winter corn meal is fed.
In addition to the demand for the Westboro*
Milk Company, an immense supply is now required
by the Lewis Brothers for their condensing facto-
ry recently erected at West Brooktield. But in
spite of all this, there is still a surplus of milk in
this region, and in consequence thereof there is
now in progress a new enterprise to be called
THE WOKCESTER COUNTY CHEESE FACTORY. "
The extremely low prices which have been paid
for milk during the past three years, and the
steady advance in the price of cheese, have con-
spired to turn the attention of some extensive dai-
r} men in the south part of Warren, together with
others in the acijoining town of Brimfield, to the
feasibility of establishing a factory for the produc-
tion of cheese, similar to those now in successful
operation in various parts of New York State, and
in some localities at the West. Accordingly they
J
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
rr
delegated some of their number to visit these es-
tablishments, and having been convinced of the
siraplicify of the plan, they immediately formed an
association and entered upon tiie prosecution of
the enterprise. They have now in tlie process of
erection in the south part of Warren, one building
40 feet by 80, another 30 feet by 16, and also a
drying room, two stories in height, 100 feet in
length, and 26 feet in width. These buildings,
together with fixtures, steam apparatus, etc., will
cost $3000.
To carry out the plan, thirty dairies, compris-
ing five hi.ndrcd cows, have been pledged for five
years, and it is expected that others will be add-
ed as soon as operations have been successfully
commerced. This will give from 1500 to 2000
gallons of milk per day ; and since it is an estab-
lished fact that one hundred gallons of milk will
give one hundred weight of cheese, the establish-
ment is expected to turn out one ton of cheese
per day. •
The care of the factory will require the attend-
ance of only four persons. A^ell has been exca-
vated in a hillside near by, from which water will
be carried to any part of the building. In order
that there may be no waste, an extensive piggery
is to be constructed, and one hundred swine will
be fed upon the whey which 4he factory aftords.
The milk will bo brought from the forms every
morning, and the cheese divided among the pro-
prietors in proportion to the number of gallons of
milk furnished. Each cheese will weigh one hun-
dred pounds, and will probably be packed in sep-
arate boxes.
At a large establishment of this kind seven
miles from Home, N. Y., cheese is manufactured
at an expense of only one cent per pound, and is
found to be superior in quality to that made in the
ordinary way, commanding from one to two cents
per pound more in the market. Viator.
Wurces/ei; Nov., 1863.
Kkeping Cabbages. — We have no reason to
change our old mode of keeping cabbages through
the winter ; and to those who have not stored
theirs we again commend it as all that is desira-
ble. Take up the cabbage by the roots — set it
closely together in rows up to the head in soil,
roofs doitn tiio same as it grows — drive in posts at
the corners of the bed and intermefliate spaces if
necessary, higher one side than the other — nail
strips of iioard, lath or anything else that will an-
swer on these posts — lay upon these old lioards,
doors, or if y.ui have nothing else bean poles and
corn fodikr, so that the roof will be clear of the
(Abbage and allow the air to circulate — close up
the sides with yard or garden oflal of any kind —
and your c:d)bages will keep all winter, fresh and
green, and be accessible at all times, or nearly so,
the frost not being nearly so severe under this
protection as in ex])osed places. We have pur-
sued this plan for years and it has always given
satisficlion. Uemember, exclude moisture — never
mind the frost, which is a benefit rather than an
injury. — Gemiantoum Telegraph.
Worth Trying. — Ihe Ohio Farmer says that
coal oil has l)een found, by accident, to be a most
effective means of protecting fruit trees against
the ravages of the curcidio, by placing saw dust,
saturated with the oil, at the foot of the tree.
FiiT the Nne J^nglamt Farmer.
AMONG THE GREEN MOUNTAINS.
The narveat — Ila.v Crop — Siiraraor Freshets — Demand for Mow-
ing Machines — Labor-Saving Machines — Eilucation — "Every
generation Rrows weaker ami wiser." — State Atirieuttural
College — Union of Colleges — The "I'et" Institution — The
Weather.
Messrs. EnixoRS :— After so long a silence I
occupy my "Easy Chair" at the window, to note
a few retrosi)eclive thoughts for the Ketc Enyland
Farmer.
The harvest has come and gone since my last
letter, a nd quite a bountiful one has it been in
many respects. In this county, (C'aledonia) the
vegetable growth was heavy, especially so in re-
gard to grass, — yielding a large crop of hay ; but
the very unfavorable bay-season caused much
grass to be severely injured before it coultl be
properly hayed and housed. The four or five
weeks following the middle of . Tidy, the usual time
of the cotninencement of haying, afforded scarcely
a fourth part of the tiine so that gr:'ss "ould be
made suitable for the mow. The last of August
and the first of September gave haymakers an op-
portunity to make hay, and it -was very generally
imj)roved.
Alluvial or meadow land owners were severely
taxed, both of money and rnitsdc, the past season,
from the high summer freshets, which came Just
in season to ilow the uncut grass. Probably,
double the time and labor was required to har-
vest the hay crop on these meadows the past sea-
son, that would have been required had they not
been lUowed. This made a demand for mowing
machines, which was greater than the sui)ply, dur-
ing the hay season. The demand, principally,
was for the Union, the Wood and the Hubbard
machines. The lighter draft which these ])osses8
over the Buckeye and heavier machines, gives
them the preference among our farmers generally.
With the present scarcity of farm help, the mow-
ing machine is really an in.-itiluiion to be valued
and e.sleevied for the saving it makes of time and
human labor. The wjiter is an eainest advocate
of labor-saving inventions for personal considera-
tions,— be they combined mowers and reapers,
seed -sowers or horse-hoes, — machines of whatev-
ever name or kind, if they but lessen the muscu-
lar toil of the laborer, and, as well, prove a l)le88-
ing to thiijann.
limes are continually changing. In the days
of our fathers, more than now, man's jihysical na-
ture predominated over his ment.d ; his mind was
not exercised in proportion to his physical jxjwers.
The consequence was strong, muscular boiliesand
comparatively unexpanded intellects. The pres-
ent generation is to some extent reversed in this
particular. Schools are more generally enjoyed ;
a taste for knowledge'is acquired, and the mind
receives a greater projiortion of care and exercise,
it may be to the prejudice and loss of physical
power. Therefore it is that "every generation
grows weaker and wiser." .'Vnd it is a noticeable
fact, at the present day, that the young are more
anxious to procure and introduce new inventions
and appliances to lessen physical labor than are
the fathers. The young are physically weaker, to
say nothing of the disinclination to work in the
minds of some ; they cannot bear the labor the
fathers did. This weakness may he occasioned by
climate, food, devotion to study, want of physical
exercise, or other causes. The fact is apparent;
18
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
still, who would wish to live in a past age that it
might be otherwise ? Would our granidfathers ?
Would our fathers ? Would loe ? I think not.
Then let us educate the mind as well as the body,
even if it be done in part at the expense of the
latter, and invent and introduce apjiliances and
machines to supply the physical deficiency.
There is an effort making to establish the State
Agricultural College, contemplated by the late act
of Congress, and connect or combine with it the
several Universities of the State, and thus form
one grand Agricultural and Classical Institution.
This subject is before the State Legislature, now
in session. The question was lately considered,
and very ably discussed, at a special meeting at
the Representatives' Hall, by the Presidents of
the several Colleges ; and although the desirable-
ness of such an end was fully admitted, yet it ap-
peared to them, for the present at least, impracti-
cable.
Whether the "union" be accomplished or not,
the Agricultural College will be instituted without
fail, and founded upon a basis, by the National
grant, that wil give it strength and pernianence.
It will receive, as it should, the patronage of the
farming public, which comprises four-fifths of the
population and wealth of the Commonwealth, and,
as a.matter of consequence, be \hQ pet institution
of the Green Mountain State.
It would be quite unnatural, if not doing injus-
tice to the season, to close without a word in re-
gard to the tveather. We have had thus far a very
mild and pleasant full. To the last week in Oc-
tober there was no frost to kill the most tender
garden vegetables ; during that week there were
a few nights that the ground froze considerably —
the weather being fair, with frosty nights and
pleasant days. But that little flurry of King Jack
was soon over, and we are enjoying fine Indian
Summer days again. Yet, delightful as the sea-
son may be now, I am not foi-getful that 'tis No-
vember in Vermont ; and although we may sing
very appropriately to-day,
"O, tell me not of fairer lands,
Beneath a brighter sky,"
the lessons of past experience have taught us that
the morrow's hymn may read, in truth, —
Old Boreas knocks at the outer door.
The Storm king reigns supreme !
Lyndon, Nov. 9, 1863.
I.W. Sanb(^rn.
Fur the Nete England Fanner.
THE CHOPS IN VERMONT.
Messrs. Editors : — As I said in my commu-
nication, the crop of hay was abundant ; the qual-
ity was considerably injured from the want of good
weather to make it in its season. To "make hay
while the sun shines" was next to impossible the
past season, for the sufliicient reason that the "old
haymaker" chose almost continually to hide his
face. Therefore it was that two-thirds of the pres-
ent hay crop was harvested after the middle of
August. Oats were fair, though lighter than usu-
al. The rust affected them in some instances.
Early, more than late sown grain suff'ered from the
heavy rains, and continued dull weather of July
and August. Corn was very good — a heavy
growth of stalks, well laden with large, sound ears.
There was a very light yield of wheat, — scarcely
half a crop. Most of the other lesser grains did
usually well. The potato yield was less than
usual, — aflfected by the rust. No rot to speak of.
Ruta bagas and other root crops yielded well.
They have grown principally since the rains above
alluded to.
There has been a brisk demand for store cattle
in this vicinity this fall. Hundreds of young cat-
tle have been driven from Canada here, and sold
to the farmers at prices varying according to qual-
ity, as follows: Yearlings, from $10 to $13 per
head; two-year-olds, $17 to $24; milch cows,
$18 to $25, &c. The call for store sheep is not
as active as it was a year ago. Most of the far-
mers have a supply. All stock kind is valued at
33 to 50 per cent, higher than it was twelve
months ago. I. w. s.
Lyndon, Vt., 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
THE APPLE CROP AND ORCHARDS.
Mr. Editor : — I had the pleasure during one
of the last days of September of looking at the
fine apple orchards* Marlboro'. The season has
been favorable for the coloring of fruit, and on
some of the way the trees were literally red by
the roadside.
How easy the crop, looked to gather on the low
trees in the .young orchards. No shaking out of
the dirt as with potatoes with an aching back.
No husking and shelling as with corn. But here,
the owner can at once barrel up this rich product
of his farm, and send it to market with agreeable
labor.
The soil of Marlboro' seems particularly adapt-
ed to fruit trees. It is strong, rocky, moist and
deep. The surface of the town is undulating.
The deep, moist soil prevents a premature ripen-
ing, common to sandy locations. The rich soil
supplies abundance for the tree to feed on, and
support its load of fruit.
It is not thought necessary in Marlboro' to keep
orchard lands broken up, or in constant cultiva-
tion. I saw numerous orchards bending with fair
fruit in sward land. The ground looked rich
enough for the hay and fruit crop together.
I had a pleasant chat with my friend, William
Gibbon, in the West part of the town. I asked
him, early in our walk, "Had he many apples pil-
fered ?" "No, everybody had enough of his own."
Really, it seemed so. The whole district was one
continuous orchard.
Mr. Gibbon thinks much of the apple crop.
He has reason to. His orchards this year will
produce several hundred barrels. His trees are
healthy and vigorous, although mostly in grasif
land, a portion of which has not been manured
for ten years.
We agreed in our walk it was best to break it
all up, and thin out the trees to allow more heat
and sunshine to come to the roots. I believe that
where such heavy, rich land is so nearly shaded by
trees, the ground shoulJ be bare to the sunshine,
that all the heat may be employed in promoting
a profitable circulation of sap. I asked INIr. Gib-
bon what he thought of Dr. Geo. B. Loring's opin-
ion, that it is not best to set good land with or-
chards ? He replied, he could raise no crop like
the apple crop in value at such moderate expense.
Here, on land that had not been manured for ten
years, was a heavy crop of apples.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
19'
The farmers of Marlboro' have sold several
thousand barrels this fall to one party in Boston ;
the price obtained was $2 per barrel at the Marl-
boro' depot. Marlboro' is a thriving town, full of
enterprise and activity. W. D. B.
Concord, Mass., Oct, 1863.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
DEPTH TO WHICH ROOTS n.NF.TKATK.
The roots of grass, which I enclose, were taken from
three, four and live tcct l)clow tlic surface, where they
formed a complete mesh work, lianging in large mass-
es. The soil, for eighteen incites from the surfice, was
a strong loam ; below that, mostly mineral matter,
made up of a loose hard pan. The location was some-
what elevated. The entire section, of a hundred feet
or more in extent, presented the same phenomenon
of the roots. James J. H. Guegory.
MardleJtead, Xov. 1863.
A przzLE Aijotx onions.
As a constant reader of the Xew England Farmer, I
have seen- a deal of valuable information, as from time
to time I have perused its pages. I therefore write
with confidence of having my question answered in
your columns. I have growing, side by side, two
onions, one a thick neck, and the other as complete as
I could desire. I wish to know the cause of the thick
neck ? If either you or some correspondent will an-
swer the above through the Farmer, I shall be grati-
fied. H. H. H.
Fall River, Oct., 1863.
ANSWER TO THE PUZZLE ABOCT ONIONS.
It is a law of Nature that every "like begets its
like," and is true, as a general rule. Let "M. II. H ,"
of Fall River, raise his own onion seed and select the
very best onions that he has, and the nearest like those
he would wish to raise for seed onions. Set these out
in the Spring, save the seed and .sow it next year.
Continue this practice from year to year, and the pre-
sumption is that the scullions will disappear. The
writer has practiced this mode for several years, and
has very few scullions, or "thick necks," the present
season. j. f.
Uxbridffe, Xov. mh, 1863.
. SHAKE BAG FOWLS.
There are no snch fowls in this country, nor ev-
er have been. The nearest thing to it is a "shake
down," to fancy buyers, according to common pick-
pocket parlance. One of the Si'fferers.
Boston, Xm\ 17, 18G3.
Cheap Field Fence. — A good and sufficient
field fence can be made with fifteen inches in width
of boards, or fifty rods of fence to the thousand
feet of boards. Set the posts, and nail the first
board nine inches from theground ; then make the
spaces five, six, seven and ten inches, five boards
three inches each in fifteen inches; now turn a
furrow six inches deep toward the fence on each
side. This brings the earth within three inches of
the bottom board,and adds .six inches to the height
of the fence, measuring from the bottom of the
furrow, and the ditch or bank m;ikes it very un-
handy for animals to get at the fence. This makes
a fence four feet ten inches high.
I have several hundred rods of such fence. The
first was built five years ago. It has proved per-
fectly safe and sufficient against cattle that were
unruly. It is not racked by the wind like a fence
of wider boards. Fourteen-feet boards, with one
post in the middle, take a less numlier of posts,
and make as good fence as twelves. I have used
white oak board at about twelve dollars i^er thou-
sand, and swamp oak split posts at four cents
each. — S. SuAKi'E, in Genesee Farmer..
for the A'«r England Farmer.
HORTICDTiTTTRE IN THE CITY.
As long ago as I can remember, I read the X. E.
Farmer. It was not then as now a large sheet,
but was published in a quarto form. The last
page was particularly attractive, with its spicy an-
ecdotes and its interesting articles. My father
])ieserved files of most of his papers, and gave his
children, who filed them for him, the price of the
paj)cr for doing it. We stowed them away in an
old bureau in liie garret. Many were the hours I
spent, sitting on tlie floor, with the N. E. Farmer.
I was considered lost for hours when I carried
each new number to place with the others, because
I so much liked to read and re-read the anecdotes.
I have never lost my attachment to the paper;
and here in the crowded city it comes to nie a
welcome visitor, bringing witii it country thoughts
and childhood's memories that cheer and bless me.
I love the country, and in the busy city I like
to feel its sweet influence. I make as much of
my little yard as possible, and in imagination
transform it to a garden. I have grapes and cur-
rants, flowers and shrubs, and this year wc have
had a few tomato plants which have forgotten they
grew in a city yard, and have stretched themselves
till thej- have taken up all the room they would
have claimed on a farm. They have repaid ua,
however, by furnishing us with fresh and delicious
fruit. I am surprised that more attention is not
paid to raising grapes in tlie city. The vines oc-
cupy but little room. They are highly ornamen-
tal, and they furnish a family with an abundance
of healthful fruit. \Thy do not landlords plant
vines about all their houses ? I am sure 1 should
much sooner rent a house with a good grape vine,
than one that had none. Currants, also, grow
well in a small yard, and may be so trained against
a fence as to require but little room, and there is
no fruit more healthful than the currant in the hot
summer days. A few roots of spearmint will fur-
nish mint sauce when wanted, and a few plants of
parsley will garnish many a dish and season many
a soup.
These comforts may be had without excluding
flowers in a yard of ordinary size, and they will
diminish the expenses of a family more than one
would imagiire. Six tomato plants would supply
our family — and it is not a small one — with toma-
toes for the season, if I may judge from this year's
experience ; but they take up more room than cur-
rants, and grapes, and Lawtnn black iierries, yet
they yield their treasures tiil frost comes, and arr
not to be despised.
Plant grapes, I should say to every one in the
country where grapes will ripen, and I should say
the same thing to every housekeeper in the city.
Let us have as many comforts as possible and
with as little expense. Anna Hope.
New York, Oct., 1863.
Toads in* M.\uki:t. — Live toads, says the Ag-
ririiffitrisi, form a regular article of commerce in
the London Market. They are generally import-
ed from France, and sell for from 50 cents to
$1 50 per dozen, according to size and activitj'.
They are purchased by market gardeners in the
vicinity of the city, to protect their choice vegeta-
bles from slugs and insects, which they do very ef-
fectually.
20
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
BEPOBT.OF THE COMMISSIONER OP
AGRICDTiTUIlE.
BY JUDGE FRENCH.
An act of Congress to establish a "Department
of Agriculture" was approved May 15, 1862, and
this is the first report of the "Commissioner of
Agriculture," whose office was created by that act.
It comprises 632 octavo pages, and is published in
the general style of the agricultural reports from
the Patent office, entirely free, however, from the
typographical blunders which have so often tor-
tured contributors to those volumes. The volume
seems to me, who am not a printer, to be superi-
or, in point of mechanical execution, to any Pa-
tent office report ever published ; which may or
may not be attributable to the fact that it is pub-
lished by the "Government Printing Office," in-
stead of being jobbed by some Government fa-
vorite. Let us be thankful, at least, that the
names of the best agriculturists are not so mis-
spelled, as they were last year,*that their nearest
friends could not recognize them.
The volume opens with the general report of
the Commissioner, whose name — Isaac Newton —
is synonymous with wisdom and philosophy.
Therein he discusses wisely and well of the con-
ditions essential to progress and prosperity in ag-
riculture, which he deems to be these — Peace, de-
mand at home and abroad for our products, in-
creased respect for labor, a better knowledge of
agriculture, and a better general education of our
farmers. He then refers to some of the subjects
which are treated of in the present volume. These
subjects are, for the most part, discussed in es-
says, by individuals who have made them their
specialties, and it is fair to say that it would be
difficult to find in the country an equal number of
writers, who could and would treat the various
subjects more satisfactorily. They are so numer-
ous that an index, even, would fill a large space.
The International Exhibition of 1SG2; Some
Outlines of the Agriculture of Maine ; The soil,
climate and productions of Florida ; The Wheat
Plant ; Wheat Growing in New Hampshire ; Cot-
ton, Flax and Flax-Cotton ; Tobacco Cultui'e ; Im-
phee and Sorghum Culture ; Shelter and Protec-
tion of orchards ; Descriptions of the Leading Pop-
ular Varieties of the Apple and Pear, with plates ;
Grape Culture ; Remarks on the Physiology of
Breeding ; Sheep Husbandry ; The Kerry Breed of
Cattle ; Poultry ; Entomology ; Farm Implements
and Machinery ; Coal Oil ; Vermont Marbles ;
Health of Farmers' Families ; Timber on the
Prairies ; and the Agriculture of Morocco, are
some of the leading topics discussed.
This diversity of subjects appears almost ludi-
crous at first, and one looks curiously for the sys-
tem which groups together the agriculture of
Maine, Florida and Morocco, and omits the rest
of the world._ This want of system is, however,
no fault of the neXv Agricultural Department,
which was compelled to do its best with such ma-
terial as it inherited from the Patent office, which
has heretofore had charge of our agricultural af-
fairs, and such other as could be hastily gathered
together. Any one who knows how little the out-
goersfrom office in Washington love the incomers
to their places, may guess how much aid and com-
fort Mr. Newton and his worthy chief clerk, Mr.
Grinnell, whom we take to be the soul of the De-
partment, probably derived fi-om the Patent office
in this matter.
Besides the essays, we find in the volume re-
ports from the Chemist of the Department and
the Sujierintendent of the Garden, and reports and
tables of statistics, compiled mainly from the cen-
sus of 1860, showing among other things the com-
parative productiveness of the loyal and disloyal
States the year before the rebellion.
Great as was the prosperity of the country from
1850 to 1860, we see, by these tables, that the
South not only fully shared it, but actually out-
stripped the North in its percentage of gain in
agricultural products. Yet, with all this prosperi-
ty, Mr. Howard, of Georgia, said in the Patent
office report for 1860, "In no part of Christen-
dom, enjoying a good government, and settled by
an intelligent population, does land sell for so
contemptible a price as in the plantation States.
In Georgia, for instance, land does not command
an average price of five dollars an acre."
And yet, those sage Southern gentlemen, blind
to the fact that only free labor was wanting to
make their lands saleable at high prices, seceded
for the sake of making slave labor perpetual f
If, now, we can keep an Agricultural Depart-
ment permanent, so that it can gain materials for
comparison and illustration, and so can systema-
tize existing facts, and eliminate truth from sta-
tics constantly accumulating, we shall find ifs re-
ports yearly of increasing value. The present is
a valuable and interesting volume to any lover of
agriculture, and its distribution cannot fail to add
greatly to the knowledge of our agricultural read-
ers. Many extracts from its pages are welt worth
transferring to the columns of the iV. E. Fai~mer,
when its publishers find convenient space.
Wool Groweks' Convention. — The Ohio
Wool Growers' Association meets at Columbus,
Jan. 5tb. The Cleveland Farmer says the flock
masters of that State are fully determined to at-
tend to their own business in their own way, and
anticipates the most interesting gathering of the
kind ever attempted in this country. Hon. Hen-'
ry S. Randall, author of the "Practical Shepherd,"
has accepted an invitation to be present and, ad-
dress the association.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
21
SORGHUM AT THE WEST.
The past season has been very unfavorable to
the sugar cane business at the West. The Cin-
cinnati Commercial publishes an account of the
extensive operations in this line of Mr. A. W.
Nason, Perry county, Illinois. He planted 250
acres, which produced "only seventeen gallons to
the acre, wkereas it should have been, according
to the results of past years, 150 gallons." The
crop is said to be deficient this year in about the
same proportion throughout the West. Notwith-
standing the unfavorable results of this first ex-
periment, Mr. Nason has concluded to plant 400
acres next year instead of 250, and to add to the
expense of his establishment, which has already
cost him $7000, an additional $3000 for boilers
and other machinery, although his present steam
mill ground the cane this flail as fast as ten teams
could haul it half a mile, and fast enough to pro-
duce in one case fourteen gallons of juice per
minute.
SIN KINO ROCKS.
In reply to a recommendation to dig under and
sink rocks below the reach of the piow, a corres-
pondent of the Country Gentlemam, after premis-
ing that with his own hands, assisted by one man
and a span of horses, he has cleared between fif-
ty and sixty acres from boulders weighing fi-om
half a ton to twenty tons, and in places as many
as twenty rocks to the acre, writes as follows :
I have dug under and sunk boulders, or as I
used to say, "sold them ;" but I have learned bet-
ter. I can blast, dig out, and draw off ten rocks
on an average, where 1 can sink one, and the
rocks are saved for fencing or building purposes.
For a while I did my own blasting, but after-
wards hired it done. I paid twenty-five cents a
blast, and one blast is usually enough for a rock.
Take a pick-a.xe and loosen the earth around the
rock, put in the hole, charge and fire ! and with a
cant- hook, made on purpose, get under the pieces
and throw them out; and then take another rock
of equal size in the same soil and sink it, and see
the difierence.
I think, after said corresponilent had sunk a
rock in my orchard, measuring 28 feet long, 10
feet wide, and 8 feet above the ground, and per-
haps more below, he would write no more articles
on sinlcing roclcs. D. B. Waite.
Springwater, N. Y.
We once had ajice years experience in drilling
and blasting rocks on a twenty-acre lot. That is,
improving every opportunity during mild weather
to get them out We then resorted to digging
and buryini] them below the plow. This experi-
ence brought us decidedly to an opinion exactly
the reverse of that given above by Mr. Waite.
If rocks are wanted for walls, or for other pur-
poses, we should not hesitate to use them, but
beyond that, we should never dig out and take
them from the land. What are upon the surface
we would take away, if the soil were filled with
them. If not, we would even dig and bury those
found on top of the ground. We have hereto-
fore spoken of the injurious effects to the land of
taking out and carrying away large quantities of
stones.
For the New England Farmer.
THE BOY ON THE FARM.
Garck'ning — Winter Schools — Parental Encouragement — Amuse-
ments— fishing, fowling, nutting— A Life Uevetod to F.duca-
tion— flow to Get It — " iialf is more than Uie Whole" — Man-
liness and Scholarship.
Messrs. Editors: — I was born and brought up
on a farm, and, from my earliest days to the pres-
ent moment, I have taken the greatest interest in
farming and gardening. My lather was a physi-
cian of extensive practice, and seemed to have the
means of educating his children as well and as
fully as any man in the little town in which we
dwelt. Yet, from the time my brothers and myself
were able to do anything, as soon, every year, as
there was anything to be done in the garden or on
the farm, he took us from school and kept us at
work until the last ear of corn was husked. He
then sent us back to school. He was highly ed-
ucated»himself, and took care that, for tlie winter
school, which was kept about half the year, a teach-
er should be employed possessing the best qualifi-
cations for what he considered that most impor-
tant otfice.
We boys were kept busy in doing whatever
boys could do, — driving the cows to and from the
pasture, dropping corn, beans and pumpkin seeds,
planting potatoes, sowing and weeding in the gay-
den, and afterwards, as we gained strength, using
the spade, the hoe, the rake, and, finally, tiifc
scythe and the flail. I thus grew up famiiiar with
all tlie operations of a small farm and a large gar-
den, and somewhat skilful in the use of all the
common agricultural and horticultural tools.
My father was not a hard master, though a
somewhat particular one. He often quoted the
old proverb, "All work and no pluy make Jack a
dull boy," and he acted as if he fully believed it.
Fishing and fowling were among our recreations.
When the lime forsalmon-trouts came, he took us
to a creek two miles ofi', to places which he knew,
from which we commonly returned with full bas-
kets. When the shad began to make their appear-
ance in the river which ran by our garden, we
went below the mills, and, with s|)ears, often suc-
ceeded in getting a fine one — sometimes scveriil.
He knew where the pickerel, the perch, and the
.shiners were to be found, and showed us how to
catch them. Once or twice a year we went, tak-
ing a whole day for it, with all the lines, hooks
and bait that were necessaiy, to some well-known
spot on the coast, four, or five, or seven mil-s
off, to catch cunners, or sea-perch, bass, pollock,
or whatever else ofl'ered itself; and we some-
times brought home a fare of hundreds — as many
as we wanted. These excursions were not acci-
dental. They were intended as a gentle stimu-
lus to boyish industry. "When all the weeds
in that square of carrots "are taken out clean, we
will go a fishing, boys," said the kind old gentle-
man. The weeding was usually accomplished at
the time fixed. "W'hen the potatoes and corn are
well hoed, we will take the wagon and go to Cape
Porpoise and catch cunners, or to the Bass llock
22
NEW ENGLA^^) FARMER.
Jan.
and tn- our luck upon the striped fellows."
There was not much idleness in the field with
such a prospect before us. "When the whole
garden is free of weeds, we will fill the chaise and
the wagons, and go, girls and all, to Pickwackit
Plains and gather blueberries, and take our guns
aud see whether we cannot shoot some wild pi-
geons." The memory of some of these huckle-
berry parties are among the pleasantest reminis-
cences of my life. Strawbemes, raspberries and
blackberries grew in abundance nearer home, and
the gathering them was often a pleasant interlude
of an hour or two after a busy daj. As summer
and autumn waned, and the nuts grew ripe, we
went up the river to Mitchell's Mill, to gather
chestnuts from some trees which few people knew
the existence of, or we got leave from the owner
of the woods to pick up shagbarks in the hickory
forests of Harrasicket ; or we filled our baskets
with the hazelnuts on the banks of the river Mou-
sum. My father's practice had carried him to al-
most every house within six miles, and, as he had
his eyes open, he knew all the good places.
The reason of my dwelling upon these pleasant
scenes is, that although I have devoted my life to
education, and, in order to teach well, have sought
in all ways to get the best education I tould, I
have always considered the part of my education
which I got on my father's farm, in his garden,
and in the woods and on the streams and sea-
coasts, to which our hoUdaj s carried us, far the
most valuable. |
My father was an excellent classical scholar, I
and had also paid some attention to the trees and j
flowers, and to the birds and fishes and other an- |
imals. He had a copy of Turton's Linneus in his i
library, and was fond of pointing out the descrip-
tions of the various animals we met with, and
showing us how we should distinguish them. The
river Mousum flowed by his garden, and he did
not consider it time lost to point out the habits of
the pickerel and other fishes that swam in it, arid
of the minks and muskquashes that fed upon its
shells and had their holes in its hanks, or to point
out the curious remains of a beaver dam, which
were still visible half a mile down the stream, at
the mouth of a little brook. It was natural that,
under such influences, I should imbibe a taste for
natural history, — a taste which has been an un-
failing and delightful source of amusement, of
health and of improvement, all my life.
When the work of the farm and of the garden
was finished, and not till then, we went to school.
We thus regarded the school as a privilege, as a
most agreeable change and refreshment. We were
not idle. We took hold of our studies with ear-
nestness and pleasure, and with success. It seemed
strange to us that our cousins and the other boys
who had been at school all summer, should dis-
like it so much and be so idle. To us it was de-
lightful, and we gave ourselves entirely to it.
And, what then seemed strange and unaccounta-
ble, we, with our half-year's schooling, were al-
ways amongst the best scholars. Many years af-
terwards, 1 read in an old Greek book upon agri-
culture, "The Works and the Days of Hesiod,"
an adage or proverb, which says, "The half is more
than the whole." To me it seemed, even then,
that my half-year's schooling was better than the
whole year's of the other boys ; — I have no doubt
of it now. We send boys to school a great deal
too much. They get wearied of it and disgusted,
and so hate it. They cannot take hold of their
studies as they would if they considered it the
greatest of all privileges to be allowed to go to
school. Besides, in doing this, we forget that
school opens to the learner a few poor books of
man's making, and shuts out the infinite volume
of God's works, every page rich with the facts
and pictures and principles of the history of His
beautiful creation.
Years after, when I conversed with my father
as one of the most delightful companions I had or
have ever met, I asked him why it was that, in-
tending me, as he did, for one of the learned pro-
fessions, he thus took me away from school, and
kept me, half of every year, except one, till I en-
tered college, at work in his garden or on his farm.
"My son," answered the kind old man, "I wanted
you to be a scholar ; but I cared much more about
your being a man. I valued manliness much more
highly than scholarship. Are you less manly than
if you had spent the whole of every year of your
boyhood in school ? Is your knowledge of things,
or realities less ? Are you less of a scholar ?"
G. B. E.
For the New England Farmer.
MY JOUiaNAi FOB THE SEASON OF 1863.
Messrs. Editoes : — As every subject relating
to the production of various species of vegetation
has been fully discussed for a long time past, I
concur with one your correspondents, that farmers,
on a large or small scale, would do more good by
repotting our success, by various experiments, in
raising our crops in a matter of fact way, than we
can by enlightening the world by our theories.
We (my son and self) commenced farming by
sowing grass seed and winter wheat in the autumn
of 1862, and corn, potatoes, Hungarian grass,
and other vegetable productions, in the spring of
1863, after an uncommonly mild weather. To be-
gin, we sowed our garden seeds the llth of May,
Therm. 88'^,and after coming up as usual, they were
mostly destroyed by a hoard of little nocturnal
depredators, which left us but a small crop. On
the 16th, planted com on old, tough pasture
land, lately plowed deep, dunged in the hill with
muck compost, the seed having been soaked forty-
eight hours in saltpetre water, the com came up
well, and was "let. alone" mostly by the hated
worms, which I think do not relish saltpetre. The
corn was sligh'ily 'cultivated and hoed twice, but
the incessant rains aud high winds were unfavora-
ble to a large crop, What was harvested was of
excellent quality ; the seed was of the Brown or
King Philip variety. The Hungarian grass comes
next in course. The seed was sowed the 21st of
May on old, worn out, sandy soil, where com and
potatoes had been grown two seasons previously.
The ground was manured with mud and animal
excrements composted, and plowed in superficial-
ly ; the seed vegetated well, and the crop at har-
vesting was estimated at three tons to the acre, af-
ter curing, which was done with great difficulty
this season by reason of almost incessant rains.
By the way, experience being the best teacher, we
delayed mowing it, hoping for better weather till
it got far advanced in forming seed, which was
done on the 25th day of August. The compara-
tive value of the grass, and that mowed last year
1864.
NEVr ENGLAND F.AJIMER.
23
while in first bloom, is decidedly in favor of the [ grass grow among the trees. Another cause of
early cut. No fodder on mv farm was so eagerly fair fruit may be the feeding of the windfalls to
eaten by horses and cattle as our early cut Hun- , the cattle and pigs daily. But I consider the
garian grass last year. This year the same ani- main cause of our fair fruit was owing to manor-
mals hesitate till they find out whether it is hay | ing the trees, and eradicating every intruding
or straw before they commence eating. I believe , trespasser. For some years past, we have been
many fanners have formed their opinions and | in the habit of conve)'ing our suds and sink
prejudices about Hungarian grass from the cir- , water to the trees nighest to the house, and occa-
cumstance of delay in cutting it after it is full sionally appljnng a load or two of meadow muck
seeded; all except the seed is ver)' litde better J about their roots.
than rye or oat straw thrashed. Whether the j Whether my opinion is worth anything or not,
seed is of more or less value than the early cut I ask nothing for it. I think our farmers — some
grass for fodder, I have formed no opinion for, of them— labor under a grand mistake in plant-
want of experience. ing trees in large orchards, unless they are pre-
Potatoes on dry or wet land in this vicinity were pared with foresight, manure and money enough
inferior in quantity and quality this season. Our to cultivate them as they would a garden. With-
early ones, called "crackers," were planted on dry , in my recollection, in numerous instances, 1 have
ground in the garden ; though fully supplied with seen large oichards planted with great pains and
rain, were less than half a usual crop of indiffer- , accuracy, and for a few years the owner would
ent eatable potatoes. Our main crop was upon a feel sufficiently interested to give it a start and
piece of reclaimed meadow, formerly a duck pond, make a fine show ; but after a while other cares and
a most unpropitious season for planting on such hindrances would step in, and of necessity the or-
land. The meadow was plowed on the 24th of | chard would be neglected. A coat of thirsty grass
OcL, 1862, with meadow plow, and was planted \ would infest the ground ; the hordes of caterpil-
witn the white kidney potato, on the 27th of May, , lars and cankerworms, like Goths and Vandals,
after being well haiTowed with the cultivator and would make their irruptiofts the moment care was
dunged in the hill with manure from the horse's neglected, and by the help of cattle the victory
stable. The field was hoed onee. On the 26th of would be won by the invaders without "foreign
August, a great fall of rain submerged the pota- intervention ;" and the poor orchard, besides "go-
toes for a short time. They were harvested the ing to grass," would display rotten, worm-eaten
last of September and proved a better crop than trunks, dead limbs, and the want of good calcula-
those planted in the garden ; they were free from tion in the owner.
Our cranberries are equal to the Cape variety
this year ; something like sixty or seventy bushefe
are the production of our farm. Silas Bkowt*.
Wiimin'jton, Xoc. 14, 1S63.
F r fA«> Se^r Eiigl.irsd Faraur.
AGRICUIiTUBAIi SCKHETIES.
rot at the time of digging. It is seldom we have
too much rain for potatoes planted on dry land,
but the present season has proved an exception.
During my eighty-four years of sojourn among
potato fields, I have never known sandy fields, in-
stead of dust transformed into so much "mud and
mire," as has been the case the last summer.
Our winter wheat was sown Sept. 2, 1S62, It j In an article quoted in your last paper thtf ques-
came up well, survived the winter and aflforded a tion is asked, "What will become of the Agricul-
handsome yield. Thanks to friend Poor, this is , turul Societies ?^ Agricultural Societies were es-
the third season we have raised winter wheat , tablished to encourage those departments of agri-
enough of good quality to supply our family with \ culture that need improvement- To collect f sets,
that kind of bread. On the 4th of September, ] To diffuse iarormaiion. To promote discus^on.
1863, our winter wheat was sown on old pasture ' To make useful suggestions. To advanc-e all these
ground turned up -in June ; after a dressing of 1 objects, large premiums have been ofiered. Lib-
compost was applied the seed was plowed in with \ eral appropriations have been made by the State,
a horse plow — looks well. I But as agricultural Societies kive been managed
Our grass crops were much diminished by the I for some years past have these objects been pro-
winter-kill of 1S61-2, but upon newly laid down , moted ? Are not premiums now paid for objects
lots it was uncommonly tall, full of sap, and des- ! that no longer need encouragement.' Wtial ad-
titute of that gummy matter which adheres to the ; vantage is now gained by offering premiums for
scythes in drier seasons. The summer of 1S09, i the best apples, squashes, potatoes and beets?
and several seasons since, were remarkable for 1 Does not the interest of cukivators afford suffi-
copious rains and damaged hay; but for more than j cient stimulus in this direction ? What advan-
half a century, such pereistency of rainy weather tage now results from premiums on plowing?
through all the summer months has escaped my i This whole matter is now well understood, and
recollection, if it ever happened. | competition amoug the manufacturers of plows is
The odd year — reminds me of that good man, ( doing all that can be done-for the improvi-mentof
Mr. Cole, — has always been the bearing year with ' plows. The object of late has been ralher to make
our little orchard. This fail, from some cause or a fine show than to promote real improvement,
causes, our apples and pears have been uncom- | and in too many cases, to induce those who have
naonly large and free from scars and worm holes, , good articles, to exhibit them at the show. To
which go to confirm ideas previously entertained | accomplish this end premiums have been awarded
in regard to raising fruit. In the first place, the to men rather than to products ; with a certain
great abundance of rain has been sufficient to sup- class, it has now become a mere matter of money-
ply the thirsty grass with a competency of mois- making. Their object is to get the premium,
tore, and allow the roots of the trees a grudging without regard to any real improvement. Is not
pittance, which it could not imbibe itself in or- the raising of a good breed of swine, of good neat
chards where we manage so badly as to let the , stock, whether for the dairj- or the shambles, of
24
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
good horses, sufficiently profitable without taxing
the whole community to pay a premium to those
engaged in it?
There may be some things that need temporary
encouragement in this State. Possibly the culti-
vation of wheat, and sheep culture, are among
them. There may be certain facts with respect
to the preparation and use of manures, that need
to be ascertained by extended' experiments. Per-
haps we need to ascertain by more frequent ex-
periments, wliether it is not more profitable to
raise a hundred bushels of corn or four tons of
hay, on one acre, than on two. Do we sufficiently
understand the capabilities of land, and the pow-
ers of manures ? Many such questions will sug-
gest themselves to thoughtful men. Now, if the
funds of agricultural societies could be so em-
ployed as to elicit correct answers to such ques-
tions, would they not much better accomplish the
purpose for which they were intended? In this
connection it occurs tome that the course pursued
by the trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural
Society is worthy of all commendation. They
have aimed to diff'use Information, and to suggest
important experiments. They have imported slock
that had a high reputation abroad, that our farm-
ers might test its value in our climate and on our
soil. They gave attention to plowing, to fruit-
raising and various other objects, so long as these
could be promoted by premiums, and then turned
their labors in otlier directions. They seem to
me to have much better understood the philoso-
phy of the whole subject, and to have done much
more to .jjromote the permanent improvement of
agriculture than any of the district Societies. The
state of society has greatly changed since agricul-
tural societies were first established. Information
on all subjects is more generally diff'used, agricul-
tural papers and periodicals have become an es-
tablished institution. Their editors and corres-
pondents are on the watch for facts, and it is their
daily business to spread them before the cultiva-
tors of the soil. They have taken the place, in
this respect, which was expected to be occupied
by the gatherings and discussions of the members
of agricultural societies.
Certain departments of agriculture, as fruit-
growing, milk-raising, sheep-culture, stock-rais-
ing, horse-raising have, assumed a sufficient mag-
nitude to warrant those engaged in them to form
special associations for their promotion. It seems
to me that our friends in Vermont and the West
are on the right track in this respect. The ques-
tion again occurs, what will become of the agri-
cultural societies ? Have they not accomplished
their mission? Are they not about played out?
QUERE.
The Western Vineyards. — The vineyards
near Cincinnati this year are blasted by the "rot."
which Is said to have destroyed more than half the
crop. The vineyards of the late Mr. Longworth
will not produce more than one-fourth of a crop.
The Isabella and Catawba grapes have suffered
most, and in several vineyards will hardly pay har-
vesting. The Delaware, Concord and Marion
grape have been less touched by the rot, and the
Delaware vine will yield from ten to fifteen pounds.
The vineyards on Lake Erie, of which compara-
tively little has been said, are described as looking
uncommonly well.
For tlic New England Farmer.
CORN COBS.
Mr. Editor : — By some agricultural writers,
corn-cob meal has been compared to saw dust, as
an article of food. Admitting the cob possesses
but little value of itself, it does not necessarily fol-
low that it is worthless when ground together with
the corn. Corn-and-cob meal makes lighter food
than meal from corn alone ; and stock fed with the
former is not liable to become cloyed, as it is when
the latter is used altogether. Clear corn meal is
too heavy in its nature for stock that is not pretty
well fatted ; and the same grain used in connection
with the cob, well ground together, I consider
worth more than it is without the cob. I think
this is true, especially with cattle and hogs. If
very fat, the corn may be more profitably used
alone.
I make these suggestions upon the supposition
that the cob possesses no virtue of Itself. But
facts are recorded where animals have been kept
on cob meal alone — thus proving its possession of
some life-sustaining properties.
I. W. Sanborn.
"The Meadows," Lyndon, Vt., 1863. •
For the Netc En "I and Farmer.
SHALL WE RAISE TOBACCO ?
Short-sighted self-interest says yes ; it will bring
quick returns and unparalleled profits. It Is an
article that the people icill use, and Massachusetts
farmers may as well enjoy the benefits of the crop
as any one. Its cultivation will Insure us a snug
Income every year. It will furnish us the means
of paying all our vexatious bills for labor, black-
smithing, taxes, &c., and leave a clever surplus
for permanent improvements besides. We can
buy fertilizers, implements and machines. We
can live better and make our farms look better
than we possibly could if we did not raise it.
Ah ! Look again. Moral sentiment says No ;
produce nothing that is not beneficial. Tobacco
neither strengthens the arm for labor nor Imparts
vitality to the system. The brute creation repud-
iate tobacco universally. Man Is the only animal
that will masticate it. Physiologists are unani-
mous in the opinion that It does not nourish the
body, but enfeebles it. It also stupefies the mind.
If this is true we ought not use it ; and if we
ought not to consume it, we certainly ought not
produce it.
Take an economical view of the matter. This
nation expends $50,000,000 for tobacco annually.
This is an enormous waste. That sum, If saved
for a single year, would be sufficient to establish
Agricultural Colleges in every State in the Union,
and endow them magnificently. It Is folly to sup-
pose that it can be relied upon for a long period
of years as a profitable farm crop.
What is the testimony of tobacco growing
States? The soil of Maryland has literally turn-
ed red — blfushlng for shame — in consequence of
the exhausting crops which have been repeatedly
taken from it. And can it ever be wise economy
to rob the broad mown fields of the nourishment
which th'ey need for the sake of giving an acre of
tobacco a prodigious manuring? It is claimed
that by constantly changing the plot used for to-
bacco the entire farm may ultimately be brought
under a high state of cultivation. But suppose
that on a fai-m of one hundred acres five acres be
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FABMER.
25
planted every year, it would require twenty years
to renovate the farm ; and the pieces, which were
first seeded down, would by that time be in a
very barren condition. Maryland is an example
in this matter. Let not Massachusetts, whose ex-
ample in ])olitics, education and religion is a guid-
ing star to the nation, strive to imitate that rebel-
ridden State in its destructive policy of tobacco
raising. VlATOii.
Worcester, Nov., 1863.
Remarks. — We quarrel with no man in the in-
dulgence of bis appetites and tastes. It some-
times becomes a duty to advise, and when it does,
we mean to do it in a spirit of kindness. We es-
chew tobacco in all its forms, and always have.
We believe it to be injurious to the system, and
greatly disagreeable to thousands who do not use
it, but yet cannot escape its unpleasant odor and
influences. We are sincerely sorry that atiy of
our farmers are turning their attention to the cul-
tivation of a crop which can in no way be made a
blessing to the human family. We cannot con-
scientiously encourage it, though it produce ten
times the money profit of any other crop.
THE INDIAN CORN,
We doubt whether our farmers raise any of
the large, bulky crops that afford them a better
average profit than Indian corn, or one upon
which they look with more satisfaction and pride.
It is a beautiful crop to look at, from first to last
— from the first springing blade through every
stage of its growth. What pleasanter sight does
any crop present than the corn when two feet
high, with its pendulous leaves, gracefully hang- water, heated by gas or by a kerosene or coal oil
ing over oi^every side and trembling in the breeze. I lamp, and having a vessel in which to keep milk
How rich are the broad, dark green leaves at this | or other food warm, or to stew in, and an arrange-
period of its growth. In a few days, upon some I ment for frying a small amount of meat. The
aspiring stems, "spindles" show themselves, and prices vary from $'2 to $5,00. We have never
in a short time they dot the whole field. Then | before seen anything of the kind which we thought
produce fifty bushels of corn per acre, will give
as much excellent fodder as will the average acres
of the upland mowing lots in New England.
An observing farmer said to us, recently, that he
always had noticed that when his corn fodder was
gone, his cows decreased in their quality of milk,
though well fed on English hay and rowen. We
have known the horses of a livery stable kept
through an entire winter on the "toppings" of
corn, and came out «ell in the spring, though no
more grain was given them than when fed on hay.
PISK'S PATENT LAMP HEATING APPA-
RATUS.
We have read HulVs Journal of Health with in-
terest and profit for several years. His teachings
are natural, and reliable. Whatever he advises,
we have long thought it safe to follow. Seeing,
some time since, his recommendation of the lamp
mentioned at the head of this article, we wrote to
the Agent to send us one, whicli he did, and we
have already used it sufficiently to add our testi-
mony of its value to that of Dr. Hall, the Scien-
tific American, and numerous other persons who
have used it.
The patent is a lamp-heating apparatus, for Boil-
ing, Fri/i/i(j, Slewing and Sleeping with the same
Jlamc that lights the room! Of course, it is on a
small, compact scale, admirably adapted to the
nursery or sick room, but capable of cooking a
moderate meal, where fuel and light must be rig-
idly economized. The apparatus is_ of various
sizes, holding from about a pint to four quarts of
the ears set, the glossy "silk" pushes its way from
each kernel to the open djjj', and the field is in
its pri lie. But the gradual changes which occur
in maturing the seed, and in the decay of the
plant itself when its work is done, are all inter-
esting and instructive, until frosts strike the husks,
openin'; them and revealing the golden ear. It is
especially gratifying to raise Indian corn, because
it serves so many purposes. In an unripe condi-
tion, it is scarcely excelled by anything else, as a
palatable, nutritious and wholesome food. In
various forms, it subserves the wants of man and
beast better than any other grain. It is easily
preserved, only recjuiring to be kept dry, in order
to keep it in good condition for months or for
years.
In addition to these considerations, the corn
would afford so much convenience and comfort at
so moderate a cost.
Send to the Agent, Willl\m 1). Rl'sslll, 206,
Pearl Street, N. Y., for a pamphlet, with pictures
illustrating the lump, and full descriptions of its
use.
Japanese Customs. — As soon as the babe
le.ives its mother's breast, the first Miing it learns
is not to walk or to run, l)ut to squat on its heels
in this baboon fashion. If the Japanese are on
ceremony, then they sink on the mats, resting
jointly on heels and knees. And this attitude,
also, which would be' torture to us, they maintain
for hours, apparently without serious inconve-
nience. Finally, the day's labor over, or the time
for siesta in the heat of the day arrived, they
throw themselves down full length on the mat.
with a little padded rest, just large enough to re-
„ , , - , i ceive the occii)ut or the angle of the jaw, and sleep
crop affords us a large amount of the sweetest k^, g„„,„ll^. ^.^ ^^e most fastidious with a feather
and most nutritious fodder we have, when it is pillow and bed.
cut early and properly cured. A field that will '' Japan.
-Sir li. Alcock's Three I'cars in
.r.26
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
KELATING TO MANURES.
The interest with which the subject of malcing
mid applying manures is regarded, ought not to
grow less until a larger portion of our farmers
better appreciate its importance. So much has
already been said upon it, that we always enter
upon any discussion in relation to it with reluc-
tance. Nevertheless, it is a duty to lay before
the reader whatever we may find that will shed
new light upon it. This may be done in some de-
gree by presenting the opinions of judicious and
practical men. At the late New York State Fair
one of the evening discussions was upon "The
best method of Itushanding and applying manures."
We will give the opinions of some of the speak-
ers, with such remarks as seem appropriate to the
opinions expressed.
"Solon Robinson thought the best way was
not to husband it at all. He would draw it out
as fast as it was made."
We have never had better results from the use
of manure than when it was hauled from the barn
in its crudest condition, then spread and plowed
in. When the ground was again plowed the fol-
lowing spring, it wfts very light and black, and
the crops that grew upon it were exceedingly
heavy. Every experiment of this kind has pro-
duced a similar result. During the period be-
tween the plowings, the manure is sufficiently
warm to induce the putrefactive process, so that
before planting time it is thoroughly decomposed,
and the gases which have been evolved are re-
tained by the surrounding soil, so that nothing is
lost. Upon jjlowing in the spring the whole field
strongly reminded us of a pan of well risen dough,
it was so light and porous.
"Mr. Van Alstyne agreed with Mr. Robinson.
He would api)ly it on the surface. Nature was a
safe guide, and she speads manure on the surface."
Mr. Robinson did not state what he would do
with the manure when it was "drawn out" — but
we do not think he would recommend to let it lie
on the surface. Mr. George Geddes said :
"He did not think Nature a safe guide. We
were at war with Nature. He believed in top-
dressing, but thought the fact that trees deposited
their leaves on the surface was no proof that it
was best to apj)ly manure the same way."
Certainly, we are at war with Nature every
time we graft an apple or pear tree, or bud a rose
bush, or root prune. Trees and the beasts of the
field leave their droppings upon the surface.
The cat is the only quadruped that does not be-
lieve in top-dressing !
"Mr. Wai.ratii had practiced top-dressing for
20 years. It ought to be well-rotted before using
it. Composting manure added 25 per cent, to its
Yalu6. He thought it also killed the seeds of
weeds."
We cannot agree with Mr. Walrath that ma-
nure is increased in value by composting it. It
may be more convenient to apply it in that con-
dition to grass lands, but how it increases its val-
ue we cannot understand. It is a question, wheth-
er manure can be heated sufficiently to kill the
seeds of weeds, without injuring the manure itself.
We wish it were settled.
"Mr. T. C. Peters found that the yield of
wheat on Long Island was eight bushels per acre,
higher than the average in the State."
"Mr. Cox, of Long Island, said, they buy sta-
ble manure in New York which costs them $3
per load on the farm, and apply 12 loads per
acre. This giv:£S them 20 bushels of wheat per
acre. The wheat does not pay for the manure,
but after the wheat they get two or three heavy
crops of hay which brings a good price.
"Prof. Nash thought one reason why the Long
Island farmers showed so well in our agricultural
statistics, was because some of them were wise
mert, and some of them were not as wise. Im-
mense quantities of leached ashes were brought
from Western New York. Some farmers use
1,500, 2,000, 2,500 bushels per annum. They are
wise. The ashes do good. Fish, too, can be pur-
chased at a cheap rate, and they are extensively
used as manure. He had said some were unwise.
Perhaps the remark needed qualifying. To illus-
trate what he meant, he would say there were
many fancy farmei's on Long Island ; men who
had made large fortunes in the city. They raise
large crops regardless of expense. A good lady
sometime since was bantering with her husband
about the expense of his farm. "Every man must
have some pleefsure," he said. "My farm does
not cost me over $3,000 a year, and it afibrds me
more enjoyment than I can get for the money in
any of the fashionable amusements of the city."
The Professor knew a man of this character who
has a farm of sixty acres on Long Island, and he
makes it produce more than six hundred acres of
the same land produced a few years ago. The
crops are raised at a loss, but they help to swell
the general average. As a general rule, howev-
er, the farmers on Long Island are very success-
ful. They pay great attention to composting
everything that will make manure, and keep up
the fertility of the soil.
"Hon. Geo. Geddes remarked that the Long
Island farmers sell everything they raise. They
even sell their straw, and consequently they are
obliged to buy manure, even if it costs $36 an
acre to raise twenty bushels of wheat. Farmers
in Onondaga Co., are wise enough not to sell ma-
nure in the form of straw and hay. He knows
some who raise several hundred bushels of grain,
and cut one hundred tons of hay a year, who do
not sell a particle of it. It is consumed on the
farm and the manure keeps up the fertility of the
soil. Taking into consideration the amount of
produce raised, and the little that is sold off' the
farm, he thought the farmers of Western New
York manured their land more highly than those
of Long Island. There was more fertilizing mat-
ter in a good clover sod than in any twelve loads
of manure you could purchase in New York. He
had a field that had never had a shovelful of ma-
nure applied to it for sixty-five years, and by
growing clover and pasturing it with sheep, &c.,
it gets richer instead of poorer. Every farm should
be sell-sustaining. We cannot afford to draw ma-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
27
nre a mile. In regard to husbanding manures he
had little instruction to give. Had seen excellent
effects from applying manure on grass lands in
the fall intended for corn. The corn was a foot
higher and of a darker color. He thought that
in the fall was the time to apply manure ; but the
question was how to keep the winter made ma-
nure through the summer without loss. He had
thrown it into piles under sheds, but it fire-fanged.
THE HIGHWAY-SIDES.
In many parts of our country the borders of the
highway present the most slovenly appearance.
In some cases bushes grow up to the very rut of
the carriage wheels, making it unpleasant for a
foot-passenger to step aside, especially when the
foliage is wet. In other cases the soil on either
side of the beaten track is suffered to propagate
thistles, daisies and other noxious weeds, which
supply the adjoining fields with future harvests,
each after its own kind. A correspondent of the
Country Gentleman, who has recently visited
Skaneateles, N. Y., and the adjoining towns, was
much pleased with the neat appearance of the
highways in that section.
The soil on each side of the carriage-track has
been neatly graded and seeded with grass seed,
and all the stones and rubbish removed, and a
good burden of grass is cut annully. In some
localities where the grass had jnst been mowed, I
thought at the time that there would be not less
than two or three tons of good hay per acre.
Where a farmer has a long line of highway run-
ning through his farm, it will certainly pay well
to grade the sides of the beaten track, and seed
to Timothy and blue grass, or with red top, in case
the soil is rather low and wet. Where the soil is
high and dry, Timothy and red clover would flour-
ish well, and pay for all the expense of grading,
to say nothing of the beauty and neatness which
the tall grass, or neatly mowed highway, would
give to the appearance of the country.
/'or the New England Farmer.
FOOT ROT IN SHEEP.
At this time of high prices in wool and sheep,
it seems particularly desirable that all who keep
sheep should understand the preventive and cure
of the most common diseases which mutton is heir
to. Thousands of dollars are annually saved by
careful breeders who study the habits and diseas-
es of sheep ; while many fine flocks are ruined,
and much money lost by inattention and lack of
that knowledge which should' be in the hands of
every flock-master.
Among the most common and troublesome dis-
eases of sheep, in many parts of New England, is
the foot rot. In wet sei^sons, like the past, it
frequently breaks out in flocks which have not
been exposed to others that have had it. When
sheep go long in wet, low pastures, or stand long
in water, it affects the issues in the feet so that
an inflummation takes place, whicli induces the
disorder, without contagion or infection. Still it
is very contagious, and diseased sheep will leave
infectious matter when they travel that will com-
municate the disorder to others that pass over the
same ground many days afterward. Therefore
avoid driving sheep over a road passed by disor-
dered ones, or into a pen for washing where such
sheep have been confined. But if your flock is
attacked by the foot rot, do not be unduly alarmed
and sell them much under the price of sound ones,
for they can be cured for a shilling per head.
The disorder usually commences in one of the
forward feet, causing lameness. The sheep ap-
pears uneasy, frequently raising the foot affected.
On examination the foot will be found inflamed
between the hoofs. A day or two later niatter
will.be found at the heel and between the sections
of the hoof, which emits a bad and peculiar odor.
If a remedy is not applied the hoof will rot off.
A very efficacious remedy is made as follows :
Take three parts of finely pulverized blue vitriol,
one part of white lead, mixed into a thin paste
with linseed oil. Clean the foot thoroughly, cut-
ting away all the hoof that is loose, so that the
paste may come in contact with the part affected,
and apply the mixture with a small paddle or
brush. Repeat the application two or three times
at intervals of a week, being careful .to pare the
hoof off where it is aff'ected before applying the
mixture ; and a permanent cure will be effected.
Other remedies may be equally good — this I
have proved efficacious. Some five or six weeks
since, a neighbor of mine drove in, from a back
pasture, a flock of fifty odd sheep and lambs very
badly afl'ected with foot rot. I assisted in doctor-
ing them as above. In paring, we found it nec-
essary to remove nearly the entire hoof in some
instances. They rapidly improved, and after three
applications no lame sheep were to be seen in the
flock. He now considers them entirely sound,
and it has not cost him over ten cents per head
to cure them. Thoroughness is the sine f{ua non.
J. R. Walker.
Springfield, Vt, Nov., 1863.
I^ur the New England Jh'armer.
SALT AS A MANURE.
The importance of common salt as a plant fer-
tilizer has not perliaps been fully understood by
agriculturists. It has long been known to possess
a specific influence in fructifying certain ])lants —
asparagus, in particular — and to such it has been
applied liberally. But few trials have been made
with it upon grass lands, upon garden vegetables,
cereal grains, &c., in this country, or, at least, but
little has been said respecting its use in the jour-
nals. Upon theoretical grounds it should prove
serviceable, as the analysis of the ash of turnips,
potatoes, kitchen garden" vegetables, meadow
plants, &.C., prove them to be rich in soda and the
chlorides. I suppose we are not yet prepared to
reject the teachings of chemical science as afford-
by the analysis of soils and plants, although the
faith of some may be shaken as regards their
value.
The practical trials of salt, as a manure, on rec-
ord, art- those of Kuhlman in 1845, and the Gen-
eral Committee of the Agricultural Society in Ba-
varia, in 1857 and 1858, and recently we have the
report of Dr. Phipson, of Liverpool, who was em-
ployed by the Chamber of Commerce, of that city,
28
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
to investigate the subject. He reports, "Ist,
that phmts, without a due proportion of salt, can-
not attain their proper degree of perfection — and
this applies especially to colza, turnips, sweedes,
beet, spinach, wheat, oats, maize and other grasses.
2d. That salt is an essential constituent of plants
as well as animals. 3d, That the soil is constant-
ly losing by cultivation a great amount of salt,
taken away by the crops. 4th, That none of the
manures, at present used, contain any salt ; even
guano contains only four-tenths of one per cent.
5th, That it is necessary to add salt at regular in-
tervals to the soil in some shape or other, if we
wish to dj:rive the greatest possible benefit by our
crops."
The Doctor's report, covering as it does nearly
the whole field of ])lant growth, looks a little ex-
travagant. Like most men employed to investi-
gate specifically in one direction, he has become
surrounded with the halo of one idea, and everything
that grows upon the earth has a saline look to his
eye. Still, there is undoubtedly much importance
to be attached to the views presented, and farmers
will do well to experiment intelligently with salt
as a fertilizer. Kuhlman very nearly doubled his
crop of hay upon a natural meadow by the use of
salt. The Bavarian Agricultural Society increas-
ed the cro])s of wheat and straw in a very re-
markable degree by its use. It should, however,
be stated that in both of the experiments the salt
was combined with the salts of ammonia, the
muriate and sulphate.
We are not to suppose that salt in all cases is
required to furnish the plant with the saline prin-
ciple, or even its separate substances, for in the
cereals they form by no means the most important
constituent. There is a mystery as regards the
action of certain agents upon plant growth. Their
influence results from their presence in the soil,
or they efl'ect certain chemical decompositions
which produce the food requisite without being
themselves assimilated. This opens a broad field
for chemical research, and the future is to shed
much light upon the subject.
If salt increases the growth of wheat upon a
field, it is certain that there was present in the
soil the requisite quantity of phosphoric acid,
silicic acid, potash, &c., to supply all the wants
of the grain, but yet it was not in a condition to
be assimilated. The salt, like a prompt and effi-
cient nurse, properly prepares the food ; the'plants
eat and thrive. Salt in such a case is not a ma-
nure, but a chemical agent capable of fitting cer-
tain substances to act as manure or fertilizers.
Soda, the base which unites with hydrochloric
acid to form salt, has been found to exert a spe-
cific influence in the production of barley ; potash
has the same effect upon wheat ; and yet under
certain conditions, reversing the application of
the salts, has produced results, as regards magni-
tude of crops, far more striking than when applied
in their natural order.
As regards the application of salt to our fields,
the question arrises, how and where shall we use
it, and in what quantity? It should be tried upon
weak meadow lands which have not been under
tillage for a considerable time. Use it in the veg-
etable garden ; use it whenever, in accordance
with an intelligent judgment, you think there is
slumbering in the earth the essentials of plant
nutriment, which may be aroused by the action of
the alkaline agent, or the acid with waich it is.
combined. Use it upon plants which assimilate
it as food. Dissolve it in water and apply the so-
lution, or sow it broadcast by the hand. Three
bushtls to the acre for meadow land may be
enough, although more can do no harm. If you
get no good results the loss will be of little ac-
count. If possible, combine it with the cheap
nitrate of soda, or sulphate of'ammonia, in equal
proportions, and you will obtain more prompt and
satisfactory results. James R. Nichols.
Havei-Ull, Nov. 30, 1863.
For the New England Fanner.
■WHAT MAY BOYS AT SCHOOL BEST
KEADP
While I was at work on the farm or in the gar-
den, I did not every day feel any inclination to
read. Still, at intervals, when work was not
pressing, and on rainy days, when there was noth-
ing for boys to do, I read such things as fell into
my hands. But in the long winter evenings, when
there were no school lessons to learn, which was
usually the case, I had a great deal of time at my
own disposal, and commonly spent it in reading.
One of the most delightful books I ever read
was "Conversations on Chemistry," which came
out in those years, and which my father bought,
and read, and talked about, and which thus nat-
urally attracted the attention of us boys. I found
it particularly interesting. I remember the de-
light with which I found that the air was made
of oxygen and nitrogen, or azote, and read the
experiments which showed that one of these, ox-
ygen, is essential to life, and at the same time,
makes a part of everything sour, as was at that
time thought ; of the experiments which proved
that water is composed of two airs, or gases, one
this same wonderful oxygen, the other the not
less wonderful hydrogen, which, while with oxy-
gen it forms the comparatively heavy ffuid, wa-
ter, is the lightest substance known — sixteen
time lighter than oxygen, which is itself but little
heavier than common air.
I began immediately to think of the air, and
what was floating in it. The clouds, as we boys
found, from our "Conversations," were water
raised into the air by the power of the heat of the
sun. How much we talked, as we were working
together, of these wonderful facts, and of the
beautiful colors which the light of the sun, falling
upon the clouds at all parts of the day, and es-
pecially towards evening, formed there. Then
with what delight we read of the experiments
upon heat, of its being condensed by a lens and
reflected by a mirror, of its being absorbed by
dark surfaces and reflected by all, particularly by
bright, polished surfaces, and of its being radiat-
ed continually, in straight lines, from every point,
however minute, on all surfaces. How wonderful
seemed to us the changes made by heat, first of
snow and ice into water, next of water, gradually
raised to the point of boiling, and then, by that
process, turned into visible vapor, and by still
more heat, into invisible gas. With what interest
we watched the tea-kettle when it was boiling,
and observed that the \^por, rushing hot and in-
visible from the nose, became visible at the dis-
tance of a few inches, by being cooled by the sur-
rounding air. And how curious and wonderful
it seemed to us that all plants and the greater
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
29
part of the bodies of all animals were made up,
almost entirely, of oxygen and of carbon, of the
same black substance we call charcoal, and that
the greater part of the material for the formation
of plants was al«-ays floating in the air as a gas
made of carbon and the wonderful oxygen ; that
the rain dissolved or absorbed it and brought it
down, and the radicles of plants drank it in from
the soil. What an interest this gave to our ex-
amination of the roots of the weeds we pulled up
and of the garden vegetables we removed in trim-
ming them.
What an amount of pleasant conversation these
chapters produced on us boys ; perfectly natural
conversation, and which would have been occa-
sioned by a similar cause, in any other two boys
favorably situated, as we were. I was then twelve
or thirteen years old ; my brother four or five
years older. Whoever will recall the thoughts of
his own childhood, or listen to the questions of
intelligent, inquisitive children, will find that
questions far more profound than any of tl^se are
continually occurring to children at a much earlier
age.
Such thoughts and questions as these were,
however, at this lime, occupjing the minds of
thoughtful, scientific men in all parts of the civil-
ized world. The discovery of oxygen, made by
Priestly in 1774, and by Scheele and Lavoisier
soon after, followed by the discovery of the com-
position of the atmosphere and of part of what
it contains, of that of water and of the action of
oxygen upon the metals and upon almost all other
substances, has made a change in many of the
arts, and pursuits, and investigations of men,
greater than has ever been produced Ijy any other
discovery recorded in the history of science.
We boys considered the "Conversations" the
most entertaining book we had ever read as in-
teresting as "Keeper's Travels" had been, more
interesting than "Pilgrim's Progress," and more
intelligible, as interesting, but in a very different
way, as the Arabian Nights' Entertainment." It
seemed to explain to us the secrets of nature, and
gave a new and more beautiful aspect to the earth,
the waters, the air, the clouds, and to all that was
living above and beneath them.
I see no reason why all other boys, and girls,
too, should not enjoy the same privileges that we
did in this respect. We cannot present them all
with a copy of the "Conversations on Chemistry,"
and I much fear that there is no book so well suit-
ed to give an idea of the elements of chemistry,
so changed now, as that book did when it was
written. But books might be found and inVro-
duced into school,— into all the scliools, — which
should explain, so that all cliildren might under-
stand, what the air is, what water is, what thun-
der and lightning are, what heal and light are,
what the common rocks are, what the soil is and
how plants and animals grow. Ought not all
persons to be acquainted with those things ?
Is not this knowledge reallv essential to every
well informed, intelligent being ? And is not the
age of boyhood and girlhood the most proper age
for such knowlerlge to be acquired ? 1 re])eat
that whoever will listen to the questions which
are almost always asked by intelligent children,
will find that all such children are instinctively
longing for just this kind of knowledge. The
Creator of the world and of its wonderful and
beautiful laws, is the Creator of the mind of man,
and He has, in His infinite wisdom, ada])ted the
faculties of the mind to the easy, and delightful,
and early attainment of this knowledge. Ought
not children, therefore, whenever they are so sit-
uated as to make it possible, to be introduced, as
early as nature indicates, to something of this
knowledge, at least to its elements ? Ought they
not to be led to understand how wonderful, and
beautiful, and excellent is the world in which God
has given them their life ?
How this may be done, in the common schools
of New England, I shall endeavor to show in my
next communication. g. B. e.
For the New Etia'ai^tl Farmer.
THE "POP CORN" CROP.
Messrs. Editors : — I have often thought it
not a little singular that our farmers, and others
with small pieces of land to cultivate — especially
those with large families of children — should pay
so little attention to the cultivation of the small
white corn, usually called "jjop corn." I suppose
the main reason for this inattention to be the
common supposition that the crop is a small one,
compared to that of other corn. I think this is a
mistake. My own experience, small though it be,
leads me to the contrary opinion. The present
season, on a little less than five hundred square
feet of land, I have raised nearly two bushels of
ears, or about one bushel shelled, of this corn.
This is at the rate of about eighty-eight bush-
els to the acre ; and it was apparently no better
crop than I have raised before. True, the corn is
small ; but then it may be planted much nearer
in the hill than other varieties, and it possesses
the peculiarity, of yielding generally two, and
sometimes three ears to the stalk. The stover of
this corn is also much finer and more acceptable
to cattle than some of the other varieties.
As an article of diet, parched corn is one of
the simplest forms of unleavened bread. It can
hardly be otherwise than wholesome. Children,
though they may not "cry for it," as they are re-
ported to do for sugar-coated pills, are almost
universally fond of it ; and it is so very light that
there is liitle danger of over-eating it. When
wheat flour is ten dollars per barrel there certain-
ly must be general economy in feeding children,
and adults as well, on grain which 3|>elds eighty-
eight bushels to the acre.
Thei'e is another consideration.' The reason
whv this corn e.\])an(ls or "pops" so freely is un-
doubtedly the fact that it contains a much larger
share than usual of vegetable oil. This adapts it
peculiar'y to the f iltening of poultry ; and I very
much doubt whether tliose farmers who grow
poultry for market can find any other crop so »
profitable for that purpose as this kind of corn. >
rhe kernels are so small that they must be more l
easily digested than the coarse kernels of West-
ern and Southern corn, so frequently fed out to
poultry. E. c. P.
Somcrvillr, 1 863.
The American horse nail company at Provi-
dence have invented a steam spading machine
which will do the work of fifteen yoke of cattle,
requiring only a man and a boy to operate it. It
consumes a quarter of n cord of wood a day.
90^^
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
For the Keto England Farmer.
APPLES EVEBT TEAB.
As far as my memory goes back, I recollect my
father grafted quite a large-sized apple tree, in-
serting some twenty grafts, more or less. The
scions he procured from "k neighbor's tree, noted
for its bearing a very full crop every other year,
of excellent quality for that period. When not
the bearing year not an apple was to be found
upon it. The result of his grafting was, that all
the scions inserted upon the northerly side of the
tree grew finely the first' season and afterwards,
while those upon the south side did not Kve. The
next spring he procured more scions from the pa-
rent tree and regrafted the south side, and with
perfect success. At the proper time he was re-
warded with a full crop of apples on the norther-
ly side of the tree — the year following a full crop
from the southerly side, and not one on the north-
ern. From that time to the present (about fifty
years) the tree has given a crop of apples every
year, alternating regularly, first the north, then
the south side — not an apple to be found on the
sides when not the bearing year.
There is one instance in my neighborhood of
similar habit. A large tree, great bearer every
other year, with the exception of one large limb,
on which not an apple can be seen the bearing
year. The following year this limb is bent down
with apples, while not one can be found upon the
other i)art of the tree. This tree I have carefully^
observed for the past twelve or fifteen years, and
have noticed no change in its alternations of bear-
ing. Its history I have not been al)le to learn.
Having been a constant reader of your monf hly
New England Fanner from its first to this date,
and having had many an intellectual feast there-
from— and never having given anything in return
therefor, except dollars and cents, I therefore feel
somewhat indebted to you — hence the above.
Joppa, Mass., Nov. 23, 186:3. R. c.
Remarks. — The dollars and cents are essential,
and so are such facts as you have communicated.
Please write ajjain.
"WIPTTSR CARE OY STOCK.
No man can afford to let his cattle shrink dur-
ing the winter — though nine out of ten manage
precisely in a^ay best calculated to bring about
that very result. The mere keeping the breath of
life in them, by dealing out poor or scanty rations,
is one of tlie most miserable pieces of economy a
herdsman can practice. The man who tries to
see liow little fodder he can keep his cattle on, is
"saving at the spile and wasting at the spiggot."
Though in the spring he might console himself
, with tlie reflection that it had cost him but little,
' comparatively, to get his cattle through, yet their
emaciated forms and skeleton appearance could
not add much to his peace of mind, nor their de-
preciation in actual value to the contents of his
pocket, cither present or prospective. To be sure, |
such management must be adopted as will insure I
the consumption of the coarser kinds of fodder I
early in the season, but in our zeal to get rid of
this we commit a fatal error.
The effect of the change from grass to hay is
great upon the system — especially if put immedi-
ately and wholly upon 2ioor hay. And if we wish
to keep our animals in a growing and thriving
condition, there should be no check at this period.
Let it be understood that every pound shrink is
so much lost. It is lost outright to everybody and
everything, and may be put down among those
misfortunes classed as "dead losses." If we view
this matter aright, it is not improbable that the
losses within this State from the mismanagement
of stock, is scarcely less than its taxes.
What we wish especially to impress in this con-
nection upon the reader is the importance oi ^va-
riety in feed. That is to say, cattle should not be
put upon one kind of fodder, exclusively — espe-
cially upon poor fodder. Let the hay and the straw
and the corn fodder be alternated, and each will
be consumed with a better relish. Above all, let
every animal have at least one foddering a day of
as good hay as the barn affords, and then, —
1st. Feed regularly and with sufficient quantity.
2d. The daily allowance should be made up of
as large a variety as the barn affords.
3. Easy and frequent access should be had to
pure water.
41.). Every possible means should be adopted
to administer to their comfort, in protecting our
animals from the inclemencies of the weather —
which shall include a constant and liberal supply
of bedding of some sort, if nothing but sand. —
N. H. Journal of Agricidture.
FIXING tJP.
Yes, that's the word. We can find no better
term to express the idea which we wish to bring
before your mind's eye. "Fixing up" is a good
term ; it refers to acts which comprise those doz-
cn-and-one little, comparatively insignificant things
which are too often omitted, and which in the ag-
gregate, after all, affect our well-being wonder-
fully.
This is the season of the year for "fixing up,"
here a little and there a little; our fields, our
gardens, our barns and our houses — a rail or a
stake in a weak fence, a couple or so of young
trees in place of those dead ones in the orchard
— a load of boughs for covering plants and vines
in the garden, a load or two of kindlings for the
wood-shed, a shingle or board on the barn or out-
houses, several panes of glass in the different
build iiigs : fix up the pump at the barn and house ;
look out for your tools which you have done using
for the season ; in a word see to all those little
things of which you know more than we do, and
not let the cold, north winds of early Avinter find
you unprepared to meet them. We repeat it,
'•fix up generally," and don't be caught napping.
— Maine Farmer.
A. Destructive Dog Raid. — The Hartford
Timcx says fhat a flock of 34 fat sheep, kept about
two miles below the city, were nearly destroyed
one niglit last week by a pack of ferocious dogs.
The dogs got into the enclosure and succeeded in
killing a very valuable watch dog — a regular
fighting "bull' — which was chained there, and
then slaughtered most of the sheep. Out of thir-
ty-four only seven could be found the next morn-
ing. The dogs had driven the flock half a mile
up the road to the slaughter house, leaving their
mangled carcasses strewn along the way. Twen-
ty-one mangled carcasses were found, and six are
missins:.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
81
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
THE SONG OF SEVEN.
BY JEAN" ISQELOW.
I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover.
Dark, dark was the parden, I saw not the pate ;
"Now if there be foot-steps, he comes, my one lover —
Hush nightinpale — hush ! O, sweet nightingale, wait
Till I listen and hear
If a step draweth near.
For my love he is late !
••The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer.
A cluster of stars hanps like fruit in the tree.
The fiill of the water comes sweettT, comes clearer ;
To what art thou listeninp, and what dost thou see ?
Let the star-clusters plow,
Let the sweet waters flow,
And cross quickly to me.
<'Tou nipht-raoths that hover, where honey brims over
From sycamore hlossoms, or settle or sKep :
You plow-worms shine out and the pathway discover
To him that comes darkling alonp the rough steep.
O, my sailor, make haste.
For tlie time runs to waste.
And my love lieth deep —
"Too deep for swift telling: and yet my one lover,
I've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night "
By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover,
Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight.
But I'll love Iiini more, more
Than e'er wife laved before,
Be the days dark or bright.
For the Netc MnglanU Farmer.
A SUBSTITUTE FOK PUKE COFFEE.
Coffee is now so expensive that most families
are seeking for some substitute. I find nothing
so much like the genuine article as a mixture of
the best coffee with barley in equal parts. We
buy this mixture for twenty-five cents a pound.
It is roasted together so that the barley is thor-
oughly impregnated with the flavor of the coffee,
and the coffee thus made is better than much that
is made from pure coffee at forty-five cents a
pound. The patent roasters where the aroma is
preserved are a great improvement upon the old
way of browning, especially when it is im])ortant
to secure as much of the flavor as possible. I
have never known any who have tried this substi-
tute to be dissatisfied with it, and I give it for the
benefit of those who like coffee, but think they
cannot well afford to drink it. Anna Hope.
THE LITTLE FOOTPRINT.
"What a beautiful place !" said I to myself, as
I walked out in the garden and grounds of my
friend. It was early in the morning, when the
dews were on the flowers, and tiie rays of the new
sun were just glinting through the trees, and the
birds were fluttering and singing in their gladness.
The walks were smooth and perfect, and if there
were fairies in those days, I felt sure tliey would
love to dwell here. In the laying out of the
grounds and in the choice and cultivation of the
flowers, nothing was to be desired more ])erfect.
In one of the walks among the flowers, I noticed
a large flower pot, turned bottom upwards. It
seemed in the way, and out of place, and I won-
dered at the carelessness of the gardener who had
left it there. But jierhaps there was a reason for
it. So I stooped down and carefully lifted it up,
and there in the soil, plain to be seen, was the
Joof print of a little child! Then I understood it
all ! The little one, more precious than all these
flower grounds, the only child, had lately been
I carried away by unseen hands ! It was among
the dead ; and the mother, in her walks, had
found the print of its little foot, and had careful-
ly (O, how carefully) covered it with this flower
pot. How often she had lifted it with tears, can
never be known. But I felt I had almost done a
wrong to lift it up. It was not for my eye.
O, mother ! who but He who created the heart
can know anything of the agony which thou hast
felt ? Tiiey caO thee childless ! But it is not so !
When in thy dreams thou stretchest out thy arms
for the little one, the heart feels it. When thou
sittest down, its beautiful face is in thy memory;
and when thou walkcst forth, its little footsteps
patter by thy side. It lives fresh and green in
thy memory, and will never cease to live there.
Other mothers will have all their childrtn grown
up and passed out of childhood, but ihou wilt
never be without a little child ! Thou mayest
live and grow old it may be, but the child will
live a child 6-//7/, just as it drooped and withered
in thy arms — a child still, till tliou meetcst it in
heaven. These b^ght and early dead, how we love
them ! The golden tresjes of childhood seem to
wave before our eyes, and the toiics and echoes
of their voices seem to ri'ig in our ears, so long
as we live ! — Ecv. John Todd.
A Dark House. — A dark house is always an
.unhealthy house, always an ill-aired house, always
a dirty house. Want of light stops growth, and
promotes scrofula, rickets, &c., among children.
People lose their health in a dark house, and if they
get ill they cannot get well again in it. Three out
of many negligences and ignorances in managing
the health of houses generally I will here me«ition
as specimens. First, that the female head in
charge of any building does not think it necessary
to,visit every hole and corner of it every day.
How can she expect that those under her will be
more careful to maintain her house in a healthy
condition than she who is in charge of it ? Second,
that it is not considered essential to air, to sun &rA
clean rooms while uninhabited ; which is simply
ignoring the first elementary notion of sanitary
things, and laying the ground for all kinds of dis-
eases. Third, that one window is considered
enough to air a room. Don't imagine that if you
who are in charge don't U)ok to all these tilings
yourself, those under you will lie more careful than
you are. It appears as if the part of the mistress
was to complain of her servants and to accept their
excuse — not to show them how there need be
neither complaints nor excuses made. — Florence
Nighli)i'j(tle.
Delicacy in Conversation. — A maxim of
j Bruyere's is going the rounds of the Englislj
newspapers. It will do for any locality :
"There is speaking well, speaking easily, .speak-
ling justly and speaking seasonably. It is ofiend-
I ing against the last to speak of entertainments be-
I fore the indigent ; of houses and lands before one
.who has not so much as a dwelling ; in a word,
' to speak of your prosperity before the miserable.
This conversation is cruel, and the comparison
which naturally arises in them betwixt their con-
dition and yours is excruciating."
Show can easily be ])urchased ; but happiness
is always a home-made article.
^^
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Jan.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoughts Suggested by January Page 1
Formosan Tortoises •2
Hint About Draining— The War and Agriculture 3
Meteorological Record, October, 1863— Wintering Bees 3
Seeding Land to Grass 4, 12
What will become of Agricultural Societies ? , 4
Little Things— Hints for the Fall 5
Agricultural Colleges 6
Cider Apples 7
West's Improved Pump 8
Covering Raspberries and Blackberries— Strawberry Insect. . .9
Thanksgiving 10
Administering Chloroform to a Horse — Glanders.... 11
Animals for Stall Feeding 13
Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 14
Experiments wilh Potatoes — Cure for Holdfapt 15
A New Tree Protector— Wheat Aphis— Warren 16
Among the Green Mountains — Keeping Cabbages 17
Crops in Vermont — Apple Crops and Orchards 18
Extracts and Replies — Cheap Field Fence 19
Horticulture in the City — Toads in Market 19
Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture..;.....^ 20
Sorghum at the West — Sinking Rocks 20
The Boy on the Farm 21
My Journal for the Season of 1863 22
Agricultural Societies 23
Corn Ci-'bs— Shall we Raise Tobacco ? — Western Vineyards.. 24
Indian Corn — Fisk's Patent Lamp Heating Apparatus 25
Relating to Manures 26
The Highway Sides — Foot Rot in Sheep 27
Salt as a Manure. 27
What may Boys at School Best Read ? 28
The "Pop Corn'' Crop 29
Apples Every Year — Winter Care of Stock 30
Fixing up— Destructive Dog Raid 30
Ladies' Department 31
Review of the Cattle Market 32
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial I^etter J 1
West's Improved Pump 8
New Tree Protector 16
CATTLE MARKETS FOR DECEMBER.
The fallowing is a summary of tlic rei)ortri for the five weeks
ending December 16, 1863:
NUMBER AT MARKET. ^
Cattle. Sheep. Shutes. Fat Hogs.
Nov. 18 3449 6900 175 2000
" 25 1706 . 3326 80 1800
Dec. 2 '2357 4715 75 3500
" 9 3350 6436 ■ 260 2500
" 16 3019 60 Jl 62 1062
Total 13,881 27.423 652 9,862
Thefollowing table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for the correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
.lanuary, of each year:
THIS TEAR. LAST TEAR.
Catt'c. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 2733 4932 2678 5446
New Hampshire 1827 3797 1950 1763
Vermont 4387 10,052 6018 7989
Massachusetts 275 601 S53 444
Northern New York 559 1852 657 1746
Western States 3176 1287 1409 438
Canada 924 4847 548 5540
Total, last five weeks 13,881 27,428 13,620 23,366
Total, since Jan. 1,(51 w'ks.M08.030 242.184 97,549 229,230
PRICES.
Nov. 18. Nov. 25. Dec, 2. Dec. 9. Dee, 16.
Beef,lst,2d, 3dqual...5 (g8 5 igSJ S^gSJ SJigS^ 5|@8i
" ex. and premium. 8ig9 S^gSJ 8g®9 8J^9J 8g@9
Sheep & lambs, each.. $3^'g5 $3^@5i $3J@5g SJge $3g@6
" (old) ^f lb 6|S6 5|@6J 5^a6|5i!36i 5^56^
Swine,store3, w'sale — 5 @7 7 ©7^ —@ — 5J®6 @7
" " retail.... 5|@8 7 ©8^ 6 i@8 6 (37^ Ih'&^h.
Livefathogs 6 @6^ 6 (g6| 65@7 ^(ii^ 6J§7
Beef hides, ^ ft 8^g9 8^(g9 8J(S9 S^SS SJfiO
Pelts, sheep & lambs. $2 'S2J $2 ig2\ $2 ig2^ 2 (@2J $2 (g2i
Tallow, #■ lb 8 (§8^ 8 §8^ 8 <g8J 8 igSJ 8 ®8J
Remarks. — Although there were more cattle than could be sold
at two or three of the foregoing makets, prices have been pretty
well sustained, except for ordinary or premmm beef; but they
have not advanced, as many predicted they would do after the
store cattle season was over. It will be noticed that the num-
ber from the West is more than twice as large during the past
five weeks as it was for the same time one year ago. The qual-
ity of the stock is also as much poorer as it is more numerous.
The 926 at market Dec. 16th were uncommonly slim. Indeed,
the straight, fat Western steers of two years ago, are not to be seen
at all at Brighton this year, notwithstanding the high prices that
are paid for extra beef, and indeed for all kinds of meats. The
following are the prices for extra beef, mutton and pork on
Thanksgiving week (f the past three years:
1863. 1863, 1861.
Beef extra 8Jfi9 6|g7 6|
Sheep, live weight 5Jg6| 4J@5J 4|S5|
Pork, " '• 6Jg7 5 4 (@4|
The last market was overstocked with both cattle and sheep.
Some 700 liead of cattle were ' probably unsold Wednesday
night, and many sheep were left in the hands of the hands of the
butchers to be disposed of on the best terms possible.
Sprung Knees in the Horse. — The trouble
does not always result from an injury of the leg,
or strain of the tendons ; it is more often found
in horses that have bad corns in the feet, or trou-
bled with navicular disease, than in any other.
The animal raising his heels to prevent pre3sure
upon the tender parts, bends the knee, which
bending becomes finally, from the altered posi-
tion of the limb, a permanent deformity. Horses
with sprung knees are unsafe for saddle purposes,
owing to their consequent liability to stumble.
Respecting the treatment, it may be said that
six out of every ten sprung-kneed horses will be
found to have corns. If these be of recent growth,
there is a fair prospect of straightening the limbs
by removing the corns as directed under the head
of that disease ; by the removal of these the heels
are brought to the ground, and the limb becomes
straight. Under any other circumstances all treat-
ment proves useless. — Jennings on ilie Horse.
Among the novelties: of the age is a seedless
apple. A tree has been found in Dutchess county
bearing this fruit. There are no blossoms ; the
bud forms and without any show of petals, the
fruit sets and grows entirely destitute of seeds.
In outward appearance the apples resemble Rhode
Island Greenings.
^^^D-;,/^^.
DEVOTED TO AGBICULTinRE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AJNID SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1864.
NO. 2.
NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, PROPniBTOBS.
Office.. . .102 Washington Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editob.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY FEBBUAKY.
"Read nature ; nature is a friend of truth ;
Nature is Christian, preaches to mankin(',
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed."
EBRUARY, with the
farmer, aifords a
comparative season
for rest. Not that
he has nothing to
do, or only a little
to do, for he may al-
ways have enough.
^But, after the prop-
! er care of the stock,
)in this month, he
imay indulge in vis-
'iting, or reading,
or some amuse-
ment, without that
detriment to his in-
terests which would
certainly follow, if
he were to do so in the
midst of his planting, or sum-
mer or autumnal harvests. He
can, properly, find relaxation and rest from his
more severe summer labors, and with a decided
profit both to body and soul.
It is probable that man has never lived in
so interesting an age of the world as the pres-
ent. An age of energy, of thought and of eff"ort
never before equalled. Never before were the ad-
vances of science and literature so great, if we ex-
cept, perhaps, the time of Elizabeth, in England.
Scholars are exploring the immensity of the solar
system, and plunging into the very depths of ocean
and earth, and in all their efforts are developing
some substantial good for the human race. The
war, cruel and bloody as it has been, has stimu-
lated the genius of our people to its utmost ten-
sion, and has been the cause of unfolding a thou-
sand useful contrivances, indirectly, for the arts of
peace, that might have slumbered for ages, but for
this moving power. And this progress has not
been in the art of war alone. While new death-
dealing instruments have been devised and multi-
plied to an astonishing degree, and war vesselij
constructed with such a terrible power as to par-
alyze and upset all previous notions of the mari-
time world, — new contrivances have been sought
out for the workshop and the farm ; new books
upon astronomy, geography, mechanics, chemistry
and the art of agriculture, have been written in
the most attractive style, and are crowded with
that information which the farmer needs.
Now, then, is his golden moment to read such
books and establish a treasury of knowledge in
his mind that shall become a perpetual well-spring
of gratification and intellectual power. Many of
these works have a direct bearing upon his occu-
pation of life, and if these were understood, wouki
become the source of permanent pleasure, as
well as increase the profits of his labor. It is
not now so essential to study the manipulations
of the farm as it might have been fifty years ago.
In this respect great progress has been made.
Every observing farmer's son has had the means
of learning, either in examples at home, or in his
vicinity, the best modes of planting, cultivating,
and securing harvests, — something of the stock
best fitted for his purposes, and of the construc-
tion and arrangement of farm buildings, and that
light, well-made and efficient implements and ma-
chines are cheaper than those that are made, like
"Pindar's razors," merely to sell.
What he needs now, is to better understand
the principles which govern things ; the laws, for
instance, by which he can procure the best horses,
oxen, sheep, or cows, and something more of
animal physiology, so that he may know how to
treat them, when obtained, and so to secure the
largest possible profit from a given outlay. Every-
thing is governed by fixed laws ; all vegetable aa
well as animal products ; all mechanism and art,
34
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
and everything that touches tlie labor of the
farmer, either in his flocks or fields. How impor-
tant, then, that a portion of his time should be
devoted to an investigation of these things, which
are so intimately connected with his labors, and
so vitally affect his interests.
And what else would be so pleasing for the
present, as such a study. What amusements of
a physical nature would give so much calm en-
joyment, so much that will feed the mind in the
future, so much that will be profitable to the far-
mer in his business, and qualify him to take an
active part in the public affairs of life, as well as
in his more personal employments ? The indi-
vidual who is best informed in the common things
of life, who is able to give a reason for what the
world is perpetually doing and seeing, is infinitely
more useful than he who is learned only on one
or two abstruse subjects. Such persons, also,
are more agreeable and attractive in conversation,
and gain hearers and converts where the other
entirely fails.
The farmer, of all men, should be a constant
student of natural pldlosopliy. He should learn
the "why and the wherefore" of the thousand
things which are continually rising around him,
and especially with regard to the wonders of the
animal and vegetable kingdoms. Such study will
increase the compass of his mind, greatly aid his
conversational powers, and qualify him for such a
teacher as every farmer" should be in the midst of
his family. His children will catch the tone of
his mind, and thus unconsciously be led into habits
of thought and investigation for themselves, which
is the high road to usefuluess and distinction.
Such a farmer will neither forget nor neglect the
duties of the present month. He will see that
his children avail themselves of the advantages of
the common or high school, of the lecture-room,
of opportunities for associating with those of their
own age, and with those of mature years, in the
agreeable and instructive gatherings so common
in New England society.
He will also see that the animals which are de-
pendent u]}on his care shall have that systematic
attention which their dependent condition de-
mands ; that all winter work, whether of the for-
est or field, of house or barn, at market or at
liome, is promptly and judiciously performed ; that
everything shall be done to make the work of the
women light ; that dry wood and soft water are
abundant and convenient, and that the "men
folks" shall always give a "helping hand" in the
house when it is called for. Under such circum-
stances, the wife will be healthy and cheerful, and
the one to whom all eyes of the household will
constantly be turned. Hers will be the most lov-
ing and responsible position of life, the stay and
charm of the family circle. Th'e daughters will
be gentle, graceful, affectionate and intelligent,
and the sons dutiful, manly and patriotic. No
one has better opportunity to rear such plants as
these, than the farmer. May the month of Feb-
ruary be one of great progress with him and his,
in all that elevates and ennobles our nature.
SEEDING LAND TO GRASS.
In two former articles we have spoken of the
importance of this subject, and considered some
of the leading points bearing upon it. We close
now with brief reference to two or three addition-
al points, hoping that others will express their
views upon it through their columns.
We suppose action never ceases in the soil any
more than in living plants. That by the dews, rains,
and even atmospheric contact with a piece of sur-
face, soil is acted upon by the ammonia and ether
agencies which they contain, aad that this activi-
ty is altogether greater where the sun's rays have
their full force upon it. A writer, in the Rural
Register, (Baltimore) says that the rapid exhaus-
tion of our very best soil is not due so much to
constant cropping as to the lioed crops. One of
the primary reasons why these crops Jiave proved
so deleterious to the soil, is the fact that the system
of cultivation required to bring them to perfection,
keeps the intervals between the growing plants ut-
terlijhare during the hottest part of the year. The
action of the sun upon these exposed surfaces, to-
gether with the constant stirring of the soil for
the purpose of keeping it loose and light and fri-
able, whilst it promotes the solubility of the plant
food, yet at the same time exposes the organic
and inorganic substances which constitute in their
several proportions the elements of fertility to
great loss, both by evaporation and washing rains.
A simple exposure of bare soil to the action of
the sun and rain in summer time, kept constantly
plowed, without any crop whatever being grown
upon it, if not suffered to grow up in weeds, will
gradually cause it to lapse from a state of fertility
into one of comparative barrenness. It will lose
year after year, by evaporation and by leaching
rains, the greater portion of its plant-food, its vege-
table and mineral wealth.
The observing farmer cannot fail to see this,
and from it he may draw the following conclu-
sions, for it is susceptible of no other :
First. That the exposure of the soil to the sun,
heat and rain of our semi-tropical summers rapid-
ly exhausts its fertilizing elements.
Second. The covering or shading of the soil
preserves those elements, and induces the putre-
factive process in the surface of the earth itself,
in some degree.
Third. That green crops, such as clover, should
take the place of hoed crops more frequently in
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
35:
our husbandry, and that the less frequently the
surface of the soil is e\posed to the wasting in-
fluences of the summer sun, wind and rain, the
longer it will retain its original condition of fer-
tility.
Trees exert an influence similar to that which we
attribute to the grain among the grass plants, only
in a more appreciable degree The great Hum-
boldt said that, by felling the trees that cover the
tops and sides of mountains, men were preparuig
two calamities for future generations — the want
of fuel and a scarcity of water. Trees surround
themselves with an atmosphere constantly cold
and misty. They affect the copiousness of springs
by sheltering the soil from the direct action of the
sun, and diminishing the evaporation of the wa-
ter produced by rain. The dreadful droughts which
so frequently visit the Cape de Verd Islands are
avowedly due to the removal of their forests. In
India, a few years ago, a proprietor, in laying
down some grounds, well watered by an excellent
spring, for a coffee garden at Genmore, contrary
to the advice of the natives, cleared the adjacent
ground, when the supply of water soon vanished.
Forests increase rain and moisture, and produce
springs and running streams. Tracts destitute of
woods become strongly heated, the air above them
ascends perpendicularly, and this prevents the
clouds from sinking, and the constant winds (trade
winds or monsoons) where they can blow uninter-
ruptedly over large surfaces, do not allow the
transition of vapors into the form of drops.*
Such is the action, only in a smaller way, as we
view it, of the grain crop upon tlie grass.
From the investigation of this subject which we
have been able to make, we have come to the con-
clusion that, when lands are stocked to grass, the
fii'st essential to be secured is to keep the ground
moderately moist, — and the second so to shelter
the tender plants as to protect them from the rays
of the sun and high winds, as that they shall not
be withered by one nor lacerated or broken by the
other ! With a deficiency of water in the ground,
sunny and warm days, which under other circum-
stances would be the most favorable for growth,
actually prove the most pernicious, particularly
for summer plants, which have not yet had time
to push their roots deep into the soil where there
still exists a supply of water that might convey
food to them.f Or, where exposed to high winds
that lash the plants against each other, or con-
stant currents that desiccate both soil and plant,
the results are equally ruinous to the crop.
To revert for a moment to the shade nieory.
On visiting some of the largest and most produc-
tive gardens in my knowledge, we have often been
♦Report of Secretary of Bombay Geographical Society for
1850.
tUebig, Mod. Ag., page 199.
surprised at the wonderful fertility of the soil, and
the perfection of its products, whether of vegeta-
bles, fruits, or flowers, where various plants were
growing in a condition so crowded as to be touch-
ing each otlier. Indeed, in some instances, not a
foot of cultivated soil could be seen, the spaces
between the stems of the plants being thoroughly
covered with some sort of litter, and the only bare
places the paths of the garden !
It is in such places, that we have witnessed the
highest results of culture, — the most ample out-
pouring of the generous soil into the lap of the
skilful cultivator. That the soil is rich in such
choice spots there can be no doubt, — but would it
yield, comparatively, as much, were open spaces
of bare surface left throughout the garden, equal
to one-fourth of its whole area ?
Cannot the common farmer visit such places
and learn their history with decided advantage to
his general operations on the farm .''
EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES.
STEEPS FOtt SEED CORN.
Having addressed an inquiry to the Scientific Amer-
ican in regard to whethor you still published the Xeio
Eiir/land Fanner, and whether Ihev could tell me the
amount of copperas required to the bushel (of corn)
in applying it before planting, aud how long it should
soak, as sugt;estcd in a very old number of your work,
by the suggestion of the American I desire you tu
give me the information. R. C. Haukisox.
Baltimore, McL, Jan. 5, 1864.
Remarks. — The article to which our correspondent
alludes is probably one published about ten years ago
—the statement of a Mr. Wetmore. The sum of which
is, that at noon of the day before planting, the seed
was put to soak in a decoction of about an ounce of
copperas in water suffident to cover a quart of corn.
The next morning the corn was taken out, about a
pint of suft soap added to a peck, and thoroughly
stirred, after which plaster enough to make it conven-
ient for planting, say one- quart, was added. The
whole tield was planted with seed thus prepared, with
the exception of four rows, which were planted with
seed without preparation. Ciiltivation, &c., the same.
The result as stated by Mr. Wetmore was eleven bii>h-
cls and. a half of ears on the four rows of unprepared
seed, and seventeen bushels on four rows of copperas-
steeped seed.
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOKTICCLTCICVL SOCIETY.
The first meeting of this society was on the 24th of
February, 1S29, when sixteen (fntkmcn convened at
the insuruutx; office of Zebedcc Cook, Jr., 7 '2 Congress
street, Boston, for the purpose of insiirming a Hor;i-
cultural .Society, when the II jn. John Lowell, cjf Rnx-
bury, was chosen Moderator, and Zebedec Cook, Jr.,
appointed Secretary.
It w;is then voted— That Messrs. H. A. S. Dearborn,
Zcl>edec Cook, Jr., aud Samuel Downer, be a Com-'
mitlee to prepare a Constitution and Ey-Laws for the
government of tlie Society.
Among the sixteen were two from Salem, Mr. Rob-
ert Manning and my.selt. I am desirous to ascertain
how many arc now living. Those present at that,
meeting, as far as I can remember, that arc deceased
arc Mes.srs. Manning, Dearborn, Cook, Downer, Bart-
litt, Brewer, French and Phinncy. If you can fur-
nish the names of the sixteen for your journal, you
will oblige, yours truly, John M. Ives.
36
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
CATECHISM
— OF —
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.
BT JAMES F. W. JOIINSTOK, M. A.
[CONTINUE!).]
II. — Of the Organic Pood of Plants.
Q. Do plants require food as animals do"?
A. Yes, all plants require constant supplies of
food in order that they may live and grow.
j Q. Where do plcwifs obtain their food ?
A. They obtain it partly from the air and part-
ly from the soil.
Q. I)o plants require two distinct linds of
food?
A. Y&s, they require organic food to support
their organic part, and inorganic food to support
their inorganic part.
Q. Whence do they obtain organic food'}
A. They obtain their organic food partly from
the air and partly from the soil.
Q Whence f^i theij obtain their inorganic foodl
A. They obBiin their inorganic food wholly
from the soil in which they grow.
Q. In what form do plants take in organic food
from the air'?
A. In the form chiefly of carbonic acid gas.
Q. What is carbonic acid gas ?
A. It is a kind of air which has no color, hut
has a peculiar smell. Burning bodies are extin-
guished in itj and animals die, and it is heavier
than common air. It causes the boiling up of
soda water, and the frothing of beer, and forms
nearly half the weight of all limestone rocks.
Q. Does carbonic acid gas form a large piart
of the atmospheric air ?
A. No, the atmospheric air consists almost
entirely of a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen
gasep. Five gallons of air contain about four of
nitrogen and one of oxygen, but in 5000 gallons
there are only 2 gallons of carbonic acid gas.
Q. Do p>lants drink in much carbonic acid from
the air ?
■ A. Yes, they drinli in a very large quantity.
Q. How can plants drink in so large a quanti-
ty of this gas from the air, which contains so little^
A. They spread out their broad thin leaves in
great numbers through the air, and thus are able
to suck in the carbonic acid from a large quantity
of ftir at the same time.
Q. IIoxc do they suck it in ?
A. By means of a great number of very small
openings or mouths which are spread everywhere,
especially over the under surflice of the leaf.
Q. Do the leaves suck in this carbonic acid at
all times ?
No, only during the day time. During the
night they give off a quantity of carbonic acid.
Q. What does carbonic add consist ofl
A. Carbonic acid consists of carbon, or char-
coal, and oxygen.
6 lbs. of carbon and 16 lbs. of oxygen form 22
lbs. of carbonic acid.
Q. How do you prove this?
A. By burning charcoal in oxygen gas, when
carbonic acid gas will be formed.
Q. Does the plant retain both the carbon and
the oxygen contained in the carbonic acid that is
absorbed by its leaves ?
A No. it retains only the carbon, giving off
the oxygen again into the air.
Q. Mow do you shoio that the leaves give off this
oxygen gas ?
A. By putting a few green leaves under a tum-
bler or gas-rereiver full of water, and setting
them out in the sunshine, when small bubbles of
oxygen gas will be seen to rise from the leaves,
and to collect in the upper ])art", of the tumbler.
Q. Do the leaves of plants drink in anything
else from the atmosphere ?
A. Yes, they drink in watery vapor.
Q. What jnnpose does this vapor serve ?
A. It serves in part to moisten the leaves and
stems, and partly to form the substance of the
plant itself.
Q. Inwhatfo7in do plant's take in carbon from
the soil ?
A. In the form of carbonic acid, humic acid,
and some other substances which exist in the
black vegetable matter of the soil.
Q. Jn whcd forms do plants derive nitrogen
from the soil ?
A. In the forms of ammonia and nitric acid.
III. — Of the Substance of Plants.
Q. What does the substance of plants chiefy
consist cfl
A. 'i'he substance of plants chiefly consists of
woody fibre, starch and gluten.
Q. What is woody fhre ?
A. Woody fibre is the substance which forms
the greater part of all kinds of wood, straw, hay,
and chaff", of the shells of nuts, and of cotton,
flax, hem]), 8z<r.
Q. What is starch ?
A. Starch is a white powder, which forms
nearly the whole substance of the potato, and
about half the weight of oatmeal, wheaten flour,
and of the flour of other kinds of grain cultivat-
ed for food.
Q. What is glntm 7
A. Gluten is a substance like bird-lime, which
exists, along with starch, in almost all plants. It
may be obtained from wheaten flour, by making
it into a dough, and washing it with water.
Q. Whidi of these three substa7ices is usually
most abundant in plants ?
A. The wood} fibre is the most abundant in
the stems of plants, and the starch in their seeds.
Q. Is starch found in the roots of plants ?
A. Yes, it exists abundantly in the potato and
other similar roots.
Q. What do woody fibre and starcTi, and also
gum and sugar consist ofl-
A. They all consist of carbon and water only.
Q. May these sid^stances then be formed from
the kinds of food which the leaves drink in from
the air?
A. Yea, because the leaves drink in carbonic
acid and water.
Q. Can you tell, then, why the leaves ffive off
the oxygen of the carbonic acid into the air ?
A. Yes, they require only carbon and water
to form the woody fibre and starch, of which they
consist, and therefore they give off the oxygen
of the carbonic acid because they cannot make
use of it.
Q. If plants snck in so much carbonic add
from the air, may they not at length rob the air of
the whole of the carbonic acid ti contains "}
A. No, because new supplies of this gas are
continually returning into the air.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
37
Q. Whence do those supplies come ?
A. They come from three sources ; Jird, from
the breathing of animals, since all animals throw
off a small quantity of carbonic acid from their
lungs every time they breathe.
Second, from the burning of wood, coal, can-
dles. Sec, since the carbon which wood contains,
when il burns in the air, forms carbonic acid gas
just as carbon when burned in oxygen does.
Third, from the decay of vegetables and roots
in the soil, since this, decay is only a slow kind of
burning, by which the carbon of plants becomes
converted into carbonic acid.
Q. Do animals and plants thus appear to livt
for each ot/ier's support ")
A. Yes, the animal produces carbonic acid
upon which plants live, and from this carboni
acid and water together, plants produce starch,
&c., upon which animals live.
ATMOSPHERIC INPLUENCES UPON"
SOILS AND PLANTS.
The essential elements of vegetable productive-
ness are Earth, Air and Water. If we can place
the first of these, the Earth, in proper condition,
the other two will follow as a natural sequence.
That is, when the soil itself is in a favorable con-
dition to receive atmospJieric infiuences, it will re-
quire, and be greatly benefited by them, without
further agency on our part. For instance : If a
field is thoroughly drained, and then plowed and
pulverized as is usually done where a good crop
of grain is obtained, that field wlli constantly re-
ceive fertilizing infiuences that a field undrained
will not receive, although just as well plowed and
pulverized-
When a shower falls upon the drained field, the
vater percolates slowly, but constantly, through
the whole earth to the bottom of the ditches. It
does not rest upon the surface, nor meet with con-
siderable obstruction on lis way to the lowest
point of drainage. The withdrawal of cold, stag-
nant water has permitted the air to enter the soil,
taking heat along with it, so that it has actually
become toarined and dried to a certain extent, and
has caused it to occupy less space than it did be-
fore it was drained. The evidence of this may be
seen in innumerable cracks, or crevices, which
may be found on examination to exist through the
whole mass of earth, from the surface to the bot-
tom of the drains, even though they go down
four or five feet. This is )the first effect of drain-
age, and is the prime operation, on our pari, to
make the land ready for the reception of atmos-
plieric infiuences!
Now the field is ready for the shower, or the
dews that are distilled upon its surface, or upon
the herbage that covers it. Rain water is charged
— in greater or less degree — with salts as well as
moisture, that act an important part in the growth
of plants. These, finding little obstruction, de-
scend freoly among the particles of soil, heating
or oxj-genizing a little humus here, starting it into
the fermentative process so that it shall be easily
soluble — for the young rootlets to take up — or
touching a grain of sand there, and fitting it to
strengthen the tender plant, by covering its outer
surface with a coat of mail as brittle as glass it-
self, such as we find on the straw of wheat and
other ])lants.
But this is not all, — moisture descends in com-
pany with these salts, and carries heat along with
it. It descends freely through the cracks or fis-
sures, already mentioned, imparting its warmth as
it goes, so that after passing through the soil and
reaching the outlet of the drain, it will often be
found ten degrees colder than when it filst entered
the surface!
This moisture is contained in theaiV, held there
in solution, too thin and unsubstantial for mortal
eje to see, and is continually passing into the soil
and ranging freely through it, — as no cold and
stagnant water is present to prevent its passage.
Here, then, are two most important atmospherical
operations upon soil that is fitted to receive them ;
one actually imparting elements of fertility, and
the other supplying a generous warmth through
its recesses, with, all the kindly influences that are
gained from a well-constructed border, or the
genial bottom heat of the hot-bed ! But there is
another agent at work no less important than
these.
Suppose the season to be a dry one ; the earth
languishes for the summer rain ; the grass with-
ers, the corn-leaves roll and the surface of our
fields becomes like ashes. Can we rely upon any
atmospheric influence under this condition of
things, or has He who created the wonderlul ])he-
nomeua with which we must deal, left us helpless
and incapable of securing the accustomed crop
upon which our lives may depend ? There are
no clouds that promise rain, but the sun shines
on,
"All in a hot and copper sky,"
as though all vegetation must perish under it. In
the midst of such a drought, however, the atmos-
phere is crowded with moisture, containing more
tlian it does when showers are frequent. This at-
mospliere rests upon the surface with a pressure
cquul to fifteen pounds to every square inch ; and
the soil being light and i)orous, greedily receives
it and passes it along from particle to juirticle,
distributes its ammonia and other salts, and its
heat, as it goes.
At length it reaches a point where the soil is
cooler than itself, and is at once condensed into
water, and thus the atmosphere waters the well-
drained soil through a pinching drought, and
brings its plants to perfection. The beneficent
operation, which is thus ever going on through
the long, hot days of July or August suns, is often
38
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
beautifully illustrated on our dinner tables when
the pitcher is filled with cold water from the well.
For a few moments its outside appears to be quite
dry, but is soon covered with large, crystal drops,
which are condensed from the vapor held in solu-
tion by the air. The air comes in contact with
the pitcher, by which, being colder than itself, its
vapor is rapidly condensed and is seen in accumu-
lated drops. This is precisely the process contin-
ually carried on in the soil during a hot day by the
atmosphere, and this is supposed to be what is
meant by the decomposition of the air by the soil.
The final purpose of the shower, then, may be,
not merely to afford drink to the living plant, but
to displace stagnant water in the soil and renew
it by percolation.
TWO FINE CO\^^3.
A writer in the Valley Farmer states that his
brother, in Danube, N. Y., has two cows, native
breed, which he kept on a five acre pasture, to-
gether with "several calves, a heifer or two, and
a horse." The fiimily of the gwner of the cows
consisted of three persons ; he had a common
share of company, and yet he sold, for several
years in succession, $200 worth of butter a year,
at an average of 21 cents a pound. Besides this,
all the butter and milk that the family needed was
used, and 400 pounds of pork made ! He lays this
success mainly to the treatment which the cows
received. In the winter their stables were kept
warm and clean. Running water and salt they
could constantly get, but had no grain. Their
pasture was rendered sufficiently dry by ditching,
and produced abundantly of timothy red top and
clover, so that some of each kind seeded. It was
lightly top-dressed with plaster and ashes. Did
not feed short in the fall.
There is scarcely any product of the farm in
which there is such diversity of result as in the
prodwct of milch cows. In this case, with only
"good cows, not much more," the writer says they
produced more than a hundred dollars each, while
the average, we believe, is but a trifle, if any, be-
yond tliirty dollars to a cow ! From the tenor of
the whole article — which we have read with inter-
est— we have no doubt that this unusual success
was secured, mainly, by the treatment which the
cows and tlie land upon which they were fed re-
ceived, and not through any superior excellence
of the cows.
Since the introduction of pure blood animals
from abroad, what are called native cows have
gradually fallen into disrepute, and yet we believe
a hundred natives, or grades, — as probably most
of them are now, — may be found to-day, that will
produce as much as a hundred pure blood cows
of any breed.
Since preparing the above, we have found the
following in the Connlry Gentleman :
Two "Extra Milkers.
Messrs. Editors : — The cows noticed in the
Country GentUjuan of the 26th November, as hav-
ing produced large quantities of milk, must "clear
the track," in order that I may "trot out" two
Dutch heifers imported and now owned bj'" myself.
These heifers were imported in the autumn of
ISOl, and were four years old last spring. One
of them dropped a heifer calf on the 2d day of
last April, that weighed at birth 92 pounds, and
during the month of June following, a record of
the cow's milk v»'as carefully kept, showing a re-
sult of 1704^ pounds for the month, or an aver-
age of 5G.81 pounds per da)-. The first six days
in June she gave an average of 59.04 pounds per
day, and on four respective days during the month
she gave 60.50 pounds p^r day.
The other heifer dropped a bull calf on the 28th
day of last August, that weighed at birth 110
pounds, and a record of this cow's milk was kept
from the 3d to the 9th day of September inclusive,
showing a yield of 3385 pounds, or an average of
48.39 pounds per day. The calf of this cow was
weaned when two days old, and fed u|xjn a por-
tion of the mother's milk until he waa eighty days
old, when his Aveight was found to be 3.50 pounds,
a ga^n of 240 pounds in eighty days, or just three
pounds per day. And this without an ounce of
grain of any kind. W. W. Cheneey.
Highland Stock Farm, Belmont, Mass.
For the New England Farmer.
FBUTTS EST THE BrOHTH"WEST.
Farmer C, a dozen years ago, planted out about
one hundred apple trees. He kept the ground
cultivated five or six years, then seeded down to
grass. Before seeding it had connnenced to come
into bearing. Soon after seeding down his yield
of fruit showed signs of growing less instead of
more. Farmer C. could not understand why his
orchard refused to yield him fnrit. In conversa-
tion with a neighbor, he got an inkling of what
was the matter. He was told the mischief lay in
seeding down his young orchard. If that is the
case, I will straightway break it up. He did so.
The second year after cultivation he picked a
heavy crop for so young an orchard. This j^ear
he has raised about three hundred bushels of
fruit, the most of which he has sold for one dol-
lar per bushel.
Farmer L., likewise, seeded down his young
orchard, but the result was such that he soon
plowed again. Now the trees are ' loaded with
good crops yearly. Not fully convinced, he left
an isolated patch of trees growing in grass — or
trying to grow. They bear no fruit to speak of,
and are nol half the size of others growing in his
garden, located side by side.
Farmer B. has had his young cchard down to
grass for the last three or four years. His trees
look forsaken and have been dying out the last
year, and yield hira no fruit of consequence. His
garden lays along side of his orchard, and trees in
that are growing and yielding finely. Another
orchard, not three miles from the above, on a sim-
ilar soil, yields now five hundred bushels per an-
num. The trees have been kept cultivated, but
bear marks of having been badly used, being bad-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
39
ly scarred and mangled by careless cultivation. I
have two orchards in view, located not over eigh-
ty rods apart. One is seeded down to grass. The
other has its trees all scarred and mangled by
careless cultivation. Yet with this drawback the
cultivated orchard is a long way ahead.
Go where you will in the Northwest, trees are
looking finely as a general thing, in cultivated
grounds. But as a general thing they are look-
ing half starved, sickly and more dead than alive,
where the grounds are overgrown with grass and
weeds.
Experienced cultivators and observing men rec-
ommend the following varieties as valuable ap-
ples for cultivation in the Northwest, and as be-
ing extra hardy. They furnish a supply the year
round :
' ReJ Astrachan, Dutchess Oldenburp, Fall Stripe, Ant. Straw-
berry, Sweet Tear, Fameuse, Fall Wine Sap, Colvert, Ci<ier,
Sweet Wine, Tdlliiian Sweet, I'omiue Gris, Northern Spy, Win-
ter Wine Sap, Perry Russet, Colden do., Kaules Janet, Canada
Black, Ked komanite, Dumelows.
There are nearly as many more that promise
well, but have not had thorough trial, which will
give entire surety in their ability to stand our
hard winters.
Eastern varieties that are hardy grow very fair
fruit and of good size. Canada and Eastern peo-
ple are often at 1g«s to recognize well-known va-
rieties. L. L. Faikciiild.
Rolling Prairie, Wis., Nov., 186.3.
For the New England Farmer.
PBINCETOlSr.
Twelve miles northward from the city of
Worcester, there is a beautiful eminence called
Wachusett Mountain. It is not a great moun-
tain. It rears its conical head only about two
thousand feet above Massachusetts Bay. It is
the point of land that the eye of the mariner first
rests upon as he nears our coast. The view from
the summit is an enchanting one. Wood, lawn,
lake and river, all conspire to create a magnificent
prospect.
Nestled in the embrace of this mountain lies the
quiet town of Princeton. It is noted for its salu-
brious atmosphere and delightful prospects. The
town was named from one of the early pastors of
the Old South church in Boston — Rev. Thomas
•Prince, who was a large stockholder in the landed
property of the place. This learned gentleman
was something of an historian, having published
in 1736 "The Chronological History of New Eng-
land," which was considered a work of considera-
ble merit in those days. Only as many copies as
had been previously subscribed for were permit-
ted to be printed, the subscribers having the sat-
isfaction of seeing their cwn names printed at the
commencement of the volume.
In the summer months many people from the
city resort here, seeking health and pleasure. It
is situated only fifty miles distant from Boston,
and is easy of access by railroad, so that the man
of business who can ill afford the loss of time re-
quisite for a trip to Saratoga can easily spend a
day at Princeton with his family, and gain real
strength and vigor for future labor. A few inva-
lids spend the entire summer here, but the larger
class of visitors remain but a few days, or weeks
at most, and then give room to others. During
the past summer there were about three hundred
visitors constantly enjoying the hospitalities of
the people. The three hotels being insufficient
to accommodate so large a number, many a farm-
house opened its doors to receive them.
As an agricultural town, Princeton takes rank
with the best towns in the Slate. No better pas-
ture lands can be found anywhere than tlu^se ly-
ing adjacent to the road leading from Princeton
to Worcester. As a natural consequence, we find
superim- dairies. The daiiy products amount to
$7J,()00 annually. Much of the pasture land be-
ing situated at an inconvenient distance from the
farm buildings for dairy purposes, is devoted to
making beef, some of t!ie farmers turning forty
head of beef cattle the ]nesent season.
There are some r.oted farms and farmers in this
town. Mr. BoyUtun occupies a farm which has
been counted the model farm of the State in form-
er years. The commodious buildings, majestic
shade trees, trim fences, etc., are the theme of ad-
miring remarks from till who visit the premises.
In the same locality we find the residence of the
late John Brooks, Esq., who was a truly progres-
sive agriculturist. His many experiments in feed-
ing stock, testing the coinjiarative value of differ-
ent kinds of fodder, as well as his exptrinients
with field crops, vshich are recorded in "The
Agriculture of Ma'ssachusetts," give abundant ev-
idence of an investigating mind and persevering
industry. Others in this vicinity have given evi-
dence of skill in rural affairs, worthy of mention,
if I had space ; but rather than incur tlie risk of
being tedious, I forbear to speak of them.
Worcester, Dec., 1863. • Viator.
Remarks. — We thank "Viator" for this and
other favors, and suggest tiiat, as our paper is
now enlarged to its former size, room may be
found for his interesting articles, even if they are
somewhat extended.
Fur the New Eni;land Firmer.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR NO-
VEMBER, 1863.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of November was 40° ;
average midday temperature, 45'\ The corres-
ponding figures for November, 1862, were ',]~i° and
42°. Warmest day, the 17th, averaging 57°;
coldest day, the 3()th, averaging 22°. Highest
temperature 59° ; lowest do. 18°.
Average height of mercurv in the barometer
29.22 inches; do. for November, 1862, 29.25
inches. Highest daily average 29.69 inches ; low-
est do. 28.83 inches. Range of mercury from
28.79 inches to 29.69 inches.
Rain fell on ten days ; amount of rain 3.55
inches, — no snow. Six days rain and snow in
November, 1862, with 7 inchee snow and 1.05
inches of rain and melted snow. There were no
entirely clear days ; on three days the sky was
entirely overcast.
It will bo noticed that the average temperature
of the month was decidedly higher than the same
month last year. The barometrical average was
lower, with more than three times^as much rain.
The constant succession of cloudy days and the
small proportion of sunshine will be remembered.
Clarcniont, N. JL, Dec, 1863. A. C.
40
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
For the Neic England Farmer.
REMEDY FOR THE BORER.
I derive much information, as well as pleasure,
in reading your useful journal. I saw awhile since
in the Farmer, a communication concerning a
remedy for the borer, by F. N. Thayer, Black-
stone^Mass. No one can deny the value of such
a discovery, if effectual, when we consider the
thousands of trees destroyed by this insect, and
many others made worthless. If this remedy is
good, the public ought to know it. I have tried
it — 1 admit at first with little faith — and found it
most satisfactory ; easily applied, the trees pro-
tected soon revived, and were not troubled with
the borer, whilst all others suffered more or less,
in spite of all the digging out, till they looked
more like a target than a fruit tree. I feel that
that the trifle paid for the information was well
invested, and feel thankful to the inventor for a
remedy that removes the greatest difficulty to
fruit-growing. With my present knowledge, I
should not think of planting young trees without
using this remedy. And then I should see my
trees grow with their natural vigor without being
marred and bored by this creature. If all who
plant trees would use it, I think we should soon
hear little of the borer. Its value to the commu-
nity cannot be overrated; with* it we can raise all
choice fruits ; without it, fruit-growing requires
our constant care, and then we often fail.
Such is my experience, Mr. Editor, with this
ingenious discovery, that shows a thorough knowl-
edge of the habits of this insect.
Cumberland, R. I., 1863. A. C. Farmer.
Pur the Neio England Farmer.
A PEW WORDS ABOUT BEES.
In the Farmer for Dec. 5th, I notice a quota-
tion fron^ an article written by Mr. J. Hazen, for
the Country Oentleman, in regard to overstocking
with bees.
No doubt it can be done, but it is not so often
as some suppose. Honey does not exist in con-
dition to be gathered by bees at all times and sea-
sons, and must be gathered in its season or not
at all ; as it vanishes like the manna of the Isra-
elites ; but while it lasts millions of bees can fill
their sacks as well as thousands. Hence swarms
that are not ready to gather in honey harvest
have no stores.
I have become satisfied, from thirty years' ex-
perience, in bee management, with close observa-
tion, opening and examining swarms at all times
of the year, that it is from the mismanagement
of the beekeeper, or no management at all, that
bees do not store more honey, even to fabulous
quantities. I have frequently taken one hundred
pounds of honey from a single swarm, in one sea-
son, and left plenty for winter ; have done it this
last season, and as the writer says it has been a
very poor honey season.
In hives generally used bees have family store-
room for about an average winter, (and frequent-
ly are not allowed to fill ihat,) hence in hard win-
ters for bees, they are short near spring, and fre-
quently starve. Those that survive have not suf-
ficient stores to warrant supplies for breeding,
hencfc breed little till the honey harvest comes ;
then there is a small stock of bees to do the work
of rearing brood, gathering honey, pollen, etc.,
and keep up the necessary warmth in the hive.
The consequence is, late swarms, honey season
far advanced, or nearly over, the honey of the
old stock consumed by brood, while some of the
young swarms nearly fill their hive with comb
and some honey, and later swarms less, or next to
none.
Should the fall be favorable for honey, some of
the largest swarms will lay in sufficient for win-
ter. Late swarms of few bees can do but little,
and should either be doubled, sometimes tripled,
or returned to the parent stock.
A small supply of honey and pollen furnished
to swarms in early spring will send out early and
large swarms, which will store large quantities of
honey for man and bees, in proper hives, in aver-
age seasons. Bees too often starve through the
negligence of their keeper, and they s'ometimes
die leaving plenty of honey ; sometimes die of
disease. J. Curtis, Practical Apiculturist.
New Britain, Ct., Bee. 8, 1863.
For the AVuj England Farvter.
A QUERY FOR ARBORICULTURISTS.
Does the sap which enters the roots of a tree
go into the general circulation ? or does each
root-branch furnish nutriment to a corresponding
portion of the loss — the two mutually acting up-
on and sympathizing with each other ?
In my orchard are three apple trees, standing
in wettish ground, rapidly descending on one sid^
to soil so wet as to produce sage grass, on the
other gradually rising to dry and warm soils.
On the wet side the limbs have been dying until
full one-half of the top of each tree has been re-
moved, while the up hill side of each top remains
healthy and bore a good crop of fruit this season.
Now if the acid is poison, drawn in by the roots
dipping into the mud, and has been carried into
the general circulation, why not the whole tree
die.'' R. B. u.
SAFE FARMING.
What a farmer wants, is success ; and he wants
it immediately. If your book or your newspaper
tells him what to do, he wants to be certain ; he
cannot afford to experiment. Well-to-do farmers
may do that. But the man who buys a farm, or
but a few acres, does it to reap benefit from it.
He may have a family dependent upon his first ■
year's success ; or he may have debt to pay, which
is generally the case. He must have success the
first year, and the years immediately after. If
not, be may lose his farm. Success in farming,
as in life, is what we want.
''Can I depend upon my book ? Will my Val-
ley Farmer or other agricultural journals not de-
ceive me ? I want to know this, if I am to fol-
low their directions. They are published to make
money; that is clear. Do they also look to the
good of the farmer ?"
Yes, if your publisher is honest. Or, if not, it
is for the interest of the publisher that he print
what is beneficial, for that is what his paper is
taken for. It is necessary then to at least appear
honest.
The young farmer, beginning life under such
delicate circumstances — of debt and dependence
— should not fear. If an agricultural book or pa-
per misrepresents, it is only what the world some-
times does ; in all its departments (the world's)
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARlSrER.
41
defects are found ; necessarily found, because hu-
man aflFaiis are imperfect.
But our best agricultural books and papers are
to be relied on ; not of course always, for there
must be more or less theory connected with the
practical. It is theory that starts the practical
— helps it along. The reader must have intelli-
gence enough to discriminate. An ignorant farm-
er will not do. He will drag along ; no more.
Our best farmers are our best thinkers ; not our
richest always, for some people have a great fac-
ulty for saving. We know many sucli, with a
good deal of native shrewdness, and more of par-
simony— these people know how to hoard, how to
strike a good bargain as well.
But good common sense should the farmer
bring to his vocation. lie will then see what is
merely opinion, and what is fact. He will not
trust his year's farming upon a vague statement.
This he w ill do : when he sees his neighbor's suc-
cess, he will inquire into that success. If that
neighbor is an honorable man, he will tell him
about the modus operandi of that success; not the
success of one year, but success generally ; and
relate what he knows about the matter ; and that
is no more nor less than communicating his suc-
cess. Now this iionorable, successful farmer, not
only communicates to his neighbors, but also to
agricultural papers. Such men write our success-
ful farming books. You want to know your man
then ; and you want to know him by his success.
As you must have some pattern to follow after,
take the successful kind of farming, practiced by
honorable men. That is the whole nut of the se-
cret. Example is the grand lever in farming.
GREASE, OR SCRATCHES ON HORSES.
Scrn/ihes, as this disease is commonly called in
New England, is not dangerous, or difficult to
cure, unless neglected by the grossest carelessness
and abuse. It is occasioned, sometimes, by cut-
ting the hair from, and thereby exposing the
hinder heels to the operation of cold and wet. In
winter when the legs most require warmth and
protection, the heels are deprived of the covering
which nature intended should protect them , and
parts where the blood flows most tardily are laid
bare to the effects of evaporation and frost.
Turning out to grass, esjiecially during the
colder months, when the wet is particularly abun-
dant, and the bite short, is another fruitful source
of this affection. Allowing the mud. to remain on
the parts after the horse is returned to the stable,
and a general neglect to keep the feet and legs
clean, is, perhaps, the chief cause of this painful
disease.
The earliest symptom of "grease" is the crack-
ing of the skin of the fetlock, very much as the
hands become " chapped " in cold weather. The
legs then swell, accompanied by more or less
fever. If ihe hair should be examined, it will be
discovered loaded with scurf about the roots,
while one foot will be frequently seen employed
to scratch the back of the opposite leg. At the
same time, the part begins to exude a thick,
unctuous moisture, from which the disease de-
rives its name. This hangs upon the hairs of the
heel in heavy drops. It is an offensive secre-
tion.
Should no regard be now bestowed ujjon the
sufferer, and the horse worked on despite the
lameness, the skin swells, white cracks, deep and
wide, appear upon the inflamed integument, the
lines of division ulcerate, sometimes very badly,
and a thin, discolored and unhealthy pus mingles
with the discharge.
The remedy for this disease is simple enough,
but the 2^>'^ventive, cleanliness, is still more easy.
Wash the parts in warm suds of castile soap, rub
them with some soft, fresh oil, with the fingers,
and keep th6 horse warm and quiet.
Mayhew, in his excellent work, "The lUusircU'
ed Horse Doctor" recommends the following, to
be used three times each day, viz. :
Lotion for the Earliest Stages of Grease.
Animal gl\cerin half a pint.
ChloriJc of zinc half an ounce.
Water six quarts.
Iiotion for the Ulcerative Stage of Grease.
Chloride of zinc one ounce.
Cieasote four Ounces.
Strong solution of white oak bark one gallon.
But, we urge again, a humane care of the ani-
mal—when this is observed, the disease will never
appear.
Feeding Calves. — A friend of ours who has
great success in raising calves on skimmed milk
and '"corn pudding," adopts the following meth-
od : He never lets the calf suck the cow, but
teaches it to drink out of a pail. Wh*>n the calf
is three or four days old, lie takes about a teacup-
ful of corn meal and pours a pint of hot water over
it, stirs it up and lets it scald for a few minutes.
He then pours on three or four quarts of skimmed
milk, or as much as the calf will drink. In the
meantime he has had a piece of iron heating in the
stove. When red hot he stirs the milk with it.
This "scorching the milk" he considers of the
greatest imjiortanco when calves are fed on
skimmed milk. It prevents it from scouring the
calves. As the calf grows older he increases the
quantity of corn meal. When three weeks old he
gives at least a pint at each meal. The skimmed
milk, at first, is only twelve hours fiom milking,
but when the calf is older the milk may be al-
lowed to stand twenty-four or thirty-six hourg
before it is skimmed. — Genesee Farmer.
,42
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
EXTEACTS AND KEPLIES.
ONION PUZZLE.
Your correspondent will find the solution of his
thick necked and perfect onions growing side by side
in the diflerence of seed. His seed miglit have been
the product of a scullion (thiclt necked) and perfect
onion respectively. As "like begets like," the seed
from perfect onions produces perfect onions, and the
seed from scullions produces scullions, other things
being equal. Poor soil, deep planting, and seed from
immature thick necked onions will produce scullions.
If you wish perfect vegetables, be careful what seed
you sow. ' li. L. F.
Rolling Prairie, Wis.
PRODUCT OF 31 SHEEP.
I have sold from thirty-one sheep the past season
^281.25 worth of wool, being a trifle over .f9 a head.
They were neither coarse or fine wool. They raised
me forty-six lambs, which were sold at the market
price. MiLO Lawrence.
Passumpsic, Vt., 1863.
THREE HXffTS FOR THE SEASON. »
Be sure and cover the bits of your bridles with
leather, to prevent the frost from making the
mouths of your horses sore. It is downright cru-
elty to put an iron bit into a horse's mouth on a
cold morning. If you doubt it, bit yourself some
day when the mercury stands below zero.
When you cut India rubber, keep the blade of
your knife wet, and you can then cut it without
difficulty.
We have heard of and tested a great many
kinds of waterproof blacking for winter boots.
Let us tell you what we have tried for two win-
ters, and found to be the best article, we know of.
When your boots are stiff and you think need oil-
ing, wash them in castile soap-suds — oil before
the leather dries, (you may use blackball or any
kind ofgrea.se;) have a saturated solution of gum
shellac in alcohol — anybody can make it, as all
there is to be done is to dissolve in a pint or half-
pint of alcohol just as much shellac as the liquid
will take up — and apply this solution with a
sponge to the oiled boots. In two or three min-
utes the shellac will dry and harden, and you will
have a coating on your boots through which the
water cannot by any possibility penetrate. Try
it, reader. — Gennantoicn Telegraph.
LANGUAGE OF INSECTS.
A most singular discovery, the credit of which
appertains, we believe, to Mr. Jesse, is that of the
antennal language of insects. Bees and other
insects are provided, as everybody knows, with
feelers or antennae. These are, in fact, most del-
icate organs of touch, warning of dangers, and
serving the animals to hold a sort of conversation
with each other, and to communicate their de-
sires and wants. A strong hive of bees will
contain thirty-six thousand workers. Each of
these, in order to be assured of the presence of
their queen, touches her every day with its an-
tennae. Should the queen die, or be removed,
the whole colony disperse themselves, and are
seen in the hive no more, perishing every one,
and quitting all the store of now useless honey
which they had labored so industriously to collect
for the use of themselves and the larvae. On the
contrary, should the queen be put into a small
wire cage placed at the bottom of the hive, so
that her subjects can touch and feed her, they are
contented, and the business of the hive proceeds
as usual. Mr. Jesse has also shown that this an-
tennal power of communication is not confined to
bees. Wasps and ants, and probably other in-
sects, exercise it. If a caterpillar is placed near
an ant's nest, a curious scene will often arise. A
solitary ant will perhaps discover it, and eagerly
attempt to draw it away. Not being able to ac-
complish this, it will go up to another ant, and, by
means of the antennal language, bring it to the
caterpillar. Still, these two, perhaps, are unable
to perform the task of moving it. They will sep-
arate and bring up reinforcements of the com-
munity by the same means, till a sufficient num-
ber are collected to enable them to drag the cater-
pillar to their nest. — Once a Week.
CHURNING IN ^WINTER.
The frequent inquiries for a sure method of al-
ways churning butter as quickly and of producing
as good an article in winter as in summer, we can-
not well answer, for the substantial reason that we
knew of no such method. Good mixed feed for
the cows, keeping the milk and cream from freez-
ing, and bringing the cream to a proper tempera-
ture before beginning to churn, comprehend about
all we can say on the subject.
A subscriber, a lady, at Locust Valley, Queen's
Co., N. Y., communicates to the American Agri-
adturist her method of making butter in winter,
which she thinks far surpasses any other plan
which she is acquainted with. She writes that
"by this method the full quantity of butter is ob-
tained, the quality is equal to that of grass butter,
the buttermilk is rich and remains sweet for drink-
ing or culinary purposes, such as making rice
puddings, and the process is certain and simple,
and attended with little trouble. It is as follows :
The cream is skimmed each day, and placed at
once in a kettle, and the kettle put into hot water
(to prevent scorching,) and put over the fire.
The cream is allowed to scald, without boiling. It
is then put into a vessel and set aside ; each day's
cream being in like manner scalded, and added to
the mass, until enough for a churning is obtained.
The churning is commenced immediately after
adding the last day's cream, which brings the
whole to a proper temperature, without thinning
by the addition of hot water."
Winter the time to Think. — Winter is the
time for farmers to think — spring, summer, and
fall to work ; and the three latter seasons' labor
will be to little profit, if the time of the first shall
have been misspent. All the plans of the next
season's operations should be laid and well con-
sidered during winter. All improvements, all
designs for new operations ; all the work to be
done, should then be considered and prepared for ;
so that, when the time for work arrives, he will
have nothing to do but to "go ahead." Then he
has no time to think ; but if he has been wise
during winter, he will have no need of it. It is a
pitiful sight to look at in the spring, when all na-
ture is in an ecstacy of delight, to see a ftirmer
flying about "like a hen with her head cut off,"
trying to do a thousand things at once, not know-
ing which to do first, running here and running
there in search of rusty implements, some of which
require repairs, some can't be found, the plowing
season passing away, the planting season rapidly
advancing, and be not prepared for anything. O,
it is pitiful I — Exchange.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
4S
BONQ OF THE BLACKSMITH'S 'WIFE.
"~ My husband's a blacksmith, and where will you find
A man more industiious, faithful and kind ?
He's determined to thrive, and in that we agree,
For the ring of his anvil is music to me.
Though dark his complexion and primy his shirt.
Hard and horny his hand, and disQ^ured with dirt ;
Yet in that rude casket a jewel I Sfe,
And the ring of his anvil is music to me.
Ere Aurora's fair nymphs chase the night from the skies.
Ere the sun pierce the gloominp, from bed he does ris«.
Ere llie lark leaves her nest, at his farge he will be.
And the ring of his anvil is music to me.
Though to labor he owns, we are far from being poor,
Industry has banishe<l giunt want fnira our door ;
For the blacksmith's a man independent and free.
And the ring of his anvil is music to me.
At a distance from home I have seen with delight,
The red sparks from his chimney illumine the night.
And have heard the fast strokes on the anvil rebound.
And my heart has lea]>ed up at the musical sound.
Those strokes on the anvil, say, what do they prove ?
Forethought and afifection, industry and love ;
A resolve to be honest, respected and free I
That's the tune on the anvil ihat's music to me.
MAKUfQ POKK AT THE W^EST.
While many Western farmers allow their hogs
to run at large in the woods, or in short pastures
during the summer, and to come up in the fall
poor, stunted and hidebound, there is a class who
pursue a more economical plan, and aim to keep
their hogs in a thriving condition from the time
they are weaned till they are sent to market. The
course of fattening adopted by many intelligent
pork raisers is thus described by a Western farmer
in the Albany Cultivator :
They arrange their crops so as to have a regu-
lar succession, upon which the hogs are turned,
something in the following order : First, into
clover ; after this into a field of rye, as soon as
the grain is fully out of the milk. They are next
turned upon the wheat stubble, or into the oat
field, while the grain is still soft. As soon as the
grains of Indian corn are fairly formed, the corn
and stalks are cut up at the ground, and this is
fed to the swine, stalks and all ; or what is also
comtnon the hogs are turned into the smaller fields
of corn to help themselves, where they take on
fat rapidly, while the weather is warm and the
corn soft. Corn in this state has all the advan-
tage of that which has hardened and been cooked.
Thus the animals are kept constantly thriving,
and with good breeds, are ready for the knife at
almost any time.
SiiEEP Shedding Wool.— Mr. Lewis Clark,
in the Wisconsin Farmer, says the best plan to
keep the wool on sheep is to keep them fat, and
that if sheep "run down" from any cause, and are
fed high at once, their wool will start Even a
change of pasturage, from a poor to a timothy
and clover pasture, will start the wool from a lean
sheep. But the feeding of corn, beans, wheat, rve,
barley, oats, vegetables, or anything that sheep
will eat that makes Jat, avoiding sudden changes,
•will not only cause the wool to stick, but will in-
crease it more than enough to pay the additional
cost.
MATiyE AGBICULTURAIi STATISTICS.
A law was passed by the Legislature in 1862 re-
quiring the municipal authorities of the respect-
ive towns and i)lantations in the State to make re-
turn of certain agricultural statistics to the office
of the Secretary of State annually. From a com-
munication in the Portland ('ourier, it appears
that 237 towns have made these returns.
In the 237 towns making these returns there
are 41,778 heifers, 67,008 cows, 39.659 steers, 36,-
085 oxen, 277,970 sheep, 1.028.102 lbs. wool, 33,-
054 horses, 618,842 bushels corn, 215,899 bush-
els wheat, 4,255,473 bushels potatoes, 1,301,387
bushels apples, 4,458,778 lbs. butter, 821,070 lbs.
cheese, 124.830 lbs. honey, 74,843 lbs. maple su-
gar, 19,968.gallons maple molasses ; 996 sheep kill-
ed by wild animals, 1,371 sheep killed by dogs.
Damage to sheep by dogs, -§5,905.
Kennebec county has the largest number of cows,
9,557 ; Oxford the most oxen, 5,487, and steers,
7,089 ; Somerset the most sheep, 47,745, and the
greatest amount of wool, 261,268 lbs, and swine,
8,132 ; Oxford the largest number of colts, 1,792;
Penobscot the largest number of horses 4,657 ;
Oxford raises most corn, 120,659 bushels; Som-
erset the most wheat, 36,519" bushels ; Oxford the
most rye, 14,245 bushels; Somerset most barley,
106,903 bushels ; Penobscot most oats, 171,061
bushels ; Aroostook most buckwheat, 23,679
bushels ; Penobscot most potatoes, 929,499 bush-
els, and turnips, 29,396 bushels ; Lincoln most
beets, 13,030 bushels ; Kennebec most apples, 249,-
440 bushels ; Somerset most upland hay, 59,885
tons; Oxford most intervale hay, 11,882 tons;
Kennebec makes most butter, 575,513 pounds ;
Oxford most cheese, 168,651 pounds; Penobscot
produces the most honey, 36,328 pounds ; Oxford
makes the most maple sugar, 53,560 pounds ;
Somerset raises the most beans, 15,169 bushels.
For the Ketp England Farmer .
BOQEH'S HYBRID GRAPES,
NOTE FROM SAG0.U1EW.
Messrs. Editors. — I have just noticed in the
monthly Farmer for November the inquiry of
"Vitis," in regard to Roger's Hybrid grapes. Had
I not, most unaccountably, overlooked the weekly
number containing it, a reply would have reached
him sooner.
He asks if he is right in supposing No. 19. of
these new grapes to be "the most promising one
for Massachusetts," and "whether No. 5, or any
of the other numbers, are proving to be valuable
for us here in New England?"
In reply, I will say tliat No. 19 is proving to be
an excellent out-door grape for this latitutle, and
I am confident that it is one of the very best of
the few desirable numbers of Mr. Roger's grapes.
It is yet too soon to say which, is the best, and
from experience thus far it seems very probable
that no one of them will ever be so considered —
from the fact that several of them are so nearly
equal in qualities, (though essentially diflerent
from each other) that it is difficult to decide which
is the better one for general cultivation. Nos. 4
and 15 were the first ones "figured," and have had
the start of all the others in getting into the hands
of propagators, but it is now well known that sev-
eral of the others are every way equal to these, if
not superior. If I read the reports correctly, No.
41
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
19 has literally forced its way to recognition as
the equal of either of those so early and so exten-
sively heralded. My own selection fr-^m these
grapes was originally made upon the private judg-
ment of a friend. He was inclined to place No. 19
at the head of the list, though he considered that
there was but little choice between several of the
other numbers. Persons with whom the Black
Hamburg is a favorite will be likely to select No.
19, because it so much resembles the former.
Those who prefer the "vinous" to the "sugary"
flavor will be more likely to select No. 15. No.
19, within my observation, proves to be as hardy
as any of our out-door grapes ; is a vigorous
grower ; bears large crops of large fruit (both
bunch and berry being large ;) the quality is gen-
erally admitted to be superior to the Concord, and
it ripens at least one week earlier than the latter.
One of its peculiarities is the tenacity with which
the berries "hang on." A friend, who kept some
until Christmas, found that the berry and stem
•were even then unwilling to part company. Did
time and space allow, I would quote from the re-
ports of others in regard to this and others of
these new grapes. I can safely recommend No.
19 as well worth a place in every collection.
Of No. 5 I know but little, and prefer to wait
before recommending it. Nos, 1, 3, 4, 9, 15, 33,
and others, are each worth a place in larger col-
lections, but more time is wanted before it will do
to advise their general cultivation. They each
"promise" well, and I have not the least doubt
that several of them will become established fa-
vorites in time. With my present experience, I
should select from these Hybrids something in the
following order : No. 19, 15, 14, and then "toss
up" for the others. Saggahew.
EGGS IN "WINTEK.
We have noticed that a mild winter, with little
or no snow ; i. e., a season in which the ground
is much bare and warm ; is the season for eggs.
Last winter, hens were laying in all directions ;
merchants were largely stocked with fresh eggs.
Will not our friends take a hint here, and con-
vert uU winters into egg-laying winters ; that is,
by artificial means, make a mild winter for your
hens.
Our aunt said, last winter, that she was going
to have eggs from her seven hens. We told her
she would be very apt to get no eggs. The sea-
son advanced. The weather proved mild. One
day she announced four eggs, and did it in tri-
umph.
"Yes, but all the neighbors have the same luck ;
they all get eggs. How is this ? It is the sum-
mery aspect of the season that does this, and
proves what I said, that hens must have a warm
place in order to4ay."
Will my aunt or anybody else believe, that as
soon as cold weather sets in, eggs will continue .»*
Even my aunt will find out she is mistaken.
Hens must not suffer from cold, if we wish them
to lay ; they must not suffer at all. Feed them
as much as we may, they must not shiver in the
cold, if they are to lay.
They love to see the sun ; they must have ground
to be on, and to wallow in ; fresh water, and a
good, quiet place to go to lay. Most of all they
must be warm. — Maine Farmer.
For the New Ensland Farmer.
TENT CATERPILLAKS.
Messrs. Editors : — I have seen a newspaper
item recently, stating that the government of
Switzerland has paid one million of francs the
present year for the destruction of butterflies ;
and, however odd the idea of such an expendi-
ture may strike many people, undoubtedly the
money could not easily have been better spent for
the public good. If our own State of Massachu-
setts would offer a generous bounty for the col-
lection and destruction of the eggs of the com-
mon tent caterpillar, that to such a fearful extent
ravages our apple trees, much good would re-
sult not only to the farmer, but to the general
public.
The common tent caterpillar seems to be decid-
edly on the increase in our orchards. Their num-
bers the present year in this section have certainly
been unparalleled in my recollection, and we have
had accounts of their unusually extensive ravages
in various parts of the countrj-. Here, scarcely
an apple tree was free from them, and even some
small trees were burdened with several colonies;
and often when one colony would be removed
from the fork of a young tree, in a few days
another would be found at the same point, which,
removed, a third would soon appear tented at the
same point as the others — difl'erent colonies suc-
cessively hatching on different parts of the tree,
and choosing a common point for their headquar-
ters. At the same time, in the hedges and for-
ests, scarcely a bush or tree of the several species
of wild cherry could be found that was not liter-
ally stripped of its foliage.
Looking over some young apple trees last'Oc-
tober, I was not surprised to find the clusters of
eggs adhering to the twigs in unusual abundance.
It was not uncommon to find from three to six
clusters on trees not yet large enough to come
into bearing, and on trees a little larger, from
eight to ten, or twelve, or even more, was no un-
usual number. Hardly a tree was examined that
did not have some. The wild cherry trees I find
this fall are exceedingly well stocked, bushes not
larger than one's wrist having four or five clus-
ters, quite commonly, and many even more.
To gather them in great quantities would be no
difficult nor very expensive operation. So long
as the caterpillars are permitted to multiply with-
out check on the wild cherry trees, however well
the orchards may be watched and the insects there
exterminated each year, the evil will not be ma-
terially lessened. The amount of forage furnished
by the wild cherry trees, their original food, is,
and has for a long time been continually decreas-
ing, and hence they resort to the apple trees as
furnishing food the next most agreeable to their
taste. The moths are furnished with wings, and
guided by instinct to select the most favorable
places for the sustenance of their progeny. To
exterminate the species, which is a thing not im-
possible, we must not confine our labors to the
cultivated trees alone, but follow them wherever
they riot, and attack them in the egg. They are
then most easily and safely destroyed, especially
on small trees. The clusters of eggs can very
easily be detected after the leaves have fallen in
autumn, and at any time after prior to their hatch-
ing in May, and may be removed without difficul-
ty by the thumb and finger, or by clipping ofi" the
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
45
twigs whereon they are deposited with shears.
The course adopted by several European gov-
ernments in reference to the destruction of nox-
ious insects, based as it is on sound scientific and
natural principles, and having the greatest good of
the public in view, is certainly most commenda-
ble. If Massachusetts would offer a liberal boun-
ty for all the eggs of the tent c-iterpillars, sent in
to some designated place or officer, perhaps a dol-
lar or two per quart, or enough to give a hand-
some remuneration for collecting, we should soon
see a marked diminution in the numbers of this
destructive insect, and corresponding good result-
ing to the general public, as well as to the fruit-
growers. Children might gather them with ease
from the wild cherry shrubs in tlie thickets and
woods and by the roadsides ; and if properly re-
warded would do it with as much interest as
though they were blueberries. It is evident that
if this course were to be adopted by the New
England States generally, and followed for a se-
ries of years, these insects would be here no long-
er in such destructive abundance. J. A. A.
Springfield, Dec. 8, 1863.
For the New England Farmer.
NATUBAl. SCIENCE IN COMMON
SCHOOLS.
How can the Study or the Reading of Lessons upon the Ele-
of Natural Science find a place in the Common Schools of
New England ?
Very many people are willingto admit that some-
thing of the study of the elementary fiicts and prin-
ciples of natural science might be very pleasantly
and profitably introduced into the common schools,
if there were any room for them. But, they say,
there are too many things studied in the schools
now ; even these are not well enough learned ; and
to introduce a new study would be absurd ; it would
be like pouring more into a vessel already too
full.
Let us see. I advise every parent who is anx-
ious for the best education of his children, to ex-
amine carefully the text books in aritlimetic which
are now used ; to consider the immensely numer-
ous questions which are to be ciphered out and an-
swered, and the rules which are to be committed to
memory. I think he will be obliged to conclude
that there are vastly too many — four or five times
too many — questions to be solved. I think he
will be obliged to admit that many of those ques-
tions are useless, some of them absurdly use-
less,— such as will never be likely to occur in the
business of life in this world, and some of them
such as could hardly ever occur in any conceiva-
ble world.
The object of studying arithmetic ought to be to
aualify the learner to answer correctly and speed-
y the questions likely to occur in the transac-
tions of common life. This ought to be done
thoroughly, much more perfectly than it is often
now done. But to do this would, if a proper se-
lection of questions and rules were made, require
not one-fifth part of the time nor one-tenth part
of the study which are commonly devoted to this
branch. Ask any man of business. How much of
the arithmetic you studied in school did you re-
member twenty years after you left school ? How
much of it have you ever found api)licable to your
business ? I am willing to leave tlie decision of
the question, How much is necessary? to the an-
swers that will be given to these two questions by
the great majority of men of business.
It is a striking fact, most pertinent to this in-
quiry, that the text-books in arithmetic used as in-
troductory to the highest courses of mathematics
in the best scientific schools in the world, the
French, the German and the English, are not one-
tenth part 80 long, and would not require one-
tenth part of the time to master tlicm, a* are the
text books and the time devoted to them in most
of the common schools in New England. And
yet, in the Polytechnic school in Paris, and in the
similar institutions in London and in Berlin, ad-
mirable mathematicians are made, notwithstand-
ing the brevity of the introductory course in
arithmetic. »
I say then that, by making a proper selection of
the things required to be done in arithmetic, in our
schools, four-fifths of the time now devoted to it
might be saved, and yet the essential part be much
better done than it now is, and children be made
better reckoners.
I wouli not divert from mathematics, in 'some
form, all of the time thus saved. On the con-
trary, I believe tliat geometry should be studied
in school by all who can pos!>ibly have that privi-
lege given them. I would have it studied as the
best foundatioM possible for e.\.nct knowledge of
form and magnitude, as giving, better than any-
thing else can, an idea of the way in which men
have obtained the knowledge of astronomy and
the other sciences of distance, and also as furnish-
ing the most faultless specimens that can be fur-
nislied of perfectly exact reasoning, of the applica-
tion of the severest and most rigorous logic. This
study is an admirable preparation for accurate
thinking, upon all subjects. It has been introduced
in some schools ; it ought to be, in all; and it
might be, and yet leave unexpended a good deal
of the time that would be saved by a more judi-
cious arrangement of the lessons in arithmetic.
I would have the parent extend to the study of
algebra the same inquiries wliich I have suggest-
ed in regard to aiiihmelic. What is to be the use
of so much of it ?
The favorite answer of the advocates of exces-
sive attention to arithmetic and algebra is that it
is an excellent discipline to the mind. I admit
that the elements of both ai-e a most useful study.
I have never been in a school where too much at-
tention was paid to mental arithmetic ; and the
most useful part of algebra is the mental opera-
tion required to put a question into an equation.
But, when once understood, the solution is al-
most entirely mechanical, a statement the truth of
which is proved by the fact that the most difficult
operations in arithmetic and algebra are perform-
ed, most rapidly and with unerring exactness, by
Babbage's machine. Indeed, Prof. Pierce, a com-
petent witness, states that many of the longest
and most operose of these operations can be per-
fectly performed, and the results printed, by the
machine, far more rapidly than they can be calcu-
lated by the most accomplished mathematician,
who, after all, would not be sure of the correct-
ness of his conclusion till he had carefully gone
over the operatio?i a second time, while the ma-
chine, properly worked, never makes a mistake.
To perform difficult and complicated operations
requires, doubtless, care and patience, but to say
that the riprfo»-r«-,nr»e, hv the mind. '-'♦" onerationB
40
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
•which can be better done by a machine, is a use-
ful exercise of the mental faculties, is it not to say
that it would be an improvement of the mind to
become like a machine ?
The writer of these communications is not will-
ing that his opinions on this subject should be at-
ti'ibuted to ignorance or to dislike of mathematics.
In early life, he was more fond of this study than
of any other, and more successful in it. In col-
lege, he attained some distinction therein, and, two
years after leaving college, he was invited back
to teach mathematics there. This pleasant duty
he performed for about two years, during which
he translated, annotated, and prepared for use
by the students, a work on the Differential Cal-
culus, rf branch of mathematics which had not
previously formed part of the studies of undergrad-
uates. He was urged to remain at the college
and give his life to this department of teaching.
The temptation was very strong. He resisted
it from a rising suspicion, which has gradually
growi,! to a settled conviction, that there was
great danger of giving too much time to math-
ematical studies, to the negleCt of others far
more important. It would lead too far, to state
the grounds of this opinion at length. He will only
say that all that he has seen and read upon the
subject for many years has confirmed him in it.
Upon other means by which time may be saved,
in the schools, for higher and more real studies, I
shall have more to say in another paper.
G. B. E.
For the New England Farmer.
INFLUETSrCE OP THE ATMOSPHEKB
On the Soil, and on the Animal and Vegetable
ILLngdoms.
[Read before the Concoi-d Farmers' Club by J. B. Farmer.]
Mr. President : — As well might we expect to
live and flourish shut up in a glass receiver, with
the air exhausted, as to think of any living thing
existing on the face of the earth without the at-
mosphere. Of the fifteen elements that made up
more than 99-100 of all known matter, more than
one-half are gases, or can be converted into gas.
The atmosphere is but a combination of gases, va-
ried somewhat by heat, cold, and other causes.
When Solomon said, "There is no new thing
under the sun," his idea might have been, that
the elements wliich compose the leaf, or our bod-
ies, to-day, are the same elements that composed
leaves or bodies thousands of years ago. These
elements can be changed, but not destroyed.
Burn a stick of wood, for instance, and you but
change a solid into a gaseous substance, which
combines wilh the atmosphere and is then food
for animal or vegetable life. The same is true of
all organic matter; the ash only remains. The
part that has disappeared will return, perhaps in
rain, or shower, to fertilize the soil, or refresh our
bodies ; or, it may float in the air, and be taken
up by the leaf or rootlet of some plant or tree.
The elements of creation are the same throughout
the world ; but may be of a difi'erent combination,
and afl'ected by heat or cold. Were it not so,
what would be the condition of the earth now ?
The calculation has been made that a thousand
millions of human beings die every thirty years,
and in addition, there are all the beasts of the
field, the fowls of the air, and all the vegetable
productions of the earth, that are as thoroughly
consumed as by fire. Were it not for the decom-
position of all these bodies, by their being turned
into gases, and absorbed by the atmosphere,
thence reorganized into living things, life to all,
human, animal, and vegetable creation, would be
extinct.
I trust I shall be pardoned if I make a few ex-
tracts from more able writers than myself, as well
as attempt to show the effect of the atmosphere
indirectly on the soil, by showing how it affects
animal as well as vegetable life. Loudon, in his
"Encyclopedia of Agriculture," says, "manure is
useless in a state of solution, if the water so
abound as to exclude the air ; for then the fibres,
or mouths, unable to perform their functions,
would soon decay and rot off." Any one of com-
mon observation may see the truth of the above
quotation. Nearly every spring, in some part of
our oat or wheat fields, the grain is drowned out,
as it is termed. So sure as the water excludes
the atmosphere from the roots, the plant dies, but
it would as surely die if the air were kept ex-
hausted by any other means, as it would to keep
the soil covered with water. But he further says
— "Water is known to be a condenser and solvent
of carbonic acid gas, which always exists in the
atmosphere, and is carried down by rains and snow
to fertiHze the soil ; animal and vegetable substan-
ces exposed to the alternate action of heat, mois-
ture, light, and air, undergo spontaneous decom-
position, M'hich would not otherwise take ])lace."
Speaki-ng of pulverization, he says, "A portion
of atmospheric air is buried in the soil. This air,
so confiued, is decomposed by the moisture re-
tained in the earthy matters, and heat is given out
during these processes, more especially if manurfc
has been added at the same time, and the process
of fermentation will go on faster when the soil ia
louse, and the interstices filled with air, than after-
wards, when it becomes compressed with its own
gravity." Of aeration, or summer fallows, he says,
'•For this purpose if the soil is laid up in large
lumps it is evident that it will receive more heat,
by exposing a greater surface to the atmoshere.
Clay soils, it is said, may be heated to 120'^', which
may, in some measure, alter their absorbent pow-
ers, as to water, and contribute materially to the
destruction of vegetable fibre, insects, and their
In New England, I ihink well of fall plowing,
particularly of clay, peat, and hard, stony soils,
which results in a free admission of air and water,
thereby favoring minute mechanical division, the
water freezing and occupying more space in a sol-
id than in a fluid state, and thus earthy matter is
rent asunder, and the soil crumbles gradually to
a fine mould.
It is a well known fact, that the atmosphere
warms the soil, when light, and well pulverized,
to a greater depth than it does one that is more
tenacious.
Thus you see that in addition to the gases ab-
sorbed by the soil, you have it wanned, and ren-
dered far easier of cultivation, which is a great
advantage in all clay soils. Peat, clay, and black
soils, are absorbents of atmospheric gases. We
cannot but acknowledge nature's powers, heat,
cold, moisture and air, as far superior to any in-
strument of man's invention, for breaking down
tenacious matter, and rendering it fit food for veg-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
47
etable growth.
How often we hear persons speaking of mead-
ows : One has a meadow, situated on a gentle
rivulet, with a fine, decomposed vegetable soil,
producing abundantly whatever crop is on it,
while the other complains that his is not worth a
cent. He says his is but a parcel of old sticks,
leaves, and grass ! My friend of the sticky mead-
ow, what is the difference ? Have you ever let
nature into your bog hole, with her all-absorbing
atmospheric team ? No ? Go, then, and admit
her. All you have to do to have her commence
her operations, is to clear out your old ditches,
and dig new ones, until you have taken off all the
surplus water, and she is there, without money
and without price, entering every crevice as fast
as the water leaves it, and will continue her work
until it is accomplished. She sows no seed as
man scatters it, but millions are borne by the gen-
tle zephyrs and terrific whirlwind, and whatever
is there, she causes it to sjjring up, and in time to
flourish like a green bay tree. There can be but
little difference in the elements of the meadows.
The one is finely decom])osed, fit food for vegeta-
ble mouths, while the other is too coarse for veg-
etable jaws to masticate.
As climate is a state of the atmosphere, I shall
not attempt any discrimination, but will try in an
indirect way to show its effect on some of the an-
imal and vegetable creation. I have it from good
authority, that if sheep, raised in a cold climate,
are taken too near the equator, in Africa, the wool
of the progeny, if suffered to go much past shear-
ing-time, soon begins to fall off, and hair grows in
its place, and will ever remain so. Another ex-
ample of the effect of climate can be seen in the
fleet Araljian horse. When brought to England
its offspring soon begins to grow stouter, and gets
to be, in a few generations, stout, heavy horses,
and vice versa, when taken back to Arabia. I'he
effect of the atmosphere does not end with do-
mestic animals. Compare ihe fur of the polar
bear, or other quadrupeds of the Arctic, with
those whose liome is near the equator. You see
in the effects of climate the wisdom of Him who
adapts means to ends.
I cannot close my remarks on the animal crea-
tion without saying one word about the bird or
insect. Who has not noticed the class of birds
that take their food on the wing? At times you
behold them high in the air, twittering their mer-
ry notes. Again you see them in a more silent
state, just skimming the surface of the earth. And
what of all this? It but shows the state of the
atmos])hore equally well with the barome'er. In-
sects cannot easily rise in a cold, dump atiuophere,
and it is certain that if the swallow wants his food
he must go where he can find it. Hence his moody
state, because the insects are under the leaves of
grass to protect them from the cold air, and he
cannot get them.
My knowledge is too limited to explain the
chemical effect the atmosphere has on animal or
vegetable creation, but of the truth of the above
statement I have no doubt. In regard to vegeta-
tion, I will state one fact that came under my own
observation.
A few years ago I noted down the weather for
a few months, and in that time my peach trees
■were in full bloom. The wind being in the north-
east for fourteen consecutive days, I noticed that
the blossoms remaitied on the trees longer than
usual. This drew my attention to the subject,
and I watched the result, which was nearly a to-
tal failure of the crop ; the peaches never formed.
The germ of the young peacli turned yellow, and
soon fell off. The cause of this, in my opinion,
(and that opinion is corroborated by good author-
ity) is, that the cups that contain the pollen never
open in cold, wet weather, particularly when the
wind is in the north-east. Therefore, there is no
impregnation, and thus the truth of the old ad-
age, "A north-east wind blasts the fruit when in
blossom."
The above remarks I hold to be correct in re-
gard to all fruits, but as they do not all blossom
at the same time, and as many varieties have a
succession of blossoms, we do not notice the effect
of the atmosphere on them.
Strange as it seems, nevertheless I believe it to
be strictly true, that a cold atmosphere is as es-
sential (some part of the year) to produce a good
crop of what we term English hay, as manure.
Some may ridicule the idea, hut you know that
when you get far enough south for the ground not
to freeze in winter, you arc beyond the cultiva-
tion of the best of grasses, as they will not grow
except in a feeble and stunted way.
Different plants and animals require different
food, and a change' of atmosphere demands differ-
ent food for their support. There is wisdom in
nature's laws.
The growth in a cold atmosphere is conducive
to fat-making principles, while a v.-arm atmosphere
possesses more gluten and muscle-making proper-
ties; each needed most where nature causes them
to exist. Oil for the Esquimaux, and vegetables
for the Equatorial regions.
Dividing Sheep Flocks for Winter. — In
latitudes where -sheep are fed dry feed, and are
kept confined to stables and small yards in winter,
even Merinos will not bear herding together in
large numbers. They should be divided into sep-
arate lots btfore, and preparatory to going into
winter quarters. It is better that these lots he
made as small as convenience permits, and not ex-
ceed 100 each. The sheep in each should be as
nearly uniform in size and strength as practicable,
or otherwise the stronger will rob the weaker,
both at the rack and trough, and drive them about
whenever they come in contact. Breeding ewes,
wethers and weaned lambs, should always be kept
in sejiarate parcels from each other, in well regu-
lated flocks.
Sheep which are old and feeble, late born lambs,
etc., had better be sold at any price or given to a
poor neighbor who has time to nurse and take
care of them. But if kept by the flock-master,
they should be put by themselves in a particular-
ly sheltered and comfortaljle place where they can
receive extra feed and attention. This is usually
called "the hospital."
English sheep should be divided into still small-
er parcels, and with the same regard to age, con-
dition and sex. — Randall.
A Bean came up last sjiring in the door-yard of
James M. Garland, of Hookset, K. H., and giving
evidence of unusual thrift, it was protected and
allowed to spread itself at will ; 205 pods matured
upon it, containing 1218 beans.
US
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
faHjUke of seeds.
Complaint is often made of the failure of seeds,
and dishonestly imputed to the grower or vender,
•where the unfortunate result is attributable solely
to the planter.
The germination of a seed in the soil, is one of
the most beautiful and wonderful of all the ope-
rations of nature, and when contemplated with a
scientific eye, will be found to be the result of a
concurrence of causes, so intimately interinde-
pendent, and nicely balanced, that failure, even
where the vital principle is unimpaired and per-
fect, can scarcely excite surprise. As a result, it
may be considered as produced by the combined
agency of earth, air, moisture and heat, and in
order that the development may be successful, it
is indispensable that these elements be duly con-
bined and adjusted in accordance with the specific
habits and wants of different kinds of seeds.
Hence it is that culturists frequently encounter
no small difficulty in causing some kinds to ger-
minate ; and hence, too, the well founded doubts
of the anxious husbandman or gardener respect-
ing certain crops, till the appearance of the youth-
ful plant allays his fears by the gratifying assur-
ance that all is well. We offer a brief explana-
tion of the causes occasioning the frequent loss
of crops, as is supposed, from the non-germina-
tion of the seed. In order to exonerate seeds-
men and producers from the unjust imputations
of those to whom want of skill and information in
sowing is apt to suggest the supposition that they
have been imposed on, we submit the following
remarks.
In order that a seed may germinate healthily,
it must, in the first place, be exposed to the un-
restricted and free operations, conjointly exerted,
of the three elements, viz. : moisture, atmospheric
air and heat. It is also essential that light be ex-
cluded until such time as the nutritive matters
contained in the seed, shall have been exhausted,
or the root, by having obtained a permanent fix-
ture and position in the soil, is prepared to derive
its sustenance from that medium.
In the first place, immediately upon being placed
in the soil and covered, the seed experiences a
modification of its physical properties ; its starch
is transformed into sugar, or pultaceous matter,
which is the appropriate nourishment of the nas-
cent plant. If at this stage of its development,
the surrounding soil should be suddenly deprived
of its moisture, the plant would inevitably be de-
stroyed. But with a full supply of moisture, the
contents of the seed will co.,tinue to swell, until,
by degrees, the formation of the future root being
completed, the point penetrates the integument,
or shell, enveloping the seed lobes, in a downward
direction, while about the same time the plumule,
or that part which becomes the stem, is evolved,
and progressively makes its way upwards to the
air, which, with the elements of heat and mois-
ture, are no less essential to its existence, than to
the development or germination of the seed.
When seeds are planted or sowed, they fre-
quently experience the incipient fermentation, or
normal change preparatory to germination, and
the earth not being sufficiently consolidated
around them, they perish from lack of moisture ;
or it may be from a too copious supply of mois-
ture, where the ground is humid and unduly re-
tentive around them.
Seeds are sometimes buried too deep, and thus
perish from lack of warmth and air. When seeds
are of small size, great care should be exercised
in the preparation of the soil for their reception.
It should be very fine, in which state it will admit
of the degree of compression necessary to bring
it in contact with every part of the seed, and yet
not be sufficiently consolidated to impair its veg-
etative powers, even in case of drought.
In putting in crops, the careful farmer will con-
sult both the state of the weather and the condi-
tion of the soil, and regulate his conduct accord-
ingly. If the surface be dry, and the indications
are of clear and dry weather, he will consider an
extra amount of covering necessary, for no seed
will germinate in a dry soil, and that which is
moist, and in a condition to retain an adequate
supply, exists, at such time only at a considerable
depth. But if the weather be cold and the soil
w^, he will see the necessity of depositing his
seed nearer the surface ; it will then be more di-
rectly exposed to the vivifying influences of the
sun, and be less liable to be smothered by excess
of moisture, when the soil is saturated with wet.
Many seeds are so small and the pericarp en-
closing the seed lobes so excessively hard, ihat
they generally remain a long time in the soil be-
fore germination commences, unless extra care is
bestowed in sowing them. By compressing the
soil closely around them, this tenderness of devel-
opment is to a certain extent overcome. But it
is more judicious, before committing such seeds
to the soil, to prepare them by a temporary im-
mersion in some steep, which will soften the in-
tegument, and prepare them for a healthy, and
more rapid start.
Cheap Cider Vinegar. — Take the water in
which dried apples are washed and soaked, and
after carefully straining, put in a vessel ; add a
pound of sugar, or its equivalent in molasses.
Put in a piece of brown paper and set where warm.
In a few weeks you will have good cider vinegar.
More sugar added, will improve it. The vinegar
will also be better, the more concentrated the ci-
der is. The strongest vinegar is made from boiled
cider.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
49
Sv-'-^<Nr'^/'..>'5
A PAIR OF ■WHITE SHANGHAI FOW^LS.
Several years ago there was a sort of /Mrore i sented as without tails, or as having nothing more
among the people in regard to rearing and keep- than a short bunch of feathers, which in the
ing fowls. It was not confined to the country, but rooster flows over at their ends only in a slight
found more favor in villages and towns than on | degree, while the male Shanghai has a long and
the farm. It ran its race, however ; the fire slum- 1 flowing tail. There is a difi"erence of opinion
bered ; and men, women, and children are quite among poultry breeders as to the identity of the
reasonable again upon the subject. The atten- j two. We wish Mr. Ives, of Salem, or some other
tion called to it has been productive of more good | person, well informed, would give us his views
than harm, we think, as it appears to us that | on the matter.
more poultry and eggs have been produced since
that fever ran through the land.
There is no doubt on our mind, that attention
to poultry on the farm afi'ords more profit on the
money invested, than is realized from any other
item of equal investment. But the comfort and
convenience of having poultry and eggs at hand
whenever they are wanted, are sufficient in them-
selves to recommend their production, even if
there were no profit.
The beautiful fowls placed at the head of this
article are IV/dte Shanghais. They have proved
themselves to be an excellent breed, as they are
of a naturally quiet disposition, come early to
maturity, and can be made to reach a large size.
Their eggs are of a fawn color. Their bodies are
broad and stout, and the legs usually feathered.
As represented in the books, the While Shang-
bais resemble the Brahma Pootras, in the general
From the numerous accounts sent us, which
have been kept with accuracy, we think it safe to
say that one dollar per head may be reckoned
upon as profit, where fowls are properly provided
for in shelter and feed.
Honey Bees. — We notice much complaint in
our exchange papers from all parts of the country
that bees have not done well this season. A cor-
respondent of the Illinois Fanner, who had nine-
ty swarms in the spring, did not get a single nevr
swarm the past summer. He has reduced his
stock from ninety to seventy hives, and think*
one-third of these will have to be fed more or less
during the winter. He says : "I do not think
there is a young swarm in this town (Mil^Co., 111.,)
that has got enough honey to winter on, nor have
half of the old ones. I would say to all bee keep-
ers, sow a few acres of Alsike or Swedish white
appearance of the body, but are entirely unlike clover, it is splendid for the bees and it makes
each other in the tail. The Brahmas are repre- the best of hay."
55
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
"WINTER CARE OF STOCK.
The change from the young herds-grass and
sweet clover of the fields, upon which cattle feed
just before going to their stalls for winter, con-
trasts strongly with the dry hay and corn stalks
upon which they are fed after they are tied up. The
change must considerably affect them, and there-
fore they should be brought to it gradually, by
feeding them once or twice each day with a fod-
ding of such dry food as they will eat, whether of
hay, corn fodder or unthreshed grain. When this
is done, no habit of the system is suddenly dis-
turbed, and the animal passes from the green,
juicy feed of the pasture to its dry fodder entire-
ly, without losing appetite or being checked in
growth.
New milk cows, if treated in this way, will not
only yield a good flow of milk through the win-
ter, but if young, will increase in weight, if fed
liberally and systematically. Steers will perform
sufficient labor to pay their keeping, and grow
rapidly under the same circumstances. But in
order to secure these results, several things must
be observed, and among the first are
Neatness and Kind Treatment.
Without kind treatment, entirely aside from the
manner of feeding, the stock of the farmer may
grow and yield a fair product in labor, flesh or
milk, but it cannot be in that profitable propor-
tion which would be the result of kiiid and sym-
pathetic care, in connection with judicious feed-
ing. A sudden blow, accompanied by loud and
angry tones, will not be soon forgotten by the
horse or other animal. They have excellent mem-
ories with regard to certain things, as their ac-
/tions plainly indicate if the blow and loud voice
are likely to come the second time. If they re-
member injuries, why not gentle and kind treat-
ment? Even if the animal is refractory, such
management is a thousand times better than kicks,
blows and scoldings. A stock of cattle that will
shun their owner whenever he approaches, that
rush out of their stalls the moment they are lib-
erated, as though they expected a rap from a cud-
gel or the tingling lash, and that are always ready
to leap the fence or break down the bars to get
out of the way, — may be transformed into mild
and obedient animals by the influence of fair and
;jenerous treatment. Under such a temperament
they will prove of far greater profit.
Neatness and Order.
A practice prevails, to a great extent, of allow-
ing cattle to lie upon their droppings until they ac-
cumulated to a disgusting degree upon their sides
and thighs. This certainly cannot be healthful or
comfortable. When they range in the pasture
they are quite careful not to lie in the same place
the second time, and this keeps their hair clear,
sleek and bright. We know that it is somewhat
difficult to prevent this, but it can be done by a
proper arrangement of the leanto floor, liberal lit-
tering or bedding, and a trifle of daily care. The
bedding performs a double duty, as it keeps the
animal warmer and more comfortable every way,
which promotes the production of milk, flesh or
fat. The bedding absorbs the liquids, keeps them
from the skins of the cattle, and they thus become
an essential item in farm economy.
Importance of Regular Feeding.
Under the head of order several things m?.y be
observed, but the most important relates to the
iime of feeding. The practice of throwing feed to
cattle at any time when the keeper happens to be
at the barn, and doing it at irregular intervals, is a
bad one. It keeps them in a constant state of
expectancy and excitement. If they are lying
down and chewing the cud of contentment, the
moment the keeper comes in sight the cattle rise
and attempt to hook each other, and the horses
neigh and paw as though in violent agitation.
And this scene occurs several times in the day,
unless the animals are actually eating when the
keeper approaches.
A better way is to feed them systematically —
at regular hours each day. When this is done,
they will soon understand that they are to receive
nothing out of those hours, and will remain quiet,
even if the person who feeds them comes into
their presence every hour. Under such a system
the appetite is sharp, but as all are fed liberally,
no quarrelling takes place among them.
Hayof an inferior quality should make the first
foddering in the morning, — as the cattle are then
supposed to be hungry, — and the last foddering
at night, when they are to remain many hours
without fresh feed. The other fodderings should
be in small quantities and continued for an hour or
two, and then the orts that remain before them
entirely raked away.
Preparation of Fodder.
Most New England farmers have more or less
corn fodder to be consumed. When this is prop-
erly cured and prepared, it ranks next in value to
our best English or upland hay. If allowed to
remain too late in the field and get black and
weather-beaten there, or if put away too green or
damp in the barn, it moulds badly and loses its
sweetness and nutriment. A good way to pre-
pare corn fodder — we mean every part of it, top-
pings, huts and husks — is to run it through the
hay cutter and mix with it its own bulk of cut hay
of the various qualities on hand ; throw the whole
into a compact pile, sprinkle w^ith water, add a lit-
tle salt and mix the whole with a fork. In two or
three days, if the barn is warm enough to prevent
freeziHg, the whole mass will be softened and may
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
51
be fed out. A little cob meal or other grain add-
ed will give the whole a decided flavor and relish,
80 that cattle or horses will reject nothing but some
of the coarser joints of the corn fodder. In this
way all the coarser fodder may be used in the
early part of winter, leaving the better portions
for a later jwnod, when it is supposed the appe-
tite of the cattle is not quite so good. From an
experience of many years, we know this course
to be economical, while it makes the stock thrifty
and productive.
Sunshine and Air.
The practice of keeping cattle and horses in
the barn during the day, as well as the night, is
becoming quite common. It may be carried too
for, as that has been of keeping thera in the open
yard through many a stormy winter day. Cattle
become greatly attached to their accustomed
stalls, and will return to them if they can, even
in mild and pleasant weather. But they need «<w-
sfiinc and air, ariii should be able to enjoy their
invigorating influences for two or three hours
every mild and clear day. If this practice is com-
menced when they are first returned to the barn
• in autumn, it will soon become a part of their
habit, and they will greatly enjoy the change.
There is too much indifference among our farm-
ers in all these particulars. That indifference is
money out of pocket. It is far easier to save by
system and economy what we have already earned,
than to labor to earn more to be wasted by negli-
gence and carelessness.
GBEAT DESTilUCTION OP TREES BY ICE.
After an autumn of unusual mildness, and of
an unsurpassed forest brilliancy, Old Winter set
in with rather a severe grip before the middle of
December. Up to the 25th there was no driving
storm, such as we sometimes have, accompanied
with severe cold, but a dry, low temperature with
tbe thermometer vibrating about zero for several
days in succession. This state of the weather was
preceded by a mild snow ^orm which soon changed
to rain within fifteen miles of the sea coast. Be-
yond this, and south-west for a distance of forty
or fifty miles, and a breadth of less than twenty
miles, north and south, the rain froze upon every-
thing that it touched. The ground was soon cased
in an icy covering, which has continued to cling
to it like the shirt of Nessus for more than a week,
without abating a jot in its brittleness or brillian-
cy. Nothing can exceed the grotesque forms
everywhere presented by the bending trees, or the
brilliant scene by sun or moonlight. We find in
the Boston Journal, the following :
Destruction of Trees by Ice.
The slight snow storm which occurred in the re-
gion of Boston, on Thursday, the 17th inst., ended
in a drizzling rain twenty miles west of the city.
It commenced raining Thursday evening, contin-
uing through the night and most of the following
day, Friday, and froze as fast as it fell, to every-
thing it touched. When the sun was unclouded
for a short lime on Saturday, the s])cctacle pre-
sented was truly magnificent. The late sjdvan
was suddenly transformed into a silt-fir world.
Everything was covered with glittering ice — fields,
fences, shrubs and trees, and when the wind slight-
ly moved the latter, the noise made cfne tliink of
the clatter of ten thousand cavalry scabbards, or
the rush of mighty waters. But the sight, gor-
geous and pleasing as it was, waS attended with
the greatest destruction of trees by ice that has
ever been known in the memory of a veteran ag-
riculturist. Before noon, on Saturday, limbs, va-
rying from one inch to ten inches in diameter, be-
gan to fall from the grand ol|l elms in every di-
rection. Sometimes the entire side of a splendid
tree would go down, leaving the other whole ; in
others, limbs would fall from different parts of the
tree, while in many cases nearly every branch
would be broken from the top, leaving nothing
but slivered stubs pointing to the skies. In the
afternoon some of the sidewalks and highways
became so obstructed that men were sent out with
axes to clear away the ruins — some of the branch-
es being too heavy for two men to move out of
the upads. Some dwelling-houses were injured
by the falling masses — in one case twenty or thir-
ty feet of the covering was rent away, slating torn
off, and the house otherwise injured.
In some places the roadsides present a most in-
teresting appearance. The white birches, all
sparkling with their diamonds, are bent over on
each side toward the road, their tops reaching into
the carriage-way, while their pendulous branches
hang on every side, forming the most grotesque
arbors and arches imaginable. By the moon-
light they remind one of the fairy tales of the East
— of vast halls peopled with- supernatural beings
and glittei-ing with ethereal lights. But the sud-
den crash and the moanings in the forest, proclaim
the fact that our old and splendid shade trees are
ra])idly coming to the ground. Elms sufl'er most,
havinsj long and sweeping branches. Willows
and locusts are also badly broken. Fruit trees
are not yet much injured ; but all are still covered
with thick ice. On some of the maples, every lit-
tle twig holds a ball of ice as large as a good sized
walnut, and from the under side of the ball icicles
of various lengths are suspended. A brisk wind,
while the trees are in tlieir present condition,
would work wide-spread ruin among them ail. A
friend weighed a branch with the ice on, and found
it fifteen pounds. On thawing off the ice the
branch weighed less than two pounds.
The above description does not exceed the re-
ality of the case. Indeed, it would be difiicullfor
the freest pen to do so. The account, however
must refer to the Country west of the city, as no
ice made there upon the trees.
During the month of August the value of the
government horses brought from Canada and en-
tered at Detroit was $l.'i5,000. During the quar-
ter ending October 1, the whole number there was.
3167, worth in round numbers $200,000.
62
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
EXTBACTS AND KEPLIES.
CULTURE OF TOBACCO.
On taking up the Motithli/ Farmer this morning, my
attention was arrested by the remarks of "Franklin,"
on the "cultivation of tobacco." The inquiry arose,
whether it is worth while to grow it at all ? Is it not a
crime to waste our lands and strength in growing that
which benefits no one ? It is admitted by many that
the use of tobacco often does a positive harm. I have
known many whose mind and person have been seri-
ously impaired by the excessive use of tobacco. I now
have in mind a near neighbor, a man of independent
fortune and dstiniable ftimiiy, who is an inmate of an
insane asylum, solely from the excessive use of tobac-
co, in the form of a cigar I One such case should be
sufficient to deter.others from the habit of smoking.
Dec, 1863. E&sex.
SETTING AN OUCHABI>.
I am about setting an apple orchard, and wish to
inquire of you or some one through the Fanner, wno
has had experience in orcharding, whether the New
York trees will do as \t\\ as those grown near by ?
The piece I have selected is on a hill and bad to get ma-
nure on. It is, or was, a rich, deep soil, but when new
was plowed and cropped without manure, until near-
ly exhausted, and then turned into pasture, and has
remained so some fifteen years. I think of putting on
ashes and mulching with brush muck and leaves, as it
is near a wood lot. How will that do ? Is thei-e any
thing l)etter ? How thick should I set them ?
Woodstock, Vt , Dec, 1863. C. F. Lincoln.
Remarks. — We have never set apple trees brought
from Western New York, and cannot speak of them
from any actual experience. They have been .set in
our neighborhood, and when treated properly have
suuceeded well. We have set several hundred pear
trees from the New York nurseries, which have grown
finely. Apple trees should he set at least thirtj' feet
apart; some persons prefer a still greater distance.
The ground should be thoroughly plowed, and the
holes dug eighteen inches deep and five or six feet in
diameter, so that in setting the trees there may be am-
ple room to extend the roots in every direction, on a
fine, rich soil. If the field, if in sward, is planted and
cultivated one year before the trees are set, the work
of setting can be more easily, and will probably be
better, done.
For the Neic England Fanner.
UBABWTNG PKOM EXPERIENCE.
This is a source of information especially valu-
able to the farmer. Nor yet need it conflict with
the knowledge derived from books, as some would
have us believe. For a book is often but a tran-
script of the author's own experience. Book-
farming, as it is termed, is only to be denounced
when a new novice in the business lays out and
attempts to execute his plans entirely "by the
book," without consulting his own or others'
judgment as to the adaptation of means to ends.
It is very much like investing in a farm that looks
rather better in the advertisement than on the
premises ; or as it used to be in reference to city
lots, that the luckless speculator in the far West
found only to exist on paper. No writer on agri-
culture, as I take it, claims to be infallible, so as
to render superfluous the exercise of one's private
judgment. And no matter-of-fact correspondent
of the Faimer, even, can expect that any theory
he contributes, or any result of his particular ex-
perience will be accepted as law for all. It is only
claimed that every interested reader should be lib-
•efal enough to "prove all things and hold fast
that which is good." Circumstances, too, alter
cases, and what this and that man may confident-
ly recommend, after successful trial, may fail in
another man's case, simply because the circum-
stances are changed.
1 have often wondered that so many diverse
theories have been woven by philosophers in their
closets, to catch the fancy of that class of men
whose life is so much out-of-doors. No individ-
ual can have so little need of "such stuff as dreams
are made of" as the plain, blunt farmer. And
only let him suspect that an author has had no
personal experience of what he writes about, and
he regards him as one that "darkeneth counsel by
words without knowledge." Moreover, the rea-
son is obvious why the amateur farmer is so liable
to ridicule and failure. His ideas on the sulyect
are very apt to be analagous with dreams of Ar-
cadia, and rural pictures that look so refreshing
on canvas, and so alluring to the summer tourist
amid green fields, and grand old woods. But when
he comes to the homely reality of handling the
subject without gloves, or cosmetics, the romance
of it is taken out with the starch, and he beats an
ignominious retreat. Let us not be understood
as disparaging that class of men who retire from
business in the metropolis to some estate in the
country, where their means enable them to enjoy
the sweets of rural life, without its drudgery.
Many such have come to be model farmers, re-
claiming many a barren waste by their cultivated
taste and liberal expenditures, causing many an •
old village to "look better than new," and dis-
tancing all competitors at the agricultural fair.
It is only the "snob," or degenerate "sprig of gen- h
tility," that lays himself open to the contempt of ™
every honest tiller of the soil, when transplanted
thither, by talking flippantly on what he knows
nothing about, awd affecting to live in clover, while
feeling above sowing the seed.
There must be a beginning to life on the farm,
and still everything does not depend, as it seems
to me, on the start. As time passes on the old
adage comes in play, "live and learn." One year
goes by, and leaves behind its lessons of experi-
ence, richer than all the garnered fruit and grain.
The man may not have realized from this first
trial the full fruition of his hopes. The seed-
time may not have been propitious as he had cal-
culated, or the mildew, worm and untimely frost
may have conspired to dampen his enthusiasm
and undermine his faith. But he is not alone in
these reverses — hundreds share them with him.
And yet they ai-e not discouraged, for experience
has taught them to expect alternate good and evil
fortune. This same schoolmaster will instruct
him — and how many men in this world have gone
through years of reverses and all been thankful
for tlie experience thereby gained ! But we are
not necessarily taught from this source to expect
failure — but rather how to avoid it in time to
come. We have gone the round of the twelve
months, aud now are about to traverse the same
cycle again. We have the "lamp of experience"
to light our path. It reveals, also, our mistakes
and blunders in the past, and indicates now a bet-
ter way. It shows in bold relief the rock, per-
haps, on which we have once been wrecked, and,
like a skilful navigator, we will heed the warning
light, and this time steer clear of the breakers.
Thus every year we may grow wiser to win success,
and escape failure, though, all the while, reminded
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
53
that uninterrupted prosperity in this life of disci-
pline is neither to be expected nor desired.
Farmers, as a class, are not great readers, sim-
ply because they have not the time or means for
this end, but every one has at hand his volume of
experience ; and I, for one, have been largely in-
debted in this respect to one and another who had
litlle "book-learning," and only a common school
education. They confessed themselves illiterate,
but knew enough to keep their journal of the
weather and crops, year after year, until it had
become a most valuable book of reference. Be-
sides this, 4hey had accumulated a fund of infor-
mation, more precious to them than libraries, be-
cause all gleaned from their own personal experi-
ence^ and an encouraging word or two would un-
loose their tongues, and render it a privilege to sit
at their feet and learn wisdom. Some poet has
eaid that,
"Old experience doth attain
To eomethinglike prophetic strain."
And this is why old mea do sometimes seem in-
vested with the gift of prophecy. Why should
not a man that has reached his three score years
and ten, and can look so far back over the past,
be able to look farther ahead than those whose ex-
perience is but of yesterday ? The ancient proph-
ets we are wont to regard as men of heavy locks
and wrinkled brows, and venerable aspect gener-
ally. Their far-reaching vision was of course due
primarily to inspiration ; and yet their long ex-
perience of men and events must have contribut-
ed not a little to their deep insight of the future.
No wonder, then, we have this injunction, "thou
shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor
the face of the old man !" But with all this def-
erence to age, let me caution the well-meaning
farmer against a mistake made by the infidel
Hume. He disi^elieved in miracles, because he
never had any experience of them. So some bet-
ter men then he will have no faith in this and that
miracle of agriculture, because such phenomena
had never fallen within their own experience, or
that of their fathers before them, and thus they
keep moving in the old ruts which will by and by
be worn so deep that they must halt, while the
world moves on without them. w. E. B.
Fur the Aeio Ensland Farmer.
HOPKHTTOTiT, MASS.
How it pot its N'ame— Its Manufactiin-s— Good Highways— In-
vestments ill Farais ami Stock — Agricultural Reading — Little
Cedar Swamp Drained under the Law.
"Tot conjecta manu prajnipt!'? oppida saxis."
So many towns upreared by hand yn cragged rocks.
On many a rugged New England hill, so ster-
ile as to be almost valueless for cultivation, we
find a flourishing manufacturing village and an in-
dustrious and thrifty people. Such towns are
happy evidences of the enterprise and persever-
ance of our people. The growth of a town situ-
ated on the bank of some noble river, furnishing
ready facilities for communication, and an abun-
dant water power, is easy and natural. Lowell,
Lawrence, and VV^ebster are instances of such a
growth. But there are towns wliich have been
blessed with none of these promising beginnings ;
which nature has slighted and left without a dow-
ry, that have called to their aid the power of steam,
and through the inventive genius of the people
have achieved a name in commerce and a place in
the records of industry. Of this latter class is
Hojikinton, situated on a ledgy ridge in the south-
west corner of Middlesex county, twenty-eight
miles west south-west from Boston. It was orig-
inally an extensive tract of land known among
the Indians as Maguncook, and famous for its
rich hunting grounds. Although not permanent-
ly settled until 1710, its history comjjiences as
early as 1657, and is interwoven with that of the
University at Cambridge.
A gentleman in England by the name of Hop-
kins, an ardent lover of learning, became deeply
interested in the bold project of establishing a
college in the wilds of America, which the Puri-
tans had formed, and at his death in 1657 be-
queathed eight hundred pounds sterling to Har-
vard College and the grammar school at Cam-
bridge. This money was invested in the tract of
land just described, which, in honor of its donor,
has since been known by the name of Hopkinton,
under which name it was incorporated in 1715.
The only endowments which nature bestowed
upon it were, wood, granite, and the mineral
springs at the west part of the town. These are
three in number, each differing in properties from
the others. They have been a Aivorite resort in
the summer months until 1862, when the hotel
was destroyed by fire.
Hopkinton is engaged in that branch of labor
which, according to the late census, employs a
larger number of operatives than any other single
branch of American industry, — the manufacture
of boots and shoes. In reference to the number
of cases of boots annually made up and sent to
market, it has but one rival in the State. Dur-
ing the past 'five years, great improvements have
been made in the machinery used, and in the
methods of manufacture. The application of steam
power has been of some advantage, although not
available to so great an extent in this as in many
other branches of industry.
Situated aside from any line of railway, and
realizing the importance of rendering the means
of traiisportiUion as easy as possible, the town
has paid especial attention to the improvement of
its highways, and has discovered that the iiiex-
haustil)Ie beds of granite which abound here are
the very best material for roads. It has purchased
and has now in successful operation a crushing
machine, operated by steam, which converts large
blocks of granite into rubble with a rapidity that
is truly astonishing.
Having intimated that the natural resources are
limited, the reader will, perhaps, conclude that
agriculture is little attenied to. But tlie sjiirit
of enterprise is diffusive, and manufactures al-
ways encourage agriculture. The demand for
farm products, which iscreited by a community
of mechanics, stimulates the farmer to improve
his soil and multiply its products. We trust that
the yeomanry of Ilupkinton understand this sort
of philos(ii)liy, and are not blind to their own in-
terests. Alihojgh they have invested only $440,-
OOO in farms, stock and im[)lements, there are
signs of progress amonj^ them. They iiave a
farmers' club, which holds semi-monthly meetings,
and an annual exhibition. They have also an ag-
liculiural library, and besides a goodly number
of otlier agricultural papers, a club of seventy
subscribers to the New England Farmer. These
things betoken reading, thought, and discussion,
which are precursors of right action. And it is
54
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
one of the objects of this article to present a brief
statement in relation to a work which they have
had in progress during the past two years, hop-
ing that others in the same circumstances may
profit by their example.
THE IMPROVEMENT OF LITTLE CEDAR SWAMP.
This nitme is applied to a tract of low la.nd one
mile in length and of variable width, comprising
some two hundred acres in the east part of the
town. This land has been usually covered with
■water during a portion of the year, and has pro-
duced only a small quantity of very inferior hay.
It is the property of eighteen proprietors, a part
of whom having given the subject considerable,
thought, have long desired to mal;e the experi-
ment of thorough drainage, but being unable to
convince all the owners of the expediency of such
a movement, were not able to get the enterprise
started. They resolved in the summer of 1861
to avail themselves of the provisions of the law
for the improvement of meadows and swamps.
(See chapter 148, page 750, General Statutes of
Massachusetts.)
Their petition to the Superior Court was an-
swered by the appointment of William F. Ellis
and Elias Grout, of Ashland, and David Fiske, of
Framingham, Commissioners, to prosecute the
work. The first named gentleman being a civil
engineer, and the other two having had experi-
ence in improving meadow land, the appointment
■was considered peculiarly appropriate. The par-
ties were heard, a survey made, a plan agreed
upon, and about five hundred rods of ditch opened.
The main channel is four feet in depth, and eight
feet wide at the top and six at the bottom. The
other ditches are four feet in width and of depth
adapted to grade.
As these ditches extend entirely across the
meadow, each proprietor can connect cross ditch-
es with these and drain his own land and make
such improvements as he deems for his interest ;
it being the design of the Commissionei's to pro-
ceed only as far as the protection of the law was
necessary, leaving the completion of the work to
the parties interested. The cost of the improve-
ments already completed is estimated at five hun-
dred dollars, which is assessed upon the owners
in proportion to the benefit which each receives.
A small plot of this land has already been plowed,
and was planted with potatoes the past season,
but in consequence of the severe rains did not suc-
ceed. A plot which was topdressed with sand
two years ago produced a superior quality of hay
the past season.
The question which the proprietors desire to
have answered now is. How is this vast tract of
meadow to, be reclaimed ? Shall we plow it ?
Shall we burn it ? Shall we dress it with sand ?
And if so to what depth ? At what distance apart
will it be necessary to cut cross ditches ? Replies
to any of these queries are respectfully solicited
by the proprietors. Viator.
5
The Pine Leaf Scale.— Some time back Mr.
A. A. Crampton, of Coal Valley, 111., forwarded
to thii office a number of Scotch pine leaves, (pi-
nus s;/lvestri.s;) covered with insects which he says
"are destroying his finest trees, causing the leaves
to turn yellow and fall, the tree ultimately dying."
— Prairie Fanner.
■WOOD ASHES AND CHAKCOAL FOR
"WHEAT,
In a paper read some years since before a meet-
ing at the State House, Albany, N. Y., Dr. Lee,
an able friend of agriculture, presented some very
valuable suggestions relative to wheat culture.
In the analysis of Sprengel it is asserted that the
mineral proportion of it amounts to only about
three per cent, of the whole ; smd that in wood
ashes we have very nearly the same mineral in-
gredients, and in almost precisely the same pro-
portions. Hence the inference that soils most de-
ficient in wheat growing principles would be great-
ly benefited, if not actually made capable of pro-
ducing excellent crops, simply by a small dress-
ing of ashes.
As regards charcoal, the expense of supplying
a sufficient quantity to the soil would not be
large. Charcoal is not a manure in itself, prop-
erly so considered, but merely a caterer of pabu-
lum. Twenty bushels of finely pulverized charcoal
to the acre, would probably be sufficient for most
soils, and as, from its well known indestructibili-
ty it endures unchanged for years, the application
would scarcely require repeating oftener than
every eighth or tenth season, to produce anmiti-
gated, its most salutary eff"ects. As regards ash-
es. Dr. Lee says : "Being but slowly decomiiosed
by the vital action of plants, ashes are an endur-
ing fertilizer when compared with stable manure.
Mixed with quick lime, their good efi'ects are more
speedily obtained. Lime will render alumina,
either in the soil or in leached ashes, soluble in
water, so it can enter the minute pores of the
roots. Clay in the soil is always combined with a
large portion of silica ; and before it has been
exhausted by continual cropping, it holds in com-
bination considerable potash and soda. Lime,
by combining with alumina the basis of clay, lib-
erates these alkalies and silica, which uniting
chemically, form soluble silicates of potash and
soda." These also enter into the circulating nour-
ishment of plants, and are decomposed in the
stems of grasses and cereals. The silica goes to
make vegetable bone, to keep the plant upright ;
while the potash and soda go bock to the earth,
to dissolve, as before, another portion of sand to
be also absoi'bed and transformed into hone. It
is in this way that a few ashes, applied to a sandy
soil, will enable grass and grain to take up the
eighty-one per cent, of flint found iu their ashes.
Lime will do the same thing on clay soils, for the
simple reason that they generally do not lack pot-
ash, soda and magnesia."
In relation to the organic elements of this veg-
etable— a subject as yet but imperfectly under-
stood by the great mass of practical agriculturists,
Dr. L. remarks :
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
55
"I come now to speak of the organic elements of
the wheat plant, which, as I have already intimat-
ed, form ninety-six or ninety-seven per cent, of
its substance. Water and its constituents, oxy-
gen and hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, are the
four elementary ingredients of all cultivated
plants, besides their minerals. As there is no
lack of water or of its elements, oxygen and hy-
drogen, our attention wiU be confined to obtain-
ing a full supply of carbon and nitrogen. These
are indispensable, and, fortunately, nature has
provided an amount of carbon and nitrogen in the
air, if not in the soil, more than equal to all the
wants of vegetation. A large portion of the fer-
tilizing elements of vegetable mould, in a rich
soil, is carbon, and a small portion is nitrogen ;
both of which are usually combined with other
substances. These important elements are often
nearly exhausted in fields which have been un-
wisely cultivated ; and I have paid much atten-
tion to the subject of cheap and practical renova-
tion. By the aid of clover and buckwheat, dressed
with gypsum, ashes, lime, or manure, and plowed
in when in blossom, much can be done in the way
of augmenting the rich vegetable mould so desir-
able to a certain degree, in all soils. Straw, corn-
stalks, leaves of forest trees and swamp muck,
made into compost with lime and ashes, are of
great value. Charcoal, well pulverized, and sat-
urated with urine, I regard as the cheapest and
most useful fertilizer that can be applied to a poor
soil, for the production of wheat, or almost any
other crop.
The earths contained in charcoal, as the analy-
sis of its ashes demonstrates, are identical with
the earths found in the wheat plant. Coal con-
tains a very large portion of carbon, and will im-
bibe from the atmosphere a large quantity of ni-
trogen in the form of ammonia and its carbonates.
Unlike stable manure, the salts of lime, potash,
soda and magnesia, it will not waste by premature
solution nor by evaporation. On the contrary, it
is of incalculable value to mix with the liquid and
solid excretions of all animals ; to absorb and fix
in a tangible condition those volatile, fertilizing
elements, which are so prone to escape beyond
our reach."
De Sansure found that charcoal formed from
box wood, in twenty-four hours absorbed and re-
tained within its pores, the following volumes of
; the several gases below named :
yolumes.
Hydrogen 1.75
Nitrogen 7.5
Oxygen 9.25
Carbonic oxide 9.42
Olefiant gas 35.
Carbonic acid gas 35.
Nitrous oxide 40.
Sulphuretted hydrogen 55.
Sul|iluirou3 acid 65.
Muriatic acid ^5.
Ammoniacal gas 90.
It may be here proper fo present an analysis
of wheat, and for this purpose we select the fol-
lowing made by the celebrated BoussiNGAULT.
The wheat was dried at 230^ in vacuo, and was
found to contain, —
Carbon 4fi.l
Flydrogen 43.4
O.xygen 5.8
Nitrogen 2.3
Ash 2.4
100.0
Before taking leave of the subject we will say,
that the evil called "smut," so generally and just-
ly complained of, is not probably utterly irremedi-
able. If the seed be thoroiKjldy purified by wash-
ing in clear water, and then soaked in solution
made of lye from common wood ashes, common
salt, saltpetre, potash, glauber salts, and of un-
slacked lime, of a specific gravity adequate to fair-
ly float a common hen's egg, the gernjinating
power of the sviut will be destroyed, and the pro-
duce of the crop uncontaminated by the di-sease.
The above salts are of a cleansing and caustic na-
ture. Wheat from the same bin, sown without
this preparation, and in contiguous fields, has
been rendered worthless by smut, the crop from
the prepared or cleansed seed being pure.
ATiATtMUfG DISEASE AMONG STOCK.
The Stockton (Cal.) Independent says, that on
the range of the Mormon slough, al)out eight or
ten miles from this city, a disease has recentlv
attacked both horses and horned stock, which
generally proves fatal in the course of from twelve
to twenty-four hours after the animals are afflicted.
One farmer has lost about $3000 worlli of cat-
tle, and others have sufl'cred greatly. First they
are taken with a sudden swelling, then become
blind and stupid, then drop and die. Mr. Ferry-
man has lost seven head of cattle ; Mr. Kenno-
van, four head ; Mr. Rogers, two head, and sev-
eral other parties have been suff'erers. A cow
belonging to Mr. Thornlow, one of our Supervi-
sors, dropped down and died suddenly, iiaving
exhibited the symptoms above described but a
short time, and when the animal was flayed and
dissected the flesh appeared as if it had been bat-
tered and bruised, so bloody was its surface found.
Mr. Wolf, who has had much experience among
stock, gives it as his opinion that it is a species
of virulent erysipelas. He believes that the dis-
ease should be treated in a manixer calculated to
check erysipelas alone, as he has observed that
the epidemic afflicts cattle and horses in the ex-
act way that the above named disease afl'ects the
human family. If the disease prevails to any
great extent it will prove a great calamity to our
country, as it contains a large quantity of very
valuable stock.
66
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Fss.
SONG OP THE SPARTAN MOTHER.
Away with all sighing ! away with all tears !
My boy shal behold, not my grief, but my pride ;
Can I faint his young manhc d with womanish fears,
When the flag of his country is scorned and defied f
1 will arm hira, and bless him, and send him away,
Though my heart breaks with grief when he goes from my
sight ;
I will bid him not falter or blanch in the fray,
But fight to the death for the Truth and the Right.
I must teach my brave lad what it is to be true
To the Red and the White and the stars in the Blue,
'Tis to love the mild rule of the land of his birth,
To succor the weak in the thrall of the strong,
To honor all manhood, to cherish all worth.
To further the right and to baffle the wrong.
As the nations throng onward tiward Liberty's light.
From the gloom of misrule — 'tis to march in the van,
With God as the leader, with Justice and Right
Perfecting his purpose — ennobling the man.
'Tis a sign and symbol — it is well to be true
To a cause which is beleagued with the Red, White and Blue.
'Tis a Text and a Faith, on the land and the sea,
A Gospel in Peace — Inspiration in War ;
A nation's Evangel — a Creed to the Free ;
The Scripture of Liberty, Order and Law,
Shall apostates revile what our sires adored.
And the steel of hot vengeance die reddened in dust?
Shall apostles of bondape, of handcuffs and sword.
Trail the pride of the faithful, disheartened in dust ?
No, never, while mothers teach sons to be true
To the banner of banners, the Red, White and Blue.
He's my all ! he's my treasure ! but take him, dear land.
And add him a jewel to Liberty's crown —
One hero the more for your patriot band —
The widow's last mite to the nation's renown.
For I'll arm him, and bless him, and bid him go forth,
To take his proud stand in front of the wars,
And add his own blade to the swords of the North ;
Unsheathed for the triumph of Truth and the Laws,
For his brave heart has learned what it means to be true
To the Stripes and the Stars in the union of Blue.
N. r. Evening Post.
For the. New England Farmer,
A SKETCH OF FRANKLIN.
"The thunders of a mighty age
May drown the voices of the past,
But thoa — the printer and the sage —
Thy name shall live time shall last."
The town of Franklin, Mass., was undoubfedly
the first town of the name, as it was set off from
Wrentham in the time of the Revolutionary war,
and when its illustrious namesake was in France.
This fact of the appreciation of the Doctor's great-
ness in its early youth is an honor to the men who
named it, and he, in acknowledgement of the com-
pliment, presented the town with a library of
books instead of a church hell, as some one had
suggested, supposing, as he expressed it, that
"the people of Franklin were more fond of sense
than sound." Every year as we come around our
altars at our annual thanksgivings, we are express-
ly called upon to pray God to save our respective
Commonwealths ; and as we pray for them, and
as history — that "reverend chronicler of the grave"
— treasures up the distinguished acts performed
within the limits of larger and more populous re-
gions, may not it be well to conmiunicate to the
world the most distinguishing characteristics of
our smaller towns ?
The town of Franklin is situated about twen-
ty-six miles southwest of Boston. The Norfolk
Co. Railroad intersects it, the principal depot be-
ing situated in the most thriving part of the cen-
tral village. The soil of Franklin is mostly light,
although some of it is excellent for cultivation.
It is something like a cross of the hilly, rocky,
springy lands of Worcester and Berkshire Coun-
ties, so excellent for grass and orcharding, and
the light soil of the shore towns of Plymouth Co.
Still, there is considerable done at farming here,
and like our enterprising friends of the Cape, we
are developing the resources of our meadows by
the culture of cranberries, which seem to be the
most profitable crop ever raised this side of cot-
tondom. The most important of these meadows
is that of Erastus Miller, M. D., of Providence, R.
I., a native of Franklin, from which he obtained
about 1200 barrels this year. It is supposed to
be the finest fresh water cranberry meadow in the
world. The Doctor is extending his cranberry
grounds ; if all our Drs. would emulate the exam-
ple of Dr. Miller, by investing their surplus cap-
ital in the productions of fruit, they would make
money by the operation, notwithstanding the fact
that it would be the means of promoting the health
of their patients more than all their drugging.
The principal manufacturing business done
here, is that of straw goods. We have six straw
factories, all of which are expected to manufac-
ture this winter. The proprietors of three of these
shops have wholesale stores on Broadway, New
York, which are wholly supplied from these shops.
This would seem to be a rather singular fact, con-
sidering that the population of the town is but
little more than 2000. There is also something
done in manufacturing boots. We have one man-
ufactory, Mr. J. M. Freeman's, while many others
make for firms in Medway and Milford. Besides
these, the Messrs. Ray, of Unionville, three enter-
prising brothers, carry on a large business mak-
ing shoddy. By this means, the appearance of
the above named village has more than trebled
in importance, and we may suppose its business
has met with at least equal success.
I forgot to state that the Dr. Franklin library
is still partly in existence. Unfortunately, some
of the volumes are lost, but the remainder form
the basis of a fine new library, containing from
1200 to loOO volumes of the choicest standard
historical and literary works of the age, which is
placed at the disposal of every man in town, for a
trifling annual compensation ; a privilege by the
way, which few towns small as this enjoy. Several
of these works were written by our worthy towns-
man, the Rev. William M. Thayer, the talented
author of the "Bobbin Boy," the "Printer Boy,"
(Franklin) the "Pioneer Boy" (Pres't Lincoln,)
&.C., iiic, all of them highly entertaining and in-
structive books.
It is often the case that a town like this, though
small in territory and population, wields a far
greater power through its children, over the des-
tinies of the nation, or even of the interests of hu-
man civilization, than its unpretending appearance
would seem to indicate. Washington, Webster,
Clay, President Lincoln and many other of our
greatest men were born in thinly settled places.
The late Hon. Horace Mann, whose intellectual
combiit with Daniel Webster is acknowledged by
all to have resulted in the triumph of the former,
and who received the encomiums of Senators
Sumner and Seward, and other distinguished men,
as the able champion of education, temperance and
freedom, was a native of this town, as was also
Judge Theron Metcalf, of Boston.
While education, liberty and Union, the prin-
cipal elements of American civilization, shall con-
tinue to make the Yankee what he now is — the
most energetic, patriotic, intelligent, enterprising
and successful inhabitant of the earth — may our
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
67
little town, as for the last 80 years, continue to
bear the name of the Philosopher and Statesman
of our country's earliest years, and may she not
prove unworthy to bear that name as a monument
to the undying memory of his noble deeds and
words. And to close. Mr. Brown, if you wish to
see a village as neat and tasteful as any of its size,
with inhabitants intelligent, industrious and hos-
pitable, call and see us. Furthermore, what is
most important of all, we are thoroughly loyal,
and, myself included, real black republican;;, and
emancipationists. Monthly Reader.
Remarks. — We thank you, Mr. "Monthly
Reader," for your interesting sketch of Franklin,
and for the invitation to "call and see us." We
have been there, and had the pleasure of talking
to your enterprising farmers "in town hall assem-
bled," and of looking into several of the straw
manufactories to which you refer in your sketch.
But we are all the sharper to see you again for
having once been there.
BEASUNG LAMBS.
The rearing of lambs, both for the renewal and
increase of the flock, and for the use of the butch-
er, is a matter which deserves more care and at-
tention than is usually bestowed upon it by our
farmers. If the bucks or ewes are not in good
condition at the time they are brought together,
or if the latter, during the period of gestation be-
come reduced and weak the chances are that the
progeny will fail altogether, or at least lack the
vigor necessary to carry them successfully through
the first winter. We do not mean by "good con-
dition," that the sheep should be fit, for that ex-
treme should be equally as much avoided as the
other ; but they should be vigorous and healthy,
and in first rate store order. A healthy buck
should not be required to serve over fifty or sixty
ewes, as such a number is a sufficient tax upon
his powers ; more than this is liable not only to
permanently injure the male, but also to produce
a feeble progeny.
The period of gestation in ewes is twenty-one
weeks; so that, where it is desirable the birth of
the lambs should occur early in May, the bucks
should be turned into the flocks about the first of
December. This period may be varied a little
either way, according to locality. and climate. As
young ewes are more apt to be careless and iin-
jjrovident mothers, neglecting, and sometimes dis-
owning their lambs, more attention is required for
them than for older sheep. Many of the English
shepherds separate the former in the fall, and
serve them a week or two later, in order that the
season shall become further advanced, and the
lambs less exposed to a chill and adverse temper-
ature. The ewes with lambs should be kept quiet
and not 'subjected to fright or excitement, well
fed, and comfortably sheltered. The success-
ful rearing of a fine young flock will amply repay
the farmer all his care.
Where twins are produced by some of the
sheep, while at the same time others have lost
their lambs, it is a good plan to take one of the
twins from the former and give it to the latter.
Some difficulty is occasionally experienced to get
the lamb adopteo, but it is usually overcome by
shutting it and the new mother together for a few
days; and in extreme cases, binding the skin of
the dead lamb upon the back of its successor.
Bucks, by carelessness andinadvertance, occasion-
ally get mingled with the flock unseasonably, and
occasion much trouble, and sometimes loss. We
once knew a flock of ewes that got with lamb in
September ; and, as a consequence, they gave birth
to their progeny in February. He kept them
sheltered and well fed, making roots and other
succulent materials a portion of their food, turn-
ing all his barns and out-buildings i:ito sheep-
hospitals, and devoted much time and attention
to the helpless lambs brought forth in the midst
of a rigorous winter. It thus turned out that
scarcely a lamb was lost, and at the subsequent
washing and shearing, that flock of lambs was the
admiraiion of all who saw them. ();ie of the
ewes, after her lamb was born, failed to give it
suck, although the udder was dislciitlcd, and ap-
parently full of milk. On an examination, how-
ever, and attempt to milk the dam by hand, a
thick fluid exuded, nearly the consistence and ap-
pearance of candied honey, which the lamb swal-
lowed with avidity, although its own strength was
insufficient to draw it from t!>e teat. The lamb
thrived upon it, however, swallowing as it was
pressed out by the hand, until, in the couple of
lays, the milk assumed its natural flow, and need-
ed no further special attention. This instance is
cited, not foi the purpose of urging the month of
February is one propitious to the birth of lambs,
but only to show that even an untoward event, if
properly managed, may be turned to profitable
account.
Where lambs are designed especially for the
butcher as early period of birth as is consistent
with safety is desirable. Like any other produc-
tion in the market, early and well-developed spec-
imens command the highest price and the readiest
sales. Let us assume as a basis of calculation,
for the profits of lamb rearing fur the market, the
following data in a flock of sixty common woolled,
well-developed ewes. These, if properly cared
for, will, by offsetting the twins against the losses,
raise one lamb each. Setting aside ten of the
best yew lambs as substitutes for ten of the old-
est dams, whose powers will soon begin to fail,
we have left fifty for sale ; and the debit and cred-
it sides of our account will stand as follows :
Stock Account. De.
To 60 raediiim wooUtit ewes at $3 eacli $180 00
Interest or investment one year 12 60
$192 60
Coy IRA. Cr.
By 60 fleeces 3 lb?, each at 30c ^ lb $400
lly 50 lambs for f<lau?hter at $1 50 75 00
By 10 ewes displaced by lamba at $3 3U 00
$159 00
This sum is nearly eighty-three per cent, on
the capital invested, and by substituting ten lambs
annuailo for the oldest sheep, the entire flock is
renewed in six years, and therefore subject to no
deterioration. In the above calculation it will be
observed we have made no account of the keep-
ing of the flock, an important item it must be ad-
mitted ; but the best figures we could give would
only be proximate, and inapplicable to many lo-
calities. We, therefore, leave for each farmer to
determine for himself. Within any reasonable
58
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb
bounds the above margin leaves ample room for
profit, and we have no doubt our farmers will as-
sent to the proposition when we say, that rearing
lambs for the butcher, taken in connection with
the fleece of the dam, is a profitable employment
where the soil and other circumstances render it
available. There are other pecuniary considera-
tions worthy of note in this connection, viz., the
rapidity with which a return is obtained, and the
regular annual period of its receipts. In the
rearing of horses, for instance, several years must
be awaited for a full development of the animal,
and the interest of the money lost through all the
intervening time. Again, the individual instances
ol casualty and loss will not be so severe. There
is a wide difference for instance in the loss, say of
half a dozen sheep at three dollars each, and that
of a valuable colt worth two hundred. Other
considerations might be mentioned equally co-
gent, but with the above suggestions, we leave
the subject at present to the considjerations of our
readers. — Exchange.
For the New England Farmer.
BUMP'S PATENT ATMOSPHERIC AT-
TEMPEBLNG CHUBJST.
The inquiiy in the 'Farmer respecting this in-
vention, by a correspondent from Fitchburg, has
prompted a few thoughts which may be of inter-
est to those who have not yet been victimized by
it. I have little to say in direct reply to that in-
quiry. A neighbor of mine, who has tested it to
some extent, is of the opinion that it is easy to
operate, but requires considerable time to produce
butter. It may or may not be an article worth
possessing. Let those who have been so fortu-
nate as to possess it, and have given it a fair trial,
}udge of its merit and give us their decision
hrough the columns of this paper. I propose to
speak of the manner in which it has been intro-
duced to many of the farmers of Worcester coun-
ty, with whom I have conversed, and who invari-
ably set down the churn as a humbug, and the
agent who brought it to their notice as a swindler.
This agent commenced operations in the fall of
1862, and during the last winter and spring can-
vassed all the best farming towns in the county.
His plan of operation was something like the fol-
lowing : Upon arriving in town he inquired who
kept the largest dairies, and having obtained the
names of such, first applied to the most credulous
and presented his cause, describing the construc-
tion and action of the churn, and claiming for it
a great superiority over all churns now in use, or
ever to be invented. It was something which
needed only to be seen to be admired, any one
who should once witness its operation would be
considered decidedly idiotic if he did not throw
away his old churn and purchase the wonderful
invention. All the farmers in town would want
one of those churns, and he was willing to dispose
of the right to sell it to them for sixty dollars. He
roposed to divide the stock into twelve shares of
ve dollars each, and having formed a club of
twelve persons to give each a certificate entitling
him to one share in the right to make, sell and
use the churn in that town. If the person select-
ed for the first victim was sufficiently credulous
to drink in the lubricating words of the stranger,
as freely as the ground drinks in water, he, of
course, passed over the V, and received his cer-
I
tificate ; or if the ready cash was not at hand bis
note was equally acceptable. But if timorous
and unwilling to be the first to subscribe to a pro-
spective fortune, he need only promise to take a
share if Squire B. did so, and the scheme was in-
itiated. Squire B. was next approached and* big
name obtained at any sacrifice. If he could not
be led to see the value of five dollars in the pa-
tent, ybitr would be accepted, or if he were pecu-
liarly obstinate an old churn would be taken in ex-
change, and at a price which would reduce the
cost of the patent to so small a figure that, for the
sake of encouraging a progressive enterprise, he
would make the venture. I have even known an
instance where a suspicious deacon, the president
of the farmers' club, received his certificate with-
out paying anything whatever. Having obtained
the names and influence of two or three leading
citizens it was not difficult in any town to com-
plete the club at some price, and collect from forty
to fifty dollars in cash and notes in a short time.
The notes were usually disposed of to some per-
son in town at a considerable discount, and the
stranger made his exit, promising to forward the
churns immediately. The farmers waited anx-
iously until the time appointed for their appear-
ing, but they did not come.' Days and weeks
passed, and still they were not ; they began to
mention the matter to each other, and were sur-
prised to find that such a variety of prices had
been paid and that they diflered in their ideas of
what they were to receive. Some supposed that
in buying the patent they had also secured a churn
for their own use. But a few of the wiser sort
had probed the matter deeper, and understood
that the five dollars secured only the patent
right and that the churn, de facto, must be paid
for at the cost of manufacture. They wrote to
the agent in regard to the delay and were in-
formed in reply that in consequence of a rise in
materials the churn could not be furnished at the
price agreed upon, and they would not be for-
warded unVil he received the advanced price.
That the goods were a different thing from the
patent was now evident to all. I am told that in
some towns the matter has been followed up until
the churns were furnished at the price agreed up-
on, although the farmers were obliged to pay the
cost of transportation, and sometimes to take the
goods in a damaged condition. But in most plac-
es the people had not sufficient confidence in the
agent co place any additional funds in his hands,
and consequently have remained as well satisfied
as they could with the possession of the patent
and — their old churn.
I am not disposed to dwell upon the details of
this interesting transaction, but a passing com-
ment may not be out of place. Every operation
of this sort leaves behind it a feeling of bitterness
prejudicial to the introduction of improvements.
The generality of people do not use as much dis-
crimination as they ought. Why should an in-
telligent farmer, who ought to have opinions of
his own and to weigh every matter in the balance
of his own good judgment before making a deci-
sion, sit, spell-bound, in his hay field and listen
to the syren song of some pretender who has ob-
tained possession of a few nice words of extraor-
dinary size, and by Ion? 'practice has acquired a
tact for rolling them off his oily tongue with the
speed of an express train ? There is a class of
1864.
NEW EXGLAKD FAHMEB.
59
men who are always anxious to get of every nov-
elty that is presented, and who have faith to be-
lieve that each new invention is pregnant with
great riches. They dream of wealth while under
the soporific influence of the loquacious agent,
and in their deceptive ecstacy can almost imagine
themselves the prototypes of the patriarch Kil-
mansegg, whose good fortune is described in a
humorous poem by Thomas Hood, from which the
following is an extract :
"Trailition said he feathered his nest
Through an agricultural interest
In the golden age of farmins ;
When palden egga were laid by the geese,
And Colchian sheep wore a golden fleece,'
And golden pippins — the sterling kind
Ol Hesperus — now so hard to find —
lladt: horticulture quite charming.
♦'MoreoTer, he had a golden ass,
Sometimes at stall, and sometimes at grass.
That was worth his own weight in money —
And a golden hire, on a golden bank.
Where golden bees, by alchemical prank.
Gathered gold instead of honey."
I hare before me a pamphlet published in 1848,
professing to disclose a new method of making
manure. It claims to show how to convert al-
most everything on the fann into a rich fertilizing
compost, which costs next to nothing and is capa-
ble of being increased to an unlimited extent.
The system is somewhat complicated, and requires
the building of vats, drains and other appurte-
nancps.
This pamphlet cost the owner five dollars, and
I doubt whether he ever read it through ; and al-
though a goodly number of farmers purchased
the right, I have not been able to find, after
tha lapse of fifteen years, a single farm where
this method was applied. But, says one, I ob-
tained some good ideas from Bomer's Method.
No doubt of it, but would you not have obtained
more information for the money if it had been in-
vested in standard agricultural books ?
A few years ago a new variety of corn was
hawked about the country at a ninepence per ear,
which was recommended to yield several hundred
bushels to the acre. Those who tested it found
themselves in possession of a large supply of ffreeii
com at harvest time, but very little of the full and
ripe corn. A marvelous potato appeared soon af-
ter, which was too costly to be sold by the bush-
el, and therefore was disposed of at a certain
fmce per eye. The only advantage ever derived
rom it was the opening of the eyes of those who
bought it.
Many farmers have been deceived by the agents
of irresponsible nurserymen, who, with a beauti-
ful picture-book and a smooth tongue, have
sponged a large order from them, and then for-
warded such trash as a nur.seryman at all anxious
for his roputation would have discarded from his
grounds as worthless. And rather than be called
mean by the cheeky agent they have paid the bill
and set the trees. How much better to take a
day's time and visit the grounds of some respon-
sible nurseryman and make the selection yourself,
and know for a certainty that you have secured
the varieties which you desired, and which the la-
bels on the trees represent them to be.
It is not the intention of the writer by these re-
marks to throw out the impression that stranrjers
are always imposters. Far from it. In many bus-
iness transactions it is necessary to deal with
strangers, and as great a benefit may be received
from a stranger as from a fellow-townsman. But
it is well to remember, khat a new man with anew
subject for discussion has a decided advantage in
his favor. By constant studjoJie has learned how
to present his side of the subject in the most fa-
vorable light possible. And as the same objec-
tions will naturally arise in the minds of diff"erent
people from hearing the same story told in the
same manner, he has learned how to answer or
evade every objection that is raised. Let a com-
pany of farmers discuss the same subject among
themselves and they would be quite likely to ar-
rive at a correct conclusion.
Be suspicious of those who, by much talking,
are determined to make you yield, — who flatter
your pride, and who propose to give more than a
dollar's worth for a dollar. Let no one say that,
because he has once been deceived, he will never
test anything that is new. He ought to receive
new things with a charitable and an investigating
spirit, but with discrimination also. Viatok.
For the Netc England Farmer.
"WHAT AKE GOOD COWS?
Mr. Editor : — I noticed in your issue of Dec.
19th, an article in which some one says he had a
brother in York State, who had two cows from
which a half-ton of butter was made annually, for
several years, besides supporting a family of three
persons, together with all their company, so far
as butter and milk is concerned, and made 400
lbs. of pork ! These cows are called only good,
not extra, and no grain in their feed.
Up here among the granite mountains we think
that if the cows are not extra the story is. Fur-
thermore, these cows are said to have been kept
on a five-acre pasture, together with a horse, a
yearling or two, and an indefinite number of calves,
while a portion of the grass goes to seed, and is
not fed .short in the fall. I do not say I think
that is a tiptop pasture, for it may lie spread out
in some rich valley. But I do say I wish I owned
one like it for a calf pasture.
Honestly, I have no doubt but they have fine
cows in York State, and very rich land, cultivated
in the best manner. But if the gentleman who
is the owner of the cows and the five-acre pas-
ture in question would be kind enough to tell us
the precise number of cattle he kept in said pas-
ture, and what amount of fodder, corn, carrots,
ruta bagas, or other green feed, the same received,
how many months they were stabled, Ike, and
what a good cow will do there, with ordinary
treatment, I shall be better able to form a correct
estimate of the value of his pasture, and also of
what value the extra kindness is in the dairy line.
Goshen, N. II., 1863. J. M.
How TO Catch Sheep. — Never seize them by
the wool on the back. It hurts them exceedingly,
and in some cases has been known to kill them,
particularly in hot weather, when they are large
and fat. The best way is to avoid the wool alto-
gether. Accustom yourself to catch them by their
hind leg, or, what is still better, by the neck, plac-
ing one hand under the jaws, and the other just
back of the ears. By lifting the head in this man-
ner, a child may hold almost any sheep, without
danger to the animal or himself.
60
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
BEPOKT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP
AGBICULTURE.
The Second Annual Report of the Commission-
er of Agjiculture embraces a summary of his do-
ings for the year 1%63. In the opening paragraph
he congratulates the country that during the past
year "a wider territory has been cultivated and a
larger yield realized, except where drought and
frost interfered, than during any previous year."
The amount of the leading agricultural staples
produced in 1863 as compared with 1862, is as
follows :
1862. 1803.
Wheatin bushels 169,993,500 191,063,239
Oats in bushels 172,520,997 174,858,107
Corn in bushels 586,704,474 449,103,894
Hay in Pounds 20,000.000 18,500,000
Tobacco in pounds 208,807,078 258,462,413
Wool in pounds 63,524,172 79,405,215
The influx of foreign population has greatly in-
creased during the past year, the report of the
New York Commissioners of Immigration show-
ing that the number of immigrants which arrived
at that port during the eleven months ending on
the 30th of November, 1863, was 146,519 against
76,306 in 1865.
The collection of agricultural statistics, accord-
ing to the system pursued by the Commissioner
during the past year, has been of much impor-
tance. The secretaries of agricultural societies
and farmers' clubs have furnished much informa-
tion, and active farmers and business men of all
professions have also lent their aid. About 2000
circulars comprising questions have been sent
monthly to correspondents in every State and al-
most every settled county, and the replies, syste-
matically arranged, have been published monthly.
About 20,000 circulars have been issued in all,
and 70,000 monthly reports have been sent out.
The Commissioner sums up what has been done
in the distribution of seeds as follows :
"Pursuing what I regarded as the most judi-
cious and satisfactory course, I imported from
England, France, Belgium, Russia, Sweden, and
other foreign countries, several hundred bushels
of choice wheat and other cereal grains, and sev-
eral thousand dollars' worth of the most valuable
seeds for field and garden culture, including a
large collection of such flower seeds as were
deemed suitable for our country. These, with an
assortment of the choicest varieties of the most
desirable grains and vegetables grown in our coun-
try, were spread over the country with a lavish
hand. In addition to these about 1500 bushels of
cotton seed were procured, packed and distributed
mainly among the farmers of the west. There
was, too, a very great demand made upon the de-
partment for tobacco seed, which was not readily
found in many parts of the country, but which,
fortunately, I was prepared to supply, and by which
the wealth of our country was increased millions
of dollars. Of the quality of these seeds and
their products it is sufficient to say that, in reply
to a question proposed to all the correspondents
of the departments as to the seeds, the response
was universal that the seeds were good and had
produced satisfactory results. The whole num-
ber of packages of seeds, cereals, &c., distributed,
is about 1,200,000. Of these, over half a million
were sent or given directly to those applying for
them. About 300,000 were distributed to mem-
bers of Congress, and over 300,000 to agricultur-
al societies. About 40,000 were quart packages
of wheat and other cereal grains ; about 950,000
garden and flower seeds ; about 120,000 tobacco
seeds, and the remainder cotton, flax, &c."
In regard to the Propagating and P^xperimental
Garden, the Commissioner reports that it had suf-
fered much in former years through incompetency
and neglect ; but that these evils are now being
remedied as far as possible under the manage-
ment of a gentleman every way qualified to carry
on the experiments. There have been distributed
from the Garden during the year about 25,750 ar-
ticles, comprising vines, bulbs, cuttings and plants.
In regard to the general scope and objects of
this branch of the department, the Commissioner
remarks that investigations having in view a thor-
ough knowledge of the diseases of plants, should
receive attention. The greatest importance of the
grape crop has led to an extensive correspondence
in regard to the success of difi'erent varieties in
various parts of the country. In connection with
this, a collection of varieties of vines has been
made, and illustrations given of various modes of
treatment, a feature which is said to be found of
special interest to visitors of the garden.
The contracted limits of the present garden are
said to retard the development of this object, and
it is proposed to enlarge it. "The purposes of a
garden, as a proper auxiliary to the de])artment,"
it is said, "will not be fully answered until a bot-
anical collection and museum is estabished. It is
a source of well-founded surprise to visitors at the
Capital of the nation, that no systematic attempt
has been advanced having in vjew a museum of
native vegetable products, or a general botanical
garden of plants."
An entomologist has been engaged for the de-
partment, and arrangements have been made to
place on exhibition a large collection of insects,
companied with drawing, and descriptions.
In reference to the appropriation by Congress
of $20,000 to test the practicability of preparing
flax and hemp as a substitute for cotton, a com-
mission was appointed by the Agricultural Com-
missioner, consisting of J. K. Morehead, of Penn-
sylvania, W. M. Bailey, of Rhode Island, and J.
M. Warder, of Ohio, who met in Washington, and
after the transaction of some preliminary business
adjourned to meet again, and report in detail on
the subject. — Bostoii Guliivcdor.
THE WHEAT QUESTION.
Upon this question, I will say that farmers who
plowed their old ground last fall, can t'y the ex-
periment without much cost. Some will fail, no
doubt. Many will succeed, in my humble opinion.
It is not for my interest to advise farmers to do
what would be for their disadvantage. I have
stated facts in my own experience. Plowing the
ground in the fall exposes it to the frost and air,
and insects find a cold berth. The exposure of
the soil to air and frost prepares it to support the
straw, or my experiment amounts to nothing.
The same soil, treated in the same way, in all re-
spects, except it was plowed in the spring, pro-
duced a crop of small kernels and broken backed
straw. The other stood up like well drilled sol-
diers, and produced a good kernal. I attribute
my success to fall plowing, early solving, and the
kind of manure applied in the spring. My sta-
bles are plentifully supplied with dry muck and
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
H
*ore8t leaves. Upon this, during the winter, a hog
is made to labor. He is cheated into working it
over by a slight sprinkling of corn or acorns.
When the manure is thrown from the stables, I
consider manure thus made contains all the ele-
ments requisite to grow wheat. I am satisfied
with the result.
Many good farmers may doubt the propriety of
trying the experiment. Some think there are cer-
tain sections not adapted to wheat. That is true,
judging from past ex])erience, when cultvated in
the old way. Different treatment might change
the result. That can be decided by experiment.
Theory is often upset by practice. — z. B. in N. H.
Jour. Agriculture.
A Nkw Disorder among Cattle. — R. W.
Burt, of Atlanta, 111., gives the following descrip-
tion in the Prairie Farmer of a disease new at
least in that section :
The animals affected appeared to look gaunt,
and would move and stagger and fall, in some
cases not get- up again, or if they did, only to fall
again and die. On examination some blood ap-
peared about the nose and anus. The veins un-
der the skin were very full ; the spleen or melt
was very much enlarged, and on breaking the
thin skin, or covering, it seemed rotten. The
liver seemed unnatural. Large fine two and
three year old steers, and cows with young calves,
seem to be those attacked mostly. Some fi^'teen
have died. These cattle had been two or three
weeks on very luxuriant clover meadows, full of
Beed. The same disease has appeared on an ad-
joining farm.
Li reply. Dr. Dadd remarks :
From the above description I should infer that
the disease alluded to, is, or very much resembles
Splenic Apoplexy, a disease which has generally
baffled the skill of those, who in this country, have
attempted to cure it. What the conditions are,
which favor its propagation, I am unable to de-
termine, for I have known it to aflect, equally,
those which appeared healthy, as well as others,
unhealthy in appearance, hence it is very difficult
for any one to point out the direct causes of the
affection.
DiPTHEElA AND ITS CuRES. — The distinguish-
ing mark of this malady from other diseases of
the throat, is the formation of a membrane wliiclj
increases gradually until the patient is strangled
to death. It is sometimes accompanied with ul-
ceration and great bodily prostration. To pre-
vent the formation of this membrane is to arrest
and cure the disease. Tlie Cincinnati P<'si gives
the following simple remedy : In the early stages
of the complaint, which is always accompanied
Avilh a soreness and swelling of the throat, let the
patient use a simple solution of salt and water,
as a gargle, every fifteen minutes. At the same
time moisten a jjiece of flannel with a solution of
the same kind, made as warm as the patient can
bear it, and bind it around his throat, renewing it
as often as the gargl^is administered, and in the
meantime sprinkle fine salt between the flannel
and the neck. Use inwardly some tonic or stim-
ulant, either separately, or if the prostration be
great, use both together. The treatment, as may
be seen, is extremely simple, and, if used in the
earlier stages, will effect a complete cure.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
SORE EYES AND 8011E MOUTHS IN 8UEEP.
I noticed«in my flock of sheep, when they came up
to the l)arn, tliut somcof thcni hrirt very soro eyes, and
one of ihcm has l)ecome entirely lilind. The malady
is still .spreading through my flock. Many of thera
are also linving very sore mouths. Those tliat arc not
afl'ecfed with sore eyes, have sf)rnR, commencinpf in the
corner of the mouth, and spreading upon the edge of
the lip, 8cal)l)iiig over, and liunchin;; out like small
warts. Can you or any of your readers tell the cause
and rccomn:end a cure ? Constant llE.vuiiU.
Marlow, X. II., Dec. 29, 18C3.
RcMAiiKs. — We hope some of our correspondents,
who are engaged in sheep culture, will reply to the
above. We have had considerable experience with
sheep, but never found a disease like the one described
here.
SILK worms' E009.
For a long time I have been desirous to obtain some
silk teortns' eggs. Can you mforni mc where (hoy ipciy
be obtained, or give mo the slightest clue to hnding
them ? I have quite a large nursery of miilbcry trees,
and wish to engage in the making of siilc«, but can
procure no sillc worms. K: Mc A.
Limington, Me.
Rtmarks. — We do not know. Will soran corres-
pondent ixply.
New Recipe for Making Soap. — A corres-
pondent of the Gcrmantown Telegraph snys : We
have lately tried a new recipe for making soap —
new to us at least — and as we had such success, I
thought it would be well to send you the modus
ojjeratidi for the housekeeper's department of your
pajoer.
Pour four gallons of boiling water over six
pounds of washing soda and three pounds of un-
slacked lime, stir the mixture well and let it set-
tle until it is perfectly clear. It is belter to let it
set all night, as it takes some time for the sedi-
ment to settle. When clear, drain the water ofT,
cut six pounds of fat with it, and boil for two
hours, stirring it most of the time. If it does not
seem thin enough, put another bucket of water on
the grounds, stir and drain off, and add as wanted
to the boiling mixture. Its thickness can be tried
by putting a little on a ])late to cool occasionally.
Stir in a handful of salt just before taking off the
fire. Have a tub ready soaked to prevent the
soap from sticking, pour it in and let it set till sol-
id, when you will have from the above quantity of
ingredients, about forty pounds of nice wiiite soap,
at a cost of about two cents per pound. House-
keepers, try ir.
The Patent Office. — During the past year
the increase of the business of Ibe Patent Office
has more than compensated fur the falling off at
the tinic of the secession of the Southern States,
and enabled the office to pay all its expenses with-
out any further appropriation. This increase is de-
rived chiefly from patents for labor saving ma-
chines, particularly agricultural implements, the
inventions of which have been stimulated by the
detraction of field labor by tlie war. Numbers of
jjatenls have been issued fur inveniions occasioned
by recent discoveries. About four hundred are
registered solely for lamps to burn coal oil.
Java yields the Dutch government a cool mil-
lion annually by the traffic in birds ncats.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
■ i-m
PENNSYLVANIA AGRICULTITKAI.
COLLEGE.
We have just receh'ed from President Pugh a
copy of the catalogue of this institution for the
past year. All the public lands to which Penn-
sylvania is entitled for educational purposes have
been bestowed upon this College, and its pros-
pects for usefulness appear to be very encourag-
ing. One hundred and forty-two students have
attended the session just closed. That for 1864
will open upon the 24th of February, and close on
the 14th of the following December. The ad-
dress of President Pugh is "Agricultural College
P. 0., Centre county. Pa."
Not having leisure at this moment, for a more
careful examination of this Fifth Annual Cata-
logue of the institution, we think our readers will
be interested in the following brief synopsis of its
facts and contents, by the editor of the Oennati-
town Tdegrapli:
At present the college is managed by five pro-
fessors, two assistants, one teacher and five super-
intendents. It is under the care of thirteen trus-
tees: nine elected tri-yearly by delegates from the
county agricultural societies of the State, and four
ex-officio members. The course of instruction
extends through four years. A primary depart-
ment has been established for such as are not suf-
ficiently advanced to enter the regular college
course, and a fifth year for graduated students is
added to the course. During this year, the stu-
dent pursues some special scientific study, having
direct reference to his immediate plans of activi-
t}' in life. The object of the college course is to
give the student a thorough scientific knowledge,
al the same time that he acquires a good English
education, and becomes familiar with the practical
operations of the farm, garden and nursery of the
college.
Each student is required to perform three hours'
manual labor daily upon the college farm ; and,
by having the students divided into four working
details, the labor on the farm is kept up during
twelve hours daily.
All the work of a farm of four hundred acres is
thus performed by the students. The college
building is now completed, and all its museums
atul recitation rooms are ready for ase. Its chem-
ical laboratories are as completely filled with all
the aids and appliances for analytical chemistry
as those of any other institution in the world, and
the course of instruction pursued is similar to that
of the best German laboratories. The geological
collection of ihe State Geologist, obtained during
his survey of the State, is in the college museum ;
dopAop puB puajxa oj apuui Suiaq a.iu s;.ioj|3 puB
all the departments of instruction, so as to em-
brace all the means and instrumentalities for ed-
Uf?*,ion in all the natural sciences, and most espe-
cially those bearing upon the practical operatious
of life-
Frauds of Sheep Exhibitoks. — In a report
of a committee of the New York State Agricul-
tural Society, consisting of Hon. A. B. Conger,
J. McGraAV and D. B. Hight, we find the follow-
ing expose and rebuke of the means resorted to
by some exhibitors to give their sheep the ap-
pearance of a model form which they do not pos-
sess :
It is well understood that, for the purpose of
carrying out this system, animals designated for
exhibition are shorn in mid-winter, not closely nor
evenly, but so as to hide their natural defects, or
to give undue prominence to certain parts of the
carcass. That they are then blanketed so as to
prevent their taking cold, and afterwards, and for
some little time before exhibition for sale, they
are again trimmed, the wool being left, as in the
case of most of the animals exhibited at the fair,
in some places twice as long as in others.
Your committee consider this a gross deception
upon judges who examine only by their eyes, and
also upon farmers who are not cognizant of these
practices, who become purchasers and undertake
the business of breeding, and also a great source
of injustice to such as exhibit their sheep after
the ordinary system of shearing, as late as the
first of June, on an average, and closely and even-
ly shorn at that.
• For thu New England Farmer.
USE OP BONES— CROPS AND "WOOL IN
VERMONT.
Messrs. Editors: — As time has come for me
to cdlcine, or make fine, what bones I may have
got together during the year past, I will tell you
how I have done it for many years, and if you
think best, you may give it to your readers.
When I have got through with killing meat for
the year, I have a 90-gallon kettle set in an arch,
in which I cook food tor my hogs, and in which I
try out the beeves' heads and feet. Aftel' the oil
is taken off", I add what other bones I have to those
in the kettle, and fill up with good strong wood
ashes, and make the ashes barely wet, not sloppy,
but "thick as pudding." I then heat the mass to
a scalding point, and keep it so, or as near as I
can, for two or three days, stirring it frequently,
when the bones will be fine ; and if the ashes are
really strong, and managed rightly, even the
hoofs will all be so nearly dissolved that you can-
not find them.
It makes a most powerful manure. It may be
applied in various ways ; I generally mix it with
dry leached ashes, or soil, and sow it broadcast
on dry ground, and harrow in with grain. It
might perhaps be so reduced as to be put in the
hill with corn, but great care should be taken, as
it is so strong.
As to the crops here in Lamoille Co., the hay
crop was full an average one in quantity ; and
though later than usual when it was secured, the
quality was not so bad as the time of securing
would indicate. The wet weather, which made us
late in getting in our hay, kept the grass growing
at the bottom, so that, on the whole, our hay croj)
was bountiful, and of good qualitiy.
Corn was a good crop, and sound ; oats, mid-
dling ; wheat, a very small «rop ; buckwheat and
India wheat, middling ; potatoes, very uncertain
— some pieces very good, and some very light, —
though I think, from what I have learned, there it
a better crop in this county than in this State
generally. Other roots, beans, &c., were about
as usual. On account of the scarcity of help, there
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
63
was not quite the usual amount of land under
cultivation.
I need not tell you that the sheep fever rages
high in this State. Of course you can't help
knowing it. It is almost equal to the Moms Multi-
caulis fever, of near thirty years ago. If some
folks don't get their fingers nipped, tlien I haven't
been to a "guessin' Institoot." The few "smart
ones" that stop in the right time, will make money
by it ; but woe to the tail-enders. I rather think
it is partly a gum game, and some artificial oil,
that makes, in part, the heavy fleeces. That there
has been great improvement in the stock of sheep
in this country within a few years, i don't doubt.
But I don't believe that all the circumstances
combined relating to sheep husbandry will war-
rant the present excitement in the premises. I
think we had better raise less gum and oil in pro-
portion to the wool, and more wool in proportion
to the gum and oil, than some of these high-
priced, fancy sheep are reputed to produce.
Johnson, VL, Dec. 29, 18G3. C. VViiiting.
Pur the Xeir Eiif;!and Farmer.
THE BLACKBERRy.
I have read with considerable interest the "Hor-
ticultural Notes" of Mr. Hyde. As a cultivator
of small fruits, my experience has been confined
mainly to the strawberry, which I find a profitable
crop. I made some inquiries last summer in re-
gard to the blackberry, and w'as invariably in-
formed by men both of observation and experi-
ence, that they would vastly rather have the itch
than to have the blackberry in their land. In the
month of August last, I called on Mr. Francis
Dana, of Roxbury, the highly successful cultiva-
tor of small fruits, and originator of the "transpa-
rent,"— the very best white currant. I conversed
with him concerning several kinds of small fruits,
and the profits of their culture, not, however, men-
tioning the blackberry, of which I thought I had
sufficient proof of its worthlessness already. Next
day, however, I accidentally met Mr. D. in Bos-
ton. .\t his invitation I accompanied him to the
horticultural rooms, where he was carrying one or
more boxes of the Dorchester blackberry for ex-
hibition. This led to some conversation on the
subject, concerning which I afterwards wrote him
a letter. From this letter, and from statements
which he made verbally, I deduce the following
propositions :
1. The Dorchester is the most profitable black-
berry to cultivate for the market.
2. The average price to be ol)tained for good
fair berries through the season, may be safely es-
timated at from 20 to 2o cents per box.
3. The expense of time and lal)or in cultivating
and picking them, and the expense of fertilizing
is comparatively small.
4. Everything considered, they are the most
profitable small fruit cultivated.
And how can the latter proposition fail to be
correct, if the former are ?
Mr. Hyde estimates the average value of straw-
berries per box at 20 cents, through the season.
This is two cents per box higher than I have usu-
ally been informed by cultivators for Boston mar-
ket. I sell my strawberries in the country, and
thus save the expense of hulling. Some city mar-
kets do not require strawberries hulled.
1 wish some experienced cultivators of the
blackberry would give their experience in regard
to that fruit, concerning which so much difference
of opinion seems to exist. It would be particu-
larly interesting to hear from some one who has
been successful. Mr. Hyde seems to consider the
blackberry a profitable crop, and that is all. He
speaks in much more enthusiastic language, of
the strawberry. Monthly Reader.
Fur the Seic England Farmer,
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR DE-
CEMBER, 1863.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of December was 22" ;
average midday temperature, 27". The corres-
ponding figures for December, 1862, were '2o° and
30°. SVarmest day, the 4 th, averaging 42°;
coldest day, the 10th, averaging 3°. Highest
temperature 46° ; lowest do. 2° below zero.
Average height of mercury in the barometer
29.36 inches; do. for December, 1862, 29.28 inch-
es. Highest daily average 29 85 inches on the
7th ; lowest do. 28.71 inches on the 14lh. Range
of mercury from 28.50 inches to 29.90 inches.
Rain or snow fell on twelve days ; amount of
snow 17.50 inches; amount of rain and melted
snow 4 inches. Nine stormy days, with 11 inches
snow and 1.59 inches of rain ajid melted snow in
December, 1862. There were two entirely clear
days. On six days the sky was entirely overcast.
The changes of the barometer have been re-
markable durmg this month — the mercury reach-
ing a point both unusually high and low, with
sudden changes. It will be noticed that the aver-
age is much higher than same month last year.
The difference in temperature between December
this year and last will be noticed. Although
there have been no very cold nights, the average
is, nevertheless, low. A. C.
Claremont, N. II., Jan., 1864.
For the New England Farmer.
A GOOD CO'W.
Mes.srs. Editors : — I own an Ayrshire cow,
raised upon my farm, now seven years old, and
weigliing about 1000 pounds, which gave during
the year ending with the month of April, 1863,
13,540 pounds of milk. I was in the habit of
weighing her milk, every Monday morning, dur-
ing tlie entire year, and calculating for the week,
upon this basis. She gave during the last ten
days of May, 1862, 650 lbs. of milk ; in the month
of June, 2100 lbs. ; in July, 1950 lbs. ; in August,
1800 lbs.; in September, 1650 lbs.; in October,
1550 lbs.; in November, 1350 lbs.; in Decem-
ber, 750 lbs. ; in January. 600 lbs. ; in February,
480 lbs. ; in March, 36() lbs. ; in April, 300 lbs'. ;
total, 13,540 li)s ; making in measure 1504 gal-
lons. From the milk of twenty-eight days of the
month of June, we made 96 lbs. 3 oz. of butter,
and during the year, from her milk alone, were
made 610 lbs. of butter.
As I am anxious to improve my stock of cattle,
any one having a cow which will beat this, can
find a purchaser, by addressing me, and giving
the age, color and breed of their animal, and the
price at which she can be obtained.
Stepiikn Scammon.
SlraOiam, N. E., Dec. 29, 1863.
64
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Feb.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoughts Suggested by February Page 33
Seeding Land to Grass 34
Extraets and Repliea 35, 42, 52, 61
Catechism of Ajjricultural Chemistry and Geology 38
Atmospheric Influence upon Soil and Plants 37
Two Fine Cows — Fruits in the Northwest 38
Princeton — Meteorological Record for November 39
Remedy for the Borer — A few Words about Bees 40
A Query for Arboriculturists — Safe Farming 40
Grease or Scratches on Horses — Feeding Calves 41
Language of Insects — Hints for the Stason 42
Churning in Winter — Winter the time to Think 42
Song of the BI;icksmith'H Wife— Making Pork at the West 43
Maine Agricultural Statistics — Rogers' Hybrid Grapes 43
Sheep Shedfliijg Wood ". 43
Eggs in Winter — Tent Caterpillars 44
Natural Science in Common Schools 45
Influence of the Atmosphere 40
Dividing Sheep Flocks fn- Winter 47
Failure of Sefds— Cheap Cider Vinegar 48
A Pair of White Shanghai Fowls — Honey Bees 49
Winter Care of Stock 50
Great Destruction of Trees by Ice 51
Learning from Experience 52
Hopkinton, Mass 53
Wood Ashes and Charcoal for Wheat .' ! . ! .'54
Alarming Disease among Stock 55
Song of the Spartan Mother— A Sketch of Franklin 56
Rearing Lambs 57
Bump^ Patent Atmospheric Churn 58
What are Good Cows — How to Catch Sheep 59
Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 60
The Wlieat Question go
A New Disorder among Cattle— Diptheria and its Cures.'. .'. . .61
New Receipt for Making Soap— Patent Office 61
Pennsylvania Agricultural College 62
Frauds of Sheep Exhibitors ....02
Use of Bones — Crops and Wool in Vermont 62
The Blackberry— Meteorological Record for Dec, 1863 63
Cattle Markets for January 64
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter F 33
Grease, or Scratches on Horses 41
A Pair of White Shanghai Fowls I.49
CATTLE MAKKETS FOK JANUARY.
The fallowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending January 13, 1864:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Catde. Sheep. Shotes.
Dec. 23 1775
" 30 1010
Jan. 6 1088
" 13 1526
4267
3136
3063
3106
50
Fat Hogs.
1400
2000
2000
Total 5,399 13,572 70 5,400
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS YEAR. LAST YEAR
Cattle.
Maine 447
New Hampshire 677
Vermopf I666
Massachusetts 368
Northern New York 187
Western States 1902
Canada 152
Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
245S
1898
3,848
1957
770
1883
753
13,572
6,569
30.
Total, last four weeks 5,.399
Total, since Jan. 1,(2 weeks,).. 2,614
PRICES.
Dec. 23. Dec
Beef,l8t, 2d, 3d qual 5|ig8i 5J@8J
" ex. and premium... 8339 82@9
Sheep and lambs, #• Ib...5J@7J bl®l\
Swine, stores, w'sale @7 @7
" " retail 7Jg8i th'&h
Livefathogs @^ 6J@7
Beef hides, ^ lb 9 @9i 9 09^
Pelts, sheep & lambs $2i'S2 J $2^(g2i
1148
827
2630
243
222
1318
271
6,659
2,329
Jan. 2.
6 (g9
6 (§73
3731
1055
2944
1280
637
1703
12,213
5,404
Jan. 9.
6 (§9
9^Q10
6i®3
— 7
@7
9 (g9J
$3
$3
Remarks — The two last markets of 1863 were dull and heavy,
although the amount of stock sold was considerably less than
that for the last two weeks of 1862 ; while the first two markets
of this year were quite brisk, and prices have advanced full >ic
^ lb. on beef, and more than that on sheep, with quick sales.
SALES OF WESTERN CATTLE.
W. ScoUans & Ce., sold to G. Davis 20 Western steers, 1523
fts. each, at 9'^c, J^ sk ; and 2 at 10c, X sk : 55 to Brooks &
Stone, 10 at 8c, 35 sk ; 10 at 8>ic, 35 sk ; and 35 at 8!Jc,34sk ;
17 to G. Wildes, 1431 lbs. each, at 9!4'c,34 sk ; 24 to C. Sander-
son, 1494 tbs. each, at 9J^c, ^4 sk ; and 4, of 1620 lbs, at 10c, J^
shrink.
Statistics for the Year 1863 :
According to our weekly reports the following numbers of
live stock have been sold at these markets during the year 1863,
compared with tifcse of 1862:
If 'hole Number. Weekly Arerace.
1863. 1862. 1863. 1862.
Cattleof all kinds 110,815 98,218 2091 1889
Sheep and lambs 250,597 229,198 4728 44O8
Veal calves 16,005 lO.OOO 302 192
Fat hogs 63,891 65,000 1300 1058
Shotes and pigs ,22,950 46,000 244 835
SooRCES OP Supply The following table exhibits the number
of cattle and sheep arriving at market, from several States, for
each quarter of the past year:
Quarter cattle.
Mass .
15P6
1645
363
932
This year, 20,206 15,165 28,481 4436
Last year, 12,501 9,958 31,206 3360
SHEEP.
N. H. rt. Mass. ISor.N.Y. West. Cc.
5684 8820 10,292 1299 8196 221
8936 15,677 3279 1442 3824 316
8924 33.544 3271 8704 35S7 18,173
ending
Me.
N. H.
Vt.
Mar. 26,
2423
2274
5928
June 25,
654
19i2
26 S3
Sept. 30,
7262
4514
7820
Dec. 30.
9927
6425
12,050
:)r.N. r. West. Ca.
474
7085 79
73
7709 271
1206
11,441 1350
1607
8709 2498
—
3365
34.944 4219
3603
35,405 1885
11,925 11,516 28,573 1701 6547 4024 17,380
Quarter
ending Me.
Nov. 26, 1971
June 25, 689
Sept. 30, 18,138
Dec. 30,
This year, 32,723 35,060 91,614 18,489 16,990 19,631 36,790
Last year, 31,169 22,946 95,495 14,873 11,846 19,927 32,937
Transportation.— The cattle and sheep have reached the
market by the several railaoads, boats, &e., in the following
proportion:
Quarter cattle.
ending Fitch. Lowell Eastern Wmcester On foot and
and Me. boats.
March 26, 5520 3999 2441 7103 796
June 25, 3468 2159 882 8020 383
Sept. 30, 7114 7067 4379 11354 3982
Dec. 30, 10731 10026 7006 8717 5668
Total, 26,833 23,251 14,708
SHEEP.
6566 1981
7413 40
35657 6490
31931 14028
March 26, 19523
June 25, 22180
Sept. 30, 38540
Dec. 30, 25506
35,194
8413
3804
3445
4325
10,829
Total, 105,749 81,567 22,539 19,987
726
15153
4876
20,755
During the first half of the year there was a large advance in
the price of beef ; equal to three cents ■f lb., according to our
quotations, on the various qualities. That is, otir figures stood
4 'i g>7'4 c, Jan.jl, and 8 @ lOJj'c ■(f lb., April 23. During the last
six months prices have been much more uniform. Our highest
weekly quotations for extra beeves have been as follows:
Jst Quarter. 2d Quarter. 3d Quarter.
7'4C, 2w'ks. g'jC, 7week3. 7c, 6 weeks
9i4
9'<
1
Oii
1
0
4
9*^
ith Quarter,
!^c, 7 weeks.
3 "
^i 2 "
■i 1 "
Last year the highest prices for extra beef were:
1st Quarter. 2d Quarter. Zd Quarter. ith Quarter.
7c, 3 weeks. 7ii,'c, 1 week. 7c, 1 week. 6J^c, 5 weeks.
63i 7 " 7 9" 6?^ 7 " 6% 5 "
6>i 2 " 6^^ 3 " 6>i 6 " 7 8"
Notwithstanding the high prices offered for beef this year the
average quality of the Western stock, in particular, has been
very much below that of former years.
DBVOT-ED TO AGRICULTURE AIOD ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES,
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, MARCH, 1864.
NO. 3.
NOURSK, EATON & TOLMAN, Proprietors.
Office 102 WAsniNOTOx Street.
SIMON BROWN, Editor.
•^
THOUGHTS ABOUT MARCH.
"Truly Winter passes off
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts ;
His b'asts obey, antl quit the howling hill.
The shatter'd forest, and the ravaged vale ;
And softer pales succeed."
^'--^, - _ r^- pf
y ARCH weather is
, usually extremely
, \ iiiied, giving us a
■JP>JA^&^' - sample of that of
)pS^ several other
months of the year.
A March morning
will sometimes
dawn upon the
) earth with great
C^^- ■ ■ '"■"""^'J^'fyK'"* beauty ; the sun
g_.-«>*.- .y^JiS/ clear, the air soft
r, and balmv, black-
■^ v., . ■ .
" birds chattering in
the meadow and
the social robin uttering
clear notes from a top-
most bough of the old elm
^ - --" tree. At noon, daik clouds
hover over the land in gloomy
majesty, shutting out the genial sun ; the cold
increases, and snow flakes fall slowly, and grace-
fully cover the evergreens and buds that had dared
to open a little and take a peep at the sun. At
night, old Boreas rides in with his attendant train !
Carriages rattle over frozen ruts, flying snow blinds
the traveller, while fierce winds rock the old trees
and drive man and beast to some sheltering re-
treat.
But March weather, rough and blustering as
it is, could not be spared. Its rude winds are or-
dained to sweep away the surplus moisture and
prepare the soil for the hand of the cultivator.
If the winter has been stern and cold, we long to
see the streams unlocked, to hear the birds sing,
and feel the warm sun and balmy air. We cast
longing looks up and down the garden walks
where a crocus is peeping from the rubbish, among
which the warbling sparrow tunes his little throat,
though thick flakes of snow may be fiUling fast.
We are impatient for genial skies and gentle
winds, without counting the cost of an enjoyment
of them noiD. We forget that "the late spring
makes the fruitful year," and that if we have April
suns and showers now, April frosts will be likely
to pinch the buds and blossoms which Makch
suns and showers have produced, and we shall
have neither fruits nor flowers in due season, and
this explains an old proverb, that "March flowers
make no summer bowers."
The "changes of the seasons are silent messen-
gers of the Creator, speeding on their mission in
the sight of man, and holding a secret intercourse
with his heart." The opening of spring is a new
creation, which awakens new hopes, faculties and
powers, in nearly all. Men, women and children
may here and there be seen, even now, "employed
in their little garders, making preparations for
the reception of spring ; the spade is brought
forth from its hiding place ; seeds which have
been carefully preserved, are hunted up, and even
a few of the earliest sown in hotbeds or some sun-
ny and sheltered spot. Even the very changes
of the weather, which seem for a time to check
these operations, are silently forwarding them.
The snow that occasionally falls warms and nour-
ishes the tender buds ; the winds dry up the over
abundant moisture ; raisis, fogs and rains, all
bring their tribute to enrich the earth, and do His
bidding, who gives us "seed-time and harvest."
The rank decay of vegetation — the exhalations
that are ever ari^ing — the insects that burst from
their larva state — and the poor blind worms that
burrow through and loosen the soil, are all doing
their allotted work, and, though disregarded, are
assisting man to prepare the ground for the re-
ception of his crops.
66
NEW ENGLAND FAEIMER.
March
A Good Start.— It is a good thing to get an
early start in the spring ; to have all plans for the
summer crops matured, and all seeds, machinery
and teams, in preparation to commence work the
moment the soil is in a condition to permit it.
All labor of importance is uncertain and drags
heavily without such preparation. Many things
are attended to too late, or postponed until the
next year, that could have been conveniently done
under a good system.
We have recently suggested the importance of
getting in early potatoes, onions, and other vege-
tables, and we ufge more attention to the garden
as the means of great convenience, health and
comfort, to the family, as well as a work of great
economy.
Clover Seed may be sown any time this
month, on fields laid to grass in August or Sep-
tember last.
Hot Bed. — Take an old window-sash and a
few rough boards, and start some early cabbages,
radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, &c. It will cost little
and but a few hours' time, and will furnish many
valuable plants.
Stock.— Carefully examine all the stock, and
see that every animal is clean and free from ver-
min, and that all cows about to drop their calves
have liberty in pens or yards for some days be-
fore calving.
• Implements. — Are the plows, harrows, gaiden
rakes, cultivators, and seed-sowers, in order, — and
so of all the yokes, chains and harnesses that will
be needed some time in April?
March is a month of preparation. The length-
ened days, the bright suns, the south winds, and
the new stir and energy of nature all about us, all
call to us to prepare for summer work in the fields.
Will you heed the call ?
AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENTS.
New England Agricultural Association.
At a late meeting of the State Board of Agri-
culture, a movement was made for the organiza-
tion of a New England Agricultural Association,
and a convention was appointed to call on the
several agricultural societies of the State to send
delegates to a meeting to be held in Worcester
on the 2d of March next, for such a purpose.
Several years ago, when the U. S. Agricultural
Society was in its full vigor, but when we saw
plain indications of its early decay, through the
want of a sincere co-operation on the part of the
South, and some other causes, we proposed to
Col. Wilder, and some other leading gentlemen,
to form a New England Agricidtuml Society. All
agreed that the proposition was a good one, but
the pressure of other duties prevented action upon
it, and the matter, though often alluded to, was
not agitated.
It seems to us, that if the county and State so-
cieties are not accomplishing all that is desirable
in this direction, nothing can be more appropriate
than to form a New England Association. The
territory is sufficiently large, and could not be
contemplated as in any way a sectional or exclu-
sive movement, as its good influence, if it had
any, couuld be enjoyed by all.
The Agricultural College.
The Board of Trustees met at the State House
on Wednesday, Feb. 3, and received a report from
the committee appointed to examine the "Cary
farm," at Lexington, which was favorable. Mr.
Erastus Hopkins, of Northampton, stated to
the Board that he was satisfied the sum of $75,-
000 would be raised by subscription, and he offer-
ed that sum on the behalf of the citizens of the
town. He also said that ultimately nearly ten
times that sum would be realized by the institu-
tion from the "Smith fund," in case the college
were established there. Hon. Charles G. Da-
vis, of Plymouth, submitted to the Board propo-
sitions, conveyed by Prof. William S. Clark, of
Amherst College, including votes of the town of
Amherst appropriating and offering $50,000 ; also
votes of the Trustees of Amherst College giving
to the Agricultural College for ten years the free
use of many facilities, and of much valuable
property, severally on condition that the Agricul-
tural College is located in that town. Mr. Phin-
EAS Stedman, of Chicopee, addressed the Board
in favor of establishing the college at Springfield,
and pledged $50,000 from that city in case the
institution shall be located in that place or in
Chicopee. He gave facts tending to show the ad-
vantages of that locality.
Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
At a meeting of this society on Saturday, Feb.
6, 1864, the report of the Building Committee re-
commended the erection of a permanent building
on the Montgomery House estate, in accordance
with a plan submitted by Messrs. Bryant & Gil-
man, Architects, the estimated cost of which will
be $102,500. The building proposed will com-
prise committee rooms, a large and small exhibi-
tion hall, and on the lower floor there will be sev-
eral stores. The large hall will comprise an area
of 4000 square feet, with a galleiy at one end and
a stage at the other.
The income of the building, it is thought, will
be equal to six per cent, per annum upon the
amount invested.
The report was adopted, and the whole matter
relating to the erection of the building referred to
the Building Committee, with full powers to make
contracts and construct the building in connec-
tion with the present architects, providing it can
be done at a cost not exceeding $105,000.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
67
AQEICULTURAIi COLLEGE OF PENN-
SYLVANLA..
We have before us, through the polite atten-
tion of President PUGH, the Catalogue of this In-
stitution for the year 1863. It contains the names
of the officers and students of the College, gives
the course .of studies and progress of construction
of the buildings The number of students for
the year was 142. We have read its pages
with interest, and so far as the course of study
is developed, think it judicious and practical,
and one that will commend itself to such persons
as are desirous of placing their sons in a position
to learn agriculture and its kindred arts. The
progressive step in the study, or laboratory, and
in the field, are natural, and are so arranged as
to attract and lead the earnest student into the
intellectual regions of rural life.
In speaking of the peculiarities and advantages
of the "course of study," President Pugh says :
"The student has an opportunity of seeing all
the practical operations of the farm, garden and
nursery performed in the most approved manner,
with the use of the best manures, seeds, tools and |
implements ; and, what is of more importance [
than this, he studies in the class-room and labo-
ratory, the scientific principles involved in all he j
does, and by becoming a scientific man and ana- 1
lytical chemist, he is enabled to protect himself j
and others against the frauds that are continually !
being practised upon the uneducated, by dealers
who are themselves either ignorant of science, or
who use it to impose upon the community. He
learns how to study the geology, mine^-alogy and
chemistry of the soil he cultivated, the botany of
the plant he grows, and the laws of health and
diseases of the animals he uses.
"In a word, he is made thoroughly acquainted
with the laws and phenomena of the material
world with which he is in immediate contact, and
about which farmers are most deplorably ignorant,
but a knowledge of which is essential to tbeir ma-
terial success or intellectual pleasure, in the pur-
suit of the duties of rural life."
THE DANGERS OP COLD •WEATHER.
The N. Y. Emning Post, in an article on this
subject, savs that frozen limbs should never be
rubbed. The juices of the fleshy tissues, when
frozen in their minute sacs or cells, at once be-
come in each of these enclosures crystals, having
a large number of angles and sharp points ; and
hence rubbing the flesh causes them to cut or tear
their Way through the tissues, so that when it is
thawed the structure of the muscle is more or less
destroyed. The proper mode of treatment is thus
stated :
When any part of the body is frozen it should
be kept perfectly quiet till it is thawed out, which
should be done as promptly as possible. As
freezing takes place from the surface inwardly, so
thawing should be in the reverse order, from the
inside outwardly. The thawing out of a portion
of flesh, without at the same time putting the
blood from the heart into circulation through it,
produces mortification ; but by keeping the more
external parts still congealed till the internal heat
and the external blood gradually soften the more
interior parts, and produce circulation of the blood
as fast as the thawing takes place, most of these
dangers are obviated.
Speaking of the application of snow, the writer
says :
If the snow which is ajiplied be colder than the
frozen flesh it will still further abstract the heat
and freeze it worse than before. But if the snow
is of the same temperature it will keep the flesh
from thawing till the heat from the rest of the
body shall have eff'ected it, thus preventing gan-
grene. Water, in which snow or ice has been
placed, so as to keep its temperature at thirty-
two degrees Fahrenheit, is probably better than
snow.
VENTILATION IN BEE HIVES.
Bees in winter do not apparently suffer from
cold even when many degrees below the freezing
])oint. Their great enemy is damp. I have known
hives from which the bottom board had fallen and
which were fully exposed to the air, winter well,
while others carefully tended lost thousands of
bees, and yet both had sufficient stores. Hives
made of thin boards are bad quarters for bees, un-
less well ventilated, and for the simple reason that
when such are exposed to weather, they part rap-
idly with their warmth in cold weather, and un-
less carried off by currents of air, the moisture
from the bees condenses on the inside and then
congeals, and this process will go on until the
comb next the sides is involved, and the bees are
consequently huddled together in an ice house.
When combs are thus frozen or kep" steadily ex-
posed to an atmosphere of moisture for some time,
they will mould whenever the weather becomes
warm. It often happens that the principal ])or-
tion of the honey is laid up in the outer combs,
and if these are frozen, the bees cannot get their
food and may thus starve with food abundant, but
locked up by frost. — Ohio Farmer.
Mixing Grain in Seeding. — I take the liber-
ty to write JCTTa few lines for publication, if you
think it worth while. What I recommend is this :
For the farmer to mix his seed half and half with
strange seed of same kind from his neighbor's,-^
wheat, rje, corn, barley, oats, buckwheat, ik<s. I
do not wish to be understood to recommend mix-
ing varieties, except the best white wheat and rye.
Then sow a small piece for bread or feed, espe-
cially in localities that are troubled with the midge.
Put on plenty of seed — nearly as nracliof each as
though the other was not sown.
Several farmers about here who mixed their
corn say their crops can't be beat. Two mixed
wheat, one white the other red ; both got near
three-sevenths more than expected, the berry be-
ing so large.
At the same time, let farmers change the males
of their poultry every year — such as geese, ducks,
turkeys, hens, &:c., they will have larger kinds
and healthier, better layers.
Lewanec Co., Mich., 1863. L. Taylou.
We find the above in the Rural Nac Yorlei-.
Some of our readers may not agree with Mr. Tay-
lor, in his recommendations, but there may be
truth enough in them to provoke a response from
some other thinking farmer.
68
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
IiETTER FROM MB. BHO^WTST.
State liov^e, Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 5, 1864.
GENTI.EMEN: — I wrote you from Buffalo, on
the 2d inst., in the midst of the great storm. I
was fearful that yuu might think my account of it
overwrought, but the papers of this morning show
that I did not then appreciate its magnitude.
The farther west I go the more terrible I find its
effects.
I arrived here on Tuesday morning, at 2 o'clock,
in the midst of a snow storm which has kept along
with us most of the way from Buffalo. My object
in coming at so unpropitious a season, was to attend
a Wool Orowers' Convmtion, in order to keep my-
self and your readers informed as to what might
transpire in regard to this great interest.
The Legislature and the Ohio State Board of
Agriculture were in session, and I had the pleasure
of an introduction to the Governors of the out-
going and in-coming administrations, to the officers
and members of the State Board, and of a seat
for half an hour with the Speaker, while the
House was in session.
The 'Wool-Growers' Convention.
The object of the Wool Orowers' Convention was
two- fold.
1. To bring as many persons together as possi-
ble, who are engaged in the culture of sheep, to
discuss the advantages and disadvantages under
•which they labor, and to devise some means
whereby a compact and intelligent ^ower might
be established, that could be made influential
whenever their interests demanded it, — and, also,
that by a comparison of opinions as to the best
breeds, and practices in culture, each party might
be benefitted by knowledge gained from the other.
2. To petition Congress so to amend the Inter-
nal Revenue Laws, as to impose a tax upon dogs ;
with a view of protecting sheep, by the destruc-
tion of dogs.
Discussion on Dogs.
A long and spirited discussion took place npon
this proposition. It is not necefgsary for me to
give the names of all the speakers, or their precise
language, although I took quite full notes. Your
Verni.ont, N. Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts
readers, who are interested in the subject, will be
especially desirous to know the opinions of their
western friends, who are so largely interested in
wool-growing. I shall aim, therefore, to give those
opinions, and if I can, something of the spiri'.
with which they were advanced. The first speaker,
Mr. Montgomery, stated that the annual loss to
wool-growers in the State, in the destruction of
sheep by dogs, is $100,000. But this is not the
only loss. Hundreds of persons whose farms are
especially adapted to the culture of sheep, cannot
enter uoon it on account of dogs, and are obliged
to resort to crops unsuited to their lands. He
thought the loss in this particular $100,000 more
— making the annual loss to wool-growers $200,-
000 at least ! He had no doubt there were half a
million dogs in the State, while the returns re-
quired by law, show only about 175,000. Under
this state of things, the efforts of the wool-grower
are constantly checked, and this great national
interest retarded. Another speaker said that each
dog cost what would be required to raise a pig
worth $15, which would make an annual loss of
$2,625,000; and if the number of dogs were half
a million, as Mr. Montgomery thought there were,
the loss by dogs to the State, annually, would be
one hundred and thirty -five millions of dollars !
[It seems to me that the speaker set the cost per
dog, $15, too high ; but if he had taken into ac-
count the loss of human life and property by
mad dogs, his estimate would have been far too
low.]
Mr. McCleen, Jr., of Miami Co., said, dogs are
outlawed by the statute ; we have law enough, but
it is not enforced ; wool-growers are too modest ;
they do not protect themselves under the law.
He thought a tax imposed by the general govern-
ment would prove totally inoperative. We must
change public opinion. The wool interest must
exceed the dog interest, and this will be our only
remedy.
Mr. Before stated something of his experience
and observation in sheep culture : said the vast
prairies of the West, under proper protection, are
destmed to be covered with immense flocks and
to become the seat of a happy and prosperous
industry. He thought this branch of enteiprise
involved as many interests of mankind as any other
in our pursuits. We import 50,000,000 pounds
of wool aimually. We have every facility for pro-
ducing ten times this amount, but for tlie destruc-
won caused by dogs. lie did not blame the
animals, but their owners ; they train thtm wrong ;
starve ihem into attacks upon sheep in order to
sustain life.
Mr. E. II. Griswold, of Vermont, said that
dogs hud been the great stumbling block to suc-
cess in growing the Spanish Merino Sheep. He
had travelled ail through the great North-western
States, and even beyond tlie Mississippi, looking
into the condition of this interest, and this fact
holds good everywhere. Dogs are the bane of the
wool-grower. The remedy is to form a " canine
association," with the most stringent rules, binding
every man to act up to the vei-y letter and spirit of
the law which is intended to protect them.
Your correspondent, being called upon by the
President of the Convention, spoke in general
terms of the magnitude of the interest, of the
attention necessary to successful culture in the
modes of housing and feeding, of the ereat im-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
69
portance of a better understanding of the true
principles of breeding, so that we may not only
ezped, but catabdy get, what growth of body and
quantity and quality of wool we desire. Complaint
is made that wool of merinos is too oily, or gummy.
This can be obviated with as much certainty as
that the scion will produce the fruit of its parent
tree. The change can only be reached by slow
degrees, and may require considerable time, but
the objectionable feature, — whatever it may be, —
can be increased or diminished by a thorough
knowledge of the true principles of breeding. Sam-
uel Jaques, of Massachusetts, an intelligent
pioneer in the art, once told him that he would
breed " to order," if desired ; he would enlarge or
diminish the muscles of a bull or a horse and
change the color of their progeny, or deliver a
Dorking Cock with a xingle black feather in his
tail, if sufficient time were allowed him. His suc-
cess with his " Cream Pot " cows and other animals
was certainly wonderful, and perhaps justifies his
declarations. Mr. Brown also spoke of the prob-
able future demand for wool, caused by the great
exhaustion in clothing a vast army, in a rapidly
increasing population, and in the change of ma-
chinery from a cotton to a woolen spinning power.
He spoke of the industry and patriotism of- the
great State of Ohio, with her eighiij-eight Counties,
two and a half million of people, and foe million
of sheep, and predicted for her a glorious career
in her central position in the cluster of States.
Mr. Steven*, of Delaware County, said, we
have Ohio law enough. There is no necessity for
applying to Congress for relief. Most of those
who own dogs are irresponsible persons, and when
their dogs have done the mischief no redress can
be obtained. No dogs should be kept. The next
speaker said that a national tax would be equiva-
lent to a license to keep dogs, and then the evil
would be increased instead of abridged.
Judge Lawrence said there were 200,000 dogs
at large, and it is certain that they almost destroy
the leading interest of the State. Voluntary
associations will amount to nothing. After some
further discussion, he ofiSred the following resolu-
tion:—
Resolved, That a memorial be presented to the
General Assembly, asking the enactment of a law
providing : —
1st. That when any person shall own or harbor
more than one dog he shall give bond with surety
in $1 ,000, for all damages done by all dogs he may
keep or harbor.
2d. The owner or harborer shall furnish the
proper stamp for the bond ; the bond shall be taken
by the Assessor, and in default of giving the bond,
the Assessor shall kill the dog.
3d. The Assessor shall receive no pay until he
makes oath that he has performed all his duties
under this law.
4th. In all actions to recover damages for the
sheep killed or injured, the Court shall, in addition
to the damages recovered by the owner, render
judgment for an equal sum to be paid into the
County Treasury, to be appropriated by some just
mode in paying for sheep killed or injured, and in
jjrosecuiing actions against the owners of dogs
for damages to sheep.
5lh. That when the owner of sheep killed or
injured by any dog fails to sue for damages for
three months, ii shall be the duty of the Prosecu-
ting Attorney to sue in the name of the State
when like damages shall be recovered as in cases
where the owner prosecutes, including tlie double
damnges — and the money recovered shall be paid
into the County Treasury.
This drew out a spicy debate which woke all
the late storm-tossed travellers, and gave the Con-
vention a lively appearance. The debate was
arrested by the following more conservative propo-
sition of the Hon. Columbus Delano, late mem-
ber of Congress from Ohio, viz : — " That a Com-
mittee of three be appointed to prepare a bill to
be submitted to the legislature for promoting the
interests of wool-growers, and for protection
against dogs ; and that said Committee memorial-
ize the General Assembly in favor of passing said
bill." This resolution was finally adopted as an
amendment to, and took the place of Judge Law-
rence's resolution. In his remarks urging the
passage of this resolution, Mr. Delano said the
power of the legislature had not been exhausted,
and excellent results might be obtained by further
appeal to it.
Foreign Competition.
Mr. Montgomery offered a resolution, " That
a Committee of three be appointed by the Chair
to draft a petition to be presented to Congress, in
accordance with the resolution passed on the sub-
ject of taxing dogs." While this was under dis-
cussion, Gov. Stanton, late member of Congress
from Ohio, was called for by the President. He
said he had always been in favor of a general
systec;i of protection. Whilst in Congress, he had
interested himself in this subject and investigated
it with all the care with which he was able. The
American wool-grower needs protection on several
accounts, but the principal one is, becau.-^e wool
can be grown in South America, at the Cape of
Good Hope, in Australia, and other warm coun-
tries, cheaper than it possibly can be by our agri-
culturists. Wool costs nothing in those countrii-a
hut what is incurred in collecting the sheep anu
shearing them. They roam at large, require no
feeding or shelter, and multiply with marvellous
rapidity, while our growers are obliged to erect
barns and sheds to protect them from the inclem-
encies of both summer and winter storms. The
season is also so long during which they are kept
from the succulent pasture food, and fed upon dry
hay, that roots and grain are required to carry
them safely through our long and severe winters.
70
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
He was inclined to think that sufficient national
law had been enacted to give the wool-grower all
the protection he could desire, if it were justly
observed. The evil lies in the evasion of the law,
under one pretence or another, or by a wilful in-
fraction of it by designing men,- -and producers
will never reap the benefits which law is intended
to confer, until this evil is remedied. In his ca-
pacity as a national legislator, he had proposed
and urged legal remedies, but they had been de-
feated bu the comjmd and intelligent power which
the manvfaciurer had always hem able to bring to
bear directly upon tlie legislation of the country.
The manufacturer has been uniformly able to ac-
complish this, while the isolated condition of^^jo-
ducers, their want of means and concert of action
—for concert of action on an extended scale can-
not be had without money— has kept them scat-
tered, divided and powerless.
A resolotion submitted by Mr. Green at an
early stage of the session, was called up and
adopted, as follows : —
Besolved, That this Convention recommend to
the Wool-Growers of Ohio, that they form them-
selves into Associations for the purpose of pledo--
mg themselves to put in force the present laws
now upon the Statutes of Ohio, for theprotection
■of sheep.
Sheep "WasMng.
Another subject presented to the Convention by
the Committee appointed for the purpose, is ex-
pressed as follows : —
Resolved, That washing sheep is in itself injuri-
ous to sheep— and is no advantage to wool— and
IS, only made necessary by the present custom of
wool-buyers— and it is highly desirable that a
reform be affected.
It was argued on one side that the wool of Ohio
i^ of too unequal quality to be sent to market
without washing, and that until there is more uni-
formity in the breed of sheep, as well as in tending
them, and handling their wool, the practice of
Mashing should not be abandoned. It was quite
evident that the manufacturer had his friends in
the Convention, to check any radical change that
should affect his particular interests. Much feel-
ing was manifested in this discussion. Mr, Gris-
-syoLD argued strenuously that washing was inju-
rious both to sheep and wool, and denounced the
practice— if it ever existed— of applying any oily
matter to sheep beyond their natural secretions,
in order to give the fleece more weight. This
subject was discussed at different times during
the sittings of the Convention, with much anima-
tion and abihty. What conclusions were reached,
I do not know, as I was not present when it re-
ceived its last touch.
Col. Needham's Address.
On Tuesday evening, an address was delivered
in the Senate Chamber to a large audience of
ladies and gentlemen, by the Hon. Daniel Need-
ham, of Vermont. It was an off-hand, animated,
instructive effort, just such as will gratify an in-
telligent audience. After speaking of the pro-
ductive capacities of the farther West, and of the
industry and thrift of the people of Ohio, he gave
a rapid account of his late visit to the Internaiional
Exldhition, or World's Fair, at Hamburg, to which
he was accredited aa the Commissioner from the
State of Vermont. He briefly related the whole
matter-the design of the exhibition, the nobles
and counts and republicans and shepherds, me-
chanics, plowmen, artists and scholars that were
there,— the agricultural implements, the sheep,
horses and horned cattle, and the manner in which
the judges were elected or appointed, and ho^
they went to work to make up their decisions. It
appears that the award of three premiums to
American sheep gave great dissatisfaction which
found tongue not only among competitors, but in
the public press. This induced Mr. Campbell, the
owner,^ through the Commissioner, to make the
proposition to shear as many other sheep as there
were of the American, and of the same class, and
if they did not then excel in weight of carcass and
quantity of wool, any of their competitors, then
they would yield the palm and relinquish the
prizes ! This proposition was so evidently fair
and honorable that it disarmed all opposition and
the American Sheep and the American men be-
came " the cynosure of all eyes."
Honor to Mr. George Campbell.
In alluding to this result, Col. Needham said :
" The honor of triumph belongs alone to George
Campbell, of Vermont. All America was invited
to the exhibition, and all Americans to contribute
of the wealth of their agricultural industry. Ohio,
with her two millions and a half of people, and
her five million of sheep, all the great East' and
the greater West, of their treasures of mechanical
skill and agricultural production, were invited to
bring their best specimens and compare them with
those gathered from Great Britain and France, and
Germany, and all the wo*rld ! One man alone, of
all the Americans, dared to venture with I'ive
stock— and that man, George Campbell, of
Vermont, took of his own breeding, the result of
his own care and skill, twelve little sheejh and those
little American sheep took the prizes from the
sheep gathered from every other country, and gave
to America an honor that had been denied her by
all the rest of the world, and an honor that Amer-
ica did not even know belonged to her."
In speaking of the samiiles of wool presented at
the Exhibition, Col. Needham said : " There were
none from America but those sent by Nathan
CusHiNG, Esq., of Woodstock, Vt., and that they
elicited a great deal of surprise on account of the
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
extreme length of staple, combined with great
fineness. They were the best samples on exhibi-
tion, and would have received a medal had they
been in sufficient quantity to come within the
limits of the premiums."
He closed his Address by a well-merited tribute
of i)raise to the people of the State of Ohio, and
those of the great Northwest, many of the latter
being in attendance.
Ohio State Board of Agriculture.
On Wednesday, I attended a session of the
State Board of Agriculture, and listened to a dis-
cussion upon the question, whether the State
should accept the proffered aid of the government
towards the establishment of a State Agricultural
College. In the evening, Dr. H. S. Randall,
the author of the recent work on Sheep Ilusbandnj,
delivered an Address on this subject to a large
audience, and including ladies. It abounded in
valuable statistics, and was replete with sound
teachings and a condensed, but clear survey of
many collateral matters which affect this great in-
terest. The Dr. was listened to with profound
attention and evident gratification. This exercise
closed the proceedings of the first Wool- Growers''
Convention of the great State of Ohio. It was
attended, however, by gentlemen from nearly all
the loyal States of the Union.
City of Columbus.
Columbus is a beautiful city. It lies partly on
the banks of the Scioto river, and originally was
a broadly-swelling mound, or hill, which the people
■were unwise enough to cut down. The streets are
very broad, but seemed to me to have no end.
Broad street has four rows of trees, for a great
distance, and is embellished by rich dwellings of
the latest styles of architecture, with highly culti
rated and extensive landscape gardens. The
" Centred Lunatic Asylum, of Ohio," is on this
street, and stands as a monument of honor to the
good people of the State. Dr. Hills, the long-
tried, faithful, and efficient Superintendent, is en-
titled to my cordial thanks and respect, not only
for the affable manner in which he conducted me
through the Institution, but for the exercise of his
skill in restoring my frozen hand to life and action.
A ride to " Camp Chase," four miles out, a look
at the barracks and the rebel prisoners, the return
to the city and thence to the Asylum in the intense
cold, had sent the blood out of some parts of one
hand and left them as white as snow and as "stiff
as a stake.*' Fortunately, the Doctor's restora-
tives, the cold snow, and gentle rubbing, brought
back color and circulation in about half an hour,
80 that I attended him in his round of the halls
and rooms.
Columbus has about 18,000 inhabitants, and is
the Capital of the State. The great national road
— not a rail, but Henry Clay's road — passes
through the city, commencing at Cincinnati and
extending to Indianapolis. I visited the Peniten-
tiary, Imt did not see John Morgan's men. It has
puzzled jjcople to know what his diggers did with
the earth which they excavated, so that none of it
could tell the tale of their doings. In the first
place, they began to pick away the cement floor
and brick work under their beds. When they
got through this, they came to a large, arched air-
chamber, constructed of brick, which passes under
all the cells, and is a part of the system of venti-
lation. Into this, all the excavated earth and
stone were carefully placed, and it was capacious
enough to hold ten times as much more. They
dug under seven different cells at the same time.
John's cell was on the second story. Just before
the time for locking up came, he exchanged with
his brother and took a lower cell. Seven crept
out during the night, two of whom were re-cap-
tured, and the other five, if not dead with hunger
and cold, have probably found their way back to
the charming abodes of rebeldom. The Peniten-
tiary is a fine building, overlooking a large extent
of rich champaign country, bounded by a magnifi-
cent belt of forest trees. It is said that at sun-
setting, the scene from the West is one of unsur-
passed loveliness. The soil is a sandy loam, and
quite rich. I eaw a field of 300 acres, with the
corn standing in shocks upon it, which I was told
by a native of the place, has been planted for
more than fifty years in succession, m corn, with-
out any manure having been applied to the field !
"Want of Thrift.
One might suppose, that in such a prolific soil,
abundantly supplied with several species of the
finest timber, such as, hickory, rock maple, oaks
of several kinds, white wood, or poplar, elms, and
here and there tracts of hemlock, and watered by
frequent and ever-flowing streams, the country
would present the most attractive aspect, and
abound in those minor graces of fruit and flower,
which adorn as well as sustain rural life. But it
is not so. For hundreds of miles as I jiassed
along, I saw very little orcharding, or fruit trees
of any kind, or gardens. The houses for nearly
the entire length of Lake F.rie, are little fifteen
feet by twenty things, with one to five small,
toppling, patched-up sheds, for a j)ig, cow, or
horse, and generally without a barn ! I did not
see half a dozen wood-sheds filled with dry wood,
in the whole distance ! A great many of the
houses are of logs, plastered between, the posts
not more than eight feet high, and ur.painted.
They are rarely enclosed, and are generally sur-
rounded with old stumps, rotten logs, fence rails,
a dilapidated wagon, and one or two dogs! No
garden — no little smooth lawn before the door, —
72
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
MAyiCH
no palings — no shed crammed with dry fuel for
such a season as this — no, r.othing, whatever, in-
dicating that the people possessing this generous
soil are an intelligent, industrious and thrifty
people. Cattle all along the way were roaming
the barren fields, browsing on dry weeds or decay-
ing wheat stubble, and shivering in the cutting
blast. Many of them were standing, gradually
contracting their limbs as if to make the last
plunge to mother earth. How they are sustained
is a mystery. I saw few stacks either of hay or
straw. The corn-fodder is generally left in the
field. Sometimes the cattle were there, over-
turning the shocks and trampling upon what they
did not eat.
I am aware that the portions of country over
which I passed, on the rail road, may not be of so
good soil, or so highly cultivated, as they are on
the county roads, — that is generally the case, —
but the indications, all along, even in the villages,
did not suggest a considerable degree of refine-
ment, intelligence, or thrift. This cannot be the
fact, however, in many portions of the State of
Ohio ; for underlying all this, is a colossal power,
which is making itself felt more and more every
day. It has had a Legislature but fifty-six years,
and yet has 2,500,000 people !
Among the timber the Black Walnut abounds,
and is frequently found seven to ten feet in diam-
eter. The Elm is a forest tree, and runs up as
straight as an arrow to a great height. The white,
or yellow pine, is rarely found in this region.
Beech is plentiful. The cultivation of pear trees
has scarcely found its way here yet. Some per-
sons have introduced the dwarfs into their gardens,
and with such success as to encourage further
effort. Apples seemed to be plenty — at least they
were in the baskets of all the " hucksters " about
the streets, and in those of the boys who came
into the cars to sell.
I have greatly enjoyed my visit here, although
under such benumbing circumstances. The cold
is intense. Thermometer 12*^ below zero. The
storm that came in with the New Year, still con-
tinues to rage. Trains are everywhere delayed,
and passengers farther west are sufi"ering terribly.
But I ought not to close my letter without
expressing my warmest thanks to our mutual
friend, John G. Neil, Esq., of this city, for the
kindest attentions, from himself and his interest-
ing family during my entire stay here. He is the
proprietor of a large property here, in which is
included a farm of six hundred acres, a portion of
which lies within the city limits. I could not go
over it at such a season, but hope to at some future
time. With a warm heart, but awful cold every-
where else, I am, Truly Yours,
Simon Brown.
BAD EFFECTS OP IRRIGATION.
In consequence of the long season during which
no rain falls in California, it was supposed that
irrigation would prove to be the one thing need-
ful in that State. For this purpose artesian wells
were dug, and, in connection with mining, expen-
sive canals were built, and water was very exten-
sively used by farmers and gardeners. At first
the result was quite satisfactory, and much was
published in the papers of that State of the al-
most miraculous effects of irrigation on the varied
productions of the soil, from garden vegetables to
fruit trees. We read these statements with much
interest, and must acknowledge that it is with
feelings of regret and disappointment that we now
find the practice generally condemned by the best
cultivators of California, where, it will be remem-
bered, the seasons are divided into wet and dry,
and consequently but little or no rain falls there
for several months in succession.
In a late article upon this subject, the editor of
the California Farmer states that fever and ague
and kindred diseases are this year unusually prev-
alent, and do not yield as formerly to medicines,
and expresses the belief that irrigation is promi-
nent among the causes of the present wide-spread
sickness in that State. Innumerable ditches, res-
ervoirs and canals, he says, have flooded great ex-
tents of the surface, for both mining and irriga-
tion, leaving the soil in a fit condition to yield its
malarious influences to the action of sun and air
upon its superabundant moisture and vegetable
matter. We copy the following from a late num-
ber of the California Farmer :
We are also confident that the fruit and vege-
tables raised on irrigated lands are not only not
as good and nutritious as those otherwise grown,
but that they are absolutely unhealthy, and the
eating them tends to produce the very disease
which we now lament.
Any one who has given that careful attention
that we have done, in noting the quality of fruit
and vegetables, grown with or without irrigation,
cannot but have found that there is a vast differ-
ence in the two classes ; that grown without irri-
gation being fully ripe, rich, luscious and beauti-
ful, while that grown by irrigation is seldom fully
ripe, and the juices being cold and watery, with-
out flavor, and the effect upon the stomach not
satisfactory.
There can be no question in our mind of the
injurious effect of such fruit and vegetables upon
health. We would call attention of all persons
who buy and sell fruits, and those who buy for
use, to the fact that all fruits grown on irrigated
orchards are the first to decay. They seem to
melt away, a mass of watery substance, while fruit
not irrigated keeps for weeks, and when they do
decay, it is by a slow process, or dry rot.
Vegetables, too, raised by irrigation, will not
keep. Cabbages hastily grown, as hastily perish.
They mold and melt away a mass of jelly, and so
with squashes, and other garden stuff thus grown.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
73
This is not the case with produce raised in an in-
telligent manner, by careful, constant cultivation,
that will always give to the articles the nutrition
of the soil, needed for the develoiment of their
several juices and properties, to make them not
only palatable but healthful.
Irri<,Mtion is one of the most serious mistakes
that are now prevalent among the tillers of the
soil in California, and this mistake arises from
sheer ignorance of the nature of the soil and cli-
mate, ar d many injurious effects of irrigation,
both upon the soil and the products raised by ir-
rigation.
Could those who believe in and now practice
the erroneous system of irrigation, but give a lit-
tle of their waste time to visiting their neighbor-
ing cultivators who are non-irrigators, or visit
other counties, where orchards and vineyards are
in the highest state of cultivation and prosperity
iffilhont irrigation, we should hope they might be
be led to correct their mistake.
KNOWLEDGE — ITS BENEFITS TO THE
FARMER.
The field of knowledge is infinite. Whether
it be of professional knowledge, or of that which
has no immediate application to the professional
or idustrial pursuits of man, it is so vast and va-
ried that no man is competent, and no life suffi-
cient, but for the attainment of a small portion
of it. So much as is attained by the rnost learned
is only as a sand on the shore, or a drop in the
ocean, compared to the whole field of knowledge.
Mr. Preston, one of the most eminent lawyers
in England of our day, devoted himself, as the
lawyers of that country do, exclusively to the
study and practice of one department of the law,
— that relating to real estate, or the branch of
law called by the lawyers the "real law." He was
the author ol several treatises on that part of law,
considered the most accurate and It^arned among
those written in that department. Yet, after thir-
ty years' practice, and having won an enviable
reputation as a jurist by the publication of his
works, he said that he did not comprehend fully
the real law of England.
The man is not living in Massachusetts, — he
has never lived there, — who has fully comprehend-
ed the whole volume of the knowledge that is
contained in a blade of grass, or in a small piece
of stone, or lump of earth. Yet are there many
among our farmers who consider a suggestion
that there are things in their art to be learned by
them, as entitled merely to derision. So it is
with other men in all the walks of life. Lawyers
who have not a tithe of the knowledge to which
Mr. Preston had attained in the "real law," would
not speak so humble of their knowledge as he
did, —nor would they think so disparagingly of it.
The first step in the acquisition of knowledge
is to lay aside this delusive idea that there is
nothing to be learned — and in no art or pursuit is
it so necessary as in agriculture ; for the reasons*
Jirst, that the area of knowledge and science in-
volved in that art is more extensive, varied and
vast than in any other, — and, second, that the
store of knowledge is of recent collection, and
that vast accessions have been made to it since
the birth of farmers now in life. Among these
are the structures of the various organs of plants,
their functions, the secretions, modes of germina-
tion, vegetation and annual increase and deca-
dence, the elements of which they are composed,
the fact that all these elements exist in the earth,
that they are absorbed by the plant for its suste-
nance, and that inorganic mineral matter is there-
by converted into organized vegetable substance,
— that such vegetable substance has life and is
subject, like the animals, to disease, and endowed
with the faculty of reproduction by a mode simi-
lar to the continuation of the animal races.
THE AGRICULTURAIi REPORT.
The Agricultural Department will soon issue
the report for the month of jXovember, 18G3. As
the interval between these reports has been too
short to allow correspondents to properly gather
the information desired, they will hereafter be is-
sued every two months only. This will also allow
mature consideration of the statistical informa-
tion embodied in the returns, and thus add still
further to their value. We have as yet seen only
a brief synopsis of the report, as follows :
This report contains an article from the Com-
missioner of Agriculture, stating the matters es-
sential to perfecting the plan of these reports.
These are, first, procuring a sufficient basis on
which estimates of the crops from year to year
can be made, and to determine the progress of the
other industrial pursuits. This basis must be a
well systemaiized census every fifth year. On
such a basis he is satisfied that coi rect estimates
can be made through the information of corres-
pondents in every country. Secondly, he asks
power to extend this correspondence, so as to em-
brace statistics a])pertaining to manufactures and
commerce, as well as to agricultuie, outheground
that these industrial pursuits are so intertwined
us to be inseparable. The value of agricultural
products depends on the home market created by
manufactures and commerce, and a knowledge of
these is essential to determining the demand for
these products. As the foreign market also ma-
terially influences this value, a knovvL dge of the
condition of the English crops, from lime to time,
and of those countries which supply the markets
of Great Britain with breadstufis, is necessary,
and hence he asks to be placed in communication
with our Consuls, that through them this informa-
tion may be obtained.
In connection with these subjects, the Commis-
sioner advocates the necessity of hereafter estab-
lishing a Bureau of Statistics, as a part of the
Agricultural Department, for the reason that, hav-
ing a regular monthly correspondence in every
county of the Union, it can command the services
of persons well trained in collecting statistics,
74
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
•and who appreciate their objects; that hence,
neither the delay, nor errors, nor expenses, will
be attendant on a census taken by this Depart-
ment, which has characterized the decade census ;
and that, as this Department alone has special
cognizance of the interest of the industrial pur-
suits, all matters, such as the census, which al-
most exclusively belong to these pursuits, should
come under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Agriculture,
The tables of this report refer more to sustain-
ing the soil by the use of proper manures and
deep plowing than to the condition of the crops ;
but in this connection is stated the amount of the
clover seed crop for 1863, in nine of the principal
clover seed producing States — the omitted States
raising but little. The crop is as follows :
"WAR AND AQRICULTCJRE,
BY JUDGE TRENCH.
Clover Seed Crop for 1863 in Nine States.
1859 837,109 bushels.
1862 1,034,790 "
1863 806,458 "
Being a decrease in the last year's crop of 228,-
332 bushels, or 28 per cent. This decrease was
caused by drought, the scarcity of fodder and hay,
and the severity of the fall frosts.
The report shows the great utility of plaster as
a manure, sown on clover in June, and the entire
growth turned under for wheat in the fall. The
necessity of establishing manufactories of bone
charcoal at slaughtering-houses, for refining sor-
ghum molasses, and using it afterwards as ma-
nure, is also shown.
The reliability of the information obtained by
the Department through its correspondents, is re-
ferred to in the present condition of the pork
trade, and as predicted by the Department. The
exports of breadstuffs and provisions are given,
with their prices in New York on the first instant :
also, the general imports and exports ; the proper
mode of stating these, by taking from the amount
of exports of produce the diff'erenee between gold
and currency; the perplexity arising from a want
of a uniform system of weights and measures in
England, and the necessity of Congressional ac-
tion on this subject in the United States.
Congress prints 120,000 copies of the Annual
Agricultural Report, and 15,000 copies of the
monthly report, yet these inadequately supply the
public wants, and hence the Commissioner ad-
vises a trial of the English plan of distributing
public documents — to sell them at cost. The
present cost of the Annual Agricultural Report is
sixty cents. Collections and orders could be sent
from every county through the regular correspon-
dent of the department.
The Meteorological part of the Report is more
full and interesting than heretofore given. The
same severity that has marked the climate of the
Mississippi since July still continues, although,
generally, the weather has been favorable on all
the fall sown crops and for farm stock and labor.
The Hop Crop.— The Inspector General of
hops reports the following, as the amount of hops
inspected in the State during the past year: First
sort, 518 bales, 97,800 lbs. ; second sort, 32 bales,
5,756 lbs. ; refuse, 30 bales, 5,749 lbs. ; total,
580 bales, 109,303 lbs. In 1862, the amount in-
spected was 319 bales, 57,410 lbs.
Betrospect of the Year 1863.
The changes affecting the interests of agricul-
ture and kindred pursuits during the past year
are worthy of the careful study of all who are
making or intend to make the culture of the earth,
or the growth of live stock the business of life.
The war and its results are as much the business
of the farmer as of the soldier. The great ques-
tions of the demand and supply of provisions, of
horses, of clothing, all immediately affect the pro-
ducer. The withdrawal and diversion of labor
from the soil, by the employment of our sons and
brothers in the army or in service connected with
the army, comes home at once to our farms and
our firesides. The breaking up of the great sys-
tem of involuntary service at the South, the sale
of estates for taxes, the desolation of large por-
tions of the States which have been the scenes of
active army operations, all are opening new fields
for the ambition of our young northern farmers,
and offering problems difficult of solution to the
land owners of the whole country. Of these
great changes it is our duty to take thought, early
and carefully, that we may so direct our agricul-
tural engines as to produce the best results both
for ourselves and our country.
Agriculture our Strength.
When the rebellion broke out, and without
even waiting for the arrival in England of our new
minister, ]\4r. Adams, the British government at
once joined with France in acknowledging the
Confederates as belligerents, and there is no doubt
that throughout the first two years of the war,
both the governments referred to expected, if they
did not also intend, that the rebellion would be
successful. The Southern idea that cotton was
king, and that, in some way, cotton must be sup-
plied from America to Europe, took possession of
the leading minds of the British government, and
of the only mind of any importance in France,
that of the emperor. Much, however, as France
and England needed cotton to employ their labor-
ers, they needed bread far more to feed them.
The parliamentary returns of Great Britain for
the year 1801, show that in that year she import-
ed of wheat, flour, and Indian corn, alone, one
hundred and six millions of bushels, 48 per cent,
of which, or nearly one-half, came from this
country.
The New York trade tables show that for the
year ending Sept. 1, 1862, we exported to Europe
more than fifty-two miUion bushels of wheai, flour
and Indian corn, equal to one hundred and forty-
two thousand bushels every day in the year!
Again, the British board of trade reports, that
in the ten months ending October 31, 1862, Great
Britain received of the United States, produce
amounting in value to eighty-seven and a half
million dollars, which is more than $290,000 per
day forall that time, and the amount for the same
period in 1861 was not six millions less.
Our contributions of food to England were not
charity, but merely trade, but in 1861 and 1862,
there was really no market in the world where
England could have procured her supply of food,
had war suddenly broke out between that country
and America. Her statesmen are wise and far-
sighted, and it seems manifest, when we remem-
1864.'
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
75
ber the feeling existing in that government in fa-
vor of the South, that nothing but the apprehen-
sion of a want of food, occasioned by a rupture
•with the United States, prevented England from
interfering with the blockade, and so producing
war, for the sake of obtaining cotton. Now, bet-
ter counsels prevail there, and it is sincerely hoped
that the peace which was preserved through mo-
tives of policy, may ever in future be maintained
through mutual recognition of the rights of na-
tions and the rights of man.
Cotton.
Prior to ISGl, of all the cotton manufactured in
England, it was for several years found that 75
per cent, came from the United States. It is es-
timated that in 1860 only I'-'i per cent, of the vast
quantity of a thousand million pounds of cotton
used in England was supplied from all other conu-
Iries, 87^ per cent, being imported from the Unit-
ed States.
This enormous supply was suddenly almost en-
tirely cut off by our civil war, and the blockade of
the Southern ports. No statement of the impor-
tations of cotton into England in 1861 is at hand,
but it is estimated that the whole amount from all
sources, in 1862, was but four-tenths of the usual
quantity, and of this only 4^, per cent., instead of
85 per cent, as formerly, came from this country.
The effect of the sudden failure of the supply of
cotton to English manufacturers, may be imagined
from the foregoing statement. There is no doubt
that more real distress has been produced in Eng-
land by our civil war, so far as regards the neces-
saries of life, than anywhere in the Northern,
States. By the reports of the Central Executive
Relief Committee of Manchester, England, it ap-
pears that about 300,000 of the best work-people
of that country, were in April, 1863, after sixteen
months idleness, still out of employment. These
•were cotton operatives.
The number receiving relief from communities
and parishes at that time, was a little above 360,-
000, with no reasonable prospect of immediate re-
duction. That the British nation should have
been roused almost to desperation at such a con-
dition of affairs, coming upon its people with no
fault of their own, is noi strange. That the suf-
fering class, the operatives themselves, should in-
stinctively have sympathised with the North, while
their government sympathised with the South, is
both strange and true.
Leaving England to take care of her own trou-
bles, and test the various plans of relief for her
starving people, of which the most prominent are
employment on public works, emigration and
charitable support till cotton is again supplied, let
us return to our inquiry into the effect of these
changes in the cotton trade and culture upon
American agriculture. At60 cents a pound, which
cotton has of late commanded, and which is about
five times its price in the years preceding the war,
and by great exertions of British capitalists the
supply of cotton from other countries has greatly
increased, and no doubt a sufficient quantity may
be produced at present prices to supi)ly the world.
But some day, we trust not far distant, peace will
return to our shores, and the best cotton growing
country in the world will again be open to culti-
vation. Most of us believe that slavery has al-
ready received at the hands of its friends, its death
wound, but whether it live or die, the Southern
country must be open to cultivation by somebody.
Under sales for taxes, as in the Sea Island ; by
confiscation, as in Louisiana ; by the death of the
former owners in battle, and by the dissipation of
their property, which was principally in slaves and
lands, and burdened with debt, it is plain that to
a large extent tlie cotton lands must come under
a new ownership. Whether free labor can at once
be organized so as to produce cotton at old prices,
is not the question ; but that at doul)le or triple
those prices, northern men with white free labor
even, can make fortunes in cotton growing, can-
not be doubtful.
Already Massachusetts men and Massachusetts
capital are going to the Sea Islands, purchasing
at nominal prices the most valuable cotton lands
in the world, oranizing tlie freedmeii into families
and villages, and paying in the first year's exper-
iment all expenses, and the price of their land.
They who believe our government can protect its
citizens in their occupation there, may consider
those lands open to them to enter upon. They
who believe that Mr. Jefferson Davis and his
friends will soon establish their dominion with its
peculiar institution, over the South, had much
better remain under such vines and fig trees as at
present shelter them at the North. — Country Gen-
tleman.
CLOVER HAY FOR HORSES.
We have somehow grown up into the belief that
clover hay is not a good feed for horses, mostly
because it takes a large quantity to supply the
"requisite nutriment and consequently di.stefids the
bowels of the horse to an uncomfortable size for
a working animal, while the concentrated nutri-
ment of clean timothy hay and oats is not liable
to this objection. As a diet for invalid horses,
clover hay may be well enough. Dr. R. McClure,
of Philadelphia, a veterinary surgeon of good re-
pute, takes ground in favor of clover hay for
horses in the following article, which he has con-
tributed to the Cultnrist. We shall not now dis-
pute with the doctor, but look the matter over and
see if we can be convinced of the truth of his po-
sitions.— Oldo Cultivator.
There is at present an endemic disease in the
horses in this city, [Philadelphia,] one of its chief
characteristics being an almost complete loss of
appetite, at least so far as partaking of the ordi-
nary timothy hay, oats and corn are concerned.
But the sick horse will eat clover hay, and unfor-
tunately that cannot be had in any stable in Phil-
adelphia, if it be not where cows are kept. Why
is this the case ? Simply because there is a pre-
judice existing among all classes of horsemen, and
from them communicated to the owners of horses,
against feeding this kind of hay. First, because
it is said that clover hay produces heaves, and sec-
ondly, because it is said that it is not respectable
to be seen feeding with clover hay, as it looks par-
simonious. These opinions concerning this article
of food are so widely and firmly fixed in the mind
of almost every groom and stableman, as well as
horse owner, in Philadelphia, that I believe it has
been the cause why most farmers are not found
giving it cultivation to the extent that it ought to
be, or as its superiority as an article of provender
, demands. Let us now examine, in brief, the ob-
i jections that are laid against it. It is said it will
76
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Makch
produce heaves in horses. The idea is false as
well as preposterous. It possesses no greater
agency in producing such an effect upon horses,
or any other animal, than is possessed in common
by any other article of food. If broken wind is
produced by an article of food, it certainly is not
from the food, but from the quantity that is given.
In like manner heaves may be caused by too great
a quantity of water, oats, corn, or any kind of hay
whatever, given at an improper time, as when the
animal has a journey to perform. In a word, it is
the person's fault in giving too much food at an
improper time, and not the character of the food
that thus produces heaves in the horse. The man
who, when feeding a horse, would fill its manger
with oats and corn, would not be considered a
very fit man to feed and care for horses, neither
is that man who would fill a large rack full of
clover hay ; as the animal will not stop eating un-
til it has hurt itself, or has eaten every blade of
clover before it ; as every horse is fond of it, and
as before stated, sick' horses will eat it when they
will not eat anything else. Without another word
the argument is complete.
Good clover hay contains forty-five per cent,
more fattening matter than timothy hay, and
about forty per cent, more than the English rye
grass hay ; about ten per cent, less than dried
lupins or vetches, which are now extensively used
in Europe for the feeding of both horses and cat-
tle. Such is a brief statement of the peculiar,
profitable, and I may as well say palatable advan-
tages accruing from the feeding of horses, as well
as other animals, on clover hay in preference to
any other hay in use in feeding and fattening.
THE
Ji'oT tke New England Fanner.
SCHOOL.
How can time be saved, in the Common School, for the intro-
duction of studies which shall expressly prepare for the labors
and duties of active life .''
The most important thing done in any school
is learning to read. He who learns to read and
to love reading opens a path to all knowledge, all
philosophy, all wisdom, and an inexhaustible foun-
tain of delight and improvement for the whole of
his life. Learning to read is, at the same time,
the most difficult thing that is ever attempted ;
so difficult that good reading, in the pulpit, in
the lecture room, or in the parlor, is one of the
rarest as it is one of the most delightful of all ac-
complishments. This ought not to surprise us,
•when we consider that, to make a perfectly good
reader are required, as gifts from nature, a q*ick
eye, a clear, strong, sweet, flexible and melodious
voice, and strong sense, together with good judg-
ment, taste and feeling. To these must be added,
by the care of the teacher, delicate and exact enun-
ciation, full utterance, correct pronunciation, and
a knowledge of accent and emphasis ; in short, the
perfect management and modulation of the voice,
and the power of giving full and natural expres-
sion to the various emotions. To this end, the
good sense and power of judging must be highly
educated, improved by thought and knowledge,
and the taste must be rendered delicate and re-
finedby long-continued and careful cultivation.
With all these attainments, to read, with pro-
priety, any particular passage, there are necessar-
ily required a complete understanding of the sub-
ject, the circumstances and the occasion to which
it relates, sympathy with the purpose of the writ-
er, and a delicate sense, at once of the pathetic
and the ludicrous, the humorous and the witty.
It is with reason, therefore, that for the attain-
ment of an end so desirable, a costly apparatus
should be employed and a vast deal of time ex-
pended. The cost of reading books is, in many
cases, one of the largest items in the expense of
the common school, — and the time devoted to this
branch is much longer than that spent in any oth-
er exercise.
If the end were attained, this expenditure would
be well made. If the time devoted to reading
gave the knowledge, the maturity of judgment,
the cultivation and refinement of taste of which I
have spoken, the time would be most profitably
spent. It is notorious that it does not. The end
is not attained. In the circumstances of the pu-
pil, it is usually unattainable.
These powers can be highly educated only by
resolute, long-continued, voluntary study ; by the
study of subjects which require close attention, se-
vere thought, careful comparison, and by extensive
reading, and giving a great variety of knowledge.
It is commonly found that the best readers ia
school are among those who are most highly edu-
cated at home, by those in whom the love of read-
ing has been most successfully cultivated, and
who are, in consequence, eager devourers of poe-
try, romance, biography, travels, history. Such
readers raise themselves to the power of compre-
hending and appreciating the beautiful selections
in which our school reading books abound. For
many of the text-books for reading, prepared for
our common schools, are admirable as selections
of the finest things in the language. The objec-
tions to thein are that they are not suited to' the
object aimed at, they are far too high for the
average attainments of the pupils, and the vol-
umes are two or three times too numerous. For
the mere art of reading, one or two volumes,
made completely familiar, would do more than
the five or six or seven volumes now do.
As it now is, a boy reads, in his class, a few of
the lessons in a volume, and looks over, without
perfectly understanding, other pieces. He goes
goes into another class, and gives up his old book
and gets a new one, to be abandoned, at the end
of the year, in the same manner. — If the old book
were continued until each pupil could read very
well each lesson it contains, much better reading
would be attained than can be by the present prac-
tice of giving up, year after year, volumes ven/ im-
perfectly understood and learned, and going to
new ones.
It is true that an accomplished teacher, who
has the knowledge and can give the time necessa-
ry for it, may, by diligent instruction, qualify his
class to understand and to read any of the choice
passages in the selections contained in his read-
ing book. And this is sometimes done very sat-
isfactorily and with beautiful eff'ect.
But it is a sad foct that many of our teachers
have not the requisite knowledge, nor the books
which would supply it. And it is certain that
very few of the teachers of the country schools
can, in the press of many pupils and many les-
sons, find the time to consult the books, if they
have them, or can often manage to make the op-
portunity to give the necessary instruction, if
they have the knowledge. If they can do this
J J
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
77
for a very few of the most valuable selections,
they deserve great credit. And when it has been
thoroughly done for a rich and beautiful passage
or selection, how much better would it be for the
class to be exercised upon it, until each individual
•were able to read it naturally, with feeling and
with power, then to leave it, after one or two read-
ings, and hasten on to new lessons, which the
teacher has no time to make the class understand
and feel, and which can only by accident be read
well.
I say nothing of the effect, upon the mind, of
reading without understanding, and, therefore,
without inquiry or thought ; of the risk of getting
false impressions, instead of correct opinions and
an exact knowledge of facts ; or of the danger of
forming the pernicious habit of superficial and de-
sultory reading. I can only intimate some of the
considerations which belong to this important
subject. But have I not said enough to make it
probable that the power of reading well may bi^
better attained from often reading a few passages
perfectly understood and felt, than from volumes
hurried over and very imperfectly learned ?
Let whoever wishes to form opinions for him-
self upon tliis matter, visit, without previous no-
tice, any of the schools nearest him, and listen to
the reading. He will have to conclude, I fear,
that, in at least two cases out of three, the chil-
dren are allowed to read with so little true com-
prehension and feeling of the passages read, that
any amount of such reading can do very little
towards enlarging and maturing the mind, and
thus making good, thoughtful readers ; and that
at least one-half of the lime now spent, in read-
ing would be better employed in somethii g else.
G. B. E.
EXTKACTS AND REPLIES.
MOWINO MACHINES.
Will you or some one of yournnmerons subscribers
have I lie kindness to inform nic, througli the Farmer,
if you know of a better moiving machine than the
Buckeye, made at Worcester ? A Slbscuiber.
CJtarlton, Jan., 18C4.
ECONOMY OF STEAMING PODDER.
I write to £;,nn information thvough the columns of
your paper, in regard to steaming tbdder fur a herd of
cattle, ^v c ;ill very well know tliat hay, >traw or corn-
fodder run tlirongh a hay cutter, wet, and then sprin-
kled over wi li meal, iini)r(jvcs ii very much But wc
do nut all kiH;w huw much Inciter sicaincd fodder is
for our herds than dry. I am interested to know how
much per cent, is added to the value of hay or fodder
by steaming it and feeding it witliout meal. Perhaps
some of the readers of the Farmer sream the fodder
for their s:ock of cattle this winter, and can give the
desired information ; also, the expense of jiutting in
steam works cap.ible of steaming 1000 pounds ut a
time, and the cost per day, of running the same. If
eteani works can be used at an advantage by farmers
here in New England, I hope some one who has tried
the operaijon will cnlighlen the rest of us, who arc
now in the dark, as towlic her it is protitablc to steam
the fodder tor a stock of c iti le or not. M. w.
North Leominster, Jan. 5, 1864.
Remauks. — Boiling or steaming food for hogs is
generally practiced by the best farmers throughout
the country ; but to a limited extent onl", either in
this country or England, do they cook the fodder f(jr
cattle, horses and sheep. In the agricultural books
and j )urnals of Europe, and in the articles of writers
in our own country who take their ideas from them,
or boiling the hay, and straw, and roots, and grain
which make up the food of the farm stock. In "Ste-
phens' Book of the Farm" wc find cuts and descriptions
of two sets of "steamers," one costing !gi47 to .$63, and
the other from !g;50 to $100. But a Mr. llorsfall, of
England, whose statement of his own success in steal-
ing food for milch cows, has been cxten-<ive!y copied
by editors of books and papers in this country, may,
in the language of the day, be denominated, "the
father of steaming." In the Monthly Farmer of Janu-
ary, 1857, (Vol. IX., p. 12,) we gave a brief synopsis of
his system. It is published at length in Flint's "Trea-
tise on Milch Cows and Dairy Farming." To these we
would refer our correspondent. We may, however,
remark that one of the leading objects with ?>Ir. Hors-
fall, in steaming food, is to make his stock cat straw,
rape-cake, &c., which they will not do when offered
alone. It is a deserved compliment to the grain for
which our country is distinguished, that Jlr. Uorsfall
considers Indian meal the most fattening food he can
get. Nearly thirty years ago we called, one cold win-
ter's evening, at the log cabin of a Michigan pioneer,
and while warming ourselves at the blazing lire of logs
piled against one side of the room, of course, a wall of
rough stones, we noticed that something w.is covered
by the hot embers, and were told that they found it
economical to bake bread for their hard-working ox-
en, which they were then doing in loaves of corn meal
about as large as a "half l>ushel." In conclusion we
will say that we do not suppose that a large per cent.
is added I'y steaming, to the value of fodder ; although
its nutritive substance may be made more avaible by
cooking. But whether enough more so to pay, is the
question not yet decided in the affirmative by the prac-
tice of our best farmers.
SAVE TOUR COAL ASHES.
It has been my cu.- torn to get, all the coal ashes that
I could and put it around my trees. In the tir^i place,
it keeps the mice from eaiing the bark, or girdling
them, in the winicr, when snow is on the ground ; in the
next place, it saves me the trouble of digging around
my trees ; and in the third place, it keeps the ground
free from weeds and grass, and loose. I have used
coal ashes several years and by putting a wheelbarrow
load to a tree, my trees thus treated <'o better than
others do by digging around and manuiiiig them. It
keeps (iff virmin, borers and other injurious insects.
Spriw/ Grove, Jan., 18G4. S. A. Shurti-eff.
Remai.'Ks. — A friend of ours who has had much ex-
perience in the cultivation of grapes, puts a high val-
ue on coal ashes, as an ingredient in his compost for
the soil in which his grapes are planted.
bump's p.\tent atmo.sphehic chuiin.
Since publishing the expose, by "Vi.itur," of this
humbug, we have received several communications
from vic;ims of theswmd'e, which agree so f(dly with
his statements, as to make their publication unneces-
sary. Not onljithc manner of its introduction, bat
the churn itself is represented as a fraud and an im-
position.
A MoN.sTEU Hon. — .lohn W. Copeman, of Cay-
uga county, State of New York, has a cross-bred
hog, stated to have weighed in May last 1120
pounds, in September 1249 pounds, in October
1276 pounds, and in December he weighed 1340
pountis, and has been growing rapidly since, and
will probably now weigh 1400 pounds, llis breed
is said to he Leicester and SufTolti with a slight
t8
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
For the Hew En^favd Farmer,
STBAY HINTS FROM MY KITCHEN.
Being in season, or more properly not being in
eeason, is one of the greatest trials a woman has.
Now, young wife, allow me to give you a few
hints about this matter. Hurry your "work, but
don't let your work hurry you. Do to-day's work
to-day — don't let it go until to-morrow. Com-
mence getting dinner half an hour too early rath-
er than five minutes too late — for what woman
wants her "better half and all the hired men
Bitting round, while she is dishing up the dinner,
and wondering what makes her so flushed and
nervous ?
Who would not be nervous to know a scowl
■was on the brow of the lord of the house and no
sentiment of pity lurked in his heart for the poor
tired wife, just because she was belated. Man
never will pity a woman who is behindhand — so
let me say again, be in season. Do things right.
Some wives seem to act as though they thought if
a thing was done, no matter hoiv it was done.
Remember the old adage, "Whatever is worlh do-
inrj, is worth doing well." Let your meals be al-
ways nicely prepared, and your food well cooked,
even if your husband is an "easy man," as I have
heard wives say, and never "iinds fault." If a
man never comjjlains, it need not be taken for
granted that lie is suited wirh anything, no matter
how poor. Man has much penetration, and knows
even better than some women suppose when
things are done in "apple ])ie order." He may
not openly complain, but he feels more for saying
less.
If soup is the order for dinner, let it be smtp,
not a mixed mass of meat, bones, potatoes and
water. Don't throw the ingredients into a jiot,
boil them up a spell and pour them out expecting
to find a dish worthy the taste of an epicure. To
cook well, and make palatable food, great pains
must be taken, and strict attention paid to the
work. We cannot stand in the street door and
gossip half an hour and expect all things to work
right in the kitchen. We cannot sit down to read
a fascinating book an hour and find the soup all
seasoned for the table, when the monitorial clock
rings out the hour of noon. No, no ; we must
attend patiently to our work, and little by little
find it to be right. The proper way of making
soup is thus :
Put the meat into cold water and set it over a
slow firt that it may boil gradually ; by that means
the goodness is extracted. Pare your potatoes
and half or quarter them — not slice them. Slice
onions, if they are used, and put in when you do
the potatoes. Season the soup before you put in
the potatoes, by putting in pejjper and salt and
tasting till found right. After the potatoes and
onions begin to boil, lightly drop the dumplings
upon the top, and cover the pot closely that the
steam may cook them. The nicest way to make
them is to take one pint of flour, one teaspoonful
of cream tartar, one-half teaspoonful soda dis-
solved in hot water, a little salt, and milk enough
to wet them up. ]\Like them still'; divide the'm
into about four dumplings, and if good they will
be plenty for a fomily of four or five. Don't cook
them more than twenty or twenty-five minutes.
_ Make a soup exactly according to these direc-
tions and you will have the satisfaction of know-
ing it is i/ood—ii no one else speaks of it. Thus
It is with all our labors ; if we do well, we know
it ourselves, if others do not seem to. Have a
rule for doing everything, which rule you can ob-
tain by marking how you do a thing one time
when wrong and doing different till perfect, re-
membering only the perfect trial. There is a mo-
notony about woman's work that is very tirint*
and discouraging. Day after day and week after
week, she must go over the same routine of duty,
and she must indeed be a poor pupil who cannot
learn to do well. S.\RAH.
Remarks.— Excellent. It is wonderful how
smoothly and pleasantly life passes along when a
proper regard is paid to all the little details of our
business, whether it be in the construction of an
oration, the building of a house or a ship, or mak-
ing a good soup or loaf of bread. Read this brief
article, girls, as it may tend to secure a life-time
of domestic happiness. The comforts of a life
have often hung on a more slender thread than
this. When our correspondent speaks of the
special duties of men, we may take the liberty to
speak as freely of them.
For the New England Farmer.
CARE OF SHEEP— CURE FOR DISEASES.
Mr. Editor : — Being engaged in sheep hus-
bandry, I am interested in everything that per-
tains to the health of the flock as being the foun-
dation, the grand secret of success and profit.
If the flo<;k is diseased, in vain does the shep-
herd bestow care, and attention, and good keep-
ing, for surely the enterprise will prove a failure.
To the inquiry of "Constant Reader," as to the
cause of his sheej) having sore eyes and sore
mouths, I think the first cause is humors in the
blood. The past season has been one unsuited
to the constitution and habits of the sheep ; they
do best when the season is dry and warm.
Their tastes leading them to browse, and the
almost continual wet weather of the past fall, and
exposure, produce irritation of the eyes and lips,
consequently inflammation and a bad state of the
blood ensue, causing the eruption or scab on the
lips which resemble warts.
I would give ihi m salt, regularly, once a week.
Good Turk's Island salt, two quarts to the bun-
dled, and more if they will eat it. Once in two
weeks add half a \ni\t of sulphur to the hundred
to cleanse the blood.
For the sore eyes wash with a weak solution of
copperas water. It is also the best remedy to al-
lay inflammation on horses I ever tried.
For the sore lips tar and sulphur is a sure cure.
At this season tlie tar will need to be warmed ;
then mix in the sulj)hur; not so much but that
you can apply it to the aflTected parts with a stick.
One thorough apj)lication usually cures. Be-
smearing liberally with the tar the noses and lips
of the entire flock at shearing and again in Au-
gust, will prevent the disorder. Salting regular-
ly once a week, summer and winter, with an oc-
casional dose of sulphur, will make sure the health
of sheep, with plenty of good keeping and not
exposed to diseased flocks.
Gardner Herrick.
South Beading, Vt., 1864.
58(5«.
NEW ENGLAND F.\IIMER,
79
For the -NVif England FarrHer.
ABOUT NEW YOBK FKUIT TREES.
In the Farmer of January 2d, C. F. Lincoln, of
"Woodstock, Vt., inquires whether apple trees from
the New York nurseries are as good for setting
in the Eastern Sutes as those raised near home.
My observations on the subject have not been ex-
tensive enough, perhaps, to warrant general state-
ments, but for the benefit of Mr. L. and others
who may be about planting an orchard, I will com-
municate what I know respecting the fate of West-
em trees planted in this vicinity. Two years
since, a number of hundred apple trees and some
pear trees were set in the writers immediate
neighborhood from the Rochester inirseries. They
arrived about the second week of November, i
properly packed and neatly labeled, and were set !
by different persons, on different farms, and thus !
subjected to different exposures. The first win-
ter the trees were all more or less winter-killed ; I
some merely had the extremities of the branches '
killed for a few inches to a foot or more ; others !
were killed half way down, and not a few entirely j
to the ground. All were thus much injured, and
during the following summer, in some orchards !
more than in others, the bark on the limbs and
bodies turned black in spots, the outer bark curled j
up and came off, and many trees that survived !
the winter did not live out the summer. At the
end of the second summer fully half were dead |
entirely, or worse than dead, (in some orchards j
more than half, in others less,) and the survivors
were a hard looking set. — an eyesore to their pur- '
chasers. The pear trees seem to have lived bet- I
ter, and in one case where the apple trees were i
protected from the north winds by woodland, they
have been less injured, and show more signs of
thrift. Trees grown at home and set with those '
that have turned out worst, were not at all in- '
jured by the winter, and have grown well under i
the same treatment given the Western trees. j
These farmers have been regretting for two !
years that they did not buy their trees at home, '
where they could have bought larger and better '
trees of the same varieties for the same money ; j
and long since declared they wanted nothing more
to do with Western trees. But last summer two |
polished, smooth-tongued agents of the Syracuse [
nurseries were here trying to induce the farmers
to buy some of their trees. They were sorry the '
farmers here had been so imposed on with such I
trees. It was too bad, certainly, they said ; but i
they ought not to let this prtj;ulice them against j
other nurseries, &c. They would like to have
them buy a j'tic trees of them : they only cared to
sell af'tic to each man, so they could tr)- them, '
and in a few years they would want to buy large !
quantities of these trees, when they should be I
around again. The farmers were very reluctant,
but the agents were importunate, in a ren/ gentU-
manhj icai/, of course, and they generally took a '
few, agreeing for some choice variety. The trees I
were to be much larger and nicer than the Roch- \
ester trees, and the price for them a little higher.
The trees came in due time, but were not better
in size or appearance than were the Rochester
trees ; and instead of ali being neatly labeled, as
they were to be, and of the variety specified, only
two or three trees in a dozen were labeled at all,
and those were not of the variety agreed for. The
disgust of these buyers, with Western trees, is ex-
j tremely great, and with the agents who sell them.
I How the trees will grow remains to be seen.
Some years since, some trees from the Western
j New York nurseries that were set in an adjoining
town, turned out very badly, a large proportion
, dying off soon after setting, while the others did
not grow much for several years. In some por-
tions of Central Vermont, where many Rochester
trees have been set within a few years, the trees
have turned out so badly, I have been informed,
that no more are likely to be sold in thdt vicinity.
Ir. Connecticut I have learned (by way of the
agent who sold them,) that the Rochester trees
are doing quite well.
In conclusion, by way of counsel to the inter-
ested, I cannot do better than advise a verj- care-
ful reading of the excellent article by "Viator,"
in the Farmer of Jan. 9th, entitled "Bump's Pa-
tent Atmospheric Attempering Churn," so full of
just strictures upon agricultural imposters and lo-
quacious venders of marvellous inventions and
products at wonderfully cheap rates. In connec-
tion with this subject 1 would especially commend
his remarks about purchasing fruit trees. Trees
already acclimated to your locality are far more
likely to do well than those brought from a dis-
tance, especially if the change of climate be trom
a warmer to a colder, or if there is much differ-
ence in the relative humidity of the two regions.
Spntiojidd, JJajis., Jan. 20, 18G4.
Fcr .'■'.? .YpTf Fn^l.iml Fartner,
CTTRE FOE SORE ETES LN" SHEEP.
Mr. Editor : — I notice in the Former of Jan.
2d, an article headed "Sore Eyes and Sore Mouths
in Sheep," with a request from you for a reply,
ikc. My lambs the past fall had a similar disease
of the lips, which I readily cured with two appli-
cations, one about a week after the other, of an
ointment made of tallow one-quarter pound, fresh
butter one quarter of a pound, tar a half-teacup-
ful, sulphur, one tablespoonful. Melt the tallow,
butter and tar, and stir until well mixed ; when
nearly cold add the sulphur. Tlie sores should be
well smeared with the ointment. I should choose
a warm or mild day for the application.
I presume washing the eyes with tepid water
every day for some days would cure them ; but if
nut, I should dissolve about one ounce of white
vitriol in a pint of warm water, and apply thor-
oughly to the inflamed eyes after gently washing
them clean. It might need repealing a few times.
Give the sheep pure, clean water to diink, aud
plenty of good herdsgrass hay, cut in good sea-
son, to eat, with a warm, well ventilated barn or
shed for shelter, well littered.
The disease of the eyes is probably catarrhal
inflammation, and may be caused by keeping them
on low, wet pasture in the summer ; or by keep-
ing them exposed to the strong odors arising from
their manure in close barns, or by drinking impure
water from a well in the barnyard. With us, the
eyes of woo'.ly-faced sheep are sometimes injured
or inflamed by feeding foul meadow hay in narrow
racks, — the seeds and chaff adhering to the wool
and working into and irritating the eye.
Yours, W, P.' Wright.
Wiiiting, Tl.
Negligence is the rust of the soul that cor-
rodes her best resolutions.
so
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Maech
'J' '•!
il^iit
THE WHITE HEDGE WlLLO'VCr.
There are few subjects of more importance to
the farmer than those of fencing and shelter. The
first demands a vast amount of material, either of
wood or stone, and a great expenditure of labor,
before such divisions of land are secureed as will
answer the purposes desired. Fencing a farm
well, even though it be only around its limits, is
a slow and costly operation. A great deal of
thought and money have been expended to devise
something that would be cheaper than posts and
rails, or stone wall, while it should he effectual.
In some older countries, hedges of buckthorn,
privet, or something else, have been in use for a
long period, but it is said cultivators are displac-
ing them in consequence of their habit of extend-
ing themselves so freely into their neighboring
fields, and exhausting them of the nutriment that
ought to go to the cultivated crops. Experiments
have been made in New England, and in some in-
stances have succeeded well in the use of certain
plants as hedge, — among the best of which was
the Three-pronged Acacia or Honey Locust. But
its growth is slow, and it is liable to be attacked
and ruined by the borer.
The cut which we present herewith represents
a new material for this purpose, — the White, or
Hedge Willow, Salix Alba, which is spoken of
by those who profess to know about it as follows :
The varieties that are grown most for basket
willows are worthless for fence, as they never
grow large enough, and other varieties that grow
into trees, will not grow close enough. The white
■willow is the most hardy and thrifty growing, and
will flourish in a greater variety of soil >!ian any
other. It will grow into large trees when ])lanted
but one foot aoart in a row. which no other tree
will do. AVhen it was discovered that this spe-
cies of willow possessed these qualities which
make it so valuable for live fences, there was but
very little of it to be found in this country, as it
is a native of England, and but few had been im-
ported. Within a few years, however, it has been
propagated as fast as possible, until last season
over tioeniy millions of cuttings were sold in the
State of Illinois ; enough to plant over four thou-
sand miles of hedge. There is not a farm but has
more or less land on which such a fence can be
guown to advantage. As a protection to river
banks nothing is equal to the white willow.
Wherever meadow is wearing away, stick the
bank full of cuttings, from the water's edge up,
and there will soon be a mass of live brush and
roots, that will efi'ectually break the current and
stop the wealing.
The growth of this willow is said to be very
rapid. We have a piece before us of a single
summer's growth which is two inches in diame-
ter ! We are informed that it does not ihrcnc up
sproids, and that where the land is cultivated,
the roots of the willow strike deep and do not in-
fere with common farm crops.
In planting, it is usual to plow a strip, six or
eight feet wide, harrow it, and then draw a line
and set the cuttings in a straight line one foot
apart, and not leave more than one or two inches
out of the ground. If it is not convenient to
plow, make holes with an iron, leave the cuttings
three inches out of the ground and mulch with
the best material at hand. If shade is not desir-
able, cut them down every year to about four feet.
If they do not throw up sprouts, aa is stated,
we know of nothing so desirable for fence, where
stones are not plenty, or for shelter for hop yards,
near orchards and g-ardens.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
81
BEADING.
In an article upon another page, by "G. B. E.,"
entitled "The School," is a single paragrap'h to
•which we call the especial attention of the reader.
We believe that very many of those who read the
Farmer, both men and women, are persons who
have no doubt that a rjood education is essential
to good farming. That the person who brings a
thoughtful, investigating mind to his business, in
connection with a strong and healthy system, is
altogether more likely to succeed than he who
has great power of muscle and but little of the
mind. The paragraph to which we refer is the
first one in the article and is as follows:
"IIoio can time be saved, in the common school,
for tlie introduction of studies which shall expressly
prepare for the labors and duties of life ?"
A more important question, concerning our tem-
poral interests, it seems to us, was never asked.
It reaches the source of progress, civilization and
success in all that is ennobling and good. It is
the important point to which attention should be
turned, — one where a vast amount of time and
money may be saved and much of that human
wretchedness which so frequently follows a want
of success in the business of life.
We earnestly ask the thousands who read the
Neio England Farmer, and who are in some way
connected with the management of our schools,
to receive this question and let it suggest some
searching process whereby it may be answered.
It is the great problem of life to be solved. All
arts, trades, sciences, professions, and even phi-
losophy and religion, cannot be seen by thousands
in their beautifully attractive light, fur the want
of that early preparation which our schools should
impart. We suggest that the article from which
we quote the sentence above, — and the other ar-
ticles by the same writer which have preceded it
— be hunJed to teachers, and that they be read
aloud, by some one of the pupils, in the schools.
THE SEASONS.
The "backbone of the winter is broken," as the
weather-wise say. The absence of high winds,
with bright suns and lengthening days, are all
wearing it pleasantly away. The year was ushered
in with an unusual pomp of wind and snow and
cold, through all the region, but it bore itself
gently here in comparison with its intensity in
some of the Northwestern States. In Indiana and
Illinois its effects upon travellers were terribly dis-
astrous and fatal. Mapy persons were frozen to
death, and carloads of swine and cattle also per-
ished, the sweeping winds driving the snow into
the cars, where it froze upon the animals and
caused their death.
Ice of the l)est quality has formed in abundance,
and dealers in if h ivr> p-nthfred «" ol,...i/')..r.> i^-,.-
vest. With the exception of a week or two, the
weather has been mild, so that there has been lit-
tle suffering among the poor in cities, either for
fuel or food. Every body can have employment
if they will, and at fair wages, so that in New
England, and in the West, the horrors of war are
only known by our thinned households, by ad-
vanced prices, or the reports which occasionally
pain the ear, of the fall of our beloved ones on
the field of battle, dying in hospitals, or half-
starving in the miserable prisons of a deluded and
wicked people.
The mild weather is also favorable to farm stock
and to the winter labors of the farmer himself.
Indeed in New England, we live so compactly
and enjoy so many means of securing comfort,
that we know little of the inconveniences and tri-
als incident to those who live in sparsely-settled
districts.
Let not this, then, be a "winter of discontent,"
but one of grateful progress in every thing that
elevates man.
PEAR TREES FROM SEED.
We think the following account of experiments
made in the Museum of Natural History of France
from 1853 to 1862, by M. Decaisne, transUtted by
L. V. Dovilliers for the IlorticvUia'ist, will be in-
teresting to the readers of the Farmer :
In 1S53 I sowed a large number of pear seeds,
chosen the preceding year from well known and
distinct varieties, viz. : our old English ])ear,
known to everybody, the Bosc pear, shaped like
a long gourd and of a cinnamon color ; the Belle
Alliance pear, rounded in form, of a red and yel-
lowish color ; and the Sanger pear, a wild variety,
or nearly so, and thus named because its leaves
recall, by their whitish, velvet-like appearance, that
of the common sage. For this last sowing. I have
used all the crop of a tree which grows isolated
from all others.
Only a small number of these trees have begun
to hear, otherwise the results might have been
still more satisfactory.
Thus, in the variety of the Sanger pear, the
only tiees that have borne fruit have given four
distinct varielies ; one ovoid in form, quite greea
in color ; the second less elongated, and almost
maliform, partjy red, partly green ; a third still
more rounded ; finally, a fourth, regularly pyri-
form, more than twice as large as the preceding,
and entirely yellow.
From La Belle Alliance pear have corne nine
new varieties, nf ne of which resemble the parent
fruit, either in size, color or time of maturity.
Ihere are two especially that I will notice, one
for i'..s size, more than double that of La Alliance
pear ; the other, hy its rounded form, rese/obles
maliform pears.
'Ihe Bosc pear gave equally three new fruits
different from the type, one of the three heing so
similar to one of the fruits obtained 'from the San-
ger pear, that it is hardly to be distinguished from
it. The varieties are quite as numerous as in
lUor. ,~e *Ur. i?.,..i;„u .u^ .-;... .v,^«c tKif have
92
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
80 far given fruit having produced six new forms,
as different from each other as from the parent
stock. One of them gave winter fruit not unlike
the St. Germain pear.
A great marvy horti'-ulturists believed, and Van
Mons among them, that the seed of good fruit
produced wild trees with sour fruit, thus going
back, as it is supposed, to original types. I do
not hesitate to affirm to the contrary ; and I defy
them to cite a single example of a fruit of good
quality, fecundated by the pollen of its own flow-
er, whose seed has given birth to a wild tree.
Should a good variety, artificially or by insect, be
fecundated by a wild one with sour fruit, there
will certainly Come from these seeds new varieties
which will mostly, if not all, be inferior to it. It
is equally certain that any good variety of the
pear tree, or even of all our fruit trees, self fe-
cundated, will produce good fruit. They will
probablj- differ in some feature or other from the
parent variety, but none will take the type of the
wild specie.
AT HOME AGAIN".
A journey of a thousand miles or two West,
with an observing eye and open ear, gives one
some new ideas of ),ne magnitude of our country,
and of its resources and industrial energy. It is
really bewildering to stand in some of the freight
' depots at certain points and see the vast accu-
mulation of all sorts of earthly goods, and listen
to the Babel tongues that are mixed up with
them. One is impressed, also, with the "mag-
nificent distances" which one passes over, and
the rapidity with which they are accomplished, as
well as the great numbers that are travelling, and
the hurry and confusion often attendant upon it.
One wonders what all this nmning away from
home can be for, forgetting, perhaps, that
"TUcir aims are as various as the roads they take,"
try. He has labored long and successfully to
"improve the soil and the mind," and certainly
with much advantage to the public. He has been
firm in his opinions, conservative and practical,
and has always had the good judgment to call to
his aid as writers, persons of ability and of well-
established character. Of late years he has been
greatly relieved in his 'labors by the intelligent
and earnest efforts of his son, whose ability and
zeal promise a life of great usefulness to the world.
We also had the pleasure of taking by the hand,
Mr. Hakris, the afiable editor of the Genesee
Farmer, and Mr. D. D. T. MoORE, of the Fairal New
Yorker, both of Rochester. Col. L. D. Harris,
editor of the Ohio Farmer, was the presiding of-
ficer of the Convention at Columbus, and we had
repeated opportuuities of conversation with him
there. We also made the acquaintance of Dr.
Randall, author of the "Practical Shepherd,"
and also of many distinguished farmers and man-
ufacturers of the Northwestern States.
Some of the things we heard and saw may yet
be transferred from "memory's page" to these col-
umns.
MUTTOlSr AND "WOOL-GROWING
THE UNITED STATES.
IN
The London Mark Lane Express, the leading
English market and agricultural journal, says that
i the consumption of mutton in North America has
rapidly increased. The supply now as rarely ex-
ceeds the demand as with any other meat, and the
best qualities out-sell beef in the principal markets.
No country is better adapted by natural, and on
the whole by artificial condition to the production
of wool, than the United States. Aus'^alia and
South America contain the only very extensive re-
gions of the earth now capable of competing with
equal areas of North America in the production of
and that it is this restless energv that peoples our this great staple. The price of land in Australia
is much hiiiher than in the United States. Its
new lands and extends the area of civilization.
We saw much in our late journey to admire, to
increase our love of country and to urge us to
new efforts to develop its riches, sustain its free
institutions and perpetuate human liberty. We
found a patriotic people everywhere ; a people
determined that our country shall be an undivid-
ed country, and that our laws shall bear alike upon
all. Industry and economy were characteristic
features everywhere, though the results of these
virtues are not all that might be gained under
better systems of preparing the young for the
special duties of life in which they are to engage.
It gave us especial gratification to meet several
brethren of the "type and quill," who have trav-
elled in the harness with us for many long years,
and whose labors have scattered blessings over
the land. Among these was the excellent friend
of our youth, Luther Tucker, Esq., one of the
distance from the wool market of Europe equals
nearly half the circumference of the globe; yet its
exports of wool rose between 1810 and 1862,
from 167 lbs. to 68,000,000 lbs. South America is
also becoming an extensive producer of this sta-
ple ; there were imported into Great Britain alone,
in 1861, 6,000.000 pounds. Yet South America
has no natural condition over North America for
sheep farming, while there are political and moral
ones which undeniably are hostile to the security
and permanence of so exposed a branch of indus-
try. Apart from the mere question of the cheap
production of wool, the experience of the most ad-
vanced agricultural nations — like England, Ger-
many and France — goes to show that sheep are a
necessity of a good general system of husbandry,
on even the highest priced lands and amidst the
densest popuiatton. They afford as much food to
man, in proportion to their own consumption, as
any other domestic animals. They are believed to
return more fertilizing matter to the soil. In ad-
dition, they alone furnish wool. England is esti-
mated to have about 590 sheep to one square
editors of the Country Gentleman, at Albany, and niiig, while the United States proper (exclusive
the pioneer of agricultural literature in the coun- 1 of territories) has only 48.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
83
Fur tlie Sew England Farmer.
VAKIOUS MODES OP CULTIVATINQ
CORN.
During the past summer I have had an oppor-
tunity of observing the methods, or rather prac-
tices, (as I do not think there is much method
about it,) of the farmers in the section of Orange
county, New York, comprised in Cornwall, near
Windsor and Newburgh, esi)ecially in reference
to the corn crop.
Our New England farmers would regard the
rough usage the corn is subject to in the places
referred to, as suicidal of all hopes of a requiting
harvest. On two contiguous farms, I watched the
culture of a field of corn upon each. One of these
fields was well plowed, well planted, and, accord-
ing to the usage of this section, well tended in its
after growth ; the other poorly plowed and poorly
planted and roughly worked in its after culture —
in fact, the very opposite of the former in this re-
spect. The weeds flourished and the corn did
not ; and both went to seed together. The first
field was kept clear from weeds, and I thought
unusual care was taken in this respect. The hoe
was used but little, if any, in either field. The
plow had to do the work principally. I did not
see a cultivator used in a corn field during the
summer. The furrow is turned from the corn tiie
first plowing, and towards it the second, which
comprises all the cultivation it generally gets. In
the case of the first field I have spoken of the
weeds were pulled up from the hills. The second
they were not. I judged there was but small dif-
ference in the quality uf the soil. At the time for
shocking the corn, I thought the first field would
yield from ten to fifteen bushels more than the
second, solely from the better care that had been
given it through the whole process up to that
time.
Here, at this point, the contrast in the two
changed very materially. Rather too late, some
will saj', to be of any account. Wait a moment,
my friend, and I will show ycu that care is requi-
site and of great importance until the corn is
housed and the fodder secured. The shocks were
about of a size in each of the fields, but in the
poorest they were put up in the very best order,
BO that I could not see one down any time previ-
ous to harvesting, on a field of ten to twelve
acres. This I thought remarkable, as we had
much heavy wind. Ihe other field had a large
number blown down, and they remained down
until harvested. When that occurred, the men
threw the corn upon the ground, left the fodder
unbound, husked in wet as well as dry weather,
and some heavy rains before it was finally secured.
Of course it was almost ruined. The corn, being
sound, was not materially injured, although some-
what dirty. In the field where the shocks were
well put up, the wagons went in with tl|e men —
all but the refuse corn put in them as husked, and
the fodder bound and set up again carefully, and
when a storm threatened was taken to the barn.
Now, my fellow-farmers, go to work and cypher
out the difference in the profits of the two fields
of corn, and see if you can tell me which was the
gainer. I am sure I cannot. If the best cidiicat-
ed field had been the best shocked and the 6e*'<
harvested, or even as well as the other, the ques-
tion would be soon settled. This was not the case.
Hay was worth twenty dollars per ton on these
farms, and it was of no small moment to secure
the corn fodder in good condition, as ea"h acre of
it was worth to the owner when thus saved ten
dollars, if not more.
I think both of these farmers, and all whose
practice I noticed, put the corn in too small
shocks. I had fsome putu])in shocks three, if not
four, times as large as any I saw. and the corn
and fodder cured nicely. I apprehend this mis-
take is often made. I never suffered from putting
up in large shocks. As to the practice of plow-
ing among corn, I do not like it, especially after
corn gets well started, say a foot or so high. I
have often traced the roots farther from the hills
than the extremity of the stalk and leaves would
reach if laid upon the ground. Who can believe
it is any advantage to cut off" these roots w-ith a
plow? Work the soil thoroughly while the plants
are small, but not deep, after the roots extend
beyond the immediate vicinity of the hill, espe-
cially if the weather has been uniformly wet,
which will cause the roots to run almost upon the
surface of the soil.
I have been betrayed into greater length than
I intended. Can we not learn something from the
practice of the two fctrmert 1 have instanced above ?
May we not see that it is not only necessary to
begin well, but to go on well to the end. Let this
be our motto in all farm 0|)erations, "That what
is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."
Rochester, Mass., Jan. 12, 1864. o. K.
For the I^eir FnL^lnnd F' inner.
"WTNTEBrN-Q BEES— STIIA"W HIVES.
After an experience of thirty years, I have
found no way to winter bees so satisfactorily as in
the straw hive described and recommended in the
Farmer, some two years since. One year ago,
over fifty colonies stood in the open air through-
out the winter, without the loss of one, and in the
spring were in the best possible condition. There
were no accumulations of frost and ice ; all mois-
ture appeared to have passed off' through the
straw, while the warmth necessary for the bees
was retained. The bees, at all times, even the
coldest weather, seemed to enjoy a comfortable
and complete repose. The warmth of the suti, in
a moderate day, did not penetrate the walls of this
hive, as it does one of w^x)d. and call out the bees
[ by hundreds, to perish. When the weather was
mild enough to entice them out from sach quar-
ters, it was usually warm enough for them to fly.
Bees that are housed in winter, are quite apt —
without much care — to get mixed together when
brought out ; some hives getting many mo: e than
belongs to them, others short a coires|)onf!ing
number. The weak ones induce robbing, chu'etl
brood, Szc. The straw hive obviates these diffi-
culties; the bees all mark their locality without
confusion. I consider it "well worthy of future
trial." M. "Qulnet,
St. JohnsvtUe, N. Y., 1864.
Poison of almost any kind swallowed will be
instantly thrown from the stomach by diinl-ing
Iralf a glass of water (warm is best,) in which has
been stirred a tal)lespoon of ground mu'<taid ; as
soon as vomiting ceases, drink a cup of strong
cofi"ee, into which has been stirred the white of an
egg ; this nullifies any remnant which the mus-
tard niii'ht have left.
64
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
CATECHISM
— OF —
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY.
BY JAME3 P. W. JOHNSTON, M. A.
fCONTINDED.]
Q. Woody fibre, starch, gum, and sugar consist
of carbon and water only ; of what does toater it-
self coiisist ?
A. Water consists of oxygen and hydrogen.
Q. Hoio much of cadi of these elements is con-
tained in u'ater ?
A. Every 9 lbs. of water contain about 8 lbs.
of oxygen, and 1 lb. of hydrogen.
Q. Is it not a very extraordinary thing that
liquid water, tchich pids ovt all fircf shoidd consist
of two gases, cme of tvhich (hydrogen) burns read-
ily, tviiile in the other (oxygen) bodies burn with
great brilliancy ?
A. Yes, it is very wonderful ; but there are
many other substances the composition of which
is almost equally extraordinary.
Q. Can you name any such substances ?
A. Yes, it is almost equally extraordinary that
v)hite starch should consist of black charcoal and
water only, — and that sugar and gum should con-
sist of the same elements as starch and woody
fibre.
Q,. Of ichat elements, then, do these substances
cojisist ?
A. They all consist of carbon, hydrogen and
oxygen.
Q. Of ivhat does gluten consist ?
A. Gluten consists of all the four elements —
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen — united
together.
Q,. Does the plant derive from the air all the el-
ements of tchich gluten consists 7
A. No, it may obtain carbon, hydrogen and
oxygen, as we have seen, from the air, but the
nitrogen it obtains almost solely from the soil.
rv. — Of the Soil on which Plants Grow.
Q. What does the soil consist of?
A. The soil consists of an organic or combus-
tible, and of an inorganic or incombustible part.
Q. IIoio do yoti show this 7
A. By heating a portion of soil to redness on
a bit of sheet iron, or on the end of a knife,
either in the fire or over a lamp. The soil will
first turn black, showing the presence of carbona-
ceous matter, and will afterwards assume a grey
brown or reddish color as this black organic mat-
ter burns away.
Q. Whence is the organic part of the soil de-
rived ?
A. It is derived from the roots and stems of
decayed plants, and from the dung and remains
of animals and insects of^various kinds.
Q. Does this organic part form a large propor-
tion of the soil ?
A. Of peaty soils it fcms sometimes three-
fourthe of the whole weight; but of rich and fer-
tile soils it does not usually form more than from
a twentieth to a tenth of the whole weight.
Q. Can a soil bear good crops which does not
contain a considerable 'proportion of organic mat-
ttrf
A. Not in our climate. A rich soil generally
contains at least one-twentieth of its weight (<5
per «ont A of rvvcTanip r^nttpr.
Q. Does the organic matter increase or dimin-
ish in the soil, according to the way in which it is
cultivated ?
A. Yes, it diminishes when the land is fre-
quently plowed and cropped, or badly manured 5
and it increases when the land is planted, when
it is laid down to permanent pasture, or when
large doses of farm-yard manure or of peat com-
post are given to it.
Q. What purpose does this organic matter serve
in the soil"}
A. It supplies the organic food which plants
draw from the soil through their roots.
Q. Do p)lants draw nrnch of their organic food
from the soil ?
A. The quantiy they draw from the soil varies
with the kind of plant, with the kind of soil, and
with the season ; but it is always considerable,
and is necessary to the healthy growth of the
plant.
Q. If plants ahoays draw this organic matter
from the soi^-, tvill the soil not become gradually
p)Oorer and less productive^
A. It will, if badly managed and constantly
cropped.
Q. Then Jiotv can you keej) up the supjily ?
A. By plowing in green crops, — by growing
clovers and other plants which leave long roots in
the soils, — by restoring all the hay and straw to
the land in the form of manure, — or by laying
down to pasture.
Q. Whence is the inorganic paH of the soil de-
rived ?
A. The inorganic part of the soil is derived
from the crumbling of the solid rocks.
Q. Of what do these rocks principally co7isist?
A. 1 hey consist of more or less hardened
sandstones, limestones and clays.
Q. Do soils consist primipally of the same sub-
stances ?
A. Yes, soils consist principally of sand, clay
and lime.
Q. How would you name a soil ichich contained
one of these substances in large quantity ?
A. If it contained very much sand, I would
cf.ll it a sandy soil ; if much clay, a more or less
stiff clay soil ; if much lime, a calcareous soil.
Q. But if the soil contained two or WMre of
them in large proportions how ico^dd you name it ?
A. A n)ixiure of sand and clay with a li tie
lime, I would cull a loam; if much lime was pres-
ent, I would call it a calcareous loam ; and if it
were a clay with much lime, I would call it a cal-
careous clay.
A Useful Hint to House-Keepers. — A gen-
tleman who has tried the plan successfully for
five years, communicates the annexed method of
preventing horses from chafing under tlie c liar.
He says 1)e gets a piece of leather, and has what
he terms a false collar made, which is simply a
piece of leather cut in such a shape as to lie
snugly between the shoulders of the horse and the
collar. This feeds off ail the friction, as the col-
lar slips and moves on the leather, and not on the
shoulders of the horse. Chafing is caused by the
friction, hence you see the thing is entirely plausi-
ble. Some put pads or sheepskins under the col-
lar, but these do as much harm as good, for ihey
augment the heat. A single piece of leather, like
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
85
For the Seic England Farmer.
CLOTHES-"WRrN GER.
The Universal Clothes Wringer is manufactured
by the Metropolitan Washing Machine Company,
Middleford, Conn., and sold by Julius Ives & Co.,
317 Broadway, New York.
Every one, almost, has realized the horrors of
washing day, the lifting and tugging and wring-
ing and twisting and contortions of muscles it has
introduced, and in many instances the severe
headaches and rheumatic pains that have followed.
Among the labors of the day there has probably
been no manipulation more trying to the strength
and patience than "wringing out the clothes."
This has called for "bone and muscle" operation,
necessarily performed over the wash tub, when,
by opening the pores of the system, and after-
wards going into a cool place, usually out of doors,
the operator was very liable to take cold. The
introduction of clothes-wringers, of which there
are now several patents, all good for aught I know,
has the effect to do away with all this hard, ser-
vile labor, in addition to other advantages.
The Universal Clothes Wringer appears to be built
for the greatest durability. It can be guaged in a
moment to wring any article from the size of a strip
of lace to a bed blanket, and removes the water more
thoroughly than can bp done by hands. It wrings
frail articles without injuring their texture, and
leaves every article smooth and in good condition
of drying. In addition to its labor-saving merits,
it is cloth-saving, and I have no doubt but that
more than twice the cost of the machine may be
saved in the wear of cloth over the old hand-
wringing, before the machine needs repairs.
In making the foregoing remarks I have no in-
terests to promote, and no object in view other
than speaking the merits of what all will find to
be a great improvement. William Bacon.
Richmond, Jan. 20, 1864.
Fcr the New England Farmer.
CUTTING FEED FOR HORSES.
Messrs. Editors :— I am a subscriber to the
Neic England Farmer, and take great interest in
reading the communications of many of your able
corresjiondents. The only fault I have to find
with them is, that many of their views suggested
are beau'iful in theory, but not practical enough
to suit the purse of those of your readers who
"earn their living by the sweat of their brow ;''
although I admit not visionary to that extent
which we find in many other agricultural papers.
I have in my mind one agricultural paper from a
New England press, which might circulate among
the merchont-prinvea who have retired to Brook-
line and vicinity to spend their money, but which
should be excluded by law from the household of
every man not worth fifty thousand dollars, and
from those men, even, if inclined to be at all vis-
ionary. But I leave this subject here to ask your
subscribers a practical question, which I hope
some who have experimented in the matter may
answer, with their reasons in favor of their posi-
tion.
The question upon which I want information is
this :
Is it of advantage to a horse to cut his feed,
and is it a more economical way for his owner to
support him, than by feeding his bay and grain
separately ?
This, certainly, is an important question to be
considered now, if never before, from the fact of
the high price of hay and grain ; and if there is
economy in preparing feed for horses by this
method, myself, in common with other New" Eng-
land farmers, would be glad to know it. I have
never used a cutter, and, therefore, cannot speak
of their advantage ; but I do know that I find in
almost every stable a cutter, generally in a retired
corner, where it has stood for years unused.
I have noticed some good farmers, who have
bought a cutter, spoke highly of its benefits, but
seldom used it after the first winter. Now, Messrs.
Editors, do these men find feeding chopped feed
profitable ? Is there sufficient saving to balance
the extra labor of chopping and preparing such
feed, and is the horse in better condition for work,
or travel, than when kept by the usual method ?
I hope through your columns, some "who know
whereof they affirm," may give us the results of
their experiments in this matter, and also the best
kind of cutter in use, with its price. j. F. l.
Lee, N. H., Jan. 4, 1864.
Real\rks. — This is an important/»'n!c<tc«Z ques-
tion, and we hope some of our correspondents
will answer the query. Our opinions upon it are
decided, and have been gained by long experi-
ence. We waive them for the present, hoping to
hear from others.
For the New Eunlahd Farmer.
VALUE OF ROOTS IN FATTENING HOGS.
Mr. Editor:— Allow me a word in reference
to an article ])ublished in your columns several
weeks since, relating to the value of roots for fat-
tening hogs.
I have fattened the past season eight hogs,
whose average weight was 452 pounds. The five
heaviest averaging 539, and the heaviest one
weighing 612 pounds. These hogs were fed large-
ly upon boiled vegetables, pumpkins, potatoes,
carrots, and sometimes turnips mixed with prov-
ender, consisting of three parts rye, buckwheat or
barley, and one part corn, till within three weeks
of their slaughtering ; after which they were fed
with five to six quarts of corn meal daily, all their
food being thoroughly scalded and salted. From
tliis single trial I am satisfied that the o^iinion of
your correspondent in this matter is correct, and
that if farmers would generally apply ///.v theory to
their practice, we should hear less grumbling over
the cost of making pork. A iSuBscRIBER.
Slale Farm, N. Meriden, Ct., Jan. 9lh.
Sorghum Sugar.— The Washington RepuMi-
can says : "An experiment was made in tlie De-
partment of Agriculture before a large number
of persons, clearly demonstrating the practicabili-
ty of every man in the North making his own
sugar. A gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. J. F.
Riggs, who is about taking out a patent for his
process, was the operatf)r. From sorghum syrup,
sent to the department for exhibition, in the course
of a few moments he produced a clean sugar equal
in all respects to the best coflee sugar, the residue
of the syrup proving to be an excellently-flavored
article, strongly resembling amber or gulden syr-
up of the shops, and entirely free from sorghum
taste."
86
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
.r, 1^
"POETKY, MUSIC, AND HEALTH."
The leading article in Dr. "HaU's Journal of
Health," for January, has the title which is the
caption of this article. We take the title and the
sentiments which follow it, and should be glad to
lay every one of them before the reader if it
would leave room for that variety which a news-
paper must have. They begin by showing the
mood and the manner in which many persons come
to their meals at the table. Of all places, there
is none where it is more important that the mind
should be genial and overflowing with kindly
feeling, than when we take our meals. If afflic-
tion of mind, body, or estate, be upon us,, all our
powers should be exerted to banish it from the
mind while we are eating. Among ancient cus-
toms it was usual to have music during the meal,
and may be now for aught we know, among some
people. At any rate, the conversation at such
times should be of a cheerful and hopeful charac-
ter. It is not a good time to discuss the costli-
ness of articles of food, the death or absence of
relatives or friends, or reverses in business. These
tend to cast a gloom over the mind, check the nat-
ural energies of the system, and induce disease
and discontent. After speaking of the mutual
duties of each member of the household, Dr. Hall
says : —
"The 'music' then, which the wife should 'prac-
tice,' in order to have a healthful influence over
the ])hysical, moral, and mental nature of a man,
restraining him from vice, and crime, and glut-
tony, and late hours, and drunkenness, and the
poetry which she should recite to him every day,
are the music and poetry of a tidy home, of cleanly
and well-behaved children, of quiet and respectful
servants, of a table spread so invitingly that if
only bread and milk and butter were there, they
would taste like nectar and honey just from the
hive ; while the all-pervading and happy influence
of a quiet, loving, and lady-like wife, sanctifies
the whole household, and makes it a community
of love, of enjoyment, of domestic beatitude.
There must be music and poetry too in the hus-
band ; he must strive daily to deport himself to-
ward the woman who has borne him children, with
a like respect and deference and consideration and
gentleness, to that which he was accustomed to ex-
hibit sh(u-tly before the marriage ceremony had
made them one. We say 'strive,' for many a
time it will require an effort, a moral power akin
to the heroic, for there is much in the life of al-
most every man of business, so wearying, depress-
ing, and often harrowing to the whole nature, that
he would be more than mortal, if under their in-
fluences, when the physical nature is tired with la-
bor, he could exhibit the beautiful amenities of an
elevated domesticity, without some summoning up
to his aid, all the latent power within him, to re-
call the feelings and affections and deportment of
the happy days of courtship.
Let the dutiful and loving daughter 'practice'
that other 'music-lesson' for her mother's sake,
the willingness to learn ; to practice it so diligent-
ly, that there need never be a repetition of a moth-
er's counsel, or direction or advice. Said a moth-
er to me once : 'I never recollect the time when I
found it necessary to repeat a wish to any child of
mine : I have only to half tell it when it is done.'
Happy mother ! dear loving children ! How I
wish there were more such ! I know there are too
many daughters who are directly the reverse ; who
seem to think that a mother's advice is out of
date ; her counsel old fogyish, and all her pains
to show her how to do things, are not only disre-
garded, but are listened to or witnessed with the
utmost impatience, as evidenced by the surly
look, the unsightly frown, or some disrespectful
exclamation. Poor child ! every one of these will
be a dagger to your heart ; the more painful as
you grow older; striking deeper and deeper as
years roll on, causing many an hour of sadness by
day, and of remorse, oh ! how grinding ! in the
sleepless hours of midnight, so many of which are
the lot of old age."
The truth is, as farmers, we have given almost
exclusive attention to whatever we have thought
would improve our physical condition, and greatly
neglected those higher moral efforts which would
elevate, ennoble and make happy our whole be-
ing. We have too little imagination — too little
poetry — too little music — too little health ! These
are not wanting because they are not within our
reach, but because we do not receive them when they
are offered. God's bounty spreads them in our
paths as daisies deck the fields in July, but they
fall upon indifierent hearts and die there, as the
flower withers and perishes at our feet for want
of culture and care.
Let us change in this particular. While we
will not neglect to improve the soil, let us deter-
mine to improve the mind. How many cheap
ways there are in which we can do this, and call
up new pleasurable scenes and emotions without
trenching upon what are deemed the absolute du-
ties of life. How much the garden might do,
with its flowers, its beds of vegetables, its climb-
ing plants, and trees, birds. How much the Sab-
bath morning, or evening song, where both mu-
sic and poetry breathe their hallowing influences
into the soul, and inspire and strengthen it for
the trials of life. How much good books, — nar-
rative, poetry, philosophy, scientific, horticultural
pictures of nature and art, books of the imagina-
tion, and books like Prof. Dick's "Christian Phi-
losopher, or Sidereal Heavens," would fill our
hearts with glowing imagery, and content with life,
and really open to us the gateway to heaven !
0, how a deeper, holier sentiment, — a senti-
ment that embraces (^e pure, lovely and beautiful
in all animate and inanimate things, — that yearns
for every human being because that being is God's
child, — O, how such a sentiment in our rural pop-
ulation would transform our farms, and homes,
and hearts !
These things are "moral music and moral poe-
try ; these promote the health of the heart. They
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
W
will many a time lighten the load which burdens
poor humanity, and at other times will lift it up,
and elevate, and waken it to nobler purposes and
higher resolves." Do not check, then, the prompt-
ings for more imaginative feelings, or the desire
for more Poetnj, Music and Ileallh.
Whoever labors to this end is a public benefac-
tor. He pleases and purifies at the same time.
He fills the mind with kindly and healthful reflec-
tions, which come into the family circles like
streams of sunshine in a cloudy day. He who
writes a good book, or scrap of poetry, and sends
it into the world, makes the world better for his
effort. And so it is with works of art, statuary,
painting, bridges or ships. Messrs. Prang &
Co., Lithographers, of this city, have exerted an
influence through their charming pictures, that a
lifetime of talking would have failed to secure.
It 18 not by bread alone that we live, in more
senses than that in which our Saviour uttered it.
EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES.
APPLE TUEliS — KOOTS FROM LIMBS — TOPS FKOM ROOTS
— MAPLE SAP.
On papc 321 of the New England Farmer, monthly,
for 1863, I find the following. "It is a I'uct that apple
trees ruised from the seed of j^rafted fruit do not Ijcur."
In rc[jly I would say that I planted the seeds of Puund-
sweet apples, (taken from scions that my father set,
about twenty years ago,) in the fall of 18-lS). I have
three trees from them that bmir apples. They are a
very pleasant sour. Two of the trees have been trans-
planted, and one stands where it came up. Facts are
stubborn things.
"Will you or some of your correspondents tell me
how to have roots grow from the limb of an apple
tree ? I can take a root and grow a handsome top.
Also, who tirst made the discovery that the sap of the
maple tree would make sugar ? In what year, and
what place .' Okkin Hager.
WaMngford, Jan., 1864.
APPLES EVERY YEAR.
On page 30, in the January number of the New Eng-
land Farmer, I read with pleasure the remarks of '"R.
C," of Jopna. It is a well known fact that if you
graft part of a tree one year and the other part the
next year, your trees will bear friiit every year. I
have tried it, and recommended it to the late Messrs.
Jones, and in almost every trial it was successful^
The fact is, that the branch put in is jmt back one year.
If the graft is vigorous it will make leaf buds ihe first
year, fruit buds the second year, and bear fruit the
third year; at any rate, if you graft or take scions
from the same trees and insert them two years iir suc-
cession, you will be pretty sure of having fruit every
samnier. Farmer Jones' Baldwin apple trees bear
every year, about one-half on odd years, and the other
half on even years. Farmers, try it.
Spring Grove, Jan., 18G4. S. A. Siiurtleff.
INDIAN CORN — POP CORN — HUNGARIAN GRASS — WORK-
ING COWS.
I see by the January number of the Monthly that
you think very favorably of Indian corn as a crop for
our New England farms. It has always been a favor-
ite crop on my farm for several generations.
I propose in the spring to plant a little "pop corn."
"Will "E C. P." give some directions for planting it ?
How far apart should it stand, and what kind should
be selected ? I planted a small field of red rice corn a
few years since, but I found it was too thick to do
well, and too late to ripen before the early frosts of
September. lu other respects it fully met my expec-
tations, I planted three rows much nearer together
than common field corn, say three feet apart.
I wish to make some iii'iuiries about Hungarian
grass. Has it given good satisfaction in New England,
and how much seed is required, and how much hay is
expected per acre ?
1 see in an old number of the Farmer a working
team of cows recommended. Are they ever used in
New England, and is there any law to prevent peo-
ple from stoning the driver should they appear on the
street or public road ? c. C.
Xuri/t Blackatone, Jan., 1864.
Remarks. — We believe the Hungarian gra.ss crop
has given satisfaction to those who have cultivated it.
Eight quarts of seed per acre is the amount common-
ly used for seed. It yields bountifully on a good
gravelly or sandy loam ; perhaps would average two
tons to the acre, on an average soil. Some persons
report a much larger crop, and it is, undoubtedly, ob-
tained in many instances. We have raised it /« drills,
and hoed the crops as they do wheat in England, and
produced four or five tons per acre. It is an annual
plant, and of course, the land must be plowed and the
seed sown each spring.
The subject oi working coxes is occasionally discussed
in agricultural papers, and in many cases writers ap-
prove the plan. We can see no objection to it, when
properly managed. There are many farms that are
devoted to milk-raising, and the stock ui)ou which is
cows, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two hors-
es, quite often only one. This team is not sufficient
to perforin all the work of plowing, harvesting, &c.,
which a farm feeding fifteen or twenty head of stock
requires. In such a case a couple of five or six ye^irs
old cows, broken to the yoke by a skilful and merci-
ful master, would plow two or three hours each day,
not only without injury, but with decided benefit to
the health and growth of the animals. Of course, they
must be taken when not approaching the maturity of
gestation, or when yielding a full flow of milk. It
would afford them exercise in the open air, give them
the breath of the sweet fields and Ihe freshly-turned
furrow, and jierhaps not exhaust any more of their
power than they would voluntarily exhaust in frolic-
some rambles if they were occasionally let loose.
Why not work them, moderately and tenderly ?
What are the objections ? Does not the farmer plow
with his mare, drive her upon the road, and use her
carefully in all sorts of work until quite near the pe-
riod of casting her foal ? Is it not the common opin-
ion of farmers, breeders and surgeons, that such labor
is healthful, and should always be observed ? The
same rule holds good with regard to a higher type of
animals. In our own race, constant, but niodeiate ex-
ercise, and especially in the open air, is uniformly re-
commended by physicians.
On such farms as we have referred to, there is no
barn room or pasturage for oxen, and not half labor
enough to keep them employed, if other things were
conveiiieut. In such cases cows might be prufiiably
employed and not suffer the least injustice, degrada-
tion or hardship.
HOW shall I carry sap in sugar orchard ? —
gutta peucha pipe.
Having a large sugar orchard situated on aside hill,
and help being scarce, I wish to economize in time
and labor, and desire some of your many readers to
inform me of the best and most economical nu-ibnd of
conveying my sap to the camp, which is at the foot of
the hill ? I also wish to ascertain if there is not gutta
percha pipe of small size, say half-iuch, that would
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
itM'.
work well, and if so, where can it be obtained, and at
•what price per rod ? Backwoods.
Vennont, Jan., 1864.
Remauks.— Charles Stoddard, 75 Kilby Street, Bos-
ton, sells the pipe you inquire for. "We do not know
at what price.
THE MUSK MELON.
For the accompanj ing descriptions and engrav-
ings of two of the best of the family of melons,
we are indebted to Burr's "Field and Garden Veg-
etables of America :"
Green Citron Melon.
Fruit nearly round, but flattened slightly at the
ends, — deeply and very regularly ribbed ; size
medium, or rather small, — average specimens
measuring about six inches in diameter, and five
inches and a half in depth ; skin green, and thick-
ly netted, — when fully mature, the green becomes
more soft and yellow, or of a yellowish shade ;
flesh green, quite thick, very juicy, and of the
richest and most sugary flavor. It is an abun-
dant bearer, quite hardy, and remarkably uniform
in its quality. It is deservedly the most popular
as a market sort ; and for cultivation for family
use, every thing considered, has few superiors.
Large-ribbed Netted. — Common Musk-Melon.
Fruit very large, oval, strongly ribbed ; skin
yellow, very thickly netted, sometimes so closely
as to cover nearly the entire surface ; flesh sal-
mon-yellow, remarkably thick and sweet, but not
fiuely-grained or melting, when compared with
the more recent and improved varieties.
Hardy and productive. In good soil and favor-
able seasons, the fruit sometimes attains a length
of fifteen inches, and weighs upwards of twenty
pounds.
^ To Correspondents.— Many excellent arti-
ticles have been lately received from our corres-
pondents which will be given in due time. We
hope to hear from many more of them before the
pressing work of spring comes on.
EARLY POTATOES.
There is a large class of persons who value good,
well-ripened early potatoes, more than any other
vegetable. The potato is a universal favorite.
We have never met more than half a dozen peo-
ple who did not like it. It is easily raised, cheap,
and has just about the proper proportions of bidk
a.nd ymtritious -properties to make it one of the most
wholesome articles of diet that comes upon the
table. In cases of sickness, where the patient is
convalescent, a roasted potato that is mealy, and
eaten as soon as cooked, is highly relished, and
is as harmless, perhaps, as any food that can be
taken.
As the common, every-day food of the table,
the potato stands next to bread. When well-
cooked, most children will take half their entire
food of the potato, especially if they can have a
little milk or cream with the mash, and will be-
come vigorous and free from humors after a year's
use of them, cooked in various forms.
Every family,— in the country at least, — should
have them plentifully by the first of August, and
I by taking some pains may begin to use them by
the fourth of July. The first thing to be consid-
ered is the soil. It should be a comparatively
dry and sandy soil, rather than a wet, black loam.
Afresh, or new soil is greatly preferable — one re-
cently covered with grass, or what is still better,
scrub oaks, sweet fern, blackberry and huckle-
berry bushes. Such a soil, when well plpwed and
harrowed, will be light and will abound with the
alkalies and alkaline earths that the potato re-
quires. The situation selected should be an open,
but a warm, one — along the side of an old fence
or wall, where bushes have been growing for half
a century, or less, and exposed to the morning
sun. On such a soil, and in such a situation, the
plants will start early and come to maturity rap-
idly ; and if the variety planted be a good one,
the tubers grown will have a sweet and agreeable
flavor. Some of the varieties used for early plant-
ing are the Jackson White, Wliite Chenango, which
come quite early, the Early Blue, and others.
Burr says the Ash-Leaved Kidney is one of the
earliest varieties, and that the Early Blue is one
of the earliest of the garden potatoes, of fine qual-
ity, and one of the best for forcing for early crops.
If the ground was not prepared last fall, it should
be made ready as soon as the frost is out, so that
it can be plowed six inches deep, and the potatoes
planted.
In order to facilitate the crop, some persons set
a barrel of seed by the kitchen stove about the
middle of March, where they remain until sprouts
have started half an inch in length. In this case
the top of the potatoes must be covered with loam
or a cioth lo keep out the light. Others lay a
1S64.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
89
bushel or two of seed upon grass ground, in some
warm spot, and cover them with horje manyre
sufficiently deep to keep them warm. They will
sprout readily in this condition if they are kept
moist and warm, and can be got at to plant more
easily than from a barreL Others, still, who only
require a few start them in hot beds.
Planting should take place just as soon as the
soil is dry enough to admit of working it. Plant,
if there is a dry surface sufficient to cover with,
even if the frost is a foot deep below. Before
planting, prepare liberal holes and fill them with
a shovelful of horse stable manure. Cover tliis
with a sprinkling of fresh, damp mold, and place
the "set"' or seed on this and cover three inches
deep. Mr. J. Kmght says that if the "sets" are
placed with their leading buds upward, a few and
Terr strong early stems will be produced ; but if
the po.<ition be reversed, many weak and later
shoots will arise, and not only the earliness, but
the quality of the produce be depreciated.
By putting the above suggestions in practice,
every person may expect a fine dish of nearly ri-
pened potatoes for his Fourth of July diuner, with
his roasted lamb and green peas, and an abun-
dant supply after the 20th of the same month.
How can the farmer add to the comfort and health
of his famQy in a better way ?
ESSEX COin^TY TBAifSACTION"S.
"We have before us the Transactions of this old
and energetic society for tke year 1863, sent us
by its attentive Secretary, Charles P. Prestox,
Esq., of Danvers. It is made up mainly, with the
address, by Hon. Daniel Saunders, Jr., of Law-
rence, and the reports of the various committees.
"It is a mistaken idea that, for successful labor,
merely physical training is required. Our farm-
ers require a much higher mental culture than has
heretofore been thought necessary. They know
altogether too little of agriculture, as a science,
and agricultural economy Agriculture
has been too much left to the unaided efforts of
nature to compete successfully with other branch-
es of industry, upon which scientific labors have
been abundantly bestowed What is
wanted by our farmers is an education that shall
no^ only accumulate facts, but which shall enlarge
the mind, develop the powers of the brain, widen
and deepen the channels of information, and bring
into operation the latent elements of mental per-
ception and concentration." It contains many ex-
cellent sentiments and suggestions which weshould
be glad to copy, had we space.
The report on Coarse Wocled Sheep we intend
to notice hereafter. That on Bread and Honey is
poetical and interesting ; on Root Ci ops and Farms
excellent. The Hon. Richard S. Fat has pre-
sented the Treadwell Farm, belonging to the so-
j ciety, a flock of forty two and three years old
; ewes, (long wooled mutton sheep) under certain
[ conditions, with the view of making sheep raising
' a primary object of culture on the farm. Mr. Fay
is one of the warmest and most judicious friends
of agriculture in the State, and is constantly de-
voting a portion of his ample means to promote
its objects. The volume also contains an inter-
! esting essay upon Open Grape Culture, by JoHX
I M. Ives. Esq.
' PHUKIXQ APPLE TRF.F.S.
I Mr. L. G. Brown, in the Boston Culticaior,
1 says, "That spring, w hen the buds are swelling and
\ the sap in full flow, is a very bad time. Yet there
are many who prune more or less every spring."
He is right. More apple trees are destroyed by
such injudicious pruning than by hU the canker
worms ^ud caterpillars combined. Prune in June,
when the sap is comparatively at rest ; or in Oc-
tober, soon after the fall of the leaf, and so on for
; a month or two. This will depend much upon
■ the state of the weather. A. few bright, warm
days i«f succession, even in the first part of Feb-
ruary, would be quite likely to cause considerable
activity in the sap, and "make it unsafe to prune.
The rule should be to pntne ichen ihere is the least
fiow of sap. This occurs between the first and
second growth of the tree, and after the fall of
the leaf in October. We are speaking of limbs
that have attained a diameter of half an inch.
Smaller "suckers" may be cut at any time, though
not without some danger of bleeding.
CcxTURE OF Indian Corn. — By the commit-
mittee on crops, of the Eingham Agriadtural and
Hurticuliural Society, ior the last season, seventeen
fields of corn were reported, the average of which
was S6 bushels per acre ; the average cost of la-
bor was S20.49 ; of manure, foO.lO : total, $70.-
68 per acre ; average cost per bushel, including
all the manure, 82 cents 2 mills ; average cost
per bushel deducting one-quarter manure, 67 cents
6 mills." It would be fair, we think, to deduct
one-half the cost of the manure, for the effects
of a well manured field of corn are decidedly ap-
parent in the grass crop for several years after
the corn crop is taken off. Onr Hingham friends
are doing a noble work. We doubt whether their
example can be matched in any other town in the
Commonwealth.
Whitewash. — White fences and outbuildings
indicate the thrif y farmer and a tidy household.
Put hiilf a bushel of unslacked lime in a clean,
ti-iht barrel, pour over it boiling water until it is
covered five inches, stir briskly uiuil the lime is
thoroughly slacked, then add more water until it
IS as thin as desired, next add two pounds of sul-
phate of zinc and one of common salt ; then apply
with a common whitewash brush, giving a good
coat in April and October, or at least once a year.
90
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March.
PIiEUBO-PNEUMONIA IN CATTLE.
We have before us an exceedingly interesting let-
ter from Mr. Secretary Flint to Gov. Andrew,
in relation to this disease among the cattle in Eu-
rope, together with some reference to our State
laws in regard to it, and the opinion of the Sec-
etary, sustained by indubitable facts, that the dis-
ease is strictly a contagious one. We have never
doubted this fact, since our examination of the
cattle smitten with the disease at North Brook-
field, where it was first permanently developed.
We should be glad to publish the whole letter,
had we room, but give all the leading points be-
low. The Secretary is entitled to the thanks of
the community for the open and bold avowal of
his opinions on the subject.
Is it not time that something were done by our
people to call the instant and earnest attention of
the legislature to a matters of such vast moment ?
How long shall we slumber on, and allow this
"pestilence that walketh by noonday," to fasten
itself upon one of the leading industrial interests
of the country, paralyzing and poisoning jt, and
at the same time introducing a festering corrup-
tion and death into our midst ! Will the farmer
of Massachusetts, the Farmers' Clubs, take no
note of these warnings, until the glaring eyes and
haggard appearance of their stock notify them
that disease is running riot in'their stalls and that
death stands at the door. Now is the time to pour
in petitions for further action by the Legislature.
Agricultoral Department, State House
Boston, December 24th, 1863. ' j
To Eis Excellency John A. Andrew : Dear
Sir,— The disease commonly called pleuro-pneu-
monia still exists among the herds of some twelve
or fifteen towns of this Commonwealth. The
most moderate estimates fix the loss by pleuro-
pneumonia alone, in the British Isles, at ten mil-
lions of dollars a year. The value of cattle lost
by that disease amounts to two or three times the
value of all the cattle imported. More than a
million head of -horned cattle died of pleuro-
pneumonia in the six years ending with 1860, of
a value of at least sixty millions of dollars.
Prof. Gamgee, a man of high scientific attain-
ments as a veterinarian, and having the confidence
of the British Government as such, says :
"The traffic in diseased animals is impoverish-
ing stockholders and the country at large. My
calculations, made under the most favorable cir-
cumstances, show that the United Kingdom never
loses less than forty millions of dollars annually
by disease among cattle, sheep and pigs. Half
that loss is annually due to foreign contagious
diseases." °
"The contamination of the animal food supplies
has affected the health of the people to an extent
becommg more and more appreciated the more
the subject is investigated."
''The tens of thousands of carcasses of diseased
animals sold in large towns, are stealing life from
human beings when and where we least expect
"Last year," says Gamgee, employed in exten-
sive investigations under the authority and direc-
tion of the government, "my opinion became con-
firmed that the flesh of cattle affected with pleu-
ro-pneumonia, when eaten by man, induces boils
and carbuncles to an incredible extent."
After speaking of the immense losses in Eu-
rope, and the inadequacy of our laws to protect
the community, the Secretary says :
There would seem to be no longer any reason-
able doubt that the disease is contagious and dan-
gerous to a very high degree. Every step of its
history m this State has shown this to be the case,
even if it had not not already been well known
before, from its history abroad.
We know it is contagious. We knew it on its
first introduction, four or five years ago. The ev-
idence then, as now, was so conclusive and over-
whelming that it would seem that any one, who
could doubt, with only a limited knowledge of the
facts, would doubt all human testimony, even that
of his own senses. I could fill many pages with
the opinions of the most competent and learned
veterinarians as well as practical men, all going to
show its purely contagious origin.
\ have before me now the written opinions on
this point of nearly all the veterinary surgeons in
Great Britain, several hundred in number, and, so
far as I am aware, not one of them expresses a
doubt upon the point.
On the 1st of February, 1863, Prof. Gamgee
sent a circular to all the veterinary surgeons in
the United Kingdom, making inquiries on this
very point of contagion, among others. He got
answers from about three hundred, and he says :
"I find that all the best veterinary surgeons in
this country, whose opportunities are most favor-
able to arrive at a sound conclusion, attributed
these diseases (foot-and-mouth and pleuro-pneu-
monia) to contagion and infection." "Ninety-
nine per cent, of the dead cows carted from the •
town dairy die of contagious pleuro-pneumonia."
And again. "Whatever county I select as an
illustration, it will furnish you with the most un-
mistakable evidence that our cattle, our soil, our
food and climate have nothing to do loith the gen-
eration of pleuro-pneumonia ; but travelling, buy-
ing and selling, transporting by steamers and
railways, are the causes which lead lo the approxi-
mation of diseased and healthy, and thus tend to
the decimation of our stock."
The Italics are mine, and I wish to call especial
attention to this point, because some have attempt-
ed to lull the public mind into a false and danger-
ous security, by trying to have it believed that lo-
cal causes, as want of ventilation, &c., have gen-
erated the disease here among us. Jt is a most
dangerous fallacy. There is not the slightest
ground for belief that a single case ever aro^e in
this country from any such causes. It is clearly
and unquestionably an imported disease, and if
the whole truth were known, every link in the
chain would appear, as most of them, in flict, do
now. I might go farther and say that it is not
generated spontaneously, according to the opin-
ions of those best capable of knowing, in any part
of Western Europe. It is probably brought from
hotter climates.
In what I have said I have no personal interest,
either direct or indirect, to subserve, and in urg-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
91
ing the facts in regard to this disease upon the
public attention during the last four or five years,
I have only attempted to do what I conceived to
be a public duty. So far from having anything
to regret, to retract, or alter, from what I stated
at first, subsequent events and a more extended
observation have corroborated those statements
in the strongest manner. If the community still
sleep over this danger, I shall have the melan-
choly satisfaction of finding, at last, a unanimous
public sentiment on this subject. But it will be
too late. The result is inevitable. Neglect will
and can only lead to unmitigated evil.
If the people are willing to drink the milk of
cows, rotten with disease, and give it to their chil-
dren, as they have done in Boston, if they are
ready to accept the alternative of having the beef
of diseased animals brought upon their tables, as
has been the case, I have no more to say. But if
they desire to avoid this alternative, they will have
to act promply and strenuously for the eradica-
tion and stop of pleuro-pneumonia.
If necessary, let a competent inspector be sta-
tioned at the principal markets for live stock, with
full power to exclude any diseased animal, or to
prevent its being entered and sold there. The
last able Board of Commissioners had full power
to do this, as well as to put men under oath to
elicit facts which will otherwise remain concealed,
and this contributed more than any thing to keep
the disease in check.
The honest dealer could not object to this
course. It would be his own protection as well
as that of the community. The unprincipled
dealer alone would be discommoded, and from
him the community has a right to protect itself.
Very respectfully,
Your Excellency's obedient servant,
Charles L. Flint,
Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture.
HOAV THE KEBELLION "WOKKS.
Only three years ago, no man, or combination
of men, had sufficient comprehension, or penetra-
tive power, to devise a scheme which should not
only destroy the institution of slavery in our coun-
try, but which should open the splendid South to
free labor, to schools, and churches, and Yankee
enterprise, generally ! All this seems to have
been done. We learn that small companies of
our most energetic business men are preparing to
leave the snow of New England for the sunny
South, to engage in sugar-making, cotton plant-
ing, or any other honest labor that promises to
redeem the land and secure a profit. They will
carry with them, of course, the modern imple-
ments and machinery for agricultural purposes that
have been found profitable here, and along with
them the Yankee thrift, economy, habits and man-
ners, that have been so hated and contemned
by the ''holier than thou" chivalry of the South.
So the great work goes on. The leaven is al-
ready in the lump, and insinuating itself into ev-
ery ramification of Southern labor and society.
The days of their power are numbered and the
most unrelenting and cruel power on earth is fast
crumbling away. The introduction of our peo-
ple, with their painting and poetry, their books,
and machines, and churches, and schools, and
workshops, and psalm-singing, will finish the days
of intolerance and oppression in that beautifu
and fertile land.
THE CANADA THISTLE.
This is probably one of the most troublesome
plants with which the farmers of New England
have to contend. Owing to its almost universal
dissemination and wonderfully prolific character,
the quantity of seed annually j)roduced is so im-
mense that no region can reasonably be expected
long to escape its presence. The only remedy,
indeed, which can, under the circumstances, be
even partially successful, is to watch its first ap-
pearance and carefully eradicate the roots. Where
this is done, the thistle soon disappears, and if
not perpetuated by the dissemination of fresh
seeds from neighboring or distant plantations, will
cease to give annoyance. Where lands have al-
ready become foul with this production, the best
method is to cut them about the time the seed
begins to fly. At this period the large stalks are
hollow, and if the tops are removed just before a
rain the water will assist the work by filling the
tubes and causing rot at the roots. Some prefer
cutting while the plants are in full bloom, and af-
ter sowing on fine salt, turn in sheep or other an-
imals, whose partiality for that mineral induces
them to gnaw down the stumps, into which it has
entered, till the injury caused to the roots, pro-
duces death, and prevents further trouble.
On the subject of mowing, a writer says : "Let
the thistle grow in all its luxuriance till about the
time seed begins to scatter with the down. At
this time it will be found on examination that the
stalk is hollow. Mow the thistles just before a
rain, if possible, and the wet, by entering the hol-
low stalk, descends to the root and effectually de-
stroys it. I have known large fields of thistles
almost entirely killed in this way by one cutting.
The effect depends on the decomjjosition which
takes place in the root, effected by the admission
of moisture through the stalk. The experiment
can easily be tried by cutting part of a plat of
thistles just before they bloom and the remainder
after the seed has become hard and the stalk hol-
low."
It is frequently the case that no efforts whatev-
er are made to curtail the spread of this pest when
it has once obtained a foothold upon the soil, and
it is permitted to spread and mature its myriad
seeds with as much indifference to the results as
though its influence upon the soil were harmless,
rather than the reverse.
When soils are to be laid down to grass, the
presence of thistles should be considered as an
C2
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
important drawback upon their fertility, and no
effort should be spared to render them at once
and thorouiijhly free from the pollution. Hay,
fouled by thistles, is never marketable, and is, in-
deed, nearly worthless as feed, unless when the
animals are compelled to eat it by the impulse of
hunger.
ASSOCIATED DAIRIES.
A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer gives
the following as the usual way of organizing asso-
ciations for the establishment of "cheese facto-
ries," in neighborhoods of ten or a dozen farmers :
When it is proposed to start a factory, several
persons who are neighbors to each other get to-
gether and talk over the matter among ihern-
selves. If enough are found willing to turn in
their dairies together, so as to make a fair start,
(say 300 cows,) a committee is appointed to look
further into the matter, to visit factories, and get
all the information on the subject that can be had.
A favorable report from the committee being had.
they organize, choose directors, and adopt some
general rules or plan for the guidance of the asso-
ciation. The next step will be the selection of
some exi)erienced cheese maker as superintendent,
and the place for the erection of the factory build-
ing.
Generally some person proposes to put up the
buildings on his own account, and to manufacture
and take care of the cheese at a fixed price per
pound, demanding a contract of the farmers to
furnish the milk of the requisite number of cows,
for a certain number of years.
The milk of about 400 cows, it is believed, is
the smallest quantity that can bo employed by the
manufacturer, (when cheese making is his sole
business,) in order to obtain a fair living compen-
sation for services, while the milk of a thousand
cows can be manufactured at but little extra ex-
pense comparatively.
Against this factory system, several objections
are urged by the same writer, the most obvious
of which are : difficulty of detecting adulterated
milk ; the labor and expense of carrying the milk
to the factory ; the liability of souring, and of disa-
greement between the farmer and the agent at
factory as to whether the milk is "changed ;" dif-
ference in quality of milk arising from the manner
in which the cows are fed and managed ; the loss
of the whey, so important an item in the way of
pork making ; and the necessity, after all, of man-
ufacturing "the early and late made cheese" in the
family, as for a time in fall and spring, the sup-
ply is too small to run the factory, and too la'rge
to be wasted.
Live and Dead Weight of Sheep. — The
English rule i-* to weigh sheep when fasted, and
divide the weight by 7 and call it quarters. Thus,
a sheep weighing 140 pounds, would give 20
pounds a quarter as the dead weight. If the sheep
are in good condition this rule is sufficiently accu-
rate for all purposes. Poor sheep will fall below
the mark, and extra fat ones go over it.
N:E"W YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY.
Through the polite attention of its Secretary,
the Hon. B. P. Johnson, we have received the
Transactions of the New York State Agricultural
Society, for the year 1862. It is the hoenty-sec-
oiid annual volume of the society, and like many
of its predecessors, is crowded with valuable in-
formation to most farmers. In the great number
of articles and numerous topics which it embraces,
it would be strange if there were not some spe-
cially adapted to the wants of every reader. Its
articles are eminently practical. They seem to
have grown out of the actual manipulations, per-
sonal observations and scrutiny of the writers
and frequently elucidate in clear and terse lan-
guage some of the more scientific bearings of the
great art.
By attentively reading these Transactions, any
young farmer of the State may find sufficient di-
rection for the structure of his farm buildings, the
cultivation of any of the crops that are adapted to
the soil of the State, or for rearing any breed of
farm stock. In the ample pages of these Tran-
sactions, the agricultural resources of the State
are developed, the outlet and demand made clear,
and the progress of the art recorded from year to
year, — so tHat all who are really desirous to be
informed of the actual condition of the leading
industrial pursuit of the people, have access to it
in these volumes. The work is especially val-
uable because it grows up, like the crops of the
field, day by day, under the hands of those who
are directly engaged in the things of which it
treats. It is, therefore, practical, fresh, and in-
structive. Not that every opinion advanced must
be received as a dictum, but that, generally, the
practices recommended grow out of actual expe-
riences, and whether they are failures or successes,
may safely be shunned or adopted.
We congratulate the society upon its prosper-
ous condition. It has many able and ardent co-
workers, and we wish for them the widest influ-
ences and perpetual prosperity in the noble labor
before them.
Pisciculture in England. — The London
Times says the attempts to create an interest in
the cultivation offish in England have completely
failed, except in the matter of salmon, which is
now furnished in comparative abundance. The
Titnes attributes this failure to the popular dislike
to fresh water fish as an article of diet. There is
scarcely a fish in the streams which any man
would care to eat who had the means of purchas-
ing a bit of meat. Trout are but Httle eaten and
eels are getting scarce ; chub, roach, dace, &c.,
are considered worthless, and the finer varieties,
such as pike, perch, tench, and gudgeon, are
treated merely as accessories to a dinner and not
as a substantial article of food.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
93
Fur the Heic Ensiand Farmer.
MODEIi FABM. AND QABDEN.
Mr. Brown : — It would do you good to take
a look at Col. Pierce's farm in Greenland, in this
State. He cut about five hundred tons of hay
and picked thirteen hundred barrels of apples last
year, though not the bearing year. He winters
fifty-five head of horned cattle and thirteen horses,
and usually employs about twenty hands in the
summer. This is a model farm, being mostly
walled on all sides but that which skirls the salt
water. There I find all the improvements of the
age which do away with manual labor. With
money enough to farm to advantage, he makes
his improvements with a view by the future, as
well as present gains. I noticed that his fruit
trees were trained to limb near the ground, that
the fruit might be picked with greater facility, and
that they might not be exposed to heavy winds.
I saw no tools exposed to the wea'her ; all were
in their places. No rawny-boned porkers, but
small-boned ones. Slab-sided oxen he does not
keep, hut those which look sleek and fat. Marsh-
es and bogs which are so well adapted to the rais-
ing of frogs, mosquitoes and snakes have been
drained and now produce heavy crops of hay.
Those waste places which will not pay to cultivate
nor are fit fur grass bear the stately oak. The gar-
den shows that he has other thoughts than his
farm. Besides those vegetables which are for the
cook, one finds those fruits which tempt the palate.
I would suggest to those farmers who buy hay
in the spring, that they would look at his fields,
and if they copy his modes in cultivating grass,
raise two tons to the acre instead of one, and not
have to buy. s. P. M.
Xetccastie, N. H., Januai-y, 1864.
For the Seic Ensiand Famter, \
COMMON SCHOOLS. j
Some Studies *wliicli Should be Introduced into ;
the Common Schools. |
I have shown that a great deal i>f lime now de- i
voted to arithmetic and reading is wasted, and ;
might be saved, without any loss, but with great
gain to the power of ready reckoning, and to the
art of good reading. It would he easy to show
that the same is true of the time devoted to spell- j
ing, and to the study of geography. What shall j
be done with the lime thus saved? |
Every child, by the time he finishes his school i
education, ought to know what the air is which
he breathes, how essential it is, and why it is es-
sential, to man and all other animals, and to all
plants. He ought to know the conditions of the
air, and how it carries moisture to all parts of the
earth, and equalizes, or constantly tends to equal-
ize, the heat received from the sun ; and how it
afi^ecls the heat and light « f the sun.
He oujiht to know witat tcater i.t, what it is
made of, how it is affected by heat, and what forms
it takes, what influence it has upon the air and the
earth, and u|)on everything that lives and grows.
He ought to know something of its motions and
its po«ers.
He ought to know something about heat and its
effects upon everything in creation ; how essen-
tial it is to every form of i fe, and that it is, and
how it is. the most mighty of all forces ; that fire,
flame, bhize, are only some of its numerous forms.
ftu , i,..Wt 1.1 Inmv Ron\ethinu ahniil llnhi. and
how essential it is to the health of all animal asd
vegetable living things, and what effects it has
upon all colors and upon all surfaces, upon every-
thing that it falls upon.
He ought to know what thunder and lightning
are, what storms are, their causes and beneficial
effects ; what rain if, what the rainbow is, what
dew is and what fr<^-st. About all these things,
little children, as well as grown children, are con-
tinually asking questions, till that sad time when
this beautiful and instinctive curiosity is repressed
by the ignorance or perversity of their teachers.
This universal curiosity should be gratified. It
is not foolish ; it is not accidental. It is the prompt-
ing of nature. It is the gracious call of their Ma-
ker to all his children to study His works, made
for their examination, their use, their unfailing
gratification.
These perpetual questions ; What is it ? What
IS it for? Who made it ? How is it? are sug-
gested by One who would lead them uj) from cause
and through cause, to the First Great Cause ; lead
them up by this delightful, pjeasant path.
All these things may be introduced very early
into any school. They are easier, pleasanter and
more interesting than anything which is in the
schools now.
Every child ought to be taught whit the com-
mon metals are ; Iron. Copper, Lead. Silver, Geld,
Tin, Mercury, Zinc. Platinum, where and what
they come from, and what are their uses. These
need not be talked about all in one day, but only
one in one day ; and every teacher fit to take charge
of a child «f six would easily find out what to tell
about these things and how to tell it.
In speaking about Jiir, the teacher would have
to talk about oxygen and nitrogen. In speaking
about water, he would have to talk of hydrogen.
These things the child cannot see. nor feel. Let
it not be imagined that he cannot therefore under-
stand about them. If you tell a child, in plain,
simple language, what these gases are, what they
do and how they act, he will understand the dif-
ferences between them as perfectly, at least, as
he can understand the difference between genius
and talent, between luxury and extravagance, be-
tween wit and humor ; things which he is con-
tinually hearing and reading about. He will be
able to comprehend far more easih the qualities
and character of all the simple substances, than he
can what relates to the religion, the character, the
laws, the government, the institutions of foreigii
nations, which he has to learn about in his lessons
in geography ; with incomparably more ease than
he can the contests, the stratagems, the ambus-
cades, the councils, the cons|)iracies, the dissen-
lions, the revolutions, of which he has to learn in
his iiistory. What carbon, 8ul|>hur and phospho-
rus are, lime, and potash, and suda, and flint, is
as easy f(y- a child to understand, and to learn, and
remember, and talk about, as the subjects of any
of liis reading lessons.
So, nothing can be more easy than for a child
to learn what sand, and clay, and limestone are,
and what loam is — garden soil or the soil of the
field. Yet these are the elements of agriculture.
Why should not every child learn the names of
the common stones and rocks, and the minerals
of which they are composed ? They are nowhere
vei'V numerous, and never very difficult to learn.
Whv Khoiihl he not learn whi' '' •'•• is. what
94
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
March
granite and greenstone, porphyry and pudding-
stone P Why should he not learn the names and
characters of mica, quartz and febpar ? Children
are always delighted with these things, and when
they have learned to know and distinguish them,
their ideas about common things are thencefor-
ward always more exact, and their language more '
accurate all the days of their life. To know them j
enhances the beauty of the world and improves j
the value of existence.
I had, manyyearsago, opportunities of convers-
ing with thousands of intelligent people within, '
and on the borders of, the forests in every part of
Massachusetts. I found but one person who knew
accurately the differences between the various
trees growing in his neighborhood ; and even he ;
did not know their names. I found not one who |
could distinguish, with any approach to accuracy, I
the shades of color of the bark and leaves. This i
■would not have been, if the simple colors and i
their combinations had been taught in the schools.
All these things may be and should be taught |
in the schools. They would be far pleasanter, [
more intelligible and more useful than most of the
things which are now attempted there. They are
important elements for the thoughts which are of
necessity to occupy men through their lives. They
•would give new significance to the language which
they will be obliged to use. G. B. E. .
For the Neic Eitsland Former.
PASTURE T.ATJDS OF NEW ENGLAND.
What shall we do for the pasture lands of New i
England — they are running out ? The considera- j
tion of this question calls up philosophy, theory,
soil analysis, and all the paraphernalia of vegeta- ;
ble economy within the reach of human vision. |
They only make 'argument in the case, and- for- !
bear conclusions. Johnston and Liebig have j
studied carefully, thought profoundly, and in al- !
most every instance where they have attempted ,
conclusions as to the results in the restoration of i
exhausted soils based upon the hypothesis of soil \
anaksis, they never run aground. By wisely i
studying the laws, and carefully weighing all the ^
circumstances attending our operations upon the j
soil, we may obtain valuable results. How the
husbandman can so apply his labor and capita!
in raising grass and grain, and transform them
into beef, pork, butter, cheese, bone and muscle, i
is a question that neither science or labor alone '
can solve. j
Wood ashes stands as a valuable fertilizer, con- |
tainitig no less than twelve simple elements that ;
enter into all cultivated plants. 'I'he hard excre- I
ments of a hog, when highly fed for the purpose of
fattening, contain earthy phosphates and nicely i
organized mineral matter in a greater degree than I
those of any animal that have yet come under the j
test of chemicals. If these nicely prepared min- I
erals be associated with decaying vegetable mat- j
ter in sufficient quantity to hold them in store as
food for plants it cannot but prove a powerful fer-
tilizer. More depends ujion the organization of
elements than in the quayitity used. Witness the
rich Sciota bottoms at Columbus, Ohio, where
corn has been successivelv raised on the same
field for thirty years, with no diminishing of crop,
kept up to the highest state of fertility by the
large deposits oi faidy decomposed vegetable mat-
ter by the annual floods. The same may be said
of the Mohawk, and other river bottoms. Irri-
gation is the agent at work. Science has taught
all this, and more.
But what's the state of the question ? "The
consideration of the renovation of the pasture
lands of New England." Well, if the soil is Hght
and sandy, and you determine to plow, spread on
clay bountifully, after plowing, with a liberal sup-
ply of wood ashes, harrow lightly and seed to red
top and clover. Roll up a piece for experiment
into ridges, or swells, with a large plow, sow oa
ashes or plaster, with salt, and seed as above. Try
a piece by spreading on the following preparation :
Take five bushels of caustic lime and mix
with ten of vegetable mould. Add two bushels
of common salt, two of plaster of paris, and five
of clay ; moisten till the mass is like damp earth.
The plaster furnishes the sulphur, the salt both
soda and chlorine. The chlorine parts with the
sodium, and unites with the caustic lime, form-
ing a valuable salt, knqwn as chloride of calci-
um. The sodium being converted into soda, then
combines with the carbonic acid of the atmos-
phere and organized matter in the vegetable
mould, and forms a well organized salt that will
dissolve com.non sand. This composition still
requires phosphorus and iron. Ground bones will
furnish phosphorus — copperas the iron.
If thrown up into ridges, the area will be en-
larged, and the hollows will furnish feed in time
of drought, when a flat surface will be scorched
to dryness. Long or fibrous animal manures can
not be spread without great loss. Pidverize fine
all manures, whether animal, mineral, or vegeta-
ble, is the touchstone of vegetable physiology.
Mark the powerful effect of the finely pulverized
dirt from a much travelled road, with hardly a per-
ceptible amount of manure upon an adjoining
field ! Top dressing, for grass lands, is tlie rule
— deep plowing the exception. Where pastures
lie in swells, or knolls, I would set maple groves
on all the swells — grass will always grow under
rock maples — cattle will stay under them much
of the time — leave their droppings there, and fer-
tilize portions below. L. L. Pieece.
East Jaffrey, N. H., Jan. 1864.
I
I
A YANKEE FABMEE.
The New York correspondent of the London
Spectator thus expresses his opinion of the farm-
ers of this country :
"Let me tell you a little about one of these
Yankees whom I know well, and in whose house
I have lived weeks at a time. He is a small farm-
er, tilling less than one hundred acres, which havej
been owned and tilled by his family for genera-
tions, and living upon that and a little money out]
at interest. He not only goes to the fields with
his men, but works with them there. I havej
many a time seen him riding home on a load of I
hav, a good part of which had fallen before hia
own well-swung scythe. Now, what do you think
that man's recreations are ? Chiefly astronomy.
A fine observing telescope is his hobby. He is
up with it in the middle of the night, and before
the dawn, upon all good opportunity. His libra-
ry, not large, but well chosen, is so thoroughly
and intelligently read by him, that some of the
soundest and most pungent opinions I have ever
heard upon literature have come from his lips in
English, than which no better, according to the
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
9d
standard of Oxford and Cambridge, is spoken
anywhere. His brother, the rector of the parish,
the pretty stone church of which was built in a
lar^e measure by the contributions of their foi^-
fathers, was offered and refused the bishopric T>f
his diocese. The word 'former' conveys to you a
certain idea or image. Does it convey the idea
of such a man as this? From my observation, I
should judge decidedly not. And yet this man is
only a farmer, and the son and grandson of Yan-
kee farmers on both sides. But you will say that
this man is a very rare and marked exception.
But in that you will be wrong. Somewhat ex-
ceptional he is. But he represents a class very j
numerous and widely diffused : and he springs
from and is in direct affinity with a class which is
nnmbered by hundreds of thousands of men, be-
sides women and children. I have heard from his
cousin, the miller, (a working miller, mind you,
although he owns his mil!,) as sensible and as weli-
expressed opinions upon all matters (literature in-
cluded) as I have from him."
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
THE KOSEBDD.
We wandered out in the garden,
The linnet sang in the tree,
My love she spied a rosebud,
And plucked and gave it to me.
I kissed the beautiful rosebud,
Dear love, that thou gavest to me,
And that .-ummcr-day in the garden
I gave my heart to thee.
Three days in a vase in my chamber
I cherished my flower with pride,
And watched with a sweet and Ijoyish delight
Its petals opening wide.
Until it had blossomed a queenly rose,
And then my flower I took,
And carefully laid it between the leaves
Of an old and saintly book.
Three years the maid did hold my heart
In the casket of her own.
Till the beautiful bud of passion had grown
A fragrant rose full-blown ;
She drained its tender fragrance,
AntI then, ah, woe the day ! •
Unlocked the casket of her heart,
And tiung my flower away.
In the saintly book I was reading to-day,
Forgetful awhile of mj- woes,
When I turned o'er a leaf, and there beheld
A faded — withered rose ;
It breathed of the past — of that summer-day
In the garden where it grew ;
And surely I wept o'er my withered flower.
And my heart-love withered too.
GARDENING BY THE LADIES.
A corre-spondent of the London Cottage Garden-
er, desciiblng the residence of Mr. Justice Hali-
burton. the ''Sam Slick" of literary notoriety says :
I paid a visit to these gardens about a year
since, on the occasion of a fancy fair given for
some £haritable purpose, and never do I remem-
ber to have seen bedding done so well, or so choice
a collection of plants brought together in a place
of 80 limited an extent. I was given to under-
stand b\ a florist of some celebrity who was pres-
ent, that the arrangement of the beds and the se-
lection of the plants were in the hands of the lady
occupier herself. The taste for the harmonizing
of colors 1 consider natural in all women of refined
education, only unfortunately many of them dis-
play their taste in decorating themselves more
than ornamenting their gardens. But if ladies
were to follow gardening more usually than they
are apt to do, how much oftener we should see the
cheek resemble the rose in place of the lily ; and
how soon, also, we should perceive the lighter
tints made use of in decorating the inside of the
bonnets. They would soon be aware that glaring
coloring was not suited to their complexions so
well as the more subdued shades. Moreover, God
has given us health that we may enjoy the bless-
ings He sends, and depend upon it that where a
lady gardener resides, it is there the physician's
carriage seldom stops.
Roses a Luxury to the Ancients. — To en-
joy the scent of roses, at meals, an abnudance of
rose leaves were shaken on the table, so that the
dishes were completely surrounded. By an arti-
ficial contrivance, roses, during meals, descended
on the guests from above. Heliogabalus, in his
folly, caused roses to be showered down upon the
guests in such quantities that a number of them,
being unable to extricate themselves, were suffo-
cated in flowers. During meal times they reclined
upon cushions stuffed with rose leaves, or made a
couch of the leaves themselves. The floor, too,
was strewed with roses, and in this custom great
luxury was displayed. Cleopatra, at an enormous
expense, procured roses for a feast which she gave
to Antony, had them laid two cubits thick on the
floor of the banquet room, and then caused nets
to be spread over the flowers, in order to render
the footing elastic. Heliogabalus caused not
only the banquet rooms, but also the colonnades
that led to them, to be covered with roses, inter-
spersed with lilies, violets, hyacinths and narcissi,
and walked about upon this flower platform.
How to Draw Tea. — A few years since the
writer took tea with a relative, and was delighted
with the quality of the beverage. L'^)on inquiry,
it proved that the article was from the same pack-
age used by another friend, whose tea always tast-
ed miserably, and the difference was wholly owing
to the methods used in its preparation. The last-
named person followed the usual plan of pouring
boiling water upon the tea, which causes the most
of the aroma to escape with the steam. The other
friend adopted the following process, which I have
since practiced, and would reconnnend : "Pour
tepid or cold water enough on the tea to cover it,
place it on the stove hearth, top of a kettle, or any
place where it will be warm, but not enough so as
to cause the aroma to escape in steam. Let it re-
main about half an hour, then pour on boiling
water and bring to the table."
Our Best Parlors. — Don't keep a solitary
parlor, into which you go but once a month, with
your parson or sewing society. Hang round your
walls pictures which shall tell stories of mercy,
hope, courage, faith and charity. Make your liv-
ing-room the house. Let the place be such that
when your boy has gone to distant lands, or even
when, perhaps, he clings to a single plaiik in the
waters of tiie wide ocean, the thought of the old
homestead shall come to him in his desolation,
bringing always light, hope and love. Have no
dungeon about your house — no room you never
open — no blinds that are always shut.
96
NEW ENGLAND FARMEK.
, .;r , ■
March'
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoughts about March Page 65
Agricultural Movements gs
Agricultural College of Pennsylvania V.V.V.V.'.67
MixinsGrain in Seeding— Dangers of Cold Weather 67
Ventilation in Bee Hives g'
Letler from Mr. Brown '.*.'.'.'.*.".'.!.'. 65
Bad Effects of Irrigation .'.'.*,'.',*.!] 72
Knowledge ; Its Benefits lo the Farmer '.'.'.'.13
The Agriculuiml Report ."73
War and Agriculture *.'.".'.'.'.','.'.'. '. '. 74
Clover Hay for Horses 75
The School ■..■." * ta
Extracts and Replies
ing these four weeks. Dut this is not all. Maine comes into
Uji market as a buyer— as a buyer of Western cattle too ' Her
(fbvers, f .r the two last weeks at least, have loaded both ways
-bnngmg their best cattle to Brighton, and carrying back to
lortland for barrelling and canning the lichter grades of the
Western 'I he whole supply of cattle has been hanily up to the
demand, while the market is largely overstocked with sheep
Consequently while the prices for beef have increised, as is usu-
al at this season, those for mutton have declined, as will be seen
by our quotations.
The trade in store hogs at Brighton has dwindled into a mere
retail traffic.
Stray Hints from My Kitchen— Diseases in Sheep. '.!!!'.'. '...'.78 TnJi
New Vork Fmit Trees— Sore Eyes in Sheep 79
White Hedge >viIlow 80 I
Reading— The Seasons
Aside from a few milch cows, and now and then a pair of
)rkiDg oxen, all cattle at market, fat or lean, are slaughtered
,^ „ , -Pear Trees from Seed 81
At Home Again— Mutton and Wool Growing in the U. S 82
Various Moiles of Cultivating Corn 83
Wintering Bees -Straw Hives— Antidote fQr'Poison"!.'!!!!!!83
Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 84
Clothes Wringer— Cutting Feed for Horses §5
\ alue of Roots in Fattening Hogs— Sorghum Sugar ! . . . 81
Poetry, Music and riealth ^
Musk Melon— Early Potatoes !..'!.".'.'!!!!.'.*."!!' "ss
Essex Co. Transac.ions— Pruning Apple Trees.!'..!!',*.".'. 89
Culture of Indian Corn— Whitewash 'bq
Pleuio-Pneumonia in Cattle ! on
How the Rebellion Works— The Canada Thistle! !!!!!! 91
Associated Dairies— .V. Y. Slate Agricultural Society '92
FiscicuUure in England— Live and Dead Weight of Sheep... 99
Model Farm and C rden— Common Schocris 93
Pasture Lands of New England— A Yankee Farmer 94
Ladies' Department 'q-
Cattle Markets for February !.!!!!. !!!!!.'..!!!.'!.*!.'.*.96
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter "M" -,
White Hedge billow „„
Green Cilron Melon oq
Common Musk Melon ! bo
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, February 10:
n ^'l"*^''°SS sold 10 good oxen to C. Richardson, 8 at about
o , ^^^"'' one pair of extra oxen fed bv Sylvanus Owen of
St. Johnsbury, Vt., sold by dollars at Q'^-c, on estimate of seller
and at about JOc •^ lb, on the estimate of buyer. Noticed four
no'fcs! for oi '^t' "'^'"'' '' '■ ^- ''^^""•' '"'' '" '^'•-^
C. T. Houghton sold his best pair of oxen at 9^4-0, 2 other
pairs at 9c ^ tt,. and 13 smaller cattle on drift, to cost about 8c
V lb.
J. Lyman sold 4 oxen laid at 1100 fts. each, for 9i^c ^ ft
^ D- ij'f sold 4 New York oxen at 9c ■)? lb. and one, laid to
dress ';00 fts. for $46, or6t<c #■ ft.
G. W. Barker sold 4 oxen at 9c, 5 fat cows at SJ^c, 3 younu
cattle at Sc, and was selling 8 others at less than 8c ^f m
G. BiUchtlder Slid four pairs tf well fed, extra Vermon
One pair weighed 3955
N
oxen to J. F. Taylor for lOi^c ■^' lb
and another pair 3560.
CATTLE MARKETS FOB. FEBBUABT.
The fallowing is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending February 10, 1864:
NUMBER AT lURKET.
Cntt'c.
Jan. 20 2336
" 27 1040
Feb. 3 2119
" 10 1266
Total.
.6,701
Sheep.
6236
3015
4316
6281
19.84S
Shotes.
150
50
Fat Hoss.
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheen
from each State for the last four weeks, and fur the correspond^
ing four weeks last year ; also the total numbersince the first of
.January, ol Ciich year:
Westfield Premidms.— Hezekiah Taylor sold to N.
Jackson J2 txlra good oxen, fed by himself in Westfield J
10 of which he estimated to weigh 4400 lbs. at home. The
& S.
Mass.,
i.T , , . , ^ , , „ -^- .,--.«. ...^.„^. The whole
12 he laid to dress 1 00 #■ bullock, and the buyers said fhev
would gladly compound at 1400 lbs. each. At these weights
and with some ]0'ic4?' lb., a dozen such o.xen sell for money
enough to buy a comfortable farm, with all the pridleges and
appurtenances thereunto belonging.
io^fi^"r'''c 'o'i'' ^^ "''^stern steers, average live weight
1286 fts, for 8c, 3S sk ; of a better lot as follows: 3 averaee
live weight 1113 fts. at 10c, 30 sk ; 6 averanin" 1.33t fts at
same price ; 11 weighing 1567 lbs. at 10,'^c dressed weight :'25
of 1384 lbs. for 10c, 2:5 sk. Mr. Monroe also sold 20 thin West-
ern cows, 19 of an average live weight of 810 fts. for 5o 40 sk
C. H. Potter delivered a carload of 70 fine well fed sheep.
which averaged 119 lbs. on a previous contract at 9c •}? ft • J
Lyman reports sales of lots at 6c, 6i^c, 7c and 7ijc 1* ft • Wil-
old 86 New York sheep, 98 fts. each, at T'^'c ; D.
cox & Lo!
THIS TEAR.
Catt'e. Sheep
Maine 532
New Hampshire 78I
Vermont 1624
Massachusetts 420
Rhode Island 47
Northern i\ ew Vork 277
Western States 29(j3
Canada 87
Total, last four weeks 6,761 19,843
Total, since Jan. 1,(6 weeks,).. 9,375 26^03 7
PRICES.
1001
2042
4543
4072
1164
eiio
16
LAST YEAH.
Cattle. Slieep.
Jan. 20.
Beef,l8t,2d,3dqual 6 (fiO
" ex. and pr«niium...9^'S9J
Sheep and lambs, #■ ft. . .6ia8
" " extra — @ —
Shotes, retail 7 gSJ
Becfhidesj^" ft 9 ggi
Pelts, sheep & lambs $—■ fi3
Jan. 27.
^ 65(g9|
91^10
8]<a9^
7 esi
9 (ggj
$3 (gSJ
Rbmaeks— From the foregoing statements it appears that the
number of both cattle and.shtep from the West is almoBt twioe
Kice sold 85 sheep, 90 fts. each, for 7>Jc 4?' ft ; Geo W Jo
sold SO fat River-fed sheep. 110 lbs, each, for b'^'c ; 'f Barl
sold 40 other "River-ftds" for 63^c ^ ft ; GeoT Rust sold
ones
J w oiner -uiver-ttds" for 63^c ¥ ft ; Geo. Rust sole ^
fio'*v''4.^''"1 n7^ ;"-''"'" ^"^^^ ^'' "'' ^"^""^ '8 '4 »=*• ^ head, for
be rtb and 9S others, gross live weight 83SO lbs, or 88K fts.
fts. i? head lor 7c ■{;>■ ft ; Do Wolf & Pnmty -.old 3 lots at 7c
7;^c and 8c 4f lb ; A. Peck sold 93 sheep, av raisin" 85 fts at
I 4c ; I. B. Sargeant sold to Ifcnry Goodnow K6 sheep at $5 75
W iiead, after seeing how sheep lost weight between the farm
and the mark, t scales, and after hearing the price F ft. whicU
the nitcheis oETered. P. F. Aldrich sold 19 cossets which aver-
aged 120 lbs. each, for 7%c W ft, 9 of them 10 G. F. Swift, and ,
10 o Mr. Shaw ; J. W. Warner sold 94 sheep from the rich ami '
fertile intervales of the Connecticut valley, which weighed on
the scales at Cambridge, 6320 fts, or nearly 67>^ fts. .^ head,
101 0,'i^ c *|f Id*
7 (g8»
9 @94
$3 @3J
Window Gardening in Denmark.— Graves'
recent ''Cruise in the Baltic," tells us: "In Copen-
hagen every window is filled with pretty flower-
pots, in which roses, pinks and fuchsias seem to
thrive to perfection. These beautiful plants give
a neat eflect to the fronts of the houses, and tell
the passing stranger of the deeply-rooted love of
flowers, which forms part of the national charac-
ter of the Danes, as well as of the Swedes."
m
T
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, APRIL, 18()4.
NO. 4.
NOURSE, EATO\ & TOLMAN, Proprietors.
Office 102 Washington Street.
SIMON BROWN, IIditob.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY APRIL.
"A flowery crown will I compose —
I'll weave the Crocus, weave the Rose ;
I'll weave Narcissus, newly wet.
The Hyacinth and Violet ;
The Myitle shall supply me green,
And Lilies laugh in li^'ht between ;
That the rich tendrils of my beauty's hair
May burst into their crowning flowers, and light the painted air,"
^-n^. aw'^ ) /irfW of April ! M^'e
wonder how
it came to be
selected from
the three
hundred and
'•>^X sixty-five
days in the
^N year, as a day
on which sen-
sib le people
might be priv-
ileged to make
fools of each
other? This custom has never been very satisfac-
torily accounted for, but certain it is, that it dates
back many centuries, and prevails throughout
Europe as well as America. Did you ever spend
fifteen minutes in a vain attempt to light a pars-
nip instead of a candle ? Did you ever have a
plate of dough-nuts passed you, and while you
were tugging manfully to break one asunder, and
to conceal the severity of j-our efforts under the
mask of politeness, discover that it was stuffed
with cotton ? Did you ever receive a package
which you thought must contain a gold watch at
least, and find only an infinite series of brown pa-
per wrappers ? Then you know how such things
are done in New England.
The following is a jest of a different kind and
proves that its perpetrator, at least, was no fool.
It is related of Rabelais, who, wishing to go from
pay his fare, filled some phial with "brick dust or
ashes, labeled them as containing poison for the
royal f^imily of France, and put them where he
knew they would be discovered." The conse-
quence was he was carried to Paris as a traitor,
before the joke was found out \ It certainly was
an ingenious artifice for travelling at the public
expense, but might in some cases prove a danger-
ous one.
Something similar to April Fool's Day is said
to exist in the East Indies. It is curious to trace
by indications of this sort, man's common broth-
erhood. At the first glance they may seim of no
particular importance, but take this smgle exam-
ple, and perhaps it illustratesjthe point all the bet-
ter for being a trifling one — for such a custom
certainly could arise out of no necessity of our
nature, nor is it likely to be a coincidence, it must,
therefore, have had a single origin, and have been
carried over the world by the descendants of its
originators — north, south, east and west.
When we look up to the heavens of a starry
night, we see a constellation which everybody
knows by the name of the Great Bear. It cer-
tainly has little resemblance to that animal, and
we wonder by what flight of imagination the "wise
men of the East," ever fixed upon such a name
for it, but when we are told that American Indi-
ans and the earliest Arabs of Asia have called
that constellation the "Great Bear," what can we
infer, but that centuries and centuries ago, these
divers nations were all one people ? Equally
striking is the well known fact that various na-
tions have a record of the Deluge, answering
very well to the Mosaic account, and that our In-
dians have a tradition of the same.
We should like to follow this train of thought
still farther, but our limits scarcely permit, and
we must leave it for each one to pursue it at hie
leisure.
April, named as some suppose from Aperirt^
98
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
eeems to be opening, and preparing to enrich us
with its gifts."
Now we may bid winter farewell, in earnest,
for although April is proverbially a coquettish
month, and we are not to suppose because she
smiles on us one hour she will not frown the next
— still there is an onward progress. Slowly, but
surely the way is being prepared for the fair things
of suninier, and the harvest of autumn. Not yet
have the trees all put on their beautiful garments,
but the maple down by the meadow is "clothed
in> scarlet," the willow droops with its burden of
tender blossoms, (we called it pussy willow in our
school-days,) and the fresh green grass is spring-
ing in all sunny and sheltered places. It is true
that the "return of spring" on paper, is common-
place enough, and everything that can be said of
its "beauties," &c., &e., has been said a thousand
times, but the return of spring in reality, is al-
ways new. Though one may have seen threescore
and ten of them, he never loses the feeling of
fpesh young life which it brings. And yet, per-
haps, we all look at it from a different point of
view. The invalid rejoices in the prospect of a
season better adapted to his enfeebled frame ; the
farmer regards it with an eye to his plow and
broad fields of waving grain — his flocks and herds ;
the little child thinks of the checkerberries— (he
probably calls them ivy plums) — which look so
bright and cheerful under their broad, thick leaves
— of the bird's nests, which he knows very well
where to look for, — and of all the grand rambles
he is going to have in the woods now that the
snow that has lain so long — it seems to him a
year — is melting away. The old man looks out
upon the reviving world and thiaks how his win-
ter will soon p*ss, and spring will come to him in
another, and more congenial world !
The young lady, (is it not so ?) puts by her
skates with a sigh, and can only find consolation
in the lovely shape of her new spring hat ! We
are glad, by the way, that any form of out-door
exercise should have found so much favor in the
eyes of the fair sex, and we hope that the prevail-
ing mania of the past winter will extend itself
Still farther, and that walking, riding horseback,
&c., &c., will come in fashion, — for if you can
only make a thing fasld-onable, it is safe.
Of all the "rights" that have been withheld
from our countrywomen, that of a hardy physical
development is the most important, and the re-
formers who are bold enough to break down the
ancient barriers in the way, are deserving of pub-
lic thanks. Our own creed on the subject of
"women's rights" is very brief. Let her be thor-
oughly educated, morally, intellectually, and phys-
ically, and she will fall into her own sphere,
whateyer that may be, as naturally as the earth re-
Well, we shall find our compensation by-and-by,
and if our spring is short, so much the more rea-
son why we should make the most of it. Isn't
this true philosophy ?
vr.l- !•» oTj its axis.
fn.= hill.
HORSE TRAINING.
We had the pleasure, a few days ago, of wit-
nessing Mr. Rockwell's power over the horse,
in a series of experiments made at Concord, Mass.
In the first place, he drove a splendid stallion
through the streets, without bridle, reins, or har-
ness of any kind, except a surcingle passed around
the body of the horse and attached to the shafts
by a loop. At another time he drove a pair of
stallions in the same manner. On both occasions
the horses were driven through a crowd of peo-
ple, sharp corners, among numerous other horses
and vehicles, and were guided with more exac*:-
ness than most of the lookers-on could have man-
aged their teams with bits and reins. He con-
trolled the animals, evidently, through their fears.
There was a magic power in the long whip which
he held in his hand. The eyes and ears of the
horses were all attention ; no motion of the whip,
however slight, esca])ed their notice. If the whip
leaned right or left, they instantly followed its in-
clination, or if its pliable extremity went entirely
round, they gracefully swept about and described
the circle, bearing gently off when the wheel
pressed too hard upon the protecting iron.
Mr. Rockwell experimented upon more than a
dozen horses in our presence, and with entire suc-
cess in every case. We have space for only one
which will well enough illustrate the whole. This
was the case of a mare> weighing about 1050
pounds and eight years old. She was not "brok-
en," as the term is, until she was six years old.
There was no special difficulty in handling her
then, with the single exception that she did not
like to have her feet touched, either before or be-
hind. The habit of resisting when she was shod
grew upon her, so that the last time tliat work
was needed, previous to the exhibition, it took
four men two hours to accomplish it, and then the
work was unsatisfactorily performed.
The mare was led into the ring, and Mr. Rock-
well took a cord of the size of a common clothes
line, and ten or twelve feet long, made a loop in
one end, put it into her mouth, then threw the
other end over her neck and brought it back
through the loop, and held it in his hand. A
headstall, without winkers, was upon her head.
In this position he stood two or three minutes,
speaking to the crowd, and then gave a sudden
and powerful jerk upon the cord at right angle
with her body, bringing the mare's head nearly
round to her side. Then he caressed her a little,
when two or three other, tiger-like springs fol-
lowed in quick sucop«^ion, evidently to the ?reat
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
99
Burprise of the animal. In less than fifteen min-
utes from the time he took her in hand, he took
up her feet, hammered upon them and handled
them just as he pleased ! The result was equally
satisfactory with a horse that was usually terror-
stricken when an open umbrella came near him,
and with others, vicious in various ways.
Mr. Rockwell's art lies in convincing the horse,
at once, that he has lost his power ; that man is
an overmatch for him. Under his management,
it is wonderful how quickly the animal seems to
come to this conclusion. There is no secret in
this. With the same energy and tact that Mr.
R. employs, any other person can produce the
same results. The exhibition was gratifying and
highly instructive.
For the NetB England Farmer.
ASIATIC FOWLS.
Messrs. Editors : — In obedience to your re-
quest, asking me to give your readers my opinion
of the difference between tlie White or Grey
Shanghai and the Brahma Pootra fowl, I will
state my experience in regard to the different va-
rieties. I have kept the Grey Shanghai and now
keep the Brahma. I believe it is admitted by all
poulterers, that these large Asiatic varieties were
all produced, originally, from one species, and
that they have descended from a large bird in the
Islands of Sumatra and Java, known as the Great
Malay Fowl. The difference between these vari-
eties is due to the influence of crossing and do-
mestication. Our American stock of these fowls
came from .\sia in the vicinity of Shanghai. The
first were brought to this country about 40 years
ago, since which time permanent crosses have
been made, and thus the Brahma, and other va-
rieties, have been produced. I have found the
purf» Grey Shanghai to be a very coarse, large-
boned, awkward fowl, quite unfit for the market,
and "with the exception of the Buff Shanghai,"
the most inactive of all the .\siatic varities. The
pure Brahma fowls are more compact in form,
shorter legs, much shorter tail feathers, and a su-
perior market fowl. They are small-boned, in
comparison with the size of the fowl, small feed-
ers, and very hardy. If fed properly, they will
thrive well where common fowls will suffer, or
freeze. A very beneficial characteristic of the
Brahmas is, that when old their flesh is both ten-
der and juicy, which is quite the contrary with
any other breed I have ever seen.
The Brahmas and the Shanghai are quite unlike
in their general appearance to the eye of a fowl
fancier. The thorough-bred Morgan horse mav,
to the inexperienced eye, closely resemble the
common native farm horse, but by the horseman
the difference will immediately be observed. With
fowls, as with all other animals, those who breed
them with care will observe a very slight imper-
fection that would pass unheeded by those who
have not turned their attention to careful breed-
ing.
I think every New England farmer who has
given the Brahma fowls a fair trial, is convinced
that they excel all others in every desirable quali-
ty, popecially as winter layers. Any breed of
«'-\wU "-i'l !"'• 'n the '■•"^mer 8P!">on but fc rnv
part, I prefer to have eggs in winter when they
command a much higher price. I have forty
Brahma pullets that have averaged twenty-three
eggs per day during the past two months, which
have been sold at thirty-five cents per dozen. I
wish to keep the breed of fowls, and if any one
has a better variety I am willing to give them a
fair trial ; but after keeping upwards of thirty
different kinds, I have found none to compa'^e
with the Brahmas for every desirable purpose to
the farmer. J. S. IvES.
Salem, Feb. 24, 1864.
FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP.
John Johnston writes us that he believes he can
manage this disease as well as M. Bauchiere, and
that his method has, besides, the advant;.'ge of
being no secret. He describes it as fallows : —
Take finely pulverized blue vitriol — the finer the
better — make it into a salve with lard, butter, or
honey. After cutting away every particle of the
hoof that has become detached by suppuration, —
if some blood is drawn no injury will result from
it, — apply the salve freely, and I will warrant that
in less than five days the sheej) will be sound, pro-
vided the detached hoof has all been cut off. But
it is safer to apply the salve at differetit times,
say two or three, at intervals of four or six day^
examining carefully at each application to see that
none of the detached hoof is left on the foot. To
cut this entirely away is indispensible. The best
way I have found to pulverize the vitriol, is to
hang up an iron pot by a rope or chain, put in
half a pound of vitriol ; then put in a cannon ball,
and take hold of the pot with both hands, and
give it such a motion as will cause the ball to roll
on the vitriol, and it soon becomes pulverized.
The vitriol will require to be loosened up Fiom the
bottom of the i)ot once or twice. No belter cure
for foot-rot need be desired than this, provitled
the appHcation be thorough ; but if the land is
wet, or foot-rotten sheep have been pastured on
it long, it will be safer to remove the-sheej) as fast
as they are cured, because the foul land will again
inoculate them. — CuUivalor.
Value of MANrRE.— In a bushel of Indian
corn, for instance, there are fifty-eight pounds of
grain, which will make, according to circuni!>tan-
ces and conditions of animals, from three to twelve
pounds of flesh and fat. Now what becomes of
the remainder of the fifty-eight jiounds ? A por-
tion of it is consumed — burnt up as fire burns
wood — in sustaining the necessary warmth nf the
animal. But the greater proportion is cast out
in the droppings.
This rule holds good in fattening neat catilc,
sheep, swine, and all other domestic animjls.
And herein, to a great extent, lies the real profit
of feeding animals grain. The profit is in t .'e
' manure. If th:it is lost or wasted, the profit is
often very small, or there is no profit at all. —
' Counfi'y Oodleman.
To Prevent a Horse from Pitli.ing at the
Halter. — Tie a rope around the neck, put it
through a hole in the edge of the manger, and
tie it around the fore leg below tlie knee, and
when the horse pulls, the rope will slip through
the hole and pull up the fore leg, and he will soon
sriv^ it un. — f^mni(}~ij flep*^'~mrrn. '
100
rT7/-iTA'T (Ty;.
NEW ENGL
'i
AilMER.
APiih
THE AVINTEK CBOOKNECK SQUASH.
Among all the varieties of the squash perhaps
there is none so easily raised and preserved
through the winter
as the Crookneck
Squash here figured.
It is, also, an excel-
lent variety boiled or
for pies. We copy
cut and description
from Burr's new
work on the Field
and Garden Vegeta-
bles of America.
This .is one of the oldest and most familiar of
the varieties. Plant hardy and vigorous ; fruit
somewhat irregular in form, the neck solid and
nearly cylindrical, and the blossom end more or
less swollen. In some specimens the neck is
nearly straight ; in others, sweeping, or circular ;
end sometimes the extremities nearly or quite ap-
proach each other. Size very variable, being af-
fected greatly both by soil and season ; the weight
ranging from six pounds to forty pounds and up-
wards. A specimen was raised" by Capt. Joseph
Lovett, of Beverly, Mass., and exhibited before
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the
weight of which was nearly seventy pounds.
Color sometimes green ; but, when fully mature,
often cream-yellow. The color, like that of the
Canada Crookneck, frequently changes after be-
ing harvested. If green when plucked, it grad-
ually becomes paler ; or, if yellow when taken
from the vines, it becomes, during the winter, of a
reddish cream-color. Flesh salmon-yellow, not
uniform in texture or solidity, sometimes close-
grained, sweet, and fine-flavored, and sometimes
very coarse, stringy, and nearly worthless for the
table ; seeds of medium size, grayish-white, the
border darker, or brownish. About two hundred
are contained in an ounce.
It is a very hardy and productive variety;
ripens its crop Avith great certainty ; suffers less
from the depredations of the insects than most of
the winter sorts ; and, if protected from cold and
dampness during the winter months, will keep the
entire year.
Product of a Dairy.— J. L. R., Jefferson
Co., N. Y., in the Couninj Gentleman, says that
during the year 1863 he made from seven cows
1,643 'pounds 7 ounces of butter. Average per
cow 234 pounds 12 ounces. Net proceeds of dairy
stands thus :
1,643 7-16ths pounds butter, average price 24>4 cts $398 55
Milk solil 8 67
Calf raided worth 5 00
Calt fatted 4 00
Deacon and VI. al skins 6 25
Value of milk fed to 3 bogs, doubtful, but say 15 CO
$436 47
Average per cow $62 35
No account being made for milk and cream
used in the family.
The cows were soiled in the summer, and were
kept on hay, corn fodder and straw, with three
q-:urt3 of shorts and a peck of roots per day in
CARE OF ASPARAGUS BEDS.
Early last spring we prepared and published an
article in the N. E. Farmer upon the culture of
asparagus, and its importance to the family in an
economical and moral point of view. We have
reason to believe that the suggestions then made
drew attention to the subject, and that many a
liberal bed of roots has been planted in conse-
quence. Something more, however, remains to
be done, and the next important step is to attend
to the
Spring Dressing of the Beds.
This should be done as early as the weather
and the condition of the soil will permit. If the
spring is late and the soil wet and heavy the work
must be deferred until there is a change. When
this takes place, even if it is as early as the latter
part of March or the first of April, clear away all
the old stems and litter of 6very kind. This is fre-
quently done by burning it on the bed, and does no
harm to the plants, while the ashes left from it
are decidedly beneficial. Care must be taken not
to wound the crowns of the roots with the tines
of the fork. Forking the beds should not be neg-
lected, as the admission of the sun and rain into
the ground, induces the plants to throw up buds
of superior size ; in order to ensure this the ground
should be kept clear of weeds at all seasons, as
these greatly impoverish, and frequently smother
the plants.
If one has but little land and desires to make
the most of it, he may plant the ground between
the rows of asparagus with potatoes, beans, or
other crop, which will do no harm to the aspara-
gus, if the soil is liberally manured and cleanly
cultivated.
For the ISew Enaland Farmer.
EXPERIMENTS "WITH MAMTJRES.
Mr. Editor : — Having read much in the Farm'
er about the good qualities of various kinds of ma-
nures, I thought I M'ould give you some of my
experiments :
1. In the spring of 1861 I laid down a piece
of land to grass and sowed with wheat. Nearly
in the middle of the piece, on one rod square, I
sowed two and a half bushels of ashes. The first
and second seasons no difference was perceivable ;
the third season, while all around was herdsgrass,
the square rod was all clover. The conclusion,
therefore, must be that the ashes might as well
have been somewhere else.
2. In the spring of 1862, having forty bushels
of ashes, and ten or twelve bushels of hen ma-
nure, I mixed them together well, and added
twelve bushels of loam. After preparing a piece
of land for corn planting, by first harrowing thor-
oughly, (it being sward land plowed the fall be-
fore,) then plowing with a heavy plow, harrowing
again, spreading on six cords of stable manure to
the acre, plowing in lightly, levelling, and mark-
ing both ways, I put about a pint of the compost
in each hill, with the exception of two rows
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
101
the ears from the two rows without any manure
in the hill weighed seventy-nine pounds, while
two rows on each side of the above weighed 154
pounds, or 77 pounds for each two rows. Now,
the question is, what did I receive for my extra la-
bor ard the compost?
S. fn the spring of 1863, having prepared my
corn land as in 1862, I planted four rows on one
eide of the piece without any manure in the hill ;
the nevt four rows I put about a pint of Lodi pou-
drette in each hill, dropped the corn directly on
the poudrette and covered to the usual depth.
The next four rows the same as the first. The
next four rows I put in each hill about half a pint
of ashes, covered with earth, dropped the corn
and covered as usual. The next four rows same
as first and second. The next four rows had about
a pint of hen manure and loam mixed together
(equal parts) in each hill. The next four rows
same as first and second. The next four rows had
half a pint of plaster in each hill. All came up
well, with the exception of the ashes and pou-
drette rows, which came very slow, and some hills
were planted the second time, and were about
eight days behind the other rows all the season.
Now for the result : At harvest the ears on
The first four rows weighud 197 i^ lbs.
The next " " " pouUrelte 193 "
" " " " 207 "
" " " " ashes 185 "
" " " " 198>i "
" " " " ben manure 193 "
" " " " 203 "
" " " " plaster 196>^ "
It seems by the above that I not only lost my
labor, and manure that was put in the hill, but
quite a number of pounds of corn.
I tried the same as above with my potatoes, and
could perceive no difi"erence.
If you can give any reasons why the result
should be as it is, I should be glad to hear them.
North Providence, R. I., Jan. 1, 1864. G. E.
Remarks. — We thank, our correspondent for
communicating these experiments. The results
are certainly not what we should have expected.
For the Netc England Farmer.
DISEASE IN APPIiES.
I noticpd last fall that some kinds of apples
appeared to have a disease upon them. The first
that attracted my notice was the Porter apple.
I had brought some into the house, and in a few
days found many, probably half of them, turned
black. I thought them rotten, and wondered at
the sudden change. On examination I found the
discoloration to be confined to the skin ; the flesh
appeared sound. When I gathered my winter
fruit I found the Rhode Island Greening affected
much in the same way — not so black all over, but
spotted. The Porters soon lost their flavor, wheth-
er by the disease or because they had gone out
of season, I cannot say. My impression is, the
Rhode Island Greenings are not so good-flavored
as formerly, but I may be mistaken. Besides
these two 1 had a tree of natural fruit of greenish
color and good size, affected with spots like the
other greenings. These were pretty acid, but
very good for pies and cooking purposes, and
usually saved for that purpose, and kept pretty
well into winter. I did not notice the disease on
any other kinds. Never having noticed anything
of the kind before, I am induced to mention the
fact, and to inquire if such appearance has oc-
curred on apples in other places, or is common,
or whether it be the commencement of a new
trouble with our apples .'' RuFUS MclNTlRE.
Parsonsjidd, Me., Feb. 8, 1864.
Remarks. — We noticed nothing of the kind in
our last fall crop. If others did, we hope they
will communicate.
Fur the New Englaml Farmer.
THEOKY AND EXPERIMENT.
Mr. Editor : — Is every generation doomed for
all time to come to test anew by costly experi-
ments the theories their fathers have tested ?
The whims, the fanaticism of crazy, scientific, re-
ligious, ])olitical and agricultural reformers have
their outbreak in some part of the world ])eriodi-
cally. Nothing seems too absurd to be believed,
and for a time will have its votaries. Every now
and then the Patent Office at Washington is called
on to explode the assumption of perpetual motion.
Theologians are challenged to disprove the agen-
cy of spirits in tipping tables, or modern spiritu-
alism— or some other ism — and statesmen must
battle agrarianism. Our children must, or are
made to, swallow more drugs and nostrums than
ever before, in spite of the medical colleges and
medical science ; and for proof of this, take up
the first newspaper you can get hold of and com-
pare the thousand and one universal panaceas
advertised therein, to the number advertised twen-
ty years ago. Are we growing wise, or are these
quacks multiplying only in the proportional ratio
to increase of population ?
These reflections are called up by seeing three
dwarfish, insignificant, dirty, scrubby, merino
lambs pass my door in a puug bound for the
Aroostook. I questioned the unfortunate man,
and learned that he had been so fooli>h as to pay
one hundred and fifty dollars for them, and was
going to cross them with his flock of English
Leicester and South Downs, away up on the
Aroostook River. A pity, thought I, that royal
blood should ever be so basely prostrated — and
hence degenerated. Anybody that ever had any
experience in that experiment could tell this un-
fortunate man's fortune. The man's head was
apparently clear in other matters, but here he was
insane, or, to use a milder word, unsound.
The best English breeds of sheep are now found
in that section, including the Provinces — best for
mutton, and that is what ])ays the farmer the best
— for the wool brings witliiu a few cents ])er pound
the price of merino wool ; beside, the English
breeds are more hardy, and the lambs are sure to
live with the same care, and hence more profita-
ble. This merino fever arose in consequence of
the success of a Vermont speculator obtaining big
prices for his pampered merinos in (iermany.
Common sense would look at whole flocks of
sheep, as they actually are, or as farmers usually
tend and care for them, and also at the latitude
they are to be kept in, and to the comparative
profits "of wool with mutton — and wool alone.
This unfortunate man will hereafter be shunned
by the butchers and all lovers of good mutton ;
and he will, instead of realizing from three to
four dollars per head for his surplus lambs at
three and four months old, for the shambles, be
102
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
1%'
-r Hi;
obliged to keep them a year before realizing any
profit from them. Maine can compete with Ver-
mont in her valuable English sheep, and, take the
mutton and wool together, will leave her m the
rear. „ , .,
The underdraining theory was all the rage with
farmers a few years since, and agricultural lectur-
ers, not content with the fact patent to any dis-
criminating farmer, that some lands well paid the
expense of underdraining, such as wet and boggy
lands where nothing but wild and comparatively
worthless grasses grew, went to the extreme, and
advocated that all lands should be drained, or
that anv land, however dry, would retain the
moisture longer if drained,— hence be more pro-
lific, and more than repay the expense of draining.
Even the clear-headed Mr. Horace Greeley, advo-
cated in his agricultural addresses through the
country, that if any land was worth cultivating it
would pav back enough more to cover the ex-
pense of' draining. He run draining theory so
much, so long, and so thoroughly underground,
as to set everybody to digging rifle pits even to
the top of the highest sand hills, in this section
of the country, as my neighbor over the way to
his sorrow, or his sorrowful pocket will testify.
There are miles of this folly perpetrated in sight
of my door, and you cannot tell by the crops
which part of the field can claim this distinguished
honor— the honor of being Greeleyized. Because
iowie lands are benefited by draining, it is no proof
that all land may be so improved. , ^^ ^
Some farmers reason like the celebrated Doctor
Esculapius. The doctor visited one of his pa-
tients a blacksmith, and found him convalescent
and lunching on codfish. The doctor immediate-
Iv noted in his book, ''Codfish good for blacksmua.
He was subsequently called to prescribe for a shoe-
maker and of course ordered him to eat nothing
but codfish. The sequel was that the poor shoe-
maker died under the codfish regimen. The doc-
tor enters in his notebook, '^ Codfish good Jor
blacksmith, bid death to a shoemaker." Now 1 rec-
ommend the unfortunate man above to enter in
his slieep book, in large capitals, "ilfmno wool
pood for the broadcloth maker, but death to mutton
chops." And so, Mr. Editor, the farmers at large
read the agricultural papers, and the moment they
find something recommended by somebody that
never, perhaps, had a hill of potatoes, or planted
a hill of corn in their lives, immediately proceed
to put the hint into practice, because they hnd it
in their papers, and find too late to save then-
pockets, tliat theory and practice do not always
'Mv neighbor went to great expense to setout
an orchard of grafted apple trees, and was anxious
that they should have the benefit of all the scien-
tific help he could find in the papers brought to
bear on his promising fruit trees. He reads in
the papers that, to promote their growth and to
kill all noxious parasites, it is recommended to
wash them in alkali. So he procures ashes from
elm and maple wood, and makes the strongest
decoction of alkali he could make, and gives the
trunks, the limbs and the leaves a generous bap-
tism, vihen, presto ! mirab'de dictu! the next day
found his precious fruit trees— the leaves bui-nt,
the trunks drying up— his orchard destroyed, that
cost so much money and careful planting. Killed.
Horticultural quackrey had done its perfect work.
My other neighbor is ripe for all the patent
rights' pedlers that swarm along the road, prom-
ising to annihilate muscular labor and usher in
the Millennium. He comes to me all converted to
the belief that the "Atmospheric Churn" is to su-
persede all other churns, and not content to buy
one and prove it, or rather to prove one and then
buy it, but must needs buy the right for all the
adioining towns. His fortune is made in the per-
spective ; "for, see," said he, "the water is all on
foam ; the churn worked admirably when churn-
ing water, (the pedler was careful to use water in-
stead of cream to test its merits,) it is logical to
suppose that it will make the cream foam with
equal beauty." "But," said I, "perhaps it won t.
I failed to reconvert him until the duped naan
had parted with his money and he had manufac-
tured a dozen or more Atmospheric Churns that
were useful only to churn water.
My other neighbor had been very prosperous
in bee culture, but the indefatigable, omnipresent
patent right pedler found him out, too, and con-
verted him to believe that he was behind the
age— that honey might be abstracted ad infinitum
with his patent bee hive. The patent right theo-
ry could divide the compartments and subdivide
these by boxes, so as to remove the old comb at
will, and hence give the bees the advantage ot al-
ways living in a new house, providing they could
build a new one as often as they were robbed of
the old one ! This was a charming theory, pro-
vided the bees were satisfied that they wers able
to build up as fast as you could tear down. Ihe
sequel was, that at the end of the second year the
bees were non est, only empty boxes remained.
A subdivisi<^n with a vengeance. The bees froze
to death for want of a parlor large enough to bold
the family ! , i j ^ tu ♦
I promised you a year ago I would try the top-
dressing theory, and advise you of the result, i
think more might be learned from publishing in
your paper experimental failures, than doubtful
experimental successes. I have no mammoth
pumpkins, big squashes, or huge pigs for you to
I chronicle, but I have simply thrown away the use
I (certainly for one year) of the dressing obtained
from feeding out thirty tons of English hay. \ ou
advised me about one year ago to compost tfiis
dressing with muck or loam, and spread it on my
grass ground broadcast, as early as possible after
the snow left. I did compost this dressing with
sandy loam, used to bank up my house the pre-
vious winl^er. This dressing was mostly from the
sheep yard, and, therefore, very fine and easily
composted. It proved like the Doctor Esculapius
theory, good for moist land, or any land in a wet
season, but death to the dressing in a dry season.
My dressing of a hundred sheep and half-dozen
head of neat cattle, I consider more than halt
wasted. It was spread on high, sandy loam grass
land. The winds in May dried up the moisture
of the dressing quickly, little rain falling before
the grass was to cut. No perceptible difference
could be seen in that part of the field where the
land was topdressed, other than where it was not
so dressed. What may be seen another season
remains to be developed. But the experiment
was a failure last year; and I think that more
than one-half of the virtue of the dressing must
have evaporated, and so will 'be a total loss. And
1 this experiment teaches me that it is not good
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
103
husbandry to dress high or dry land.
C. S. Weld.
Penobscot County, Maine, 1864.
Remarks. — Notwithstanding the apparent dis-
satisfaction of our correspondent with the world,
we believe it is gaining in intelligence and virtue
every day. It is not all right yet, certainly, so
far as human duty is concerned, — but the progress
is Heaven-directed and encouraging. The criti-
cism upon the "Vermont Speculator" we do not
think it best to suppress, but to let the Vermont
gentleman reply to it himself, if he chooses. If
we have a man in the community who is distin-
guished for fair dealing, for integrity and manli-
ness, it is the person to whom this allusion is
probably made.
With regard to the advice we gave "about one
year ago in relation to composting," we have re-
ferred to it, and only say that the opinions given
were the common opinions of our best farmers.
We have never advised any one to topdress "high,
sandy loam grass land," with sand compost, but
with muck compost ; and our opinions, over and
over again expressed, have been to topdress nat-
urally moist lands, and, as a general rule, to plow
and cultivate to restore gravelly and sandy loams.
But we are not arbiters of the weather. An un-
usually dry season might greatly reduce, if not
destroy, the crop on "a high, sandy loam," espe-
cially if aided by the hot sheep droppings used.
No advice can be given to a farmer which it is
safe to follow without taking attending circum-
stances into account. If a single early, drench-
ing rain fell upon the manure spoken of, we can-
not see how it could fail of benefiting the grass,
provided it had any roots to loork upon, Manure
is often applied where there are few roots left, and
the farmer is astonished that it does not increase
his crop !
High Prices of Wool. — The high prices to
which wool has attained, have greatly stimulated ,
the production, especially in the more remote
Western States. For the past two years large
numbers of sheep have been sent from Ohio,
Michigan, &c., to Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska,
■where the climate and ranges are rarely excelled
for sheep husbandry. The clip of 1864 will no
doubt be largely in excess of that of any previous
year, and it will all be needed at remunerative
prices. The increased production of wool in Cal-
ifornia is remarkable. In 18o7, the quantity
shipped from that State was fifty-five bales of very
inferior quality — v/orth from 6 to 10 cts. The
clip of 1863 — only six years later — was over 50,-
000 bales. According to this ratio of increase,
the clip of 1869 will reach 200,000 bales ; and in
1875, 1,250,000. The quality and condition of
California wool coming forward, is much better
now than formerly, and meets with increasing fa-
vor among manufacturers. Staple kinds in good
order command 40 and 50 cts.
EXTBACTS AND BEPIilES,
Sap Troughs for Sugar Makers.
In answer to "Mr. Backwood's" inquiry in the Farm-
er for Feb. 6th, I would say that he can get a sawed
wooden spout for about 12 or 14 cents a rod, to carry
sap down the hill to the place for boilinp, of Moses
Sheldon, of Calais, Washiiifiton County, Vt. Mr. S.
was presented with a diploma and premium at the
Vermont State Fair, last fall, at Rutland, for the above
invention. A. C. Powebs.
Sutherland Falls, Jan., 1864.
Cut Feed for Horses.
A correspondent in the Farmer for Feb. 6, 1864,
wishes to know whether cut feed for horses is any ad-
vantage. I presume I can answer the question to his
satisfaction.
We have an old horse, some twenty years of age,
which we used to feed as your correspondent det^cribed
his. But since we commenced feeding him with cut
hay, mixed with about three or four quarts of meal
per day, it not only makes the horse look better, but
enables him to perform as much labor as two horses
fed on the old system. m. h. h.
Fall River, 1864.
Coal Ashes as a Fertilizer.
I was informed that coal ashes area fertilizer, which
would pay to cart a few miles; but I learned from a
neighbor, who was induced to try them, to the con-
trary. Buy gas lime, said an agent of a gas company.
I demurred. He said, I will make you a present of a
ban-el. I tried it and found it wanting; but he lost
nothing, for many of my neighbors were induced to
try it on his saying that 1 tried it.
Substitutes for Coffee.
Substitutes in lieu of coffee meet the eye at every
grocery store. Beware of them. Many are the dele-
terious component parts. Illness was the result of
using that which was recommended to me as pure
ground cofl'ee. Hundreds are the cases of ill health
brought on by its use, which are ascribed to other
causes.
Increase the Manure.
Every farmer on the sea coast need not have a leis-
ure day in the wiuter. Haul up the treasures of the
deep, seaweed. 1 took a look at a farm with the view
of purchasing ; the owner's mind ran on thorough cul-
tivation, rather than driving a hne horse; his barn,
storehouse, and cellars were full, and his fields had
that color which predominates with the slaves.
Setting an Orchard.
If the young man who is about to set out an orch-
ard has noticed tnose trees which produce the best, he
will find that it is better to sec one in a situation which
is protected from high winds.
Newcastle, N. H.,Jan., 1864. s. P. M.
Sore Mouth in Sheep.
A sure remedy for this complaint is to bathe the
parts att'ected with a strong decoction of sage, mixed
with an equal quantity of vinegar and add one half
ounce of blue vitrol to one ijuart of the mixture;
sweeten it with honey, and bathe every third day un-
til the disease disappears. I have useil the above rem-
edy for a number of years, and never knew it to fail.
May it save others as many dollars as it has me.
Hillsboro', N. H., Jan., 1864. o. o. R.
Salt for Horses.
I would like to inquire of you, or some of your cor-
respondents, whether salt is good for horses or not?
I have heard some good farmers say it was not, and
they reason something in this way — thiitthc horse has
no gall, and the lood is not digested by gastric juice,
but by a sort of gas which salt destroys ; they say that
it is not natural for the horse to love salt and he only
learns to do so by having it placed temptingly before
him. My horses love salt and express as much un-
easiness to do without it three or four weeks, as do
am
NEW ENGLAND FARMEB.
April
cattle or sheep. It seems to me as though it would be
as hard for them to do without it, as it would be for a
man who is in the habit of using tobacco to do with-
ont that.
A subscriber wishes me to inquire if you cannot
give the price of gold in the Farmer?
Cabot, Vt., Feb., 1864. C. M. Fishbr.
Remarks.— We have no doubt that salt is good for
horses, and never have heard it doubted before.
Poultry Book — Cutting Fodder — Horse Power.
Do you know of a book on fowls that is authentic,
where it can be obtained and at what price ?
Please give your opinion whether it will pay to cut
cornstalks and other fodder for cattle, and whether it
ought to be steamed i
Which is the best machine for horse power ?
Vergennes, Vt., 1864. W. S. Allen.
Remarks.— The American Poulterer's Companion,
by C. N. Bement, is the best work among us, at pres-
ent. The book is written in a moderate tone, having
grown out of his own experiences, in a great measure.
It is a reliable book— well printed and illustrated with
120 engravings on wood and stone. It may be found
at the bookstore of A. Williams & Co., 100 Washington
-Street, Boston. Price $1.50.
Cutting Fodder. Whether it "will pay" to cut fod-
der for stock, depends upon circumstances. Whether
it would be economical to hire a man at common
wages, purposely to cut fodder for stock, we cannot
say, because there are no well attested experiments
upon the subject. But that it would be profitable for
every former having a stock of a dozen cattle or more
to feed, to purchase a cutter worth ^16 or $18, and use
it, we have no doubt whatever. This opinion has been
formed after many years' experience in feeding out
cut and uncut fodder. We intend to speak more fully
upon this matter hereafter.
Steaming Fodder. This cannot be done profitably
with small stock of CittHe, we think. No cheap and
effectual means of doing it have yet been devised, to
our knowledge. With a stock of forty head, or more,
M'e have no doubt it can be done economically.
Horse Poioer. We do not know which are the best.
To Clear Oats from Seed "Wheat.
I noticed in your paper an inquiry how to cleanse
oats from wheat. Washing the wheat in brine as strong
as it can be made will take the oats all out.
So. Maiden, Vt.., 1864. D. G. Famrington.
Saving Manure — "Wolf Teeth — Maple Sugar.
Most farmers keep their cows in the barnyard dur-
ing the night, in summer time, their droppings to be
turned and overturned by the hens until they are as
"dry as a chip." In this condition they are almost
worthless.
I have astonished myself for several years in findin<T
such a large and nice pile of manure saved from this
source. After the cows are let out to pasture, we put
their droppings in a pile and cover with dirt. Some-
times we have kept the cows in the stables nights and
used dirt enough to absorb the urine, which is a ffood
way.
What is the cause of wolf teeth in colts? Do they
affect the eyes ? What is the reason our fathers did
not know of such a thing years ago ?
Some one inquires in your papc^i-, "Who first manu-
factured maple sugar?" I think it was first made in
the town of Northfield, Franklin Co.. in this State.
By whom, and when, I have forgotten. Quill.
Shelburne, 1864.
Remarks.- We quote below what we think will an-
swer one or two of the questions of our correspondent
about Wolf Teeth in Horses. The word "wolf has a
meaning beyond that of being applied to an animal
that is, it means, a tubercle, an ulcer; so that a "wolf
tooth," probably means an ulcerated tooth,
Mr. John Pettibone, of Manchester, Vt., in the Al-
bang Cultivator, says that "Wolf teeth are quite com-
mon, and many good horses are made blind by them.
I had two horses or colts, which had them last season!
The cure is simple and easy. Take a piece of iron with
a square end, one-fourth of an inch in size. Let one
hold the horse and open the lip so as to enable the
one with the iron to place it against the tooth, and
with a small mallet knock the tooth out. There is no
root to the wolf teeth. The best way is to take the
horse to a blacksmith shop, and the smith with his
punch will knock them out in two minutes. When
you see the horse's eye begins to run and look glassy,
look for the wolf teeth. It is a small sharp tooth just
forward of the grinders of the upper jaw."
In the same volume, we find Mr. P.'s opinions cor-
roborated by Mr. A. M. Williams, who says, "I have
had some experience in this matter, and here offer you
the result of my observations. I had a viiluable young
horse who exhibited evidence of disease in one eye.
My first impression was he had got some hay seed or
something of the kind in his eye. The main symptom
was running at the eye, and while affected in this way,
he was unusually restless. I consulted with my neigh-
bors, and was told that he had a wolf tooth, and un-
less removed it would make him blind ; I then con-
sulted several authors on the subject of horses, only
one of whom mentioned this disease, and he men-
tioned it merely to ridicule the idea that a wolf tooth
would affect the sight of the horse. I accordingly neg-
lected to do anything about it until it was too late.
I had it taken out at last, but the horse lost his eye.
On another horse taken in the same manner, I had the
tooth removed in season, when the running at the eye
ceased, and the sight became perfect as before. These
are facts that ought to be known. A large proportion
ofthe blindness among our horses is, in my opinion,
owing to the presence of wolf teeth, which could have
been removed with very little trouble, and the eye
saved."
The new Encyclopedia says that the manufacture of
maple sugar is stated to have originated in New Eng-
land about the year 1752, but by whom or iu what
town, is not stated.
EARL'S" TURNIPS.
Among the great variety of wholesome vegeta-
bles which can be grown favorably in this cli-
mate, many esteem the common flat turnip as
among the best. When crisp, tender and juicy,
it certainly is entitled to considerable merit. In
this condition it will cook readily, and dressed
with a little salt, pepper and sweet butter, is an
acceptable and nutritious food. To secure the
qualities mentioned, it should be sown early,
that is, as soon as the soil is in a favorable condi-
tion,—on new ground if possible, and as fast as
the plants appear sprinkle them with ashes, plas-
ter, snufF, or anything else that will tend to keep
the little black turnip fly from destroying them.
If they escape this ordeal, keep all weeds away
from them, and if the season is favorable they
will make a surprising growth, and perhaps be-
come fit for the table in the early part of July.
ia64r.
New ENGLAND FARMER.
105
The ground should be hoed occasionally, and the
plants thinned so as to stand nine or ten inches
apart. In this position they will not grow so large
as though farther apart, but will be more tender,
crisp and juicy. We have raised a Hat, pur].ie-
top variety which is excellent, which has recently
been introduced in Eogland.
CULl-irRE OF ONIONS.
In the last Farmer, we called tlie attention of
the reader to the importance of producing a jjlen-
tiful supply of ripe, early puiatues, and Npoke ot
their value to the family. We said nothing of
them then, however, in a commercial j)oint of
View. Since preparing that article, a friend, liv-
ing within eighteen miles of Boston, informs us
that he recently raised some two or th'ee hundred
bushels of potatoes, and sold the first J'urtii bar-
rels for $4.00 per barrel, the price decreasing on
the balance as the season advanced.
Our present object is to call attention to the
culture of onions, and we do this, now because it
is one of those crops which scarcely afford any
prospect of success, unless it is got into the
ground as early as the condition of the soil will
permit. Mr. Burr, in his excellent work on the
"Field and Garden Vegetables of America," says
the onion requires a light, loamy, mellow soil ;
end, unlike most kinds of garden vegetables, suc-
ceeds well when cultivated on the same land for
successive years." The soil certainly should be
light and mellow, but if the seed is sown in a soil
that is very Ujht, as it often is left when thorough-
ly raked, it will not come so well, nor will the
onion assume so just and fair proportions as
though the ground were rolled before sowing the
seed.
The seed should be in drills, the rows from 14
to 18 inches apart, and the seed covered about
half an inch deep, — but this depth must depend
upon the condition of the soil. Burr says again,
"When the plants are three or four inches high
thin them to two inches asunder, and, in the pro-
cess of culture, be careful not to stir the soil too
deeply, or to collect it about the growing bulbs.
The onions will ripen in August, or early in Sep-
tember, and their maturity will be indicated by
the perfect decay of the leaves, or tops. The
bulbs may be drawn from the drill by the hand,
or by the use of a common garden-rake. After
being exposed for a few days to the sun for drying,
they will be ready for storing or for the market."
When housed, they should be kept in an even
temperature, and as cold as they can be without
danger of frost, A room that can be thoroughly
ventilated is essential : one that may be readily
closed during damp weather, and opened when
there is a drying breeze.
The soil should be prepared by digging in rich
manure. If green manure is well mingled with
the soil the fall previous to sowing the seed, it
will be in excellent condition to feed the growing
plants.
There are not many varieties of the onion. The
one introduced here is well known among large
cultivators as the Dancers Onion.
It takes its name from tlie town
where it is largely cultivated, is
very ])roductive, "wiiite llesh,
sugary, comparatively mild, and
well Havnred."
The Lartje lied Onion is a
popular variety. It is very pro-
ductive, and one of the best to bear transpor-
tation. We have sometimes seen it measuring
ing 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
Ti.e Potato Onion is sometimes preferred by
those who wish for a few only, for family use. \%
does not produce seed, as other onions, but it in-
creases by the root. One single onion of the size
of a marble, or a walnut, slightly covered, will
produce six or seven in a clump, partly under
ground. The bulbs should be planted early in
the spring, 10 or 12 inches apart, and kept free
from weeds, but the bulb itself not moved after it
is set. It is hardy, grows rapidly, and is easy of
cultivation.
The onion, however, that is probablv better
known in New England than any other, and wliich
has all the good flesh qualities
that are desirable, is the Yel-
low Onion, or the fiilver-skin
of New England, a cut of which
is here given. Its size is above
medium, skin yellowish brown,
or copper-color. Flesh white,
fine-grained and excellent. It
keeps well, and for the vegetable garden, as well
as for field culture, is a standard variety.
Our principal suggestions are, to note as early
as possible, and mingle icood ashes leached, or un-
leached, with and upon the soil. The principal
hindrance to onion-growing is the ravages made
by the onion-worm. Nothing has yet been dis-
covered which is a perfect preventive. One experi-
enced grower states that the common yellow snuff
mingled 'Aith the seed at the time of sowing will
do it, and others that wood ashes scattered upon
the young plants will stop the operations of the
maggot. We believe, however, that the Danvers
growers have not yet found any certain remedy
for the inroads of this little destructive creature.
Cows in milk require more food in proportion
to their size and weight, than either oxen or young
cattle. Cows eat less, however, thrive I)etler, and
give more nnlk, when housed all the time, than
when exposed to the cold.
f
106
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
,*-?i;
BOASTED LAMB AND QBEEN PEAS.
Roasted lamb without green peas is as incon-
gruous as roasted turkey or pork, without cran-
berry sauce. Still, there may be something in
the custom, or in the name, more than there is in
the reality. Either would be good, separately, to
a hungry man, — the lamb as an occasional dish,
and the peas as an every day one during their
proper season.
Few things tend more to health, harmony and
economy, than a plentiful supply of fresh, well-
grown vegetables, fruits and salads, through all
the spring and summer months, and among these
greeti peas take a foremost place. Boiled with a
piece of sweet, corn-fed pork, or without the pork,
and seasoned with butter, they serve for an excel-
lent meal, even without the roasted lamb, if aided
by good bread and butter, or an apple or Indian
pudding. With such vegetables, the butcher's
bill may be kept within moderate limits, the table
always supplied with nutritious and healthful food,
and the family gathered around the social board,
be cheerful and happy. The moral influences of
green peas, are by no means to be overlooked.
In connection with other seasonable and whole-
some diet, they have undoubtedly given a good
bias to thousands, which has gone along through
life with them to the end. Let us have, then, the
green peas, lamb or no lamb, and have them early,
and enough of them to fill the plate of every hun-
gry boy and girl, whether they come romping
from school, field or forest !
What variety shall we plant first ? The Early
Dan O'Rourke, of course.
Just as soon as the frost has left the grouud,
and the tempering suns of April have evaporated
the superabundant moisture, prepare a place in
some sheltered spot, if you can, and plant. Make
the ground mellow, moderately rich, open trench-
es and strew in a little wood ashes or old com-
posted manure, sow the peas upon it, and cover
them three inches deep. If it is still more, no
matter. Now take birch, or any other brush and
stick them. The sticks should be branchy, and
branching along the rows, rather than into the
paths, and their length should be according to
the variety of pea planted, — as some kinds like
to run much farther than others. If preferred,
the sticking may be omitted till the peas come up.
No weeds should be allowed to grow among
them. As they progress, they require frequent
hoeing, and the earth should be drawn about the
stems a little each time. If the season is a dry
one, straw, hay, or any litter spread about the
plants will keep the ground moist, and greatly
increase the amount of crop, and extend the time
of bearing one or two weeks.
They should be planted pretty thickly. Bridg-
man says one quart will plant from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred feet of row, allowing the
largest kinds to average one inch apart, and the
smallest two peas to the inch. Deep covering is
essential, as they will then root low in the ground
and better withstand drought, should it occur.
The next best pea is the Champion of England,
and a splendid pea it is, following on after the
Dan O'Rourke. In cultivating, treat it the same
as the first described. It is a large, light green,
shrivelled pea, mild in flavor, rich, sugary and
tendei". It is a good grower and continues to
bear well under good care and in a moderately
rich soil.
On Butter Making. — The attention of the
reader — and especially of every man or woman
engaged in making butter — is called to an article
on another page, entitled "Butter Moking not a
Mystery." We know, from a long experience,
that the opinions advanced by the writer are cor-
rect. If his suggestions were followed by all,
there would be little difficulty in producing good
butter at any season of the year. The proportion
now of miserable butter, is fearfully large, and
the loss to our farmers is consequently large, —
for they cannot command a high price for poor
butter. We have no doubt that the reading of
the article referred to will result in the produc-
tion of many tons of excellent butter.
For the New Ensland Farmer.
SHALL "WE PRODUCE OUE OWN
SWEETENING P
Does not this question awaken serious consid-
eration at this time in the mind of every reflect-
ing farmer, who feels most seriously in his pock-
et (if no where else) that sweetening is very ex-
pensive, and that behooves him to decide the
question with greater care than heretofore, wheth-
er the substitutes for its production, which a
few years since were discussed, and to a very lim-
ited extent experimented with, may not anon be
resorted to with good prospect of success ?
At a convention recently held at Columbus,
Ohio, of sorgho cultivators it was the prevailing
opinion of the members that it would soon rank,
among the important interests of the country j
that its permanency will not depend upon the
question of peace or war with the South. la
short, that the most active competition of South-
ern cane will not seriously affect the culture of
sorgho as the North. It is a well established fact
that in many section of the Western States for a
number of years past the farmers have raised suf-
ficient sorgho to supply themselves with syrup,
while others have had a surplus to sell ! Some
have even converted it into sugar, as they thought,
at paying cost.
In the manufacture of the sorgho into syrup
and sugar, each pi'oducer of the cane is not ex-
pected to own the machinery requisite for the
purpose, but some one makes it a specialty to
work up the cane in his vicinity on shares or by
purchase. So far. as I am acquainted it is gener-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
lot
ally done on shares, the manufacturer retaining
one-half for his trouble and expense. As to the
reliance to be placed upon the production of this
plant. I found most of those I inquired of re-
Bpecting it were of the opinion that it was upon
a par with Indian corn, subject to no greater vi-
cissitudes, and requiring no better soil or greater
care. The early frosts of the past season through-
out the VVest cut off the sorgho as well as the
corn crop. This is an evil not to be looked for
as liable to occur in the future, any more than it
has in the past. As to the quality of the syrup.
I think when properly manufactured it equals
most of the syrups made from the sugar cane.
At first using it some might not like it, but use
soon overcomes this, and would it not be well for
you, Mr. Editor, to gather and publish some of
the necessary facts bearing upon this subject that
the past year's experience have demonstrated ?
By doing this very many of your readers would
be truly gratified, I have no doubt. It would en-
able them to decide whether it would answer for
them to attempt its culture. I am persuaded
that if xtpaid when prices of sugar and molasses
were selling for one-third the present prices, and
the tariff very much less, the manufacture of sor-
gho must now be a very profitable operation.
A price current by my side quotes brown sugar,
at wholesale in New York, last week, at 11 ^ a
15i cents per lb., and loaf at 17 cents per lb. —
molasses at 45 a 70 cents per gallon, according to
quality. These prices are enormous, and of
course fifty per cent, higher than the specie basis ;
still, making all due allowance for the inflation of
the currency and the present high price of labor,
the margin for a profit is still large. We are not,
however, confined to sorgho exclusively for au ar-
ticle to obtain our sweetening from, neither am 1
fully satisfied that it should hold the most impor-
tant place in this respect with us in the Northern
States, where our soil must be well manured in
order to produce whatever crop we desire to cul-
tivate. The leaves alone of the sorgho are of any
value for stock, if the plant is matured sufficient-
ly for sugar and syrup. Not so the beet. From
this root, which will grow well on most any soil,
we can not only extract the saccharine properties
and distil alcohol, but the refuse, or pomace, is of
about as much value for feeding stock as before
the still has operated upon it. In France, we all
know, the beet has been fostered by the govern-
ment until it has become so well established that
it is regarded as one of the permanent products
of the country from which it obtains a large por-
tien of its sweetening, and derives a large reve-
nue. A few years since a company was organized
in England for the manufacture of the beet into
sugar, syrup and alcohol. They not only culti-
Tale the beet extensively themselves, but encour-
age the cultivation by others, paying them re-
munerative prices, and doing a prosperous busi-
ness. I think it has been found, by analysis,
that beets grown in our soil and climate are bet-
ter than those grown in Europe, abounding in a
greater per cent, of saccharine material. It seems
to me that the advantages are all in our favor for
producing our own sweetening. K. o.
Rochester, Jan. 18, 1864.
In fruits, a pleasant sour is generally thought
better than sweet ; in disposition and temper never.
For the Nete England Farmer.
DISEASES OP FAKM STOCK.
Let any one talk with most farmers about the
diseases that occur among their cattle, horses and •
hogs, and he will be surprised at the vague and
indefinite notions they express. They have cer-
tain general terms for groups of symptoms, which
they observe. But they have no definite ideas
with respect to the organs or tissues affected, or
of the cause or nature of the affection, or the
course it will run if left to itself, or the change
which must be wrought by remedies in the sys-
tem, or in the affected organ, in order to arrest
the disease. They give remedies — and often harsh
and violent remedies — without any definite ideas
with respect to the effects which those remedies will
produce.
A cow is sick. She stands with her back curled
up, her head drooping, her nose dry, her eyes
dull, and taking no notice of anything around her,
and refuses to eat. What is the matter? Her
owner feels of her horns, and says they are cold, and
he thinks she has the horn ail. Well, what is the
horn ail ? What action is taking place in the
horns ? Why, I don't know. Probably some in-
flammation and pain. But you say the horns are
cold. If inflammation was going on within them,
would they not be hot rather than cold ? Yes, I
should think so ; but I don't know. She acts as
neighbor A's did, and she had the horn ail. So
he bores a hole in the horn, cuts off the end of her
tail, rubs some spirits of turpentine upon the
roots of her horns, and gives her a drench of
thoroughwort tea, with a quantity of rum, molas-
ses and melted lard added to it. Now the gimlet
wounds the bony tissue within the horn and lets
in the air, and inflammation ensues, just as it
would if a gimlet were thrust into the bone of the
leg. The cutting off the tail causes soreness and
pain in that organ, so essential to the comfort of
the animal. The turpentine causes smarting and
inflammation of the skin about the top of the
head, and the drench sickens the poor beast, and
she dies. Well, I am sorry, but it can't be helped ;
cattle are apt to die of horn ail. So she is
dragged away to some by-place and buried. No
examination is made to find out what is really the
matter; even the horns are not cut open to find
out whether inflammation was present there. The
lungs, the heart, the different stomachs, the in-
testines, the kidneys, are not searched to find the
seat of the disease. But, says the owner, if I
should cut up the animal I could not tell what was
diseased and what not so. Then get some phy-
sician or farrier or some butcher to assist you
who is familiar with the appearance of the tissues
in health. But most farmers, especially if they
have been in the habit of having their animals
slaughtered upon their own premises, can tell the
difference between diseased and healthy organs,
even if they cannot tell the precise natui'e of the
disease. If a lung is inflamed, enlarged or hard-
ened, they can distinguish it from one in a natu-
ral state. Every man who has the care of ani-
mals ought to be able to do as much as this ; if
he is conscious that he cannot, he should go to the
nearest slaughter house and make himself famil-
iar with the size, consistence and general appear-
ance of the healthy organs.
It is by the dissection of the bodies of those
who have died of disease, and by comparing these
108
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Apeil
^i
.«
with the appearance of those in health, that phy-
sicians have acquired all the really valuable knowl-
edge of disease that they possess. This knowl-
edge they have acquired under many difficulties.
There has always existed a prejudice against the
use of dead bodies for anatomical purposes.
There is something revolting about it to the feel-
ings of most people. So strong has this feeling
been, that many eminent medical men have di-
rected in their wills that their own bodies should
be dissected, in order that their own example
might te:.d to remove it from the public aaind. It
was with great difficulty that a sufficient nu mber of
subjects could be obtained for the use of medical
students, until enlightened legislation removed
the obstacles. But none of these difficulties exist
with respect to the dissection of the bodies of an-
mals. There are no prejudices in the public
mind to be overcome. Certainly it is for the in-
terest of every farmer, as well as of the public in
general, that the bodies of animals that die of dis-
ease, should be examined, that the seat and na-
ture of the disease may be ascertained. A farm-
er who has carefully watched the symptoms ex-
hibited by a sick animal, and then, after its death,
traced carefully the effects produced by disease on
one or several organs, will be better prepared,
when he observes similar symptoms in another
case, to decide what the disease is. A knowledge
of the seat and nature of disease is the oiily safe
basis for the application of remedies. The hap-
hazard, piomiscuous use of remedies now so much
practiced, is much worse than nothing. There can
be no doubt that thousands of sick animals would
have rec-vered if they had been let alone, and the
sufferings, which they were enduring from dis-
ease, had not been aggravated by violent and inap-
propriate remedies. Now that Pleuro-Pneumonia
is among us it becomes doubly important that
every animal which dies or is killed, about whose
disease there is any doubt, should be examined,
for it is only by an early knowledge of the exist-
ence of this disease in a neighborhood, that our
herds can be guarded against its destructive con-
tagion. When a farmer knows or suspects the
presence of this disease in his herd, if he is an
honest man, he will isolate his whole stock at
once, that the cattle of his neighbors may not be
exposed ; and if he regards his own interest, he
will abstain from bringing other cattle on to his
own premises. Let me illustrate what I have
said by an instance ; I have a neighbor, who lost
a cow last September ; he did not know what was
the matter with her, but called it the horn ail.
He buried her without any examination. Since
that he has bought a large number of cattle at
Brighton, and is wintering them to turn into his
pasture in the spring. He has recently lost one
ox, and now has at least four others sick ; and
there is not the shadow of a doubt that the dis-
ease is the true Pluero-Pneumonia, and from com-
paring the symptoms, which the cow exhibited last
September, with those presented by the oxen at
the present time, he has no doubt that the cow
had the same disease. Now if he had examined
the cow, and ascertained the nature of her dis-
ease, would he have bought some twenty oxen
within a few weeks, and brought them into his
heifd ? He certainly would have had too much
regard for his own interest to run any such risk.
There may be some unbelievers in the contagious
nature of this disease stupid enough to do it, as
there may be some reckless and wicked enough
to purchase herds that have been exposed to the
contagion, if they can get them cheap, and sell
them in the public market. But I have too much
confidence in the shrewdness and honesty of Yan-
kee farmers to believe that many of them, if they
had been forewarned by the proofs that would
have been presented on the examination of this
cow, would have brought other cattle on to their
premises during the present winter. They would
have preferred to sell their hay and purchase ma-
nure for the coming season. R.
For the New Eniland Furmer.
BUTTER-MAKING NOT A MYSTERY.
Mr. Editor : — "How do you make such nice,
sweet butter in winter ?" is a question often
asked by my customers, as I carry them their
usual allowance of fresh butter for the week.
Sometimes I answer, "I will tell you when you
go to farming."
For me, it seems a very simple thing to make
butter thatis good and uniform through the whole
year. But, were it simple to all, butter would
hardly command the present high prices.
Some one asked, through your columns not
long since, how to make good butter in winter.
I would answer, "Make it just as it should be
made in summer."' Yet as you may not think
that a very definite explanation of the process, I
will tell you how good butter can be made in
summer.
A butter dealer said to me, the other day, that
were he engaging a dairy for the season, he only
wished to see a sample of the August or dog-day
butter. If that were satisfactory, he would take
his chance with the other two ends of the season.
There are about five or six weeks in spring and
fall when, I suppose, every farmer's wife can make
a fair article of butter. It wHl almost "make it-
self," with good June or September feed, in a
clear, dry, June or September atmosphere, with
the mercury indicating an average of 60°.
"What else causes butter made in June, Septem-
ber and a part of October, to bring better prices
then that made at any other time of the year ?
But for the dairy to yield a generous profit through
the whole year, a fair article must proceed there-
from every week. Everybody cannot be supplied
through dog-days with June butter ; nor can ev-
ery family have their tubs for winter filled in Sep-
tember.
Now if you can bring the dairy nnder the same
conditions in August or December, that prevail
in June and September, why should you not re-
alize the same results ? Doubtless you would.
But this it seems impossible, at present, fully to
do. Yet I think the secret of success in butter-
making is to bring about these conditions as near-
ly as may be.
In the first place, you must, of course, have
good cows. Some cows \till make a large amount
of high colored butter, but it is too soft to handle
well in any weather, especially when very warm ;
others yield an article too white to be attractive,
though I consider color of much less importance
than solidity. As far as my observation has ex-
tended, very yellow butter is not as good as that
which is lighter colored. It is apt to be oily,
caused, I think, first, by being naturally soft, and
Bl
1864.
XEW ENGLAND FARMER.
fM
second, by the consequent over-working it usuallv
receives ;' the buttermilk being less readily ex-
pelled from soft butter.
Good cows obtained, the next requisite is good
feed. And what can be better than June honey-
suckle "up to the eyes," or clover aftermath in
September ? Probably nothing. I prefer, how-
ever, as a matter of health, to give a feeding of
dry hay every day through the season. I can thus
keep them more uniformly, and not subject them
to sudden changes from green to dry food.
But what for feed the remainder of the year?
Whv, get the next best thing — which is the same,
cut and cured, for feeding in the stall. During
the third week of last June I cut four or five
acres of clover and red-top, th*" clover just com-
ing into flower, the red-top showing its flower
stalk. Sixty days after, I cut the same field again.
This winter, the cows, to which both lots are fed,
seem to know no diflerence between the first and
second crop. It is all rowen to them. I am fully
of the opinion that very little of the hay in Xew
England is cut as early as it should be. For dairy
cows, I would prefer it all cut before blossoming,
rather than after.
A large butter dealer and a good judge, tells
me that he has known his mother to make just as
good and just as yellow but'.er in winter, while
her cow was being fed solely on rowen. as she
could ever make in summer, from the same ani-
mal. I think he came very near the truth.
But to supply yourself with a stock of June
atmosplicre, in which to set your milk and do
your churning, through dog-days, is nut so easy a
thing as to cut your hay early and afterward a
crop of rowen. The thermom ter does not usu-
ally stand at 66° from July to Sept. 1st, nor do
you generally have a clear, dry air at that season.
Hence I do not expect you can make your best
butter, or that which will keep longest, during
this period, unless you can secure these two re-
quisite conditions, viz.. moderate temperature and
dryness of the atmosphere. But the nearer you
can contrive to approach these conditions the bet-
ter your success.
I keep my milk, during the extreme hot weath-
er, in my house cellar, a large, light, airy room,
clear of all boards and wooden utensils not used
for milk; the whole room thoroughly whitewashed.
The windows — a north, south and west one — are
open or shut, darkened or not, just as may be
needed to keep the air of the room as pure, as
drj, and at the same time as cool as it can be un-
der the circumstances. I consider a damp atmos-
phere worse than a very warm one for milk. It
makes the cream thin and watery, requiring much
more care and a longer time in churning.
I need not say that I do, or that you should,
set your milk in the pan*! two or three inches in
depth, and skim it up at twenty-four or thirty-six
hours old, putting the cream in a tin pail or stone
jar, stirring it occasionally ; for that almost all
dairymen and women do. But when I say you
should never commence a churning unless your
cream is known to be at a temperature not any
below 60" nor higher than three or four above
that point, I cannot, at the same time, say every-
body does that, for I do not know of cne dairy-
maii or woman, except through the books, who is
exact in this respect.
warm it will come too quickly, be soft and white,
and not pleasant stuff to manage, and if too cold
it will swell and foam, and not come at all — some
one asserting that "it did almost come, but went
back to cream again." One dairyman, who usu-
ally has good luck, told me this winter, that he
churned all one day and then gave his cream over
to the pigs, only wishing he had done it sooner.
Up to last April I occasionally, and not very un-
frequently, had just such "luck."' Since that time
I have used a common fifty cent thermometer —
selecting one that would slide easily in the case,
or that 1 could dip the bulb into the cream with-
out the case.
When I have gathered a sufficient quantity of
cream I try it by the thermometer, and it" the tem-
perature be from 60*^ to 64'', I chum it immedi-
ately. If not within those limits, I bring it there, by
some means, before it goes into the churn. I keep
my crt am in a large tin pail that can be hung in the
well the night before churning — not j'/j the water,
but just far enough down to have the cream at
60**, when churning is "commenced. Placing it
i'/( the water makes it too cold : and cold cream is
addicted to the same freaks in summer as in winter.
In Spring a:'d Fall lo'l^ does well ; in winter,
64"^; but in summer the temperature will rise rap-
idly enough if you commence at 60"^. I never
want butter to reach a higher temperature than
66*^ at the time it separates from the buttermilk.
Following this method, I have not had the
shadow of a fiiilure for ten months. My summer
and winter butter have come about equally well,
varying from fifteen to forty-five minutes, accord-
ing to the ripeness of the cream. I think it does
no harm to run a bucket of cold water through
the churn after the milk is drawn ofi". If the but-
ter is a little too soft, as it almost alwavs will be
in summer, it does much good by hardening it
before salting. My butter is taken from the churn
to a butter worker, like the small, simple one fig-
ured in Flint's work-on Dairy Farming — a book,
by the way, that every man or woman who ex-
pects ever to make a hundred pounds of butter
should read through twice, as a preliminary step.
In this worker the butter is salted, then returned
to the well for twelve hours, after which it is
thoroughly worked. And here I find a great ad-
vantage in the worker over the hands. U butter
a little too cold is worked in summer, by band,
it will grow much too warm before the buttermilk
is expelled ; wiiile the worker will do it quickly,
thoroughly, and without causing the oily taste so
commonly found in hard-worked butter.
So much for summer butter. And now, to
make good, sweet, yellow butter in wintt-r, you
have only to secure the same conditions that are
best for making summer butter, namely, good
cows, rich feed, a dry air in which to raise the
cream, and a temperature as near 60" as it is pos-
sibl? to preserve. The latter condition is much
more easily olrtained in winter than in summer;
for by artificial heat the air can be kept at the
proper temperature in the milk-room without be-
ing made damp, while the same result cannot as
readily be obtained in summer with ice, on ac-
count of the dampness accompanying it. Indeed,
I believe more butter, and that of a go xl quality,
can be made from a given number of quarts of
milk, in winter, than can be through the warmest
110
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
f§:
Finally, in butter-making, as in ship-building,
or surveying, strike the word "luck" from your
Tocabulary. Learn your trade. Learn the laws
that govern your work and obey them. Be not
outwitted by heat or cold, by wet or dry, but press
them all into your service, and be master, not
slave, of the fluid forces of nature.
ShddotwiUe, Feb. 12, 1864. A. w. c.
Fur the Seic Ensland Fanner.
MORE ACCUBATE FARMITTQ- NEEDED.
At the close of the year it is generally custo-
mary with business men to scrutinize their busi-
ness affairs, strike the balance between profit and
loss, and if the former is in excess exult over the
result, and with renewed confidence enter upon
the new year's duties. But if the latter, a careful
investigation of its causes ensues, irresponsible
customers are dropt, new ones sought, all need-
less expenses stopt, more devoted attention to
their duties required cf their employees, and great-
er diligence in attending to all the details of their
affairs, that the like may not occur again so far as
their agency is concerned.
This course of conduct is ever regarded as high-
ly commendable in all men in mercantile pursuits.
If this is so in reference to them, how much more
80 is it necessary for the farmer ! Our New Eng-
land farmers generally do a comparatively small
business; the profits of their products are also
small, even at the best prices, and often barely pay
the expenses of producing. This is so often the
case tha*; many farmers in our poorest districts
positirelv affirm that no man can afford to hire
labor. If their health fails them, and no sons to
succeed them and go the rounds of drudging toil
as they and those who have preceded them have
done, why the farm must be sold, — and the pater-
nal associations forever severed, that had been
fostered with the fond hope that they might be
perpetuated through a long line of sires and sons.
This fact of selling because disqualified from vigo-
rous labor is abundantly evidenced by the numer-
ous advertisements we see in the newspapers.
This is the class of farmers who contend that
farming with us is unprofitable. It does not pay,
they verily believe. We yield to the allegation
80 "far as they are concerned, but must contend
that it is not necessarily so with good, skilful
management, for various reasons. Ilow many of
these men keep as exact an account of their bus-
iness matters as the merchant does? What do
they know of the cost of their several crops, the
profit of their pigs, poultry, or other farm stock?
1 will venture they know comparatively nothing.
It is with them all guess work, with not the least
approach to accuracy. If men are employed, they
cannot, with any degree of certainty, tell whether
they were the gainers or losers by the outlay.
Contrast this picture of real and too common
facts, with an individual case I am familiar with,
and see which commends itself to the candid, dis-
cerning mind. The case I refer to was that of a
young man who commenced farming at twenty-
one years of age. When he purchased his farm
he had each lot surveyed, numbered and marked ;
a regular entry of each lot made in his books ;
each lot was debited with every day's work, or
fraction of a day, done upon it, as well as all oth-
er expense thereon. Nothing was omitted in this
rp<»nect. Credits from crops on pasturage were
faithfully kept, and at the end of the year the bal-
ance was struck and the result with a certainty,
known. If any lot did not come up to a paying
point, or a handsome profit, that lot was taken in
hand until that tc<is the result. I may as well
here state that each lot was appraised according
to its relative value with the other positions of
the farm, and interest charged according to ap-
praisal. This man employed three and four men
on a small place of eighty-five acres, and could
tell almost to a certainty, on Sunday morning,
what would be the progress of the week's opera-
tions. He could tell you at the end of a year
what per cent, profit his laborers netted him. No
guess work with him. His balance sheet was
struck, and the new year was entered upon with
the confident assurance that he hiew ]n%i what he
was about. His year's plans were all matured and
mapped out at the beginning of the year, and the
force requisite to carry them out secured beyond
contingency, so far as depends on mortal care.
Who cannot see in this example, in contrast
with the previous described one, an enviable dif-
ference, and a most decisive reason why the sys-
tematic, carefully-calculating, and account-keep-
ing man, should succeed, and the others fail ? I
know of a young man, the past season, who moved
into a neighborhood of farmers, where, for years,
they had plodded on in t'ne same rut their fathers
were, without a thought of change or improve-
ment upon the past. He leased a small farm that
had, what was regarded then, as a full supply of
manure for all ordinary purposes ; not so thought
our man. He purchased nearly as much more in
value as was upon the farm, to the astonishment
of the lookers-on, who predicted a coming out at
the little end oi' the horn.
The result of it is, our young man has made
two dollars to their one, they all concede ; not
that this is owing to the increased quantity of ma-
nure entirely, but the mind that seizes hold of an
advantage of this kind is ever ready to act in all
other details of farm management to great advan-
tage. If from any cause one crop fails, another
and later one appears to take its place, and it may
be, pay better than the first, had it succeededf.
The fact is, we should not find the question so
often discussed in our agricultural papers as to
the profitableness or unprofitableness of farming,
if our farmers would bring the same amount o\
business brains to bear upon their business, that
the merchant or manufacturer does upon his. It
is the habits of the mm that ensure success or fail-
ure. In my opinion, here lies the whole secret.
How can a man succeed if he has a farm of large
extent and does not know how to work men to
profit? His own labor is insufficient for the task,
if he attempts it. Things soon get dilapidated
and go to decay. He cannot but make shifts that
eventually result in debt, despondency and final
ruin of his prospects.
I have prolonged this subject beyond my in-
tention. It is an expansive theme, that requires
an abler pen than mine to exhaust, or perfectly
elucidate. I trust we may all profit by the hints
here thrown out, and commence this new year's
farm operations upon a more systematic account
keeping plan and forethought than any that have
preceded it, with the full assurance that our profit
will be found therein. K. o.
Rochester, Jan. 1, lfifi4.
1864.
NEW EXGLAXD FARMER.
Ill
EXTRACTS AKT> KEPLTES.
Culture of 'Wliite Be&ns.
I would Ifke to inquire of yoa or your correspond-
ents what saccesi may be exp>ected in raising whiie
beans as an entire ijup? Are they any more likely
to blast when planted alone, than when planted with
com r How many bushels may be expected from an
acre of land, tuitable for a crop of com ? Four years
ago I raised twelre ba«heU on less than one acre, by
plantinff ;hem between my com at an equal distance
tirom each hill. The corn was planted at the usual
distance apart, but only two or three stalks came up
in a hill, owin^ to ?nano put in the hill. G.
Westboro', Feb^ 1864.
Rbscarks.— This crop has been considerably neglect-
ed by our farmers, and we arc glad to find attention
directed to it. We look upon it as a profitable crop j
when judiciously conducted. There is no good reason
why they should not be cultivated as an entire crop,
and several why they should not be crowded in with '
com. We have just been looking over the transac-
tions of the Little Falls Farmers* Clab, and find the '
following, by Mr. A. Wilcox, a member of the club :
"Alternate hills of com and beans were dropt about
twenty inches apart, in rows; distance between the
rows three and one-half feet. The ordinary cultiva-
tor was used before hilling and hoeing. Two acres
produced thirty -five bushels, while there was no per-
ceptaMe difference in the yield of the com from the
rest of the field. The next year I raised 115 bushels
from a little less than seven acres, managed in the
game way. The seed planted was of the small, white
variety. I have raised more than thirty bushels of
the same kind, on a single acre, when sown in drills, '
about rwo feet between the rows, tcithout the com.
The quantity of seed required to the acre, when beans
is to be the only crop, should be from twenty-eight to
thirty-two quarts ; when planted with com, sixteen to
eighteen qnans per acre. Any soil that is well adapt-
ed to com will produce tieans, if the tillage is thor-
ough. When convenient, plant on land where com or
potatoes grew the year before."
Beans are cultivated as an entire crop by some of
our friends, and with good success. Sixteen to rwen-
ty-five bushels per acre is considered a good yield,
from good land and good care.
Salting Hay and Stock.
In the Farmer of February 13, I tind the matter of
Salting H.iy discussed by your able correspondent,
"More Anon," who, no doubt tells the experience of'
nearly all who salt their Jiay. Most of the farmers in !
this part of Vermont salt their hay more or less, but '
do so m >re to preserve the hay than to make the
stock eat it better. As strKk will not eat as much salt
in winter as in summer, I think that as much salt as
some of fhe writers in the Farmer put upon their hay.
would be more than the sttxk wi>u'd naturally eat. I
have lately used the rock or mineral salt, as our deal-
ers call ir, which comes in lar.: - -: or more of
which I pur in the racks or iV - of my cat-
tle and sheep, where they can ;.eni at will.
I think in that w.-«y they get wh..: s^ii: •.hcv need much
better than mixedwith their fi^dder. My sheep seem
to enjoy this method of salting better than any ocber.
I give my sheep a foddering of hemlock Njughs once
or twice a week, which, with a daily meal of slictd
turnips, serves to keep them in health and gives them
a better .sppetite for their other food. j. l.
St. Johnsbvry.
Sheep Prilling and Eating "Wool.
1 have a flock of about 30 native breed sheep, and
they pull and eat each other's wool, eating one-third
part of the wool off of some sheep. One has died of
cold for want of its natnral covering. I have giren
them salt, wood ashes, earth, hemlock boofhs, sul-
phur and tar, and they seem to do no good, and I
would inquire throcgh the medium of your exccUeat
paper, if yoo, or others, know a remedy for tiiis com-
plaint : I give my sheep an avera^ quality of bay
and two quarts of com daily. By giTing a remedy in
your paper as soon as possible, yoo will much oblige
anir. 'uirinc FaK-Mkr.
Bni::/, S'. H, Feb., 1864.
Remasks. — The habit which sheep form of psiliiig
wool from each other, and eating it. is probably in-
duced by some want that is not supplied, or by some
disease which has not yet been discovered. We have
had considerable personal experience in sheep hus-
bandry, bnt have never seen a fl">:k where rhis mania
prevailed. We are glad to publish this notice of our
corre.«pondent, and hope some of the fiock-masten
who reid this will throw light upon the matter.
-\. Mr. Lewis Clark, in the K7*:o>i«"n Farmer, sayi
the best plan to keep the wool on sheep is to keep
them fiii, and that if sheep are "run <own" from any
cause, and are fed high at once, their wool wHl start.
Even a change of pasturage, from a poor to a Timothy
and "clover pasture, will start the wool from a lean
sheep. But the feeding of com, beans, wheat rye, bar-
ley, oats, vegetables, or anything that sheep will e&t
that makes _/a/, avoiding sudden changes, will not only
cause the wool to stick, bnt will increase it more than
enough to pay the additional cost. Our correspon-
dent's sheep seem to be fed and cared for welL
Manure for Early Vegetables.
Will yon, or some of your numerous correspondeats
inform me what kind of manure is best to promote
the early growth of com and garden vegetables ?
Early growth being of the greatest imponance. The
soil is a rich, fine, sandy loam, bordering somewhat
on the quicksand. Location, Burlington, Vt.
The land h.is been in p.is:urage tor several years,
until last spring, when it was plowed and com plant-
ed on the sod, with no manure, except a small qaatity
of plaster in each hill. I had a good crop.
Btcrbngton, I't., 1S64. iNariKXB.
Remasks. — Manure from the horse stables is nn-
doiibtedly the best for such a special purposes. If the
soil is somewhat sandy, some means slKHiid be provid-
ed to keep it sufficiently moist, as the horse manure is
too heating for a decidedly sandy soil. A little gnano,
superphosphate of lime, or some other specific ma-
nure would stimulate an early growih. Wood ashes
is excellent to carry out the plants.
SPRr>-G Knees ix the Horse. — The trouble
does not always result from an injury of the leg,
or strain of the tendons ; it is more often found
in horses that have bad corns in the feet, or troa-
bled with navicubr disease, than any other. The
animal raising his heels to prevent pressure upon
the tender parts bends the knee, which bending
becomes finally, from the altered po»itiv>n of the
limb, a permanent deformity. Horses with sprang
knees are unsafe for saddle purp»>ses, owing to
their cv>nsequent liability to stumble. Respect-
ing the treatment, it may be said that six out of
every ten sprung-kneed horses will be found
10 have corns. If these be of recent growth.
there is a fair prospect of straightening the limbs
by removing the corns as directed under the head
of that disease ; by the removing of these the
heels are brought to the ground, and the limb
becomes straight- Under any other circumstances
all treatment proves useless. — Jenmngs on iJU
Horse.
Il2
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
OTJB HOUSES AND QTiOTTNDS ABOUT
THEM.
The first grand requisite in this mortal exist-
ence is a good conscience. Without this, all is
"vanity and vexation" of spirit, — for a viper is
constantly gnawing at the very fountain of life.
The next thing is good Jiealth, — though some say
that uninterrupted health is not desirahle. If we
had ever enjoyed the latter for five consecutive
years, we could judge better. When we do, our
opinion shall not be withheld.
Having then, the conscience and the health, —
the next important thing to our convenience and
happiness is the house in which we live, and the
things which surround it. Parental example and
isof.
instruction must establish the first, but the latter,
the house and its surroundings, will so thoroughly
map themselves upon the minds of children that
no influences of after life will be able to efi"ace
them. This map will reproduce pleasant scenes
and memories, that will make the 4ieart cheerful
and elastic, or they will be scenes and utterances
from which will spring a morbid spirit full of mur-
murings and discontent.
How important, then, it is, that every thing
that is to fill and mould the young mind shall be
of an agreeable and instructive character. Let
us see how much we are doing, in this direction,
to secure this result. The cut which we present
below is the
REFERENCES.
a. House.
b. Kitchen.
c. Woodshed.
d. Barn.
e. Pig-sty.
/. Main Carriage Road.
a. Path from Shed to Bam.
%. Path from the Kitchen to
Barn.
t. Path from Kitchen to Gar-
den.
j. Path from the front door
to Garden.
k. Path to Front Door.
/. Border of Currant Bushes.
m. Dilapidated ehn? in front.
n. Rows of Apple Trees.
0. Manure Heai).
p. Gooseberry Border.
q. Grass.
r. Flower Border.
Village Homestead as it is — IJnimproved,
This engraving represents one of the hundreds j and j, are paths through the garden and grass, to
and from the house and barn ; in every case it is
necessary to go around a long and awkward cor-
of homesteads in New England of about the same
size and shape, or only slightly diff"ering, and must
be familiar to all. The land is half an acre in
size, on which is a house forty feet square, with L
and wood-shed. There is also a barn, 40 X 30 ;
at one corner of the barn, o, is a pile of manure
exposed to the washing and beating of wind and
rain ; this pile is surrounded by the hog-pen,
whose squealing inhabitants are plainly perceiva-
ble by all.
The buildings are all more or less painted ;
probably white in front, and bright red on the
back and sides ; in some cases there are blinds,
but in more none. Every path is straight, and
if it is inconvenient to go around the corners,
another path is worn across the grass. F, is the
road up to the barn ; this road is shut from the
1 main street, by either a pair of bars, or a three-
barred gate generally halting on one hinge. K,
is the path to the front door, which also is closed
by a gate, commonly composed of pickets, one or
more of which are askew, or broken out. II, q, i.
ner, or cross grass or plowed land. M, is a row
of half-starved elms from the woods,- or, perhaps,
of overgrown and neglected apple trees. 8, rep-
resents the tillage by dotted lines. Q, grass, by
straight lines. At n, n, there are fruit trees, all
of which indicate the absence of horticultural
skill. On the west side is a long picket fence,
out of which many slats have been lost, thus ac-
commodating the neighbor's or the proprietor's
pigs and hens in their friendly visits. Against
the fence on the west, north, and east, there may
be a row of moss-covered currant, raspl)erry or
gooseberry bushes. On either side of the front
walk, k, are two borders, r, r, for flowers, which
in some cases will have a few stunted roses and
pinks, and a few roots of phlox or other perenni-
als. The border, p, is filled with some berry fruit,
and the tilled surface more or less covered with
fruits, vegetables, and most of all, weeds!
N'^W l'>^ '-"> 'n'->lr ctf t^^ otbpr sid*" t'^"
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
11^
180 f.
RFFERENCE8.
Main Carrinpe Road.
Path to Front Door.
Flower Beds.
Kitchen Garden.
Verand!\h.*!.
House.
h. Kirchon.
c. Wood<hod.
d. Barn and Cellar.
e. Pig-sty.
Village Homestead as it should be— Improved.
How the scene is changed ! How pleasantly
it strikes us, and at once fills us with agreeable
emotions ! \A'e love to linger near it, and con-
template the forms of beauty which everywhere
meet the eye, and listen to the cheerful sounds
that mingle in the perfumed air. Everything
conspires to fill the mind with grateful feelings,
and to impress upon it such a charming landscape
that whatever the business of the occupants may
be, more money will be made under the inlluences
of the neatness, order and beauty of the Improved
Homestead, than there can be with the same busi-
ness talent unimproved.
Soil for FLOWErxS. — Soil for flowers may be
looked up during the winter season. Very few
understand that an occasional change of soil is
view and harmony of sounds, as will come back y^jj. beneficial to flowers in beds, though all know
in pleasant memories in all after life, whatever how important it i;* to flowers in pots. There is
our employment may be, or wherever in the wide nothing belter than surface soil from an old pas-
world our lot may be cast. | f"'"^' ^f ^" "^ f'^'f ^''^ inches deep, and throwo
, ... , , , • 1 i 1 1 J into a heap muIi about one-sixth part oi old hot-
As will be seen by this sketch, the curved road, ^^^ ^^^„^ ^^ partially decay. In addition to this
/, does away with the necessity of going to the "staple" item, a smaller quantity of difi'ercnt mat-
barn to get into the carriage, or to roll a barrel of ters should be gathered together for peculiar cases,
flour across the grass to get it into the house, or particular plants. Peat, for instance, will be
c ^ .1 .u .u k »u« ,)„„ „n u„„j ;„ found very useful for many kinds of plants. This
So, too, the paths through the garden all bend in . . •. ^ j , , "^i , . ^
' ' ' /r^ 1 1- f ■^^ "ot, as IS olten supposed, mere black sand; but
such a manner as to off^er the readiest means for ^ spongy, fibrous substance from the surface of
exit and entrance, without leaving sharp corners bogs and boggy wastes. Sand should be collect-
to be cut across. The flower-beds, h, off'er a ed sharp and clean ; the washings from turnpike
pleasing object to the eye, and the porch and ve- J^'^'^'^'^s are as good as anything. Leaf-mould is
1 , 1 . J ^ .L L • /T 1 1 best got already well decayed from the woods. A
randahs added to the house, ;, afford a cool i ,i . „„ ^r n i a ~ j
' •' load or so oi well-decayed cow-manure is a good
promenade morning, evening and mid-day, and thi„g for the gardener to have by him, as all those
screen the windows from the hot sun, and when plants that dislike our hot summers, and want a
festooned with vines furnish more beauty than cool soil to grow in, prefer it to any other ma-
any other possible ornament. Flower beds, h, ""'"«• ^ small pile of hot-bed manure is almost
are cut out of the grass, and should be kept well
filled with flowers. Farmers. Be ON YOUR Guard !-The Pleuro-
Finallv, neatness, order and beauty, outside, t» • • .u -.i . i i . Mr
. •/. 1 . Pneumonia IS among us still, without (loiiht. We
indicate neatness withm. A beautiful writer says, , . e » i i.- ^i i i
^, „„ ,,.... , . . ^ , advise every farmer to keep his cattle as closely
as possible, as, by this caution, he may keep this
pestilence from his stalls. We learn that it now
exists in some twenty towns in this State.
indispensable to a garden. — Gardeiier-'s Monthly.
"The care of flowers and cultivation of plants, do
not merely contribute to the maintenance of
health, they soften the passions and elevate the
taste above the afi'irs of every day life. In the
home around which we see a well-kept garden,
internal order almost always prevails ; and where
A CORRESPONREXT of the ^Lirk Lnne Zfxpress,
who highly extols the cabbage for feediiit: milch
^, . a .1 * •] .u ^ • I .. COWS, store cattle, siicep and swme. and more es-
there is a fljwer-stand outside, there is almost • u . • f i- e \ , ■
, ' petiallv tor K])riiig feeding of lambina: ewes, says
always a boo <-sheif within. j|,jt ,|,c average prodnpt per acre in p:nglao<i
•'■ ■ : •,.■•' 1 •' - .. ■ 1,., ,. .^,1 .,,. ,...„,;,,. ^; ,,,.,
11,4
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
APBfl,,
•1*4
iii-
For the New England Farmer.
RETROSPECTIVE NOTES.
Salting Hay. — In a previous communication
upon this subject which appeared in the weekly
N. E. Farmer of Nov. 7th, and in the December
number of the Monthly, after noticing some of
the various opinions and practices to be found
among farmers in relation to the application of
salt to hay, I proceeded to remark that certain
articles which had appeared in the issues of this
J''Ournal of Sept. r2th and Oct. 3d, were, of them-
selves, a sufficient specimen of the contradictory
opinions which prevail as to the effect of apply-
ing salt to hay, and that, though these diverse
opinions were often advocated with a. positiveness
•which was amusing no less than surprising, it is,
nevertheless, true that there is no room for posi-
tiveness as to any of the opinions, inasmuch as
there is nothing known with certainty upon the
subject. There have been no accurate observa-
tions or experiments sufficient to support any one
of the various opinions, or strictly speaking, mere
suppositions, which are found to be entertained
upon this subject ; none, at least, that have been
reported to the public. It would, indeed, very
obviously be a .difficult matter to determine by
experience or o'bservations of sufficient accuracy,
what are the effects sipoa hay of applying this or
that quantity of salt .to it, when mowed away or
put into stack in aeoadition of more or less damp-
ness, as also what are^ or would l>e, the usual ef-
fects of a])plying this or tbat amount of salt to a
ton or other quantity of hay upon the appetite,
the thriving, the general health and good condi-
tion of animais fed, either regularly or occasion-
ally, upon such hay.
When this difficulty of making any very accu-
rate experiments or observations, such as we have
named, is duly considered, it need not surprise
any one that none such have been made, or, at
least, that none such have been reported to the
public. But whether it has been this difficulty
or something else which has prevented our being
in possession of any such facts as would be quite
desirable in reference to the effect of the applica-
tion of salt to hay in a rather too damp condition,
the important fact remains that the public is not
in possession of any knowledge as to the points
named whieh can strictly be called positive knowl-
edge, and towards carrying us out of the region
of guess-work and uncertain opinion. But no
one has ever, so far as we have been able to learn,
made any such accurately conducted experiment ;
and of course we are still in the region of twilight
or darkness which surrounds the region which has
the benefit of the sun of positive knowledge.
Without the facts or results which such experi-
ments might furnish, we have no basis on which
to build any valid belief or proposition upon the
subject and there is nothing that can be done but
to form suppositions, that is, in other words,. opin-
ions based on probability, not on positive knowl-
edge. Accordingly, we have upon the su-bject of
applying salt to hay quite a variety of opinions —
suppositions which seem probable to those who
have adopted them ; but as there can be no cer-
tainty it is obvious that we very much need facts
and experiments upon this subject.
Having shown that until we shall obtain accu-
rately conducted experiments and facts that are
rebablewe must remain in our present destitution
of positive knowledge, and be left to grope our
way in the dark, and that, consequently, there is
an urgent need of such facts and experiments,
we asked, "Who will give us any ?"
In reply to this call for siich experiments and
facts as we then indicated we have as yet had no
response. Indeed, we feel very confident that,
as yet, no such experiments as we have described
have been made, and, of course, there are none
to be reported.
In saying that we have had as yet, no response
to our call for accurate experiments and facts to
the point, we have not overlooked a communica-
tion headed "Salting Hay" in the N. E. Farmer
of Dec. 12th, in which the writer gives u? a few
items of his experience, but not anything from
which we can gather any positive knracledfje of the
kind so much needed. His experiences are not,
however, without some value, as the first one nar-
rated shows some of the evil effects of applying
too much salt to hay ; though the writer has neg-
lected to inform us how much \f as used in the case
he mentions, and, of course, left us quite in the
dark as to what would be "too much." His other
case amounts to this, that he put a peck of salt,
say 20 lbs., on a large load of northern clover
which was in a state of decay here and there from
being lodged, and which he put into a shed while
yet the hay was only about half-dry. Afraid,
probably, that a peck of salt, say 20 lbs., to a large
load of clover, say 1500 lbs., or three-fourths of
a ton, would be "too much" to be fed out contin-
uously, he fed out only one foddering of it about
twice a week, the craving for salt leading his stock
to eat it up clean, butts, decayed portions and all;
indeed, as he says, there was not 5 lbs, of the loa(l
not eaten. If the decayed portions of the lodged
clover were eaten up for the sake of the salt we
would question the policy of the proceeding on
the same grounds on which we have often con-
demned the practice of putting brine on musty or
otherwise injured hay for the purpose of making
cattle eat what could be little short of poison for
the sake of the salt left on it by the brine.
* Finding myself near the end of my sheet in my
former communication I briefly indicated the
practice I had adopted, after more than thirty
years of trying this and that mode of manage-
ment as to salting hay and stock, as the only way
my limits would allow of answering a natural cu-
riosity of some of my readers. I had practiced
putting salt upon all my hay — from about one
quart and a half up to four quarts to a ton ac-
cording to the dryness or dampness thereof — for
several years, always having a boy or third hand
to put a sprinkling of salt upon each forkful of
hay as it was mowed away. At length the boy
had better employment at schools and other nur-
series of mind, and the difficulty of getting a
third hand always at the busy time of haying,
which seemed an absolute necessity for getting
the salt properly distributed, (as putting the whole
quantity of salt on at once after the whole was
mowed away never seemed a prope^ way,) led me
to consider what plan I should adopt next as a
substitute for that one I had practiced while I had
boys' help convenient. I had become pretty well
satisfied that salt applied in the way described did
very little, if anything, towards preventing heat-
ing, musting, &c'., and I had continued it mainly
because it was the most convenient way I had yet
18«4;
;MEW ENGLAND FARMER.
115
thought of for supplying my stock with a little
Bait at every meal, as human beings prefer to
have it. About ten or more years ago, and after
having for a year or two employed frequent brin-
ings of hay as I fed it out, as the substitute for
applying salt to the hay as it was put into the
mow, I met with a statement to the effect that
Judge Colbuhn had triod the plan of salting his
stock, in winter by salting their hay and that he
had given it up, and adopted the plan of having
salt always accessible to all his animals, so they
could get it as often and in such quantity as in-
stinct— the almost always unerring guide — should
direct them. In the circumstances I should have
adopted this method, upon trial at least, whether
the proposer of it, or the farmer practicing it,
■were a judge or a clod-hopper. But knowing
that Judge C. was well known in New England
as a man of superior intelligence, I named him as
the briefest and most effectual way, then at my
command, to recommend that mode of managing.
Whether the writer of the article on "Salting
Hay" in the issue of December 12th, in his little
spiteful fling at my reference to Judge Colburn,
has done himself any honor and whether such
personalities should be admitted into a paper of
this kind, I leave its readers to determine.
More Anon.
For the New Ens^and Farmer.
CHOPPING FEED FOB HORSES.
Mr. Editor: — As your correspondent from
■"Lee, N. H.," suggests, in times like these, when
everything edible for the support of the quadru-
ped race (to say nothing of the biped) is so very
high it is important to know how to feed animals
the most economically. It has been said by writ-
ers, with some plausibility, that hay cut finer af-
fords considerable more nutriment than when fed
in its natural state. The philosophy of this they
say is, that hay contains a large portion of woody
substance, which, if only made soluble is nearly
equal to starch, and is very nutritious. They say
further, in support of their theory, that if hay is
cut fine, it is better masticated, absorbs more sa-
liva, and of course becomes more soluble in the
animal's stomach.
Some writers say to make it still more nutritive
and easy of digestion, it should be steamed, or
wet with boiling water. But considerable depends,
I thitik, upon the ripeness of the hay to be used ;
if it is quite ripe, more is gained by chopping; be-
sides horses will eat hay much better. But if hay
is early cut, and the juices remain in it, I can't
conceive how much virtue is imparted by chop-
ping. What is true of hay will, I think, hold good
with straw, &c. After all, I am satisfied that one
great secret in feeding horses is, that we feed too
much hmj when we feed meal and hay separately.
Take a healthy, hearty horse, and he will eat just
about all of the time, comparatively speaking, to
our own detriment and the horse's also. I know
whereof I speak, for I used to feed at least one-
third more hay (not chopped) to my horse than I
now feed, which, I am satisfied was not only a
useless expenditure, but an injury to the horse. I
■would not be understood as saying that all feed
more than is necessary — for there are some people
•o stingy that they will barely feed enough to keep
their animals living skeletons — but refer to those,
rrit nnrtipiilarlv tV>o* rrro^n iVioir K-.^crog nr>r\
those that feed their animals about as much as :
they will eat. It is generally conceded that many (,
horses, as a penalty for their owners continually j
stuffing them on hay, have become heavy and '
wind-broken. <
When corn meal is used I think it very essen-
tial to wet it, especially when used in warm weath-
er and in considerable quantities, as there is a
good deal of heat in it, more particularly when
made of northern corn.
After all, much depends upon cireamstances, I
believe, about the economy of chopping feed, such,
for instance, as the quality of hay and the spare
time, &c. ; so one must use his own judgment in
the matter. Some stable-keepers contend that a
driving horse will wear longer fed upon uncut
feed, from the fact that it lays lighter in the stom-
ach, and hence the digestive organs become im-
paired later. b. f. c.
Sanboniion, Bridge, N. H., 1864.
Remarks. — We Uke the common sense views
of our correspondent, and hope he will continue
to write further upon this or any other subject.
For the Neic Ensland Famier.
"WASH FOR FRUIT TREES.
Dear Sir : — Much has been said on the sub-
ject of wash for fruit trees, but I think long expe-
rience is the best test. I have for twenty years
used potash. When I purchased my place' the
trees were all eaten and covered by the bark scale
and white scale ; the ends of the limbs and small
wood were completely covered. I used ])otash
dissolved in water, one pound to four gallons of
water. I put it on with an old broom for the
trunk, and a large sponge on a rake-handle for
the branches. I found that it not only killed both
kinds of scales, but destroyed all of the patches
of moss, and made the bark clean. I put the
wash on in February or March, and then scrape
off the loose bark soon after. I propose washing
first, because it kills all the worms or injects in
and under the bark, and loosens the bark that
ought to come off; if you scrape first, many
worms will fall to the ground and escape dealh.
For young trees I use a weaker wash — a quatter
of a pound to a pail or a gallon of water. This
year I had a quantity of lamp oil that would not
burn well, and I put four gallons of oil, ten gal-
lons of water and ten pounds of potash together
and made a soap of it. When I used it I ]nn four
quarts of it to a pail of water for my old trees,
and four pints to a pail of water for my young
trees. It has killed the scales and turned the
moss all black, but does not injure the trees. I
think it will be an improvement on my old way.
The idea that potash injures trees is ridiculous ;
I have used it for twenty years without the least
injury. It should be put on early, before the
trunk is tender by the running of the sap. As to '
pruning, the fall is decidedly the best lime, when .
the bark is hard and no sap under the bark to
make it peal or bruise when you step on it, or put '
your ladder on the branches — as is often done in
spring or summer pruning. S. A. Shurtleff.
Remarks. — In the careful and guarded man-
ner in which Dr. Shurtlefp uses potash, we con-
fpco that th»»re is little or no danger to trees. But
116
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
■mil
most persons are not so careful, and sometimes
destroy the labor of many years by the rash use
of potash. We knew an orchard of a hundred
trees destroyed in less than one week by the use
of potash water, one pound to a gallon of wa-
ter! Potash is an alkali in a very concentrated
form, and must always be used with care. Through
the indiscreet teachings uf some who have gone be-
fore us, we have no doubt but thousands of ap-
ple trees have been greatly injured or utterly
ruined by the use of potash in a too concentrated
form. The reader will observe how exact our cor-
respondent is in the quantities he employs.
REMEDY FOB "GRUB IN THE HEAD"
OF SHEEP.
Mr. Editor:— Having noticed an article in
the Septeniliev number of the Farmer on worms
in the he:id of sheep, and their treatment, and as
I have had quite an experience for twenty or
thirty years in the E'lstern States upon said treat-
ment, I thought I might, perhaps, confer a favor
on wool growers by giving my mode to the pul)-
lic. It is natural for the sheep fly to propagate
its species by depositing its larvie in the nostrils
of sheep at what is called the "bridge of the
nose." As the weather begins to moderate to-
wards spring, they become a maggot, or grub,
and seek to crawl about. If the spring should
turn out to be late, so as to prevent their seeking
the open air, they will follow up the outside cavi-
t\ of the skull to the brain, and thus destroy the
sheep.
About the first of March, make a mixture of
cne quart of tar, one pint of spirits of turpentine,
one pint of linseed oil : simmer well, and when
cool mix two ounces of black pepper ground fine.
Make a small swab by winding tow or flax on a
small, tough stick, dip it in the mixture and gen-
tly slip it up the nostril to the bridge of the nose.
Go through the flock in this manner. If on the
barn floor, you will find grubs there in a little
while. The turpentine kills, tlie oil loosens, the
pepper makes the sheep sneeze them out, tar is
healing. I never knew a sheep to die of grub in
the head after being treated as above, that sea-
son.
Preventive. — Take the above mixture without
the pepper, and go through the flock as above in
October, or prior to putting them into winter
quarters, as it will destroy all the parasites, and
the sheep will do well through the winter.
Truly yours,
—Wisconsin Farmer. Gilbert Allard.
Coal Ashes on Grass.— I have experiment-
ed with coal ashes and find them well worth ap-
plying, although it is doubtful whether they will
pay for a long cariage. I slaked out a piece in
an old meadow and spread coal ashes on quite
thick, early in spring. The influence was quite
as apparent as a coat of manure or of plaster
would have been. It started clover, and the grass
was much higher and thicker. There is in most
coal ashes from stoves, a small quantity of wood
ashes, but not enough to account for the eflect
produced on my meadow. I agree with you that
It ?s lit-ttfi- to srire id c->al ashes on the soil than
THE MCJSKRAT.
When our river overflows its banks in the
spring, the wind from the meadows is laden with
a strong scent of musk, and by its freshness ad-
vertises me of an unexplored wildness. Those
backwoods are not far off then. I am affected by
the sight of the cabins of the muskrat, made of
mud and grass, and raised three or four feet along
the river, as when I read of the barrows of Asia.
The muskrat is the beaver of the settled States.
Their number has evenincreased,within a few years
in this vicinity. Among the rivers which empty
into the Merrimack, the Concord is known to the
boatmen as a dead stream. The Indians are said
to have called it Musketuquid, or Prairie river. Its
current being much more sluggish, and its water
more muddy than the rest, it abounds more in
fish and game of every kind. According to the
history of the town, " i'he fur trade was here once
very important. As early as 1641, a company was
formed in the colony, of which Major WilUird, of
Concord, was superintendent, and had the exclu-
sive right to trade with the Indians in furs and
other articles ; and for this right they were
obliged to pay into the public treasury one-twen-
tieth of all the furs they obtained." There are
trappers in our midst still, as well as on the
streams of the far West, who night and morning
go the rounds of their traps, without fear of the
Indian. One of these takes from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred muskrats in a year,
and even thirty-six have been shot by one man
in a day. Their fur, which is not nearly as valu-
able as formerly, is in good condition in the win-
ter and spring only ; and upon the breaking uj) of
the ice, when" they are driven out of their holes
by the water, the greatest number are shot from
boats, either swimming or resting on their stools,
or slight supports of grass and reeds, by the side
of the stream. Though they exhibit considerable
cunning at other times, they are easily taken in a
trap, which has only to be placed in their holes,
or wherever they frequent, without any bait be-
ing used, though it is sometimes rubbed with
their musk. In the winter the hunter cuts holes
in the ice, and shoots them when they come to the
surface. Their burrows are usually in the high
banks of the river, with the entrance under water,
and rising within to above the level of high wa-
ter. Sometimes their nests composed of dried
meadow grass and flags, may be discovered where
the bank is low and spongy, by the yielding of the
ground under the feet. They have from three to
seven or eight young in the spring.
Frequently, in the morning or evening, a long
ripple is seen in the still water, where a mu.skrat
is crossing the stream, with only its nose above
the surface, and sometimes a green boiagh in its
mouth to build its house with. When it finds it-
self observed, it will dive and swim five or six
rods under water, and at length conceal itself in
its hole, or the weeds. It will remain under wa-
ter for ten minutes at a time, and on one occasion
has been seen, when undistured, to form an air-
bubble under the ice, which contracted and ex-
panded as it breathed at leisure. When it suspects
danger on shore, it will stand erect like asquiirel,
and survey its neighborhood for several minutes
without moving.
In the fall, if a meadow intervene between their
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
ir
and grass, three or four feet high, near its edge.
These are not their breeding-places, though young
are sometimes found in them in late freshets, but
rather their hunting-lodges, to which they resort
in the winter with their food, and for shelter.
Their food consists chiefly of flags and fresh-wa-
ter muscles, the shells of the latter being left in
large quantities around their lodges in the spring.
The Penobscot Indian wears ihe entire skin of a
muskrat, with the legs and tail dangling, and the
head caught under his girdle, for a pouch, into
which he puts his fishing-tackle, and essences to
scent his traps with. — Thoreau.
BARK-LOUSE PARASITES.
The editor of the Wuconsin Farmer wrote to
the Entomologist of the United States Agricultu-
■ ral Department inquiring if there were any para-
* sites of the bark-louse of apple trees known to
naturalists, and suggesting, if there were in any
other countries any insects that preyed upon these
destructive scales, that they be imported. The
following is the reply, dated Department of Agri-
culture, Washington, D. C, 11th Dec, 1863.
Dear Slii : — In answer to your query as to
whether there is any parasitic insect wliich des-
troys the apple bark-louse or scale insects, I can
merely state that I have seen scales perforated by
some parasite, but have not as yet found the per-
fect fly. Dr. Fitch, however, in his valualije re-
port (see first report, p. 36,) states that under the
scales he has repeatedly met with a small maggot,
feeding upon the eggs, which are deposited un-
derneath the case or shell, and supposes it to be
the larva of some minute Hymenopierous insect,
which, when fully developed, eats its way out of
the empty shell. You mDst probably have seen
the same parasite in your neighborhood, and can
readily find out by examining the coccus with a
magnifying glass. If there are any with a small
round perforation on the upper side, you may rest
assured that there will be no necessity to import.
TOWNSENU GlOVEK.
SINGULAR ACCIDENT TO A HORSE.
Wliile Col. J. S. Keyes, U. S. Marshal of the
Boston District, was riding through one of the
streets in Concord, on Saturday, Feb. 13, his mare
stept upon the end of a stick, about four feet
long, with one of her forward feet, which brought
the other end up against her side, near the flank,
penetrating through the skin and thin layers of
muscles lying under it, and cutting a place about
six inches long in the delicate membrane that
covers the intestines. The mare reared, plunged
and kicked fearfully for a time, and fell to the
ground, a mass of the intestines as large as a
man's hat protruding from the wound. She was
taken as quickly as possibly to the stable, put un-
der the influence of chloroform, and the wound
properly cleansed and sewed up. She continued
to eat and drink pretty well until the following
Tut^sday, when spasms ensued and she died.
This mare was one of the finest roadsters in
Middlesex county, and was valued almost beyond
price by the Marshal. She was elegant, mild in
temper, courageous, enduring and splendid in
stylOTind action.
We notice this as a caution to persons tiot to
drive horses over loose sticks that lie in the path.
It is always dangerous, though such serious acci-
dents as this do not often occur.
Depth of Coal Beds.— Heath's mine in Vir-
ginia, is represented lo contain a coal bed fifty feet
in tiiickness ; a coal bed near Wilkesburre, Pa., is
said to be twenty-five feet thick ; at Mauch Chunk
is a coal bed forty to fifty feet deep ; and in the
basin of the Schuylkill are fifty alternate seams of
coal, twenty-five of which are more than three
feet in thickness. In Nova Scotia is a coal for-
mation fourteen hundred feet deep, and contain-
ing seventy-five alternate layers of coal. The
Whitehaven coal mine, in England, has been work-
ed twelve hundred feet deep, and extends a mile
under the sea ; and the Newcastle coal mine, in
the same country, has been worked to the depth
of fifteen hundred feet and bored to a similar ad-
ditional depth, without finding the bottom of the
coal measure. — Miners^ Jounial.
Poultry. — Give poultry warm, dry, sunny,
well whitewashed quarters, clean straw in their
nests, and a good feed of grain, once a day ; scrajjs
from the frying-pot, and unchilled water, or trough
of running water; keep an ash-box in one corner,
always dry and dusty, and throw in fresh ashes
or lime occasionally.
Is Poultry Profitable ? — The Springfield
Republican of Friday discusses this subject and
cites the experience of a gentleman of that city,
who, from a lot of fifty-two hens and five ducks,
netted a total profit in six months, from January
to July, of .$21.96. We have a friend who has
kept, during the past three or four years, an aver-
age of twelve or fourteen hens. His yard is
small, and the hens are kept shut up nearly the
whole year round, and with the exception of what
comes from the table he has bought all their food.
The result of his experience for the three years
lias been as follows : Cost of keeping, $49.67.
Eggs — crediting them at the market price — $79.-
37. The Springfield man credited his eggs at
from 22 to 36 cents ; our Boston friend credited
his at from 20 to 25. There is no doubt but a
few hens, well cared for, will pay well and keep a
family constantly supplied with what is a real lux-
ury— fresh eggs.
To Cure Sheep from Jumping. — A corres-
pondent of the Ohio Farmer gives the following
curious account of the method adopted by him
to prevent his sheep from jumping the fences of
his pasture : "I want to tell you about my jump-
ing sheep, and how I broke them. I got them in
a pen built sufi[iciently to hold them ; I then
caught the ringleaders one at a time, and made a
small hole in each ear. I then took a cord or
string and run through the holes in the ears to-
gether close enough to keep them from working
the ears ; I then let them out and they are as quiet
as any sheep."
The cranberry crop of Ca])e Cod amounts to
3,899 barrels, valued at $38,060 25.
118
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
}i'^
'/'•
'WiiJ
ACrriON Off BOOTS OF PLANTS.
At a recent agricultural discusSion, one of the
speakers thought the interest of farmers might
be greatly promoted by a more thorough analysis
of soils then has ever yet been made. This idea
was once a favorite one with some of the best
English and American writers, but we believe that
little importance is now attached to it. There are
so. many reasons why the soil of a single acre,
even, should vary in its component parts, and it is
so difficult for the most skilful chemist to state with
certainty what the homogeneous character of
that acre would be, that very little confidence is
now placed in any analysis of the soil.
Again, if we actually possessed that character,
we know so little of the laws of supply and
growth, that it would be quite doubtful whether
we should derive much benefit, from an accurate
analysis, were we so happy as to secure one.
With regard to the food that nourishes and sus-
tains the plants we cultivate, we know but little
more than this general truth, that the liberal
application of a mixed mass of vegetable, animal
and mineral matter, will greatly promote the
growth of plants, and when other essentials are
properly supplied, such as heat, moisture, and
careful culture, the crop will generally result in a
profit to the cultivator. Farmers must therefore
act upon this broad and safe rule, and not re/?/ up-
on any specific fertilizers for success.
The roots of plants have an elective power.
That is, if a bone is buried in the soil near a young
tree, the roots of that- tree will leave the direction
in w*i.ich they started, find the bone and encircle
it wilh numerous little feeders or fibrous roots.
On partly digging about a young peach tree, and
then pulling upon it, a friend informs us that the
tree came up and brought with it a good sized
bone, completely surrounded by a network of
fine roots ! The same person has a splendid elm
near his house which is 18 feet in circumference,
20 feet to the first limbs, and the branches extend
96 feet. Two rods from the stem of this tree,
an ox load of manure was dropt for a special pur-
pose, but was not used for four months. On at-
tsmpting to take it away it could not be shoveled,
the implement being obstructed as though hay or
straw were mixed with the manure. Upon remov-
ing it with a fork, it was found penetrated in ev-
ery direction with a mass of roots which had
sprung from the roots of the elm tree and come
up through the sward into the manure heap to
feed upon it. Was not that choosing for them-
selves the best path to take to find the food they
wanted. So it is with the branches of trees. A
white birch springing up under an oak, will turn
its twigs away from the tree, towards the sun and
light, long before they are likely to come in con-
tact with the branches of the oak. On a country
highway, some of the smaller trees may often be
seen leaning over the road from both sides, in or-
der to get away from larger trees, and get a prop-
er share of sun and light.
We once had occasion to remove a row of young
apple trees which were about three years from the
bud. They were set along the edge of a well
cultivated garden, and two feet beyond them was
a mowing field of several acres. In taking up the
whole row of some dozen trees, not a single root,
on the grass side, was found a foot in length, and
but few of any length or size. On the garden
side they were numerous, and some of them three
feet long ! Did they not choose where to go ?
There was a clean, rich strip of soil, two feet wide
between the trees and the grass. Why did not
their roots run and feed there ? Who notified
them that the grass is a usurper — that it would
seize and hold the soil, rob it of its fertilizing
properties, and leave the apple tree roots to starve
and die, if they went there ? How little we know
of the operation of the laws that govern vegeta-
ble growth. How gratifying and instructive to
explore them with all the powers we possess.
HOT\r TO GET GOOD CELERY.
Sow the seed in a hotbed in March, or as early
as the weather will permit. Some prefer a cold
bed, starting it in some warm place as soon as
the soil is sufficiently dry to work it. As Soon
as the season will permit, and the plants have at-
tained a proper size, transplant them into a rich,
warm spot. Set them four inches apart, give
them a liberal watering, and shelter them from
the sun until they have taken root. Here let
them grow until about the first of July, when they
must be planted where they are to grow through
the season.
In preparing for this, some dig trenches to set
the plants in, and others do not. We have culti-
vated in both ways with about equal success. If
a trench is decided upon, dig it eight or ten inch-
es deep, spade the bottom and make it fine, add
a coat of composted manure, then rich mould and
set the plants. The plants must be taken up
with care, and with all the earth adhering to them
that is possible. Set them six or eight inches
apart, after trimming off all the straggling leaves,
then give them a good watering, and let them be
shaded with boards until they strike root and be-
gin to grow. The trenches should be four feet
apart. If the weather is dry, water freely morn-
ing and evening
After the plants have attained considerable size,
and when they are dry, the earth must be drawn
around them a little at a time, as they progress,
taking care always that the leaves be held togeth-
er so as to prevent the soil from getting in among
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
f
119
them. By earthing up gradually, the stems are
bleached and become tender and crisp.
It should stand out doors until there is danger
of frost, which ought not to touch it. There are
various modes of keeping it. Ours is, to take it
up with as much of the soil as we can save about
the roots, and set it out in a cool cellar, in a plen-
ty of the earth in which it grew. If the plants
are set a little apart, and the temperature of the
cellar is cool and even, they will keep fresh and
ready for use until April or May.
If the plants are set on the surface of the
ground, as cabbage plants are usually set, the
same process of earthing up must be obsen'ed.
No weeds should be allowed to grow among
the plant, and the ground should be frequently
stirred with the hoe or some other implement.
Celery is easily cultivated. There is no mys-
tery about it, whatever. Any farmer's son or
daughter may do it that will try. If one prefers,
he can purchase the plants ready for transplant-
ing.
Fifty to a hundred of them might be enough for
a family.
It is a convenient and healthful salad, and
should be more common on the tables of our
farmers.
NEW BOOKS.
Flowers for the Parlor and Garden. By Edward Sprague
Rand, .Jr. Illustrations by John Andrew, and A. G. Warren.
J. E. Tilton & Co., Washington St., Boston.
It is one thing to write a book and make it
barely interesting, so that it shall have a place in
the memory for a month or a year, and then pass
away and be forgotten like a summer cloud or our
dinner of yesterday. It is quite another matter
to write a book that shall not only attract and
charm the reader while perusing it, but which,
when perused, shall leave such an impression on
the mind as will reproduce that charm whenever
the subjects of which it treated are again intro-
duced. The book before us is of the latter class.
It is a teacher. The subjects which it discusses
are so clearly and wisely stated, that the most in-
experienced in them may feel courage and safety
in following the details given. They are full, yet
brief, and always include those minor points with-
out which the whole would be valueless. An ex-
ample of what we mean may be found on page
94, in describing the methods of propagating the
charming Verbena. There is nothing omitted
here, it seems to us, that the merest novice would
desire to know. It is a model description.
The general subjects of the book are, The Green
House and Consci-vatory ; Window Gardening ;
Plants for Window Gardening ; Cape Bulbs ; Dutch
Bulbs; The Culture of the Tube Rose; The Glad-
iolus and its Culture ; IIoio to Force Flowers to
^loom in Winter ; Balcony Gardening ; The Ward-
ian Case; Stocking and Managing tJie Wardian
Case; Hanging Baskets and Plants ; The WaUon-
ian Case ; The Aquarium and Water Plants ; How
to Grow Specimtn Plants ; Oid-Door Gardening —
Hot Beds ; The Garden ; Small Trees and Shrubs ;
Hardy Herbaceous Plants ; Hardy Annuals ; Bed-
ding Plants ; Hardy and Half-Hardy Garden
Bulbs; Spring Flowers, and Wliere tojind Them.
The very titles of the chapters are enough to
inspire one to rush from the house to the garden,
even in mid-winter ! The chapter on Spring Flow-
ers, and Where to find Them, is a gem. Who
that reads it will not anticipate the spring with
quicker pulses and more impatience than ever !
The book is a civilizer. It abounds with beau-
tiful, refreshing thoughts, clothed in such simple
and expressive language,. that they cannot fail to
reach every feeling heart. The artist, printer and
binder have so come to the aid of the author,
that there is a nice blending of thought and art
that is rarely equalled. We cannot but feel under
personal obligations to the wiiter for such a work,
as we always do to those who confer blessings
upon the race.
We trust the pen of the author will still be ac-
tive in this flowery field.
CULTURE OF LETTUCE.
Everybody, we believe, likes lettuce. It is
considered healthful, has a slight narcotic influ-
ence on the system, and, perhaps, may be espe-
cially useful to such nervous temperaments as
find it difficult to secure a nap after dinner !
It thrives best in a light, rich soil ; a soil that
is rich from prior cultivation, rather than from
the immediate application of manure.
If it is wanted quite early — and that seems de-
sirable— the seeds must be sown in a hot bed ia
March, and transplanted in April, in a spot favor-
ably protected from cold winds ; and even here,
it may need occasional covering. It only requires
proper cultivation after this to secure a crop.
Allow sufficient room between the planis for them
to head out without crowding each other, and an
occasional evening watering if the weather is dry.
Those who keep poultry will find it worth cul-
tivating for their use. They are excessively font!
of it. A dozen hens will eat two large heads each
day if they can get them. The store pigs like it
equally as well. We have been in the habit of
growing it along the sides of the paths in the veg-
etable garden, and on any little vacant spots,
where it appears well, and gives us a cart load or
two each summer for the pigs and the hens !
There are many varieties of lettuce, among
which,J"our excellent kinds are the Early White
Butter, or Cabbage, the Early Curled Silesia,
Early Tennis Ball, or Rose, and the Imperial
Head, or Sugar Loaf.
120
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
For the Neic England Farmer.
GBAPES.
The grape is a native of Asia, but is also indi-
genous to America. Though it is better adapted
to a milder climate and to a soil more impregnat-
ed with sulphur and limestone than that of New
Etigland, yet the fact that it is found in a wild
state in our forests, by the side of small streams,
stone walls and large rocks, proves that it is not
entirely unnatural to this part of the country.
High cultivation also shows that grapes can be
raised here with considerable success, though al-
ways "under difficulties." New England will
probably never be a wine-producing country to
any considerable extent, but if, with any reasona-
ble amount of labor and expense, grapes can be
cultivatt-d sufficient for the table, they are worthy
of much more attention than farmers have yet
given them. The encouragement is certainly suf-
ficient to incite us all to much greater attention
to this branch of horticulture.
Grape vines, properly attended to, attain to a
great age and a great size. In Italy, vineyards
have continued in bearing SCO years, and a vine-
yard of 100 years is still considered young.
Pliny mentions a vine which had lived 600 years.
A vine which was trained against a row of houses
in Yorkshire, England, covered a space of 137
square yards, and the stem was three feet and
eleven inches in circumference. The celebrated
vine in Hampton Court, was planted in 1769. Its
stem is fourteen inches in girth, and one of its
branches extends nearly 200 feet. George the
Third directed his gardener to cut from it one
hundred dozen bunches of grapes for the players
in Drury Lane Theatre, and the gardener sent
him word that he could cut as many more with-
out stripping the vine. In California and New
Jersey, vines have attained a size and have borne
quantities of fruit, which would astonish New
Englanders.
There is another circumstance which is unfa-
vorable to the cultivation of the grape in this im-
niediate vicinity. We are too near the ocean.
Humboldt says "grapes do the best in the interi-
or, away from the seaboard, not only because it is
warmer, but on account of the clearer state of the
heavens."
But let us inquire what is the best we can do,
in the unfavorable conditions in which we are
placed, in the out-of-door cultivation of grapes ;
for I suppose that farmers generally will never
cultivate them under glass, either in hot houses
or in cold graperies.
What, then, is the best site for grape vines ?
A southern, or a southeastern ex])osure on a
hill, is prubal)ly the best position. Not on the
top of a hill, for that would be too much exposed
to the winds, nor at the bottom, for that would
be too much exposed to excessive dampness, un-
less the ground is thoroughly undurdrained, but
about the middle of the hill, where both these
evils will be comparatively avoided. When a per-
son projjoses to cultivate a very few vines only, it
can be done to great advantage on the southerly
side of buildings and of large rocks or boulders ;
and even in cities, where only a few feet of land
are at command, grapes can be raised with suc-
cess, if they have a southern exposure. The best
fruit is produced where the vine receives the most
sun, not, as many suppose, upon the fruit, but,
upon the foliage. It is the leaves which elaborate
the nourishment for the fruit, and not the fruit
for itself. It is a great mistake to take off the
leaves, for the purpose of exposing the fruit more
directly to the rays of the sun, until, at least, a
few days before it is gathered. Some of the best
fruit is that which is almost covered up by the
leaves, and which hangs partly behind the slats
of the trellis, and is never exposed to the direct
action of the sun. Removing the leaves around
the fruit before the ripening process commences,
is as injurious as removing the suckers from corn,
and for the same reason. They are needed as
the breathing apparatus for the vine, for the pro-
tection of the canes from the fierce action of the
sun, and for elaborating from the atmosphere and
the soil, in due proportions and in proper combi-
nations, the sustenance necessary for the growth
and perfection of the fruit. The French call the
leaves the "parasols" to protect the vine.
How should the border oftlie vines be prepared ?
Inexperienced cultivators are ap^ to make the
border too rich. "Good, rich soils," says Red-
ding, "never produce even tolerable fruit." The
richest vines in France, and Italy, and on the
banks of the Rhine are grown on the debris of
volcanoes and on the sides of mountains, as if the
cultivators left everything to nature. At any rate,
the ground should not be highly manured with
unfermented barnyard manure. Though grapes
will grow well where the land is deeply plowed,
yet, as the vine is expected to stand many years
in the same place, it is better that the ground be
trenched to the depth of two and a half or three
feet. The subsoil should be entirely removed,
and the bottom so thoroughly drained that water
shall never permanently stand under the roots.
It is an old maxim with vine-dressers that "grapes
will never grow with wet feet." On a side hill,
such draining is easy. The space should then be
filled in with brickbats, lime rubbish, oyster shells,
broken bones, scrapings of the streets, sods from
old pastures where cattle have been yarded, with
a liberal mixture of decomposed manure, ashes,
hair and other refuse from slaughter-houses, and
particularly a large percentage of vegetable mould
or decayed leaves. The trench should be at least
twenty feet in diameter, as the roots of flourish-
ing vines need ample room in which to luxuriate.
The greatest growth of wood, perhaps, can be ob-
tained where the vine is planted near a spring of
running water, and very highly enriched with
coarse, undecomposed manure and night soil ; but
if the best quality of fruit is desired, a dry loca-
tion and the fertilizers above mentioned are un-
questionably the best.
Where it is proposed to set out grape vines in
rows they should run from north to south. Many
cultivators make a serious mistake, in my ap])re-
hension, by setting the rows east and west. They
do so, as they allege, for the purpose of giving
the fruit a southern exposure. But a moment's
reflection will convince any one that where the
trellises run north and south, both sides of the
leaves will, in the course of the day, be much
more exposed to the rays of the sun, than in any
other position.
What are the best grapes for this climate ?
The Delaware, I think, stands at the head of
the list. It is indeed a small grape, but its small-
ness is more than counterbalanced by its adapta-
iiiilii
1SS4.
NEW EXGLAXD PARMER.
121
; .ir.^. lU nuiter-
^e.icaie and >ac-
ii w bv -
swefcu »s ibe Sweel-«airr has a si^jzht wa-
ste. Il rip^os ihite weeks earKtr ti^n the
ili. la every respect but siie, the Delawiie
Xo. 1. for t^peo sir cji^ure. Some h^Te
ew, but I
c -
CZia...
tiveti '.
(y - . i
P —
m.Tc
ten !<:
Isabe
i3 .\
x:.
Its e >-..-: :.
m Ifiis sectiC:; ui
oar highest fla^
} ear, sitfaossb tbcee »t>cots hmt rrT>e*t\i irom the
l^t \ tar's aood. ur froa ttus viuch U macb oid-
:3e tcfldrik. If tbe .
use-
ruit.
zio&t delicious hard
J. in Boston. »nd U of course
a, e. It is a \Igorous gic«i.-.
ac r.-, and extremely hardy. Ibe l
ti - _ . ;he flavor eI:^€IleIit, and the fr_. .
be kc: : f^.r use in the »-inter.
The Hartford ProEfic is a harvly and produc-
tive variety. The berry is lar^e and round, bi^ck
and covered with bloom. It ripei^s at le.i>i i«o ;
weeks bef. re '.he I>ibeILi,and <u; 1 ' "' i
will q-.i::e e5c::->ely rreven; the :
from tbr **em. When thorougi^; .»-r_c^. .. .^
hisiily <:.::hirine.
Th- C rrorJ. thocgh hardy and prolioc is by
no mcai-i a ^r-pe of the first cias*. Tne fruit is
large and c-e-uufjl. but it has a thick skin, and
the r-'.p hcs considerable toughness and native
pun^rr.ry. It is worJiy, however, of *. place in
our £-irie::s. [
The I<j.;:ella, so well known among us, is an
exce.lint grape when it is well ripeaed- Il has
lost '.he hi^h standing which it held thirty or for-
ty yejrs ago, before earlier varieties were inUs.-
d'aced. It does not usually ripen well oftene.
tfaan once in three or four years.
The Catawba, the great wiae grape of Ohio, '
does r. " - : - i «rli in this climate, I have
raised - of this superior fruit, but
it is !. hio grapes. Its great ex-,
eellence, no»ever, demands further trials, ,
I hjve also several of Rogers' Hybrius ar.3 .Al-
len's Hybrids, which may fruit the present i
They are said to possess many excellent q_ .
by those who have tested them. CoL Wilder Le-
lieres that some of R^:s' Hybrids stand in the
▼err first class of hardy native grapes.
Wknit if t.hf best mdkod otpruhin^ y*"?* riiio?
Thi- • - ' very much upon, the system -r - -'-
it adc - growth of the vine, whc
be the :— . ._. . ng cane, or the renewal >;>.^.^.
Tie details cf pruning are so nutnerous ar.d in-
tricate that they cannot be specified in this paper ;
but they can be found in any of the best books
on the culture of grapes. It is proper, however,
to ««y, in general, Ibat the grape attempts more
than it can perform- The secret of proper prun-
ing, then, seems to consist in attention to these
three poii:ts : to keep up a sufficient number of
fruit-bearing csnes. to keep ihcm all » " ' -
er .:T.:ts and to keep the fruit prop^;
Peacnes always bear fruit, if at ail, u|.«..i. u.c list
rear's shoots ; pears either upon tboce tonced the
last yearor upon older wood; but the grape, unlike
them both, bears oalj upon shoots of il^ current
wm oe c .
less wu
Pn.:.:.-^, ibcQ, tt-ouiu Or lotruM^iHy i- ~-i.
not by u>ing the kr ife. but by pia^' _- ~ : r
enda vf the canes at lea«: three times. •Jurlr.g the
moHths rf .\'i2ii<' ard September. tb*t ir* riia!
:' ' . .be 'cwatt- , the
_- ;i Droees- iiake
LiCi tttit - wTii otte
:i the a- - ._;.es are —
. way. L.ia,e a great many -last \c_
.:.: tf cobtroi works tbeir ruin. Ib^
^y of this is slmos: seh'-evident. Ttc UiJ^er
liie Canes, in tiieir excessive am'oirl:-". are .allowed
to run. the lEcre lenuiils «ill be it <up-
port tbem. If they are aufficient. .so
" " not he Her
ceed. no:
single fact of
Season, maive^ . ; .
the wiid .ini usci-
Uiie and delicate c
- the
. een
ina the
In the
oLe case, by negltcf. mey ran from year to year
into a knotted and tangled> mass of mere vines
withcut frui:, or with a small amount of Terr in-
difereai fruit ; and in the other, by elo«e pmn-
xng, they are kept «i:hin reasoaab"- - and
the viiJ forces of the plant are the
' ■ :: cf tho*e delicious grape^. w:.;.a JKiatm
7 7 and contribute so kargelf to oor
\
fc.rr
jor.. to . - . .
not done, tne
by excessive :
^- 'jirativtriv ins^fi**.
e is such a coneentratioa c^ tbe
— in me production of fruit, the
^ire. near tbe close of the sea-
_: ^veral times. Iftbicis
7 injured, if not destroyed,
, -J the fruit iiv^If will be
Ail the defiective berries,
. ail tbe sra-ll grapes oa the eads of the clus-
ters which will never come In maturity, should
he carefully removed. SoaoetdDes. too. tbe qoan-
tity of fruit is so enormous, that a third fvirt, and
even iwo-tuirds of the entire crop should be eat
It re<)aires a pretty hard heart lo dcstrav
much tempting fruit, but tbe neces«iiT is bb-
,. • 'e. 3" : •- ~u<T S? done. Tbis is one fif liie
few ^ . . . i -eart is at all iwefaL :
Remedy fob. Ej^kache. — M. Duval says be has
found relief in serere earaebe, other means fail-
ing, from a mixture of equal parts of chloroform
and latidanum, a little being introduced oa a piece
of cott'Hi. Tbe first effect is a sensation of cold,
then numbness followed by a seareeh perc^itible
pain and refieshing sleep. — BriL Med. JowrnaL
Hail-stones sometin-.es f.m with a Tclocttj «f
113 feet iu a second, and rain at 43 feet ia a tee-
p
122
yZW ENGLA>T> F-AJtMER.
Ann.
ZZSTKACTS AJTD BEPUZES.
r~:rr-mg Peed for Horse*.
I aotke IB the Sem Emglmmi Farmer wetiklf, OfTtb.
6, LKi. a eoBUumcaxion finm "J. F. L," ^ Lee. N.
H, with the above headiB^. Theqaeataiaapinvhkli
he wmtE infiniatiaD is this:
Is it of wAraatage to a horse to eat his feed, aad is |
it a nave eeonanieal v^ fer his owner to saj^iort:
luB than hy fiT<liiig his luy and ^nht sepantel^?
I will amply gfre "J. F. L." aqr experieaee fior the
last ten or iwelre yeais : Ahoat twetre or fiMiteea
years ago, (I am not now able to state the exact tiBe,)
I was Tet7 short of Ju^, and as oOtziif feed was high-
Ij reooameaded as b&ie a great sanng' In fbddo', I
made np mj mind ID gjre it a ISrir traL Aeeordingly
I pardused one of Bnegjes. Noane & Maaon's B^ I
Cboos, and omunenced operations. I cot thiee-qnar- 1
ters of an the fodder I fed out that winter, and fed it |
lDliot8eE,oxai,eowsaBd7oaBs^canle. My stock cime!
oot in the spiia* all in good heut, and by adding some I
grain I had ha^^ mnngh to eany my ^odt thra^i |
file winter, wiilumt bnying hay. I was mnrfifd that, \
had I bought fifty doDars* wonh of hay, and fed it all \
withoat cnttiog ^tfaat my stock woold not hare ccme ,
ontinthe^'r?s?Tni^9nod<<«Mih!Ot!astheydid; and
I LiTejri ' '^^sferniystoekl
evrr_-:i r. i I think with,
■^ i ' i ; _ :ii of li&r cat, '
Silnn^ Hay.
.U.O^A A^W>k.
were abont the ^le of a pea, as^ and in dn^en.
These were wooe than the greeai^B. Xa some the
Iritter taale perraded the eaiire 9ide,althangh the
spots were only in a cinster OB oae cad. Somewoe
£o bad we eoold not Bse them. The applet were not
loCtea at all ; it had the appearance m a diy, hard
aeah. 1 hare not seen any sunBailj aJfected flis ytar,
hot ihnaght I woald gire die ptfrfding feeti, as they
mayieeall aimite cases to tlK leodlectiaa of other
indiridnals. Li?ct A. Anaw,
HMHniwrt T.awn TO <IBA55.
TTie Tast impovtance <rf the hny er : : f is-
habitants (rf* the United Statea calls : ri-
cal expezioiee of ereiy intelligent : . <Ve
are apt to look at beta in an moUtrii poiut <^
view. Wboi we fake into conaderatian the &3-
nre of CMie sn^e {nece of land that haa been h
down to grasa, we regard it as unfortunate ; 1: -
if thoee &ilares woe all pot into one great tc>i&.
the aggregate loss to the whole conntrr would
probably astonish ns. The h^ crop of the Sect
States in 1850 was 12,690,982 tmis, worth caBad-
?nbty mcHe in dollars and coin than all the eot-
:oii, tobacco, rice, hay, hemp aad eane-«agar, as-
hoJIt pn>dace<^ in fifteen siave States ; and thL
at tll.20 per trai,* amoontii^ to $142,138,998
r -on is no loDgEr king. And, ^ain, 'nhe graai
:f the New Engbnd States, Sat the yeai
v£3 neaziy one hondred mJllinnB of do!
two extremes whidi are opm :
ziediom track is generalhr the saf-
-Tr>T»9 ime; audi is the £Kt w^-
- i to the questioQ at issue.
^ of land is henffiml oar _
: ^-t:^§^ seed and the growu
:r noqoeation bet what
~ best to sow aomf
at least, no oim
-*'":rT, or {»DTee
°.o sow gra£i'
- ■- xhe af-
iizd ol
Allies wiu^ Manures.
Is it good eeontany to mix ashes with hen mansre
or aay other manure ftat contains ammonia? Iharej
■sed hen mannie mixed with sand, or scrapings round I
€he buildings, with good resolta; aiao£uperidiospliate.i
One otmj n^ghbors used supeipho^ihaie and the ef- !
feet was obserrable tin the corn was full grown, at Aei
£stanee irf' a mile, "fie told me thai on either side oT
those rows left wili&Mttte siqiapha^iate, the earn
was twice as heavy. w. b. w.
HmuxKB. — ^Wood adies dioald not be mixed with
aaiy uMnures. A better wty is to use the a^ies by ,
Msell^ or oanpost it wish muck.
There is so little alkali in eoa/ tain, tju: :'-t~ ~^c
aa exoeBeatdlnder Ibr tte dro^iugs cf i.ei^ i
IHacaac in Apples.
With regard to the ^ONsease ir
m the Farmer of Feb 20, 1 woe
fime the scarcity of apples cooun .
yWfing ereiT other year— and
two years without mncfa yidd — : ^
and vay poor. I think it was j.
Ooee spots mentaooed t>y Mr. M : :
accompanied t>y a veiy toter ta?:
apple under the fpocs. At th:.
brought firom Xew York State h;
Been nme pleuUAil there ; acd &n
WW some beautiful feueu opgs.
better i^les; s-:=:e wtre :-; 7 _i . ._ _.
fiiiualiTe, '^.
gram witii ^
rienee teaci
at this oci
think d>at ^
it par to s :
tion the air:
Arotat:
turns orer -
, to COra £7.
wfaidi he c . .
' cientlj pnl^
' seaaon, sc :
grass; or e
soils, he car
I than to Bov^
ffrass s^ed :
- U
rd iDfbi
18&4.
NTW ES'GL-^XT TARMER.
123
vooM be hxrd to denionstrate.
Th« writer of this article hss had s-ome erper!-
tsxe for the list thirrr years en tbe Fubject in
qi:e3*ion. and hi* arrived at ere C'rr.clusior. deai-
oastrated by feet*, which actually ^rcur : :: is this :
let trere be »r.y jiven anjctint cflicd prep^ired in
tbe srrLng of tbe rear, sav f:r :at». s-cw one-half
to oats and tbe other half tc rye, cr ar.y part to
Cits and tb-e ether to rve. cnlv let them b-e r'snt
s.ie by side ; the land s~a^ be prepirtd jnst alise.
eiirtly. and see-*d alike, exic'ly. to grass, and
there will be at le-a»t one-half m;re grass in the
laid sown to r^e than en tne lam sewn t? oats.
Tse lani where tbe rye is ^:11 h^ ::mrletelT cov-
e.'ed lite a mat: and where the rats are. extreiceiy
snare: we never knew itt: fail, ani have often
tried it. navlng had c•^ra5::n t: s;w jtrrln^ rye in
that way. to save the unne-oes-sary expense of
breaking up land elstwhere. Xow this proves.
1, that grxss will grow- veil wbea it is sba>ieti
•one ; 2, tfast it out be shaded too mach, (anless
there is msme oCfaer var to aerount for the non-
appearance of the grass aiDoi^ the oats other than
the great amount xii loam, wbich ererybodT says
is the eame.) Bat it does not prore, in the third
place, bat vliat the grass voald have grown jast
as veil as if it had not been shaded any. But
tbe qoestian cannot, ve think, be &iilj answered
vitboat being tiMrooghlj experimented upon. It
is poaaiUe that grass might be made to grow bet- !
tfr sown bj itaelf entzrelr, and ret taking into '
emsidention the extra cost, it might not pay, and
voold be better to sow grain with it. So that, as
ve said before, we shall take the. medium cocrse
and eontinae to aow grass aeed with some kind of
grain, antil some farther derelopments appear.
And hoping that some able pen may disease this
■uMect more at length, I dose. J. F.
OBbndge, Jmm. 19, 1864.
Qaa» tl aa ilmtM,'
Fir tie Hew MmgUmd Farmer. I
WHAT EI£E SHOniiD HE TAUQHT IS !
THE SCHOOIjS*
Erery farmer must, cf necesrlty, be more or '
leas of a medianie. He has to raise heavy weights ;
he Aodid. know what a lever is, and bow power is
gained brit. He has to weigh, and does not w&nt
to cheat or be cheated. He ought to know bow
seales and steelyaids are coostructed, and on what
principle. He has to make roads, and to drive
Deary loads op hill and down. He ought to know
the princ^iles of the inclined plane. Sixty years
^o there was a mania for turnpikes. S'tAight
roads were made from Boston to Xewbaryport, —
from Boston to Worcester, — from Boston to Con-
coni, — and varioos roads connecting other places.
These roads, often made at great expense, went, not
nnfreqaentij, iSrectly over considerable hills, when '
a neariy lend road might have been made, at far '
ksa ezpenae,hj a trifling departure from a straight ^
line. There are sereral remark able in*t»ni^^ of
this mistake, to be seen on the tLree turnpikes I
have named, witUn ten miks of Boston. Even
St tbe present day, with vastly increased inter-
eou7«e, tbe billy parts cf these roads are very Ht- j
tie used. No loaded wagoo, and few heavfly la- ]
den veindes of any kind, go over these hills, ex-
cept in cues of afaaohite oecesnty.
If the rlmple fact bad been known, that, to con-
vey a l;ad to the top cf a hill, tbe wh<'le weight
•mu't Se attually lifted perpendi; ^lar.y. to aheight
equal t: the perpvendicu.ar hciirnt cf tr.e h;J. and
tca^e t; surtneunt. tn ac-ittcn, .i^. tne ir.cqu&uces
of the r;ad. the greater part c: all tL:> useless
expense wculi have been saved. N"ow. no more
;n-truf::n is given apon tiie prinoples nf tbe
inclined plane, in the common schools, — the only
schx>l5 to which the boys of the greater part of
the State have access, — than was given sixty years
ago.
Every farmer has frequent occasion to use ropes,
and, not seldom, tackles ; he ought, therefore, to
be acquainted with tbe prindples of the rope ma-
chine, the toggle joint and the pulley ; and they
curbt to be taught in the common schools.
Every farmer ought to understand enough oi
machinery to see into the working of a grist rrnll,
a saw mill, a wind milL or of any of the mowing
machines, threshing machines, or other machines
used in agriculture. He will have occasion to use
one or more of these mills and machines, and he
may wisn to construct or superintend the construc-
tion of any one of them. He ought, therefore,
to study the elements of machinery, elements per-
fiectly simple when taken individaally, and yet
which may become very complex and difBcuh to
comprehend, when seen combined.
.\lmost every farmer has occasion to d% ditch-
es, to build dikes, and to dig wells, and employ,
and often to repair, pumps. He ought, therefore,
to understand tbe principles of the pressure of
water, so as to be able to build wells and dikes ef-
fectually to resist that pressure. He ought, then,
to study what are called hydrostatics and hydrau-
lics. When he understands them, — and they are
more easy to understand than most thing? in his-
tory, arithmetic and grammar, and many things
in geography, — ^when he understands them, he
will be sHe to direct, with very little aid, Ae
building of hydraulic presses and pipes, and other
water conveyances of every kind.
Tbe farmer ought to understand on what prin-
ciples it is that the pressure of air causes water
to rise in the pipe of his pump, and thus rea-
dei s a common pump possible, and bow the com-
mon Hiting pump and the common forcing pump
act. That is, he ought to sludy the elementary
principles of pneumatics. These are hard Greek
names ; but the things themselves and the prin-
ciples on which they operate are as intelligible,
with proper bo<^ and tolerable instruction, as
anything in the plainest English. In addition to
these thills, he ought to know sonwthing of the
action and laws of beat. He ought to know how
much heat wOl convert snow or ice into wattt ;
how much additional heat will raise the water to
the boiling point, and how much will convert it
aC into steam ; and bow much heat will be re-
quired to give to this steam, if confined in a dose
vessel, any certain amount of explosive force.
With this knowledge, and the knowledge ot
which I have already spoken, any Earmer's boy
may easily understand the structure of the steam
engine, and its mode of acting, and the power
with which it act*. .\nd so much knowledge ev-
ery fanner ought to possess.
And the time which might be saved from that
now devoted to arithmetic, spelling, reading and
English granunar, without injury to either of those
124
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
hf!. • ■
Btudies, would be ample to give that knowledge
in every grammar school or district school in the
State. G. B. E.^
For the Neie England farmer.
THE LAW AND MANJSTEBS OF THE KOAD.
All of us have ideas more or less correct, in re-
gard to the law which regulates our use of tbe
highways ; and, at any rale, good sense and good
nature are usually very safe guides. A few words
on the subject, however, may not be amiss.
It is commonly said that every one has a right
to half the road. This is practically true, and
comes about in this wise : You ,and I meet upon
the road — our legal rigiits are exactly equal, and
both have a right lo go. our several ways without
obstruction, so, popularly, we say I own half and
you half. The law steps in lo facilitate matters,
and directs each lo turn towards his right hund.
The road should be "'worked" wide enough for
two teams abreast, then each man has a clear title
to a passage on his right hand side of llie way
and no one has a right to obstruct another while
on his own proper track. This is true whatever
the load or the team ; for if one can drive such a
team that another can pass hunbut wiihtJifficulty
or not at all, then their rights are no longer equal.
This point becomes very important in winter, tor
it is no juke to turn your horse and all into the
deep snow while your neighbor goes smoothly
along in the beaten path. No one has a right so
to load his team as not to be able to give up half
the track to whoever demands it.
A footman may choose the part whi( h pleases
him on any portion of his right hand half the
■way and the team must yield it to him. This is
clearly so in winter, and no man is obliged to step
into the snow for one or two horses. This is the
law and the Court awards it.
Now for the manners of the road ; which, in
some instances, vary from the law thereof.
The first requirement of road manners is good
nature and an accommodating spirit. Do to oth-
ers as you would have them do to you. Always
be willing to yield more than half the space, then
you will be pretty sure to be equally well treated.
They who exact inches will have inches exacted of
them. If your neighbor has a heavy load, consult
his convenience as far as possible ; you may some-
time be loaded. It has become a practical rule
of courtesy to turn oui for wood andlogs, and
for other heavy teams in winter ; for, they say,
•'we often cannot tui'n out, and never safely,
6o, if you want wood, accommodate us ;" which
■we are very willing to do. But remembe it
wasa favor, not your right, and you have a re-
ciprocal duty to perfom, one which, I am sorry to
observe, is not always borne in mind. When you
have unloaded and are returning empty, just rec-
ollect thatyou had the whole road in the morning,
and it is no more than fair that you should be
particularly obliging to those whom you meet now,
and give them their full share of the path.
One word in relation to teams going the same
way ; in which case many seem to think there is
neither law nor manners. When a team comes
up behind you, which desires to proceeil faster
than you do, that team has a right to reasonable
space and opportunity to pass in — in fact to half
the road for that purpose — and your obstructing
him in his lawful desire is both bad manners and
bad law. If your lo*ad is heavy, do the best you
can. In most cases the very least that can be
asked is that you should stop. This is particular-
ly so in winter, when it is a heavy tax on any
team lo force it into a trot in deep snow — made
necessary by your continuing at a walk. My re-
mark above in relation to the emptied wood sled
appHes heie, and, if one wishes to pass you, re-
member that while loaded you had the whole
road.
One remark more, to and for the ladies. First,
to them. If out walking keep in the path — nev-
er step into the >Know or mud for any ordinary
team. If you meet the team, step into your right-
hand track or part of the road and all goes oa
easily. If the team comes up behind, step into
your left-hand track ; then, as sleighs are built,
the horse goes in the other track, as before.
Whereas, if you contiaue ni your right-hand track
the horse of 4he team must travel wholly in ihe
deep snow in order to pa.ss you, and the driver
will be tempted to scold his wife as proxy for the
female sex generally.
I have this to say for the ladies — always turn
out for them. They are entitled lo the right-hand
half, and will you run over them because, in their
confusion at meeting one of the -"lords of crea-
tion," they happen to take then* half out of the
wrong side ?
I close this somewhat lengthy dissertation with
an appropriate aphorism : Wheel grease is a great
lubricator, but good manners are a vastly greater
one. Via.
For llie New England Farmer,
MEKTKrO, AND OTHER SHEEP.
Messrs. Editors:— In reading an article in
my last Farmer, from the pen of C. S. Weld, on
"Theory and Experiment," I felt that I could not
refrain from exposing his injustice. I do not an-
ticipate, however, that his attack upon Mr. Camp-
bell, Mr. Greeley, or yourself, Mr. Editor, will
prove very damaging to either of you. But it is
none the less deserving of rebuke. And I was
glad, on reading your remarks upon the article, to
see that you had nobly defended Mr. Campbell
from the unjust epithet of "Vermont speculator."
If Mr. C. needs any other defenders of his repu-
tation, they are at hand, and I trust will not fail to
command the respect of even Mr. Weld.
Hon. Henry S. Randall, in his late excellent
work onsheep— "The Practical Shepherd"' — speaks
thus in regard to Mr. Campbell at the Interna-
tional Exhibition at Hamburg :
"I cannot here withhold a pleasing fact which
strikingly evidences the fairness and the modesty
of the victorious exhibitor at Hamburg. Colonel
Needham informs me that Mr. Campbell, on all
occasions, signified to the breeders of Germany
and France, and requested him (Col. Needham)
to signify that he was not the founder or leading
breeder of the improved family of American Me-
rinos,— which his sheep chiefly represented — but
that this honor belonged to Mr. Hammond."
Thus endorsed by Henry S. Randall, LL.D.,
Corresponding Secretary of the Vermont State
Agricultural Society, and by the editors of the N.
E. Farme); Mr. Campbell will hardly need to re-
ply to Mr. Weld's ungenerous attack.
But enough in defence of Mr. Campbell ! The
real blow was not so much aimed at Mr. Camp-
i:864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
125
ibell as at those three "dwarfish, insignificant,
dirty, scrubby merino lambs." And I think it
was also intended to prove an extinguisher to the
whole race of merinos. But I am happy to say
phat some of them "still Hve ;" and if Mr. Weld
jivants to see evidence that they deserve to- live, he
lnust accept this challen<?e • He is at liberty to se-
lect the best and mot-t profitable flock of any of
|,he English i)reeds within the limits of the United
[State, and show on undoubted authority the real
jiet profit per head of keeping- the same for a year;
jind if I am not able, on equally reliable teslimo-
liy, to prove that merino flocks, equally large,
lave given iheir owners iicice as greit profit per
lead as baid mutton sheep, I will write no more
n their defence. I do not wi^h to be understood,
n anything I have said, to a])prove the cross of
he merino with the Leicester and South. Down.
'. interpret the article as a fling at the merinos,
md hence my challtnge. And until fiiuilly beat-
n, I claim for the merino a po.-<ition second to no
»ther breed of sheep, and p^ifectly adapted to
lach an^ every county of Maine.
A. B. Palmer,
OrfordmlU, N. E., Feb. 22, 1SG4.
A New Remedy for the Borer. — In conver-
ation with one of our suliscribers the other day,
le casually stated that his apple trees were not
roubk'd by that jjest, the borer. Upon inquiry
ee learned that he applied the earth and sub-
tance taken from where his sink-spout emptied,
o the trunk, or rather around the collars of his
ipple trees each autumn, and then dug it away or
emoved it the next summer. lie considered this
in efi'ectu 1 remedy, as the borer did not trouble
|hem, and further, it was a g.^od dressing for the
oil around the tree, after being dug away. Of
■ourse the soil where the spout emptied would
lave to be renewed yearly, by supplying a cart-
oad of earth, sods, &c., to absorb and hold the
efuse liquid. If not used in this manner, the
lops from the sink sliould always be added to the
ompost heap, or applied to tho garden crops dur-
ng the growing season, as they are too valuable
nd rich in fertilizing material, to be wasted.
Maine Farmer.
Pot the New England Farmer.
METEOKOLOGICAL KECOBD FOB
JANUARY, 1864.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of tlie Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature for January was 22° ;
average mid-day temperature, 28". The corres-
i panding figures for January, ]8G3, were 27° and
I '62°. Warmest day, tiie 2oth, averaging 39° ;
; coldest day, the 7th, averaging 4~ below zero.
Highest temperature 43° ; lowest do. 8° below
zero.
Average height of mercury in the barometer
29.22 inch'Ps; do. for January, 1863, 29.3J inch-
es. Highest daily average 29. 02 inches ; lowest
do. 28.72 inches. Range of mercury from 28.54
inches to 29.Gi> inches.
Rain or snow fell on seven days ; amount of
snow 14 inches ; amount of rain and m-'lted snow,
2.3>5 inches. Fifteen stormy days wiih 26.75
inches of snow and 3.66 inches of rain and melted
sno\^, ill January, 18G3. There were two entirely
clear days. On two days the sky was entirely
overcast.
The winds have been very light, and but little
snow, as will be seen ; only about half as much aa
same month lust vear. A. C.
Clarcmont, N. 11., Feb. 22, 1864.
How TO Grow Pe.vciies E\ery Year. —
Che following, by a correspondent of the Ohio
luliivator, is worthy a trial by all lovers of dcli-
ious fruit : Procure your trees grafted upon the
vild plum stock. The tree partakes of the na-
ure of the plum, being hardy, and will never
jvinter kill, and putting out late in the spring, will
lever be irijured by the frost. It is a certain pre-
fentive against the workings of the peach grub,
Ivhile the natural lifetime of the tree is beyond
hat of our own ; so you may depend upon peach-
;8 every year, and for a long period of time, with-
)ut the destructive and discouraging influences
ittending the growth of the common peach,
rhey can be obtained at from fifty to seventy-five
sents per tree, and you had better pay five times
the amount than not to obtain them, being cer-
tain of peaches every year. Try it, and our word
for it, you will be satisfied with the result.
Cultivate your own heart aright ; remembering
Lhat \\u..ib^e\cr a man hoxvtth, that shi^U he also
Green Cheese. — The one grand error in
American cheese-making, is the want of care in
not ripening the cheese before it is sent to market.
We all know ihat there is considerable d.ffercnce
between a green pear and a mellow one ; between
a Baldwin ap[)le in the fall and after it has been
kcj)t a few months to ripen. So there is much
(Hii'erence between curd and cheese. The curd is
I he grren apple, the cheese the ripened fruit. If
you were g:>iiig to send hay to market yon would
noi send the green grass fresh from the field, and
yet you often sell your cheese when it is as green
as grass.
In the Cheshire dairies of England, so celebrat-
ed f)r che se — none is ever sold until it is six
months old. The cheeses are kept in a moder-
ately warm room until thoroughly ripened and
cured, with that outside mold so indicative to a
practiced e\e of a rich, fine flavored, ripe cheese.
— Genesee Farmer.
Cure for Co.vsumption.— Dr. Hall, in the
February number of his Journal of IJcallh, says
the 'essential, the fundamental, the all controll-
ing agency in the arrest of any case of consump-
tive disease, aiid a return to reasonable health for
any considerable time, is an active, courageotis,
and hope/id out-door life, in all weathers and in
any latitude, with some rousing motive, other than
regaining the health, beckoning them on, to do
and to dare."
Paste may be made witli flour in the usual
way, but rather thicker, with a proportion of
brown sugar, and a small quantity of corrosive
sublimate. A drop or two of the essential oil of
lavender, peppermint, ani^le, or bergamct, is a
conijileie security against molding. Paste made
in II. ii mannt-r, if Kept in a cL;so tovercii pet, may
126
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
"II! ■
THE CULTURE OF SPRING WHEAT.
A New Hampshire farmer said to us the other
day that, for the first time for tM;enty years, he
had just purchased a barrel of flour ! That he
had always cultivated spring wheat, sometimes to
the amount of two hundred bushels in a season,
that his family had been abundantly supplied with
flour of their home production, and that it had
been as sweet and nice as any that the market af-
forded. At the table of this gentleman we cer-
tainly have eaten bread as good as ever came
from wheat.
We have often urged the importance to the
farmer of raising, as far as possible, all that his
family requires upon the farm itself. Not,to re-
ject a crop, entirely, because only a little of it is
needed in the family, or because his soil is not
perfectly adapted to its culture, but to select the
most favorable soil he has, and produce what he
requires of any particular thing, rather than de-
pend upon one large main crop. In the latter case,
he runs the risk of failure in the large crop, and
if he secures it he must go through all the forms
of marketing or exchange, for the other smaller
article which it needs.
As an illustration :— Every farmer wants two
bushels of beans, annually, to supply the family
table. Now which of two things shall he do ?
Plant no beans, and extend his corn or hay crop,
go though all the forms of selling the corn in
market, and then purchase beans, such as he can
get, and pay the profit, beyond their cost, which
every seller must have, or raise them himself?
There are not many farmers who would entertain
the first proposition for a moment.
As a general rule, it is the interest of the farm-
er to produce all the perishable articles of the
farm, which-are needed by the family, within him.
self. His corn, wheat, rye, beans, oats, potatoes,
hay, turnips, cabbages, salads, tomatoes, peas, cu-
cumbers, apples, cranberries, eggs, &c., &c. With
aKttlecarein the selection and judicious man-
agement of soils, and proper attention to each
crop, he may feel pretty sure of securing them all
every season. But if he depends upon the sale of
any one large crop to get the means of purchasing
these lesser, but equally indispensable articles,
and that one crop is cut off by drought, frost, in-
sects, or any other calamity, he will certainly find
himself in a poor way to furnish his table in a
t generous and inviting manner.
Spring wheat requires a tolerably rich soil. Not
one mostly made up of vegetable matter and
filled with rich manures,— as such a soil would
excite the plant to a great growth of stem and
leaf, with but little seed. But a sandy loam, deep,
finely pulverized, and abounding in silex and oth-
er minerals. Tlie crop usually follows Indian
corn in the New England States, without manure
at the time of sowing, and sutb land, if the corn ><1
crop was well manured and tended, will usually '^
carry out the wheat. In some cases, however, a
pasture or clover sward is selected. The wheat
plant loves such a new soil, where the mineral
substances have not been exhausted. An old pas-
ture, not too rocky to prevent plowing it three or
four inches deep, turns up light, the sward is ten-
der, its vegetable portions decay just about fast
enough to feed the growing plants, and they us-
ually produce a fair crop without much manure
beyond a coat of lime or plaster. In such a loose
soil the seeds "tiller" freely, frequently throwing
out ten to thirty new stems, and growing vigor-
ously through the season.
The grains of spring wheat are usually some-
what smaller than those of winter wheat, and the
straw is less when cultivated under the same cir-
cumstances. The advantage which it possesses is
that of ripening early. It succeeds best in this
region when sowed just as early as the soil is suf-
ficiently dry to be crumbly when it is plowed. If
the season is favorable it will ripen in about nine-
ty days. In sowing, the seed should be distribut-
ed and covered evenly, which will cause the ripen-
ing of the whole crop at the same time. In re-
gard to this point, much will depend upon the
manner in which the ground is prepared. It
should be harrowed quite evenly after being
plowed, and again after the seed is sowed.
Three or four pecks per acre are required for
seeding, varying a little according to the nature
of the soil— rich land requiring less than a poor
soil. It is well to soak the seed in a strong brine
twenty-four hours, stirring it rapidly occasional-
ly, so as to bring oats and other lighter seeds to
the surface, so that they may be skimmed ofi".
When a crop is well grown, much care should
be exercised in harvesting it. A few days too
early, or a few days too late, will make an essen-
tial difference in the quantity obtained and the
qiialittj of the bra'i, flour and gluten. The best
indications of the proper time, are the pasty con-
dition of the seed— that is, when it is neither
milky nor hard, but at the moment when it has
passed the milky slate. If cut at this time, the
seed draws the juices from the stem, or in some
manner becomes plump, hard and perfect, and
yields its richest products.
Another indication of the true time of cutting
is given by the changed color of the straw immed-
iately below the head. When this changes from
green to yellow, which it does before the body of
the straw changes, the circulation of the plant is
arrested, and the head can receive no more nour-
ishment from the roots. In this condition it prob-
ablv can derive nothing from the air, and must,
therefore, contain within itself all that is necessa-
rv for its perfection.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
127
This is the important time to cut it, and this
point, in all our grain crops, deserves more con-
sideration than it has usually received. A proper
observance of this particular would considerably
increase the quantity of our grain crops, and
greatly improve their quality.
One other thing we may observe before we
close. The last process of Nature's work in ma-
turing grain is supposed to be the perfecting of
the seed-coat, or that part which makes the bran,
when the grain is ground. This probably takes
place, to a great extent, after the circulation of
the plant is arrested by the drying of the straw
at the neck. For purposes of fuod, the less
bran the better, and this we secure by cutting as
soon as we see the changes already spoken of.
But if we want the wheat for seed, we are in-
clined to think it should stand until it is fully
ripe.
We have seen an experiment stated where a
crop was cut at three different periods, at intervals
of ten days. One third was cut twenty days be-
fore it was ripe, another portion ten days after-
wards, and the rest left until it was dead ripe.
The result was :
20 ddt/s, 10 days. Dead ripe.
Flour 74.7 79.1 72.2
Bran 17.5 13.2 16.
We hope to resume this subject of cutting just
previous to the next grain harvest.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
HOW TO KEEP CHILDREN" HEALTHY.
The mortality among the children in our cities,
as well as in the country, is sad to contemplate.
Is there any necessity for this ? Are all these chil-
dren sent into the world to be thus early cut
down ? Are not nine out of ten of these early
deaths the result of ignorance ? What parents
ever lost a child, except by accident, without
thinking : "If I had treated it differently, it would
not have died ?" The loss of our own "three first-
born has led us to think much upon this topic,
and three almost always healthy living ones are
evidences that our studies on the subject have not
been in vain. A few hints on the topic may not
be without use.
Elsewhere, we have given some hints on the
sleep of children. Next to securing plenty of
sound sleep, or rather before it, we place the prop-
er preparation of food. The kind of food they
eat is not half so much consequence as the man-
ner of iis preparation. Give a child a hard ap-
ple and let him swallow it in pieces from the size
of a large pea upward. The result will be, that
the lumps will be partly worn off by the coats of
the stomach, and partly dissolved by the gastric
juice ; but after a time, the remaining portion of
the lumps will be forced down into the intestines
and go through the whole length of fifteen to
twenty feet, producing at least griping and irrita-
tion all the way, if not diarrhoea or dysentery.
But first xcrape or mash the apple to a fine pulp,
and it may then be eateri with Impunity, and with
benefit, if ripe or nearly so.
Feed a child on boiled potatoes cut up, or on
potatoes coarsely mashed and fried in fat, and you
will be pretty sure to find more or less of lumps
of potatoes remaining undigested. How can it be
otherwise thin that these lumps must have pro-
duced irritation in the intestines ? But mash
these same jxjfatoes finely before feeding them,
and then the fine material will be digested and
afford nutriment instead of giving uneasiness and
pain "under the apron."
The same holds true . of most meats. Cut up
fine — as fine as shot almost — they will be digest-
ed, and produce nourishment ; while if fed in
coarse i)ieces, they will lie in the stomach, like a
meat poultice on the outside, tfie cause of uneasi-
ness if not of partial inflamalion. Feed raisins
and nuts to children, and unle.ss very strong and
vigorous, the chances are that they will induce
immediate sickness or a weakened system, liable
to be afi'ected by the first change of heat and
cold.
Chop these same raisins or nuts finely, reduc-
ing them almost to powder, and they may be eat-
en in moderate quantity with impunity. These
remarks apply to all kinds of 'bod, and, in a
measure, to grown people as well as to children.
Many persons are over nice or anxious as to
what their children eat, and oft"n reduce them to
skeletons, or unfit them for a vigorous resistance
of colds and malaria diseases, by feeding them on
toast or rice, weak gruel, &c. Give them rather
a fair supply of hearty food Jiiiely reduced that it
will be quickly digested in the stomach, and they '
will grow vigorous and be able to withstand the
changes of climate, and the exposures to which
they are ever liable. Mothers, consider these
things, and see if they are not true and in accord-
ance with reason. — American Agricidluriat.
PiCTUREf?. — A room with pictures in it and a
room without pictures, differ about as much as a
room with windows and a room without windows.
Nothing is more melancholy, particularly to a
person who has to pass much time in his room,
than bleak walls with nothing on them, for pic-
tures are loopholes of escape to the soul, leading
to other scenes and other spheres. It is such an
inexpressible relief to a person engaged in writ-
ing, or even reading, on looking up, not to have
his line of vision cropped off by an odious white
wall, but find his soul escaping, as it were, through
the frame of an exquisite picture, to other beau-
tiful and perhaps heavenly scenes, whei'e the fan-
cy for a moment may revel, refreshed and delight-
ed. Thus pictures are consolers of loneliness ;
they are a relief to the imprisoned thought ; they
are books, they are histories and sermons, which
we can read without the trouble of turning the
laaves. — Dotcning.
Geranium Leaves. — It is not generally known
that the leaves of geraniums are an excellent ap-
plication for cuts, where the skin is rubbed off,
and other wounds of that^ kind. One or two
leaves must be bruised, agd applied on linen to
the part, and the wound will become cicatrised in
a very short time. — Miss Fry.
Look up the flower seeds for early planting.
rer
128
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
April
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoughts Snapested by April Page 97
Horse Tr:iinine ^'^
Asiatic Kowls— Foot Rot in ''heep— Value of Manure fl9
White Crooknt'ck Squa?!!— Asvaragrus R J<is 100
Product of a Dairy— Kxperimfnt< with Manures 100
Diseas'' in Apt>te<i— Theory and Experiment 101
HiRh prices of Wool 103
Extracts and Ileplies 103, 111, 122
Early Turnip'! 104
Ciilturo of Onions 105
Roastid I.fimb and Green Peas 1('6
Sha'l we Pvodnce our own Sweetening? lOfi
Pis-ase-- of Farm Stock • 107
Butter-Makini not a Mystery 1C9
More Ac'ursUe F;umini; Needed '10
Sprins Knees in the Horse I'l
Our Houses and Grounds about them 112
Soil for Flower* — Pneumonia US
Ketrospective Notes 114:
Choppinsr Feed for TTor^es— Wr.sh fir Fruit Trees 115
Grub in the Head of Sheep— The Muskrat 116
Bark Louse Para-ite— Oepth of Coal Beds 117
Singular -\ceid''nt to florse — To Cure Sheep of Jumping. .. .IIS
Action of Roots of Plants — Hon- to jret cood CeUry 119
Fl<>wers for Parlor and Garden — Culture of Lettuce 110
Grasses • • • • • • .120
Seedinc Land to Gra=s. 122
What else should be Taught in Schools? 123
Law and Manners of the Knad — Merino and other Sheep 124
MeteoroloL'ical Record for January — Grefn Cheese 125
New Remtdv for Borer — To Grow Peaches every Year ViS
Culture of Rpriui! Wheat 1 26
l,adies' Department 127
Keview of Cattle Markets 128
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter"?" 97
Winter Crooekneck Squash •• .100
Onions 10 >
V-iUa.:ie Flomestead, Unimproved 112
Village Homestead, Improved 113
CATTLE MARKETS FOR MARCH.
The following is a summary of the reports for the five weeks
ending March 16, 1864:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
CaWe. Sheep. Slates. Fat Hogs. Veals.
Feb. 17 1002 4722 2) — ' —
" 24 1399 3209 25 — 50
Mar. 2 1902 4703 12 — SO
9...
16...
.1047
.1785
5ltS4
5987
Total 7,133 24.605
102
50
50
75
100
275
The following table exhibits the number ol cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for tlie correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS
CatVe.
Maine 608
New Hampshire. 703
Vermont 1703
Massachusetts 896
Rhode Island 14
Northern New York 171
Western States 2978
Canada 62
Total, last five weeks 7,135
Total,sinceJ.an. 1,(11 weeks, )16,510
PRICES.
Fab. 17. Feb. 24.
Beef,l,2, 3qual...74310 8 QIO^
" ex. and prem.lO aiO| 10.^311
Sheep i lambs,-^ Ib.ej.gS ejgS
«' " •xtra.8Ja9J 8 iggj
Shotes, retail 7 (§9 7 ig9
Beef hides, "T lb ...94 alO 9^*10
PeU8,she€p&lamb8.$3i54 $3.^24
TEAR.
LAST
TEAR.
Sheep.
Cattle.
Slieep.
636
88
4004
5.5
2'.11
7183
1652
3229
7235
693
6020
135
122
247
6043
401.2
2304
—
11
—
24,f:05
7,677
13,199
50,622
56,704
30,816
Mnr. 2.
jM(r.9
Mar IS.
7jaioj
8 c«10H
8 glOJ
lOJall
11 4jlli
11 @lli
6338
6iS8
6i§8
%\mi
S\n9l
8ia9
7 ®9
7 @9
7 (g9
9JS10
9J@10
9iS10
$3ig4
$3iS4
3^34
Remarks. — One of the most noticeable characteristics of the
market during the past five weeks is the prices which beef cattle
have commanded. T le prediction uttered by some of the dro-
vers last Fall, that before the Spring opened the Bricrhtnn butch-
ers would pay 12c ^ lb for beef cattle, has been fully verified.
Not only single pairs but small choice lots hive b.>en sold at
those Azures ; and the quotations of the retail market are 8 @28
cents #■ tt>. And yet at these prices all the cattle that are offered
for sale find a ready market For the correspondins five weeks
last year, our quotations were from b\ to S^e, and for the year
before from .'i J g 7c ; and yet the amount of beef consumed !■
abont'the same as last year.
The prices for sheep have declined slowly during this period,
and are now but little if any higher than one year ago. It will
be noticed that there were only about three-fifihs as many in
number at market last year as this year, thus far. In conse-
quence of grain being so dear, sheep as well as cattle are sent
to market in poor condition.
Working oxen are from $100 to $200 #■ pair, and farmers are
afraid to buy.
Sales of Cattle and Sheep.
The following is from our report of sales, March 16:
Lemuel Stearns marketed one cow this week, fatted by J. M .
Smith, of Sunderland, Mass., of Durham blood, which was as
large and fat as a premium ox. The rootsof the tail, instead
of forming a ridge, lay in a depression, so tliickly was the flesh
laid ' n each side of the back bone. The proof of the pudding
is said to be in the eating, and the proof of eatlie, after all your
pufEng, is in the selling. By this test Mr. Smith's cow returns
her compliments to l:er feedpr in the form of fifieen ten dollar
bills. If one hundred and fifty dollars don't prove her a good
cow, then no dictionary words of ours can do it. Mr. Stearns
said she would dress over 1200 lbs.
W. I. Sabine sold one pair of o.xen to J. Dana, laid at 2300 fts., J
for $250 ; and another pair for $150 ; 4 other oxen, at 9>^c ^
lb., 34 per cent. sk.
E. Robbins sold 4 large oxen to S S. Learnard. One pair in ,
particular, fed by B. W. Gleason, of Rockbottom, weighed at
home, about three weeks since, 5400 lbs. the largest one weigh-
ing 2900 fts. They were not at all overfatted, but in a good
healthy state, and were in every respect a noble pair of bul-
locks. The othf-r jiair weighing 4480 ttjs. at home, we under-
stood were also fed Ity Sir. Gleason, were grand good oxen.
C. *V. Bailey sold one of those pairs of oxen which bring the
big prices which we report, and, the drovers s-ay, lead farmers
to think their oxen, of much inferii r quality ought to bring the
same high fisiures. i hese oxen were fatted by Henry Nutt, of
Ea'^t Montpelier, were laid to dress 2500 lbs., and brought $300.
.\raong a lot of 14 good oxen, sold at 10 'Jc, >s sk, Mr. Bailey
pointed out a pair, the best of the lot, laid to drtss 2100 lbs.,
which were fd by Mr. Alger, of Stowe. Vt., and which, if sold
alone, we thought were good enough for a little mere money.
Mr. Bailey also sold at Briuhton this afternoon one pair of oxen
to H. ZoUer, laid at LiOO fts., for $136 ; and was dwelling on
five or six young cattle, the last of his ri2, at 9c, 3S sk.
The best'River cattle at Brighton, and Mr. Smith and Mr.Day
had some rich ones, 11 'ic.
Geo. W. Morrison sold 4 o.xen, laid at 3600 lbs., for ••^350, one
pair, laid at 1^50 fts., for $187 ; ore pair lail at 1^00 lbs., tor
$188 : one pair, 1700 lbs., for $170 ; 2 steers, 900 lbs., for $72;
and one cow for 10c to kill and weigh.
A. .V. Monroe sold 29 Western cattle, 1350 fts., each, live
weitlit, at lO'^c, 34 sk ; 29 others 1440 lbs., each, at lie, 30 sk ;
59, average live weight 1123 tbs., at lOkc, 31) sk ; f.l averaging
1200 tbs. at 9'jC, )a sk ; 14 weighing 1448 lbs., each, at lie, 30
sk ; 5 of 1050 tbs., each, at 9c, 3"> sk ; 6 average live weight
1300 lbs., at lOlj'c, 30 sk ; and 2 weighing 1170 lbs. at lO.^c,
3.') shrink.
J. E. Wight sold a good bunch of 75 sheep, 100 lbs. each, at
8",c ; E. Wiggin sold 59 sVeep, weighing 39S0 fcs. together, at
73^c 4^ tb ; yf\ H. Bardwell sold 90 light sheep, at6?^c, 23 se-
lected cossets — the picit of an extra lot — averaging 150 lbs, at
9i<c ^ ft), and 48 weighing 5600 lbs, almost 117 ib^. each, for
8Ji^c ^ lb,- exi>eeted 9c, sure ; D. R. Wait fold a fim k of 95 well
fLd sheep, 105 ttis. each, at S'ic, and 35 at 7 "Xc : J. Lyman sold
100 at 7c "(i' lb ; F. Bartlttt sold 94 sheep, 6490 lbs. at 6'„c ^ lb ;
G. W. Barker sold 58 sheep at 8c ; Fargo, Lord & Co., s dd 360
Michigan line wooled sheep to Bates, Hollis & Gibs, weighing
113 tbs. at home, about 93 lbs. from the cars at Cambridge, for
.^,%W lb.
STORE CATTLE.— We cannot perceive any great change in
the sale of working oxen and milch cows, — which are the only
kinds of cattle at market now a-days which are regarded as
stores. We noticed yesterday a few slim looking cows (rom Al-
bany, but did not learn where they went to. Most of the Maine
cattle are sold as beef— some among the premiums. Of which
Henry Day sold somt 3 or 4 pairs of 12cwt. bullocks, at 11 %c <^
lb, and one pair of workers, 6 ft., 3 year-olds, nice and trim, for
$132.
D. G. Stevens one large, rough looking yoke, 6 ft. 7 or 8 in.,
for $150, and a pair of 3 year-olds, 6_ft. 2 iu., for $125.
DEVOTED TO AGKICULTURE AND ITS KIISTDRED ARTS AWD SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, MAY, 1864.
NO. 5.
NOURSE, EATOX & TOLMAX, Proprietors.
Office 102 AVashi;«gton Street.
SIMON BROWX, EcrroK.
THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY MAY.
OR all time,
the charms of
this lovely
month have
been the
theme of the
poets. But
th^' sang of
them in sum-
mer climes
and milder
' -fy regions, far
^ from us, to-
wards the ris-
ing sun. Our
own poets
have sung its
charms with
equal tender-
ness and zeal,
but rather from the inspiration caught in reading
the highly-wrought descriptions of others, we take
it, than from any real existence of those charms, in
our month of May. This month certainly has its
days of calm and unsurpassed loveliness, — of
balmy airs, brilliant suns, singing birds and open-
ing flowers. The earth and the trees, and all an-
imated things, reveal themselves anew, and put
on a glory that is as fresh and beautiful as though
we were beholding it for the first time. The j
brooks sing as well as the birds. The meadow is
dotted with gay cowslips and the orchard is a '
mass of blossoms, making the farm fragrant with !
their delicate odors.
But May, in this climate, is fickle as well as j
April. We have mornings that are glorious,
when the buds expand and promise opening flow-
ers at once ; — when whole troops of the red-
winged blackbird visit the orchard and make the
air vocal with their lively chatterings for half an
hour, and then fly back to the lovy grounds to
feed ; — when the meadow-lark utters his piercing
note from the highest twig of the big maple, just
as he did last September. He seems to be the
self-same bird, come back to the fields where he
sung his morning song last year, and watched and
waited upon his mate while she reared theip ten-
der brood. But lo, in the afternoon, the scene is
changed ! East winds come in from the adjacent
sea filled with icicles, or something else as sharp,
and pierce one to the bones with their benumb-
ing power. Towards night this yields to the
northwester. The temperature decreases. Swell-
ing buds shrink back and are again enclosed in
their firm outer coverings. Flowers contract
their delicate petals and hide themselves from the
coming cold in their hardy sheaths, and the next
morning the grape blossoms and tender plants are
drooping in the sun's rays, pinched by frost !
Such is May. Boys and girls scour the woods
on the day of its advent for the Trailing Arbutus,
or some other bold and beautiful thing, — but ten
chances to one, they go in thick boots, mittens
and overcoats, and return with the mere exercise
of their tramp for their pains ! But they have
had their walk and social intercourse, and will be
all the better for it, and have found plenty of op-
portunity to imagine what they cotdd not really
find developed in the floral kingdom.
The keen and delightful sensations that ani-
mate most of us in this month spring, in a great
degree, from the contrast afforded by the extremes
of temperature, and the general atmospheric con-
dition. The grass has put forth its tender leaves
in every sunny place, and decorates the earth
with its bright green, so wide in contrast with the
snow, and so pleasant to the eye. Warm rains
fall and refresh it, so that it rapidly spreads and
covers deformities made by the frost. Xew voices
are heard, not only from the returning buds, but
from bleating sheep and lowing kine, — voices
showing a tender attachment for the vnunp- which
•
130
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
they have recently ushered into the world. Cocks
crow and hens cackle with unusual zeal, doves
coo, turkeys strut, and the guinea hen screama,
so that the whole farmery is checkered with new
sights and made vocal with new sounds.
If March were less turbulent, and April less
fickle, giving us a saccession of gentle airs and
sunny days, there would be a sameness in the
•weather of May that would be monotonous and
tiresome, and we should long for high winds,
snow squalls and pelting showers. We realize
our delightful sensations by contrast. A sea cap-
tain waited at the mouth of the river Neva for the
ice to break and pass out, so that he could go up
to the city of St. Petersburg, the capital of the
Russian empire, and discharge his ship. When
the time arrived he did go up, unloaded, took in
another cargo, went to a distant port, and in six
weeks was back again to St. Petersburg. The
change which nature had wrought in that brief
period he described as astonishing, as bordering
upon the marvellous ! And it was marvellous !
As he ascended the river, flowers greeted his eye
all along its banks, and their fragrance was waft-
ed by gentle airs far over the peaceful waters.
Instead of the white shroud that covered the earth
so short a time before, fields of clover blossoms,
stout timothy, or the silky red-top, now waved in
the wind, or was falling by the mower's scythe.
It was in the midst of the hay season, and the
scene presented was lovely and animated in the
extreme. The hardy sailors seemed inspired by
this wide and wonderful contrast, and became po-
etical in expressing their admiration of the charm-
ing landscape presented to them.
In England, however, the climate is more tem-
perate, and the changes must be more gradual ;
yet they have been sufficiently wide and sudden
to produce in the minds of its poets some of the
warmest commendations of the month of May.
We cannot apologize to the reader for giving
this brief corner of our page to the month of May.
It is not out of place, nor will it be without its
practical influences to him who loves the ways of
nature and studies her curious works.
Our application is this : If the farmer has made
careful preparation for his summer work, and has
trained his mind not to be too anxious for to-mor-
row, he will find great contentment and profit,
even in the changeable month of May !
Hay Crop of the U. S. — The average hay
crop of the United States is now about 20,000,-
000 tons, worth according to quality, from $5 to
$25 a ton, averaging perhaps $10, which would
give $200,000,000 as the annual value.
A Farmer's eyes should become familiar with
each nook and corner of the farm and farm build-
ings.
For the New England Farmer.
PAY YOUR DEBTS.
What a diff'erenl world this would be if all men
did their utmost to keep clear of debt! How
much less of bad feeling, anger, hatred, sin and
misery should we see in the world if men would
promptly pay what they owe each other I
There is a large class in the community, who,
I am happy to say, do strive to keep square with
the world, who are really honest in heart ; and
there is also another class who are not troubled at
all if their debts are not paid,— indeed, they seeni
to be troubled a great deal if they a*re obliged to
pay them. There is also another class who would
like to pay their debts, but who do not seem to
have sufficient energy and perseverance to shake
ofT the load with which they have aUowed them-
selves to be encumbered. As there is not much
hope for those who are already "bead and ears'*
in debt, nor for those mean, detestable people
who do not pay if they can help it, I will, in this
article, address those who are just beginning in
life, who are free from debt — farmers, mechanics
and others, who mean to live an honest, industri-
ous life.
1. Set this down as a rule to which you will
strictly adhere when it is possible so to do— pay
as you go. Many have begun in life with this
rule for their motto, but have sadly failed in the
observance of it. And why have they failed ?
Misfortune caused some to fail, but nine out of
every ten Tailed because they were somewhat de-
ficient in ster7i, unfiinching principle, and manly
independence, and because it sometimes requires
considerable self-denial and much exertion to fol-
low the above rule. But, my young friends, un-
less you should be afflicted with more sickness
and disaster than commonly falls to the lot of ev-
ery human being, you can pay as you go. Al-
though you may not be able to follow all the new
fashions, yet you can live comfortably, and can
move about in society with a mind and conscience
at ease; you can walk the streets, and enjoy the
beauties of nature and art, without fearing to
meet an old creditor whom you should have paid
long ago. It may sometimes be good policy for a
young farmer to buy a farm, partially, or even
wholly on credit, provided he can derive an in-
come from it sufficient to pay the interest on the
debt and some of the principal each year ; but if
he cannot do this, or if he can only pay the inter-
est, the sooner he sells the farm the better. It
would be far better for him to work out as a com-
mon day laborer than to make a slave of himself
all his life merely to pay somebody their interest
money.
2. Never buy anything unless you need it ;
and not even then unless you can pay for it at the
time, or know that you can very soon. One great
reason why so many are in debt is because they
buy things which they do not need ; and this is
often done for the sake of keeping up a fashiona-
ble appearance. The poor strive to keep pace
with the rich in outside show, and they soon find
themselves deeply in debt. How much more
worthy of respect is the man who wears the coars-
est cloth, drives a slow horse and rides in an old
wagon, which have all been paid for, and are his
own, than the man who dresses in the finest broad-
cloth, drives a splendid pair of horses, and rides
in an elegant carriage, but who owes almost every
i
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
131
man he meets on the street. Allow me here to
express my abhorrence of a certain law which is a
blot upon our statute hook, and a disgrace to the
community. It is called the "chancery law." No
matter how much a man owes, by paying a small
sum to certain high officials, he is forever freed
from his obligations to others ! There might be
a case, once in a great while, when such a law
would be an advantage to both the debtor and
creditor, but such cases are very rare. This law
is productive of good only when it enables an
honest man to commence business anew, and go
on until he has made money enough to pay all his
old creditors. On the other hand, what an op-
portunity it gives to dishonest men to run in debt
as they can, and then defraud, cheat, steal, by
by "going through chancery !" How many
thousand times has this been done ! And how
niifny have been d'-awn into this whirlpool of
temptation, and robbed their creditors, who, but
for this infamous law, would have remained hon-
est and kept out of debt!
3. Make the determination that if you have
anything to do with interest money it shall be
paid i)iio your pocket instead of being paid out of
it. Interest has often been paid on notes until
added together the sum amounted to more than
the principal. Now, this is a losing business
with the debtor, unless the borrowed money is
made to pay a greater per cent, than he pays for
the use of it ; but this the farmer or mechanic
cannot do. This continual payment of interest
pioney is what keeps so many hard working men
poor. They have not sufficient skill or energy to
pay any of the principal, and so the interest
money takes away all the profit of the farm or
shop. But in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
if tliey had stiirted right at the commencement of
business, they would not now be in such a misera-
ble condition.
4. If you want to acquire property, enjoy life,
and at the same time be the possessor of a clear
conscience, be honest, industrious, and pay your
debts. Perhaps you will not be able, at first,' to
live in as fine a style as some of your neighbors,
but that is a mere trifle compared to being in
debt, and living on the property of others.
And now, friends and readers, whoever you
may be, if you follow the above directions and ad-
vice, and are blessed with the common share of
health and prosperity, when the sun of life has
reached its meridian glory, you will find your-
selves in possession of an untroubled conscience,
and enough of this world's goods to make your
pathway easy and pleasant down the declivity of
life. S. L. White.
Leominster, March, 1864.
A PRAYER,
I ask not wealth, but power to take
And use tUc things I have ariffht;
Not years, but wisdom that shall make
My life a profit and delight.
I ask not that for me the plan
Of Rood and ill be set aside,
But that the common lot of man
Be nobly borne and ghjrified.
I know I may not always keep
My steps in places green and sweet,
Nor find the pathway of the deep
A path of safety for my feet.
But pray, that, when the tempest's breath
Shall fiercely sweep my way about,
I make not shipwreck of my faith
In the uubottomed sea of doubt.
And that, though it l>e mine to know
How hard the stoniest pillow seems.
Good angels still may come and go
On the bright; ladder of my dreams.
I do not ask for love below —
That friends shall never be estranged;
But for the power of lovmg, so
My heart may keep its youth unchanged.
Youth, joy, wealth— Fate, I give thee these ;
Leave faith and hope till life is passed;
And leave my heart's best impulses
Fresh and unfailing to the last.
For this I count, of all sweet things.
The sweetest out of heaven above ;
And loving others surely brings
The fullest recompense of love.
Chambers^ Journal.
Kidney-Worms in Swine. — The presence of
kidney-worms may generally be known by the an-
imal appearing weak across the loins, and some-
times by a weakness in one or both hind legs.
As soon as these symptoms appear, give the ani-
mal corn soaked in lye of wood ashes, or strong
soap-suds ; at the same time rub the loins with
spirits of turpentine.
The Manure of Sheep is much more valua-
ble than that of cattle ; thirty-six pounds of the
former being equal in value to one hundred pounds
of the latter.
BEST TIME FOR GRAFTING.
Early grafting, if properly done, is much more
effective than late operations. Grafts set late
may take with great certainty, but they never
make much growth during the first season. Time
seems to be required, after the graft is set, for the
broken and bruised cells on the walls of the wound
to heal and unite so as to allow free passage for
the circulation of sap. Some pear grafts which I
set in February of last season made a growth
quite equal to the natural shoots on the other
])arts of the tree, and there was no trouble with
sprouts or suckers, which in late grafting issue
numerously and successively, owing, no doubt, to
the difficulty above adverted to. For cherry,
plum, and the grapevine, early grafting is a sine
qua non.
There is a risk in grafting early, arising from
the long exposure of the scion to the effects of
drying wind in March and April, which so parch
and contract it as to close it against the flow of
sap. This can be prevented by using short scions,
and by coating the entire scion, or aL least the
lower huds, with a film of wax or varnish. Grape
grafts or others near the ground can be covered
with a little hay, straw or paper, to retain moder-
ate moisture, and prevent ill effect from the con-
tracting effects of frost and expansion by warmth
which might either cause cracks in the coating of
wax or displace the scions. Particular care must
be taken that every part of the wound — even the
slightest mark — is covered by wax to prevent
evaporation. Whip grafting is the easiest and
neatest method. For early work, a temperature
of 45 3eg., with little or no wind, allows the op-
eration to be performed with ease. Nothing but
a small knife, and a roll of waxed strips wound
132
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
■h
on a bit of wood a little larger than a lead pencil,
is required, and this roll can be carried in a pock-
et for warmth or suspended from a button. Only
u single spiral wrapi)ing should be given, and it
will then unwrap itself withnut attention as growth
progresses, and without checking or choking it. —
W. G. Waking, in Country G'eufleman.
■WHITEWASH OR LIME FOE, SHINGLES.
Messrs. Editors : Like Elihu of old, I will
"shew mine opinion." In 1844, having occasion
to put up a blacksmith's shop, a building of all
others exposed to fire and destruction of shingles,
I took the precaution to prepare the sawed shin-
gles with which the roof and walls were covered,
in the following manner :
Having a large trough, I put into it a bushel of
quicklime, half a bushel of refuse salt, and five or
six pounds of potash, adding water to slack the
lime and dissolve the vegetable alkali and the
salt, — well knowing that pieces of an old lime pit,
a soap barrel, or a pork tub were not the best
kindling stuff, and having long since learned,
while at the Vineyard Sound, that hot salt ivater
whitewash would endure far longer than that
made with fresh water, — absorbing moisture,
striking into the wood and not peeling and wash-
ing off. I set the bundles of the shingles nearly
to the bands, in the wash for two or more hours ;
then turned them end for end.
When laid on the roof and walls, they were
bi'ushed over twice with the liquid, and were
brushed over at intervals of two or three years
after. At the expiration of 11 years, (seven for-
ges having been used,) a shingle had not been
burnt, nor had a nail started. The shingles had
become anii-phlogistic, and the acid from the coal
and the atmosphere had been neutralized by the
alkalies, so the nails remained entire. The shin-
gles now appear about as sound as new. The
whitened and hardened shingles in the wake of
the chimney on any old house, so abundantly
confirm this theory and support the practice, that
he who runs or rides, may read, and go and do
likewise. — John Mears, in Boston Cnltivutor.
RESPECT THE BARTH-'WOBM.
Farmers are generally aware that the earth-
worm luxuriates in a rich soil, but they are not
disposed to give him any credit for contributing
to its fertility. But the Creator is wiser than they,
and He gives the farmer efficient helpers under
ground, who do Him good service, without pay
in money or even in thanks. One of the foreign
quarterlies gives an account of the labor done by
this busy engineer :
The ground is almost alive with the common
earth-worm. Wherever mold is turned up, there
these sappers and miners are turned up with it ;
they are, indeed, nature's plowmen ; they bore
the stubborn soil in every direction, and render it
pervious to air, rain and the fibres of plants.
Without these auxiliaries, "the former," says Gil-
bert White, "would find that his land would be-
come cold, hard-bound and sterile." The green
mantle of vegetation which covers the earth is
dependent upon the worms which burrow in the
bowels of it. What conveys a more definite idea
of the magnitude of their operations, jhey are
perpetually replenishing the upper soil and cover-
ing with soft and fine material, a crust which be-
fore was close and ungenial. They swallow a
quantity of earth with thtir food, and having ex-
tracted the nutriment, they eject the remainder at
the outlet of their holes. Ttiis refuse forms the
worm-casts, which are the annoyance of the gar-
dener, who might be reconciled to them if he was
aware that the depositors save him a hundred
times more labor than they cause. Mr. Charles
Darwin has shown that in thirteen years a field
of pasture was covered to a depth of three inches
and a half with the mold discharged from their
intestines ; and in another case, the layer that
they had accumulated in eighty years was from
twelve to fourteen inches thick. They therefore
play a most important part in the economy of
vegetation, and we see why they teem throughout
the surface of the globe.
LIQUID GRAFTING "WAX.
Mt.' L'Homme-Lefort (or, as others spell the
name, Lhomme-Lefort) invented, not many years
ago, a grafting composition, which, when general-
ly known, will no doubt supercede all others now
in use, either for grafting purposes or for cover-
ing wounds of trees. It is very cheap, very easi-
ly prepared, and keeps, corked up in a bottle
with a tolerable wide mouth, at least six months
unaltered. It is laid on in as thin a coat as
possible, by means of a flat piece of wood. With-
in a few days it will be as hard as a stone. In
addition to all the advantages indicated above, it
is not in the least afl'ected by the severe cold of
our winters ; it never softens or cracks when ex-
posed to atmoshperic action or changes. A sin-
gle instance which came under my own observa-
tion, will suffice to show this clearly. In April
last the bark of a double-flowering peach tree had
been destroyed by some goats, several days be-
fore I noticed the mischief. There was hardly a
place as far up as the goats had been able to
reach, where any bark was left ; the few remain-
ing particles were in no connection whatever ; the
wounds were rough, and had already turned
bj;own by an exposure long continued. Although
I despaired of the possibility of saving the tree,
yet I determined to try it by an application of the
grafting wax of L'Homme-Lefort, which I had
just purchased for the first time.
The result was surprising. The tree is as vig-
orous as ever, the wounds having healed over
under the cover of tiie hardened grafting wax,
which, after a lapse of so many months, slicks as
firmly to the tree as if laid on a few days ago. v
As long as the inventor kept the preparation
secret, it was sold at very high prices. Even now,
it is unknown to many ; I feel induced, therefore,
to give the recipe, as follows :
Melt one pound of common rosin over a gentle
fire. Add to it an ounce of beef tallow, and stir
it well. Take it from the fire, let it cool down a
little, and then mix with it a tablespoonful of
spirits of turpentine, and after that about seven
ounces of very strong alcohol (95 per cent.) to be
had at any druggist's store. The alcohol cools it
down so rapidly that it will be necessary to put it
again on the fire, stirring it constantly. Still the
utmost care must be exercised to prevent the al-
cohol from getting inflamed. To avoid it the
best way is to remove the vessel from the fire
when the lump that may have been formed com-
mences melting again. This must be continued
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
1S8
till the whole is a homogeneous mass similar to
honey.
After a few day's exposure to the atmosphere
in a thin coat, it assumes a whitish color, and he-
comes as hard as stone, being impervious to water
and air.
The editor of the noiimiUnrist adds : — A good
liquid grafting wax has long been a desiderattim.
AVe have seen the above as used by "Horticola,"
and are much pleased with it. It is better than
the shellac preparation, and is much cheaper. It
is an admirable preparation for covering wounds
in trees. — California Farmer.
"WHAT A GARDEN" MAY BE.
Here let me outline, in brief, what a farmer's
garden may be made, without other than home
labor. A broad walk shall run down the middle
of either square enclosure, or long paralli^logram.
A box edging on either side is of little cost, f.nd
contributes eminently to neatness ; it will hold
good for eight years, without too great encroach-
ment, and. at that time, will sell to the nursery-
men for more than enough to pay the cost of re-
setting. On either s^dc of this walk, in a border
of six feet wide, the farmer may plant his dwarf
fruit, with grapes at intervals, to climb upon a
home-made cedar trellis, that shall overarch and
embower the walk. If he love an evening j)ipe
in his garden, he may plant some simple seat un-
der one or mere of these leafy arbors.
At least one-half the garden, as I before sug-
gested, he may easily arrange, to till, — spring and
autumn, — with the plow ; and whatever he places
there in the way of tree and shrub, must be in
lines parallel jvilh the walk. On the other half,
he will he subjected to no such limitations ; there
he will establish his perennials — his asparagus,
his thyme, his sage, and parsley ; his rhubarb,
his gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries ;
and in an angle — hidden if he choose by a belt of
shrubbery — he may have his hotbed and compost
heap. Fork-culture, which all these crops de-
mand, will admit of any arrangement he may pre-
fer, and he may enliven the groupings, and win
the good wife's favor, by here and there a little
circlet of such old-fashioned flowers as tulips, yel-
low lilies and wliite, with roses of all shades.
Upon the other half he may make distribution
of pans, by banding the various crops with bor-
der lines of China or Refugee beans ; and he may
split the whole crosswise, by a walk overarched
with climbing Limas, or the London Horticultu-
ral— setting oft' the two ends with an abutment of
Scarlet-runners, and a surbase of fiery Nasturtium.
There are also available and pretty devices for
making the land do double duty. The border
lines of China-beans, which will be ripened in
early August, may have Swedes sown in their
shadow in the first days of July, so that when the
Chinas have fulfilled their mission, there shall be
a new line of purple green in their place. The
early radishes and salads may have their little cir-
clets of cucumber ))its, no way interfering with
the first, and covering the ground when the first
are done. The early Bassano, beets will come
away in time to leave space for the full flow of tliff
melons that have been planted at intervals among
them. The cauliflower will find grateful shade
under the lines of sweet corn, and the newly- set
winter cabbages, a temporary refuge from the sun.
under shelter of the ripened peas. I do not make
these suggestions at random, but as the results of
actual and successful experience.
With such simple and orderly arrangement, in-
volving no excessive labor, I think every farmer
and country liver may take pleasure in his garden
as an object of beauty ; — making of it a little farm
in miniature, with its co])pices of dwarf trees, its
hedge rows of currants and gooseberries, and its
meadows of strawberries and thyme. From the
very day on which, in spring, he sees the first
faint, upheaving, tufted lines of green from hi.s
Dan O'Rourkes, to the day when the dangling
Limas, and sprawling, bloody tomatoes are smit-
ten by the frost, it offers a fiej^l of ccmstant {)ro-
gress, and of successive triumphs. Line by line,
and company by company, the army of green
things takes position ; the little flowery banners
are flung to the wind ; and lo ! presently every
soldier of them all — plundering only the earth
and sunshine — is loaded with beauty. — Ik Marvel.
BEANS AS A FIELD CHOP.
Good white beans have commanded a high price
for more than two years past, and will undoubted-
ly continue to do so for more than a year to come.
We have an abundance of New England soil
suited to the crop. They are easily raised and
are not especially subject to be destroyed by
worms or flies. They are harvested and cleaned
without difficulty, and when ready for market are
in a compact form and can be transported to mar-
ket with facility. Indeed, there is probably no
neighborhood in the whole of New England, but
the farmer may sell every bushel he can produce
at his own door, and at a fairly compensatmg
price.
In addition to their increased home consump-
tion, in consequence of the high price of meats,
our armies will need vast quantities, whether the
war continues or not.
If peace should be declared to-morrow, we can
see no reason why a large standing force can be
dispensed with for many months, or perhaps,
years to come. Beans will be wanted largely by
this force, for -in the whole class of edibles, no
dish is more universally or more highly esteemed,
than that of a meal of well-ripened, sound, prop-
erly cooked baked beans, with a suitable seasoner
from the pork barrel !
There is aonther reason why a large crop of
beans should be produced. The prospect is now
encouraging, that before a twelvemonth passes, the
number of sheep in the iiee States will be greatly
multiplied. In order to secure the most profitable
results in sheep culture, the animals require a
variety of food, that which especially promotes
the growth of the body, and that which is more
particularly adapted to the growth of wool.
Beans may be raised as i)rofitably as corn, and
on light lands where it would not be advisable to
put corn, a fair crop of beans may be brought with
the addition of a light manuring. We hop# a
134
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
large number of our friends will try the bean
crop this year, believing they will find their ac-
count in it.
The following relates the practice of the late
Judge BuEL in cultivating this crop.
Beans as a Field Crop.
They are a valuable crop, and with good care
are as profitable as a wheat crop. They leave
the soil in good tilth. I cultivated the beans the
last year in three different ways, viz : in hills, in
drills and sowed broadcast. I need not describe
the first, which is a well known process. I had
an acre in drills, ^hich was the best crop I ever
saw. My management was this : On the acre of
light ground, where the clover had been frozen
out the preceding winter, I s])read eight loads of
-ong manure, and immedialety ploughed and har-
rowed the ground. Drills of furrows were then
made with a light plow, at a distance of two and
a half feet, and the beans thrown along the furrows
about the 25th of May, by the hand, at the rale of
at least a bushel on the acre. I then gauged a
doubled mold-board plow, which was passed once
between the rows, and was followed by a light one-
horse roller, which flattened the ridges. The crop
was twice twice cleaned of weeds by the hoe, but
not earthed. The product was more than forty-
eight bushels by actual measurement.
EFFECT OF SOIL OW GRAPES.
At a late meeting of the Ohio Pomological So-
ciety, most of the grapes exhibited as Isabellas
■were of the kind having large, compact bunches,
and large, round berries, so unlike the old style of
Isabellas that few persons could I'egard them as
the same, and yet the testimony of a large num-
ber of the growers would seem to show that the
change is only the result of soil, season and cul-
ture.
Mr. Rateham called attention to the remarkable
difference among the specimens exhibited ; he said
his attention had first been called to this subject
by witnessing similar exhibitions in this part of
the State two or three years ago, and on calling
the attention of fruit-growers to it, through the
papers, he was informed that the large, round va-
riety was not the Isabella, but should be called
the Aiken. Since that time he had seen more of
these grapes and the growers, but he is still un-
able to satisfy himself that there are two distinct
varieties — and yet he admits that the difference in
the specimens is greater than he has ever sup-
posed could be produced by soil and culture.
Capt. Stewart said he had found in his vineyard
great difference among Isabella vines, in the size,
shape and time of ripening of the fruit, as affected
by the soil and location ; could cut tsome ten days
earlier than others — thinks all the difference in
the specimens exhibited, may be effects of soil,
&c. Mr. Stores, of Painesville, expressed the
same opinion.
Mr. Oviatt, of Richfield, Summit Co., said he
had a vineyard partly on clay soil and part sandy
loam ; the vines all propagated from one source,
by himself, and those growing on the sandy soil
produce larger and more compact bunches, and
larger and rounder berries, than those on the sand
— difference like that exhibited in specimens here |
to-night, and at the Fair ; hence he did not be-
lieve in the Aiken variety.
Dr. Taylor thought it would be found that the
large round specimens grew on rich, sandy land,
where the roots found plenty of food and moisture,
and the vines not over-loaded with fruit. Dr.
Kirtland had told him that last fall he found the
large, round (Aiken) variety growing on his
ground, where the vine stood near a sewer, while
other vines of the same origin, on common soil,
bore old-fashioned Isabellas.
For the New England Farmer.
NEW MODE OP CULTIVATING CORIf.
Friend Brown:— The practical fiirmer should
always be ready to impart information to his
brother workers. He should improve upon the
old adage, "Live, and let live." He should not
only "live, and let live," but should live, and help
live. To help live he should make use of the ag-
ricultural papers to converse with his brethren of
the plow. There should be a more general desire
to "swap" information. Tkat information should
be of the genuine kind, founded upon his own
practical experience. No live farmer in these
days plods along in the old path, never turning
to the right or left. If he attempts to, in these
days of scarcity of labor, he will find himself in
the background. Premising there may be now
and then one of the readers of the Farme)- who
are ready to seize all the advantages that turn up
to save labor, I propose to state, briefly, my meth-
od of raising corn for the past two years, and
which I adopt as the best.
After my ground is well prepared by manuring,
plowing and harrowing, I drill it one way with a
small plow. Into this drill I put whatever of
compost or manure is intended for the hill, and
mix it thoroughly with the soil, with an instru-
ment made by attaching two or three of Shore's
harrow teeth to a joist four inches square and four
feet long, with handles on one end and a hitching
place at the other. After this operation the corn
is strewn all along the drill, at the rate of four to
six kernels to the foot. A plow is then used to
cover the whole, in soil tolerably free from stones.
When the corn is up suflSciently to see the rows
the same little plow is run on either side of it,
turning a furrow from the corn. In a week or so
a cultivator is run through and the soil is again
levelled. When it gets up a little too big for the
crows, and the worms have got their share, with
a dexterous use of the hoe it is thinned to about
eight inches and left standing in as straight a row
as possible. When ten or twelve inches high the
same little plow is used to turn a furrow against
either side of the corn. With a little practice
the weeds may be nearly all covered and destroyed.
With my two years' experience I can confidently
recommend this method to my brother farmers,
especially to those who have light soils to man-
age. I have actually raised a good crop of corn,
and not used the hoe at all, and at harvest, one
could not find three bushels of weeds to the acre.
■ Weave, N. H., March 17, 1864. Z. Breed.
An elk can run a mile and a half in two min-
utes ; an antelope in a minute; the wild mule of
Tartary has even greater speed than that.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
135
SHEEP EATING BACH OTHER'S WOOL.
Some weeks since a correspondent inquired
what the cause is of sheep pulling the wool from
each other and eating it. Since that inquiry was
made, we have found the following in the Ohio
Farmer, the Editor of which paper gives much
attention to the subject of sheep, and has proba-
bly given the true cause of this disease:
All the flock masters are more or less familiar
with the practice of some sheep picking their
wool during the fall, winter and spring. The
sheep — mostly tlie fine and dense wooled variety
— are led into this practice of picking themselves
for the same reason that a person scratching him-
self, viz : to relieve an itching on the surface of
the skin.
The precise cause of this itching is not entirely
explained by the sheep veterinarians. During
our visit to the sheep flocks of Licking Co., our
attention was called to this matter by the appear-
ance of some of the sheep of Mr. James Fitts-
ford's flock. Mr. Pittsford says on close exami-
nation minute pustules may be discovered in the
cuticle of the sheep, which pustules on pressure
yield a particle of yellow pus or matter. We
suggested the possibility of the presence of small
animal parasites in the skin, but no person present
had known of a microscopic examination to ascer-
tain the fact.
As a cure for the eruptions on the skins of the
sheep, which cause the itching, it was agreed on
all hands that an application of mercurial oint-
ment was the best. The ointment as it comes
from the drug store is too strong, and should be
mixed with five or six times its bulk of hog's
lard, then take a little of this mixture on the fore
finger of the right hand, part the wool and rub it
on carefully. The precise spots to be rubbed can
be ascertained by a slight roughness of the skin,
and also by noticing where the wool has been
picked. We have heard of sheep dying from the
eff"ects of mercurial ointment rubbed on as strong
as it comes from the shop, but by weakening it in
lard, the application is perfectly safe.
Fur till' Netp England Farmer,
THE ADVANTAGE OF L.ARQE COKPOK-
ATIONS.
Messrs. Editors: — Large combinations have
the advantage over smaller ones in many respects ;
"Where there is strength there is safety." Small
combinations are liable to impositions of various
kinds. Inferiority always labors under disadvan-
tages. Among men, and other animals, the more i
powerful commands respect. Even the little dog :
yields deference to the greater one. Small com-
binations or corporations labor under many dis- '
advantages, whether in shape of parishes, towns, ;
States, or kingdoms. The small parish of a hun-
dred, or the small town of five hundred inhabi- 1
tants, requires about the same number of officers !
and the same, amount of expense in conducting
its business, that parishes and towns consisting
of thousands would. The smaller the combina-
tion or corporation, the heavier the burden upon
its constituents. Small combinations, by their
weakness, are like the smaller animals, liable to
become a prey to the more powerful ones. A
small State or kingdom is watched like the un-
fortunate bird under the vigilance of the soaring
vulture, ready to pounce upon it at any moment
his voracity dictates.
The larger Powers look with an evil eye upon
the smaller ones till an opportunity ofl'ers for mak-
ing the coveted grab with the least danger to the
aggressor of the interference of some rival power.
The small States of Europe have been "bones of
contention" to the covetous rulers of the larger
piratical States. It is to me one of the mysteries
of nature how a few designing, ambitious men can
involve the governments of all sizes, from a par-
ish church up to republics, kingdoms, and even
empires, in quarrels and bloody, desolating wars.
If these demagogues are accountable for the
"deeds done in the body," and to be "rewarded
according to their works," the judgment seat
would not be the most attractive place for such
culprits. The propensity in a tyrant to rule is so
strong in life, that the passion, "strong in death,"
extends into the spirit world. Heaven is no place
for tyrants, if they are subjected to a higher pow-
er ; they seem to be as troublesome there as they
have been on earth. If they can steal their way
into heaven, they breed war there, and get cast
down to earth again to afflict mankind. We read
in the book of Revelation, that there was war in
heaven ; that Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon and his angels, which proves
that wherever tyrants covet power, that even
heaven, earth, or hell are alike pregnable to their
ambitious designs and encroachments. And we
further read, that the dragon and his angels were
cast out of heaven and lit upon the earth, proba-
bly to afflict and torment the lovers of peace,
"seeking whom they may devour." Sections of
kingdoms and communities forced into existence,
as corporate bodies, by ambitious aspirants for
offices, stand in need of protection by standing
armies, much more than large combinations ce-
mented by mutual agreement, as was the case of
the United States.
When individual States think it a privilege,
and petition to be admitted into large combina-
tions of other confederated States, they come in-
to a voluntary league with the confederacy for
protection against the assaults of foreign and do-
mestic foes, at the same time adding more power
and strength to the combination of which they
become members. Wisdom's ways are the ways
of safety. Combinations of this kind command
the respect, if not the love, of enemies ; and the
aspect of a large, well-united people, by its for-
bidding appearance, is a greater safeguard to a
nation than a standing army. Small nations
stand most in need of standing armies. Subju-
gated States or nations do not harmonize and as-
similate with their conquerors so readily as those
States do which are admitted by petition to join
a larger combination.
The farming population of the United States
constitute the strongest spoke in the wheel of gov-
ernment. In the present sad condition of our
tountry, we must depend upon them, mainly, for
the salvation of our Union. Our supplies for
building materials, food and clothing, beside the
backbone of our unparelleled armies, are derived
from that class of our citizens; much of our trust
is in their combined strength, for the safe termi-
nation of the existing calan)itous war.
Nnrih Wilminglon, 1864. Silas Brown,
i^ef
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JktAV
TURBAN, OB TURK'S HEAD SQUASH.
Every lover of a good squash will feel indebted
to Mr. Gregory for the persistent interest he
has so long taken in securing and propagating
this wholesome vegetable. With the above en-
graving, he has sent us an account of the Turban,
or Turk's Head Squash. Some time last fall, or
winter, he sent us one-half of two different
squashes of this variety, one of which we took
home, had it cooked, and the whole family upon
eating it, pronounced it excellent— they did not
know how any squash could be better. It was dry,
fine grained, and quite sweet enough for an arti-
le of food. We had no opportunity to test it
made into pies, but others who have had, think
no other squash is superior to it. Mr. G. says :
The above engraving gives this new French
squash with the extreme development of the
prominence called "Acorn" at the calyx end.
The Acorn varies from this extreme size down to
a merely rudimentary form, these two extremes
being sometimes found on squashes growing on
the same vine.
Some of my friends have complained that the
Hubbard was too dry a squash in the fall to he
acceptable for table use. Since I intioduced the
Hubbard as the best of all M-m^er squashes, I have
been seeking for the public a first class squash
for fall use, that should add flavor to fineness and
dryness of grain. After spending six years in
carefully testing new varieties, I am satisfied that
the Turban is decidedly thebest of all varieties for
fall use. The Turban is dry, very fine grained,
and rich flavored, and in thickness of the flesh,
and specific gravity excels all other squashes,
being bulk for bulk about one-fifth heavier than
the Hubbard, and one^fourth heavier than the
Marrow Squash.
While the Hubbard does not usually acquire
its maximum of sweetness and flavor until early
winter, the Turban is a sweet, dry, flne grained
and rich flavored squash when first gathered from"
the vine, and remains thus through the fall, ex-
cellent either for the table or pies.
The Turban grows to a good size for family
use, averaging in weight about seven pounds,
and under high cultivation yields at the rate of
SIX tons to the acre, at which rate it yielded with
me during the past season.
Directions for Cultivating.
Select good, warm soil, fill it well with manure,
then mark off the hills 8x9, mix in some fine,
stimulating manure in each hill (such as super-
phosphate or guano,) and plant early in the sea-
son four seed. When the runners begin to show
themselves, thin to two or even one plant to the
hill, keep down the weeds and loosen the soil be-
tween the hills, frequently with the cultivator.
If you wish to store the squashes, allow them to
remain on till the vines are dead, then gather and
store after two or three days exposure to the sun.
Avoid piling them in the fi'eld, and do not expose
them^ to cold rains afier gathering ; this hurts the
keeping quaUties of any squash. In storing do
not stand them with the "Acorn" downwards.
LICE ON CATTLE.
Mr. Harris Lewis, an excellent dairy farmer,
of Herkimer county, thinks that a man who win-
ters a good, thriving stock of lice, on say forty
head of cattle, does so at an expense of about $200.
He informs the Country Gentleman of a remedy
which has proved cheap, safe and effective with
him, and which should be borne iu mind by stock
farmers for future use — viz: He rubs a small
quantity of unguentum (mercurial ointment) on
the stanchions in his stables, for a distance,
of perhaps two feet, up and down, cover-
ing the edges which the cattle come in contact
with. As this does not kill the nits, the operation
is repeated at intervals of eight days, three times,
by the end of which period they will all be pretty
certainly hatched out and destroyed. A fourth
application may be required, but he finds three
almost invariably enough. A small qrantity only
is required, a very light coating serving the pur-
pose, and by this method of application the cattle
cannot get at it with their mouths, or otherwise
receive any iujury from it.
Another point in Mr. L.'s management worthy
of note is this : He keeps salt in tubs in his cattle
yards constantly accessible to the stock, with
which is mixed sidphur, in the proportion of
about a tablespoonful to a quart of salt. This
practice was begun some years ago, as a precau-
tion against the murrain, for which purpose it
was found efi"ective, and it has been continued
from the favorable influences it exerts upon the
general health of the cows. Since its use, Mr.
L. has had but a single case o^ garget in his herd,
and he ascribes this exemption from that very
troublesome difficulty among dairy farmers, solely
to the use of sulphur. — Country Qentleman.
Remarks. — We recently sent to New York for
Dodge's Infallible Exterminator, and are now
testing it on a stock of cattle, and will let the
reader know the result.
1^^ The town of Hatfield, in this State, raised
675 acres of tobacco last year, the product of
which at 30 cents per pound — less tlian the aver-
age price for that which has been sold — would
bring !$32o,000. This gives $250 to every inhabi-
tant of the town. It is also related of a tarnier of
the same town that he has received $18,000 for
the product of his farm the last year, $14,000 of
wliich is clear profit. He raised 600 bushels of
corn from twelve acres, and on twenty-live acres
twenty-one and a half tons of tobacco, which sold
for thirty-two cents per pound.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
137
FABM ECONOMY.
The term Farm Economy is often used by ag-
ricultural writers, and, in its broad sense, means
the economkal management of any items of farm
work, arrangement, or plans. The word Farm
has several significations ^ it is derived from the
Saxon word farma, meaning food, hospitality, or
goods. In England, the signification oi farm is
land leased on rent. With us, its common mean-
ing is a portion of land, consisting usually of grass
land, meadow, pasture, tillage and woodland, cul-
tivated or controlled by one person.
The word Economy, has, also, several mean-
ings. It is derived from two or three Greek words,
meaning house — law — rule. Other writers — be-
side agricultural — use it as a common and ex-
pressive term. The judicious and frugal manage-
ment of public affairs, is called political economy.
In the sense in which we intend to consider the
subject at this time, we suppose "Economy in-
cludes a prudent management of all the means by
which property is saved or accumidated ; a judi-
cious application of time, of labor, and of the in-
struments of labor."
In commencing a farm, it would be poor econ-
omy to arrange the buildings so as to impose a
heavy and unnecessary tax upon the owner, by
placing them at too great distances from each
other, or by so arranging them as to have one
branch remote from another of a kindred nature,
where they are to be visited daily or hourly through
a lifetime. The buildings should be as compact
as they can be, without obstructing light and air
— these being indispensable to the preservation of
health. The objections often raised against such
compactness, viz., odors and the danger of confla-
gration, must be obviated by skill in composting,
and care in the use of fire. The loss in an extra
and unnecessary travel of six rods each way, each
time of going to the barn, in the average length
of a farmer's life, say 40 years, going and return-
ing 10 times each 24 hours, would be 5,475 miles.
Nearly 137 miles annually. The estimate of vis-
iting ten times is not too large, as in most cases
the barn is visited by more than one person each
day.
A rigid economy should, also, be observed in
the arrangement of all the other buildings of the
farm, such as sheds, carriage-house, piggery, wood-
house and corn barn. These remarks apply espe-
cially to those constructing new buildings. Com-
ing into possession of old ones, the proprietor
must rearrange according to circumstances, but
the whole matter should be reduced to a. plan,
and then a shed may be brought into place this
year, the barn the next, and others follow in suc-
cession. But without the plan to start with, con-
fusion would be likely to atteni all efforts at im-
provements in this particular.
Another point in regard to farm buildings —
and one heretofore greatly overlooked — is the
want of Shelter for them. If they stand out in a
bleak and dreary landscape, they are seriously af-
fected by the elements that must alwa}'s work
upon them, namely, the sun, wind, rain, frost,
hail and snow. The effect of the sun upon wood-
work,— where its rays are not softened by a screea
of some kind, is often quite destructive. The
shingles on most of our roofs show it, and the
warping of outer boarding and of clapboards, may
be traced to the same cause. It frequently cliecks
or splits outside work to a serious extent, so as
greatly to increase the cost of painting. In an
unprotected house, the wind is pressed through
every opening, bringing cold and dampness, and
makes an additional cost to keep the rooms com-
fortably warm. And where the winds have free
access, the rain and hail are driven furiously
against the work, very perceptibly wearing it aw^'.
It is estimated by those who have given attention
to the subject, that good shingles, as a general
thing, would scarcely be worti away in fifty years,
provided they could be kept precisely in place all
the time, — while under the combined action of
the sun, wind and rain, and the swelling, shrink-
ing and warping occasioned by them, they hardly
last one-third of that time ! This wear would be
greatly modified, if buildings were partially pro-
tected by the presence of trees in their vicinity.
A friend writes us that it costs nearly double to
keep an unsheltered house painted, that it does
one that is sheltered. The power of the winds
causes rain, hail and sleet to batter with great
force upon an unsheltered house, and whether it
be painted or not, does far more damage to it than
if surrounded by houses as in a city, or well pro-
tected by trees as in the country." A careful ob-
server of this matter states "that it requires from
fve to ten per cent, of the original cost of a house,
once in fve or six years, to paint if."
All this action of the elements may be greatly
modified, — the cash value of the farm at the same
time increased, — the expenses of housekeeping
lessened, and the health of the family materially
promoted, by planting groups of shade trees about
our farm buildings. It requires but a narrow belt
of evergreens to form a complete barrier against
the wind. The hemlock is an admirable tree for
this purpose, producing, when in the open air,
numerous branches, from its base upward, dense-
ly filled with foliage. A breadth of ten feet set
with that tree, or with the Norway spruce alter-
nating, eflPectually shuts out the winds. The white
pine, also, so common among us, is hardy, easily
removed, and is as graceful and handsome as the
hemlock or spruce. These evergreens are not
138
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
valuable merely for their beauty of form, or the
protection which they afford, but for the soothing
sounds that come from them on a summer night,
like the coming and retreating waves on a far-off
sea-shore, — or the grander march of winter winds
through their branches, swelling into sublime an-
thems of atmospheric power. If they are inter-
spersed with the rock maple, the graceful white,
or canoe birch, the moose wood, or sumac, the
effect will be still more pleasing.
They must not be too near, to shut out the viv-
ifying rays of the sun, and make a damp atmos-
phere,— nor so far off as to allow a reunion of
the wind to rush with full force upon the roof and
sides of the buildings. On the north, 20 or 30
feet may not be too near ; on the east, 50 or 60 ;
on the west, 60 to 80, and never so near as to al-
low the branches to overhang the roofs. The
south should be left open. This aspect has few
hi^h winds, and the windows looking out upon it
may be sui^iciently protected from summer suns
by a few climbing plants, such as the Prairie
Queen Baltimore Belle Bases, the Scarlet, Yellow
Monthly, or the Bed or White Wistarian Honey-
suckle, Chinese Tartaria, or the common Wood-
bine, Scarlet Trumpet Flower, Ivy, or Sweet Scent-
ed Virgin's Bower.
From the foot of these, whenever it is possible,
.there should be a green, well kept lawn, as exten-
sive as can be made convenient, and leaving all
open to the sweet influences of the south. This
lawn, once well prepared, will not only be a
charming object in itself, but will prove one of
the most profitabli mowing lots on the farm, and
especially so where the soiling system has been
introduced. But by all means have the lawn,
where the children can roll, and you can always
see green grass — excepting when the ground is
covered with snow — even though its limits be of
the narrowest kind.
In another article we intend to consider the
same subject in several other particulars.
NEW BOOKS.
The Chronicle op a Garden: Its Pets and its Pleasures. By
the late Miss Henrietta Wilson. With a brief Memoir by
James Hiunilton. New York: Robert Carter k Brothers. For
sale by Gould & Lincoln, Washington St., Boston.
This is one of the most beautiful books, both
in matter and manner, that we have ever seen.
It does not speak of the Garden at any consider-
able length, as a whole, or dwell long upon any
one special topic, but glides pleasantly along, hold-
ing up a charming flower and calling attention to
its fragrance and its beauty, or directing us to
some sweet singing bird that has its home and
rears its young among blossoms and sweet scented
shrubs. It is full of feeling and just views of
\i?3 and human duty, and strives everywhere to
imbue the reader with sweet affections. All this
is done, too, while quietly giving directions how
to ))lant, and sow, and cultivate and care for the
interesting things of the garden. It is, really, "a
chronicle of the garden." She says, — "The profit
of innocent pleasure is as real, and as beneficial
to the mind, as the profit of gain to the purse."
Some of the topics discussed are, The pleas-
ures of Work ; Trees, Evergreens and Shrubs ;
and then the four seasons. It is a charming book
for a present to young persons. The illustrations
are in the highest style of the art.
Elements op Chemistry: Theoretical anrl Practical. By Wil-
liam Allen Miller, M. D., L.L. D. Chemieal Physics, and
Pai-t II., Electricity and Magnetism. From the Third London
Edition. New Yorls: Jonn Wiley, 535 Broadway, 1864. For
sale by A. Williams & Co., 100 Washington St., Boston.
This is a book for the student or practical chem-
ist. The unlearned reader would find little to in-
terest him in it. It is printed well and numer-
ously illustrated. Every book that is worth mak-
ing should have a correct index, but this has neither
index or table of contents. Its value is greatly
depreciated on this account.
EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES.
Pear and Peach Trees— Flax.
I would ]ike to hear through your paper when is the
hest time to transplant or set out pear and peach
trees, what soil is best adapted to them, and what is
the best kind for family use ?
When is the best time to sow flax, where can the
seed be procured, and what soil is best adapted to its
growth ? A. N. c.
Ashjield, 1864.
K.EMAKKS. — The spring is a good time to set pear
trees, and the best time to set peach trees. Most pear
trees require a deep, rich loam, drained, so that water
will not Stand long in the subsoil. Peach trees do
better on a lighter soil — one that is more porous and
dry. They do not need so rich a soil as pear trees.
For a July pear, take the Bloodgood ; for August, the
Rostiezer, the Bartlett and Flemish Beaut)/ ; for Sep-
tember and October the Seckel is one of the highest
flavored pears we have, and will last through October
and November with careful keeping. The Beurre Diet
and Duchesse, still later.
Among the peaches, the Craiqford Early and Late
are excellent, and so are the Royal George, Morris'
Early White, Bergen's Yellow, Noblesse and Early
York. There are others, perhaps, of equal merit.
Errata.
In my correspondence on Seeding Land to Grass,
(.V. E. Farmer, Vol. XIX. Xo. 10,) tor the sentence "We
would be hard to demonstrate," read, we thiitk would
be hard to demonstrate. For the sentence enclosed
with a parenthesi.s, thus, ( 'Unless there is some other
way to account for the nonappearance of the grass
among the oats other than the great amount of loam,
which every body says is the cause,") for the word
"loam," read leaves; that is, leaves on the oats, more
than there is on the rye, and consequently shades the
ground more than the rye does. j. f.
One Fact about Feeding Horses.
I commenced this winter to feed a pair of horses on
dry feed instead of wet. I find the result quite con-
trary to my expectations. They drink less wafer,
sweat very much less, consequently aie.not as subject
to colds. Stable keepers who are feeding dry feed for
the second and third winters, find the same effects,
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
139
and explain it in this wise: In cold weather wet feed
freezes before tlic animal has time to eat it, con.«e-
qnentlj' it lie< cold in the stomach, creates a slight fe-
ver, causes thirst which, heing gratified, induces pers-
piration when the horse is put to work. I believe it is
generally known that very cold water, instead of
quenching thirst, aggravates it.
I would like to have the feed of all stock steamed in
winter and fed out slightly warm, in a warm b.irn, but
1 am thoroughly convinced of the error we have all
been in while feeding wet feed in winter, in a cold sta-
ble. A. W. C.
SheldonvHIe, March, 1864.
Cogswell's "Wheel Revolring Rake.
Can you, or any of your snbscribers give me any in-
formation in regard to Cogsicell's Wheel Revoking
Rakef
Remarks. — We cannot. "Who will ?
For the A'eir Krmland Farmer.
REMIWISCENCES OF CHESHIRE.
At the beginning of the present century, the
town of Cheshire, Kerkshire County, Mass., was
noted for several things that deeply interested its
inhabitants, in those days of stirring events, and
an account of them, after sixty years have passed
away, may be interesting to the descendants of
tliat peculiar people and the community generally.
Clieshire was brought into great notoriety by
being the place of residence of Elder John Le-
land, a very noted preacher. He was a man of
strong mind, excellent common sense, of marked
ability, and very eccentric. He was in the habit
of illustrating his points by an anecdote which
was always forcible, and he could make his audi-
tors laugh or weep at his will. He became noted
as a preacher and drew full houses wherever he
went. While quite young he commenced preach-
ing in Virginia, and became acquainted with Thos,
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and many of the lead-
ing men of that State. The Elder was once
asked why he was so singular in his illustrations,
and why he told so many stories in the pulpit.
He answered that ■when he first commenced
l)reaching in Virginia the young men would gath-
er together, in the large pews in the corners of
the church, and commence playing cards, and af-
ter trying many expedients to get their attention,
and failing, he commenced telling stories by way
of application, and met with complete success.
The Elder was a very sedate man — never was
known to change his countenance when telling one
of his most exciting stories, while his audience were
weeping or laugliing. He has been heard to say
that he remembered smiling but once while preach-
ing, and that was in Virginia. It was a very warm
Sabbath day. The church was situated on a large
green, and the front door, which was directly op-
posite the pulpit, was thrown open. "I saw," said
be, "a man come staggering along and take a seat
on the ^tejjs directly in front of me. He soon
fell asleep and commenced nodding. A large
goat, which was feeding on the green, took it as
a challenge, drew back, and prepared himself;
then, coming up with great force, he struck the
poor man in the head and knocked him almost
into the church. I then had to stop, for it broke
the thread of my argument, and I could but smile,
while I was recovering my equilibrium, and the
poor drunkard was scrambling out of the way of
his antagonist."
Elder Leland came North and settled in Ches-
hire, and his people became very much attached
to him. His intimacy with Thomas Jefferson
caused him to imbibe strong JefTersonian poliucal
principles, which lie instilled into the minds of his
people with as much fervor as he did the doc-
trines of the Gospel. The consequence was that
the people of Cheshire became decided Jefl'erson-
ian Democrats ; and so tenacious were they, that
the enmity between them and the Federals was as
marked us was that of the Jews and Samaritans.
For more than fifty years tht-y held the sway, and
most of the time there were not more than one or
two dissenters that dared presume to get a live-
lihood within their precincts.
Nearly every family took the Pitlsfield Sun, (a
very well conducted Democratic paper.) On its
arrival the family were called together, and one of
them read it through aloud, remarks being made
by a venerable sire, or some one of the group ; it
was then folded up carefully, placed upon the shelf
with the Bible, and it became an open matter of
discussion, which in reality was the most benefit
to mankind — the Bible or tlie bright luminary
from Pittsfield ? and with some of the older mem-
bers it is a bone of contention to this day. Elder
Leland was often called upon to deliver an ora-
tion on the 4th of July, which he always entered
into with the spirit of '76. He was a particular
friend of Martin Van Buren, who often visited him
at his humble dwelling after he became old and
infirm. When he was President of the United
States he appointed Elder Leland one of the com-
mittee to visit West Point milicary acajlemy,
which he did to his own gratification and that of
those who were associated with him.
The people of Cheshire were noted for making
cheese, as also were their ancestors in Cheshire,
Conn., and theirs in Cheshire, England.
When Thomas Jeflerson was nominated as can-
didate for the Presidency, some now living may
remember what an uprising was occasioned among
the old Puritan Fathers by the report that he was
an Infidel. Divines preached from their pulpits
every Sabbath during the campaign with all the
eloquence of pleading, believing if he was elected
President of the United States all their Bibles,
hymn-books and sermons would be burned, and
the altars of New England torn down and demol-
ished. It was then that the old man eloquent
(Leland) arose in his strength and defended his
old Virginian friend, the champion of Liberty,
with almost supernatural power. Cheshire to a
man followed its inflexible leader, and the aged
men to this day cherish the memory of Jefferson
and Leland as inseparable.
The town of Cheshire, wishing to make a dem-
onstration of their attachment to the successful
President, who had overcome the opposition of
his opponents, and was the triumphant champion
of American Liberty, resolved to put their curds
together and make a mammoth cheese ; and fur-
ther, resolved, that Elder John Leland should take
the said cheese to Washington, and present the
same, with all due ceremony, to our most illus-
trious President, Thomas Jefferson.
The day was announced from the pulpit on
which the curds should be brought together, at
Capt. Brown's cider mill. A conscription was
laid upon every cow within the precincts of the
town, with the exception of Federal cows, if by
chance there should be any found, and great cau-
m
NEW ENGLAND FARMEK.
Mat
tion must be taken to ascertain this important '
fact, for a very little of that haven would create
guch a fermentation as to endanger the whole Tast
curd, and our noble enterprise be thwarted.
All things were made ready, a vast hoop being
prepared, which was placed under the ponderous
beam and screws. The day arrived for the grand
ceremonies. It was a proud day for Cheshire.
The sun rose up from Old Ocean to usher it in
irith onusnal splendor. The golden tinge upon
the mountains never looked so golden. The gen-
tle breezes that whispered through the valley were
laden with sweet incense from the blooming Sow-
ers of the hill sides, and the sweet tones of the
church bell echoed through the valley and amons
the mountain tops, cheering them on their march
with their precious treasure to the cider mill.
The men and boys put on their Sunday clothes ;
the rosy-cheeked damsels their best white aprons ;
married ladies dressed with the last pattern of
chintz calico, with a vandyke over their shoul-
ders. Old conveyances were put in requisition,
some were on horseback, some in wagons, and
some in carts drawn by oxen. They poured from
every road and cross road, the grand cavalcade
moving with the imposing dignity inspired by the
occasion. As the parties from the different
neighborhoods arrived at the cider mill, a com-
mittee, chosen for the purpose, met the contribu-
tors with due congratulations, and conducted
them to the place of deposit — the great hoop. Af-
ter the last contributor had arrived, a committee of
fedieg undertook the task of a proper admixture
of this before unknown quantity of curd. It was
soon prepared : the ponderous beam and screw
•were applied, and the whey run merrily. The
ceremonies were appropriate and imposing, the
beloved Elder dedicating the cheese to their hon-
ored friend, Thomas Jefferson, President of the
United States. Then a suitable hymn was sung
to the tune of Mear, (being lined off by the El-
der) with stirring effect. The congregation were
dismissed with a benediction, and dispersed, con-
sidering it the greatest day in the history of Cbes-
Mre.
"When completed, the cheese, weighing 1600
■pounds, was loaded on to a sleigh, and Elder John
Leland, well seated with reins in hand, started for
the capital of the United States. I
On his arrival at the ^Yhite House, with due '
formalitj' the cheese was presented to President
Jefferson, with an appropriate speech, setting
forth the loyalty of the people of his charge ;
how theyiad fought against the cowardly slan-
ders of the Puritans, and how they gloried in his
triumph. He presented as a token of their re-
spect an article of their own manufacture, in
which every family and cow in the town of Chesh-
ire participated. In response, the honored Pres-
ident returned his warmest thanks, duly appreci-
ating this wonderful gift as coming from the very
heart of his people, which he received as a token
of his fidelity in the great cause of equal rights
to all men. "I will cause this auspicious event,"
said he, "to be placed upon the record of our na-
tion, and it will ever shine amid its glorious ar-
chives. I shall ever esteem it among the most
happy incidents of my life. And now, my much
respected Rev. friend, I will, by the consent and
in the presence of my most honored Council, have
this cheese cut, and you ^^-ill take back with you i
a portion of it, and present it to your people (that
tiiey may all have a taste), with my most hearty
thanks. Tell them never to falter in the princi-
ples they have so nobly defended. They have suc-
cessfully come to the rescue of our beloved coun-
try in the time of her great peril. I wish them
health and prosperity, and may milk in great
abundance never cease to flow, to the latest pos-
terity,"
Then came in the steward of the President with
glittering knife, and the cheese was cut in the
presence of the President, and the heads of the
departments, foreign ministers, and many other
men and women of notoriety. It was of a beau-
tiful annotto color, a little variegated in its appear-
ance, owing to the great variety of curds compos-
ing it, which added to the beauty of the scene.
Very soon the cheese, with bread accompanving
it, was passed around, commencing with th« Pres-
ident, then the Elder, the heads of departments,
and thus in order until all were fed. It was high-
ly admired and complimented for its good flavor,
richness and color, and was considered the most
perfect specimen of cheese ever exhibited at the
White House. Then the honored company were
formally introduced to the distinguished Elder,
wishing him happiness and prosperity ; and not
only him, but the beloved people of his charge.
"Tell them we have never partaken of so good
cheese before in our day." The company dis-
persed, rejoicing that they had been honored with
the privilege of once more feasting to their full
satisfaction upon bread and cheese, which so for-
cibly reminded them of the golden days of their
childhood.
The wonderful size of the cheese, and the cer-
emonies at the White House, were matters of no-
toriety throughout our whole country, as well as
in foreign lands.
During the journey of the Rev. Elder home, a
false report came to his ears, that the President
in his remarks at the reception of the cheese said
he himself was not very fond of cheese, but his
negroes were. By diligent investigation it was
found out that a verj' wicked man, failing to get
a piece of the cheese (there being such a great
demand for it), fabricated this awful disrespectful
report. He was duly reprimanded.
As the Elder proceeded on his way, highly
pleased with the success of his mission, he put up
one night at a village inn, where he had stopped
on his way to Washington. There was a Federal
meeting there that evening, and a large collection
of people were assembled. The news had ar-
rived there, that when the President had the
cheese cut it proved to be full of skippers, and
they asked in a sarcastic manner what was the
cause of so great a calamity. The Elder, with
his usual gravitv, responded, saying, "On that
notable day, when the curds of my beloved parish
were brought together for the purpose of making
the largest cheese the world had ever beheld, an
unfortunate occurrence took place. The curds
were poured into the vast resorvoir — the great
hoop — and while it was being stirred and mixed
by a committee of women, chosen for that occa-
sion, a Federal in disguise, taking great liberties,
fell into the floating mass and came very near
being drowned before he was rescued. It created
great consternation at the time, and it is not to be
wondered tnat the cheese was full of skippers and
1864.
N-EW ENGLA>T) FARTHER.
141
Termin.
Tbe Elder, after many days, arrived safe and
sound. On a special occasion, he related to his
dear people all the incidents of his long journey,
the hearty reception he met with at the White
House, presenting to them the thanks of tbe
President and those in authority with him, and
also the blessings they pronounced upon them
and their cows to all future generations. The
Elder then presented the large piece of cheese
the President sent back to them, that they might
partake of the bounties of their own productions,
and rejoice in the great success which had crowned
their labors.
About tbe time this mammoth cheese was
made, there appeared in the Pittsfield Sim a de-
scription in verse of the scene which then tran-
spired in Cheshire, said to have been written by
Dr. Asa Burbank, of Lanesborough, which had a
wide-spread circulation throughout this and for-
eign lands, to the admiration of all those who
chanced to read them. They have been long for-
gotten. They are now reproduced from tbe mem-
ory of an old man, who learned them at the time.
The following is a copy and no doubt nearly cor-
rect :
From meadows rich with clover red,
A thousand heifers come,
The tinkling bells, the tidings spread —
The milkmaid muffles up her head
And wakes the village hum.
In shining pans, the snowr flood
Through whitened canvass pours.
The dyeing pots of ottar good,
The rennet tinged with madder blood.
Are sought among oar stores.
The quivering curd in panniers stowed.
Is loaded on the jade,
The stumbling be;ist supports the load,
■While trickling whey bedews the road,
Along the dusty glade.
As Cairo's slaves to bondage bred,
Through arid dejjerts roam,
Through trackless sand undaunted tread,
"With skins of water o'er their head,
To cheer their master home.
So here full many a sturdy swain
His precious luggage bore.
Old misers now forgot their gain.
And bed-rid cripples free from pain,
Now took the road before.
The widow with her dripping mite,
Upon the saddle horn,
Rode up in baste to view the sight.
And add a charity so right —
A pauper so forlorn.
The rabble then an opening drew.
Upon the verdant grass.
To let the vast procession through
To spread the rich repast in view.
And let John Leland pass.
Then Elder John with HAed eyes
In musing posture stood.
Invoked a Messing from the skies,
To save from vermin, mice and flies,
And keep the bounty good.
Now mellow strokes the yielding pile
From polished steel receives ;
Ye shining nymphs stand still a while.
And mix the mass with salt and oil.
With sage and savory leav&s.
The sexton, like the patriot troop.
With naked arms around,
Embraced with hardy hands the scoop
To fill the vast extended hoop.
While beetles smacked it down.
Next gtrdmg screw from ponderous beam.
With heft immense drew down.
The gushing whey from every seam.
Flowed through the streets a rapid stream.
And shad c&me up to town.
Beekshirs.
F.T tSe yew England Fanmer,
CUTTXK'Q FEED FOB HOESES.
Messrs. Editors : — Xoticing an inquiry a few
weeks since in the *\>ir England Farmer in re-
gard to cutting feed for horses, I would say that
I have had fifteen years experience in that way of
feeding, and have not thrown the straw cutter
aside yet. That a working team will do much
belter on cut hay, with meal, than on whole hay,
with oats, I have not the least doubt, and I think
it will take about one-quarter less hay, and keep
the team in better condition.
A horse that is feed on cat feed drinks rery
little water, (his hay, meal and water, all go to-
gether,) he wastes nothing, every thing is eat up
clean. Horses that are fed on cut feed do not
look hollow and gaunt, as horses sometimes do
that are fed on whole hay and oats ; they do not
drink such excessive quantities of water and do
not have to supply moisture to enable them to eat
their feed, and they have more time for rest.
A horse that stands in the stable and is used
only occasionally. I should prefer to let him cut
his own feed. .\ horse that is worked every day
will eat about three bushels of cut hay, with six
quarts of corn-meal, in twenty-four hours, and
keep in good condition. Any one will soon find
how much a horse will eat ; ther need all tSey
will eat, and eat clean, so that when you give tbem
their feed their manger will be as clean as though
it was brushed out. Com and rye, ground fine,
make good feed for a work horse, but for a young
horse, I should prefer a greater portion of oat
meal, or shorts, as clear com or lye might tend
to stiffen a young horse.
Hay may be cut on stormy days. It is a good
plan to cut enough to last two or three weeks,
whenever one has leisure. Some mix their feed
in a box, but I prefer a light manger, throw in the
cut hay and water, stir well, and then stir in the
meal. Cut feed, mixed in the above way will not
freeze in the coldest weather. It is a good plan
in tbe coldest weather to take a pail of hot water
from the bouse, and I think cut feed is better
mixed with hot water at any time. Straw is
often mixed with hay, and 1 do not know bat
horses do as well on this mixture as on clear hay.
I should prefer good wheat straw, oat straw often
makes a horse scour.
In regard to straw cutters, I should never boy
one that cuts on a raw hide roller, as they are tbe
most expensive machine to keep in repair, as tbe
roller will last but two or three years, where the
machine is much used, and it is more work to
keep them in running order than any other ma-
chine I know anything about.
The above is my experience in feeding cut
feed ; it is the result of fifteen years' practice with
a good straw cutter on hand, in good running or-
der, and in constant use. A Scbscribek.
Middlebttry, J7., March o, 1864.
142
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
For the New England Farmer.
SEEDING LANDS TO GRASS.
Mr. Editor:— Your correspondent, "J. F.,"
in your last paper, has some very good ideas in
relation to seeding down land to grass, but there
are some things he seems to have lost sight of.
He arrives at the conclusion that it will not pay
to sow grass seed separately, without some kind
of grain, "taking into consideration the amount
of land, expenses," &c.. Now this may apply to
spring sowing, but in this vicinity there is a vast
amount of land laid down to grass in the fall, say
from August to last of September. We turn over
the sward after takmg off the grass crop, give it
a liberal dressing of compost manure suited to
the soil, harrow, sow the grass seed and roll the
same ; this buries the seed sufficiently, and you
have a good crop generally the next season, with-
out the loss of a crop, and without exhausting
the soil with a grain crop ; but this process is gen-
erally practiced on low meadow land, that is too
moist for early spring cultivation with grain crops.
On our more elevated lands, our sandy or grav-
ellv loams, we can more profitably cultivate our
grain crops. Our grass lands need renovation—
a rotation of crops— when they have lain to grass
four or five years. Then turn over the sward in
the spring (if silicious soil) just before you want
to plant, cultivate with corn or potatoes one or
two years, with a good dressing of manure, and
lay down to grass with summer grain, as your
correspondent suggests
year 1793, he and his brother transplanted some
ot the wild Scotch roses from the Hill of Vrimoul
in the neighborhood of Perth, into their nursery
gardens. One of these bore flowers slightly tinged
with red, from which a plant was raised, whose
flowers exhibited a monstrosity, appearing as if
one or two flowers came from one bud, which was
a little tinged with red. These produced seed
from which semi-double flowering ])lants were ob-
tained; and by continuing a selection of seed, and
thus raising new plants, they, in 1802 and 1803
had eight good, double varieties to dispose of,
namely, the small white, the small yellow, the la-
dy's blush, another lady's blush with small foot-
stalks, the red, the light red, the dark marbled,
and the large two-colored. Of these they subse-
quently increased the number ; and from the stock
in the Perth garden, the nurseries both of Scot-
land and England were first supplied."— il/a^^a^me
of Horticulture.
FACTORY SPIDERS.
Lighting my candle before retiring to rest one
night, I witnessed a marvelous scene upon the
top of the flower-pot. When I first placed the very
tiny spiders upon the lump of clay they very
quickly disappeared, most of them taking posses-
sion of the mygalo's nest. During the day a few
watchers and patrols alone were to be seen ; but
when the candle was suddenly lit at night, from
thirty to forty of the spiders were seen busily en-
Now.I ca„ „„T1.g;ee with hi„, that „« lands I^J^tL" r™^^'Se'fltT;-pTi:;fd "o^^lhe"
'11 1"!"™.'"" _»l>oaM _ be plowed in the fall. In LVp of elay. The pinnacle of fhe ZirZ the
ray report to our county agricultural society some
years ago, I said, " We have not unfrequeiitly no-
ticed, in our travels through the county, that
some of our otherwise good farmers are in the
habit of plowing their silicious, loamy lands in
the fall, under the erroneous impression that the
soil is benefited by exposure to the frosts of win-
ter. On a soil of an opposite character, of an ar-
gillacous texture, where clay predominates, this
mode of husbandry is beneficial. On these the
frosts of winter have a tendency to render the
soil more permeable and less compact ; on the
other hand, a sandy soil will retain its adhesive-
ness and be more retentive of moisture, if plow-
ing IS omitted till the season for planting arrives."
In my subsequent experience I have seen no
cause for changing my opinions. c.
No. Pembroke, Mass., March, 1864,
PRODUCTIOK- OP DOUBLE FLOWERS.
The question is often asked concerning the
means by which double varieties of flowers are
produced. The means by which such efl!"ects are
produced are not very definite, and cannot be very
precisely stated. We can only say in general
terms, as we have already said, that they are pro-
duced by a long continuation of artificial applian-
ces. As an example of the successive steps by
which the wild Scotch Prickly Rose, or Burnet,
(f^osa spmosissima.) was converted into a fine, full
double rose, we will quote from the history of the
rose, by Mr. Sabine :
"The first appearance," he says, "of the double
Scotch roses, was in the nursery of Messrs. Dick-
son & Brown, of Perth. I am indebted to Mr-.
Robert Brown, one of the partners of the Firm,
tor the following account of their origin : In the
-_ pinnacle „. ^.v.>..^ „„., ^.t.
broken wing of a dady-long-legs which I had put
upon the top of the clay, fancying the spiders
would eat it. The weavers were divided into par-
ties of warpers and woofers, and were under the
superintendence of overseers. On receiving a
hint or touch from the uplifted fore-leg of an
overseer, a woofer ran swiftly down from the ])in-
nacle, laying threads from his spinnerets, and fas-
tening them to the rim of the flower-pot, and then
running quickly up again. The woofer thus lay
down eight threads every time he descended and
mounted up again. the moment the woofer
reached the top a warper was started off from the
opposite side of the pinnacle which he laid down by
travelling over the circuit of a comparatively long
crescent, or segment of a circle, which also de-
scended down as far as the outer edge of the
flower-pot. Thirty or forty tiny spiders, with
white bodies and fawn-hued legs, busy weaving on
factory or cooperative principles a "dome of the
finest silk, made up a scene never to be forgotten.
It revealed what is called "instinct" in a new and
startling form, for the faculty of cooperation un-
der overseers, woofers, and warpers, is, as far as
I can learn, a new fact in spider life. The project-
ing ends of grass roots and the like were skillful-
ly used to keep the canopy about all round away
from the clay. This fabric was seen, besides
other persons, by two members of the Brighton
and Sussex Natural History Society. It was so
fine that the unassisted eye looking straight upon it
could not see it, but when viewed at favorable an-
gles both warp and woof were clearly discernable,
and on very close ins])ection I discovered a few
little holes. _ One of the Brighton naturalists who
saw it says it resembled in shape "a scull cap ;"
and the other naturalist, although fresh from the
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
143
marvels of the International Exhibition, declared
it to he the "most singular structure he ever saw."
One day I put a fly upon the outside of the web,
to ascertain what the functions of spiders which
I have called Avatchers, and patrols really were ;
for there were three or four inside under the pin-
nacle, and as many outside, wandering about all
day. The instant I put the fly upon the tent one
of the patrols swiftly ran close up to it, and then,
seeing the fly was, relatively to itself, a huge ani-
mal, ran away again. — All the Year Hound.
For the AVfr Knsliit'il Fanner.
THE DOUGLAS AXE MANUFACTUBLRTG
COMPANY.
Half a century ago, I)ea. Oliver Hunt, an
estimable citizen of East Douglas, pursued the
humble calling of a blacksmith, occupying an or-
dinary looking shop, still standing on the princi-
pal street of the village. He was one of those
hard-working, thinking men, of whom our free
country has furnished innumerable instances, who,
by constant uttention to some ordinary operation,
have finally brought out an article positively su-
perior to all competition, and have achieved a
name and a fortune for themselves, at the same
time conferring an incalculable benefit upon the
public.
While attending to the usual duties of a coun-
try blacksmith, mending chains and carts, shoeing
horses, etc., he was frequently called upon to re-
pair a neighbor's axe, and succeeding well at this,
ne soon brought out an axe of his manufiicture,
and oflered it for sale. Henceforth the farmers
relied upon Dea. Hunt for their axes, and he, be-
ing encouraged by his success, soon sent a barrel
full of his axes to Providence for sale. Thus the
business was gradually established, and being en-
larged by his son, Dea. Wauren Hunt, the pres-
ent agent, continued to prosper until about the
year 1835, when the present company was incor-
porated.
The Company has a capital of $300,000 invest-
ed in the manufacture of axes and edge tools.
It is not only the oldest but the largest establish-
ment of its kind in the United Staies or the
world. Its works, whicii are three in number,
each comprising several shops, are situated on the
Mumford river, which furnishes abundant water
power. It uses 1200 tons of iron per annum,
about one-half of which is imported, and the re-
mainder obtained from Pembroke and other
places in America. It also uses 250 tons of cast
steel much of which is procured from the works
at Fitchburg. Its forges consume 1800 tons of
coal per annum.
To give a minute account of the various pro-
cesses which the material is subject to before it
arrives at the packing room a nicely burnished
axe, would require considerable jjractical knowl-
edge of the busmess, but the writer will endeavor
simply to commuTiicate some impressions which
were conveyed to his mind l)y a hasty walk through
the shops under the guidance of the obliging clerk
of the Company, Mr. Edwin Moore, to whom
he is indebted for much of the information com-
municated abovf.
There are four distinct processes in axe-mak-
ing, namely, Forging, Grinding, Tempering, Pol-
ishing.
1. Forginy. — The forging 8hoi)s are the largest.
and require a larger number of hands than either
of the others. The first operation witnessed was
cutting. A solid bar of iron, 10 or 15 feet in
length, was brought in contact with a knife-look-
ing instrument, operated in the same manner as
the trip hammer, which cut the \)d.r into pieces of
appropriate length for medium sized axes with as
much apparent ease as the sturdy farmer's wife
slices up the remnant of cold pudding that re-
mains after the Thanksgiving dinner, and with a
rapidity that is truly astonishing.
The pattern is then placed in the furnace and
steadily heated, after which it undergoes the pro-
cess of rolling, by which the eye is formed and
the pattern brought into such shape that a few-
strokes of the trip hammer and the perfecting of
the eye by a hand instrument, brings it into form
somewhat resembling an axe. The next workman
into whose hands it passes, and who is the fifth
operator upon it, completes the resemblance by
inserting in its open jaws a piece of steel taken
hot from the furnace, and constituting what is
called the bit. Afterwards it is welded, and ham-
mered, and smoothed, and after having been ex-
posed to the power of a long row of hammers of
different patterns, and having been in and out of
the furnace re])eatedly, it drops u])on the floor at
the opposite end of the room, looking full as
much like a finished axe as the one on exhibition
at the counting-room which Dea. Hunt hammered
out at the blacksmith shop over forty years ago.
Each workman places certain marks upon the
axe, by means of which any defect that may af-
terwards be discovered is easily traced back to its
author in the forging room.
2. Grinding is an operation with which every
one is more or less familiar and needs little ex-
planation. Tlie stones are of great size and re-
volve with great rapidity. The axe passes through
the hands of four grinders, one grinding the face,
another the sides, iJcc.
3. Tempering. — The axe is heated until cherry
red and then plunged into strong brine, from
which it is taken out as hard as glass and exposed
to another fire, where it slowly reveals the chang-
es it is undergoing by the varying colors which
a])pear upon its surface. First appears a brazen
hue, then a cojjper color, dark and light blue giv-
ing place to other beautiful hues, constantly vary-
ing, and indicating material changes in the tem-
per of the axe. When the well-known color ap-
pears that indicates the right temper, it is plunged
into a tub of cold water and the process ceases.
This is an operation requiring a discriminating
eye and a degree of skill to be attained only by
constant practice.
4. Polishing. — Wooden wheels are spread over
I with a thin coating of glue and then covered with
I coarse emery for the first operation. These wheels
i are made to revolve rapidly and the axes applied
to them in the same manner as to the grindstone.
For the second operation called rolling, oil and
emery are used, and for the last, which is called
i burnishing, very fine emery. Each workman pol-
; ishes about one hundred axes per day. The goods
are now taken to an upper room and marked with
the name of the Company ; the heads are paiuted,
and after drying, are packed in boxes by dozens,
I some with handles, and some without, and sent
I to market.
j Not less than twenty men have been employed
144
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
upon every axe before it reaches the packing room.
Most of the operatives are paid by the piece, each
room being under the charge of an inspector, who
exercises a general supervision over the operations
in his department. The process which has been
described applies to common chopping axes.
Among the other implements manufactured
may be mentioned adzes, hatchets, picks, mat-
tocks, knives, &c. Also the Spanish axe, an odd
pattern manufactured expressly for exportation to
Spain ; and the Spanish machetes, an implement
used in Cuba for cutting wild cane and also for
warfare. The latter are of various patterns, some
of them not entirely unlike a long Yankee cleaver,
with nice horn handles.
The Company manufactures nearly half a million
dollars' worth of goods annually, for which their
market is the world, orders being frequently re-
ceived, not only from the various countries of
Europe, but from Cuba, Australia, South America
and Africa. Viator.
For tfte New Enaiand Farmer.
CUTTITTG FEED FOR STOCK,
I notice an article in the Farmer on the sub-
ject of "Cutting Feed for Stock," and that you
invite others to give their views on this topic.
Without pretending to any superior wisdom on
this matter, I have become fully convinced in my
own mind, after some years of experience, that
the true course regarding this much discussed
question in relation to stock feeding is, that it
was only profitable to cut such fodder that the
animal will not devour readily and savingly and
digest thoroughly. All else is labor lost ; and
labor in these times is even more than money, we
know by experience, as money will not always
hire it.
For instance, I have a horse to winter, and
have for his winter feed a certain quantity of
ground feed and hay. A certain quantity of the
hay he will consume daily and economically un-
cut, and likewise the meal. If he is not too much
in years he will thoroughly masticate his hay,
which fact can be determined by the excrements ;
and the meal, of course, he will obtain the full
benefit of, as it is already ground. If his system
requires the meal to be wet, this, of course, can as
easily be done as though it were mixed with cut
hay. And in passing, allow me just to say, that
here is apt to be a mistake in regard to feeding
uncyt food — we are too likely to give it in a dry
state, and thence arises constipation.
If any of the advocates of cutting feed will give
me good, substantial reasons for cutting, under
the above circumstances, that is, when it is eco-
nomically eaten and well digested, I should be
gratified to hear them. But on the contrary,
there are numerous cases, I am confident, where,
to cut feed, would be highly practicable, — for in-
stance, where an aged animal has lost its power
of mastication, or where fodder is in such a poor
condition that it will not be eaten unless cut and
meal added to it. Or, perhaps, in high feeding,
where the animal will not partake of as much hay
as is desirable, the amount may possibly be in-
creased by cutting and adding meal to it. To
mefll these exigencies, every stock feeder should
own a good feed-cutter.
But when writers tell us that all fodder, under
all circumstances, should be cut before feeding, I
for one feel that theory does not at times, at
least, correspond with what practice teaches is
best. W. J. Pettee.
Salisbury, Conn.
SKIN" DISEASES IN" ANIMALS.
Scabies is a pestiferous disease, whether it af-
fects the horse, the ox, the sheep, swine, or poul-
try, inflicting a loss not easily estimated ; hence
the maxim of every intelligent farmer is to avoid
it. With him "prevention is better than cure,"
and therefore his grand desideratum is t6 guard
against contagion. Sheep are, perhaps, more sub-
ject to it than any of the other animals, arising as
much from the nature of their skins and coats as
from the fecundity of the acarus ovis, and the
greater vicissitudes of the weather to which they
(sheep) are exposed. Certain parts of the body
are more liable to be affected than others ; and so
is an unhealthy skin than a healthy one. Indeed,
it has been said that an unhealthy skin will itself
produce scabies{?), but this conclusion does not
appear to be w«ll founded, for a disease depend-
ent upon the presence of living parasites, can nev-
er arise spontaneously, but must be effected by
contagion, either by means of their eggs, or the
insect in some other stage of its existence.
Now from what has just been said, it will ap-
pear obvious that cleanliness, a healthy skin and
state of the body, and a separation from foul ani-
mals and ground, are the means necessary to
avoid contagion. — American Veterinary Journal.
Treatment of Croup. — IlaU's Journal of
Health says: Croup is an inflammation of the inner
surface of the windpipe. Inflammation implies
heat, and that heat must be subdued, or the pa-
tient Avill inevitably die. If prompt eff'orts are
made to cool the parts in case of an attack of
croup, relief will be as prompt it is surprising
and delightful. All know that cold applied to a
hot skin cools it, but all do not as well know and
understand that hot water applied to an inflamed
skin will as certainly cool it off. Hence the appli-
cation of ice-cold water with linen cloths, or al-
most boiling water with woollen flannel, is very
efficient in the cure of croup. Take two or three
pieces of woollen flannel, or two folds, large enough
to cover the whole throat and upper part of the
chest, put these in a pan of hot water as hot as
the hand can bear, and keep it thus hot by adding
water from a boiling tea-kettle at hand ; let two
or three of the flannels be in hot water all the
time, and one on the throat all the time, with a
dry flannel covering the wet one, so as to keep
the heat in to some extent; the flannels should
not be so wet when put on as to dribble the water,
for it is important to keep the clothing as dry as
possible, and keep up the process until the phlegm
is loose, the child is easier, and begins to fall
asleep ; then gently wrap a dry flannel over the
wet one which is on, so as to cover it up entirely,
and the child is saved. When it wakes up both
flannels will be dry.
Extensive Ditches. — W. A. Hopkins, of
Hampton Falls, N. H., has ditched on the marsh-
es of Hampton Falls, Seabrook and Hampton,
during the past 16 years, ditches that would reach
a distance of one hundred and seventy miles.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
145
KEPOBT OP HON. JOSEPH H. WBIQHT.
Gov. Wright, of Indiana, is one of the most
patriotic and distinguished gentleman of that
State. He is, also, one of the best agricultural
writers of the country. His address before the
New York State Agricultural Society, several
years ago, upon "The Grasses," taken, as a whole,
was the best address of the kind we ever have
seen. He was selected by the Government to at-
tend the International ExhU)ition at Ilamhurg as
a representative of this country in the important
interests to be presented and considered there.
His report to the President of the United States
is before us, from which we copy the follow ing in-
teresting paragraphs :
On my arrival at Hamburg, two weeks prior to
the opening of the exhibition, with a view to the
reception and proper management of American ar-
ticles, which had been sent forward in considera-
ble numbers, I found that the most ample ar-
rangements had been made for holding the exhi-
bition.
The extensive grounds (covering more than
eighty acres) were laid oft" with great taste and
liberality. Substantial sheds, halls and buildings,
were erected for the accommodation of more than
four thousand entries of stock. In addition to
this, space admirably adapted for machinery of all
kinds — locomotives, steam-engines, steam-plows,
farm implements, mineral products, artificial ma-
nures, plants, trees, flowers, fruits, seeds, and all
this, too, so beautifully arranged in the midst of
the flags of more than forty nationalities, as to
add to the comfort of the thousands assembled to
witness this the first international exhibition in
Northern Europe.
Eight of the States, to wit: New York, New
Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois,
Connecticut, Vermont, and Indiana, were repre-
sented by delegates from the States, or their agri-
cultural societies, who were received with your
commissioner with every token of respect and
consideration which could have been desired for
the representatives of our country.
Thirty-four nationalities were represented at the
exhibition in their contributions, including, among
other things, four thousand and one hundred of
the finest horses, cattle, sheep and swine, (several
of the reigning sovereigns of Europe being num-
bered among the contributors.) The show of
horses was over six hundred. Hanover received
the highest praise for the speed, size, elegance
and strength of her horses. She also divided the
honor with Great Britain in showing the best and
purest blooded cattle.
More than one thousand persons were contrib-
utors and competitors in this national contest for
superiority.
Three thousand machines and farm implements
were crontrilnited, and seventy-five steam-engines
of every variety were used in operating the power
and machinery. It was no show of mere art,
painting, design or fancy; but one oi' siib.stantials,
consisting mainly of stock and machinery.
The principal portion of the machinery came
from Great Britain ; none of which is more de-
serving of special attention that of plowing by
steam.
Some two thousand sheep were exhibited, com-
prising nearly all of the best breeds of Europe.
It is believed to have been the largest show of
fine wookd sheep of modern times. The great
nurseries of merinos of Prussia, Saxony and Si-
lesia, were fully represented, and the exhibition
was the. more interesting from the fact that near-
ly all of the continental breeds were present, som-
of them extensively, embracing also the bese
stocks from England. It afl'ords me great pleat
sure to state that George Campbell, of Westmin-
ster, Vermont, was most successful in competing
with the premium on merinos. He had three
hundred and fifty competitors, yet he had awarded
to him two first-class, and one second-class premi-
um. His success was most gratifying, and the
more so from the fact that the committee award-
ing to Mr. Campbell this well-deserved triumph
were unanimous in their opinion, and each mem-
ber composing the committee represented difl'er-
ent nationalities. Mr. Campbell sold his sheep
on the ground to Count Sherr Thoss, of Silesia,
for five thousand dollars.
The exhibition of American machinery and im-
plements received a great accession from a most
liberal donation, from several of the leading Ger-
man merchants, bankers and citizens, of the city
of New York, including a complete assortment of
agi'icultural implements. These, w'ith the pre-
mium reaper, contributed by Mr. McCwmick, in
connection with many other articles from other
American contributors, are to form the nneletis of
an agricultural museum, to be established in Ham-
Ijurg. This I regai'd as the most gratifying re-
sult attending this international exhibition to
American interests.
Several thousand dollars were subscribed be-
fore I left Hamburg for this object, and doubtless
it will be carried out by the well known liberality
of her citizens.
The establishment of this museum, or depot,
opens for all time to come a place of deposit for
American skill and products. Hamburg is the
third city of trade and commerce in Europe.
Hamburg is the key, not only to the great Ger-
man mind, but the open door-way to more than
one hundred and fifty millions of the people of
Northern Europe. With Hamburg we have rap-
id and almost daily communication, and it is dif-
ficult to estimate the advantage which will accrue
to our mechanical skill and industry, our manu-
factures, our commerce and trade, by the location
of a museum for their deposit in a city situated
like Hamburg, whose merchant princes hold in
their hands the immense trade of Prussia, Aus-
tria, Sweden, Denmark, portions of Russia and
the Zollverein States. Trade and commerce in-
variably bring together men tchose interests are af-
fected thereby ; men will follow the fruits of tJieir
labors to market.
How TO Gf:T Early Tomatoes. — Mrs. E. D.
Kendall, of Maryland, thus writes to the South-
ern Field and Fireside : "A good large turnip is
far better than any hot-bed for propagating early
tomatoes. Cut off the top, and scoop out to a
shell three-quarters of an inch thick. Fill the
cavity with rich mould, plant half a dozen seeds,
and place the turnip in a box of loam. Keep
warm, sprinkle with tepid water every day, until
there is no longer any danger from the frost, then
146
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
remove the turnip to the outdoor bed, and thin
out all but one [plant. Should the turnip send
out roots, pinch them off, and the shell will soon
rot, affording a fertilizer to the tomato plant that
will send it ahead wonderfully. A dozen turnips
tomatoized will afford an abundant supply of early
tomatoes for an ordinary family."
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
Churning by Horse Power— Grafting the Com-
mon Apple on the Crab Stock.
Some years since I saw in the Farmer an account of
the method of churning by horse power, as practiced
in Orange Co., New York. It is now gone from me,
and I wish to learn through the same medium, the
best method now practiced there or elsewhere ; wheth-
er by dasher or cranlc churn, and how large a quanti-
ty can profitably be churned at once ? ,
I have for two years past had one of A. W. Gray
& Son's horse powers, manufactured at Middletown,
Vt., with the rig for sawing wood with the cog-saw,
into bloclis ; also for thrashing. It worlds admirably,
the power being one-tliird easier for the horse than
any other kind in tliis vicinity.
i wish this spring to attach it to a churn adapted to
a dairy of from forty to fifty cows. The present scar-
city of laborers may lead others to a similar process.
I also wish to learn if the common apple, or its best
varieties, can be profitably cultivated on the crab ap-
ple stock. The crab apple is known to flourish in this
locality with all the hardiness of a forest tree; while
most attempts to cultivate otlier varieties prove abor-
tive. Stephen P. Joslin.
Waitsfiekl, Vt., March 4, 1864.
Diseased Sheep— Grafting the Butternut.
Can you, or any of your correspondents tell me
what to do for my sheep that are dying with what ap-
pears to be diarrhoea, or dysentery ? I have adminis-
tered the "Sheep's Cordial," recommended in Youatt's
Work on Sheep, but without any benefit. I cannot
lell whether their disease is dysentery or not, being
unacquainted with the diseases of sheep ; but they be-
gin to "scour," grow thin in flesh, their eyes assume a
glassy look, and they droop and die ; and no medicine
yet administered has the effect to arrest the disease.
If you, or any of your readers know of any cure I
should be glad to be informed through the columns of
the ^'■Farmer."
I would like also to inquire whether the common
butternut can be propagated by grafting, and by what
method. m. n. c.
Vernon, Vt., March, 1864.
Remarks. — We trust that some sheep master who
is acquainted with the symptoms described 1)y our
correspondent, will reply, and make such suggestions,
or give him such advice as will be of service to him.
We have never heard of the butternut tree being
grafted. It would be an easy matter to try it.
A Barren Quince Tree.
I would like to know what a quince tree is worth
after it has bloomed three years and not matured any
fruit ? Will it do to transplant, as it rests in a cold,
wet place, to engraft the pear on ?
I have heard it said that a limb of the quince cut in
as many pieces as it has buds on it, and planted, will
give as many trees, and that in three years they would
bear fruit. s. p.
Derrij, N. H., 1864.
Remarks. — A quince tree in the condition which
you describe, is probably worth nothing. On exami-
nation, it will probably be found defective at the
roots, cut by borers, or some of the main roots decayed,
perhaps, from standing in a wet and cold place.
The quince may be propagated by cuttings. They
should be planted in a shaded situation, early in the
sprirrr, where thev will root verv casilv.
Remioving Grape "Vines.
I have a number of grape vines standing in the field
where they have stood many a year. Would it be a
good plan to remove them to some select spot and cul-
tivate them, as they appear to be a very good grape ?
JDerry, N. H., March, 1864. s. p.
Remarks. — We do not recommend removing the
grape vines you speak of, but suggest putting down a
chestnut or locust stake, by the side of the root of one
of them. Let the stake be three or four inches in di-
ameter, two feet in the ground and six feet out. Tie
the vine up to this, after cutting away some of the ex-
treme ends. Next November trim the vines closely.
If each vine in the field is served in this way, it will
occupy but little room, be out of the way, and the la-
bor so trifling that it can be no objection.
This job being done, we would suggest that the pro-
prietor obtain some one of the best of our out-door
grapes, the Concord, for instance, and set it in a fa-
vorable place where it can climb upon some part of the
buildings. By keeping grass and weeds from it, giv-
ing it water occasionally, if the season is a dry one, and
a sprinkling of ashes, it will soon produce a surprising
amount of Iruit of excellent quality. When it is
trimmed in November the cuttings may be planted
where they are intended to stand, or covered in soil
until spring, when they may be planted out. In this
way the vines may be increased to any desirable ex-
tent.
How to Make Good Butter.
I saw in a paper the other day, some one complain-
ing of butter being tasteless. I have read a great deal
in the agricultural papers on butter-making, and there
has not one come up to my rule of making butter. I
will give it in short metre :
I shall not contradict anything that any one has
written, except the washing of the butter after it is
churned. I have made butter for my own tabic, and
some for market, the most of the time since 1820, and
I always have sweet ))utter. I do not wash it in cold
water nor put a drop near it ; I work out the butter-
milk, what I can, and then salt it, and set it in the
cellar till cool, then work it over, and if the butter was
warm when it came it will be necessary to work it
again and beat the pickle all out of it. In this way
you will find a sweetness in your butter that you do
not find in butter that is washed in cold water. If all
of the butter-makers would practice this method, and
salt it just enough to keep it, there would be no more
complaint of strong, tasteless butter. s. p.
Derry, N. H., 1864. -
For the New England Farmer,
CHOICE VEGETABLES.
It is very evident that there are many good va-
rieties of vegetables in obscure places, and in the
hands of those that will not take the trouble to
introduce them to the public, that would be very
desirable and useful for our tables. In this com-
munication it is designed to draw out these, if
possible, from their hiding places, while at the
same time the example is set by making mention
of what we think worthy of introduction that we
have grown.
Tomatoes.
About fifteen years ago I found a tomato plant
that was producing what I thought was very per-
fect fruit. I discarded all others, and have saved
the first ripe fruit every year since for seed. By
this care, I have always had since plenty of to-
matoes the first week in August. I plant them
in hot beds, between the 10th and 15th of April,
which is much later than others plant, yet get
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
147
them, bad as the season was last year, at the
usual time. They are a bright, crimson scarlet,
of medium size, and ripei\ all around to the stem,
having no hard lump as is too often the case.
Still, after all ray care, year after year, some plants
will yield small, round ones, showing a constant
disposition to go back to the original wild state.
Early Corn.
Some one introduced into the neighborhood a
variety of sweet corn that should have a place in
every good garden. If planted with thtf earliest
of common varieties it will come in six to ten
days ahead. It is very sweet, but small, the ears
never exceeding six inches in length ; therefore,
should only be ])lanted for the first ten days' use.
My journal for last year reads thus : Planted,
May 18t.h ; spindled, July 3d ; silked, July loth ;
pulled for table, Aug. 3d ; cut up perfectly ripe
for seed, Aug. 15th.
Beans.
I have found an early bean that pleases me very
much. It ripens ten days before the earliest that
I can find in the seed stores. It has the most
beautiful foliage of any bean that I am acquaint-
ed with, the leaves being large, very dark green,
and corrugated along the ribs. A short, thick
bush, and when quite small, it sends up above
the leaves a spike of flowers on which the first
pods* grow ; after these they grow amongst the
branches like others. It does not make a great
yield, if left to seed, but if picked for the table
is very prolific. It was planted, side by side, with
the long yellow six weeks. Record says : Plant-
ed, May 18th ; pod full size, July 6th ; gathered
for seed, Aug. 1st; Threshed, Aug. 11th; Long
yellow six weeks : Planted May 18th ; pod full
size, July 16th ; pulled for seed, Aug. 10th ; just
ten days difi"erence.
Peas.
I have been growing a pea the last two years
that 1 think strange has not been introduced to
the public before. It was sent from Maine to a
friend. It is really a bush pea, and wants but one
stalk in a foot ; this will fill the row one foot wide
and one foot high, each" stalk bearing from 40 to
50 pods, held firmly above ground. It is not
early as will be seen below. The pea is of the
largest size, sweet as the Champion, without its
tough skin. In 1862,1 got 50 peas, planted them
one foot apart ; lost eight by cut worms and other
casualties ; saved the whole for seed ; planted
them last year aitd got 2^ bushels of dry seed,
losing about the same per centage of plants as in
the first 50 ; a rate of increase not easily sur-
passed. They were planted April 15th ; full
grown, July 7th ; gathered for seed, July 21st.
Now I do not desire to go into the seed busi-
ness, nor to humbug the community with a tree
corn, or a Rohan potato speculation, but feeling
it wrong to let good things run out by neglect, as
they too often do, I have, by request of Messrs.
Hovey & Co., of Boston, raised some seed of the
tomatoes, corn and peas for their seed -store. I
shall plant all the beans I have of the kind men-
tioned above. If any one can beat the vegetables
I have described, please let it be known, or if
there are good things not generally known, of
any of the various things "wanted in a good gar-
den, let us know it and raise seed enough to give
them a start.
One thing I have tried to do, that is to get
more hardy, early and reliable melons. I have
taken great pains, but am not satisfied with the
result. They will have" strange freaks. Perhaps
some one is jjlanting year after year just what we
want, and does not know its value to others, or
will not take the trouble to introduce it. This
should not be. We should compare notes, and
the one that has got the best should make it
known and let it come out. Caleb Bates.
Kingston, Mass., March, 1864.
Remarks. — The suggestions made by our cor-
respondent are excellent, and should be regarded
by all. He sent us some of the peas last year
which he speaks of, but they came too late to se-
cure a fair trial. We intend to try the tomatoes
and beans.
TOBACCO CUIiTUHE.
In answer to various inquiries in relation to the
cultivation of Tobacco, we have prepared the fol-
lowing article on the subject, though we have
never had any- experience in it, and are obliged to
rely entirely on the statements of others. There
is no question that the culture of this plant is
profitable, and for that reason the farmers of New
England will give it thoughtful attention. For
ourselves, we have serious doubts about turning
our lands to the production of an article whose
use is needless if not positively deleterious, and
we shall not wish to be understood, in publishing
this article, as advocating the culture of tobacco.
Soil and its Preparation.
The soil best adapted to the Tobacco plant, is
a light, rich, sandy loam, and if possible newly
cleared. Next*to this, old ground highly ma-
nured, and well pulverized. The exposure should
be warm, and a good degree of moisture secured,
though wet, springy land is to be avoided.
The Plant Bed
Should be on newly-cleared land, as the young
plants will be much less troubled with weeds and
grass. It should be highly manured with strong
manure, well worked in, and made fine to the
depth of six inches or more. For convenience of
weeding, the bed should be not more three or four
feet wide. Sow to a square rod of ground a
table spoonful of seed, mixed with plaster, to se-
cure even sowing, and roll or tread the bed. The
sowing should be done as early as possible, after
the danger of a hard frost has passed. It is a
good plan to throw over the bed a covering of
brush, which helps retain the moisture in the soil,
is a safe-guard against frost, and also a protection
to the young plants against the intense heat which
sometimes attend our spring suns at noonday.
As soon as weeds appear they should be removed.
This is an important operation, and cannot be at-
tended to too early or too carefuUv.
148
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Mat
Transplanting.
This should not be done too early. Wait till
the plants are well rooted, and have good sized
leaves, or till about the middle of June. Some
cultivators recommend four feet apart each way as
the proper distance between the plants. Others
say rows three and a half feet apart and plants
two feet four inches apart in the row. The wider
distance is recommended ni order to give room to
cultivate with a plow without injury to the 'tender
roots. Set the plants carefully, drawing up the
earth a little around it. Mr. Beardslee, of Con
necticut, recommends the covering of the plants
with fresh-mown grass when they are first set, if
the weather is sunny and warm. In a week or so
it may be removed. Mr. Crafts, of Whately, re-
commends hay run through the cutting machine.
Cultivating and Worraing.
Prom the time the plants are set, the weeds
should be eradicated, and the worms destroyed,
such as cut the stems
and gnaw the leaves
when the plants are
first set out. They
may be found just be-
low the surface, near
_^the injured plants.
'Clean culture must
be strictly adhered to
by all who would suc-
ceed in growing a re-
munerating crop. A
successful grower in
the valley of the Con-
necticut, recommends that the weeds should be
cut up without stirring the soil much below the
surface, in order to avoid
injuring the rootlets. A
light hoe, such as can be
made of a saw-plate, and
ground to an edge, and kept
sharp, is a fit implement to
destroy weeds among the
growing plants of tobacco.
A week after the plants are 5,
set the cultivator may be run between the rows-
After the plant attains much size, such a hoe as
described, and the fingers, are the most useful im-
plements for weeding, wonning and topping the
plants. ^^ Clean Culture" is the motto of every
successful tobacco grower, — especially is it so on
all lands that have been manured from the barn-
yard, and cropped for many years.
The plants must be carefully watched from the
time of setting to the time of harvesting, to pro-
tect them from the ravages of the cut-worm and
the tobacco-worm, the latter being the larva of
SpMnx Carolina, the moth being of a gray color.
The worm is large when grown, of green color,
with a horn-like caudal appendage, and is a very
disgusting looking creature. It requires the great-
est vigilance to preserve the plants from being in-
ji>red by tobacco-worms. Morning and evening
should the plants be examined, and both the
worms and the eggs of the moth should be de-
stroyed by the thumb and fingers. Be vigilant in
worming, or else many of the beat leaves of the
plants will be ruined for wrap])ers. This may be
done by faithful boys, gh-ls and women.
The following cut represents a perfect tobacco
plant, in full blossom : —
Topping.
A Connecticut grower says, "Top when the
majority of the plants are ready to blossom, leav-
ing ten or twelve leaves below." Another says,
"Let as many of the plants blossom as possible
without forming seed. Then break oflF to a good
leaf. There is more danger of topping too high
than too low." A Cuban grower says, "When
the plants have from twelve to fourteen good
leaves, and are about knee-high, begin to top by
nipping off the bud with the thumb and finger,
taking care not to injure the leaves near the place
of topping ; for in a good season the top leaves
will grow nearly as large and ripen as soon as the
lower ones." The cut shows a plant ready to top.
The general average in Cuba is from twelve to
fourteen leaves to a plant, and the writer adds
that when "from sixteen to eighteen can be ob-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
149
tained," it is desirable to do so. Those who en- | remain in the sun, or open air, until the leaves
gaf e in topping should immediately, when they j are somewhat wilted, so as not to be liable to in-
pause in the work, wash their hand's, as the acrid i jury, as when just cut. Then place as many
juice of the plant will produce soreness of thumb plants on a pole as can be conveniently carried,
and fingers. The cut below shows a plant nearly
mature.
Suckering.
Suckers, which may start from every leaf, should
be removed from the plant as soon as they ajipear
after top])ing. Like worming, it must be prompt-
ly and faithfully done, and may be done in con-
nection with worming, provided both can be equal-
ly well done at the same visitation. It would be
quite im])ossil)le for all employees to do both
equally well at the same time. Let the grower
dictate as to this matter according to his experi-
ence. So important was suckering formerly re-
garded in Virginia, and so surely is it that suck-
ers injure the quality of the tobacco, that at one
time penal laws were enacted to prevent negli-
gence in this respect. Below is a cut of a plant
that needs suckering.
and remove them to the drying-house, where the
tobacco is hung upon the frames prepared to re-
ceive it, leaving a small space between the two
plants, that air may circulate freely and promote
drying. As drying advances, the stalks may be
brought nearer together, and thus make room for
more." The following cut shows the mode of
hanging tobacco on poles.
Harvesting.
Says a Cuban grower, "Tobacco should never
be cut before coming to maturity, which is known
by the leaves becoming mottled, coarse, and of a
thick texture, and gummy to the touch, at which
time the end of the leaf, by being doubled, will
break short, which it will not do to the same ex-
tent when green. It should not be cut in wet
weather (nor immediately after a rain, if it can be
avoided,) when the leaves lose their gummy sub-
stance so necessary to be preserved. . . . The
grower should be on his guard not to destroy the
quality of his tobacco by cutting it too soon.
AVhen the cutting begins, a quantity of forked
stakes are set upright with pules thereon to sup-
port the tobacco and k^ep it from the ground.
Cut the plants obhquely even with the ground.
The person employed should sU-ike the lower end
of the stalk of the plant two or three times with
the blunt side of his knife, so as to rid it as much
as possible from sand and dirt ; then tie two
stalks together and place them carefully across
the poles prepared to receive them. Thus they
"In drying tobacco," says a Cuban grower, "all
damp air should be excluded, as should be dry-
ing winds. Drying should be moderately pro-
moted, except in rainy weather, when the sooner
the drying is effected the better ; for it is a plant
easily affected by the changes of the weather af-
ter the drying is begun. In damp weather it is
liable to mildew, changing the color of the leaf
to a pale yellow, and from this to a brown. When
the middle stem is perfectly dry, it can be taken
down and the leaves stripped from the stalk and
put in bulk to sweat. This is^to make tobacco of
them ; for before this process, when a concentra-
tion of its better qualities takes place, the leaves
are always liable to be affected by the weather,
and cannot well be considered as being anything
but common leaves partaking of the nature of to-
bacco, but not actually tobacco. The leaves are
to be stripped from the stalks in damp or cloudy
weather, when they are more easily handled and
the separation of the different qualities rendered
easy. The good leaves are kept by themselves
for 'wrappers' or 'caps,' and the defective ones for
'fillings.' "
Paoli Lathrop says, "It will be fit to harvest
two or three weeks after topping. Cut it and let
it lie on the ground till it is wilted sufficiently to
handle without breaking the leaves, avoiding too
much exposure to the sun, for sunburning ren-
ders the leaf as worthless as if frost-bitten. When
removed from the field to the building for curing,
it is passed from the load by one man to another,
who hangs it by tying the twine round the first
plant, and running it over the pole, then,. with
one turn of the twine, secures every plant till the
pole is filled, then fastens the twine. If the pole
is twelve feet long, hang from thirteen to fifteen
plants on each side and place the poles eighteen
inclies apart from centre to centre. For the first
few days after it is housed, give it plenty of light
and air to guard against sweat, which would cause
great injury. When all danger from this source
is past, keep the building closed, and let the to-
bacco hang till the stems of the leaves are well
tm
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
cured. It must thus remain until the weather is
damp enough to make it soft and pliable. Then
it may be cut down b}' one and passed to another,
who packs it in a double row, tip to tip, as seen
in the following cut :
"When thus packed, it should be well covered
with straw or cornstalks to prevent drying. Strip
it soon after it is taken down, and be careful it
does not heat while piled as above. Make two
qualities by putting the lower and other poor
leaves in bands by themselves." Some make
three grades, the best leaves usually being those
on the middle of the stalk.
In harvesting, some growers begin when a ma-
jority of the plants are ripe, and cut clean as they
go; others begin earlier, and cut as it ripens.
Both ways have their advantages and their disad-
vantages. As in this respect, so in others, good
growers differ in regard to points of culture and
cui'ing, every man whose mind is engaged in his
business profiting from his own annual observa-
tion and experience.
In stripping, a sufficient number of leaves is
tied together to form a "ba?id," and the leaves are
bent over, forming a head, around which a wrap-
per is wound and tied. These are laid in piles,
the bent ends outward, which, after a few days,
will be ready to pack. In Maryland, Virginia,
and Kentucky, tobacco is packed in hogsheads, in
Massachusetts and Connecticut, in boxes, and
thus sent to market.
We are indebted to Mr. Wm. L. Bradley, of
No. 24 Broad Street, for the use of the accompa-
nying cuts, and for many of the suggestions we
have given, Mr. Bradley has originated a Tobac-
co Fertilizer, to promote the early and rapid
growth of the plants, which has received the high-
est recommendations from some of the Connecti-
cut Valley farmers. We shall give, in another ar-
ticle, some plans of drying houses.
For the New England Farmer.
CANKEB WOBMS.
Mr. Brown : — An article in Harper's Maga-
zine for February, in treating of the "Geometer,
or Measuring Worm," makes a very strange mis-
take as to the time when the eggs of the creature
are deposited upon the trees.
The writer, at the outset, calls the geometer
"the insect which has, of late years, become so great
an annoyance by its destruction of shade and fruit
trees." He adds, "it is a melancholy sight to see
a tree upon which they have done their work.
One would think that a fire had passed over it
and robbed it of its life and glory."
This language clearly indicates the can'ke'^
worm, which is such a pest among us. But this
insect is 7iot "produced from an egg which is de-
posited mainly in July," as the writer asserts.
The eggs of the canker worm are deposited at any
time, between the last of October
and the first of May in the follow-
ing year, when the state of the
ground is such that the female,
which matures beneath the sur-
face, can escape, and ascend the
body of the tree.
One or two varieties of the
measuring worm, do, I think,
spring from eggs deposited in Ju-
ly. But these are not the canker
worm, nor closely allied to it ; nor
do these ever "create destruction
among the fruit trees." The mistake of the writ-
er arises from confounding the two members of
the same family, one of which does all the mis-
chief, while the other is harmless.
By the way, now that it occurs to me, last night
and the night before, (March 9th and 10th,) I
found the trunks of my apple trees swarming
with the canker worm millers, (the males,) but
not a solitary female could I discovei*. Does not
this seem to indicate what some claim to be the
fact, that the males are not perfected under the
ground, while the females we know are ? On ex-
amination I found frost still in the ground, at a
depth of four or five inches, though there was but
a thin crust left. Were the millers waiting for
the appearance of their wingless companions ?
It really seems so.
I shall send you before long the result of some
experiments upon the creature during the past
fall and winter. W. Guild.
Newton, March 11, 1864.
Remarks. — We shall be glad to hear from our
correspondent ft-equently.
J^or the New England Farmer.
AATILD PARSNIPS.
I have purchased a farm on which there are
some wild parsnips. Being about to leave the
business of selling goods for that of tilling the
soil, and being a constant reader of your inter-
esting paper, I thought you might give me some
information how to get rid of the miserable stuff.
S. W. Pollard.
Addison, Vt, March 1, 1864.
Remarks. — The wild parsnip is also known
under the name of "cowbane," and is a danger-
ous plant to have about. It is reported to be an
I active poison, particularly to horned cattle, when
eaten by them ; and therefore, every farmer ought
to be interested in knowing the plant and causing
it to be eradicated from his fields.
If it is not very plenty, it should be pulled out
just as fast as it appears, and is large enough to
get a fair hold of it. If it is abundant, we know
of no way of extermmating it except by plowing
and cultivating the ground.
Where parsnip seed is raised, it ought not to
be allowed to scatter over the ground and be
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
151
blown about by the wind over the fields, as it soon
de<^enerates into the wild form, and then becomes
a troublesome plant.
VEGETABLE QABDEM".
There is nothing so acceptable as early vegeta-
bles, and one of the most useful aids to this is a
hot-bed. Every amateur should have one, as ev-
ery well regulated horticultural establishment re-
gards it as one of its most essential features.
Not only is heat generated by manure more fa-
TOKible to vegetation than that from any other
kind of heat usually applied, but the manure it
self, after being so "employed, seems better tha
that preserved any other way. We would soonei
have one load of hotbed manure for horticultural
purposes, especially for pot plants generally, than
iwo of the same kind of manure that had not been
so emploved.
A south-eastern aspect is best for a hot-bed,
and it should be well sheltered from winds on the
cold quarter.
The foundation for the hotbed should be about
eii^hteen inches wider than the frame to be set on
it^Nvhen finished, and the manure regularly laid on
till about the height of three feet has been ob-
tained, when the frame may be set on. It is not
well to tram]) the manure too heavily, or the heat
will be too violent. Sometimes the manure is very
"strawy," in which case it should be watered with
drainage from the manure heap, or the heat will
bs "a good time coming," when it would be very
inconvenient to "wait a little longer."
If the ground is dry, the soil may be dug out
about afoot in depth'; but for very early forcing
it is best to have the whole above ground, as when
sunk, the cold rain or thawing snow collects in
the pit and cools the materials.
The sashes for hotbeds are usually six feet long,
and about three feet wide, costing from $2 to
$2.50, glazed and finished. The frame should
be about 2^ feet high at back, and 1 in front —
steeper at the back, if anything.
To make a hotbed, long stable manure should
be employed, and if it can be turned a couple of
times, before heating violently each time, before
permanently using, the more regular will be the
ieat in the "bed, and the longer it will last. _
When the manure and frame are both fixed, a
half inch of soil should be thrown over the ma-
nure under the sash to absorb the gross gases that
would else be too strong. For a few da\ s after,
the heat will l)e too violent, but when the ther-
mometer indicates a temperature of 90"^, opera-
tion may Ijegin ; but the usual aim is 70°. When
the bed shows signs of getting below this, linings
of stable manure must be applied round the
frames, one and a half feet thick, and if boards,
shutters, mats, or any similar material can be
spread over these linings, the heat will be main-
tained much longer.
Having secured the hotbed, Dahlias, Annuals,
Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Peppers. Eggplants, and
many other interesting things, can be started, by
which we may get several weeks ahead of our
neighbors in the enjoyment of vegetable luxuries,
and when done with the bed in May, it will be
the very place for Gloxinias, Achimenes, and
many other beautiful house plants which delight
in a warm, moist heat. — 'Die Gardener's Muntldy.
For the Sew En<;land Farmer.
"SEEDING LAND TO GBASS."
Messk.s. Editors: — It is now generally ad-
mitted that our most valuable grass lands are our
low meadows and reclaimed swamps — rich in the
accumulated vegetable deposits of ages. On
these many farmers noM' rely for their main crop
of English hay, particularly in a season of drought.
Having subdued those fields by cultivation, or
otherwise, the question is as to the best method
of fitting them for a grass crop. In the first place
I would recommend a good and sufficient ditch
through the lowest ])art of the field ; then lay out
the bays two rods wide leading from the upland
to the main ditch. In the fall, when your ground
is in projier condition, commence plowing in the
centre of the first bay and turn back furrows un-
til you reach the second bay, then commence
again in the centre of that bay and back furrow
as before, and so on through the lot. The dead
furrows between the bays can then be cleaned
out, and these will be sufficient ditches to carry
off all the surplus water into the main ditch.
Now cart on a sufficiency of good compost ma-
nure, composed of barn manure, soil and sand
harrow, sow the grass seed and roll.
This method I have practic^nl for many years
with good success, and find very little more in-
convenience than I should with covered drains,
and with much less expense. The ditches are
very easily kept clear ; the bays are crowned by
back furrowing ; the surplus water runs into the
main ditch. I find my account in giving those
bays a generous to]) dressing of good compost
manure as often as once in three years. c.
North Pembroke, March, 1864.
CULTURE OF THE PARSNIP.
The parsnip is one of the most valuable roots
that can be grown. In the island of Jersey it is
used almost exclusively for fiittening both cattle
and swine. According to Le Conteur the weight
of a good crop varies from thirteen to twenty-sev-
en tons per acre. When parsnips are given to
milch cows, with a little hay, in the winter sea-
son, thebutter is found to be of as fine a color and
excellent fiavor as when the animals are feeding in
the best pastures. As parsnips contain sin per
cent, more mucilage than carrots, the difference
may be sufficient to account for the superior fat-
tening as well as butter-making quality of the
parsnip. In the fattening of cattle the parsnip is
ibund superior to the canot, performing the busi-
ness with more expedition and afi'ording meat of
exquisite and highly juicy flavor ; the animals eat
it with much geediness. The result of experi-
ment has shown that not only in neat cattle, but
in the fattening of hogs and poultry, the animals
liecome fat much sooner, and are more healtliy
tlian when fed with any other root or vegetable,
and that, beside, the meat is more sweet and de-
licious. The parsnip leaves being more bulky
than those of carrots, may be mown ofl' before
taking the roots, and given to oxen, cows or
horses, by which they will be greetlily eaten. An-
other thing in favor of ])arsnips for this country
is, tliat tl>e frost does not injure tliem. Tliey may
remain in the ground until s])iiiig, when they
make si)lendid feed, at a time every otiier kind of
root or green thing is scarce, or they may be
152
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
slightly buried, where they can be obtained al-
most aiiy time during the winter. On account of
their rapid growth when young, the weeding is
less trouble than weeding carrots. — Excliange.
H-E"W ENGLAND AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY.
Being unable to attend the meeting of New
England agriculturists at Worcester, on Wednes-
day, March '2d, we cannot give so full particulars
of the formation of the New England Agricul-
tural Society as we desire to do. We shall
take an early occasion to speak of its prospects
and opportunities of benefiting the agricultural
community.
The Society was organized by the choice of the
following officers :
■ President — George B. Loring, of Salem.
Vice-Presidents— Ezekiel Holmes, of Winthrop,
Me. ; Frederick Smyth, of Manchester, N. H. ;
Daniel Kimball, of Rutland, Vt. ; William H.
Prince, of Northampton, Mass. ; T. S. Gould, of
West Cornwall, Conn. ; Amasa Sprague, of Cran-
ston, R. I.
Secretaries — Charles L.Flint, of Boston, Mass. ;
Henry Clark, of Poultney, Vt.
Treasurer — Thomas Saunders, Brookfield, Vt.
TRUSTEES.
Maine — Samuel F. Perley, of Naples ; John F.
Anderson, of South Windham ; C C. Chamber-
lain, of Foxcroft ; T. S. Lang, of North Vassal-
boro' ; WiUiam D. Dana, of North Perry.
New Hampshire — Joseph B. Walker and Moses
Humphrey, of Concord ; S. W. Buffum, of Win-
chester; Nathaniel Hubbard, ofTamworth; Nich-
olas V. Whitehouse, of Rochester.
Vermont — Col. Daniel Needham, Queechy ;
George Campbell, Westminster; Edwin Ham-
mond, Middlebury ; Ebenezer Bridge, of Pom-
fret ; A. M. Clarke, of St. Albans.
Massachusetts — C. 0. Perkins, Becket; Paoli
Lathrop, of South Hadley ; H. H. Peters, South-
boro ; S. B. Phinney of Barnstable ; A. W. Dodge
of Hamilton.
Rhode Island — Edward D. Pearce, East Provi-
dence ; William Goddard, Warwick ; Alfred B.
Chadsey, of Wickford ; James De Wolf Berry,
of Bristol ; Thomas B. Buffum, of Newport.
Connecticut— J. G. Webb, of New Haven:
Benjamin Sumner, of Woodstock ; Robbins Bat-
tel, of Norfolk ; E. M. Adger, of Middletown ;
C. M. Pond, of Hartford.
The meeting was attended by about 150 of the
leading farmers of New England.
Physiological Phenomenon. — The New
York Post has the following interesting item :
A lady of this city, noted fur the acuteness and
accuracy of her observation of life and society
bears her testimony to a remarkable physiologi-
cal fact, owing to moral causes, which is worth
stating for the purpose of its being verified. She
affirms that of the births taking ])lace in this city,
those which occur in families whose attachment
to the Union is decided and zealous are mostly
boys, while in families in which there is a decided
sympathy for the secession cause they are girls.
For the New £n^land Farmer.
SOME EXPERIMENTS -WITH COE'S SU-
PERPHOSPHATE OF LIME.
I am an interested reader of the Farmer (Month-
ly.) The articles that interest me most are those
giving the result of carefully tested experiments.
And as others of your readers may be equally in-
terested, I will give them, through your columns,
some of my experience with Coe's Superphosphate
of Lime.
Experiment No, 1.
In 1859 I was induced by the representations
of a friend, of the benefit he had derived from the
use of Coe's Superphosphate of Lime, to purchase
a bag of it, containing one hundred and twenty-
five pounds, which I used mostly for corn, putting
about one tablespoonful in a hill, and then put a
shovelful of compost manure on top of it — with
the exception of two rows in which I did not put
compost — and planted with Dutton corn. The
seed where there was no compost in the hill did
not come up as soon as the other by about a
week, and did not grow much until July, wdien it
took a start and grew rapidly. At harvest time
there was but very little difference. Perhaps I
should state that I plowed in a light coat of ma-
nure. I had a few pounds of the Lime left which
I applied to ruta bagas, putting one-third to one-
fourth of a tablespoonful in a hill with the seed.
But little of the seed came up ; those grew to fair
size. The next season I sowed the land to bar-
ley and grass. I could see the hills where the
Lime was put the previous season, in the grain,
which grew more rank there. It was also per-
ceptible in the grass the following season.
Experiment No. 2.
In 1861, not having a sufficiency of suitable
manure to put in the hill to start my corn, I re-
solved to try Coe's Superphosphate of Lime on
half an acre. The ground was mostly sward land,
plowed a few days before planting, manured
broadcast with new stable manure, and plowed
under, with the exception of a strip about a rod
in width on one side, where I spread the manure
on top of the furrows and harrowed it in. I put
one tablespoonful of the Super])hosphate in each
hill — with the exception of two rows in which I
put but half as much — covered about half an inch
deep with the soil, and planted the corn. The
seed came up well, and for a week looked -prom-
ising ; but where there was no manure spread on
the surface, it then began to look yellow, and the
ends of the leaves died. Upon pulling up some
of the plants the tap root was found to be dead.
There were some hills that grew well, and some
hills would have one or two stalks that grew well,
but the yield was very light. There was no per-
cejjtible difference to myself, or others whose at-
tention I called to it, between the rows where I
])ut a spoonful, and those where I put but half.
But the corn upon the strip manured on top of
the furrows, and also one corner that was planted
the previous season, grew well. What made the
difference ? It was not because the Superphos-
phate was different, for the rows ran across the
two parts. Of some half a dozen lots that came
under my observation, the result was the same in
every case. Where the stable manure was plowed
in on sward land, and Coe's Superphosphate put
in the hill, the corn proved almost a failure, caus-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
153
ing the loss of several acres in my vicinity.
Experiment No. 3.
I resolved to make one more trial of Coe's Su-
perphosphate, and mark the result more particu-
larly. In 1862 I prepared a piece of land for
corn, plowing in new stable manure. I then put
a tablespoonful of Coe's Superi)hosphate and one-
third to one-half a shovelful of well-rotted stable
manure in a hill, on all the piece, with the excep-
tion of two rows in which I put the same quanti-
ty of manure without the Superphosphate, ard
marked them. There was not any perceptible
difference between the corn in those rows and
those beside them that had Superphosphate in the
hill, while growing. I harvested and weighed
the corn of the two rows without, also two with
Su{>€rphosphate in the hill, one row on each side
next to the two without the Lime, with the fol-
lowing results :
With lime in the hill, 140 lbs. large corn, 19 small 159
Without do. " " 135 " " " 20 " 135
Upon another piece I tried a like experiment,
excepting there was no manure spread broadcast
— sward land manured in the hill only. The fol-
lowing is the result :
With superphosphate of lime, 113 lbs. large, 34 small 147
Without " " " 108 " " 38 " 146
The following is the result of an experiment
with potatoes. A fair portion of stable manure
plowed in ; a spoonful of Superphosphate put in
all the hills but two rows, in which I put but half
as much. Result of weight in harvest :
A spoonful in a hill, 117 lbs. lavse, 36 small 153
Half-spoonful " 112 " " 36 " 148
My land is a clay soil on a clay pan. Others
in this vicinity have used Superphosphate with
much better results. A friend tried it upon a
piece of poor gravel soil that had been formerly
cultivated, and then pastured until it would bear
but very little feed ; planted it with Jackson
White potatoes, using no manure but a spoonful
of Coe's Superphosphate in a hill, and got a fair
crop. He has used it for corn, also, with good
results. His cattle are inclined to chew bones,
while ours seldom do so. Is it not because his
soil is deficient in that property to a greater de-
gree than mine, that lie gets so much better re-
sults from Superphosphate ? J. L. P.
Notihampton, N. H., March, 1864.
Remarks. — To us — with all our reading, ob-
servation, and the actual experiments of several
years — this matter of the use of specific fertilizers,
as they are called, is still involved in mystery.
Similar experiments have often occurred in our
own neighborhood, where the results have been
utterly unlike and entirely beyond any reasona-
ble explanation that could be given. One thing,
however, seems to us to be well settled, viz., that
it will not answer to depend upon any of the spe-
cific fertilizers, alone, for a profitable crop. But
we have heard of exceptions to this. There is no
doubt but that a large crop can be secured from
them without the agency of other manure, but
there are many doubts whether it would be a
profitable crop. Financially speaking, it is of no
use to make "two spears of corn or grass to grow-
where only one grew before," unless we can do it
profitably — that is, that it shall return to us more
than it costs. The same rule is applicable to the
specific fertilizers.
EXTRACTS AND REPLIES.
Time for Sowing Barley.
Can you tell the best time to sow barley ? Some
say it sown too early, it is liable to injury by late frosts.
Matisjield, March, 1864. e. C.
Remarks. — The time of sowing barley, as with all
other grains, must depend, in some measure, upon the
condition of the soil. If the weather appears settled,
and the soil is in a crumbling, or pulverulent condi-
tion, barley may t)e sown as soon as the 20th of April,
and any time afterward to the lOth of May. The rule
should he, the sootier the better, if the ground is in good
condition.
Feeding Rye to Sheep.
Can you, or any of your correspondents, tell me
whether rye is good for sheep before and after drop-
ping their lambs ? And if so, how much per day ?
A Readeb.
East Hardicick, Vt., March, 1864.
Remarks. — We have had no experience in feeding
rye to sheep, and must leave the information desired
to be furnished by those who have.
Culture of Onions.
I read a piece in the Farmer of Sept. 26, on raising
onions, by Mr. Horace Ware, of Marblehead. The
writer goes on to say, — This season Mr. Ware has 14
acres of onions and they would yield five hundred
dollars per acre. Now, you would do me and the
public a great favor to let us know how the thing is
done ; that is, how the land is fitted, how and when
sown, what quantity of seed per acre, and how to save
them from worms.
The best remedy against the onion worms that I
know of, is to dig the dirt all away from the onions,
so that they will fall down flat on the ground. If you
know anything better let us have it. But please let
us know how Mr. Wade raises onions, for he must be
a workman at the business.
Samuel T. Danforth.
WilUamstown, March, 1864.
Remarks. — We are not able to give the details re-
quired, but hope Mr. Wake will oblige us and the
public, by giving us, for publication in the Farmer,
the iniormation asked for.
A Good Example for Biddiea.
Jas. F. Bramer, of Holliston, has a Brahma pullet
who began to lay Nov. 21, 1863. She was then six
months old. For her first litter she laid 23 eggs, the
second litter 21 eggs, the third litter 30 eggs, and still
laying. The whole weight of her eggs is 9 pounds 14 ;
ounces. I thought these facts might interest some of!
the readers of your valuable paper. The weight of
this pullet is 8 pounds. Cackle.
Scours in Sheep.
I send you a few statements for the benefit of your
correspondent from Vernon, relative to his sick sheep,
that are dying with the dysentery. This is a disorder
we have not had in this section, as yet, but we are
having many cases of what is termed the stretches,
that often proves fatal. This disease is a stoppage of
the flow of urine, produced by an inflammation on the
kidney, [or on the lining membrane of the ureter,
which conveys the urine to the bladder. I prepare a
medicine, (which is also for the human species in both
of the above complaints,) which I use with perfect
success. The one for kidney complaint, I have given
to sheep with stretches in my neighborhood, without
a single failure. The one for dysentery and diarrhoea
has not been known to fail in one instance, when used
154
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
in the human species. Why should not this medicine
apply to sheep equally as well as the other ?
Washington, Vt., March 27, 1864. H. P. Gale.
1 saw an inquiry for a remedy for scouring sheep,
by "W. N. C," of Vernon, Vt., to be sent through
the columns of the Farmer. My method of treating
such sheep is, to take raspberry leaves and hemlock
bark, steep them together and give H pint three times
a day. I have tried this with my sheep, and never
knew it to fail. The remedy is simple and certain.
Benton, N. H., 1864. w. c. w.
IN" CpUWCIIi WITH THE HlLLSBORO',
N. H., FAKMEKS.
Some of the farmers in the southern pajt of
Hillsboro' county, New Hampshire, having invit-
ed us to meet them and discuss some of the mat-
ters of general interest pertaining to their avoca-
tion, we went to Amherst on Monday last in com-
pany with Dr. Joseph Reynolds, of Concord,
and found the people assembled in the Town Hall
when we arrived, at about 8 o'clock, P. M. No
special subject for discussion having been previ-
ously suggested, it was decided to adopt the fol-
lowing : What course is it for the inta'est of the
farmer to pursue, under the preseiit circumstances
of war and high prices ? The discussion was en-
tered into with zeal, soon became animated, and
many striking facts and suggestions were present-
ed and enforced. Dr. Reynolds spoke about
twenty minutes with energy and directness, and
adduced reasons why the farmer should not stay
his hand in producing the crops that must not
only supply our home wants, but which are also
indispensable in sustaining our brave armies that
have been sent into the field. He thought it the
duty of the farmer to extend his labors rather than
abridge them, under this state of things. That
he should hire his usual help and pay the ad-
vanced price of wages, and trust, for remunera-
tion, to the higher prices which his products will
be likely to bring in market. He said,
When a man attempts to speak to his fellow-
citizens, his mind almost instinctively reverts to
the subject that is in all our hearts and in all our
thoughts — our country, torn, distracted, bleeding
at every pore. We have now become so hard-
ened, by familiarity, that we can think and talk,
more calmly, and with less excitement, than at
first ; but we never, for a moment, forget it ; we
carry the burden wherever we go, and think of it
whatever we do. We have reference to it in all
our business arrangements. When we buy or
sell, we are reminded of it, by war prices. If
we propose to hire a laborer, the question occurs
at once, whether we can afford to pay his price ;
whether we had not better let our land lie fallow,
and barely cultivate enough to feed our families.
Every thoughtful, and sensible, and patriotic man
has come to the conclusion, or will soon do so,
that he can best serve his country, and assist in
completing the great work on our hands, by pur-
suing skilfully and energetically, the industrial
avocation in which he is engaged. Large sup-
plies of mechanical and farm products are want-
ed, not only to supply our wants at home, but to
supply the warns of the armies in the field. Meat
and meal, flour and wool, are as much material of
war as powder and ball, and guns and swords,
and the war can no more be carried on without
the one than the other, and it is the business and
the duty of the farmer to supply the former, as it
is the business and the duty of the soldier to use
the latter. If we had money, and could supply
the government with all it wants, this would not
feed the armies. They want beef and poik, and
flour and corn, and must have them, and we must
supply them. If labor is high, we must cultivate
more skilfully, and then make the labor more
productive. We must use more machinery and
more animal power. We must make the horse
do the labor that has been done by human hands.
Mark out the field, and drop your potatoes in a
row, and cover them by turning a furrow with
your horse, on to each side of the row. In this
way, a horse and one man will plant faster than
two men can in the usual way. Then use the cul-
tivator between the rows, and in the autumn use
the potato digger. Plant your corn with the corn
planter, drawn by the horse. Use the drill to
sow your seeds, even your wheat and millet, and
you will plant not only more rapidly and cheaply,
but will get larger crops. Thus the high price of
labor will introduce better and cheaper methods
of culture. There will be more farm machinery
used this year than ever before. Farmers will
use the best tools they can find. The manufac-
turers of the Buckeye mowing machine could not
fill their oi'ders last year, but fell behind several
hundreds of machines, and there will be more
wanted this year than last.
He did not mean that every farmer should try
to raise every kind of crop. Let each raise that
crop which he can raise best ; that which is best
suited to his soil, or which he is best prepared to
cultivate. Immense quantities of beans and oats
are wanted, and bring high prices. They are
easily raised, and if you use a threshing machine,
the labor will be comparatively small. Butter is
at present enormously high, and if you were sure
the present prices would be kept up you could
aff"ord to make milk for market. But whether it
will be best to change your dairy arrangements,
and convert your milk into butter an<l pork, each
must determine for himself. It will depend very
much upon his conveniences and the skill of his
family. It is very certain that the present prices
of milk do not compare with the price of butter.
The raising of stock and pork requires less labor
than the raising of hoed crops. But whatever
you do, do it well. Raise the best stock, the best
sheep, the best swine. If you make butter, get
the best butter cows. Milk difi'ers in the quanti-
ty of butter it yields, from six to twenty per cent.
Use the lactometer, and if you find that the milk
of a cow yields less than ten or twelve per cent.,
turn her to the butcher, or exchange with the
milk raiser. The butter maker certainly cannot
aff"ord to keep her. It costs more wear and tear
of mind as well as body to carry on business now
than it does in quiet times, when everything
moves on in the ruts ; and we have got to be ac-
tive. We must join the wide-awakes, or we shall
run ofi' the track. The world is full of ideas, and
ideas are the seeds of facts, the germs of work.
We must gather them up, reduce them to order,
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
155
arrange them into machines, and set them to work,
and thus the forces of nature will be subjected to
the service of man. It is thus that while we are
carrying on the greatest and most expensive war
of modern times, we must supply the material of
war, and at the same time supply our domestic
wants.
Mr. John Mills, Secretary of the Hillsboro'
Co. Ag. Association, in the course of his remarks,
related the story of a farmer's wife who, a few
days ago, went to the store to purchase a new
dress. When the seller told her the price of the
cloth, she thought it ruinously high and extrava-
gant, but when the price of the butter and the
eggs was stated, with which she was to pay for the
dress, she declared that she had purchased it as
cheaply as ever !
The Rev. J. Gardner Davis sustained the
views of the former speakers, and urged that a re-
laxation of effort in a crisis like the present would
be unmanly and disastrous. He had always ob-
served that men were successful that were persis-
tent— whose motto was, "stick to it, stick to it."
These are the men who achieve victories in every
department of labor, whether in the closet, camp
or the field.
Col. C. H. Campbell, of Amherst, and others
engaged in the discussion, which was continued
with unabated interest until nearly ten o'clock.
After a night of refreshment in the hospitable
family of E. D. Boylston, Esq., editor of the
Amherst Cabinet, — my companion stopping with
Col. Campbell, — we went to Milford, and had a
morning and afternoon meeting there. The sub-
jects discussed at these meetings related more di-
rectly to the practices of agriculture, under the
general question — "How can agricultural employ-
ment be made profitable ?"
In answering this question, many facts were
stated and questions asked and responded to, and
the culture and profit of many crops stated.
Among others, the comparative profit of selling
milk, or of making it into butter and selling that,
was earnestly discussed. It was urged that more
profit can be derived from milk by making it into
butter than by selling the milk at any prices yet
paid for it to go over the road, — and that about
the only reason why the farmer who seeks the
largest profit should sell his milk, is, where his
circumstances are such that he would be obliged
to hire just so much extra help as would be re-
quired to perform the labor.
Another strong argument was presented, and
illustrated by many facts, that selling the milk
impoverished the fiirm more rapidly, even, than
selling off the hay ; as in this case nothing is re-
turned from it to the soil, while in making butter
the skim milk goes to the swine and the butter-
milk to family uses.
In replying to the general question, as to what
proJUable farming ts, the subject of thorough work,
as far as the farmer goes, was earnestly urged.
The grass crop was stated to be the basis of all
agricultural operations, underlying and sustaining
all, both man and beast, and that unless this crop
is made a profitable one with the farmer, little
success could be expected in any other depart-
ment of the farm. Some of the modes of reclaim-
ing lands were given, the crops used preparatory
to seeding, and the various ways of increasing,
preparing and using manures. The importance
of draining grass land was dwelt upon at consid-
erable length, and its influence upon the soil and
crop was illustrated in various ways. It was shown
that drained lands bear the drought longer than
wet ones, — that they are earlier and much more
easily cultivated — that they receive more benefit
from showers — that the grass roots are not so lia-
ble to be winter-killed, and that for these and sev-
eral other reasons, few improvements of the farm
are so proJitabU as that of thorough draining.
Another source of profit which was strongly
urged, was that of rearing stock upon the farm
instead of selling off the hay. Mr. Mills stated
that he kne'w a farmer who had sold from his land
$100 worth of hay annually for forty years in suc-
cession, without purchasing any manure to supply
this waste. At the end of this time his farm was
so reduced that he could spare no bay to sell, nor
was it capable of feeding the amount of stock that
he began with forty years before. He argued that
if his neighbor had raised three heifer calves an-
nually, he could have sold them at three years old
for about $33 each, and in that case would have
realized his $4000 in cash, in the forty years, and
had the droppings of one hundred and twenty head
of young cattle returned to the fields which he had
been cropping. Under this system, at the end of
forty years, the farm would probably be in a con-
dition to sustain more stock than ever before, and
would have gained as much in its grain, vegetable
and fruit crops as in the grass.
The discussion was participated in by Francis
Wright, Vice President of the Association ; P.
M. RossiTER, Mr. Bartlett, Abel Chase, and
others, with great apparent interest.
We found many earnest thinkers and inquirers
among the Hillsboro' farmers. A few well attend-
ed meetings, and a lively discussion of some of
the important questions now presented to cultiva-
tors of the soil, would rouse the farmers of the
whole country into a new interest, and some )iew
practices in their business. We trust these will
take place. They cannot seek profit more direct-
ly in any other way. There are plenty of intelH-
I gent men among them to take the lead in the good
I work.
1^
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
CLAPP'S FAVOKITE PEAK.
We have been favored by Col. Wilder with
an engraving of this new fruit, which is figured
above. We have not tested it in any way, but
from the high reputation which it has attained,
have been desirous to present the reader with its
general appearance and merits. The description
is by Mr. HovEY, and was published in his Mag-
azine for October, 1861, and is as follows :
This very fine pear was raised by Mr. N. Clapp,
of Dorchester, Mass., and was exhibited last year,
(I860,) for the first time, before the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society and the Fomological
Society at Philadelj)hia, in whose transactions a
full account of it is given by the committee on
That this pear has fruited this year shows, that
while it so nearly resembles the Bartlett in ap-
pearance, it is so hardy in its character as to re-
sist the severe cold which so generally affected
the Bartlett ; and in quality it certainly is its su-
perior. Its production only confirms the opinion
we have before expressed in describing Mr. Dana's
seedlings, that we have only to persevere in rais-
ing seedlings to make our collection of native va-
rieties unequalled by that of any other clime.
What the supposed parent of Mr. Clapp's seed-
ling is we have not learned, but the great resem-
blance of the Favorite to the Bartlett would lead
us to select that. At any rate it is likely to prove
a very valuable acquisition.
Size, large, about four inches long, and three
native fruits. This year it has been shown again, i in diameter: i'^orm, obovate pyramidal, largest
and by the kindness of Mr. Clapp we have been j near the middle, rounding ofl' towards the crown,
enabled to test its quality once more, and give a i and narrowing to the stem, with a slightly uneven
description and engraving of the fruit. \ surface, generally resembling the Bartlett: Skin,
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FAEMEE.
157
fair, smooth, yellowish-green, becoming full yel-
low at maturity, marbled with dull red in the sun,
and dotted with small russety specks : Stan, me-
dium length, about half an inch long, stout, and
obliqvielv inserted without any cavity on the rath-
er obtuse end : Ei/e, medium size, closed, and
but little sunk in a very shallow puckered basm ;
segments of the calyx projecting : i'7e.s7<, green-
ish-white, rather fine, melting and juicy : I'lavor,
sprightly, refreshing, perfumed and excellent;
Core, medium size. : Seeds, medium size. Ripe
in September.
ON" BUTTEB-MAKINQ.
An article recently published in the Fai-mer,
entitled "Butter- Making No Mystertj," has attract-
ed considerable attention, and has been commend-
ed by some, and objections made to it by others.
We have spoken several times, of the manner in
which a friend of ours, Mr. John Day, of North
Andover, Mass., manages his farm and of the
great fertility to which he has brought its acres,
from A repulsive and barren condition. We have
visited his farm, examined its crops, and the ar-
rangement of its buildings, and listened with es-
pecial interest to his account of reclaiming it, and
the profits which he has derived from its various
departments.
In a recent interview with him the conversation
turned upon the subject of hutter-viaUng, when he
remarked that he did not. quite agree with the
writer of the article, "Dutter-Maldng no llijstery,"
in the statement that the cream should always be
of a uniform temperature, viz : about 63". He
said he had at one time forty-six quarts of cream
which he divided into two equal parts. One part
was churned at 62", came in 15 minutes, and the
product was between 21 and 22 pounds. The
other part had been standing in a tub of ice water
over night, and was as cold as ice water would
make it, and was kept so while being churned by
ice on the top of the churn. It came in two hours,
and the product was 28 pounds ! It came in a
hard condition, the buttermilk flowing freely from
it, and it brought eight cents per pound more than
the first lot, which came rather soft and the but-
termilk mingling with it.
The churn used was a square one, with a crank,
and only two paddles or floats.
He uses one ounce of salt for a pound of but-
ter, if the butter comes soft, because some of it
dissolves and runs out in working the butter ;
but if it comes hard, three-fourths of an ounce is
sufficient.
The rule of one temperature at all seasons, he
thinks does not work well. In the winter, he has
a stove in the milk room and keeps the tempera-
ture at 65^ or 66", and does the churning there,
and under these circumstances has excellent re-
«ultB. In the summer, in order to receive similar
results, he brings the cream down as low as ice
will make it, by putting ice in the churn over
night, and keeping it about it while churning.
We understood Mr. Day to say that his experi-
ence has grown out of eleven years of practice and
experiment, not merely in assisting others, but in
making the butter himself, setting and skimming
the milk, churning, salting, preparing for market,
and washing the utensils ! With such an experi-
ence as this, Mr. Day ought to know all about the
matter, as he is a man who looks into the causes
of things upon which he is laboring, with the
keenest perceptions.
••JUNE IS THE TIME TO PKUNE FKUIT
TREES."
I am aw^are at what disadvantage I place myself
when I undertake to controvert such authority,
namely, Mr. Barry, of Rochester, and Mr. Harris,
Editor of the Genesee Farmer, and would not
put the case so strongly in opposition to commpn
practice, had I not in every instance, where I have
induced any one to try pruning in June, succeed-
ed in gaining their acknowledgment that June is
the time to ])rvne fruit trees.
Nor would I venture to advocate such practice
upon my own experience were I not able to give
the best reasons for it. Such as cannot be gain-
sayed or controverted.
It is a question of vital importance to the health
and durability of our trees, and should this much
find favor in your paper, I will undertake, in the
next, to give my reasons for pruning in June, July
and August, and suggestions as to why and how
we should prune. — E. D. Wkight in Genesee
Farmer.
Remarks. — We are glad to find some one, oc-
casionally, bold enough to denounce the ruthlesss
practice of pruning fruit trees when the sap is in
an active condition. Prune when the tree is in a
comparatively quiet condition, — say from June 15
to the end of the month, or for a month after the
leaves fall. There are physiological reasons for
this which we have often referred to in these col-
umns.
Soap Suds. — During the summer these can be
api)lied directly to garden crops and fruit trees,
and thereby act as a fertilizer, and at the same
time assist in supplying moisture to them in the
hot days of summer. Some farmers have spouts
which convey the suds and house-slops to the
barn-cellar, and for the greater part of the year
these are in working order. But in the winter
the spouts will not convey the slo])s, and there is
a considerable amount of it wasted. To obviate
this, a muck-heap should be made near the yard,
with a concave top, so that the slops can be turned
into it, and absorbed by the muck. It may freeze
some in winter, but the reviving atmosphere of
Spring will set everything all right.
A Good, soft, dry bed is an important item
towards the thrift of animals. It assists them in
keeping warm, and in this it saves food ; it inclines
to rest and quietude, and in this it aids the action
of the secretory glands.
138
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
FoT the New England Parmer.
SEEDING LAND TO GRASS.
I was glad to see a reply elicited to this very
important subject, from your correspondent, "C,"
of North Pembroke. Such communications draw
out the opinions of men, though very remotely
situated one from another, and can hardly fail to
be of some benefit to the farmer. Your corres-
pondent admits that I have "some very good ideas
in relation to laying down land to grass," but can-
not agree with me that "all lands for cultivation
should be plowed in the fall." That lands for
cultivation should Kot be plowed in the fall, I
think is hard to prove. The advantages of turn-
ing over sward land in the fall are numerous.
1. Because there is always a covering of grass
then on the ground, which, if turned under in
the fall and allowed to remain undisturbed in
spring, will be of very great service to the grow-
ing corn or potatoes when the roots come in con-
tact with it. Here I will remark that the sod
should not be moved until pulverized.
2. Because by plowing in the autumn it has an
inevitable tendency to destroy the cut worm, the
wire worm, the beetle worm, bugs, <&c. I have
seen a field of corn planted in this way, that is,
plowed in the fall of the year, having had first
spread on the sod, about twenty common buck
loads, of about thirty bushels each, of green sta-
ble manure, then turned under. Then another
field of corn adjoining the same, in fact all the
same lot of land, treated the same in every re-
spect as near as we could tell, the same amount
of manure, &c., but plowed in the spring. The
corn on the land plowed in the fall was a great
deal larger, hardly any of it destroyed by the cut
worm, or any other worm, but on that plowed in
the spring the corn was smaller, and a very great
amount of it destroyed by the cut worm ; the
contrast between the two pieces lying side by side
was very apparent indeed.
3. Because the vegetable matter, if turned un-
der in the fall, will become decomposed, and be
of more service to the gi'owing crop in the spring
and summer following than if turned under in
the spring ; this is quite reasonable, for it has
more time to decompose in.
4. Because the farmer has more time and can
better attend to it in the fall than in the spring.
As to the objection alluded to by your corres-
pondent, to "plowing silicious, loamy lands in the
fall," I do not see that it can be an objection, if
the manure is applied broadcast before plowing,
as it always should "be. He does not inform us
whether those farmers who plow in the fall, ma-
nure in the fall or not ; if they do not the practice
is erroneous, we think ; we have often seen farm-
ers in this vicinity plow their sward land in the
fall, and then cross plow in the spring again,
doubling their labor and losing, to a certain ex-
tent, the value of the decomposed vegetable mat-
ter.
I admit the force of the argument of his in fa-
vor of laying down some kinds of soil in the fall
of the year, to grass exclusively. But let us not
lose sight of the question at issue, viz. : whether
it is best to sow grass seed with some kind of
grain or not, because the growing grain shades
the land, and thereby facilitates the germination
of the grass seed and protects the young grass
itself by holding moisture P I answered then,
and do now, in the affirmative, as a matter of
economy, but think the grass may be shaded too
much, and said in my former correspondence that
it would be hard to demonstrate that a piece of
land laid down to grass exclusively would not do
as well as laid down in any other way. But there
is an objection, furthermore, to seeding land to
grass in the fall, if clover is used, on account of
its liability to "winter kill." I never could see
the economy of cross plowing sward land, as stat-
ed above, and think the advantages of letting the
sod remain undisturbed until the vegetable mat-
ter is decomposed, are not well understood. Al-
most any soil, if plowed in the *autumn, will suf-
ficiently decompose by the second year, so as to
be suitable to lay down to grass and grain, if the
sod is not moved, thereby admitting of a rotation
of crops, which is very essential. Futher, I think
it is not good economy to "keep up" sward land
more than two years, as a general rule ; say first,
corn ; then follow with some kind of spring grain
with grass ; so the rotation would be corn or po-
tatoes, oats, barley or rye and grass. I would
not plant corn or potatoes twice in succession on
the same land, ordinarily. *J. F.
Uxbridge, March 23, 1864.
A HINT TO FARMERS.
The correspondent of the London Star in
Schleswig says : "A pleasing phenomenon, which
1 had before remarked in every part of the duchies
I had hitherto visited, met my eye again on the
drive to Christiansfeld. On the outside of every
cottage and farmhouse we passed — even, indeed,
on many of the trees by the roadside — hung sev-
eral little square wooden boxes, rather bigger than
a London quartern loaf. In the centre was a
small round aperture, large enough for any bird
from a wren to a thrush to go in and out. On
inquiry I found that these little contrivances were,
what they appeared to be, homes for any little
pair of warblers which pleased to build their nests
in them. Some years back the farmers were just-
ly punished for the devastation which, under the
influence of false ideas, they had made amongst
the feathered tribe, by the vast increase of insect*
which played havoc with their crops. Like sensi-
ble men, they were no sooner convinced of their
error than they did their best to remedy it. So-
cieties for the preservation of birds were soon
formed ; the farmers everywhere did their best to
forward the objects of the association, and bird-
murder became a misdemeanor. As the conse-
quence of these measures the country is now
plentifully stocked with numerous classes of birds.
Flocks of crows, ravens, larks, fieldfares, linnets,
and yellowhammers, as well as other kinds, are to
be seen wherever one drives, and appear to have
lost much of their natural timidity under the
good treatment they have received of late years."
^^ The report of the Ohio Commissioners of
Statistics shows that in 1862 there were made in
tliat State no less than 8,280,000 pounds of sugar.
Of this, 27,000 i)Ounds were from sorghum. The
aggregate value of the agricultural products of
Oliio in 1862 was |151,863,574 ; of this amount
the sugar production was worth $822,190, and the
molasses crop $1,942,854.
Happiness is like a pig with a greased tail,
which everybody runs after but never can hold.
J
18&4.
XEW EXGLA>rD FARirER.
159
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
•WAITING FOB THE SPKUS^Q.
As breezes stir the morning,
A silence reigns in air ;
Steel-blne the hearens abore me.
Moveless the trees and bare :
Yet nnto me the stillness
This burden seems to bring, —
"Patience I the ej>rth is waiting.
Waiting for the Spring."
Strong ash, and sturdy chestnat.
Rough oak, and poplar high.
Stretch out their sapless branches
Against the wintiy skj.
Even the guiltv aspen
Hath cea*ed her quivering,
As though she, too, were waiting,
Waiting for the Spring.
I strain mine ears to listen.
If hjply where I stand.
But one stray note of music
May sound in all the land.
"Why art thou mure, O Blackbird ?
O thmsh, why dost not sing ?"
Ah ! surely they are waiting,
Waiting for the Spring.
0 heart I thy days are darksome;
O heart I ihy nights are drear ;
But soon shall streams of sunshine
Proclaim the turning year.
Soon shall the trees be leafy.
Soon every bird shall sing;
Like them, be silent, waiting.
Waiting for the Spring. " Once a ITeei.
HIGH DRESSES.
We are thankful for at least one of dame fash-
ion's freaks : she has turned her back upon low-
necked dresses, and rather insists that collar bones
and shoulder blades shall be covered. It is cer-
tainly a great improvement — not only because the
study of anatomy in private parlors is not desira-
ble, and that American damsels are apt to run
to bone as some tall flowers do to seed ; and be-
cause spinsters of uncertain age, fearful of being
outdone by their nieces, piesenied such vast ex-
panse of yellow neck and shoulder to the view at
evening parties as were calculated to alarm ner-
vous people very seriously ; but because, since
custom obliges us to wear garments, there can
certainly be no reason why we should leave the
most delicate portion of our frame without pro-
tection. Plump Shoulders and arras are pretty.
But so (let us whisper) are plump legs. The
mother who should fail to provide her daughter
with stockings would be considered a cruel wretch,
yet a year ago she might neglect to cover her
chest and arms with impunity. We trust this
state of things is over. We hope that the wis-
dom which causes ever}- prudent parent to pro-
tect the pretty shoulders of her little girls with
comfortable woollen sacques or capes will be ap-
preciated ; that sense will conquer vanity, and
that in a little while it will be as absurd to see a
woman in a low-necked dress as it would to-day
to see a man in a low-necked coat. — Sunday Timse.
I Ho-w TO pbeseb\t: touk fubs.
Furs, says a writer in one of the Xew York
papers, who seems to be thoroughly familiar
with the subject, should never be put away for
the summer and forgotten, as they so frequently
are ; and, nest to being shut up from the air,
their greatest enemy is damp. If, from the wear-
1 er being exposed to rain, they become wet, they
! should always be dried at a moderate distance
I from the fire immediately ; and in warm weather,
I when not required for wear, they should never be
■ shut in a box or drawer for more than a few days
at a time, and every few weeks they should be
, shaken and beaten.
The more delicate skins require somewhat
more delicate treatment. The best plan is, prob-
ably, not to pack furs away, but to let them lie
in a drawer or wardrobe that is constantly being
opened, so that ihey may meet the eye frequently,
and being thus often in sight, it is easy at con-
j venient opportunities, to have them taken out and
beaten ; or, at any rate, shaken and tossed and
ihoroughly exposed to the air. It is common to
hear it remarked that the moth gets into furs, as
I if the insect actually mignited from one locality
I to another ; the probability is, however, that furs
1 and woolens are animal substances, endowed with
a vital principle, which develops itself into the
living organisms through the decay of its materi-
al shape. Cleanliness and airing are, therefore,
absolutely essential.
I
I domestic beceipts.
' To Make Vea Soup. — To four quarts of wa-
ter, put in one quart of split peas, three slices of
lean bacon (or a ham bone if at hand,) and some
roast beef bones, one head of celery, one turnip,
and two carrots, cut into small pieces, a little salt
and pepper ; let all these simmer gently until the
quantity is reduced to two quarts. Run it through
a cullender, with a wooden sf>oon. mix a little flour
in water, and boil it well with the soup, and slice
in another head of celery, adding ca^ enne pepper,
and a little more salt. Fry slices of bread in some
butter until they assume a light brown color, cut
them into small squares, and hand them with the
soup, as well as a small dishful of powdered dried
sage.
To Make Cre.\m Pancakes. — Take the yolks
of two eggs, mix them with half a pint of good
cream, two ounces of sugar ; rub your pan with
lard, and fry them as thin as possible ; grate su-
gar over them, and serve them up hot.
QiEEX Cakes. — One pound each of flour, su-
gar, and butter worked to a cream ; the yolks of
five eggs, the whites of ten. A few caraway and
coriander seeds if liked. They are best baked in
small, well-buttered tins ; a few currants should
be strewn in the bottom of each tin. Half an
hour in a slow oven is sutficient.
To E.\TR.\CT Gre-ase from Silk.— Wet the
part wi'h eau de cologne, and gently rub the silk
upon itself between the hands. When dry the
grease will disappear. This will also remove re-
The three rules given by the celebrated John cent paint, and the grease from a wax candle
Hunter for the rearing of healthy children were,
"Plenty of milk, plenty of sleep and plenty of flan-
nel,"
Words are but the froth of thoughts.
A Child is never happy from having his own
way. Decide for him, and' he has but one thing
to do ; put him to please himself, and he is trou-
bled with everything and satisfied with nothing.
vsr
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
May
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Thoughts Suggested by May Page 129
Pay your Debts 130
A Prayer — Best time for Grafting 131
Whitewash for Shingles— Respect the Earth Worm 132
Liquid Grafting Wax 132
What a Garden may be— ^Beans as a Field Crop 133
Effects of Soil on Grapes — New Mode of Cultivating Corn. . .134
Advantage of Large Corporations 135
Turban Squash — Lice on Cattle 136
Farm Economy 137
New Books 138
Extracts and Replies 138, 146, 163
Reminiscences of Cheshire 139
Cutting Feed for Horses 141
Seeding Land to Grass 142, 151, 158
Production of Double Flowers— Factory Spiders 142
Douglas Axe Manufacturing Company 143
Cutting Feed for Stock 144
Skin Diseases in Animals — Treatment of Croup, 144
Report of Hon. Joseph H. Wright 145
Choice Vegetables 146
Tobacco Culture 147
Canker Worms— Wild Parsnips 150
Vegetable Garden— Culture of the Parsnip 151
New England Agricultural Society 152
Experiments with Coe's Superphosphate of Lime 152
lu Council with the Hillsboro', N. H., Farmers 154
Clapp's Favorite Pear 156*
June is the Time to Prune Fruit Trees 157
On Butter-Making— Soap Suds 157
A Hint to Farmers - 158
Ladies' Department. 159
Review of the Cattle Markets 160
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter F 129
Turban Squash ". '. . . ."l36
Tobacco Culture — eight engravings 148, 150
Clapp's Favorite Pear 15tj
CATTLE MARKETS FOR APRIL.
The following is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending April 13, 1864 :
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle.
Mar. 23 1478
" 30 965
April 6 1636
" 13 1311
Total 6390 19,808
Sheep.
Shotes.
Fat Hogs.
Veals
5843
260
160
3759
600
900
250
3944
945
800
400
6262
600
600
550
2405
1360
The following table exhibits the number ol cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
Jauuary, of each year:
Maine 451
New Hampshire (joo
Vermont 933
Massachusetts 659
Northern New York 106
Western States 2628
Canada 13
THIS YEAR.
Cattle. S/itep.
149
5234
5420
6021
LAST TEAR.
Cattle. Sheep.
423 —
2984
599
1310
538
40
2641
67
3009
4482
2496
40
1149
175
Total, last four weeks 5,390 19,808 5,608 11351
Total, since Jan. 1,(16 weeks, )21,900 70,430 22,5;2 42,799
PMCES.
Beef,l,2, 3qual 8 (glog
" ex. and prem 11 ^fillj
Sheep & lambs, -^ lb 6J^ 7|
" " extra 3 (g9
Shotes, retail "Ik^^h
Beef hides, ■r ft, 9JalO
Pelts $3|S4
Mar. 23. Mar. 30. Jpril 6. April 13.
9 @10J
9 <am
9 glli
@12
12 al2i
12 @13
7 (g8
8 @8i
8i@94
81-alo
9 @9i
93.fllO
9 .SIO
9 all
9 (gll
9J310
9J,310J
9i(Sl0i
134 S4
$3^34
3JS4
Remarks. — Live stock has been sold higher during the past
four weeks than ever before at this market. Drovers who could
calculate the value of an animal at any accustomed price #" lb.
almost instinctively, now say that they must stop and cypher.
The last market (April 13,) was undoubtedly the highest of all
the high Brighton markets on record. Retail butchers had to
pay full 13^0 ^ lb. for choice of Western steers, and 10c -If lb.,
live weight, for sheep. And yet it will be noticed that these high
prices have not, as yet, materially reduced the consumption of
meat. The number of cattle sold is somewhat reduced, but that
of sheop is increasing. By the following table it will be seen
that the number of sheep at market this year is very much larger
than last year, or the year before:
Cattle. Sheep,
1862, (first 15 weeks) 38,318 40,294
1863 " " " 22,512 42,799
1864 " " " 21,900 70,430
At retail, cuts of beef are quoted from 8 g 30c #" lb., mutton
12j fa 20c, veal 9 m 18c, and no fish in market, as the East wind
has prevailed for the last three weeks. Few farmers dare pay
$100 t(» !|;250 for working oxen, and consequently the stores go
for beef mostly.
The following from our report of sales, April 13, will show the
state of the market:
G. W Barker sold 4 oxen to R. Thomas for $435, equal to
liyc W lb ; one pair to Mr. White for $160, or ll^c ; 4 cows
for $198, or 10c, and 2 other cows at 10c W lb.
Day, Norton & Taylor sold 66 rich, heavy river cattle to N.
& S. Jackson at 12 to 123i2C #■ lb.
G. W. Morrison sold 4 tine oxen to Mr. Trask for $535, or
123.^0; two of them, however, a pair of four year-olds, fed by
Mr. Glidden, of Webster, N. H., were so fat and handsomely
shaped that the half cent belongs to them, — making the Glidden
oxen 13c and the others 12c #' lb ; 4 to Henry ZuUer for $410 or
lie ^f lb ; one pair to C. Patch for $144, or lO'j'c W lb.
W. I. Sabin sold to S. S. Learnard 9 oxen fed by Jonathan
Chapin, of Bellows Falls, Vt., at 12c r lb,— a good bunch of
cattle. Two other oxen to Mr. Smith for $190, or 10c ^ lb ; one
odd ox laid at 900 lbs, for $91, and a pair of steers to C. Ather-
ton for $120.
John Robinson sold to C. Patch one pair of oxen for $265, or
about 12c '^ lb, and one pair for $175, or lie ^ lb, on estimate
of buyer.
William N. Patterson sold 4 oxen to Col. Dana, laid at 37 or
3800 lbs, for $42) ; also an extra pair of oxen, laid at 2400 lbs,
for $288, which were fed by Mr. E. Waterman, a young farmer
of Fairlee, Vt., who we hope will be as well satisfied with the
price, as the buyer was with the quality of the oxen.
Wro. Scollans & Co. sold 130 Western steers in lots, as fol-
lows, ranging from 1129 to 1348 lbs. each, by the lot: — 15 at 13c,
28 sk ; 22 at same price ; 14 at 10 '^c, 30 sk ; 35 at 10c, 30 sk ;
25 at 13c, 27 sk ; and 24 al 13o, 28 sk.
A. N. Monroe sold 10 averaging 1444 lbs, live weight, at 12c,
>5 sk ; 5 of 1122 lbs, at 13c, 28 sk ; 10 of 1150 lbs. each, at 13c,
28 sk ; 4 of 1364 lbs. each, at 13!^c, 28 sk ; 6 oxen, 1686 lbs.
each, at 13>^c, 28 sk ; 3 of 1140 lbs., at 13,'4'c, 28 sk ; 16 of 1421
lbs, at 13c, 30 sk.
John Fall sold 4 oxen for beef at lie #■ lb, and 3 pairs aa
workers as follows ; 1 pair 6 ft. 4 in. for $160 ; one pair 6 ft, 6
in. for $175 ; one pair 6 ft. 8 in. for $185. and had two pairs
unsold, about 6 ft. 6 in. each, for which he had been offered
$160 for one pair, and $170 for the other. D. A. Philbrick sold
a pair of New Hampshire W' rkers, 6 ft. 9 in. 2800 lbs, for $185.
M. T. Shackett sold to J. W. HoUis, an extra milch cow raised
by himself in Middlebury, Vt, and recommended to be A No. 1,
for $100. G. W. Barker sold 2 Vermont milkers at $90 for the
two. Herrick Woodard sold one milch cow for $50, and anoth-
er one for $28.
Butter is so unusually high this spring, ^that calves are sent to
market younger and poorer even than heretofore, crowded as the
market always is every spring with what the Yorkers call "bobs."
One lot of 60 was sold at $3.75 each ; another of 48 for $334,
or nearly $7 each, 40 others at $8 each, 2 at $8 each, and small
lots higher, according to quality.
Geo. W. Jones sold 200 sheep at 9»^c#'lb; G. W. Barker
sold 50 sheep, about 75 lbs. at 8}ic ; W. H. Bard well sold 200
sheep at 9 to 10c ■T tb ; DeWolf & Prouty sold 110 sheep, 90 ft>3.
each at 9>jc <^ lb ; and 111 to Dan Brown, about the same
weight, but of better quality, at 9?|c ; M. T. Shackett sold 50
shtep, 84 fbs. each, at 8,'2C, and 50 sheared ones, 77 lbs for
$4 W head ; Dudley & French sold one lot of 72, at $6 ^ head,
estimated to average 75 lbs ; 79 others, 80 lbs. each, at 8^40, and
30 of 94 lt)S. each, at 9c ^' tb, and others on commission ; J. N"
Morse sold 115 at 8%c, somewhat wet ; J. Lyman sold at9>, to
10c, L. Stearns one lot of 100 lbs, at 10c, and we understood
that many of the best lots of river and other sheep were sold at
10c #■ lb ; one lot of De Coster's sheep averaged 150 lbs.
DEVOTED TO AORICDTjTUBB AJND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, JUNE, 1864.
NO. 6.
NODRSE, EATON & TOLMAN, ProprWTOES.
Office 102 Washington Strbbt.
SIMON BROWN, Editor.
BUGKJESTED BY THE RETURN OP JXTNE.
"Bland as the morning breath of June,
The south-west breeees play ;
And through its haee, the winter noon
Seems warm as summer's dajr.
The sDow-piumed Angel of the North
Has dropt his icy spear ;
Again the mossy earth looks forth,
Again the streams gush clear."
NDOUBTEDLY, there
is no month in the
whole circle more
crowded with im-
portant duties than
that of June. It is
the flush and glory
of summer. There
is a newness and
f r e 8 h n e s 8 in all
things we see that
enhances their val-
ue, because most
new things that are
really agreeable, are
quite likely to af-
ford us more plea-
sure than old ones. All the foliage is bright and
in high color before the month closes, as there is
rarely a drought sufficiently sharp to check the
growth of plants so early, or to wilt and discolor
the foliage.
A world of pleasant care now lies before the
farmer. The seeds which he committed to the
earth have germinated and sent up their shoots
to the sun and air, and they are now exposed to
the depredations of insects. "Weeds spring up
about them and threaten to overrun or starve
them out, and they often need a looser soil, and
to have the fine, moist particles brought into closer
contact with them.
Success, in all crops that need hoeing, depends
greatly upon the efforts of this month. If weeds
are allowed to gain the ascend, ncy, in the outset,
the labor will be constant, perplexing and ex-
haustive— the patience of the most patient will be
put to a severe test, and the crop will cost much
more than if it had been kept clean from the first.
The horse and hand cultivator, as well as the
common hoe, must be kept in frequent use, so that
too much of haying time may not be required to
keep the weeds down. Suffering a rank crop of
weeds to grow annually is one of the prominent
errors of farmers, and more systematic attention
should be given to keeping them in proper sub-
jection.
One prolific means of perpetuating weeds is
by sowing foul seeds with our grains. It is sur-
prising what quantities of false seeds are brought
to market in oats, wheat, barley, and grass seeds.
We were not aware of the extent of this evil un-
til we gave some attention to the mode of separ-
ating seeds by some of the recently invented ma-
chineiy. We believe the Legislature of Massa-
chusetts interposed its authority several years
since for the destruction of the Canada thistle.
By a regulation in France, a farmer may sue his
neighbor who neglects to destroy the thistles up-
on his land at the proper seasons, or may employ
people to do so at the other's expense. In Den-
mark, there is a law to oblige the farmers to root
up the corn marigold. A long time ago there was
a law in Scotland, under the authority of which a
Scottish baron was accustomed to hold courts for
the express purpose of fining the farmers in whose
growing crops three heads or upwards of that
weed were found.
The destruction of weeds ought to be consid-
ered one of the most important branches of the
agricultural art ; for if that is neglected, a crop is
often reduced one-fourth or even one-third of a
fair average. Let us see what they do :
They prevent the crop from receiving the bene-
ficial influences of the atmosphere.
They exhaust the soil of its moisture and nu-
ritive properties that ought to go to the crop.
162
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
They increase the cost pf JicirYestipg the crop,
and lessen the value of the gT&in.
Thiy also greatly increase the cost of tei^ding
the growing crop.
These are reasons siifiicient, brother ferme?,
why no weeds should be allowed to grow among
your erops. We are not sure but ?ojne pf the
transatlantic laws woujd prove a blessing to form-
ers here. We are inclined to think that the porn,
wheat, barley, and oat crops would be considera-
bly increased, per acre, if no feeds yyexp allowed
to grow among them.
Some of the most important item? of June ^ork
are those of making butter and cheese. This sum-
mer, we hope the high prices at which these arti-
cles are selling witl' lead to more care than has
-tisnally been observed. A writer pertinently ^ays :
May, June and September are the dairy months.
The best butter and the best gheese are usually
made in these months. If you are not neat, you
do not know how to make cheese or butter. Un-
■ cleanliness affects not only the looks, but the qual-
ity of butter. Broad, shallow glass pans are the
best, but the most expensive. In tbe^e milk sel-
dom turns sour in summer thunder storms. Tm
-pans are good, but unless the dairy woman is
scrupulously neat, the seams will be filled with
residuum of milk, and become very foul, givmg a
flavor to each successive panful. The principal
- Requisites for prime butter are good cows, good
pasture for them, clean pans, cool, airy cellars,
clean churns. Let the creaui be chux;ned before
it is sour or bitter ; and when the butter corner,
^rive put ail the buttermilk.
Bnt, every labor now is an important pne, as no
crop can be brought to perfection without giving
it proper care at this period. All must be active
and systematic,' but not to pr^ss so urgently as to
injure the body or deprive the naind oi its needed
food ixom day to day. We cannot better close
our brief essay upon June, than in the glowing
language of Dr. Beecher :
J^une! Rest I This is the year's bower. Sit
down within it. Wipe from thy brow the toil,
the elements ate thy servants. The dews'Bring
thee jewels.
The winds bring perfume. The earth shows
thee all her treasures. The forest sings to thee.
The air is all sweetness, as if the angels of God
had gone through it, bearing spices homeward.
I'he storms are bat as flocks of mighty birds that
spread their wings and sing in the high heavens !
Speak to God, now, and say, ''O, Father, where
art Thou ?" And out of every flower, and tree,
and silver pool, and twined thicket, a voice will
0ome, "God is in me." The earth cries to the
heavens, "God is here." And the heavens cr}'_ to
the earth, "God is here." The sea claims Him.
I i The land hath Him. His footsteps are upon the
deep! He sitteth upon the circle of the earth !
O, sunny joys of the sunny month, yet soft and
temperate, how soon will the eager months that
come burning from the equator, scorch you !
^!; A cheating grocer should refprm his w,f;ighs.
SPRINQ- CQirpERT.
BX MRS. :^. H. SIGOVBWEX.
Tlie|:e's a cppeerjt;, a cppcppt of gladness and glee,
The programme is ricli, and the thickets are'frep.
In a grand, vaulted ball, wliprp tbere'S room and to
spare, '
With no gas light to eat up the oxygen there.
The musicians excel in their wonderful art.
They have compass of yoice, and the gamut by heart j
They have travelled abroad in the winter recess, " '
And sang to vast crowds with pnbovinded success,
And now 'tis 4 fayor and privilege rare
Their arrival to hail, and their melodies share.
These exquisite minstrels a fashion have set,
Whicli they'fiopeyou'il comply with and infey not re-
gret.
They don't keep late hours, for they've always been
■' ■ tpl'd' "
'Twould injure their voices and make them look old.
They invite you to come if yon have a fine ear,
To the garden or grove, their rehearsals to hear;
Their chorus is full ere the sunbeam is born.
Their music the sweetest at breaking of morn-
It was learned at' Heaveii's gate, with its' rapturous
• lays.
And may teach you, p.erh.aps, its own spirit of praise.
PL^NTIWQ AT INTBBVALS.
The Mai-k Lane Express has the following upon
this subject. Like everything ^Ise in farming, a
sound judgment must be exercised in this matter.
As a general thing, our people plant too close, we
think. On rich, moist soils, where the plant*
reach great luxuriance, there must, of course, be
ample room for light and air, in order to secure
pefrfeetion in the crop. On light, pine plain lands,
even though tolerably well manured, the crop will
flourish better planted at moderate distances rath-
er than in very wide ones.
The subject of wide internals betTi^'een the row*
of all sorts of cropping is so extensive that we
shall deyote a paper to some circumstances bear-
ing upon it. Meanwhile, we record it as our
opinioti that the drilling of beans, at very broad
distaiices, and pursuing a systeno. of tillage be-
tween, is not nearly so generally adopted as it
might be with very great success. We have seen
winter beans in single rows five feet apar,t yield-
ing fifty imperial bushels per acre ; the manuring,
of course, being very high, the tillage exceeding-
ly deep, and the hoeing followed up with frequen-
cy. And yet there are persons who are sceptical
as to the possibility of so few rows being able to
contain pods eiT^ough for such a magnificent yield.
BOWE DUST.
Mr. Cummings, the agricultural editor of the
N. Y. Observer, says:
When entering upon the cultivation of our pres-
ent farm, we asked our predecesspr what field
would give a crop of potatoes without the applir
cation of fresh barnyard manure, as we feared the
application of such in inducing "the rot." A five-
acre field was named. We carefully planted and
cultivated it, and found no rot, among the pota-
toes, but the. yield of the; whole fi^ld did not sup-
ply the tables of the farm for the year, so exhaust-
ed was the land. In the autumn we plowed and
sowed the same field with rye, applying twenty-
five bushels of bone dust to "the acre. Such was
the immediate effect of. the, application, that whei^
1864,
j^eW fiiCGLANi) FARMER,
1^
the rye was grown, a man of ordinary stature
would be concealed by the crop in walking through
the field. Grass seed was sown with the rye. A
good crop of hay was taken the first year it was
mowed. But the second year, when turf was well
established, sixteen tons of hay were taken from
the five acres. After mowing it four years, it was
plowed and planted, to corn, giving a. heavy crop
without manure. Such is our experience -in the
use of bone as manure. Bone dust by the quan-
tity costs as to quality from 50 to 70 cents the
bushel. Twenty to twenty-five bushels of bone is
a good dressing to the acre, and is worth from
two to three times the same cost of stable manure
brought from the city. Bone dust should be ap-
plied to and left as near the surface as may be,
and be. suitably covered. We usually sow. broad-
cast after the first harrowing. The second course
of the harrow will cover near the surface.
SPRING CHICKENS.
Spring chickens are always in active demand
from May to September, in the vicinity of all
our c?ties and larger towns. Of course they are
profitable to the farmers, and small landholders
and cottagers, who breed them. This is a good
month to set the hens and hatch them out. For
this purpose, a warm henhouse and coops in sunny
places are required. Let the eggs be kept in a
Tjroper temperature, till the hen is ready to sit
on them.. Thirteen is . the proper number for a
clutch of chickens. When hatched, if milk curds
can be had, this is their best food. If not, soaked
bread" for the' first few days, and" after that, Indian
meal Welt cooked, like mush for your own table.
Raw mieal.wet up in the usual way, is hard and
scouring .for their delicate stomachs. When a
fe^ vt'^^ks old, chopped cabbage, "sives," and
otHfer terl'der Vegetables, are to be added, and
sour milk is the very best drink they can have.
We would by all means entrust the early
spring chickens to' wonian's care. She seems to
possess the necessary instincts — worth all the
boys and men in the country. , We have known
a Scotch, Dutch, or Irish washerwoman's cottage,
surroiitided by a close Wall, alive with' early chick-
ens, when' the gentleman's and former's premises
would scarce supply a fowl for the tablfe before
September.
Don't l^eep the "big" breeds for "Spring chick-
ens** eithei' . A close coiiipact, early rilatured
fowl is the thing for this purpose. In most Itirge
towns a plump, fat diick, the size of a quail, will
sell for as much in May or June as a full grown
one wiill in October ; and if they only know you
have them, the tavern keepers and pe,dlars will be
after them every day itl' the week. To the habit
these latter people have of confining them in close,
filthy CQOps, for days together, w-e enter our pro-
test. It is Cruel to the chickens. It poisons
and defiles the taste of the flesh. It makes them
poor. Exercise, good air, and plenty of^ good
food they should have until w-anted for the table ;"
and every one who keeps them on hand for im-
mediate use, should be well provided with yard
and roosting aCpomo'dation. To make chickens
edibly perfect, they should come upon the table
plump, juicy, and full of tlieir own natural gravy.
"Plump as a partridge," is the term which should
always be truthfully applied to the early chickpn ;
and if they be not so, half their excellence is lost,
whilej if in. perfection of flesh, they are a positive
luxury. — Agriculturist .
Fur the New England Fanner.
REVIEW OP THE 'WINTER.
Messrs. Editors :-^The following are the re-
sults of the meteorological records of the pasl^
winter at this place. It shows a great contrast
when compared with other parts of the country,
particularly the Western States, when that vener-
able gentleman, "the oldest inhabitant," never
saw such a winter before.
December, 1863, had a mean temperature of 23-
.93°, being 1.43° warmer than the mean for the
past lO years. The amount of rain and melted
snow was 3.02 inches, and of snow Si inches.
The amount of cloudiness was about 80 per cent.
On the I8th, a coat of ice covered everything ex-
posed to the weather. The storm ended witli
about two inches of snow and ice, making partial'
sleighing duriri* the rest of the month. Extremes
during the month 49° and 1°, having a range of
48°.
January, 1864, had a mean temperature of 24-
.23°, being 4.57'^ w'ai*mer than the mean for the
past ten years. There have been' only three sea-
sons warmer in the past decade. We have had
but little cold weather during the month. Thie
7th was the coldest, with a mean temperature of
3° below zero. In the niorning the mercury stood'
at 11° below zero, during the day it was 1^ above,'
and at night it sank below again. The next morn-
ing it was below zero. Aside from these two
days we have had' no severe cold weather during'
the month. Extreme range of the thermometer
during the month 11° below and 46° above zero,
making a total of oV°. The amount of rain and
melted' snow w'as 2:04, and of snow 8 inches. The
amount of clbudihe.ss was about 77 per cent.
The month was ushered' in with a tempest and'
light rain. There were but a few days of good
sleighing during the month, which was made by a
lit'tVe snow on the coat of ice forni'ed in December'.'
February had a mean temperature of 27.01}'",
being 5.30° above the mean of 11 years. It was
the warmest February in the past 11 years, ex-
cept 1853 and 1857. The amount of r^in and
n^lted snow was 0.92 ; depth of snow 5f inches,
greatest amount of snow on the ground at an^
one time 3 inches. Lowest mean temperature 7°
below zero. Extremes 21° below zero, which was
the lowest extreme during the Vinter, and 46''
aboVe, making a range of 67^. Amount of cloud-
iness 77 per ceiit. There was a high wind on the
first day, and a rough squall on the 14th between'
4 and 6 P.M. No sleighing during the month.
March had a mean temperature of 32153°, bein^
4.08° above the mean ot 11 years, and was the
warmest March in the time, excejit the yeai-s o.T
1859 and 1860. The amount of rain and rrieltea
snow was 3.22 inches ; depth of snow 16^ inches.
The greatest snow storm of the sea.soh was on the
7th and 8th days, when 13J inches of snow felL
The roads were muddy, consequently the snow
made but poor sleighing and lasted only a few
days. The extremes of temperature were 8" and
60°, making a range of 52*'^. Amount of cloudi-
ness 67 per cent. Vyhole amount of snow during
the winter 38^ irifcheS, and of rain and melted
snow 9!20 iriche'si' D. EucKLAND.
Brandon, Vt., April 11, 1864.
164
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Juke
MEALY POTATOES AIiL SUMMEB.
We have always found it somewhat diflHcult to
keep potatoes in a crisp, mealy condition after
warm weather comes on. Vegetables, like ani-
mals, feel the force of nature when the particular
season arrives for them to act, in order to per-
petuate their kind. Put it where you will, in the
dark or in the light, if the potato has a little
warmth and moisture, it will send out its bud and
shoot and the root will follow if it can find but a
little dust on the floor or rock to cling to. The
potato then undergoes an important change, the
sprouts start, and it becomes a waxy, watery thing,
hardly fit to eat.
The following mode of preserving them in
good condition has been described by Dr. J. M.
Wilson as practiced in Scotland. The experiment
is so cheap and easy, that we presume many per-
sons will test it this spring. It is as follows :
Diluted ammoniacal water in the proportion of
sn ounce of the liquor of ammonia of the drug-
gists to a pint of river or rain water, has of late
years been successfully em-
ployed for checking the vege-
tative power of potatoes,
and prolonging their suita-
bleness for food. Potatoes
immersed four or five days in
this liquid, retain all their edi-
ble properties unimpaired for
a twelvemonth, improved in
flavor and mealiness. The
effect of the liquor is to con-
solidate their substance and
extract their moisture. Af-
ter immersion, the potatoes
should be spread so as to
dry, and will then keep good
for ten months ; contributing
in this way not only to the
comfort of families, but also to the health of mar
ners exposed to long voyages at sea.
Gray Hair. — The change of the hair which
we are wont to call "turning gray" is probably^
when it does not come prematurely, as natural
as any of the changes effected by age, and is
neither to be avoided or regretted. In some the
change takes place much earlier than in others,
and is often hastened by disease and by mental
and moral causes ; but sooner
or later it comes to all, to the
healthy as well as the dis-
eased. Grayness is not a
diseased condition of the hair,
for it continues to grow as
luxuriantly, and to be as
moist, sleek and glossy after
the change as before ; in fact,
it often grows thicker and
stronger. The term gray hair
is not strictly ])roper, since
grayness comes from the mix-
ture of the white or colorless
hairs with those of the origii al color. In general
the individual hair which we call gray is wholly
colorless.
CULTUBE OF TOBACCO.
Drying Houses.
We gave, in a recent number of the Farmer,
some directions for the cultivation of Tobacco,
leaving the subject with the time of harvesting
the crop. A very important part of the Tobacco
grower's labor and care comes after the crop has
been gathered. The process of curing the plant
and preparing it for the market is one which re-
quires skill and care, and a little negligence or ig-
norance at this time may go far towards spoiling
the whole season's labor.
A shiftless farmer may let his corn stand till,
very late in the fall, and the hard grain and the
dry stalk will suffer but little from storm and
wind. He may let his hay remain out through
two or three heavy summer showers, and still coax
his half-starved cattle to eat it during the winter
months. But the man who would be successful
in raising tobacco must pay constant attention to
his crop, from the time the seed is put in until the
plant is thoroughly cured for the market.
The cut which we first present shows a very
common style of drying house. One end and sec-
tions of part of the side are removed, to show the
manner of hanging the plants to dry. The re-
mainder of the side shows the real construction of
the building. The boards run from sill to plate,
and every third one is hung on strip hinges so as
to be readily opened for the admission of air.
Our second illustration shows another form t)f
securipg Y^n^mtion. The boards all round do
1864.
NEW ENOT,ANT> FARMER.
10-5
not reach to the sill by a space of about two feet, I England, and the thrift of her farmers, offer a bet-
and a portion of the roof is raised and left open ter prospect of a remunerating crop, than the worn
at the side, 80 as to secure a constant change of | out soil of Virginia, with careless cultivation. Still
air within the barn. I we should look long at the profit side, before we
could ignore that silent mon-
itor within, which would con-
stantly remind us that the
fruit of our labor was but
smoke and ashes at the last,
and that man was neither sus-
t a i n e d nor strengthened
thereby. But our scruples
are individual, and we do not
expect to convert the world
to our side.
We again acknowledge our
indebtedness to Mr. Wm. L,
Bradley, of 24 Broad St., for the use of the cuts
we have given, and refer all who wish furthe^
information on the subject to his ^'Tobacco Grow-
er's Manual" which can be obtained by sending to
him as above. Of course, no farmer would do so
without enclpsing a stamp to pay the return
postage.
The next illustration shows an improved plan,
which combines the features of the other two ;
the openings at the sides, extending the whole
height of the barn to the eaves, and the raised
roof. Of course care must be taken in making
this roof to construct it so that water will not drive
in during rain. The advantages of this construc-
tion are that the amount of ventilation can be
easily regulated, neither allowing the tobacco to
dry too rapidly, as it might do from the direct ac-
tion of the sun and light, nor to absorb moisture
from the atmosphere, as it would do in a time of
continued humidity, endangering its loss from
mildew.
The plan shows the frame-work of a barn sixty
by thirty-nine feet, which would probably be large
enough for the crop of about four acres. The
specification for the quantity of lumber required
for such a building, including the poles for hang-
The New York Sunday School Union have
commissioned four female missionaries for perma-
nent service in missionary labor in the city.
These missionaries will donate their time in fami-
ly visitation. Bible reading and distribution of
tracts and Bibles, and gathering the children into
Sabbath Schools and the adults into church. It
is the design of the Society to employ female mia-
sionaries so systematically and numerous, as to
reach every family, and bring the young uuder
Bible instruction.
Ears of the Horse. — It is a good sign for a
horse to carry one ear forward and the other
backward, when on a jour-
ney, because this stretching
of the ears in contrary direc-
tions shows that he is atten-
tive to everything that is
taking place around him ;
and while he is going he can-
not be much fatigued, or
likely soon to become so.
Few horses sleep without
pointing their ears as above,
that they may receive notice
of the approach of objects in
every direction. "When hors-
es or mules," says Dr. Arnott,
"march in company at night,
those in front direct their
ears forward, those in the rear
direct them back, those in
ing the drying plants, show that it takes nearly ^j,g centre turn them laterally or across ; the whole
22,250 feet, two-thirds of which is included in the
timber for the frames and the poles.
That Tobacco is a profitable crop, there is no
question. Unless the taste of the world changes very thj. gooj fortune of the bad bows their heads
materially, there is no danger of the demand ceas- down to the earth ; the bad fortune of the good
ing, and we believe that the well tilled land of New turns their faces up to heaven.
troop seeming thus to be actuated by one feeling,
which watches the generbl safety !"
re6
NEW England farmer^
Jt^M'
OULTITRE OP ROOTS.
The attention of the reader is called t6'' an alf ti-
de in ai^othef column on "Root CropS." Those
w'ho are Inakifig afrangeWien'ts' for ti dairy busi-
ness, esjiecially, -will firtd it advantageous to look
thoroughly into the matter of raising roots as a
part of the feed for their milcli cows. Experience
has convinced us of their grea;t utility fof this pur-
pose'. Our crop of roots of vatious kinds has
sotefetifties amoufvted to fifteen hundred bushels
irt* a season, vrhich have been fed to horses, milch
aT>d dry ccws, hens ahd swinie,-^and to all of
tbeni in a ra\*' state e'xceptihg thie latter;
"rheir eflfect upon horses was to keep the hair
soft and glossy, and they took thfe place of grain,
entirely, unless in cases where the amnials were
worked daily. With the dry cows, they saved
cb'risiderable hay, and a-t the same' tfitie kept tlie
appetite good, and the general condition of the
a'nimal excellettt. The effect upon the milch co'wg
was to increase the flow of rnilk' and add to its
richness, which w^ll be' found a matter worthy of
consideration at the prices which butter is likely
to bring for some time to come. In feeding them
to sv>ine, they were boiled, salted, and mixed with
corn' meal, and several^ kinds- of roots included in
the sanie mess. But perhaps no better Use was
made of them than feeding them to poultry.
Twenty-five fowls will eat one large mangold
weighing two or three pounds, daily, if the top is
cut off and- the remainder' niade fast so that it will
not ittove about when they peck it off.
The mangold may be raised very cheaply. The
soil can be mostly prepared with the plow and
harrow, aftei" the first weeding arid thinning by
some of the improved implements which the ge-
nius of the mechanic has provided for us. They
should be planted in- rbw^s'two and a half feet
apart at least, sothkt tlie rotigh part of the culti-
vation may be done with the horse arid cultiva-
tor, until the leaves have extended so as to be in
the way-. The plants should stand' one foot apart
iilthe YOwS, if it ife de'sired to ha-ve them grow to
a large size, — if riot, eight incfties will answer.
Follow the horse cultivator with" the common
wheel hoe, or what is better than any other imple-
ment we have ever seen; "Harrington's Hand
Cultivator." A man •will soon run over an acre
with this Cultivator, and leave it in a most com-
plete and beautiful finish. It is light, durable, and
eifRcifefit. It is easy to wxJrk with, as the person
lisingit' stoops' very little as' he'passes along.
The next root crop which we should recom-
mend as prolific and easy of culture would be the
Mood tiirnip beet. It is thought by those who
have cultivated this root quite largely that it will
"■'leld as many' pounds per' acre as the mangold.
I is hardy, not particularly subject to attacks by
worms or insects, and when produced is nutritious
arid highly relished by all the farm stock. In ad-
dition to this, if they grow fair, and of regular
size, they are as profitable a crop for the market
as any that the farmer takes there.
The culture of the Swedes turnip is more com-
mon and more generally understood. We do not
rank it so high as the mangold or the turnrp beet.
It is a great exhauster of the soil.
The carrot is an excellent root, — all the stock
like it, and it is especially excellent for horses.
For their use, we should prefer 75 lbs. of grain
and 25 lbs. of carrots, to 100 lbs. of grain. They
not only keep the hair, but the eyes hrigld, arid
the whole system in excellent condition.
As an offset to the extra amount of labor re-
quired to cultivate an acre in roots, the farmer
must look at the great increase in value which he
receives from that acre oVer his best crops of
English hay. There is, also, another important
point to be eonsidered, as it is' not the amount of
nutriment, alone, that is' required. Upon' our ta-
bles we use a variety of food, and consider it es-
sential to health, and it certainly gratifies the pal-'
ate. Is it not reasonable that the lower animals'
enjoy variety as well? This vaiiety may not af-
ford more nutriment than as many pounds of hay
or grain, and yet be fat more serviceable tb the
animal.
We are quite' cbtifid^t that our farriiers^ caii'
raise and use more root crops than they do, and
firid it' profitable.
SWUSTE AND MANDTIE.
It is for the interest of the farmer to raise his
own pork, as well as other meats. We believe
this should be laid down as a general rule, by a
large majority of farmers, not orily to raise their
own pork and all other meats, but just so far as
is possible, everything of the eatable kind that is
required for his own use. This course furnishes
the table at once, and seasonably, with a supply
of fresh and wholesome articles, without' going
through the long mercantile process of can-jirig
to market, selling and purchasing, or exchanging
for what is wanted.
This point, however, is only an incidental one
now. Our present purpose is to speak of swine
as mamfadurers of manure. The views of a
majority of farmers are dii-ectly in opposition to
our own, in this respect. We prefer to keep
swine for the pork they will yield, and not for the
work they will perform on the manure heap.
We like those medium sized, compact, symmetri-
cal breeds, that will take on flesh and fat rapidly,
compared with the amount of food they eat ;
hogs that are of a quiet disposition, and that,
when they have filled themselves, will lie down
I and sleep, and grow lustily. Others say, — "the
1864.
Ni;W ENfiJ^ANI) FAIIMER.
1^7
leaner kinds are workers, and, when the manufac-
ture of manure is an object, the working animal,
although he may not fat so readily or on so small
a quantity of food, will, in the end, prove the most
profitable. They, therefore, have no objection to
those long-snouted, raw-boned fellows, that are
capable of turning a furrow like an old-fashioned
plow, and which are as restless and as adverse to
eleep in the daytime as a witch is said to be in the
moonlight of a night in autumn. By selecting
animals of this description, and providing them
■with plenty of food and materials, they will not
qnly furnish us with a most valuable article of
manure, but they will also fill thp meat barrels
with good and profitable pork."
We do not believe the doctrine, or practice its
teachings. It is not economical, or consistent
with other practices of the farm. The farmer
•who half starves his long-legged, raw-boned racer
in order to make him work over the manure, does
not act upon the same principle with his oxen that
he is fatting for the shambles, or his own beef
barrel. By no means. He supplies every means
of comfort for them in his power. Gives them a
dry bed, an agreeable temperature, a variety of
nutritious food, ^ad just enough exercise in the open
air to make their blood flow briskly through their
veins. And this is the true course, both with cat-
tle and swine.
Well fed hogs may go upon the common ma-
nure heap with perfect propriety. They will turn
it over somewhat, but no more than is sufficient
to give them a healthful exercise. They should
have ample room, access to th^ sun, a perfectly dry
ted to go to when they please, and one that can
be made dark in hot weather, so that they may
escape the annoyance of flies. They should then
be supplied, during the whole growing season,
with an abundance of ft-esh, succulent vegetables,
both for their own use, to absorb their droppings,
and to increase the mass of manure. Sods, swamp
muck, forest scrapings, leaves, chip manure,
brakes, flags, ferns, weeds, Szc, together with every
species of spurious or refuse vegetation, should
be gathered and thrown to the animals, a little at
a time, to feed from and root over as much as
they feel inclined to do, after having received two
or three hearty meals each day.
The matter formed by the decomposition of
these substances, together with the solid excre-
ments of the animals, and the saline and earthy
matters contained in the liquid voidings, will con-
stitute one of the most valuable manures that can
be. applied to the soil, and will produce excellent
efects on all descriptions of crops, whether of
roots or grains. This mass will, of course, need
an occasional turning over, but a man with a good
fork, will do more of it in one hour of each week
than the lean hog will in seven dayji. We. let the
hog, therefore, exercise as much as his instincts
prompt hi)u to in order to preserve health, and
sleep away most of the time in the wfirm sun's
rays in cold weather, or in his retired and eool
bedroom in the hot days and nights.
During the first sU months of his life, he should
not be fed to fatness, but with a variety of flesh
making food, such as skim milk, vegetables, roots,
and plenty of short, fresh gre^ss, cut when not
more than ap inch or two high, and fed a little of
it several times a day through the entire summer.
In the cooler weather of October and November,
corn and corn ppeal may be given him, and for
six weeks before slaughtering as much of the lat-
ter, slightly salted, daily, as he will eat, together
with as much pure cold w^ter as he will drink,
once each day.
The pork of such a hog, if properly dressed,
salted and preserved, Avill be as sweet as any nut
that was ever cracked, and in our opinion, as
wholesome and nutritions as beef or any other
flesh.
NE^W BOOKS.
The Illdstrated Horsb Management, Containing dcscriplive
remarks upon Anatomy, Meclicioe, Shouiug, Tveth, Fooil,
Vices, Stables ; likewise a plain account of the Situation, Na
tute and Value of various Points, together with comments on
Grooms, Dealers, Breeders, Breakers and Traifters ; also on
Carriages and Harness. Embellished with more than 400
Engravings, from Original Designs made expressly for this
work. By EnwARB Maxubw, M. B. C. V. S., authop o{ the
'•JUustrated Horse Doctor,'' and other works. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1861. ; Boston: A. Williams & Co.
We yield to few persons in our r-egard and at
taohment to the horse. He is one of the naost
useful servants of man, and, properly treated, is
one of the most profitable among them all. The
reader of these columns cannot have failed to no-
tice the numerous references we have made dur-
ing ihe past year to '^Ma>/Jiew's Illustrated Horse
Doctor" and the engravings given,, illustrating
some of the diseases ^d malforijjations. of the
horse. We consider this the best work extaAt
upon the diseases of the horse. We now have
before us another work by the same author upon
the management of the horse, and a careful ex-
amination of it brings us to the opinion we formed
of the former volume, that this, also, is the best
work in our knowledge, upon the subjects of
which it treats. It is a much needed one, too.
It tells all about the proper and improper man-
agement of the horse under all circumstances,—
about the structure and economy of the animal,
his shoes, his tbod, his stable, his breeding, break-
ing and training. The chapter on "Points," and
where to look for their development, is worth the
price of the volume.
Dr. Mayhew has probably- bad as much actual
experience and observation of the horse as any
person that lives. This is exhibited on every page
of his book. His humanity and kind considera-
tion of lh»^ anim<U aie a& manifest, also, as the giea.
168
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
intelligence with which he treats his subject. This
we consider one of the prime excellencies of the
work. Every feeling person must read his works
upon the horse with pain, when he learns how
cruelly he is often used, but with admiration, also,
for the humane and noble sentiments everywhere
expressed in his pages by the author. We hope
the work will fall into the hands of a million of
boTse-owners, and that they will read, ponder and
"inwardly digest" the excellent suggestions con-
tained in it.
For the New England Farmer,
BOOT CROPS.
The season is at hand when every judicious hus-
bandman begins to look over his plowed fields for
the purpose of ascertaining their adaptedness to
different crops, with a desire to appropriate to
each such a growth as will not only bring a re-
munerative return for the labor invested, and leave
the soil in an improved condition, but also affect
favorably the general interests of the farm. At
this season, a word of encouragement in regard to
the cultivation of roots will not be out of place, and
may awaken an interest in the subject which will
materially affect the aggregate number of bushels
to be harvested the coming autumn.
In the spring of 1855, Solon Robinson wrote
an article for the New York Tribune, entitled
"Plant one acre more," in which he reminded the
farmers of the high price of breadstuffs, and of
the multitudes in large cities who suffered from
the scarcity of provisions, and urged the impor-
tance of putting in as much grain as could possi-
bly be attended to. It was estimated that his
simple request increased the crops of the United
States one million of acres. At the present prices
of labor it may not be expedient to j)lant an acre
more, but it is an important point to ascertain
how to plant the ground we have so as to increase
the value of our crops.
In 1843, Daniel Webster asserted that the cul-
tivation of the turnip within the last fifty years
hfid revolutionized English Agriculture. It had
trebled the number of bullocks and sheep, and
he had no doubt it would produce a similar re-
sult in this country. The opinion has been ex-
pressed in this this paper, that by proper atten-
tion to the cultivation of roots, the capacity of
the farms of New England for keeping stock may
be doubled. If this is true, which no one has at-
tempted to deny, the subject deserves more at-
tention than has yet been given to it. That roots
are a valuable food for dairy stock no one doubts
who has made a trial of them. A careful study of
the tables of experiments published in the "Agri-
culture of Massachusetts," in 1858, will be profita-
ble to any who are skeptical upon this subject. A
horse that is driven on the road will thrive better
on five quarts of meal and three quarts of carrots
than on eight quarts of meal. Every fifty bush-
els of carrots fed in this way supplies the place of
fifty bushels of corn, and can be grown or bought
at one-fourth the cost.
In the "Agriculture of Massachusetts" for 1853,
(page 223,) the reader will find a tabular state-
ment of twenty crops of carrots raised in Wor-
cester County, and entered for premium from
1846 to 1853 inclusive, giving the name of each
grower, number of rods planted by each, cost and
yield. It appears that the average yield was
2066 tons per acre. It is not expected that every
farmer will secure a premium crop, but ordinary
pains will secure six hundrea bushels to the acre,
and this will highly pay the cost of cultivation.
Most people magnify the labor attending the cul-
tivation of roots, having had no experience, ex-
cept with the little garden bed which was per-
mitted to mat itself over with weeds before any
effort was made to subdue them, and then after
one spasmodic effort which resulted in destroying
more carrots than weeds, it was given over, and
weeds and vegetables struggled hard for the
championship. "A stitch in time saves nine."
A neighbor of mine has sold one hundred bush-
els of French turnips at fifty cents per bushel the
past winter. It has been practically demonstrat-
ed that, at ordinary prices of labor, turnips can
be raised at from twelve to fifteen cents per bush-
el. Dr. Loring, of Salem, raises 1600 bushels of
mangold wurtzel per acre, and at the present
prices of meal and scraps, it becomes every farm-
er who indulges in the luxury of keeping swine to
inquire if this root properly cooked cannot be
substituted, in part, for more expensive food.
It has been objected that roots leave the soil in
bad condition ; but every one knows that no crop
pulverizes the soil more perfectly than roots, and
the heavy hay crops, which have been taken from
ground upon which carrots have been previously
cultivated, are sufficient evidence that roots im-
prove rather than impoverish the soil. As to the
effect of these crops on the general interests of
the farm, it is only necessary to add that any sys-
tem of husbandry that increases the stock on the
farm, is sure to' increase its fertility.
If the enterprising farmers of this section, who
are selling butter at fifty cents per pound, and
are anxious to make much more than they now do,
would enter into this matter with half the zeal
with which the farmers of the Connecticut Valley
are engaging in the cultivation of tobacco, I am
of the opinion they would reap a more satisfacto-
ry harvest, and deserve a higher place in the mem-
ory of those who are to come after. Viator.
Hopkinton, April, 1864.
PLANT PEAS DEEP.
In an article recently written on the culture of
early peas, we recommended that they be planted
deep, say as low as four to six inches. We find
the following in confirmation of these views :
The theory recently advocated of planting j)ea8
very deeply in the earth, in order to prolong the
bearing capacity of the vines, has also been well
tested and found to be correct. A farmer told
me that he ploughed a furrow beam deep ; then
scattered the seed peas at the bottom after which
he turned a deep furrow upon them with his
plough, covering them, if possible, to the depth
of twelve or fourteen inches. They pushed their
way up through the thick mass of earth very
soon, and, instead of turning yellow at the bot-
tom and dying after the first gathering, they
blossomed and bore until he was tired of picking
the pods. If such a result will uniformly be
realized from the plan, pea culture may be more
profitable than hitherto.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
169
. CLOVES, HAY FOR HORSES,
We have long urged upon the farmers of New
England the inaportance of raising more clover
hay, not only for milch cows and sheep, but for
horses also. We have spoken of its nutritive
properties compared with other hay, and of the
fondness which cattle and sheep and horses al-
ways evince for it, and have urged that its high-
ly nutritive qualities and this decided preference
ought to be sufficient reasons to induce farnaers
to cultivate it more extensively.
It is at present unfashionable to use clover for
horses in city stables, and it is, therefore, unmar-
ketable. But tlvere is a reason for this, in the
quality of the clover hay which has too often been
presented in the market for sale. It is either
greatly damaged or spoiled in curing it. No oth-
er hay is injured so rapidly, or so essentially,
by neglect and exposure while making it, as clo-
ver. It has broad leaves and bulky, juicy stems,
so that the plant is succulent and heavy, and
when cut soon becomes quite compact. While in
this condition it w'ill quickly heat and induce the
fermentative process, when its nutritive qualities
are rapidl3' changed and lost as food for animals.
At this period it is thrown open, perhaps, and
dried, but its fresh, green look has gone, its sweet-
ness departed, most of the leaves have fallen off,
and it is little but a mass of blackened, dusty
fibre, and just such as should be rejected by both
man and beast. No wonder that stable-keepers
refuse to purchase such stuff as fodder for their
horses.
If a few tons of well-cured* clover hay were
brought into market and two or three leading sta-
ble-keepers should use it, we have no doubt but
the demand would be quick for it afterward. It
is not, however, we must confess, so well adapted
for transportation as timothy and red top, because
its leaves are so liable to be broken oflf in car-
riage. Our remarks are suggested, mainly, to
the farmer who desires to feed his stock upon the
most profitable varieties of hay in his own barn,
— and this we consider to be well cured clover
hay.
Some object to it that it runs out too quickly —
that they can get only a single crop from a sow-
ing, and that this is too expensive. This is cer-
tainly apt to be the case if the crop that succeeds
the first cutting, what is called the aftermath, or
second crop, is allowed to go to seed. Those
plants that go to seed, having performed their
office, that of perpetuation, will not start up
again, while those that do not go to seed will con-
tinue to flourish two or three years, and produce
heavy crops.
In this course, the cost of plowing and reseed-
ing is largely more than paid for in the exuberant
crops, and in the decide^ value of the clover roots
which are left in the soil. It is thought that a
somewhat thin and poor soil may be permanently
fertilized by this course, with only trifling aid from
barn manures to start with. If such is the fact,
it affords another substantial reason why our farm-
ers should considerably extend their fields of
clover.
We hope our correspondents will give their
views upon this subject, especially now, when so
many persons have engaged in sheep husbandry-
The subject is worthy of close attention by all
cultivators of grasses. An article on another page,
on this subject, will well repay pei'usal»
EXTBACTS . AJSTD REPLIES.
On Pulling Stumps.
I have a lot of stumps in a swamp, to remove, and
wish to get them out of the way with as little expense
as possible. Will some of your correspondents, who
may have worked pulling at stumps, or are acquainted
with the business in any way, please give, through the
columns of the Farmer, a description of the manner
in which it is done, and what Jiiud of machines or
other power they use ?
Any information in regard to the above will he re-
ceived with pleasure by A Subscribeb.
In the Farmer of April 16, "A Subscriber" says he
has a lot of stumps in a swamp, and wants some one
acquainted with the business to tell him how to get
them out, I have that experience, and have quite a
story to tell in the Farmer some day, but have not
time to shape it now. But I can safely say to "A Sub-
scriber," that it will he money in his pocket, (if he
does not live at too great a distance,) to take the Old
Colony ears, which stop near my door, and see me and
my swamp. He can sec stumps enough pulled, and
v/hat pulls them, and get a large experience very
quick, free gratis. Caleb Bates.
Kingston, Mass., April 19, 18G4.
Remarks.— We know Mr. Bates very well, and
have seen the stump-puller to which he refers, in ope-
ration. He has given "A Subscriber" an invitation
which we hope he will accept, as seeing for himself
will be more satisfactory than any suggestions can be.
Mr. Bates is one of our practical, progressive farmers,
who always looks into the causes of things, as far as
his opportunities will allow him to-
Sicilian Fowls.
In your last letter you wished me to give you a des-
cription of the Sicilian Fowls that I have.
In May, 1861, 1 received the eggs of the above-named
fowls, from Mr. Wilson, of Cohasset, Mass., who im-
ported them in the fVUl of 1860. You wish me to give
you a statement of the product of these fowls, but
this I am not al)le to state, as I have not kept my ac-
count of the amount of eggs laid from five or ten hens,
as 1 have kept them with my other varieties of fowls
until I select them in the spring, for breeding.
I have the White and Speckled Leghorn fowls, which
are considered by good judges to be the best, or as
gf)(jd as there are in the country ; Ijut I have tested
the same number of the Sicilian fowls with the Leg-
horn, for three months, and the Sicilian fowls laid ten
dozen eggs to the Leghorn 8 dozen.
The Sicilian fowl is a very beautiful bird, about the
size of the black Spanish fowl, and their color quite
near that of a woodcock or snipe ; comb and wattles
verv large, and a large white spot about the ear, simi-
lar to that of the white Leghorn fowls.
I think these fowls deserve the highest attention
among our poultry breeders. The flesh of the Sicili-
an fowls is very juicy and of excellent flavor and is
much admired by those who have used them for the
170
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
table. They were last year tested in the New Haven
henneries, and were highly recommended for their
laying qualities. James M. Clark.
Chester, Ct., April 18, 1864.
Remarks. — We have never seen the Sicilian fowls,
and can find no account of them in the books. Our
correspondent's account of them is very favorable.
Stretclies in Sheep.
I wish to inquire through your paper, of Mr. H. P.
Gale, of Washington, Vt., what his medicine is for
the scoui'S and stretches in sheep ? Mine is, for the
stretches, one table spoonful of castor oil mixed with
X pint of warm milk. Turn down out of a bottle. It
seldom fails. If there is any better medicine I should
like to know it. The scours I never have had in my
flock. C. F. Lincoln.
Woodstock, Vt., April, 1864.
Reducing Bones— Snow — Sheep.
I should like to have you inform me through the
medmm of the N. E. Farmer how I can prepare sev-
eral hundred pounds of bones that I have on hand,
for a fertilizer, and how long a time it will take.
What are they worth per hundred to sell, and where
can they be sold at the best advantage ?
We have just had the most severe snow storm of
the season ; there has not been so much snow on the
ground before, at any time this winter. Our people
are making lots of maple sugar.
Farmers in this section are losing lots of sheep this
spring ; they came to the barn very poor. On account
of the severe rains of last fall, much of the hay was
cut late the last season, making it very poor feed for
stock. N. W. Hardy.
Nelson, N. H., April 14, 1864.
Remarks. — The cheapest and easiest way for the
farmer to dissolve the bones he collects, is to boil them
in strong ley. It will require three or four hours' boil-
ing, probably, to soften them so that they can be re-
duced to a paste. The alkali in which they are boiled
being a good fertilizer, the whole mass will make a
manure that can scarcely be excelled.
We are informed that manufacturers are paying
from ^20 to ^'25 per ton for whole bones.
USE OF POULTRY MANURE.
Messrs. Editors : — I send you my way of pre-
paring and using hen manure on corn.
I have been in the habit for several years of
getting together all the clear manure from the
hen roost that I could, and a few days before plant-
ing, (say three to six,) mix an equal quantity of
wood ashes and about half as much plaster thor-
oughly together, wetting enough to moisten the
whole. When my ground is ready marked both
•ways, drop a small handful to each hill, or one
large handful for two, planting the corn as soon
as may be, after dividing the compost with a slight
motion of the hoe, before dropping the corn and
covering up with good mellow dirt. *
Wetting the compost helps much to pulverize
hen manui-e, and insure the corn immediately,
which it would not be likely to do until after a
rain if planted in it^ dry state.
I have never tested by actual experiment the
increase of crop, but am well satisfied that I get
enough more corn to keep my hens during the
winter and spring, (give them all they will eat,)
besides lots of pumpkins in the bargain.
Perhaps something else would do better in the
place of ashes. I think I shall try some with
muck this year, and note the difference, if any,
in the yield. — A Small Farmer, in Country
Gentleman.
EFFECT OF COLD "WEATHER ON THE
SEPARATION OF CREAM.
Judging from the management of the dairies of
many of our farmers, and also in many of the
larger ones, where the butter is the chief object,
the managers seem little to understand the effect
of a low temperature upon the rising of the cream,
or at least they do not arrange their milk so as to
obtain the greatest amount of cream. There are
several conditions which do much to modify the
quantity of cream which may be derived from any
given quantity of milk; the fatty matter which,
afterward composes the butter is held in suspension
by the water of the milk, and hence, when standing
in the udder of the cow, the best and most rich
portions rise to the surface, and-consequently are
last drawn. By the common mode of milking, the
poor and richer portions of the rnilk become mixed
together, and the separation of the cream is made
far more difficult and slow. In most of the lai"ge
English dairies, and in some of the best ordered in
this country, it is the rule to divide each cow's
milk into two portions at the time of milking, and
these two portions are kept entirely separate until
the cream is all raised, when it is sometimes mixed,
but oftener kept separate altogether. In some of
the large dairies of Devonshire, each milker has
three buckets, and divides each cow's milk into
three portions, which, with their cream, are kept
entirely separate. It has been stated by eminent
English dairymen that if the first two-thirds of the
cow's milk is kept separate from the remainder, at
least ten per cent, more cream may be obtained.
Those who make butter can calculate whether this
will payi"or the extra labor which is incurred.
Another mistake very often made is that of put-
ting too mucK milk in the pans ; experiment has
proven that if we take two equal quantities of milk
and place one in pans to the depth of six inches,
and the other to the depth of only two and one-
half inches, the latter will yield from seven to eight
per cent, more cream than the former. This is the
case more particularly in cold and damp weather,
and at this time the mistake is most commonly
committed.
The temperature of the surrounding air has also
a gr'eat effect upon the time required for the rais-
ing of all the cream ; experiment has demonstrated
that the process is more rapid in warm than ia
cold weather. With the thermometer at
80 degrees, all the cream will raise in 10 hours.
77 " " " 12 "
68 " " " 18 "
65 " " " 24 "
50 " " " 36 "
45 " " " 42 «'
Sprengel found that if the milk was kept at a
temperature as low as 37°, but little cream would
raise in three weeks.
In order to avoid the trouble of keeping the
cream at the proper temperature, it is customary
in some dairies to churn the whole milk. The ad-
vantages claimed by those who follow this plan
may be briefly stated thus : The proper tempera-
ture can be readily obtained both in summer and
in winter ; five per cent, more butter can be ob-
tained from the same milk ; the butter is not only
of the best quality while fresh, but if properly
managed, will keep much better.
This plan would not work so well in the neigh-
borhood of a good market for skim milk, but when
cheese is an object there would be little or no
1864,
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
171
difference, for the buttermilk will make as good a
cheese as skim milk.
In summer it is difficult to reduce the tempera-
ture of the cream as low as 55°, but the whole
milk need only be reduced to 65'", to which most
cellars, without any difficulty, reduce it.
In Brittany, the milk of the previous evening is
mixed with the morning's milk, and after standing
a few hours, the whole is churned, and is said to
produce a larger amount of butter, of a better
quality, and will keep longer. — DAIRYMAN, in Oer-
matitoicn Telegraph, ,
CLOVER HAY FOR HORSES.
Dr. McClure is one of the leading veterinary
surgeons of Philadelphia, and, we may add, of the
United States. His opinion, therefore, on any
matter connected with the food and health of the
horse can be quoted with confidence. In a recent
article in the Culturist he advocates the feeding
of clover hay to horses, and thinks it would pre-
vent a disease now prevailing among the horses of
this city, during which they will not eat timothy
hay ; so little of it being brought to market. He
then proceeds to say :
Why is this the case ? Simply because there is
a prejudice existing among all classes of horse-
men, and from them communicated to the owners
of horses, against feeding this kind of hay. First,
because it is said that clover hay produces heaves,
and secondly, because it is said that it is not
respectable to be seen feeding with clover hay, as
it looks parsimonious. These opinions concerning
this article are so widely and firmly fixed in the
mind of almost every groom and stableman, as
well as horse owner in Philhaelphia, that I believe
it has been the cause why most farmers are not
found giving clover cultivation to the extent it
ought to be, or as its superiority as an article of
provender demands. Let us now examine in brief,
the objections that are laid against it. It is said
it will i)roduce heaves in horses. The idea is as
false as it is preposterous. If broken wind is pro-
duced by an article of food, it certainly is not
from food, but from the quantity given. In like
manner, heaves may be caused by a too great
quantity of water, oats, or any kind of hay what-
ever, given at an improper time, as when the ani-
mal has a journey to perfoi'm. In a word, it is the
person's fault in giving too much food at an im-
proper time, and not the character of the food
that thus produces heaves in the horse. The man,
who, when feeding a horse, would fill its manger
with oats and corn, would not be considered a very
fit man to feed and care for horses, neither is that
man who would fill a large rack full of clover hay ';
as the animal will not stop eating until it has hurt
itself; as every horse is fond of it, and, as before
stated, sick horses will eat it when they will not
eat anything else. Without another word, the ar-
gument is complete.
For argument's sake, let us see what there is
in the other objections of clover hay. It savors
meanness. Does this opinion arise from the idea
that the queenly cow eats and feeds upon it in all
our large cities ? How much inferior is she to the
horse, and which adds most to our domestic hap-
piness as well as health ? Is it mean to purchase
for horse feed, hay which is superior to any other,
and sold forty cents to half a dollar less than the
best kinds reported in the market ? Or, is it a
generosity in the deportment or character of any
man, to feed his horses upon that which the ani-
mals do not seem to relish, trample a large portion
of it under their feet, to be carried thence to the
dung hill, when another article superior to it, in
point of nutriment, and costing from forty to fifty
per cent., less may be obtained?
The whole may be summed up in a few words,
as follows ;
Good clover hay contains forty-five per cent,
more fattening matter than timothy hay, and about
forty per cent, more than the English rye-grass
hay ; about ten per cent, less than dried lupins or
vetches which are extensively used in Europe
for the feeding of both horses arid cattle, and which
are second only to the Trifnlinmhijbiidum. or Alsike
clover, so named from a district fi Sweden called
Alsike. Alsike clover contains the properties of
both the red and white clover, and was first intro-
duced into Great Britain about 1854. This vari-
ety of clover has for the last few years engaged
the attention of agriculturists in Scotland and
various parts of England to a great extent. Its
reputation is now so firmly established, that more
of it has been sown the last year than ever before.
It is said by many agriculturists that animals will
leave any other grass or clover to feed on the
Alsike, and they say farther that the more it be-
comes known the greater will be its cultivation.
We may add to the foregoing that thirty years
ago farmers hever raised timothy for their own
use, and upon many farms, even within reach of
the Philadelphia market, not a pound of timothy
hay was produced. Farmers fed clover exclusive-
ly to their horses, with cut straw and shipstuff,
and moderately with whole corn. These horses
were put to all kinds of work, were ridden and
driven at all times ; and we veiiture to say, backed
by our recollection, that the horse at that period
was not subjected to one-half the diseases that it
is now. The truth is we will have to go back to
clover, probably of the new variety named, to a
considerable extent. — Qermantown Telegraph.
SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER.
This vegetable has never been extensively cul-
tivated in this country, although it is more fre-
quently met with now than formerly. In its gen-
eral habits and modes of growth, it resembles the
parsnip, though the roots are much smaller, and
the yield of course less. It requires a deep, rich
and rather warm soil, and should be sown early
to secure a good crop. As soon as the plants are
fiiirly up, they should be weeded, and the ground
kept clean and light by frequent applications of
the hoe. The best manure is that from the hog-
sty, or stable dung, well decomposed.
This vegetable derives its name from the near
resemblance it has, in taste, to the oyster. It is
a wholesome edible, and is greatly admired by
those who have acquired a taste for it. On suita-
ble soil, it yields well, and so far as our experi-
ence enables us to judge, is very little subject to
injury from attacks of insects or vermin of any
kind. The second year the plants flower, and the
seeds may be gathered by hand as they ripen.
172
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JXIKE
A HEW FANNING MILL.— ADAMS' PATENT.
Perhaps no one thing has so operated to increase
the hard labor of the farmer, and to perpetuate it,
as the universal prevalence and immense multi-
plication of weeds. That labor is like the toil to
•which Sisyphus was doomed by the gods for be-
traying some of their plans, — to roll a huge block
of marble up a hill, the moment it reached the
top it would roll back again, and thus he was tor-
mented by this incessant and never-ending toil.
So it is with the farmer and the weeds. He has
contrived to sow foul seeds with his grains, and is
then tormented with weeding the crop, while his
neighbor neglects to weed, and raises a luxuriant
growth, to send its seeds over all the adjoining
lands !
Now, however, through the genius of the me-
chanic, a way has been devised to prevent this
wide-spread mischief. Adams' Patent Fanning
Mill will separate all the various seeds, if the
farmer will but press it into his service. We have
seen nearly all kinds of seeds, large and small, to-
gether with sand, dust, bits of straw and other
foul stuff mixed and thrown into the hopper, and
in a few minutes all separately returned. It
cleanses all impurities from wheat, rye, oats, bar-
ley, flax seed, millet, rice, coffee, timothy, clover,
hemp, canary, garden seeds, mustard, &c. A
merchant sent Mr. Adams 611 pounds of gum
Arabic, from which he took 27 pounds of sand,
probably from the desert, which must have been
blown through the sacks while undergoing trans-
portation. It was almost as fine as flour. Out of
16 tons of mustard seed, 868 lbs. of Canada this-
tle seed and black chaff were taken. From 29
sacks of rice were extracted 67 lbs. of broken rice,
128 lbs. of flour dust and 61 lbs. of lumps of
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
173
dirt ! From 2738 bushels of Canary seed were
obtained 171 bushels of foul, worthless seeds, a
portion of which were found to be seeds of pois-
onous plants.
Among the seeds more common for farm use,
from 77 bushels of barley were obtained 61 bush-
els of pure barley, 9 bushels of oats, 4 bushels of
peas, and 3 bushels of tangle-weed and other foul
seeds.
From 336 bushels of rye were obtained 306
bushels of pure rye, 21 of oats, 6 of light rye and
oats, 1 of tangle-weed, d bushel of peas, 8 lbs. of
pure ergot, and some otner vile stuff !
From 30 bushels seed wheat, li bushels of foul
seed were obtained, and from 297 bushels flax
seed, 20 bushels of "No-flax" and kale, or wild
turnip seed, were obtained. From 28,992 lbs. of
foreign mustard seed were obtained 27,829 lbs. so
pure that it was shipped to England and sold at
11 cents per lb., leaving 1054 lbs. of chaff, Canada
thistles and other foul seeds.
It would be useless for us to spend many words
in commending a machine that will accomplish
such results as these. Adams' Fanning Mill will
accomplish this with certainty and rapidity, and
its general use %vould greatly lessen the present labor
of the farm, tohile it loould as certainly increase its
profits.
For further information inquire of J. Nourse,
Agent, at 34 Merchants Row, Boston.
For the New England Farmer.
CATERPILLARS AND THEIR NATORAL
ENEMIES.
Caterpillars have increased so as to be very de-
structive in some sections. Neglected apple trees
near me the last season had every leaf devoured,
while the wild cherry in the woods supplied en-
tertainment for legions. In common with many
others I keep them off my trees so that they have
done no great injury, but had enough left that
escaped to observe their habits, and to find that
they have enemies unknown before to me. When
a good Providence provides a check to such infes-
tations, it will be well to know our friends, and
not in ignorance destroy them. I put -my hogs-
head used for irrigation on end under an apple
tree, and on its head the tunnel for filling, which
is a pail with a large tin pipe fitted in its bottom.
Inside of this the caterpillars found an excellent
place in the angle formed by tlie sides and bot-
tom to make their cocoons, which they improved
by filling all around ; at the same time it made
an excellent place for me to observe them, which
I did by lifting the pail from time to time, to study
them and to astonish older people than myself
with my "larning," by showing them what had
. been done every year of their lives under their
noses. Surely, "having eyes they see not." Af-
ter their cocoons were all formed, (and it is sur-
prising how quick a worm two inches long will
shorten into a chrysalis three-fourths of an inch
long, enveloped in silk,) we continued to look to
see when the moths would come out. Instead of
millers, I found one day two of the chrysalides
attacked by "grandpa-long-legs," who gnawed in-
to the cocoons a short distance from one end and
were feasting upon them.
Being very much pleased to find grandpa mak-
ing himself useful, even if his teeth were poor,
in eating the life out of this pest, I made a visit
the next day to note progress, when lo, and be-
hold, young America was there — a worm had
pushed aside the silk at the thin end and was go-
ing straight through the chrysalis ! Filled with new
delight and hope, I visited my observatory in the
later part of the day, and found two worms at
work. I then proposed to take time the next day
and. get a careful description of those good fel-
lows, and make it known through the Farmer,"
so that no man should lift his hand against them,
as we are apt to do with all worms, not knowing
friend fi'om foe. Went the next day with this good
purpose and. was chagrined to find that we, who
are all the time on the jump, should be too "slow
a catch" for them, fo!r before the grandpas could
finish their breakfast, they had swept the board
and devoured a baker's dozen, and were away, no
doubt for more ! Now for the best description I
can give.
I could not see their heads — they .being out of
sight in the insect they were feeding upon — but
the rest of the body was very smooth, light brown,
long and slim ; say l\ inches long by 3-16 of an
inch in diameter ; could see that they weiespan
workers, and no doubt quick travellers when in
motion, and when still, lying straight along a
branch of their own color, and are not easily seen.
Wherever I have seen the chrysalides — and that
is a large number — amongst hotbed sashes and
planks, under window sills and fence rails, every
one appears to be destroyed by this worm. On
examining my trees to find the nests of eggs,
(which all ought to do before the trees leaf out,
for they are very easily seen and are generally on
low branches,) I have found but very few, which
gives me a large hope that we have found a check
to the ravages of the caterpillars.
Caleb Bates.
Kingston, Mass., April, 1864.
For the New England Farmer.
PROFIT OP HENS.
Frequent statements and inquiries are made as
to the profits of hens, and what kinds are the
most so. There is probably a difference in the
various breeds, but no certainty to be relied on in
the matter. Much depends upon the individuals
of whatever breed, whether profitable or not.
Many kinds have been tried and got mixed up
with the old sort, and this mixed breed is gener-
ally kept in this part of the country and give as
good satisfaction as any.
To explain what I mean by individuals of the
various breeds, I will mention two cases within
my knowledge. One of my neighbors, a ^evf years
since, was inquiring about the profitableness of
keeping hens, and said he had had three hens for
two years past, that had not, to his knowledge,
laid an egg, and he did not think them profitable.
They were on a farm where plenty of corn, wheat
and oats were raised, and could never have suf-
fered for want of good fare. The other case oc-
curred last year. In the spring, little Johnny
Ames' grand mother gave him a hen which he
174
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
carried home. The rooster followed her. She
laid many eggs, hatched and brought up three
broods of chickens. The surplus eggs were sold.
The chickens, except twelve pullets, were killed
and sold at the door in November last. The eggs
and chickens sold, reckoning the live pullets equal
to a like number killed, all amounted to ten dol-
lars and some thirty cents, and the hen was still
laying. This she produced besides scratching for
most of her living and support of her chickens
while under her care.
Now it requires no figuring of the price of corn
and other food in these two cases, to decide on
the profitableness of Johnny's hen for some eight
months, and the unprofitableness of those of his
uncle for two years.
Do we not often witness the same difference in
the productions of other domestic animals of the
same breeds ? Are we not too apt to jump at
conclusions of the value of a breed, from an exper-
iment with a single individual of the race ?
RuFUS McIntire.
Parsoiisfield, Me., 1864.
For the New England Farmer,
VALUE OF BAKNYAKD MANURE.
With the view of determining the actual value
of barnyard manure as found in the enclosures of
our New England farmers, I have recently sub-
mitted several specimens to chemical analysis. A
parcel obtained from the yard of a neighbor,
which, under the conditions in which it was pro-
duced and preserved, may be regarded as a fair
representative of the article as furnished by ordi-
nary farmers, gave the following results :
A portion, weighing 7280 grai^ns, was carefully
dried in a porcelain dish over a water bath, and
it was found to lose of water 5960 grains, leaving
of dry matter 1320 grains. Of the residuum thus
freed from moisture, 455 grains were placed in a
platinum capsule and carefully ignited, thus re-
moving the combustible or carbonaceous matter
made up of the elements, oxygen, hydrogen and
carbon. The resultant ash weighed 177 grains,
showing a loss of volatile or combustible elements
amounting to 278 grains.
In order that the results of the analysis may be
clearly understood by agriculturists, it may be
desirable to present them without regard to frac-
tional parts, and to estimate by the whole amount
experimented with, viz., 7280 grains. This amount
gave of water, 5960 grains ; combustible or c'ar-
bonaceous matter, 806; nitrogen, 29; potash and
soda, 41 ; lime, 43 ; magnesia, 14 ; phosphoric
acid, 15 ; sulphuric acid, 11 ; chlorine, 14 ; silicon
or sand, 335 ; oxide of iron and alumina, 22. The
points in this examination which will doubtless
appear most striking, are the large amounts of
worthless material which constitute the bulk of
barnyard manure, the water and sand greatly pre-
dominating over everything else. A better idea
of this may be obtained, if the results of the analy-
sis are applied to a larger amount of manure,
which will give the constituents in pounds.
Assuming that a cord of ordinary barnyard
manure will weigh 3000 pounds, its actual value
as a fertilizer may be presented as follows : There
are contained in it of water, 2456 pounds, common
sand, 138 pounds ; these added together give
2594 pounds of perfectly worthless substances.
Now, if we still further subtract the carbonaceous
matter, 332 pounds, which is of no more value than
muck, peat, straw, or chaff, we have left only 74
pounds of active fertilizing material, which has a
money value. To obtain this 74 pounds, which
really is all that is valuable, the farmer loads and
hauls upon his field 3000 pounds, or one and a
half tons of a compound in which there is water
enough to do the weekly washing of a small neigh-
borhood, and a, sufficiency of sand to keep the
kitchen floor tidy for a month. The 74 pounds
of mineral salts might be taken in an ordinary
bushel basket and carried upon the shoulder to
any point desired.
In this amount there is the nitrogen, potash,
soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric acid, sulphuric
acid, chlorine, iron and alum. In estimating the
market value of these substances, we may obtain
the nitrogen by the use of crude nitrate of soda
or sulphate of ammonia, at a cost of $1.70 ; the
potash, soda, &c., in li bushels of good wood
ashes, at 25 cents ; and 15 pounds of common
salt, 10 pounds of bone dust, 3 pounds of gypsum,
will supply the remaining constituents at a cost
of 40 cents. If we estimate the carbonaceous
matter at 10 cents, we have, as the actual cash
value of all that promotes plant growth, in 3000
pounds of barnyard manure, the sura of $2.45.
There are but few localities where the farmer
can purchase manure at less than five dollars the
cord ; and when to this we add the expense of
hauling and applying to fields, we find there is a
wide margin between the cost of the isolated val-
uable constituents of manure, and the article as
furnished in its natural condition.
If bulk in fertilizers is desirable, artificial barn-
yard manure may be produced by thoroughly com-
posting with a cord of seasoned meadow muck,
65 pounds of crude nitrate of scda, 2 bushels of
wood ashes, 1 peck of common salt, 10 pounds of
fine bone meal, 2 quarts of plaster, 10 pounds of
epsom salts. The cost of this compost ought not
to be over $3.00 the cord, and in fertilizing pow-
er it may be found to e.xceed ordinary animal
excrement.
The question has arisen, whether analysis fur-
nishes true data from which to estimate the actual
value of barnyard manure ; whether there is not
some property communicated to mineral salts in
their passage through plant and animal organisms,
which peculiarly adapts or fits them for again be-
coming plant fructifiers. This is an interesting
question, and one which may be considered in a
future communication. In what has been pre-
sented, the fact is not overlooked, that manure
or animal excrement as found upon the premises
of farmers varies greatly in value. Its value is in
proportion to the worth or richness of food sup-
pHed to animals. A herd of kine fed upon clover
hay, and supplied liberally with grain and tur-
nips, will furnish excrement of more than twice
the value of that from animals fed upon run hay,
with no grain or roots.
The farmer is very apt to look upon the con-
tents of his yard as so much manure — in value
equal to any other which it may in physical as-
pect resemble. This is a very erroneous view of
the matter. Lean feed makes lean manure ;. and
the actual value of a parcel may be understood by
knowing what kind of hay or grain has been fur-
nislied the' animals producing it. Whenever, in
riding past a farm-house in the winter, we notice
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
175
the stock to be particularly lean and weak, we may
be sure the heaps of manure under the eavesdrop-
pings of the barn are as lean and weak as the poor
animals shivering around them.
In extended chemical examinations of different
kinds of excrement during the past winter, several
incidental points which are deemed of much im
portance, have attracted attention. I will at this
time bring to notice but one of them, and that
relates to the proper preparation of food for ani-
mals. In quite all the parcels of excrement sub-
mitted to analysis, the evidence of imperfect diges-
tion and assimilation is palpably manifest. Corn,
oats and timothy hay have been found in large
quantities, entirely unchanged in their passage
through the stomach and alimentary canal of
horses and horn cattle. It will be safe to say,
that, under the prevailing method of feeding, ful-
ly twenty per cent, of the hay and grain is lost,
the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements being
rejected without assimilation. The vital processes,
unaided by any preparation or softening of food
before consumption, seem incapable of perfectly
dissolving and changing it when deposited in the
stomach. The silica in the husks of oats, and
stalks of grasses, probably retard these processes,
and hence we see how important it is that food
should be steamed, or otherwise cooked, before
being fed to animals. Oats and corn should cer-
tainly be finely ground, and if, in addition, facili-
ties for scalding or steaming are provided, much
gain will thereby result to the farmer.
J. R. Nichols.
Ill Milk Street, April, 1864.
EARLY SEED COR]Sr.
We often see advertisements of early seed corn
of different varieties, which are not always to be
relied upon to the extent stated. When a partic-
ular variety of corn is introduced into any locali-
ty, it may come two, three or even four weeks
earlier than other kinds which have been cultiva-
ted in the same region ; but if the seed raised
from it in successive years is planted, it will grad-
ually lose its early quality and become as late as
any other ; and for a very simple reason : because
it has adapted itself to the climate in which it is
raised. Plants have many of the characteristics
of animals, and among them is that of adaptation,
or the power of acclimation. Animals often un-
dergo an entire change in the course of a few
generations, on being removed from their owai ap-
propriate regions, and so do plants. The early
corn is usually brought from a more northern lat-
itude where the season for its growth is short and
where it is compelled, as it were, to ripen early in
order to escape the frosts, being planted late for
the same reason. Our late corn, if taken into
Canada, would, in the course of a few years be-
come earlv corn, just as early corn brought from
the far North becomes late after several seasons'
planting.
The only way to have early corn every season,
is to obtain the seed each year from a more north-
ern region — the farther north the better. Among
all the varieties that have been tried, many of
which are highly extolled, I do not know of any
that is more desirable for table use as green corn
than the old-fashioned sweet corn. If farmers and
gardeners will take the trouble to send to Canada
for a supply of seed (and they can do this very
' easily and cheaply, by uniting together and hav-
ing it forwarded by express from some seedsman
or gardener in Montreal,) they may then be rea-
sonably sure of having an early luxury. But the
same course should be taken every year, as other-
wise each year this crop will lag a little behind
until it becomes as late as any. — Maize, in N. Y.
Observer.
RAISING- TURKEYS.
In your journal I noticed an inquiry for the best
plan to raise turkeys. Permit me to give between
sixty and seventy years of my experience.
To take a fair start procure black turkeys, and
teach them to be gentle before they commence
laying. As soon as they begin to lay, take away
their eggs — let their nest egg be a hen's egg.
When they have laid out their litter destroy the
nest, feed them well, and in ten days or less, they
will generally commence laying again. Turn those
they have laid once or twice a week. When they
have the second lot, and want to set, let them
have what eggs they can well cover, and put the
balance of the first litter under a hen at the same
time, or as near as may be, so that they will hatch
nearly together. Take the young chicks from the
hen and put them all with the old turkey, she will
brood them all.
My first and only feed is curd from sour coagu-
lated milk, scalded, turned on a seive, or a board
will answer, and the whey drained. I do not use
any salt or pepper. I keep them in the stable, or
on the barn floor, a day or two, and then let them
out if the weather is favorable. Put them up
every night early, until they are two or three
weeks old. By this time they have forrhed a hab-
it of coming home, and the grasshoppers and in-
sects have become so large they mostly supply
their appetites. See that they come up every
night, and feed them well in the morning.
By my plan they are about three weeks later,
but will go a-head and make up lost time. I
would not let them set as soon as they have laid
the first litter, if I could have a cart load of eggs
given me. — Cor. JRural New Yorker.
VENTILATORS FOR BARNS.
Messrs. Luther Tucker & Son : — I am re-
minded by the figure of a ventilator for the use of
barns, in your paper of Feb. 4th, that I am in-
debted to your "Annual Register of Rural Af-
fairs'' of 1862, for my first idea of this plan, which
I have already found of sufficient advantage to pay
for the "Register" for the next forty years at
least.
I have a barn which, with the L attached, is
over one hundred and twenty feet long. Until
within two years it had no ventilation from the
roof, though I had long been aware of its necessi-
ty both for the benefit of the stock and the hay
stored therein. Having one cupola on an adjoin-
ing barn, I was unwilling to incur the expense of
building another, as a very ordinary cupola with
blinds will cost fifty dollars in stock and labor.
On seeing your plan for ventilators I was much
struck with its sim])licity and apparent efficiency,
and immediately had four made, three for the
main barn, twenty-two inches square on the in-
side, and one for the L, sixteen inches. As soon
as they were put up, the improvement in the air
of the barn was immediatelv noticeable ; the raft-
176
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JUIME
er and roof boards that were ordinarily damp and
sometimes wet from the condensed vapor, were at
once dried, and the hay has since been sweeter and
more free from must. The expense of these four
ventilators, fitted and placed, including the cost
of material, was thirty dollars ; they are much
more efficient in their operation than a cupola, as
they take the air from four different parts of the
barn, while a cupola operates only thoroughly near
the centre. I am just completing a large barn,
on which have been placed three ventilators of
this description, each measuring two feet square
in the clear ; they are made of the best of lum-
ber, and cost on the barn complete, at- this time
of high prices, twelve dollars each. In locating
them on the building, I placed one in the centre
of the roof, the other two one-fifth of the length
of the barn from either end ; this equalizes the
ventilation throughout the building. These ven-
tilators are rather ornamental than otherwise, giv-
ing a completeness of finish, and breaking a long
line of roof. I would strongly recommend them
to those persons who contemplate putting up
buildings for the storage of cattle or hay. I have
cupolas on two of my barns that I should be very
glad to have replaced by the ventilators.
While on the subject of ventilation, I would
remark on the importance of a change of air in
the lean-to, or those parts of the barn where ani-
mals stand.
I have a barn ninety feet in length, on each side
of which cows are tied. I used to be painfully im-
pressed with the unhealthfulness of the atmosphere
for man or beast, on going into the barn on a cold
winter morning, when all had been tightly closed
through the night. Hoping to make an improve-
ment, I caused four boxes, twelve by twenty-four
inches, to be carried up on each side of the barn,
back of the cattle, against the outside walls. These
opened in the floor over the lean-to, and also on
the outside of the building just under the eaves ;
slides fitted to the lower opening regulate the
draft. The plan has operated to my entire satis-
faction, and with the ventilation in the roof, serves
to keep the air always pure, — no easy matter in a
modern barn, containing sixty head of cattle.
One suggestion more and I have done. Much
complaint is made by those having close sided or
clapboarded barns, that the hay laying near the
outer walls becomes damp and mouldy. I think
this may be avoided by nailing strips of board on
the studs a few inches apart, which will prevent
the hay touching the outside. In my own case, I
have, in addition to the strips, an opening in the
outer wall, near the sill in each section, six inches
square ; this creates ventilation and keeps all dry
and sweet. Henry H. Peters.
Southboro\ Mass.
Growing Cucumbers. — Take a large barrel,
or hogshead ; saw it in two in the middle, and
bury each half in the ground even with the top.
Then take a small keg and bore a small hole in
the bottom ; place the keg in the centre of the
barrel, the top even with the ground, and fill in
the barrel around the keg with rich earth, suita-
ble for the growth of cucumbers. Plant your
seed midway between the edges of the barrel and
the keg, and make a kind of arbor a foot or two
high for the vines to run on. When the ground
becomes dry, pour water in the keg in the even-
ing— it will pass out at the bottom of the keg into
the barrel and rise up to the roots of the vines,
and keep them moist and green. Cucumbers cul-
tivated this way will grow to a great size, as they
ai'e made independent both of drouth and wet
weather. In wet weather the barrel can be cov-
ered, and in dry the ground can be kept moist by
pouring water in the keg.
THE NATURE OF SCIENCE.
Many persons entertain the most eiToneous no-
tions respecting, the character of science. They
think and speak of it as if it were some mysteri-
ous intellectual subtlety, revealed to the few and
denied to the many. Such ideas may have come
from the olden times when all men believed sin-
cerely in mysterious powers committed through
incantations and charms by deities and spirits
who had power over "the earth, the water, the air,
and fire." The ancient alchemists and astrolo-
gers kept what they called "science" secret, as
something too sacred to be communicated to the
mass of men ; hence they taught favorite disciples
only. Many of those old plodders in the paths of
science were sincere in their peculiar views, but it
must be admitted that too many of them employed
secret discoveries in chemistry for the purpose of
astounding their unlearned fellow-men by their
curious experiments, in order to obtain power over
them. Asti'onomy, also, such as a superior
knowledge of eclipses and the movements of the
heavenly bodies, was employed in a sort of quack
manner to obtain power by foretelling events.
Many of these impostors were very like the learned
Irish prophet set forth in Hibernian verse, who
knew every event before it happened after it took
place. Science simply means knowledge of any
subject — its nature and operation ; and whoever
knows most of any branch of knowledge, and can
apply it in the best manner, is the most scientific
in that branch. Knowledge means truth, as there
can be no knowledge based upon fiction. A man,
however, may perform a mechanical or chemical
operation in a very superior manner and yet not
be scientific. A parrot can speak, but a parrot is
not a linguist, nor has it any knowledge of the
science of language. A man, to be scientific,
should know "the why and the wherefore of the
operations he performs." Mathematics is a science,
but great powers of calculation aS"ord no evidence
of scientific acquisition. Some individuals, not
much above the reach of idiocy, have been great
calculators. Yet mathematics as a science re-
quires a high grade of intellect and great persis-
tency of mental effort to master. Science may be
said to be a collection of facts and experience ac-
curately arranged and properly understood.
Chemistry, for example, is an art and a science,
because it is a collection of the results of careful
experiments. Geology is simply a collection of
facts carefully arranged. A theory is not a sci-
ence ; it is simply the explanation of phenomena.
Every science has, according to Max Muller, first
an empirical stage, in which facts are gathered and
analyzed. After this they are classified or ar-
ranged, and according to the inductive method,
theory explains the purpose or plan of the whole.
— Scientific American.
Generally the greatest humbug is he who
talks of humbug the most glibly.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
177
iraiW BOOKS.
f(\ Acres Enouod ; A Practicul Treatise for the Million,
M.\J Showine how a very small Fiirra may V>e made to keej) a
yery large Family. New York: James Miller.
This is an excellent book. It comes directly
home to the wants of the family. There is no
Circumlocution, no fine-spun theories, no fancy
sketches — though we like these sometimes — about
it. It is rigidly, persistently practical. It is full
of faith as well as sound teachings. It is a book
that applies to in-door duties as well as out, — re-
cognizes the women and children as a portion of
the family whose comfort must be considered in
everything that is to be done. Every one culti-
vating land should read it, and especially those
who do not believe farming profitable, and have
little faith in their own good works on the soil.
The book is printed on large type, with good
paper, but sent to us in mean paper covers. We
want another copy in a better dress.
Read, below, and see how truly the author points
out the first leading error of most cultivators.
The mistaken ambition for owning twice as
much land as one can thoroughly manure or prof-
tably cultivate, is the great agricultural sin of
this country. Those who commit it, by begin-
ning wrong, too frequently continue wrong. Own-
ing many acres is the sole idea. High cultiva-
tion of a small tract, is one of which they have
little knowledge. Too many in these several
classes think they know enough. They measure
a man's knowledge by the number of his acres.
Hence, in their eyes the owner of a plot so hum-
ble as mine must know so little as to be unable to
teach them anything v$fff.
It seems that the writer had been a business
man in the city, and that mercantile convulsions
and the high cost of living had made it difficult to
"make both ends meet" at the close of the year.
So after numberless deliberations, mingled with
hopes, doubts and fears, they purchased a home
in the country. We will let him tell his own story
about it.
In a week the house was vacated and cleansed,
and we were in full possession. My wife was sat-
isfied, my children were delighted, and I had real-
ized the dream of twenty years ! One strong fact
forced itself on mj- attention the first night I
passed under my new roof. The drain of three
hundred dollars per annum into the pocket of my
city landlord had been stopped. My family re-
ceived as safe a shelter for the interest of a thou-
sand dollars, as he had given them for the inter-
est of five thousand ! The feeling of relief from
this unappeasable demand was indescribable. Curi-
ously enough, my wijp voluntarily suggested that
the same feeling of relief had been presented to
her. But in addition to this huge equivalent for
the investment of a thousand dollars, there was
that which might be hereafter realized from the
cultivation of eleven acres of land.
This lodgement was efi"ected on the first of
April, 1855. When all our household fixings had
been snugly arranged, and I took my first walk
over my little plantation, on a soft and balmy
morning, my feeling of contentment seemed to be
perfect. I knew that I was not rich, but was cer-
tain that I was not poor. In contrasting my con-
dition with that of others, both higher and lower
upon fortune's ladder, I found a thousand causes
for congratulation, but none for regret. With all
his wealth, Rothschild must be satisfied with the
same sky that was spread over me. He cannot
order a private sunrise, that he may enjoy it with
a circle of friends, nor add a s'ngle glory to the
gorgeous spectacle of the setting sun. The mil-
lionaire could not have more than his share of the
pure atmosphere that I was breathing, while the
poorest of all men could have as much. God
only can give all these, and to many of the poor
he has thus given. All that is most valuable can
be had for nothing. They come as presents from
the hand of an indulgent Father, and neither air
nor sky, nor beauty, genius, health, or strength,
can be bought or sold. Whatever may be one's
condition in life, the great an is to learn to be eon-
tent and happy, indulging in no feverish longings
for what we have not, but satisfied and thankful
for what we have.
Now that our author has got fairly settled^on
his fen acj'e. farm, let us see what he really knows
about the garden, and whether he has studied ag-
I'iculture in a scientific or philosophic point of
view. But we must detain the reader a single
moment, to call his attention to the pleasant man-
ner in which the writer frequently introduces his
wife, and to note the afi"ectionate interest" which
she took in his farm and garden afi"airs. See how
kindly they^ drew together in an even yoke !
"Kate," too, a partner of their toils, we suppose
was a daughter, worthy of such a sire. Now for
the garden talk :
The town within half a mile of us contained
some five thousand inhabitants, among whom
there was a daily demand for vegetables. I took
my wife's advice, and from time to time gathered
such as she directed, for she and Kate were sole
mistresses of the garden, and sent them to the
store. They kept a regular book account of these
consignments, and when we came to settle up
with the storekeeper at the year's end, were sur-
prised to find that he had eighty dollars to our
credit. But this was not all from vegetables — a
good deal of it came from the fruit trees.
After using in the famil}^ great quantities of
fine peaches from the ten garden trees, certainly
three times as many as we could ever afi'ord to
buy when in the city, the rest went to the store.
The trees had been so hackled by the worms that
they did not bear full crops, yet the yield was con-
siderable.- Then there were quantities of spare
currants, gooseberries, and several bushels of com-
mon blue plums, which the curculio does not
sting. When my wife discovered there wag so
ready a market at our own door, she suffered
nothing to go to waste. It was a new feature in
her experience — everything seemed to sell. When-
ever she needed a new dress for herself or any of
the children, all she had to do was to go to the
store, get it, and have it charged against her gar-
den fund. I confess that her success greatly ex-
ceeded my expectations.
Let me now put in a word as to the cause o
178
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
this success with our garden. It was not owing
to our knowledge of gardening, for we made many
blunders not here recorded, and lost crops of two
or three different things in consequence. Neither
was it owing to excessive richness of the ground.
But I lay it to the unsparing warfare kept up upon
the weeds, which thus prevented their running
away with the nourishment intended for the
plants, and kept the ground constantly stirred up
and thorougly pulverized. I have sometimes
thought one good stirring up, whether with the
hoe, the rake, or the cultivator, was as beneficial
as a good shower.
This result is very easily shown by experiment.
Just notice, after a dewy night, the difference be-
tween ground lately and often stirred, and that
which has lain unmoved for a long time. Or
take two cabbage plants under similar circumstan-
ces; water one and stir the other just as often,
Btirring the earth about it carefully and thorough-
ly, and see which will distance the other in
growth.
Who is the writer? We should be glad to
"swap" a little with him, at any rate, so much as
to-visit his 10-acre farm, and receive a visit from
him in return — wives included, of course !
Eleventh Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachu-
Board of Agriculture, together with Reports of Committees
appointed to visit the County Societies, with an Appendix
containing an abstract of the Finances of the County Societies,
for 1863.
This volume is made up of the Transactions of
the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for the
year 1863, directly and indirectly, and contains a
report of the visit of the Secretary to Europe, in
which are embodied a great many interesting and
valuable facts. The history of the pleuro-pneu-
monia among our cattle is continued, stating what
has transpired since the volume of last year was
published. A considerable portion of the volume
is occupied by the Reports of Delegates tojCounty
Societies, and with extracts from the Transactions
of these societies. Many of these extracts con-
tain valuable information, show that the spirit of
progress is abroad, and that a more enlightened
practice in the cultivation of the soil is steadily
making its way among our people.
The volume contains a mass of varied and val-
uable information on almost any subject pertain-
ing to the farm, ft will be eagerly sought for,
and cannot fail to have a happy influence upon
that class for whom it was especially intended.
ACTION" OF LIME ON SOILS.
• Prof. Harper, in a series of articles in the
Practical Farmer on Fertilization and Fertilizers,
says hydrate, that is, slaked lime, as well as caus-
tic Hme, or quick lime, have no agency with re-
spect to vegetation immediately, but a double one
concerning the soil. Both are a most powerful
alterative chemically and mechanically.
As a chemical alterative they act as an alkaH,
and neutralize the acidity of any soil, by attract-
ing the acid and combining with it to form a neu-
tral salt, and free the soil of its acid eifect. In
their alkaline and caustic state they destroy both
any excess of vegetable remains in the soil and
benefit the growing vegetation in that way very
much. Decayed vegetable matter is generally
beneficial for plants, it contains carbonic acid and
all the elements of fertility in an assimilable state.
It is especially beneficial for such plants as re-
quire a large quantity of carbonic acid, but too
much vegetable matter, and especially decaying
or putrescent vegetable matter, is injurious for
any plant, even for those that require large quan-
tities of carbonic acid. The decaying or putres-
cent matter rots the small roots of the plants and
destroys them, and lime is therefore in this case
extremely beneficial — it remedies the evil at once.
Lime must not be applied to poor lands, espe-
cially without having been preceded by manuring
or without manuring afterwards. Lands of great
fertihty may be limed any time, and will after
lime probably yield a heavier crop than by ma-
nuring. Lime should never be applied in wet
weather, especially not on a growing crop. Mois-
ture renders its caustic qualities immediately ac-'
tive, and it loses its great combining power quick-
ly ; on the other hand if caustic lime is applied
in wet weatfifer to a growing crop it will destroy
its roots and injure it considerably. The fall is
the most suitable season for liming.
NEW DUTIES ON WOOL.
It is quite evident that the action of the Wool
Growers' Convention at Columbus last January,
together with other movements to the same end,
in various portions of the New England and
Western States, have at length so attracted the
attention of Congress as soon to bring about some
change in this highly important subject.
There is now a demanar for wool such as has
never existed in this country before, and this de-
mand will be likely to continue to its full extent
for several years to come, even if the war closes
and cotton comes freely to our manufacturers.
Sudden and extensive changes can only rarely
take place in an interest so vast as that which the
manufacture of cotton and woollen goods has
now reached in this country.
This great branch of industry directly affects
the interests of the farmer all over our land, north,
west and south, and these interests demand the
most careful consideration of those whose duty it
is to legislate for the best good of all.
Under existing circumstances, it would be idle
for the farmers of the north and west to enter large-
ly into sheep husbandry, without a protection more
adequate than any which at present exists. It
would be a competition, with advantages so de-
cidedly on one side , that \o^ or ruin would cer-
tainly ensue to those who engaged in it. It would
be a competition with long and severe winters, a
hard and rocky soil, and high wages and taxes on
one side, with low wages, mere nominal taxes, and
a mild climate, and never-ending pasturage, on
the other, spontaneously producing through the
entire year all the herbage that millions of sheep
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
179
could consume. Nearly the whole cost, indeed,
of wool, under the latter circumstances, would be
the capital originally invested in the stock, shear-
ing and transportation. Under the low wages of
the countries where these wools are produced, the
transportation to any of the Atlantic cities would
be as low as it now is from our wool-producing
towns. The water transportation would be very
low, so that if the land carriage were considera-
ble, it probably would be no higher than it now
is among ourselves.
There is not, then, in any sensible point of view,
any such thing as competition by our people with
those who supply foreign wools. We imist have
protection through the interference and justice of
the general government, or we must yield that
branch of industry into the hands of a foreign
people. This we ought not to do, because certain
large portions of our country are admirably adapt-
ed to wool and mutton growing, and would be of
little value for other agricultural purposes, unless
it were for grazing cattle.
We have noticed with some apprehension that,
in certain quarters, an antagonistic feeling is
growing up between the producer and the manu-
facturer. At the .Convention at Columbus, the
action of the wool-growers was watched with ea-
gle eyes by agents of the Ibanufacturer, and the
bearings of every proposition criticised with all
that shrewdness which distinguishes that class of
our citizens. This should not be so. There is
really but 07ie interest in this matter, and while
the farmer strives to produce just the article the
manufacturer wants, — whether it be long wool or
short, coarse or fine, — the latter should yield to
him a fal. share of the accruing profits.
The subject of sheep husbandry, in all its bear-
ings, is one of importance, and we invite our
friends to give us their views upon it, whether
they relate especially to rearing sheep, the best
breeds, or the qualities and value of wool. It is
essential to farmers that they unite in some well-
defined course of action, make their wants known
to the general government, and then press them
until they are granted. Let us have, then, the
views of our friends from every quarter upon this
important branch of rural industry. »
Effect of the European War on our
Farmers. — One of our exchange papers argues
that the European War is likely to have an im-
portant influence on American markets. Eng-
land depends on Prussia for four or five millions
of bushels of wheat. This will be cut ofi'. The
blockade is likely to intercept commerce with the
Baltic. And from other causes we may look for
a still further increase of price. The article al-
luded to closes with an exhortation to farmers to
raise all they can this year.
For the New England Farmer.
TO THE FAR]VLERS.
Farm work is beginning in this region in good
earnest. Early potatoes and the early vegetable
seeds are now being put in the ground. Have
any of your farmers tried the experiment of cut-
ting off" the seed end of the long potatoe ? The
round potatoe shows the same small cluster of
eyes, which can be cut out, then cut the large po-
tatoe so as to have but three to five eyes in a hill,
say twenty inches apart. Plant the seed ends
separately in rows, and at digging time you will
find your potatoes all assorted. You will get as
many pounds in a row of large ones, as if the
whole potatoe were cut and planted. Small pota-
toes do not pay for raising, excepting for stock,
and but liy,le satisfaction at that.
The wheat should be sown early, on high, warm
land, two bushels to the acre, well manured.
The grain should be soaked in brine, and ashed,
and pressed to maturity as early as possible, or
before dog days and mildew shall trouble you.
Winter wheat bears a strong, rich grass land, and
should be sown the last of August. These grains
are the most profitable of the grain crops, if prop-
erly attended to, even in New England.
It has been said by some of your public lectur-
ers, that as well may you raise the morus multi-
caulis successfully, as wheat in New England. I
trust there are too many among you that can give
this assertion a flat contradiction. Should you
fail in the spring crop, you have the fall wheat to
fall back upon. This double advantage is denied
you with other grains, excepting spring rye, that
is of no account.
I fancy that far less ground will be tilled this
year than formerly, for the lack of laborers among
you. War has made terrible inroa'ds upon our
noble class of farming men. But they are bat-
tling for the right, for us, our country, our God.
Let every town in New England raise its monu-
ment high, inscribing the names in golden letters,
of the slain. Let the motto be at its base : These
heroic men were slain by the hands of traitors, in
the Southern rebellion against the Union, for the
perpetuation and extension of slavery in the
United States of America.
Mr. Editor, please excuse this divergence from
my main subject, although thousands upon thou-
sands are interested in the sad topic.
But the hand of the farmer must not slacken.
His great and indispensable work is before him.
Labor is dear, but farm products are dear also.
Cattle, swine and horses, are selling at unprece-
dented prices. While paying 56 cents a pound
for family butter, (price now reduced to 35,) I did
consider fresh pork at 18, beefsteak and veal cut-
lets very dear at 25 cents. These prices are sus-
tained. But the farmer does not get all these
benefits. It is the middle men and retailers that
gather the harvest. No article of prime consump-
tion has advanced less than flour, while corn has
doubled in price.
On the whole, I see no great necessity of much
reduction of your crops. Grass and fruits only
require harvesting. Labor applies to the tilled
crops. You will apply your manure heaps to one-
third or half of the number of acres you formerly
did. From these few acres you will gather larger
crops than ever before — take a hundred bushels
of corn from one acre, instead of three or four
180
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
acres — so with all your crops. Spread manure
heavily and plow in at once to save the gases.
Corn jellows, when put upon strong, heating ma-
nure in the hill. It makes slow growth till the
roots meet the fresh earth as they range out of
the hill, gaining hardiness, nourishment, strength
and growth, as they come in contact with the
spread manure. Compost will do to put in the
hill. If you were setting out fruit trees, you
would not think it sufficient to "dung in the hill,"
to'insure a thrifty cn-chard. Roots want the good
feed as they journey on. Some farmers merely
harrow in their manure. It seems to me a fatal
error, it being so near the surface, a few weeks
must evaporate all its goodness. Jf I should plow
ten inches deep for any crop, I should plow in my
manure. Unceasing evaporation bri'ig.'^up all the
gases to the surface, leaving its enriching quali-
ties in the soil for vegetable growth. In proof of
this, dig a hill of potatoes eight inches or more
deep, and you will find no ammonial gases in the
rotted manure, and the potatoe entirely uuimpreg-
nated with it.
The season is late, but late seasons are more
safe for fruits and the early crops. Your work
becomes more pressing, but if seedtime is late,
July and August seldom fails to make your crops.
This day of summer heat has brought out the
blossoms of my peach tree, that never fails to give
me one to two bushels of delicious fruit annually.
The length of this' communication is its objec-
tion, although I am only half through. But if
you think it of any value to your readers, publish
it ; if not, cast it among the waste paper.
H. POOK.
Brooklyn, L. L, Ajml 24, 1864.
Remarks. — None too long, friend Poor. Your
offerings are always acceptable and timely. Write
often.
CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRTT.
Some years since, Mr. Peabody, of Georgia, one
of the Editors of the- "Soil of the South," culti-
vated the strawberry quite extensively, and did
undoubtedly meet with great success.- He says :
It is a fact too notorious now for any one of re-
spectability to dare to dispute, that we do culti-
vate acres of strawberries without animal manure
of any kind ; and that we have a constant succes-
sion of fruit from March until September ; and
this, too, in this hot climate of the South.
The Secret.
The whole secret of strawberry culture is to
cultivate for fruit, and not for vine or blossom.
Much depends upon the locality of the strawberry
bed. No tree or plant should be near it ; the
strawberry loves shade, but not a shade that sucks
its very life blood out. The lowest part of the
garden, the bank of some little stream of water,
are proper localities, and where it is possible se-
lect new land. As to the soil, our beds are on as
poor pine land as gopher or salamander ever built
into pyramids, and we believe it is pretty general-
ly conceded now, within a circle of a few hundred
miles, that we do occaskmally have a strawberry.
We do not know but a stitfer land may suit them
better, but ours does well enough, and we are not
disposed to act like that foolish man who "was
well, wished to be better, took physic, and died."
The strawberry may be transplanted any time from
September until March. The plant, properly tak-
en up, is very tenacious of life, and bears trans-
planting well.
Directions, etc.
The ground designed for the strawberry bed
should be plowed or spaded as deep as tools can
well make it. If the soil is light and thin, a thick
coat of swamp muck or partially decomposed
leaves, with leached or unleached ashes, will be
fine to turn under. After the ground is pulver-
ized and leveled, mark it off into rows two feet
apart. Now plant eight rows of Hovey's Seed-
ling and one of the Early Scarlet, two feet apart
iij the rows, and so continue until the bed is fin-
ished. We speak particularly of these two varie-
ies, and we should consider it labor lost to culti-
vate a variety which only gives fruit three or four
weeks in the season. And we have never found
a finer fruit, in point of size and flavor, than the
Hovey, and none finer flavored than the Early
Scarlet. Care should be taken that the plants are
put into the ground just as they came out of it ;
that is, with all their laterals spreading, and not
all gathered together and crammed into a little
hole. Now, if the object be to get a large num-
ber of plants for another year, keep them well
worked with the hoe, and let the runners take
root. The whole ground will be full by fall. But
if fruit be the object, cover the whole surface of
the ground with ])artially decomposed leaves or
straw, and as the first^'unners begin to show them-
selves, take them off'. Care must be used in tak-
ing off the runners ; they should be cut, and not
pulled off, as careless servants will ruin many
plants. When the vine has once commenced
fruiting, it will show but little disposition to run,
as its whole effort is to make the fruit — particu-
larly if the vine is not over stimulated. It is not
enough that the strawberry bed is in a moist,
cool location ; for if the ground is moist, the plants
want water to set the fruit, and to swell the fruit
when set. It is asserted by some English culti-
vators that the plant should not have water when
in bloom, as it washes the pollen away. This
may do for England, but it does not do here. We
care not how much water they have when in
bloom. If the season proves dry, we give them
water to set the fruit by artificial rain ; and unless
it rains twice a week, we give artificial rain to
swell the fruit, and then we give artificial rain to
form the next fruit stems, and so on. Fear not
to give too much water ; water morning and even-
ing. If grass and weeds show themselves, use
the hoe freely. After it is no longer an object to
gatlTfer fruit, let the vines run and mat together.
In the winter, go through with the hoe, thinning
out to twelve or eighteen inches ; leaving the cut-
up vines to decay where they were cut ; then cov-
er the whole bed with leaves, straw, swamp-muck,
&c., but use no animal manure. Let the propor-
tions of male and female plants remain the same
as when first planted.
Let the cultivator remember the four great re-
quisites for a profitable strawberry bed : proper
location, vegetable manures, shade to the ground,
and water, ivater, water.
It not unfrequently happens that manners are
best learned from the unmannerly.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
181
THE UNIVEKSAL CLOTHES WBINGEB.
Several years ago, a gentleman
brought into our office a machine
for wringing clothes. We had
never seen one before, and hardly
supposed a simple arrangement of
rubber rollers would squeeze the
water out of cloth as well as is
done by hand. We mounted the
machine on our office water-pail,
and commenced a series of exper-
iments with towels, iSrc, resulting
in an opinion that the machine was
a good one for the family, and that
we would have it tried at home on
a larger scale. From that time
we have never been without a
wringer, and we would not be
without one if the present prices
were doubled.
Our first machine was a small
affair, promising to hold itself on
the tub, but really requiring one
hand or more for that purpose,
and so adding much to the labor
of using it. The upper roller was
moved by contact with the lower.
We have replaced it with one like the above, ly keeps her house ia order and her children's.
which gives much better satisfiiction. The pecu- clothes neat and whole. We know other families,
liar features of the Universal Wringer, are, the j where a servant is employed, at good wages,
manner of attaching it to the tub, and the cog- though the work is light, because the mistress of
wheels turning the rollers. By the manner of at- the house lacks a little only of the time and
taching it, the wringer is held firmly upon a tub strength she needs to do her own work. In both
of any size. By means of the cog-wheels the these cases, introduce a sewing machine, a clothss
rollers are relieved from a great amount of fric- wringer, and other like labor-saving inventions,
tion. We have never understood the advantages and the work becomes easy, the servant is dis-
of these cog-wheels until recently, when we have missed, money is saved, health preserved, and toil
tried a series of careful experiments with a wring- turned into enjoyment. Every labor-saving in-
er without them and one with them. We can vention benefits directly the laboring class, and it
use a wringer without cogs, and have done so for is to persons of small means that these machines
years, but there was a necessity for constant care are particularly valuable.
in preventing the clothes from drawing in too rap- | I ,. .. 77" , , r-
In D I j p„r the Jyeio Ensinnd Farmer.
idly, preventing the upper roller from revolving SHEEP— NOTES FROM MAINE,
and bringing a strain upon the fabric which would With an abundance of hay and feed for sheep
tear any light material. In a wringer with cog- through the winter and spring, and a desire to
wheels, when the crank moves both rollers must have them do well, it is seldom that sheep look
move, and move equallv, and no strain can come a"^. '^^ so P"orly as they have the past winter and
,,,,'.. , ,, sprmg. ii^arly ni the winter thev began to show
upon the cloth, because it is acted upon equally ^.^ptoms of scours and starting off of the wool,
from both sides, and experiences only a direct with moping, weakness and a desire for seclusion,
pressure. We should, therefore, not use any and every now and then one would fall out.
wringer not having cog-wheels, if we could obtain Floc>s of fifteen to twenty-five have had their pro-
„ „ „;fU „,,„u „..„„i * portional number ot dead to be supplied, as well
one with such an attachment. i*^, c ^ n ^ iii
[ as those or seventy-nve to one or two hundred.
In conclusion let us say a few words about the | Ask the farmer'how his fodder held out, and he .
economy of such machines. We hear people say will reply with a cheery response, "Shall have hay'
frequently they cannot afford such household con- 1° ""Pf^'^' '^^ vo" want to buy ?" Ask him how
-.XT .. if 1 . u -.1. ^ 1 nis sheep were wintering and the cheery expres-
veniences. We cannot atlord to be without them. • -n i i i u .. i .. .i i *
sion will suddenly change to a downcast, thought-
We know many a family where the mother works ful one, and after a little reflection you will elicit
torn early dawn till late into the iiight, and bare- [ the fact that his sheep are pulling their wool, los-
182
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JtlNE
ing it, ticky, have the scours and more or less
have died, in spite of all the care which could be
brought to bear on them ; and lately, that they
are troubled with grubs in the head, which, with
the scours, make much quicker work than the
scours did in the winter.
Many experiments and modes of treatment are
resorted to, but as yet, none, as far as I am in-
formed, have been of but little use. One man
came some miles to get a prescription. The pre-
scription stopped the scours but nevertheless the
sheep died. A post mortem showed the midriff to
be nearly half decomposed, implicating quite a
patch of the stomach and bowels, which came in
contact ; so here was no cure to be looked for.
In another, going the same way, a post mortem
examination showed eight large grub worms in
one nostril, as far up into the head as they had
had time to burrow, with two or three small ones
■wnggling on after. So thej go, to the tune of
fifty, and even more, in one flock, where, hereto-
fore, only now and then one would be found to
drop out.
Cattle and horses wintered well, and command
a very high price in one sense, but in comparison
with the great whole, only about an average. Six
feet six inch oxen, four and five years old, one
hundred and fifty to seventy-five dollars, accord-
ing to beauty, &c., and larger ones in nearly the
same ratio. O. W. TilUE.
Fanningto7i, Me., April 27, 1864.
Remarks. — The disease termed by our corres-
pondent "the scours" seems to be quite prevalent
this spring throughout New England. There is,
of course, some special cause of this, and it is rea-
sonable to us that it lies in the quality of the fod-
der upon which the sheep have been fed through
the winter. During the entire haying season,
last year, there was such a succession of cloudy
and rainy days as almost completely to prevent
getting any hay in a perfect condition. Such was
the state of the weather in all this region, and we
believe it extended to the adjoining States. Com-
paratively little hay was got in short of three or
four days after the grass was cut, and much of it
stood a week. On some excellent farms, whei*e
the crops are skilfully managed, we often saw hay
standing that had been cut a fortnight ! Indeed,
immense quantities were housed in a blackened
and highly damaged condition, and its nutritive
quaUties greatly diminished. When such hay is
thrown from the scaff"old in the winter, it gives off
none of that delightful aroma so common to well
cur-ed English hay, but has a musty, offensive odor
and fills the barn with dust. It seems to us that
stock fed upon such hay cannot gain in milk or
flesh, and are in daily danger of contracting
disease. Is it not probable, then, that the un-
wholesome condition of the fodder upon which
sheep have been fed, is the cause of the disease so
common among them ?
It may be said that cattle have thriven well
upon similar fodder. That may be — but they are
of a hardier nature, and not so sensitive to such
influences as sheep. Cattle would also be quite
likely to have a greater variety of food, such as
the tops of corn, and husks, and butts.
FARM ECONOMY.
No single inquiry is more frequently addressed
to us, than this, — "What is the most j^^'ojitable
farming'^" It is impossible for us, or any other
person, to answer this question with any sort of
satisfaction to the inquirer, because what would
be profitable under the circumstances of one farm-
er, might be ruinous under the circumstances of
another. The economy, therefore, of which we
intend to speak, includes a 2)rovident management
of all means hy tohich property is saved or accu-
mulated ; a judicious application of time, of labor,
and of the instruments of labor.
In a former article, published some weeks since,
we spoke of the arrangement of farm, buildings,
of the action of the elements upon them, and the
importance of shelter for their preservation.
We propose now to consider the same subject,
in some other particulars ; and first, it is poor
economy for the farmer to invest too much of his
means in buildings, as a certain amount of ca^h
capital is as necessary to the business of the farm-
er as to many other occupations. As a general
thing, however, our farmers are not liable to the
charge of extravagance in this particular. It is
certainly good economy to have buildings com-
pactly and conveniently arranged so as to avoid
all unnecessary travel. A certain degree of thor-
oughness must also be observed in order to make
the construction a profitable one.
It is good economy to see that cellars are prop-
erly drained and divided, that suitable paths are
made to pass upon from one building to another,
or from the house to the highway, — that fields and
highways are properly subdivided, that fences
are economically constructed, and that wood and
loater are plentiful and convenient wherever they
are required. So with regard to the rotation of
crops, the preparation and application of manures,
the selection of proper vehicles and implements,
drainage, the best breeds of stock, and, indeed,
the whole economy of the farm. But we pass
particulars in these, to touch upon one or two
points that lie nearer the heart of the family, and
which are vital to its health and happiness.
A gentleman who had been engaged in prepar-
ing for publication the Returns of the Industry of
Massachusetts, and the Begistration of Births,
Deaths and Marriages, including the diseases of
which our people had died, informed us that there
were more cases of death from insanity among
the families of farmers, than in any other occupa-
tion ! We were surprised at the statement, as it
was the reverse of what we had always supposed
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
183
to be the fact. Subsequent inquiry and observa-
tion, however, have somewhat reconciled us to the
unwelcome truth. The prevalence of this terri-
ble malady among 7}ien engaged in farming, we
infer, is often occa^oned by the want of a proper
action and development of the brain, — the disease
not assuming a spasmodic and excited form, so
much as a gradual sinking into a half-idiotic or
imbecile condition, that often ends in a total loss
of mental power. But in the case of women, the
cause of the malady may be traced to intense
mental activity, to unceasing care, and to the
overtasking of every power, both of mind and
body, in the ever-recurring and perpetual duties
and responsibilities of the family.
Let us present a brief sketch of actual life, of
■which thousands have sat for the picture. It is
that of a young farmer. He marries, and for a
year or two his wife can do very well without
help ; but by-and-by his work is too much for
him alone, and he must have a hand ; and one, by
one, little children increase the family, until the
wife's burden is much heavier than when she took
it up. But he is just getting a start, and if they
•want to get rich (as every body does,) they must
economize ; so she gets along without help. She
rises early, gets breakfast, often for several men,
dresses the children, washes dishes, skims milk,
churns, perhaps, sweeps rooms, makes beds, pre-
pares dinner, "clears up," snatches an hour, to
sew, keeping a restless baby quiet meanwhile, gets
supper, puts children to bed, and after they and
husband are asleep, resting from their weariness,
sits up to sew, that she may save paying a seam-
stress !
In addition to this daily routine, she does all
the washing, ironing, baking, scrubbing, house-
cleaning, soap-making, and hog-killing work ; it
costs so much to hire help ; and at the same time
enacts the part of the lady of the house and en-
tertains the company.
So year after year, she toils and drudges, not
allowing herself opportunity for improving her
mind, so that she may be a better guide and coun-
sellor for her children. At length, her once fair
face is faded and care-worn, and herself now and
then prostrated by fits of illness, only to resume
her wearying labor as soon as her returning
strength permits. And thus she yearly becomes
less able to bear the burden of her increasing
household duties.
Too many men leave the wife to draw water
and carry wood, and as for the baby — they think
it a woman's place to tend children, — so it frets
and cries, or the mother must work with it on
her arm, while they read the paper and talk with
the hired men. The farm increases in value and
fertility, and the husband's labor becomes lighter, |
as he is able to hire more help ; but it is still ex-
pected of the wife to do all the housework, with
what little help the elder children, if they are
girls, can give her.
At length — through this ceaseless application
— they are ready to build, — and when the com-
fortable, new house is finished and nicely furnished,
and the children are beginning to be a real help
to her, the pale, sickly wife and mother lies down
to die ! She has saved by ceaseless, wearying
toil, hundreds of dollars for her husband", and he
has lost what money is ])oiperless to recall ; the
companion of his youth, the one who has walked
beside him and cheered him through life's most
thorny paths ! And such untimely deaths are
whispered among friends as ^'mysterious providen-
ces," instead of the neglect of a proper houseliold
economy, on the farm !
These views are partly corroborated by state-
ments in a recent report upon the Insane Asylum
at Hartford, Ct. The Superintendent says — "that
of one hundred and eighty-seven female patients,
thirty-four per cent, were the ivives of farmers
and mechanics." The consideration of the causes
which led to this most natural result, showed that
between nursing, the accumulation of household
duties and drudgery, and the miserable, shoH-
sighted economy ivhicJi often led the husband to re-
frain from supplying the necessary domestic assis-
tance, the poor, heart-broken and discouraged wife
had lost in turn her appetite, her rest, and her
strength, her nervous system had become pros-
trated, and sinking under her burdens, she had
sougnt refuge in the Asylum. Such is the lan-
guage of the Report.
This great error has been a common one, and
has desolated many a farm-house. It grows out
of an overweening desire to accumulate too fast.
We know men, noio, with whom this is a passion
that overrides everything else. Sometimes it is
manifested in a desire to add $100 more to their
railroad or other stock, at others to increase the
acres of their land, or again to hold the notes of
their neighbors. This passion makes them mean
to themselves, mean to their families, and mean to
their country ; and they habitually cheat all these
for the sake of hugging to their sordid souls a lit-
tle more of that which they must soon leave, and
perhaps to be quarrelled about by others. All
this is bad economy. We do not advocate extrav-
agance in anything, — but only that happy com-
mingling of labor and leisure, of recreation and
study with our daily duties, and that sympathetic
association which gives life a charm, and which
cannot fail to increase our real happiness. Let
us listen more frequently to the promptings of a
refined taste, and do some things about our homes
with reference to beauty, as well as utility. Jl'hese
184
NEW ENGLAND FARMEU.
June
will have a happy influence upon the mind, habits
and character ; will light up the home with sweet
affections, and shed a fragrance over all its duties.
The children will catch these virtues and carry
them forth to the world to purify and strengthen
man there, and will ever look back to such a
homestead as the well-spring that sends out what-
ever dignifies and ennobles our naiures. And
this will be true farm economy.
For the New England Farmer.
"CLOVER HAY."
Messrs. Editors : — As a subscriber and read-
er of your valuable paper, I notice your remarks
of April 30th, and also the opinion of Dr. McClure,
of Philadelphia, on "Clover Hay." Permit me to
add, from my limited experience, that your sug-
gestions strike me as worthy of notice. I cut
last season, from seven acres and thirty rods, by
actual measurement, a larger amount of hay, and
of more value to my stock of cattle, than I have
from the same number of acres during the past six
years. My stock averaged twenty-five head —
three yoke of oxen, seven cows, and the remain-
der two and three-year olds. I commenced feed-
ing out this kind of hay twice a day regularly,
together with other kinds of diff'erent qualities ;
and from the time my stock came to the barn in
November, up to the first of April, they have gen-
erally preferred the clover to other kinds of good
hay. This was cut about the first week in July,
and when in the blossom, dried one day and part
of the next, so that the leaves should not waste
before putting it in the barn. When mowed away,
it was salted carefully, from two three quarts to
the ton. My cattle have gained remarkably well,
and added in flesh more than they have in past
seasons when I have cut less of this kind of hay.
I think the salting was beneficial, as thej did
not waste much in feeding it out. Many good
farmers are of the opinion that the best way is to
put clover hay, as soon as it is wilted, into small
tumbles and let it remain a few days ; and in that
way to be cured.
I am satisfied a little salt added is far better
than to have it Jried and the best part of the hay
wasted by exposure to the heat, and it is certain-
ly less labor in getting it cured.
I have been surprised to notice how far my
clover hay has carried out my stock. As I ob-
served, on seven acres and thirty rods, I obtained
at least two tons to the acre. The land on which
it grew was a deep, loamy, rich soil, descending to
the south, and I think the amount of this kind of
hay was equal to keeping one-fourth p»rt of my
whole stock through the season, from November
to April. Many farmers are of opinion that clover,
hay is of less value than other kinds, but I am
convinced, if well cured and cut in a proper time,
it will spend and carry out a stock as well as al-
most any other kinds of hay we have in New
England. Reuben R. Dodge.
Sutton, May 3, 1864.
Remarks. — We are glad to find our opinion of
the value of clover hay so fully sustained by one
of the Worcester county farmers. We hope our
correspondent will write often. His practical i"e-
marks are valuable. Where, by the way, is the
pen of our old friend Harvey Dodge ? He is a
farmer full of sound experiences, and should not
suff'er the world of facts which he has gained to
be lost to his fellow-laborers. He must sharpen
up his long dormant pen, and make our columns
glow again.
For the Neic England Farmer.
THE CULTURE OF BEES.
Messrs. Editors: — It is often the case that
hives of bees are populous with plenty of bees,
and their owner, in the usual time of swarming,
looks every sunshiny day for a new colony, but is
disappointed ; the bees do not swarm, but cluster
on the outside, or under the hive, and remain
there till the honey season is nearly over, and,
consequently, do not make sufficient honey upoa
which to winter.
Now, for the benefit of your readers and bee-
keep^-rs generally, I beg leave to say that there is
no difficulty in removing a part of the bees, and
putting them into another hive, in season for them
to gather honey sufficient upon which to winter
themselves, and perhaps with more perfect suc-
cess when properly done. For several seasons
previous to 1863, I had severalstocks of bees ap-
parently strong, which did not swarm, or make
any surplus honey. In the spring of that year I
had a call from Mr. R. S. Torrey, of Bangor, Me.,
who claimed that he could divide a stock of bees,
and putting a portion of them into a new hive,
where they must work or starve, and leave a suf-
ficient quantity in the old hive to keep them in a
prosperous condition, thus producing two colonies
fully equal or superior to an old stock and its in-
crease, which swarm in the natural way, some
weeks or days later.
But I was skeptical. I did not believe it could
be done, and told him so, and my neighbors, who
are bee-keepers, were of my opinion. Torrey per-
sisted in his statement, that it could be done in
fifteen minutes. I had"six old stocks, and reluc-
tantly consented that he might divide one of
them, provided he would warrant both to live and
do well. As I did not know Torrey, and conclud-
ed that I had lost my bees, I resolved to have
some fun out of the trial, and invited my neigh-
bors to share with me the sport of witnessing the
pain of the stings upon the operator, and his ut-
ter failure in his undertaking. But he had it all
his own way — he handled the bees like pets who
cared only to do his bidding. They even respect-
ed the lookers on, not even offering a sting or
sliowing any signs of disrespect. He put a part
of the bees into a new hive, and returned the rest
to the old home, w}iere they went immediately to
work ; and now, April 27, 1864, both colonies are
in excellent condition, and bid as fair to prosper
as any two hives I know of, with no extra care,
except to cover them with a blanket during the
chilly nights immediately after they were divided.
Not one of my old stocks swarmed in 1863 ;
consequently, I gained nothing from them, while
from the one I divided I obtained a colony much
stronger than any that swarmed the usual way in
this neighborhood — and most of my neighbors are
bee-keepers.
Torrey is called the "Honey King of Maine,"
"The Bee Tamer," and many other singular titles,
by the editors of some of the agricultural papers
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
185
of Maine and other States, which I think he rich-
ly deserves. His "Maine State Bee Hives" are
getting very popular in this vicinity ; not one who
uses them out speaks in their praise, and are sat-
isfied that Torrey is the Bee Monarch, and beats
the world in the bee-hive business.
If this article shall meet Torrey's eye, and he
will call on me this spring with some of his hives,
I will, with implicit faith in his ability, employ
him to divide more of my old colonies of bees.
He is master of his business. J. Allen.
BethleJiem, Ct., April 27, 1864.
RemL'IKKS. — From a considerable observation
of Mr. Torrey's skill in handling bees, clearing
out old hives, dividing swarms, &c., &c., and from
an exi>erience of several years' use of his hives,
we do not think the commendations of our cor-
respondent any too decided. Mr. Torrey has had
a life's experience in his business, having begun it
in his boyhood in the woods of his native State,
and continued until he has now passed the merid-
ian of life. He has introduced certain graces or
embellishments into his art which are exceedingly
attractive, such as inviting bees into curiously
shaped glasses, which they filled and finished up
with exquisite skill, — or writing their own inscrip-
tions on the glass inside of the hive, so that it be-
came perfectly visible to the beholder. The larg-
est, richest, and most beautiful collection of hives,
bee% and honey, we ever witnessed, was presented
by Mr. T. at the Maine State Fair at Augusta sev-
eral years since. Tons and tons of honey remain
uncollected every year, for want of a better knowl-
edge how to keep and tend bees, who are our in-
teresting and profitable co-workers.
Some persons are detei'red from bee culture be-
cause they consider them dangerous. There is
some ground for this belief, but scarcely so much
as there is for declining to keep a horse, because
he might kick or run away and do much injury.
We have read accounts of serious occurrences,
and even loss of life, by attacks from bees, but
have never known of such a case in our own re-
gion. Like all other stock of the farm, they can-
not be profitably reared and controlled without
some knowledge of their habits and wants, and
when these are understood, they wijl suggest a
proper caution that will make all danger from
them of little importance.
The art of bee-keeping is greatly injured by a
set of lazy empirics, who have little knowledge of
the habits of the bee, but who are full of preten-
sions, and roam over the country, visiting from
house to house and practicing their deceptions
upon the people. There has been so much of this
that hundreds, — living in regions where there is
excellent bee-pasturage, and where the annual in-
come from them might amount to a handsome
sum, — are disgusted with the whole thing, and
have eiven ud the culture entirely.
But there are good books and good oral teach-
ers on the art. Huber and Langstroth's works,
to the real lover of nature, have a charm beyond
that of any novel, and their perusal will not only
tend to the profit of the purse, but to the head
and heart, for they purify and elevate the afl"ec-
tions, and lead us to appreciate, more than ever,
the wonderful things which are around us on the
farm.
Perhaps one cause why so many losses have
been realized by bee-keepers, is that they have
employed too much art in the construction of their
hives. They are too complicated, both for the
worker and the owner. 'They have departed too
widely from nature, from the habits and wants of
the bee. The space above the box in which the
bees have deposited their young and stores is gen-
erally too small, so that the moisture from them
in cold weather does not pass freely off, but is
condensed and falls back upon them. We look
upon this as the source of more losses than all
those occasioned by millers or other causes.
Honey is a wholesome article of food. It may
be placed in the class of luxuries by some. Sugar
used to be, but is now considered among the arti-
cles of necessity. Why not ? It is very nutri-
tious and palatable. For children and sedentary
persons we should prefer a dollar's worth of sugar
to a dollar's worth of beef. Honey may be made
to take the place of sugar, and even that of butter
in a great many instances, and in so doing we be-
lieve would promote the prosperity of the farm,
and the health and happiness of the family.
Let us, then, give more attention to this de-
lightful art ; we mean a consistent, intelligent at-
tention, eschewing the dogmas and superstitions
that surround it. If novices in the art, let us
gather our first information from some good book,
or the practices of some good neighbor, and grad-
ually increase it by our own constant observation
and experience. Under such a course the bee-
house will embellish the homestead, yield an an-
nual profit and be a source of pleasure to the
family.
A neighbor of ours — a mechanic — who has but
a small garden about his house, finds his amuse-
ment and great pleasure in the culture of his bees,
and, as a reward of his patient care of them, he
took from their well stored boxes last summer be-
tween two and three hundred pounds of the best
honey, and left them all they needed for their own
use.
Gapes in Chickens. — A writer in the Rural
Neio Torker says that he has found by accident,
that dough raised with milk rising is a sure and
safe remedy for gapes in chickens, fed while fer-
menting, but while still sweet. He has tried it
for six years, but says that where he seasons the
feed of his chickens witlj salt, as for cooking, th^
never have the gapes.
186
TTEW EXGLAXD F-\P.:MEE.
JnTE
For the iVeiF Ensland Farmrr.
PUjAJfTrWG THE APPI.E TKEE.
A SOXG, BT THE "PEASANT EAlil)."
I.
Well dig the turf, well turn the mold,
Tho' nature bard has bound it ;
Make deep the bed, and let it hold
The stock, all mellow roand it.
Chona:
We'll set the tree, Donald, — well plant it ont well.
And we'll have it in care and in keeping ;
And mark and remember the words I shall tell : —
T will be growing when we shall be ■sleeping.
II.
A lifeless stick it may appear
When wintrj blasts are blowing.
But in the spring-time of the rear
* Well see it lire and'growing.
HL
The fTwelling bud and flushing leaf
Will beautify ere long;
And weary warblers, for relief.
Perch here, and ponr a song.
rr.
And years shall come, and years that go
Its boughs to fruit shall wed;
And mellow Autumn fill below
The table we have spread.
Chorus:
So set the tree, Donald, — we'll plant it ont well.
And we'll have it in care and in keeping ;
And mark and remember the words I shall tell :
T will be growing when we shall be sleeping.
Gill, iJang.
IfEW- BOOKS.
Jhs OziTZ CcxTrElsi: A Treatise on the Cultiration of the
Kat Te Grape. By Andrew S. Fuller, Practical Horti«ultur-
jst, Brooklj-n, N. Y. For sale by A. Williams & Co., Boston.
The subjects discussed in this book are : Grow-
ing from Seed ; Propagation by single Buds ;
Cuttings of unripe Wood ; Propagating-Houses ;
Cuttings in open air ; Layering the Vine ; Graft-
ing the Grape ; Hybridizing and Crossing ; Trans-
planting ; Soil and Situation ; Stem Appendages ;
Planting the Vine ; Grape Trellises ; Time to
Prune, and Pruning and Training ; Garden Cul-
ture ; Miscellaneous ; Insects and Diseases ; De-
scription of Varieties and a Pie view of various
, systems of Training.- These several topics are fa-
miliarly discussed, with an ability evidently grow-
ing out of a practical acquaintance with the whole
subject, and with such a clearness of expression,
strengthened by engraved illustrations, as to make
the way plain and easy to those who enter upon
the culture of the grape for the first time.
Theories are well enough in their place, but it is
always pleasant and safer to know whether the
author of the book is laying down theories or
facts. If we know they are theories, we are at
once on our guard and shape our operations ac-
cordingly ; but if well-tested fads, we unhesitat-
ingly proceed as if standirfg upon a sure basis.
We are glad that the culture of the grape is at-
tracting so much attention, and that so many per-
sons are venturing upon it in a small and careful
way. They will not find it a difficult work, unless
thev attempt to do too much. The grapevine
does not reqmre a very rich soil, hut a sheltered,
warm, and well drained one, where rade winds
will tiot thrash its foliage to pieces, nor standing
water drown its tender and succulent fibrous roots.
On a common soil, a little ashes, pounded bone
and charcoal added annually, together with occa-
sional watering from the sink spout in dry sea-
sons, will give the vine a wonderfal growth in
wood and fruit. .
Some of the varieties recently introduced are
great accessions to the list. Mr. Bcll has con-
ferred a signal blessing upon the race in the intro-
duction of his "Concord," which has been thor-
oughly tested, and stands high in the front ranks
of the best varieties in the country. He and oth-
ers are still striving for better ones than this, and
the labors of some will be eventnally crowned with
success.
If the inexperienced grape grower will call to
his aid some person who understands starting the
vine on its way for tha first five or six feet of its
growth, and in pruning it once or twice, he will
find little to perplex him elsewhere. In these ^wo
particulars a Tialf hour's actual dernomtration
would fix the whole thing indelibly in his mind.
Mr. Fuller's book is an excellent one, and
will prove of much service to grape cultivators.
NOVEIi MODE OP GKOWXNG SQUASHES.
An excellent method of growing squashes, mel-
ons and other such vegetables, where a person has
but little room, and wishes to make the most of
it, — as a small city plat — is to plant them so that
they will run on a trellis. Set four upright stakes
or small posts, about two feet apart each way, in
the centre of which plant the melons, squash or
whatever else is wished. As the vines begin to
run, support them upon the trellis by nailing
across small slats of board, and when the melons
set and begin to form fruit, erect a shelf for it by
placing short pieces of boards across the slats pre-
viously nailed on. Pinch off the running shoots
of the vines so as not to have too heavy a growth,
and as they run higher, place additional slats for
the purpose of supporting them. There are two
advantages to this plan, and so far as we are ac-
quainted, no disadvantage ; it economizes space
in the garden, and the fruit ripens earlier than
when upon the ground half covered with leaves.
Those of our readers who have small gardens
would do well to "make a note" of this plan and
give it a trial another season. — California Farmer.
XiTiiATK OF Soda. — tt is said that watering
strawberries with water in which nitrate of soda
has been dissolved, to the amount of one ounce of
soda to a gallon of water, will help the plants to
produce a wonderful crop.
1864.
NEW EXGLAXD FAS^EER,
187
NITRE— SALTPETRE.
The beneficial effect of nitre upon vegetation
has been understood from the earliest periods of
which we have^any account. It is the result of
the union of nitric acid with potash, and in many
parts of the world it is found in a natural state,
and in immense quantities, and requiring only to
be dug up and ienched, and afterwards crystal-
ized, to be ready for use. It is also frequently '
produced artificially by means of "nitre beds," and
naturally under old buildings, deep cellars, &c
The principal materials needed in the construc-
tion of niue-beds are potash, which is supplied by J
vegetable substances in a state of decay, animal
matter, whio^i will give out ammonia, and,this in
turn, part with its nitrogen, and form, with oxy- ;
gen, the nitric acid, which unites wiih the potash i
of the ashes, or decaying vegetable matter, and i
thus forms KITRE.
Most farmers are acquainted with the very great i
value of soils taken from beneath tie-ups, stables, '
and other places of a like description, in which
animals have been sheltered for many years, for
manurial purposes, and have no doubt been sur- l
prised, on applying them to crops, by the sudden I
and sustained effects which they have produced, j
This is the result of nitre. The urine of the ani- ;
mals has filtered through the floor, together with I
a certain portion of the solid voidings, and having
been constamly and efl'ectually protected from
the wasting influences of atmospheric action, the
decompositions and recombinations requisite to
the formation of nitre have gone on uninterrupt-
edly year after year, till the soil has become im-
pregnated with richness, surpassing in degree that
of the finest compost, or the most energetic sta- ^
ble manure. I
It is stated in a European publication of much
merit, and as the result of actual experiment, that
the solid excrement of about twenty cows and
mules, in layers of four inches thick, with alter- '
natinglayers of chalky soil, of similar thickness,
and wet occasionally with the liquid voidings of
the same animals, will produce from ten to twelve
thousand pounds of saltpetre in four years. The
bed, however, must be protected, and occasional-
ly shovelled over. At the end of two years, the
heap will be resolved to a fine, rich mould. It is
then left for two years more, frequently turned,
but not wet with urine during the last few mouths.
In the formation of these beds, the "chalky soil"
is not indispensably necessary, for experiment has
proved, as well j;s science, that ashes, unleached,
or leached, are better.
The following definite rules are laid down for
.the formation of beds, where this substitute is to
be used :
Take one cord of clean cow dung, one cord of;
leached ashes, one cord of loam, or swamp muck.
Mix the ashes and loam or muck well together,
and having hard rammed the bam cellar floor, or
that under a shed, put a layer on it of these mixed
materials, four inches thick, then a layer of dung
four inches thick, then another layer of mixture,
and so on alternately, until the pile is four or five
feet high, topping off with loam. Wet it over
occasionally with urine, keeping it about as moist
as garden loam, and turning it over occasionally.
If the foregoing process be adopted, the con-
tents of the heap will become excellent compost
the second year, and may be spread as a top-
dressing, or applied like short manure to every '
description of field crops, with a certainty of the
best results. In the vicinity of powder works,
in which large quantities of nitre are consumed,
we have frequently noticed the bags from which
the nitre had been emptied, spread, before show-
ers, or during storms, over the surface of mowing
lands. The nitre impregnates the texture of
these bags, and the rain washes it out and car-
ries it into the soil, which acknowledges its re-
ceipt by a most luxuriant and beautiful crop.
Several years ago, when the potato rot pre-
vailed to its greatest extent, we used saltpetre
freely as a dressing and secured fine crops of po-
tatoes both in quantity and quality. Very little
rot occurred among them, while directly over the
fence, in a neighbor's field, on the same kind of
soil, and the use of the same variety of potatoe,
the "White Chenango, more than three-fourths of
the whole crop rotted !
Cannot some of our farmers produce this sub-
stance at a cheaper rate, and find better results
from it, too, than they can from most of the spe-
cific fertilizers now in use ? AVhere wood ashes
can be cheaply and readily obtained, we believe
thev can.
DESTROY THE CATERPrLLARS !
Their name is legion, this spring, and they have
begun their work early. Our people — we are sor-
ry to say — do not yet appreciate the injury which
they inflict upon the crops. This is evident in the
culpable neglect which is~ almost everywhere seen,
in the hundreds of filthy nests which are annually
left undisturbed on the trees. .\n apple tree that
is despoiled of its leaves this year, not only loses
its growth and crop of fruit, but can scarcely re-
cover its vigor again for two or three years to
come. Harris says, "There are perhaps no in-
sects which are so commonly and so universally
destructive as caterpillars ; they are inferior only
to locusts in voracity, and equal or exceed them
on their powers of increase, and in general are
far ipore widely spread over vegetation." They
are the young of moths and butterflies, and there
are several hundred species in the New England
188
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JUNB
States. Tbeir principal food is the leaves of
plants, and consequently theii* injuries to vegeta-
tion are immense.
If their nests are attacked early in the morn-
ing,— or at any time when most of them are in
the nest, — and they are young and the nest is not
very firmly attached to the tree, it is not a dis-
couraging labor to pass over an orchard of two or
three acres. But if left until they are strong and
the nest is well woven and tough, the labor will
be one requiring much time and patience.
There are various ways of destroying them. A
good mode is to take one of the spiral brushes
made for the purpose, fix it to a light pole ten or
twelve feet in length, dip the brush into a bucket
of strong soap suds and t\rist it about in the nest.
This will detach it from the tree, and wherever
the suds fairly wets one of the caterpillars it will
die. This is the cheapest, easiest and best way
of destroying them, in our knowledge.
Some persons blow them ofi' with gunpowder,
others burn them, — but these modes are objection-
able, as they more or less injure the tree. We
hope that a general attack will be made upon the
whole race, and that we may see cleaner fruit trees
throughout the coming summer.
SHKEP HUSBAKDKY.
Upon another page, we have commenced a se-
ries of articles on Sheep Husbandry, which will
be worth the attention of all persons engaged in
the culture of sheep, and which will, perhaps, be
equally as important to the purchaser and manu-
facturer of wool. They have been prepared by a
gentleman of large and critical observation, who
has been familiar for many years with the prices
and qualities of wools, and the kinds best adapt-
ed to the wants of woollen manufacturers in this
country. Some portions of them were formerly
published in the Southbridge Journal, but they
have been re-written by the author and enlarged
at our request, expressly for the columns of the
Farmer. We shall present them from week to
week until the series is completed.
In the meantime, if any of our readers desire
more full information on any special point under
discussion, we have no doubt that our obliging
correspondent will give it as far as it lies in his
power, as his object is to assist in promoting this
important branch of our national industry. It
will be observed that, in the course of the series,
the writer has touched upon nearly every conceiv-
able point relating to breeds and breeding, to the
modes of tending and feeding, to climatic influ-
ences, to the effect of food upon the quality of
the wool, change of pasturage, prices of wool and
mutton, comparisons of profit in raising wool and
corn, difi'erences in the cost of transportation, &c,,
&c. Indeed, he seems to have a most intimate
and accurate knowledge of the whole subject, in
its various bearings of producing the staple, the
prices which it has borne for many years, and the
qualities demanded in our varied manufactures.
None interested in this important branch of in-
dusti-y can fail to be gratified with the lucid and
valuable facts which he will from time to time
present.
For the New En gland Fanner.
THE APPLICATIOTf OF IDEAS TO PKAC-
TICAIi USE.
Emerson says, "Some men are better than they
know." On the other hand, there are many who
know better thin they are. The difi'erence be-
tween the man who adds to the uses and embel-
lishments of life, and the man who leaves the world
as he found it, does not consist in knowledge, but
in the reproduction of knowledge — in appropriat-
ing, testing and applying the ideas and waifs of
ideas, which pass from one mind to another.
Have those who ridiculed what they are pleased
to call "Book Farming," ever tested in good faith,
the ideas and suggestions which they read with
so much contempt, because they do not come to
thejn from some practical men ? Have they ever
seriously inquired what practical use may be made
a principle or a fact stated in a book ? For the
sake of the moral lesson, as well as the practical
benefit to be derived from it, I have taken the
pains to copy for the readers of the Farmer, the
following story contained in the essays of Sir E.
Bulwer Lytton.
A certain nobleman, very proud of the extent
and beauty of his pleasure grounds, chancing
one day to call on a small squire, whose garden
might cover about half an acre, was greatly struck
with the brilliant colors of his neighbor's flowers.
"Aye, my lord, the flowers are well enough," said
the squire, "but permit me to show you my
grapes." Conducted into a little, old-fashioned
greenhouse, which served as a vinery, my lord
gazed with mortification and envy on grapes twice
as fine as his own. "My dear friend, you have
a jewel of a gardener; let me see him." The
gardener was called — the single gardener, a sim-
ple looking young man under thirty : "Accept
my compliments on your flower beds and your
grapes," said my lord, "and tell me if you can why
your flowers are so much brighter, and your grapes
so much finer than mine ?" "Please, your lord-
ship," said the man, "I have not had the advan-
tage of much education ; I ben't no scholar, but
as to the flowers and the vines, the secret as to
treating them just came to me, you see, by chance."
"By chance ? explain," said the peer.
"Well, my lord, three years ago master s^t me
to Lunnon on business of his'n, and it came on to
rain and I took shelter in a mews, you see."
"Yes, you took shelter in a mews, what then ?"
"And there were two gentlemen taking shelter,
too ; and they were talking to each other about
charcoal."
"About charcoal ? Go on."
"And one said that it had done a deal of good
in many cases of sickness, and specially in the first
stage of the cholera, and I took note on my mind
of that, because we'd had the clrolera in our vil-
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
189
lage the year afore, and I guessed the two gentle-
men were doctors and knew what they were talk-
ing about."
"I dare say they did ; but flowers and vines
don't have the cholera, do they ?"
"No, my lord, but they have complaints of their
own ; and one of the gentlemen went on to say
that charcoal had a special good efl'ect upon all
vegetable life, and told a story of a vine-dresser in
Germany, I think, who had" made a very poor,
sickly vineyard one of the best in all those narts,
simply by charcoal-dressings. So I naturally
pricked up my ears at that, for our vines were in
so bad a way, that master thought of doing away
with them altogether. 'Aye,' said the other gen-
tleman, 'and see how a little sprinkling of charcoal
will brighten up a flower bed.'
"The rain was now over, and the gentlemen left
the mews ; and 1 thought, 'Well, but before I try
the charcoal on my plants, I'd best make some in-
quiry of them as aren't doctors, but gardeners.
So I went to our nursery man who has a deal o'
book learning, and I asked him if he'd ever heard
of charcoal-dressing being good for vines, and he
said he'd read in a book that it was so, but had
never tried it. He kindly lent me the book, which
was translated from some forren one. And after
I had picked out of it all I could, I tried ttie char-
coal in the way the book told me to try it ; and
that's how the flowers and the grapes came to
please you, my lord. It was a lucky chance that
I ever heard those gentlemen talking in the mews,
please your lordship."
"Chance happens to all" said the peer, senten-
tiously, "but to turn chance to account is the gift
of few."
His lordship returning home gazed gloomily on
the hues of his vast parterres ; he visited his vine-
ries and scowled at the clusters ; he summoned
his head gardener, a gentleman of the highest re-
pute for science, and who never spoke of a cow-
slip but by its latin name. To this learned per-
sonage his lordship communicated what he had
heard and seen of the benignant efl"ects of char-
coal, and produced in proof, a magnificent bunch
of grapes, which he had brought from the squire's.
"My lord," said the gardener, scarcely glancing at
the grapes, "Squire 's gardener must be a
poor ignorant creature to fancy he had discovered
a secret which is so very well known to every pro-
fessed horticulturist. Professor Liebig has treat-
ed of the good efi'ects of charcoal-dressing to vines
especially, and it is to be explained upon these
principles" — therewith the learned man entered
into a profound dissertation, of which his lordship
did not understand a word.
"Well, then," said the peer, cutting short the
harrangue, "since you know so well, that charcoal-
dressing is good for vines and flowers, have you
ever tried it on mine ?"
"I can't say that I have," my lord; "it did not
come into my head."
"Nay," replied the peer, "chance put it into
your head, but thought never took it out of vour
head."
My lord, who, if he did not know much about
horticulture, was a good judge of mankind, dis-
missed the man of learning, and with many apol-
ogies for seeking to' rob his neighbor of such a
treasure, asked the squire to transfer to hia ser-
vice the man of genius.
The squire, who thought that now the charcoal
had been once discovered, any new gardener could
apply it just as well as the o"ld one, was too hap-
py to oblige my lord, and advance the fortune of
an honest fellow, born in the village. His lord-
ship knew very well that a man who makes good
use of the ideas received by chance, will make a
still better use of ideas received through study.
He took some kind, but not altogether unselfish
pains with the training and education of the man
of genius, whom he had gained to his service.
The man is now my lord's head forester and bailiS".
The woods thrive under him, the farm pays large-
ly. He and my lord are both the richer for the
connection between them. He is not the less
practically pains-taking, though he no lon'^er as-
cribes a successful experiment to chance. R.
For the Sew England Farmer.
. SHEEP HUSBANDRY-No. 1.
Dear Sir : — It is a somewhat strange anoma-
ly that while rapid progress has been made in
every department of agriculture in this State, that
of sheep husbandry has fallen ofi' to a very great
extent. And when we consider the important re-
lation which this branch of agriculture bears to
manufactures and commerce, it appears still stran-
ger that the political economist, who we should
expect would be ever directing his attention to
the developing of the resources of the country,
should have allowed the important subject to pass
unnoticed. We think that had there been as o-reat
efi"orts made to make wool king as there have'been
to make cotton a sovereign power, the latter could
not have reigned without a rival.
An idea of the importance of the subject may
be gathered from the following figures. In our
manufactories in the United States we are annu-
ally consuming about 1:22,000,000 pounds of wool;
that we only produce about half that quantity \
that we shall import this year worsted goods and
mixed worsted and cottons to the^mount of $17,-
o67,672 ; that nearly every yard of broadcloth
consumed in the country is imported, and a laroe
portion of our fine fancy cassimeres, and a lar^e
amount of our coarser woolens, blankets and ca'r-
pets are also imported. I am not sure that if we
consider every article imported, into the composi-
tion of which wool enters, we should find that we
import as much in a manufactured state as we
manufacture. If this is correct, then, in order to
supply ourselves with the raw material of what
we ought to manufacture, we should require, in
addition to what we now raise, about 190.000,-
000 pounds— making a total of about 2b0,0m\-
000 pounds — and this, while many of our West-
ern farmers are without a market "for their corn,
because it will not pi.y for their transportation^
whereas wool is fetching a high price and sheep
would consume their corn— and what could be
raised with more ease than roots, which are ex-
cellent for sheep ? They are better than corn, and
should either be dispensed with it should be the
latter.
The cost of transportion is quite an item in the
profits arising from the products of the soiL
Wheat and corn are among the heaviest products
that seek a distant market. From Central Illi-
nois it costs over fifty cents to deliver a bushel of
corn in New York, while less than two cents will
deliver a pound of wool in the same place. What
190
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
a difference it would make in the profits of the
farm between delivering the corn in New York to
have it converted into wool there, and converting
the corn into wool in Illinois and delivering it in
New York. But our American farmers do worse
than this — they send, at a heavy transportation
cost, their wheat and corn to Europe to have them
made into various fabrics and delivered at a still
smaller per centage of cost than the cost of trans-
porting wool from the far West to any market in
the East. Mr. Grinnell says : — "At any point
two hundred miles from Chicago, this ratio of
cost in freighting is well established ; that to
transport your products to the seaboard, on wheat
you pay 80 per cent, of its value, on pork 30 per
cent., on beef 20 per cent., gross on wool 4 per
cent. This is not conjecture, but my own experi-
ence, that I give 80 per cent, of the value of my
wheat, ^'hich impoverishes my farm, to find a
market, and 4 per cent, to find the best wool mar-
ket, the production of which enriches my acres
beyond computation."
The United States, as a country, is strictly ag-
ricultural, and yet does not produce more than
half of the wool "which the country requiresfor its
manufactures. This production would enrich the
soil which raised it, while we largely export those
products M'hich are rendering sterile the fertile
soil upon which they grow.
The production of wool has not kept pace with
the increased consumption of our manufactures.
In 1840 there were 50,808,524 lbs. of wool con-
sumed in this country. Of this, 35,802,114 was
the product of the United States, and 15,006,410
was imported. In 1 850, there were consumed 71.-
186,763 lbs. Of this, 52,516,969 lbs. was home
production, while 18,669,794 lbs. was imported.
In 1860, the consumption were 95.098,000 lbs., of
which 60,511,343 were produced at home, and 34,-
586,657 were the production of foreign soils. But
while the United States have increased their pro-
duction of wool, some of the best wool producing
States show a decrease. Ohio had, in 1854, 4,-
822,171 sheep; in 1858, that number was reduced
to 3,307,798; and under the stimulus of the in-
creased demand for wool, on account of the scar-
city of cotton, the number increased in 1862 to
4,740,227. ^ . „
But to come nearer home, our own State is well
adapted for growing wool, but during the last
twenty years there has been a great falling ofl'.
We find by reference to statistics that tlie number
of sheep in this State in 1840, was 378,226 ; in
1850, 188,651; in 1860, 113,111; being a de-
crease in twenty years df 265,115. In 1845, the
number of pounds of wool grown was 1,026,230;
in ten vears from that time the decrease in the
production of wool was over 600,000 pounds. In
the same year, the value of sheep and wool was
$923,000 ; in 1855 it was $464,889, showing a
falling off of near a half million dollars. In 1850,
the wool produced in the State was 585,000
pounds, while the amount consumed was 22,000,-
000 pounds, exclusive of domestic manufactures.
In 1860, while the cpiantity consumed had greatly
increased, the production had fallen| to 373,789.
Could anything be stranger than this, with a mar-
ket at their doors and cash on deliy.ery ? But
there is a cause for everything, and there are a
number for this. One, we think, has been re-
moved in the protection afforded the farmer by
what is known as the dog-law, one of its wise
provisions being found in Section 64 : "Whoever
suffers loss by reason of the worrying, maiming,
or killing of his sheep or lambs by dogs, may,
within thirty days after he knows of such loss,
present proof thereof to the mayor or selectmen
of the city or town wherein the damage is done,
and, thereupon, said officers shall draw an order
in favor of the owner upon the treasurer of said
city or town for the amount of such loss."'
Other causes and their remedies will be pointed
out in a series of articles to follow on this subject.
Tyro.
Scours in Sheep. — In commenting upon an
article of a correspondent, recently, in relation
to this disease, we suggested that it may have
been induced by the bad fodder upon which they
have been fed — that is, upon hay that was injured
in curing last summer.
A gentleman from Keene informed us yester-
day that he had lost fifty sheep out of a flock of
two hundred and fifty, although he had fed grain
liberally to them, and taken every pains in his
power to keep them in health and in good condi-
tion. He imputes the cause of the disease to the
bad fodder that was harvested last summer. He
says the losses by sheep owners are common in
all that region, and they are so extensive as to be-
come of a serious character.
Remedy for Scours in Sheep. — Mr. Al-
fred Poor, of Andover, Mass., informs us that
in one or two cases of "scours" that came under
his personal observation, the sheep were comolete-
ly cured by eating common salt. It had been left
where they accidentally came to it. They ate of
it freely, soon began to mend, and in a few days
thoroughly recovered. The remedy — if remedy
it is — is so simple and cheap that any one may
prove it.
The Black Knot. — A friend in Roxbury has
handed us two or three branches from different
trees or shrubs, that are completely covered with
the black Icnot of the very worst type. Neither of
them are from the plum tree. This is a startling
matter. Is this scourge to visit and gradually
destroy our climbing shrubs, hedges, and perhaps
apples and pear trees ? We hope not ; and yet
we see it here in its way to them all. The plum
crop has been nearly cut off for several years from
this ])est, which has bafHed all attempts to pre-
vent its destructive tendencies, and now it is
moving on to blast other common plants. We
hope some means may be discovered to arrest its
progress.
Pruning Orchards. — It is a very good rule,
and the nearer it is followed the better, that no
shoot should be allowed to remain longer than one
year on a tree that will require removal a ny
future time.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
191
ALOES— TO DESTROY INSECTS ON"
PLANTS.
In your journal for May, 1860, you request
your readers to try aloes as a protection of plants
from insects, and report. As I have beeu induced
to try it, by an article in the Southern Cnlticdtor
for February, 1859, page 37, giving a translation
from F. V. Raspail, recommending it, I will give
you the results of my experiment on cabbage
plants.
I was very much annoyed by cut worms, very
often not getting more than three-fourths of a
stand, even after replanting several times.
NVhen ready to set out the plants last spi-Ing,
(18o9) I ])ut from ^ to 1 pound of aloes in a tin
])an and poured hot water over it, and I stirred it
until the water could dissolve no more ; I then
poured off the water into an empty whiskey bar-
rel and repeated the operation until all the aloes
was dissolved ; I then filled the barrel with cold
water, and as I. planted the cabbage, I poured the
solution on and around it, and did not use it any
more for the same- crop, and out of from 200 to
250 plants I had but about 15 cut ; those I re-
planted and watered again with the solution and
they did not trouble me any more this time.
1 tried it again last fall on another piece of
ground in the same garden, with about the same
result.
This spring I tried it again on the same piece of
ground as last year, and I had but five plants cut.
I think if the solution, made much weaker, was
used once a week until the cabbage was too hard
for them to cut, it would keep ihem off entirely.
I have not tried it on anything but cabbage. —
Southern Cultivator.
■WATERING HORSES.
The quantity as well as quality of the water
given a horse w ill greaty afl'ect his condition. Per-
haps no animal is more distressed by thirst than
the horse, a fact not generally known, or if known,
not fully appreciated. Horses should be watered
rajulnrly, when not at work, as well as W'hen at
work, provided, in the latter case, that care is
taken not to let him have it when overheated
by work. Irregularity in the supply of water is
often folb^wed by a refusal to jjartake of solid
food, and more frequently by colic and founder,
in consequence of his drinking inordinately when
an opportunity offers. For horses, when they
are not at work, it is perfectly safe to keep a
supply of pure water always within their reach ;
but as before remarked, theue is some danger in
this plan wiien they are worked or driven, and
are likely to become overheated.
There is a very certain way of determining when
a horse has been neglected. If the master, on
entering the stable, and lifting the water bucket, j
finds the animal placing himself in an attitude of
expectation, and eagerly gazing upon the ves-
sel, it is point blank evidence that his usual sup-
ply of water has been withheld. Whenever it is
possible, let the horse have water from a run-
ning stream. — Stock Joui-nal.
TuE Black Kxot. — A friend in Roxbury has
handed us two or three branches from different
trees or shrubs, that are completely covered with
the hluek knot of the very worst type. Neither of
them are from the plum tree. This is a startling
matter. Is this scourge to visit and gradually
destroy our climbing shrubs, hedges, and perhaps
apples and pear trees ? We hope not ; and yet
we see it here in its way to them all. The plum
crop has been nearly cut off for several years from
this pest, which has bafiHed all attempts to pre-
vent its destructive tendencies, and now it is
moving on to blast other common plants. We
hope some means may be discovered to arrest its
progress.
Wilted Potatoes for Planting. — Some
writeVs have i-ecommended the planting of dried
potatoes as a preventive of the rot. A Pennsyl-
vania correspondent of the Rural New Yorker
says :
I once overlooked a few rows dropped, which
remained unnoticed and consequently uncoverftl
during several days, and not only wilted but con-
siderably dried. These had the advantage in
the strong and healthy appearance of the tops
throughout the season, and in the tubers at dig-
ging, over those covered fresh from the pit. Cut
the potatoes and scatter on a little plaster, to pre-
vent bleeding, and allow to wilt if time and cir-
cumstances will admit.
France is swarming with and devoured by in-
sects because she has gluttonously eaten up her
small birds ; which were her natural allies against
destructive insects.
Covered Manures. — A late number of the
Journal of Agriculture contains a statement of
the result of an experiment made to determine
the relative value of manure made under cover,
and that exposed in the barnyard. Both manures
were applied to potatoes in equal quantities. The
yield on equal portions of land was as follows :
Manure from barnyard, 252 bushels per acre ;
manure made under cover, 297 bushels per acre.
Cheap Paints. — The essential part of all good
paints properly so called, is linseed oil. Oil, if
well boiled, may be applied alone, and afi'ords an
excellent protection to hard wood and implements
and upon floors. Sundry substances ground very
fine are used to mix with the oil, and in propor-
tion as they thicken the oil and form an opaque
coating, they are said to p'ossess '"body." A pret-
ty good cheap paint for outside work is made by
mixing plaster of Paris with white lead or zinc
white, and grinding them together in a paint mill
with oil. Plaster alone may be used, and it is
said to form a durable and cheap paint. Of course
any color may be given which is desired. — Ameri-
can Agriculturist.
Oil the Nails. — If you wish to drive a entail
into a seasoned oali timber, and not have it break
or bend, just have a small quantity of oil near by
anj dip the nail before driving, and it will never
fail to go. In mending carts and ploughs this is
of great advantage, for they are generally mo.slly
of oak wood. In straightening old nails before
using, let it be done on wood, and with easy blows.
If done on iron, they will be sure to break.
192
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
June
CONTENTS OF THIS NIBIBER.
Suggested by the Return of June Page 161
Planting at Intervals — Bone Dust 162
Spring Concert 162
Spring Chickens — Review of the Winter 163
Mealy Potatoes all Summer — Gray Hairs 164
Culture of Tobacco 164
Ears of the Horse 165
Culture of Roots — Swine and Manure 166
New Books 167, 177, 186
Root Crops— Plant Peas Deep 168
Clover Hay for Horses 169
Extracts and Replies 169, 171
Use of Poultry Manure 170
Effect of Cold Weather on the Separation of Cream 170
Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster 171
New Fanning Mill 172
Caterpillars and their Natural Enemies .173
Profit of Hens 173
Value of Barnyard Manure .- 174
Early Seed Corn— Raising Turkeys 175
Ventilators for Barns 175
Nature of Science — Growing Cucumbers 176
Action of Lime on Soils— New Duties on Wool 178
To the Farmers ,..179
Culture of the Strawberry 180
Universal Clothes Wringer 181
Sheep- -Notes from Maine 181
Farm Economy 182
Clover Hay— Culture of Bees ."....'....'.'.'.'.'! 184
Gapes in Chickens '. 185
Planting the Apple Tree 186
NSvel Mode of Growing Squashes 186
Nitre— Saltpetre— Destroy the Caterpillars 187
Application of Ideas to Practical Use 188
Sheep Husbandry .188, 189
Scours in Sheep— Black Knot 190
Aloes, to Destroy Insects— Covered Manures 191
Cheap Paints 191
Watering Horses— Wilted Potatoes for' Planting.' .!.*.'!!.'.'.. !l91
Cattle Markets for May 192
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter " U" 161
Drying Houses for Tobacco Culture— four engravings.. 164, 165
Adams' New Fanning Mill 172
Universal Clothes Wringer 181
CATTLE MAKKETS FOB MAY.
The fDllowing is a summary of the reports "for the five weeks
ending May 18, 1864:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. STieep. fihotes. Fat Hngs. Veals.
April 20 1716 5750 700 1500 1000
" 27 1082 2704 800 1500 1000
May 4 844 4856 1200 700 ICOO
" 11. 1038 1818 1100 1400 900
" 18 750 1700 700 900 875
Total 5430 16,828 . 4500
6000
4775
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for the correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number since the firstof
January, of each year:
THIS YEAR. LAST TEAR.
Cattle. Sheep, Cattle. Sheep.
Maine -.149 — 191 —
New Hampshire 416 3858 626 3892
Vermont 1080 6186 891 5887
Massachusetts 639 2596 719 933
Northern New York 16 — 33 —
AVestern States 3130 4188 2872 314
Canada — — 200 —
Total for the five weeks 5,430 16,828 5,532 11,268
Total, since Jan. 1,(20 weeks,)27,330 87,258 28,044 54,065
PRICES.
April 20. April 27. May 4. May 11. May 18.
Beef,l, 2, 3qual...9^gl2 9igl2 10 @12 10 «13 ■ 11 gl3i
" ex. andprem.l2^gl3 12^«13 12ial3 13 gl3| 13Jg—
Sheep^" m.. S^glO SJglO S^glO^ 8.^glOi lOgU •
" sheared...—®— — (g— 4 g7 4 @7^ 6 @9
Shotes, retail 8ig9| 8^glO 8J@U 9 gl2 9 gU
Beef hides, 4f a.-SiglO 10 glO^ 10 gll 10 gll 10 gll
Pelts, wool on.... $3ig4 $3ig4 $3ig4 $3ig4 3ig4
Remarks. — Last month we remarked that live stock had been
sold at higher prices during the month of April than ever before
at this market. Since then prices have gradually, but not stead-
ily, advanced. What are we coming to* is a question more ea-
sily and more often asked than answered. Some solve all
mysteries by ascribing high prices to "the speculators." Others
believe that the ups and downs of trade, like the ebbing and
flowing of the tide, are governed by laws which are as little af-
fected by speculators as the dust of old Esop's coach was by the
fly that rested upon one of its wheels. Others again satisfy
themselves with the assumption that there is an actual scarcity
of cattle and sheep, of pigs and poultry. The statistics of the
cattle market do not appear to authorize this conclusion. Our
aUempt last month to illustrate this was defeated by a mistake
in figures. Our last report, (May 18,) is for the twentieth week
of the year. Compared with last year and the year before, the
number of cattle and sheep stands as follows:
Cattle. Sheep.
1864, (first 20 weeks) .' 27,330 87,278
1863, " " " 28,044 54,065
1862, " " " 24,840 53,982
Showing that thus far in the year the whole number of cattle at
market is only 714 less than for the same time last year, and
that of sheep 33,193 greater ; and both cattle and sheep are
largely in excess of the year before. It is evident, therefore,
that, compared with other years, there is no falling off in the
supply, however much it may be exceeded by the demand. The
market is said to be unusually well supplied with fresh fish.
And yet cattle and sheep, calves and hogs brought high prices,
and found a quicker sale at the last market, than we have ever
before witnessed.
The following from our report of sales. May 21, will show the
state of the market:
J. M. Bean sold 6 oxen to J. S. Allison, by the lump, at what
the seller estimated equal to 12J^c^ lb., and 8 to the Chamber-
lain Bros., 4 at 12c and 4 at lie, on seller's estimate of weight.
J. W. Judkins sold 10 cattle to W. E. Gowing, on commission.
G. W. Brownell sold 7 oxen to S. F. Woodbridge, for $770, or
12c #" ft) ; one pair of steers for $180, or 12o ; one cow to C.
Atherton, laid at 625 lbs., for $70, and a milch cow for $62.50.
G. W. Barker sold 8 oxen for $110 W head, or 12c #" Jb ; and
2 beef cows at about 10c #■ lb.
Geo. Baldwin marketed an extra pair of young oxen, the best
at Cambridge, so far as we saw, and as good, he claimed, as
your cracked-up River Cattle, fed by Geo. Sleeper, of Corinth,
Vt., which weighed 3680 tbs., 13 miles from home, and were
laid to dress 2250 lbs. of hide, tallow and dressed beef, at 14c ■tf'
pound.
D. A. Philbrick had a fine lot of oxen this week, mostly from
the Merrimack Valley, which turns out as good oxen, he con-
tends, as the much vaunted Connecticut River. One pair in par-
ticular were as good as the best. They were fed by Asa W.
Greeley, of Salisbury, Mass. Mr. Greeley bought these oxen
IsCst November, paying $145 for the yoke. After feeding them
liberally for about seven months, he sold them taMr. Philbrick
for $325, more than double the money. Happening to strike
the market in a very fortunate week, Mr. Philbrick sold them
for $360. They weighed $4200 lbs. at home. Mr. Philbrick
also sold 14 oxen averaging 3300 lbs. ^ pair at Brighton for
12>^c.
Wm. ScoUans & Co. sold 29 to S. S. Learnard, of an average
live weight of 1579 lbs, at 13i;^c, 27 sk ; 33 to J. F. Taylor, 1378
lbs. each, at 13 «c, 28 sk ; 14 to H. W. Jordan, 1237 tbs. each,
at 13 Ja'c, dressed; 23 to Geo. Wildes, 1226 lbs, at 13c, 29 sk ;
and 32 to Brooks & Stone, 1274 lbs. each, at 12c, }i sk.
STORE CATTLE.— Excepting a, few milch cows, there are no
stores at market at this season. This week we noticed but few-
milkers. Note<l the sales of one cow and young calf for $45,
another for $68, and another for $75. Geo. Mann reports the
sale of 12 cows and calves at from $32 to $50 each. The retail
dealers say the market is not as good as it was a few weeks ago.
DEVOTED TO AGRICUIjTTJKE AND ITS KJLNDKED ABTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XYL
BOSTON, JULY, 1864.
NO. 7.
XOURSE, EATON" & TOLMAX, Propbibioes.
Office. .,,102 Wxshisston Street.
SmON BRO\rN, Editoiu
"WONDEKS OP JULY!
T t h e opening of
each new Month,
for several years
past, we have given
an article referring
especially to some
of the peculiarities
of that month as
regards the condi-
tion of vegetation,
insect life, the im-
p o r t a n t offices
which eacJi month
has to discharge, |
and with occasion- 1
al reference to the I
eral, — and just in proportion as they are investigat-
ed and understood, will the happiness of the farm-
er be increased, as well as his power to protect his
crops and increase his annual profits.
Some of the most eminent men of the world
have given the best powers of their mind to aa
investigation of this inner life on th^/arm, and by
the glowing descriptions which they have written-
have charmed and instructed thousands of other
minds. The little gnat, so small that it can be
seen with the naked eye only in a strong light,
was fashioned and launched into existence by the
same Almighty Power that gave the elephant his
colossal frame and strength, or upheaved the moun-
tains that pierce the skies, and whose heads are
covered with eternal snows.
Let us attend, for a few moments, to a look into
one of these iriner tcorlds by Sir John Hill, an
special duties of the farmer at such •E.ugWsh gentleman who wrote largely on Natural
particular period. In these articles j ^j^^^^^ ^^^ Philosophy, and who prepared a sys-
w€ have felt more at liberty to indulge ■ ^^^ ^f g^^^^^. .^^ twenty-six folio volumes. The
in allusions to the more retondite or hidden things
of the farm than has seemed suitable in articles
o world which he explored was a single carnation, or
gordenpink of the genus "Dianihus," which means
upon the management of the crops and general ] «ir/o,fer of God," or "Bicine Flower," on account
operations of the month. These operations, how- 1 of its pre-eminent 'beauty. He says :
ever, have frequently had special attention. «The fragrance of a carnation led me to enjoy
Farmers have been too long and too well con- it frequently and near. While inhaling the pow«-
tented with a partial knowledge of the most com- erful sweet, I heard an extremely soft but agreea-
mon things around them. They have seen their ble murmuring sound. It was easy to know that
crops grow from year to year, their trees covered some animal, within the covert, must be the mu-
■»s-ith fragrant flowers and luscious fruit, the sea- sician, and that the little noise must come from
sons roll grandly on in their appointed course, and \ some little body suited to produce it, I am fur-^
have given Httle heed to the numberless interest- j nished with apparatuses of a thousand kinds for
ing sources of instruction and pleasure which ' close observation. I instantly distended the low-
throng every path in rural life. In preparing those | er part of the flower, and placing it in a full Ught,
brief Monthly Essays it has been our object grad- could discover troops of litt^ insects frisking and '
ually to lead the mind of the reader to these | capering with wild jollity among the narrow pe-
sources, where a wise Providence has created and destals that supported its leaves, and the Uttle
fixed the abode of a peopled worid, all unlike that threads that occupied its centre. I was not cruel
which comes to the eye without especial observa- ' enough to pull out any one of them ; but adapt-
tion. These sources may be found in every de- ing a microscope to take in, at one view, the whole
partmeat of nature, — animal, vegetable and min- i base of the flower, I gave myself an opportunity
194
NEW ENGLAND FARMEK.
JUIT
©f contemplating what they were about, and this
for many days together, without giving them the
]east disturbance. •
Under the microscope, the base of the flower
extended itself to a vast plain ; the slender stems
of the leaves became trunks of so many stately ce-
dars J the threads in the middle seemed columns
©f massy structure, supporting at the top their
several ornaments ; and the narrow spaces between
were enlarged into walks, parterres and terraces.
On the polished bottom of these, brighter than
Parian marble, walked in pairs, alone, or in larger
companies, the winged inhabitants : these, from
little dusky flies, for such only the naked eye
would have shown them, were raised to glorious,
glittering animals, stained with living purple, and
with a glossy gold that would have made all the
labors of the loom contemptible in the comparison.
I could, at leisure, as they walked together, ad-
mire their elegant limbs, their velvet shoulders,
and their silken wings ; their backs vieing with
the empyrean in its hue ; and their eyes, each
formed of a thousand others, outglittering the lit-
tle planes in a brilliant. I could observe them
here, singling out their favorite females, courting
them with tlie music of their buzzing wings, with
'■ little songs formed for their little organs, leading
them from walk to walk among the perfumed
shades, and pointing out to their taste the drop of
liquid nectar just bursting from some vein within
the living trunk ; here were the perfumed groves,
the more than myrtle shades of the poet's fancy
realized ; here the hapjTy lovers spent their days
in joyful dalliance ; — in the triumph of their little
hearts, skipt after one another from stem to stem
among the painted trees, or winged their short
flight to the close shadow of some broader leaf, to
revel undisturbed in the heights of all felicity.
Nature, the God of nature, has proportioned the
period of existence of every creature to the means
of its support. Duration, perhaps, is as much a
comparative quality as magnitude ; and these at-
oms of being, as they appear to us, may have or-
gans that lengthen minutes, to their perception,
into years. In a flower destined to remain but a
few days, length of life, according to our ideas,
could not be given to its inhabitants ; but it may
be according to theirs. I saw, in the course of
observation of this new world, several succeeding
generations of the creatutes it was peopled with ;
they passed, under my ej'e, through the several
successive stages of the egg and the reptile form
in a few hours. Aftlf these, they burst forth at
an instant into full growth and perfection in their
wing-form. In this they enjoyed their span of
being, as much as we do years — feasted, sported,
revelled in delights ; fed on the living fragrance
that poured itself out at a thousand openings at
once before th«m ; enjoyed their loves, laid the
foundation for their succeeding progeny, and after
a life thus happily filled up, sunk in an easy dis-
solution. With what joy in their pleasures did I
attend the first and the succeeding broods through
the full period of their joyful lives ! With what
enthusiastic transport did I address to each of
these yet happy creatures Anacreon's gratulatioa
to the cicada :
Blissful insect I wTiat can he,
In happiness, compaved to thee ?
Fed with nourishment divine,
The dewy morning's sweetest wine-.
Kature waits upon thee still,
And thy fragrant cup does fill.
All the fields that thou dost see ;
All She plants belong to thee ;
All that sujiimer hours produce.
Fertile made with ripening juice.
Man for thee does sow and plow,.
Farmer he, and landlord thou.
Thee the hinds with gladness hear.
Prophet of the ripen 'd year !
T'o thee alone, of all the earth.
Life is no longer Ihan thy mirth.
. Happy creature I happy, thou
Dost neither age nor winter know ;
But when thou'st drank, and danc'd, anci saag
Thy fill, the flowery leaves among,
Sated with the glorious feast.
Thou retirest to endless rest.
Wliile the pure, contemplative mind thus al-
most envies what the rude observer would treat
unfeelingly, it naturally shrinks into itself on the
thought that there may be, in the immense chaiis
of beings, many, though as invisible to us as we
to the inhabitants of this little flower — whose or-
gans are not made for comprehending objects
larger than a mite, or more distant than a straw's
breadth — to whom we may appear as much below
regard as they to us.
With what derision should we treat those little
reasoners, could we hear them arguing for the un-
limited duration of the carnation, destined for the
extent of their knowledge, as well as their action *
And yet, aniong ourselves, there are reasoners
who argue, on no better foundation, that the earth
which we inhabit is eternal."
Raise the Calves. — We have said it before,
and say it again, that the common practice of sell-
ing our calves to the butcher, is one of the poor-
est pieces of farm husbandry ever practiced. Not
that every small farmer who may have one or two
can profitably raise them, but that every farmer
who has the keeping, or any legitimate way of get-
ting it-; should keep his calves until they are two
or three years old. We do not advocate the keep-
ing of any more stock than can be ivdl kept.
Very many of our farmers, by selling their calves,
have let their stock run out, so does the farm also.
Now we want such ones to turn over a new leaf.
Commence the raising of your calves. They will
gradually increase your stock, and as your stock
increases in numbers, so will your fields in fertil-
ity.— Michigan Farmei'.
1864.
ISTEW ENGLAND FARMER.
1^
STATISTICS OF CHEESE FACTORIES.
The following statemeuts arc from reports made
at the late Cheese Manufacturers' Convention at
Rome ; •
Alfred Buclc's Factory, Vernbn, Oneida Co. —
Number of cows, 470, for six months ; 145,695
pounds cheese made; 10 10-100 pounds milk
made 1 pound dr^- cheese ; cheese sold for 13
cents per pound ; the cost of boxes, bandage, salt,
&c., 40j cents for 1(X) pounds; price charged by
cheese maker (he furnishing his own hei^)) for
making cheese, $1 per 100 pounds — making whole
cost $1,401.
Williams, Adams & Deicey^s Factory, Hampton,
Oneida Co. — Nunit>er of cows, 350 ; pounds of
oiilk, 976,378 ; pounds of cured cheese, 95,959,
sold for $I2,279.'T3; 10 pounds 2 ounces milk
made 1 pound cheese ; price of making cheese, at
•Si per 100 psunds, $959.59 ; incidental expenses,
$386.92; total, 81,346.51.
Wkiiesboro' Factory, Oneida Co. — Number of
eows, 650; eight mouths milking; number of
pounds of milk was 2,122,855 ; number of pounds
of cheese, 207,313 ; sold for 12 cents and 88-100
per pound. Thirty cords of wood used, costing
$90 ; 3 tons of coal, costing $24. Expense of
bandage, salt, boxes, &c., 45 cents per 100 pounds ;
shrinkage of cheese 4 per cent.
Clark's. Factory, Vernon., Oneida Co. — Number
of cows (not reported ;) pounds of milk, 955,915
for four months ; number of pounds of cured
cheese, 101,094 ; number of pounds of green
cheese, 107,083 ; 9,399 pounds of milk for 1
pound of cured cheese ; expense of boxes, &c.,
40 cents per 100 pounds cheese.
Miller's Factory, Coiistableville, Lewis Co, — 290
cows ; 971,515 pounds milk ; 100,089 pounds
cured cheese. Net sales of cheese, $11,011.64 ;
9 7-10 pounds of milk for 1 pound of cured cheese
— the amount of shrinkage was 6 17-100 per cwt.
Deerf.cld and Marcy Factory, Oneida Co, — 700
cows; 1,949,215 pounds of milk ; 193,335 pounds
cheese ; 10 82-100 pounds of milk, 1 pound of
cheese; cheese sold for 13 611-1000 cents per
pound, delivered at Utica.
Loiovilh Factory, Lewis Co. — 600 cows; 1,763,-
934 pounds milk ; 172,162 pounds dry cheese ;
shrinkage, 8,754 pounds ; cheese sold for 13 7-10
cents per pound ; cost of bandage, boxes, &c., 43
cents.
Georgetown Factory, Madison Co. — 435 eows ;
1,538,204 pounds of milk; 156,911 pounds of
cheese ; 9 5 pounds of milk for 1 pound of cheese ;
shrinkage, 3i per cent j cheese sold for 12^ cents
per pound.
Moisture in the Air. — One of the most cu-
rious and interesting of the recent discoveries of
science is, that it is to the presence of a very
small proportion of a watery vapor in our atmos-
phere— less than one-ha'.f of one per cent. — that
much of the beneficent effect of heat is due. The
rays of heat sent forth from the earth after it has
been warmed by the sun, would soon be lost in
space, but for the wonderful absorbent properties
of these molecules of aqueous vapor, which act
w'ith many thousand times the power of the atoms
of the oxygen and nitrogen of which the air is
composed. By this means the heat, instead of
being transmitted into infinitude as fast as pro-
duced, is stopped or dammed up, or held back on
its rapid course, to furnish the necessary condi-
tions of life and growth. Let this moisture be
taken from the air but for a single summer night,
and the sun would rise next morning upon a
"world held fast in the iron grip of frost."
THE. BOTTOM OP THE SKA,
Our investigations go to show that the roaring
waves and the mightiest billows of the ocean re-
pose, not u])on hard and troubled beds, but upon
cushions of still water ; that every where at the
bottom of the deej) sea the solid nbs of the earth
are protected, as with a garment, from the abrad-
ing action of its currents ; that the cradle of its
restless waves is lined by a stratum of water at
rest, or so nearly at rest that it can neitlier wear
nor move the lightest bit of drift that once lodges
there. The uniform appearance of those micro-
scropic shells, and the most total absence among
them of any sediment from the sea or foreign
matter, suggest most forcibly the idea of perfect
repose at the bottom of the deep sea. Some of
the specimens are as pure and as free from sea-
sand as the fresh-fallen snow flake is from the
dust of the earth.
Lideed, these soundings almost prove that the
sea, like the snow-cloud with its flakes in a calm,
is always letting fall upon its bed showers of these
minute shells ; and we may readily imagine that
the wrecks which strew its bottom are, in the pro-
cess of ages, hidden under this fleecy covering,
presenting the rounded appearance which is seen
over the body of the traveller who has perished in
the snow storm. The ocean, especially within and
near the tropics, swarms with life. The remains of
its myriads of moving things are conveyed by cur-
rents ; and scattered and lodged in the course of
time all over its bottom. This process continued
for ages, has covered the depths of the ocean as
with a mantle, consisting of organisms as delicate
as hoar frost, and as light in the water as down in
the air. — All the Tear Round.
Grub in the Head. — It ha^ang been stated in
the Brandon, Vt., Record, that a disease is making
alarming havoc among the large flocks of sheep in
Rutland County, insomuch that farmers are un-
willing to admit the full extent of its fatality, which
in some cases it is said amounted to scores, and
even hundreds, on single farms, — the Woodstock
Standard, of last week, gives the following remedy
recommended as almost infallible by a farmer who
has used it repeatedly :
Take yellow snuff, in the proportion of one ta-
blespoonful to a tea-cup full of water, and steep
till a good strong liquor is produced. Inject a
tablespoonful of this liquor into the sheep's nose
once a day as long as necessary.
To Clean Silk. — Quarter pound soft soap,
one ounce honey, one pint gin. Put on with a
flannel, or nail brush, and afterwards brushed with
cold water, then dipped in cold water five or six.
times, and hung out to drain, then ironed {wet on
the wrong side) with a hot iron.
A JOKER suggests that a photograph album is
too often made the receptacle of empty mugs.
KEW EXGLAXD FAHMER.
JrxT
PLOWING — DBAIKTSQ.
On tlie iTih instant, we were plowing with a
keaTT pair of cattk and horse oa a side hiil, where
fes footXDg was fine a»^ g^<^ — ^^'^^ where, four
years ago, a naa eould not walk without wetting
^ feet aad occaakniaBy gettnig aaked. TWa
^auge was effected by drainmg. CoHunon pipe
^a» were pot dowB foar feet below the guifaee,
sad th« draias bid twenty feet apart. Jhe grass
yp„^ ja last sammer and gave a heaTy crop, and
ftow, m the midst of a long storm and generally
•wet aeaaoa, tie land is in admiraWe condition to
le pknrrf and i^ted.
We hare practiced drainmg oar wet lands, and
W&ere that we engage in no operation on the
fcnn that is more piofiuble. It is wonderfal,
vhat a change is effected in soeh knd in the
^ffgne of two years. From a wet, stiAy, h^ry
tod, it beeves pOTons and friable, droppfajg into
ine grams when stirred, and rendering it light
and pleasant to cultivate. The change in its pro-
dttcuis also as great as that of iu mechanical
eonfition. Water graasea, hassoeka and rushes
disappear entirely, and sneet timothy, red-top
and clovei take their places. On a poni<yi of the
djained land of which we bare spoken, the herds-
gnss stood more than ffAir fed hujh,—&nA. came
Tritbout sowing any seed to bring it-
"We believe the whole matter of drainage is too
Hiueh neglected- It will certainly bring money
to the pocket of the farmer, but as it comes indi-
rectly, the sources from which it springs are lost
light of, and the work is neglected.
On this subject, we have quoted various author-
ities to sustain the opinions which we have from
time to tnne advanwd, and among others that of
Mr. John Johnston, who resides rear Seneca
l,ake, m the State of New York. He &ayg tile
draming pays the expense in two seasons, some-
tnes in one. In 1847, he bought 10 acres of
Inid, a perfect quagmire, to get an outlet, and in
1848 harvested 80 bushels of com per acre, which
paid for the knd and drainage. Another piece
of 20 acres was drained at an expense of about
$30 an acre, and the first crop was over 83 bush-
els per acre, where before not more than 10 were
harvested. A part of the field averaged 94 bush-
els per acre, this being 84 bushels over the former
yiekL One-half of the manure used before drain-
ing was found ample, for maximum crops, so ben-
eficial was the removal of water.
Mr. Johnston says he never made money till he
drained, and that occupiers of comparatively dry
"land will find advantage in draining.
His ferm comprises about 300 acres. His yield
of wheat is from 30 to 40 bushels per acre. He
uses salt at the rate of five bushels per acre.
He recommends farmers not to use over 2-inch
tiles Corlatezal drains. He makes his main draiiu
6 OT 8 inches deeper than his laterals. An error
he fell into was in having too masy drains on low
land, aad too few on high land. To drain effect-
iveiy the supply of water above must be cut oS^
then fewer drains waU be needed below. Here is
the secret.
These opmions come from one of the most
thoroughly practical men in this country ; a maa
who is independent, and who has acquired his
mean? through an intelligsnt, scientific industry.
TRIAIi OP MO^WTNG MJLOHtNUS.
It is now some twelve years since the mowing
machine was introdueed an^ng us, and, somewhat
later, became common on New England farms.
The prejudice that so long existed against them
has been obliged to yield, so that now, when help
: is scarce and high, the most inveterate advocates
for sticking to old "notions" and the old scythe
are quite willing to horrr/vs a mowing machine for
a few days, to say the least- They will condescend
to do this, when the practical mower demands two
dollars and fifty cents per day, and board, for his
labor!
I Since the introduction of the first rude and im-
perfect machine, great improvements have been
made in them, and new ones devised of more beau-
tiful and convenient form, more substantial in
1 structure and yet of much lighter draft, and less
■ weight of metal and wood.
We have no means at hand of iiscertaining how
many different patterns, or patented machines
have been introdaced and recommended, but the
\ number must be quite large. A manufacturer of
them recently informed us that he thought he
could enumerate J?/?j/ different kinds ! Out of the
ten or twelve kinds that we have tested, or seen
j under trial, we eould not, conscientiously, recom-
: mend more than one-half of them, and this com-
j parative number will probably hold good in aU
j that have been made. If such is the case, the
loss to the farmer in purchasing machines unfit for
the purposes for which they were constructed,
must be very large. The money loss is not all.
Disappointment, delay, vexation, and want of
confidence in all farm-machinery will come in to
swell the aggregate loss. This should no longer
continue. Some means should be suggested to
ascertain for a certainty what really good machines
there are, — machines that have stood the test of
several years trial,-s— and when this is done, the
fact should be made known to all ^e farmers in
the land.
In order to get at the greatly needed informa-
tion, we suggest that a grand trial be had of the
different mowing machines that can be got together,
during the coming haying season, where all inter-
ested may attend and judge for themselves which
is the best machine among them all, and the one
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FAHMER.
197
which they should purchase. We would hare no '
premiums. Let the trial be to ascertain which is
the best machine, and let the farmers assembled
be the judge of that fact, after having witnessed
the trial, unbiassed by the report of committees
or judges, who may be swayed by one consid<=ra-
tion or pother in favor of a machine which is not
in reality the best.
In a trial like this, the choice of a large major-
ity of those witnessing it would be quite likely to
settle upon a few machines, and th's judgment
would be of great value to the purchaser, as the
fact would be reported to every part of the land.
The trial should take place on the Hne of some
railroad, and not far from it. Perhaps Western
New York would be as convenient a locality as
could be selected, — near Albany, or beyond, on
the line of the New York Central Railroad. Shall
it be done ?
For tit Sew fn^Mid Firmer.
SHEEP HUSBAinSBT — ITo. 2.
When we ask the question, "^Vhy has sheep-
raising fallen off to such an extent in this State ?"
we always receive the ready-made answer, "That
it does not pay." But when we ask why it does
not pay, we do not always receive so ready an an-
swer ; but we are frequently told that wool does
not bring a price sufficiently remunerative. Yet
it is a fact that wool, for a number of years, has
averaged a higher price in this country than in
England, while the American farmer does not, on
the average, pay more purchase money for his
land, than the English farmer does annual rent for
his, and he makes raising sheep one of the most
profitable branches of agriculture.
That it has not paid we do not donbt, and one
cause we noticed in our last, and showed that that
cause was removed.
Another verj- important cause is the want of
that careful attention which can only ensure suc-
cess in any business.
In too many instances, the farmer, after ob-
taining a good flock of sheep, has almost left it to
it»elf ; he has not taken the pains to keep up his
breed that he takes with his other cattle.
If he has fed them well, and cared for them in
a proper manner, yet he has sold his lambs year
afier year, and continued to breed from his old
ewes ; he has kept his old buck, or others raised
from his old flock, and that, too, from degenerated
ewes, which practice would, in a few years, not
only deteriorate the quality of the wool, but would
also reduce the quantity. It would also reduce
the size of «he lambs, and seriously affect their
fattening qualities, and would also reduce the size
of his sheep, and this would manifest itself soon-
est and most seriously in the best breeds.
We may expatiate much on the different breeds.
we may grow eloquent in favor of this, that or the
other one, but unless proper attention is paid to
those principles which produce and perpetnate
good breeds, we talk and write in vain.
Much has been said and written on in-and-in
breeds ; but when this is successfully practiced it
is with the very best progeny of the best parents
on both sides. This, to be successful, must be
conducted on scientific principks, ««nd none but
the skillful should ever attempt it. On the other
hand, among our every-day farmers, and with
sheep particularly, where the flock is drained of
all its vigor by the constant sale of lainhs, it is
a prolific source of evil ; and when we bear per-
sons advocating in-and-in breeding, we always
feel like saying, "Please state'its limitations," pre-
serve your best lambs, both Boale and female, and
breed from no others.
We noticed a lamb last fiiO whose fieeee re>
sembled hair ; it was bought from a fioek vbose
owner has sold his lambs from year to year, keep-
ing only such as the butcher would not bay, and
breeding in-and-in. This man could not afford to
preserve a good lamb, or buy a good badL. The
form of this lamb was in perfect keeping with its
fleece, its back sharp instead of broad, its zibs flat
and its neck long.
Ail our different breeds of sheep have their «•-
igin frx>m one source — the wild, hairy animal, still
found upon the mountains of Asia Minor, Bar-
bary, Greece, jcc, which when brought under the
fostering care of man, the rank, hairy fibres grad-
ually disappea"-, while the soft wool around the
roots, which is scarcely perceptible at first, be-
comes singularly dweloped- The male undergoes
this change more rapidly than the female, and al-
ways continues to possess far more power in mod-
ifying the fleece of the offspring than the female
parent. Always bear in nmid, however, that the
age and vigor of the parents will do much to
modify the general law. By paying strict atten-
tion to this general principle, changing and cross-
ing of rams, we have obtained such a variety of
breeds, and have so far advanced from the parent
stuck, that the relationship appears almost oblit-
erated. But though there app>ears such a wide
difference between our best domestic breeds and
their wild origin, yet there is always a tendeacy
upon the part of the fleece of the domesticated
animal to return to that of the wild animaL This
is most rapid in the ewe. She will not be neg-
lected by man, if she is, her fleece will stiffer, and
under the very best of care fleece of both the male
and female deteriorates every year. It is finest,
strongest and heaviest the first year, and it continues
to become lighter and coarser every year, and the
more lambs the ewe has the faster the fleece deteri-
orates, consequently it will be found that it is not
the ewe that produces most lambs in a year that is
eventually the most profitable.
We have in our possession two fleeces, one
black and the other white — their staples measure
about twelve inches — the greater portion of both
is hair, and when drawn out very much resembles
the hair from a cow's taiL ^We showed this a
short time ago to an eminent stock breeder, and*
he asked if was from .\frica.' , Judge of his sur-
prise when told it was raised in Massachusetts I
The first manifestation we have of deJerioratian
in the fleece is the increase in the long hairy part
that grows upon the hind leg. In young, well-
bred sheep, this is scarcely perceptible. In the
old, degenerate sheep, it extends to the body, and
the top of the staple is full of coarse hairs, with a
{ white hair in the bottom called a kemp. ^Vhen
sheep are thus far run out, it is about as easy to
produce a good flock from the wild ^lecies as
from them. The wild ones would have health and
, vigor on their side, which the diymesticakd would
198
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
not have. An old ewe's fleece, not other -ways de-
generated, is known by its shortness, coarseness
and thinness of staple, with a dry, harsh feeeling,
cotted and felted bottom ; or, if this is not the
case, the staple is rendered very weak and tender.
Tyro.
FoT the New England Farmer.
A "NOTE" FROM VERMONT.
Spring-time— Wliat it Demands,
Messrs. Editors : — It is now with the farmer
the most important and busy season of the year,
— seed-time and harvest. Mid spring-time most
of all demands the earnest thought and labor of
the husbandman. Such it is with us at the pres-
ent time. The season thus far is full two weeks
in advance of that of last year, sowing is nearly
done, potato planting considerably advanced, and
the planting of corn will soon be at hand. And,
notwithstanding the price of labor consequent on
the scarcity of field hands the present season, I
think full an average of ground will be tilled, —
machinery so far as practicable being employed to
supply the deficiency in hand help.
The "Weather.
The weather at present date is very favorable
for the rapid growth of vegetation. Such copious
rains, followed by a warm, genial sun, are enough
to give life and animation to every living thing.
It is shower and sunshine that make vegetation
laugh — laugh and grow fat in an increased full-
ness of the products of the field.
Thunder Shovsrer.
While I write, the thunders roll in the distant
west, foretelling in unmistakable tones an addition-
al showering of Mother Earth, the farmers' boun-
tiful benefactress. Well, we'll welcome it as the
"mercy drop" to vegetable growth, and the "ele-
vating" element to its final perfection.
"Later."
It rains and hails, with vivid lightning and
heavy thunder. How cool and refreshing ! How
green the grass ! Nature seems renewed.
I. W. Sanborn.
Lyndon, Vt, May 10, 1864.
June the Time to Prune Fruit Trees. —
E. D. Wright, in the Oenesee Farmer, contends
that June is the proper season to prune fruit
trees, offering as the ground of his faith the fol-
lowing reasons, which we put in a condensed
form :
1. A limb being cut off before the growing sea-
son, both wood and bark will dry and die back
where the cut is made. What it thus loses while
waiting for the growing season must be made up
by the growth of new wood when that season ar-
rives. Nature undertakes to heal the wound by
growing it over with this new wood, but much
time is lost before it will grow up from the point
where life still remains, between the bark and the
■wood, to the place where it would be if the cut
•were made in May or June, instead of February
or March.
2. Where a limb is cut off before the growing
season, and before or at the time of the spring
flow of sap, the sap must come to the surface
where cut, and there be evaporated or fermented,
leaving the wood sour and lifeless, and liable soon
to rot.
Fnr the New England Farmer.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR APRIL,
1864.
These observations are taken for and under the
direction of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of April was 42° ; av-
erage midday temperature 48°. The correspond-
ing figures for April, 1863, were 43'^ and 52°.
Warmest day the 27th, averaging 52° ; coldest
day the 5th, averaging 27°. Highest tempera-
ture, 62° ; lowest do., 16°.
Average height of mercury in the barometer,
29.22 inches ; do. for April, 1863, 29.23 inches.
Highest daly average, 29.47 inches ; lowest do.,
28.88 inches. Range of mercury from 28.81
inches to 29.48 inches. Rain or snow fell on thir-
teen days; amount of snow 17 inches ; amount of
rain and melted snow, 4.10 inches. Nine stormy
days, with 2 inches of snow, and 1.92 inches of
rain and melted snow, in April, 1863. There
were two entirely clear days; on seven days the
sky was entirely overcast.
On three different occasions during the month,
the winds have run high. The difference of tem-
])erature, also of rain and snow, between April
this year and last, will be noticed with interest.
Latitude 43° 22' N. Longitude 72° 21' W.
Height above the sea 539 feet.
Seeing some meteorological summaries and com-
parisons in your columns, from a Brandon, Vt.,
observer, it occurred to me that some few items
from my own records would be interesting in
themselves, and also as comparing them with those
from Brandon.
I shall consider the winter to include November
and March.
JFinter of Av. Temp. Ami. of Rain a7id Barometrical
S7mw. melted snow. areraue.
1859-60. 26.8° 64 93 ins. 9.71 ins. 29.28 ins.
1860-61. 27° 115.25 " 17.85 " 29.2U "
1861-62. 22.8° 105 " 15.02 " 29.196 "
186263. 27» 74.25 » 14.22 " 29.318 "
1863-64. 28.4° 84.75 " 16.37 " 29.248 "
Suppose we now take the months separately.
NOVEMBER.
18.')9 1860 1861 1862 1863
Average temperature 37° 40° 36° 37° 40°
Average midday tempei-ature.. '47° 45° 40° 42° 45°
Barometrical average 29.37 29.15 29.11 29.25 29.22
Amount of snow 3.75 6.00 10.00 7.C0
Amt. of rain and melted snow. 1.87 3.28 1.54 1.05 3.55
DECEMBER.
Average temperature 18° 22° 27° 2-5° 22°
Average midday temperature... 23° 27° 33° 30° 27°
Barometrical average 29.33 29 25 29.29 29.28 29.36
Amountofsuow 30.56 43.25 17.00 11.00 17.50
Amt. of rain and melted snow. 3.57 3.58 1.90 1.59 4.00
JANUARY.
Average temperature ...23° 17° 19° 27° 22°
Average midday temperature. .30° 22° 23° 32° 28°
Barometrical average 29.26 29.23 29.23 29.35 29.22
Amount of snow 7.75 34 50 29.00 26.75 14.00
Amt. of rain and melted snow. 0.48 3.97 3.25 3.66 2.35
FEBRUART. ^
Average temperature 21° 26° 19° 22° 26°
Average midday temperature.. 27° 33° 27° 29° 32°
Barometrical average 29.31 29.21 29.25 29.41 29.31
Amount of snow 16.25 15.50 31.00 14.50 14.50
Amt, of rain and melted snow. 2.28 2.98 3.10 3.12 1.75
MARCH.
Average temperature 35° 30° 32° 24° 32°
Average midday temperature .. 41° 36° 39° 32° 36°
Barometiical average 29.14 29.23 29.10 29.30 29.13
Amount of snow 7.25 16.00 18.00 15.00 38.75
Amt. of rain and melted snow. 1.51 6.50 4.82 4.80 4.72
I have here given the amount of rain and melt-
ed snow which indicates the real amount of water
which has fallen during the given time. I give
the midday temperature, because by it we can
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
199
judge somewhat how the cold came ; whether in
verii cold niijlds or a steady low range day and
nifi;ht. Thus a low, general averai'e, and high
midday average would indicate cold nights.
Where these two averages ranged near together
the indication is that the cold was steady. Many
other deductions can be made by study of such a
table as the above. The table enables us to judge
correctly as to the "warmest winter" or the "cold-
est," the wettest or dryest, &c., so often remarked
without much thought. A. c.
Claremont, N. H.
CROSSING ANIMALS.
Cline, who is generally regarded as good au-
thority in such matters, remarks that "any im-
provement by crossing must depend entirely up-
on the selection of a well-formed female — larger
in size than the usual proportion between females
and males ; and let the male be rather small, with
good points."
A late work on agriculture, published in Eng-
land, contains the following upon the subject of
crosses :
"The desire to obtain a larger race by crossing,
has been very generally attended with evil con-
sequences ; the chief aim ought to be to improve
the foiin, leaving the increase of size to be the
result of a union of larger breeds of cattle."
Again the author says :
It may be desirable to improve the form of a
native breed or race, but at the same time, it may
be very injudicious to attempt to change their
size, for the size of animals is commonly adapted
to the soil and climate which they inhabit. Where
produce is nutritive and abundant, the animals
are larger, having grown proportionally to the
quantity of food, which for generations, they have
been accustomed to obtain ; but where the pro-
duce is scanty, the animals are small, being pro-
portioned to the quantity of food which they were
able to procure ; and of these contrasts, the sheep
of Lincolnshire and Wales are samples — the Lin-
colnshire sheep would starve on the mountains of
Wales. Crossing the breeds of aiiimals may be
attended with bad effects in various ways, and
that, even when adopted in the beginning on good
principles ; for instance : Su])pose some larger
ewes than those of the native breed were taken
to the mountains of Wales and put to the bucks
of that country ; if these foreign ewes were fed
in proportion to their size, their lambs would be
of an improved form, and larger in size than the
native animals ; but the males produced by this
cross, although of good form would be dispro-
portionate in size to the native ewes, and there-
fore, if permitted to mix with them, would be pro-
ductive of a starveling, ill-proportioned progeny.
Age of the Big Trees of California. —
A count of rings in the wood of one of the big
trees of California, cut down several years ago,
shows that it was not more than 1225 years old.
It was 23 feet in diameter.
Try experiments sparingly, but liberally withal,
where improvement of the land may be promoted.
THE BOBOLINK.
Where the pheasant late was drumming
With her l)rown and spotted wings ;
Where tlie velvet bees arc humming,
Where the ox-cycd daisy swings —
The f,'ay boholinlv is coming,
With his song the welkin rings.
His coat is black as night,
His epaulettes are white ;
A meadow bard is he,
Minstrel of liberty.
Hear the chorus of the rover
As he sings upon a reed,
On the thistle, in the clover,
On the tip-top of the weed.
On the elm-twig bending over.
Singing when he husks the seed.
Where the soft cotton grows.
As white as winter snows,
He never sang the lay
That charms the ear to-day.
How soft and tender is the twitter
Of this meadow minstrel g.iy !
How jubilant the wings that flitter
While he sings his roundelay
Above the still and faithful sitter
Upon her nest of wool and hay !
When the glad husband sings.
His wife, with folded wings.
Hid in the grass and flowers
Forgets the fleeting hours.
GiOKGE W. BVNGAir.
For the New England Farmer.
SICKNESS AND LOSS OF SHEEP.
Messrs. Editor : — In the Farmer of May 14th
was an article from O. W. True, on "Sheep." I
can say with him that they have not wintered as
well as common, and many have died. The losses
do not seem confined to large flocks altogether,
for some small flocks of eight, fifteen, and twenty,
have suffered more or less, losing from three to
tv.elve, while larger flocks have lost more heavily.
Some farmers in this vicinity have lost as many
as twelve, thirty, and even one hundred.
The difficulty is mostly grub in the head, —
there being only a few cases of scours. I have
known of some to o])en the head and find eight
and nine gruhs, and in many cases the sheep
would show «o signs of sickness until within a
short time of its death. I think if sheep are taken
in season and treated as recommended in the
Farmer some time ago, (in March, I should think,)
for grub in the head, they may be cured. I have
known of a number being cured. In some cases
the grub would come out on the swab. Lambs
have not done as well as usual, and must com-
mand a good price. A Reader.
Belknap County , N. H.
Sensible Maxims. — Never taste an atom when
you are not hungry ; it is suicidal.
Never hire servants who go in pairs, as sisters,
cousins, or anything else.
Never speak of your father as "the old man."
Never reply to the epithet of a drunkard, a fool,
or a fellow.
Never speak contemptuously of womankind.
Never abuse one who was once your bosom-
friend, however bitter now.
Never smile at the expense of your religion or
your Bible.
Never stand at the corner of a street.
Never insult poverty.
Never eat between meals.
200
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
y^
if
^/;r.i,iif;.^ |^^_4
THE "^VHEILDON" PEAB.
The annexed drawing is of a new variety of
Pear produced at Concord, Mass., (which seems
to be highly favored in the production of new va-
rieties of fruit,) in the garden of Wm. W.
Wheildon, Esq., to which, by consent, his name
has been given, and which promises to be a valu-
ble addition to our native pears. Mr. Wheildon
has furnished us with the following history of the
tree and description of the fruit :
The stock of the Wheildon Pear is a seed-
ling, and, when transplanted to the spot on which
it now stands, was of the size of an ordinary
walking cane. Having received some injury after
it was budded and not growing well, I cut it down
to the ground below the bud. Several shoots
soon started from the stock, and two of them, (lest
one should be accidentally broken off,) were al-
lowed to grow for two or three seasons, when one
was taken off close to the ground. The foliage
and growth were so promising that I decided to
fruit the natural shoot which indicates its unculti-
vated habit by its thorns. It grew vigorously and
strong, resembling in growth and form a young
elm. The first year of bearing, I think, was
1860. The fruit was small, not larger than a hen's
egg, but sweet, tender, juicy, and of pleasant fla-
vor.
The next year the fruit was larger, light green
in color, more pyriform and. generally of improved
quality. The third year of bearing, 1862, still
further improvement in the size and quality of the
fruit was observable, and specimens were exhibit-
ed at the Horticultural Exhibition of that year,
but as this society seems to give no attention to
new varieties of fruit either by premium or notice,
it attracted no attention. Specimens were also
exhibited at the exhibition of the U. S. Pomolog-
ical Society, in Beston, the same season, and not
being sufficiently ripe, were reported upon by the
committee as "promising well." It grows in clus-
1B64.
NEW ENGLAND FA*RMER.
201
ters and has a rugged appearance, somewhat like
the Duchess d'Augouleme. The mature fruit of
tliis year was very well spoken of by 'Hon. Mar-
shall P. Wilder, Mr. Downing, of Newburg, N.
Y., Mr. Brill, of Newark, N. J., and Mr. F. R.
Elliot, of -Cleveland, Ohio. The latter gentleman
took from the e.\hibition of the Pomological So-
ciety a specimen, which h« ripened, and speaks of
it in a letter of March, 1864, as follows :
"On my arrival in Washington, about one week
thereafter, I found on examining my specimens of
fruit, which I had in my valise, that this "Wheil-
dou" was Just in condition, and then and there I
cut it, and made a drawing and description, and
remember very distinctly that, as compared with
quite a number of other sorts at the same time, it
wivS very superior in quality: juicy, buttery,
sprightly, aromatic, pleasantly sweet, and, accord-
ing to pomological rules, 'best.' I have been
looking for my drawings, but having moved since
that time, my book has got mislaid, and just now
I cannot find it."
In 1863, the tree bore another full crop of fruit,
and the accompanying engraving, which is an accu-
rate drawing of one of the specimens, sufficiently
indicates the continued improvement of the fruit.
The produce of this year was generally handsome
in size and form, and was approved as a pear of
fine character, and as possessing qualities which
will render it desirable for cultivation and give it
a high rank among our hardy native varieties.
The {>ear is light green in color, becoming yel-
lowish in ripening, flecked with russet and pink 5
flesh dull while ; very sweet ani buttery, with a
peculiar arooaatic flavor. [A more full descrip-
tion will be given from the fruit of the present
season.]
THE MANGOLD ■WUBTZEI..
The practice of raising roots as winter feed for
etock has been growing in favor with many farm-
ers for several years. Those who have tried it —
and have been tolerably successful in producing
crops — would be unwilling to go back to dry fod-
der as the entire winter feed. Many years ago,
potatoes were considered as nearly indispensable,
by good farmers, for a portion of their stock, —
but since the prevalence of the "rot" among them,
and a gradual decrease in the amount of crop,
their culture has been so limited as to afford
scarcely more than a supply for the table, with a
portion of inferior ones for swine.
Since the falling off in the potato crop, the car-
rot has been introduced and large quantities raised
for cattle, horses and swine. Its cultivation, how-
ever, is more nice and expensive than the potato
or mangold, so that it is not produced much be-
yond what is required for horses, — for whom it
is found to be healthful and better, as a part of
the feed, than an equal money value expended
entirely in grain. Many stable-keepers prefer
fifty pounds of carrots and fifty pounds of graia,
to one hundred pounds of the grain alone. .
The cultivation of mangold is easy and cheap.
The soil should be a generous one, well drained
and thrown up lightly with the plow. After it
has been harrowed, furrow out a moderate trench,
scatter fine manure into it, cover the manure
slightly with fresh soil and drop the seed. The
seed should be eight or ten inches apart, as a sin-
gle seed will sometimes throw out three or four
shoots ; cover them half an inch if the soil is
quite moist, and a little deep, if rather dry,
Som^ cultivators turn two furrow slices together
over the manure, and sow upon the ridge. This
is not necessary, unless the season is a wet one,
or the soil is naturally quite moist. The plants
should stand ten or twelve inches apart, and the
rows two and a half to tferee feet, and if all things
are favorable, their leaves will cover the whole
ground. Cultivation should be thorough through
all the early stages of their growth, so that the
soil shall be light, and have no weeds upon it, af-
ter the leaves have grown to be a foot in length,
as the horse and implement used would be likely
to injure them afterward.
As they grow principally out of the ground,
and i-each a large she, they are easily harvested
and put away for winter use. A half bushel of
them per day for a cow, run through a cutting
machine, is as economical as any fodder that can
be used. Sow during the first ten days in June.
BEET SUGAR IN" THE "WEST.
At Chattsworth, near the Chicago Branch of
the Illinois Central Railroad, experiments have
been in progress to which Western men, inter-
ested in the highest development of the agricul-
tural resources of those great prairies, have looked
with no little anxiety, and much hopefulness, for
results. Some circumstances occurred in experi-
menting, in the state of the weather, or the want
of proper machinery, that prevented the manufac-
ture of a large crop of beets produced on the
Chattsworth farm. At length, difficulties were
overcome, and all concerned were delighted to find
that the beets raised there abound in saccharine
juices, and that the results obtained are in every
respect encouraging. The editor of the Prairie
Farnur saw the process, which is, briefly, as fol-
lows:
The beets are washed, topped, decayed parts
cut away, or the whole discarded, if imperfect. A
toothed cylinder, two feet in diameter, driven at
a high rate of speed, is used as a grater. The
beets are fed up to it by a pair of plungers. The
pulp and juice fall below in an iron tank, fine and
white as snow. Two hundred pounds of the pulp
is put in a centrifugal machine at once, and the
juice separated from it by centrifugal force in a
few moments. The juice goes thence into clari-
fying tanks where it is clarified preparatory to
202
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
evaporation. In these recent experiments, no
bone filters were ready, and hence other methods
■were resorted to to defecate the juice. The evap-
oration was done both in a kettle with steam coi^
and on sorgho evaporators. The editor says of
the first experiment : "When it had reached a
consistency supposed to be right for granulating,
it was taken off and set in a warm room for the
night. With many anxious feelings we approached
the vessel holding it the next morning, when, to
our great delic/Jd, we found the whole mass had
crystalized from top to bottom, showing large and
splendid crystals of sugar, which, after standing
twenty-four hours longer, was allowed to drain.
No more than twenty per cent, of it drained out,
much of which was sugar. This would have«been
less had it been allowed to stand longer."
In former volumes of the Monihly Farmer, the
reader may find several articles on the economy
of using the beet to obtain sugar, and the modes
by which the process is to be conducted.
At this time of high prices, when a barrel of
good white sugar costs something more than Jifty
dollars, would it not be well for many of our farm-
ers to sow the sorghum to a moderate extent, and
reduce its juice to syrup for family use. This was
done several years ago, when molasses sold for
one-half what it is bringing now, and it was then
thought, that, under improved modes of extract-
ing and boiling the juice, a sweetening might be
obtained by a large number of our people at an
economical cost. It is now made at the West
with success and profit, and the probability is,
that they will produce a large surplus the present
season.
The only way in which we can learn what can
be done in this respect is through numerous trials
by individuals in a small way, as well as by asso-
ciated effort on a large scale, with all the appli-
ances necessary to perfect success. In a small
way, the fact can be established, whether the beet
and the sorghum contain a sufficient amount of
the saccharine quality to make their cultivation
an object for the purpose of obtaining sugar. A
secondary object would be the large amount of
matter left for feed for cattle after the juices are
extracted from the beet. Perhaps paper might be
manufactured from the "bagasse," or remainder
of the sorghum.
Eradication of the Ox-eye Daisy. — J. J.
Thomas states in the Country Gentleman that on a
farm which he lately visited in Pennsylvania, the
ox-eye daisy has been so thoroughly eradicated
that not a plant could be seen, though it is gener-
ally abundant in the neighborhood. The mode
practiced for its extirpation is to plant two hoed
crops in succession, usually Indian corn, both be-
ing well manured, to be followed by wheat and
seeded by clover. The few weeds which show
themselves are dug up.
It requires the death of 8,300 elephants annu-
ally to supply the demand for ivory in London.
BRECK'S BOOK OF PLO^WEKS.
There are few of the incidental employments of
life that have a more happy tendency upon both
body and mind than the cultivation of flowers^
and a tolerably correct k^nowledge of their names
and habits. Their great variety, beauty and fra-
grance have attractions for all. The gross in
manner, the impure in habit, and even the hard
and grasping heart, wrapt in self and forgetful of
others, are all happily affected by their presence.
Everybody likes flowers.
The infant, too young to express its admiration
in words, will lie upon its mother's lap and gaze
long and earnestly at the vase of flowers upon the
centre table, or the single rose that graces as well
as perfumes the room. Girls and boys pluck wild
flowers, and adorn their sunbonnets and hats, and
look handsomer and feel better for such adorn-
ment, while they make the woods echo with their
glad voices.
The beti'othed maiden places the half-opsned
rose-bud upon her bosom on her wedding-day —
fit emblem of half-revealed virtues of patience,
gentleness, charity and loving kindness, which are
to be developed day by day in her new sphere of
affectionate duty.
Everybody likes flowers ! The aged man,
"the lean and slippered pantaloon,"
pauses on his crutch and contemplates the sweet
briar blossom by the way-side, and is reminded of
her who was his stay on earth, and now his guar-
dian angel in heaven. He plucks it, gazes upon
it as her favorite flower, drops a tear upon its
trembling petals, and finds new strength for the
battle of life.
So we enshrine the dead with flowers, and strew
them over the green turf that rests upon their
bosoms, as sweet memorials of our undying love.
In his touching story of CymbeUne, Shakspeare
makes Arvirago say,
"With fairest flowers.
Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave ; thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
The azured harebell, like thy veins ; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Outsweeten'd not thy breath."
Cultivated flowers ai'e evidences of high civiliza-
tion,-r-they are a sort of floral thermometer, indi-
cating the degree of intelligence and refinement
which a people have reached. And those indica-
tions are as significant as the evidences aflbrded
in architecture, painting, poetry, or any of the
sciences.
Flowers are refiners. As gold comes from the
crucible of the chemist rich and pure, so a garden
or conservatory of flowers, or even the single pot
on the kitchen window, refines the heart, sweetens
the afiections, and teaches us lessons of love and
duty in every petal that is thrown open to the sun.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
203
Children, reared amidst flowers, and encouraged
to learn their names and study their habits, are
more likelj' to be pliable and attractive, and to
possess greater refinement of feeling and expres-
sion, than those deprived of the lessons which they
may impart. The love of flowers "is the love of
nature in detail ; it is a union of aflfection, good
taste and natural piety." "Was a cruel, unfeeling
or selfish man ever known to take pleasure in
working in his own garden ?" If Mistress Eve —
a long time ago — had not made a sad mistake in
Eden, we should be ready to say that the tempter
never found a victim in the garden amid breathing
and expanding flowers. But she did eat the apple
in that
"place
Chosen by the sovereign Planter, when he framed
All tilings to man's delightful use ; the roof
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade,
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf ; on either side
Acanihux, and each odorous bushy shrub,
Forced up the verdant wall ; each beauteous flower,
Iris all hues, roses a.nd jessamine,
Kear'd high their flourished heads between, and wrought
Mosaic ; underfoot the violet.
Crocus and hyacinth, with rich inlay
BroiderVl the ground, more colored than with stone
Of costliest emblem."
We have saidthaieveryhodi/ loves flowers. Were
we wrong ? Lord Bacon did not disdain to lend
his mighty intellect to their culture. Ariosto took
deep pleasure in his little garden, and we wish
space would permit us to relate some of the chai'm-
ing things that occurred there.
, CowpER and Evelyn, Cowley, Pope, Lord
Peterborough and Sir Wm. Temple, all culti-
vated flowers and wrote about them. The Em-
peror Diocletian said :
"trust me not, my friends, if, every day,
I walk not here with more delight.
Than ever, after the most happy fight,
In triumph to the capltol I rode.
To thank the gods, and to be thought myself almost a god."
"Flowers ! what associations the word brings to
mind. Of what countless songs, sweet and sa-
cred, delicate and divine, are they the subject."
They are the steady, impartial friends of all, — and
like the influence of a good man, whose presence
is felt before it is seen, they shed their fragrance
and sweet influences over all of every age and
station. They are everywhere friends,— whether
they bloom in garden, parlor, kitchen, or climb
upon trellis-work or rough rock. They gladden
the sick room, and cheer the hot and dusty way
of the weary traveller. Here the Golden rod
nods over, the wall, as he passes, and there the
aster, or qiiecn-dai^, bends away from the thicker
foliage and peeps into the worn rut, or with his
starry ieyes looks him full in the face, and greets
him with a smile. The ancients adorned the al-
tars of their gods with wreathes of these lovely
flowers.
So the Curled Clematis forms bowers on the
wayside, and by the country people is often called
Virgin's Bower. See how it lays hold of the al-
ders and young maples with its claspers or ten-
drils, and mount to the top of the surrounding
foliage, to look out at you as you pass along. The
French truly name it the "Travellei-'s Co7isolation."
We have said that the influence of flowers upon
the mind and manner is most happy and enduring.
That influence has been no less upon the charac-
ter of New England farms and homes. Where
were seen no enclosed door-yards forty years ago,
— where stray cattle and gabbling geese, old
wheels, broken carts and rambling wood-piles
skirted the house in dire confusion, and huge
dogs, as grim as Cerberus, guarded the doubtful
way to the door, — now, white palings enclose a
spot, sacred to
"fruits and blossoms that blush
In social sweetness on the self same bough."
These not only attract and please the traveller,
but they stamp the farm itself with the character
of intelligence, refinement and taste, and give it
an advanced money value. Children, reared there,
go forth into the world with buoyant hearts and
hopeful spirits, and filled with those sweet aff'ec-
tions that soften and mitigate the harsher aspects
of life. They are blessings to their race, shedding
kindly influences wherever they trade, travel or so-
journ— and though far away from the old home-
stead, among whose friendly trees and flowers they
passed their early days, they look to it as the
deu-est spot on earth, and one to which every lin-
gering afiection constantly turns,
"As the sunflmcer turns to its god, when he sets.
The same look that it turned when he rose,"
We must pause — and yet we have said nothing
of the
"Amaranths such as crown the maids
That wander through Zamara's shades,"
nor of the
"Anenwnes, whose leaves unfold.
With rubies flaming, and with living gold,"
nor of the leafy Arbutus, the Sweet Balm, Cardi-
nal Flower, or Balsams, the Spring Crocus, the
Chancy Pansy, or Heart's Ease, that Shakspeare,
Leigh Hunt and Spenser sing so sweetly about.
This was the flower, too, he scattered before Queen
Elizabeth in one of her triumphal marches. Hear
Spenser sing :
"Bring hither the pink and purple columbine
With gillijlowers.
Strow me the ground with daffa-dotcn-dilhes.
And cowslips, and kmg-cups and loved liltes."
There are dozens of others, all too beautiful to
be dispensed with, — all too full of lessons of love
and duty to be neglected. But we have only room
to say, that the parents who desire their children
to be gentle, refined in manner, speech and feel-
KEW ENGLAND FARMER.
JVhV
ing, and become a bfessing to the warW, should
purchase Brceh's Book of Floinerd, and present it
to them, now, when the workl about us is glowing
with the delightful colors, and fragrant with the
ikh odois- of a million unfolding flowers.
COWS^ SHEfiP AND HOGS.
[Extracts from the Bi-Monthly Report of the
Commissioner of Agriculture.]
Cows^—The general scarcity of butter and
cheese, and their \ery high prices at this time, show
that the home markets for them demand a larger
supply. The increase of cows since 1859 has
been 339,784 in the loyal States ; but with these,
as with other stock, the decrease in Kentucky and
Slissoari shows that the increase for the rest of
the loyal States has been greater than this gener-
al increase indicates. Tl>e reported decrease of
Missouri is, however, less for cows than for most
other stock. The general increase of cows from
J850 to 1860 was 36 per cent., whilst our tables
show it to be not quite 6 per cent, in the loyal
States between 1859 and 1864.
Tha table published in the last report, page 37,
shows that whilst the increase of butter last year
was but one-tenth, the increase in price was three-
tenth?. The exports of biitte?' to foreign markets
have been as follows :
1861 $4,190 ,745
1862 6,091,831
1863 7,176,648
And those oi cheese as follows :
1861 $3,181,171
1862 4,6:3,889
1863.' 5,603,884
Surely, in all these statistics our farmers must
see that too much care cannot be given to an in-
crease of cows, and to butter and cheese manufac-
ture.
Sheep. — There is no change in our agriculture
so gratifying as the increase in sheep. By our
table it is 9,242,119, or about 61 per cent., since
1859, most of it being in the last three years.
All the stock raising States have participated in
it, except Kentucky and Missouri. But the re-
turns from the first show a present increase ; and
in the latter, that the decrease occasioned by the
■war has been arrested. The emigration of this
stock from one State to another has been unusu-
ally great, for the want of cotton created such a
demand for wool for home and factory manufac-
ture, that every farmer, great and small, sought to
have a flock of sheep, if he had none previously,
or to have his old one enlarged.
The increase during this spring will add from
four to five millions to the number in January ;
raising the whole number to nearly thirty millions,
or double what it was in 1859 in the loyal States.
But little need be said as to the future markets
for wool and mutton. Until a peace is conquered,
and a fair crop of cotton is raised, wool will be re-
munerative, even after it falls considerably in
price after peace and before the production of such
cotton crop, for the general deficit in textile ma-
terial is great, as shown in the last report. But
■with peace will cease the government demand for
clothing, whilst the scarcity of beef and pork will
make the demand for mutton insure good prices
for it. Whether, then, the old ewes, now kept
longer for breeding purposes, should Jbe fattened
and sold for mutton, and such wethers as have
been kept longer than customary, on account of the
high price of wool, is a question that will demand
the consideration of all farmers, and a careful
watching of political events. We shall keep them
well advised of every fact connected with these
subjects, and of s%>ch legislation by Congress as
may tend to more firmly establish wool produc-
tion in the United States.
If, as our supplies of wool increase, the imports
of foreign wool shall be checked, and the intro-
dnetion of foreign woollen cloths be lessened, the
wool-g/ower may rest in better security, than if he
is to be subjected to the competition of these, as
he was prior to the rebellion.
Hogs. — The great destroetion of the corn crop
last fall by frosts and other causes has caused a
decrease of this stock of 911,323, The high price
for hogs in 1859 and 1860 created a large increase
in the number during 1860. The low price of
1861 caused a great English demand for our pork
and lard in 1862, and the advance in prices in
consequence encouraged increased production in
1863. But the scarcity of corn not only checked
it, but resulted in the decrease just stated.
In determining the state of future markets for
pork, a reference to the present home and foreign
markets gives every encouragement. As already
stated, the number of hogs packed last season
was about one million less than in 1862-'63, and
they were much lighter in weight. The active de-
mand and high prices for the products of pork in-
dicate that the market will be bare next fall.
TO CATCH SHEEP-KIIiLING DOGS,
The country is overrun with worthless dogs —
and this is one of the chief reasons why many
farmers do not raise more sheep. It is those men
who own but little else, who keep the greatest
number of dogs; faring scantily at home, thefe
hungry curs roam the fields and make slaughter
among the neighbors' flocks. But while candi-
dates for office depend on the votes of these men
for an election to the Legislature, few of them
possess the independence to vote for any efficient
law for the protection of sheep against dogs. It
remains, then, for every farmer to employ such
means as will protect his own flocks upon his own
premises. To do this he has only to make a trap
in the form of a "rail pen," similar to that era-
ployed to catch wild turkeys, only in the case of
the dog, the entrance must be left on the top, in-
stead of the bottom. When your flock is at-
tacked, and a sheep has been killed, proceed at
once to lay up a pen, and with every course of
rails gradually contract it towards the top, raising
it until it is about five feet high, leaving an open-
ing on the top sufficiently large for a dog to jump
in with ease. Into the centre of the pen place
the carcass of the dead sheep, and remove the
flock to some other part of the farm. The first
or second night after the attack, the same dog
will be quite sure to return for another feast;
finding the flock gone, but the carcass remaining,
he will enter the pen but will not so readily man-
age to get out. The owner of the sheep can then
satisfy himself as to his guilt or innocence, and
act accordingly. — Valley Farmer.
It is calculated that the wool clip of Minnesota
the present year will not be less than 500,000 lbs.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
20.5
THE HORSE HOE, OR ROTARY SPADER.
During the last summer, we had an opportunity of witnessin
operation of this machine at three different times. Once upon a
mellow loam — once upon a tough, inverted sward, free of stones
once upon a pasture sward, full of cobbles and fast rocks, and in
place it did excellent work, but especially
there were few stones. The op-
eration is as follows :
When power is applied, the
machine is drawn forward, and
the spokes of the perpendicular
wheel penetrate the soil and set
the horizontal shaft revolving.
The result is :
1. The plough lifts and dis-
phires the soil in the centre be-
tween the rows of plants, to any
depth desired, not exceeding six
or eight inches.
2. The spokes of the perpendicular wheel pen-
etrate the soil on each side of the furrow made by
the plough, and lift that up, also, so that a space
equal to thg whole width of the machine is actu-
ally displaced, — and then, as the machine advan-
ces, the arms of the horizontal shaft throw up and
strike the particles of soil, dashing the lumps to
pieces, if there are any, and shaking the fine earth
out from among the roots of witch or other grass
es ! The result of these combined motions is
wonderful. ,
1. The soil is made loose.
2. It is made fine, or pulverized.
3. Much of the grass roots and weeds are thrown
up by the teeth on the shaft, and left on the sur-
face.
4. The land is left flat or level.
5. By changing the perpendicular wheels to the
inside of the shaft — which can be done in three
minutes — the soil is thrown into hills.
We saw the operation of this machine on a field
that was in sward in the spring, and which was
ploughed only six or seven inches deep. It was
planted with corn, and the hills laid in squares.
The machine was run through both ways. Over
Dr. D. Colby, of Claremont, N. H., is the in-
ventor of the Horse Hoe. The proprietors are J.
P. Upham & Co., of the same place, to whom any
inquiries may be addressed.
For the Neic England Farmer,
SHEEP HUSBANDRY-No. 3.
Another cause for the falling off in the value
of wool, exists in the fact that farmers are so anx-
ious to obtain a large quantity of lambs that they
allow their young ewes to come in at a year old,
and I have known ewes motliers at eleven months.
This is a serious evil ; this is hastening the stock
rapidly back to the wild state. Long wooled
ewes should always be two years and merinos
three years old before coming in with lamb ; they
will have heavier and better fleeces, with longer
and stronger staples, a softer and more pliable
fibre, less coarse wool on the hind leg, freer from
what is termed jar, or coarse hairs running through
the staples, and less liable to kemp than if bred
from earlier. They M'ill also be longer in run-
ning out, or if fatted at a proper time, will fat
quicker and at a less cost.
In selecting a buck, great care should be taken
a portion of the field, the work was left flat, and [ not to select from run out stock. Do not take
then the wheels changed so as to throw up hills, I one, whatever ^he recommendations of breed may
and wherever the machine had been ijiere was, , be, from a flock in which indiscriminate breeding
literally, no work left for the hoe! The surface in-and-in has been practiced,
was left mellovv and even, the grass torn up, and ; ^^^.^j. ^^^^^^ ^ t^,;^ j^^b. This is a very fruit-
just enough of the damp, light soil thrown in
among the stalks of corn to give the whole work
the most beautiful and finished appearance. Any
boy, or girl, old enough to go along and pull aii
occasional weed from among the spears of corn,
would have finished the work of the field ! This
was accomplished on sward land, in shallow plough-
ing, and without disturbing the sod in any objec-
tionable degree.
As to draft we did not see that it was harder
to draw than the common cultivator. This ma-
chine IS moved upon wheels, while the cultivator is
moved by a dead pull or drag.
ful cause of want of success in sheep husbandry.
Although in some cases you may obtain an excel-
lent twin buck or ewe, yet it would be the excep-
tion and not the rule. I met, the other day, with
a gentleman who had succeeded in obtaining, he
said, a fine Oxford Down buck, a twin. He was
an intelligent farmer, and said he should never
think of breeding from a twin bull or stallion, but
thought the same law did not apply to sheep — a
mistake which many fall into. The fleece of this
yearling ram only weighed six and a half pounds
of unwashed wool ; it should have weighed at
least eight pounds of washed wool, for that breed
We call attention to this new machine now, at ' produces heavy fleeces. And for stock ])urposes,
the commencement of the hoeing season, so that; ^ long wooled buck with a lighter fleece of good
persons interested may have time to test its pow
era among all crops that require hoeing, and upon
all kinds of land.
washed wool should not be chosen.
Another prolific source of degeneracy in sheep
is in the practice of keeping the twin ewes that
the butcher will not buy ; and some go further
206
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
than this, they huy twin lambs, which the butch-
ers reject, for stock, and sell their own single ones.
I do not want it to be understood that I think tvyni
ewes ought never to go into stock, but I do main-
tain that if the fanner wishes to sncceed in sheep
husbandry he must make it an exception and not
a rule. , ,
Let the farmer yearly renew his stock by sav-
ino- his best lambs and feeding his oldest ewes ;
the younger his ewes are when fatted the better his
wool will be. The farmer that produces the best
wool in this section of country never keeps his
ewes for breeding after six years old, but 1 think
it would be an improvement to his flock to take
them out at five, particularly th(^e that have had
twins three years in succession.
I saw a fleece of wool, a few days ago, that had
been sheared from an old ewe. It weighed less
than two pounds. It was hairy, short and cotted.
While common unwashed wool was fetching fifty
cents per pound, the whole of this fleece was not
worth fifty cents. She had a lamb which was sold
for four dollars ; her carcass was good for nothing.
It could not be fatted ; yet there had been a time
when she sheared a six po^nd fleece, and two or
three years old ewes in the same flock were shear-
ino- eight pounds of good wool, worth four dol-
lars • their carcass, in the fall, would bring six
dollars at the least, the lamb at their side, at the
time of shearing, worth four dollars more ; niak-
in"' a total of fourteen dollars against tour dollars
and a half. The cost and care of keeping would
be in favor of the youngest ewe, and the risk in
freedom from disease would certainly be in tavor
of the youngest, for, be it remembered, the old
ewes are more liable to disease than young ones
and, when attacked, have less power to throw off
In calling attention to this single fact, we wish
it to be understood that it is not a solitary in-
stance • we meet with hundreds, and would say
thousands, of very similar fleeces in a year, ^yere
it not for fear that some of our readers might
think us prone to exaggerate.
1 am acquainted with two gentlemen who own
adioinin"- farms. Each own a flock of sheep of the
Merino "and Leicester cross. They both sold
their wool to the same person. One had thirty-
two fleeces from ewes six years old and upwards,
some of them, I have no doubt, eight years old.
His wool weighed 94 pounds ; four of the fleeces
were unwashed, yet averaging less than three
pounds per fleece. The other had 36 fleeces which
weighed 160 pounds, all washed but one ; aver-
aging near four and a half pounds per fleece, and
he obtained five cents per pound more for his
wool than his neighbor. These were from shee]!
one and two years old; none over two. 1 hey
cost no more keeping than his neighbor's, yet the
difference in the profits of the two is so apparent
that comment are unnecessary.
I know it is a great temptation to the farmer to
sell his lambs, and to bring those he raises into
breeding as soon as possible, but let him remem-
ber that the long wooled part of sheep husbandry
embraces three ideas, and his eyes, if he is desir-
ous of succeeding, must be upon all at the same
time namely : wool, mutton and lambs. If his
attention is well directed to the first, he will cer-
tainly have the second, and not lose but rather
sain the third. If the second claims his attention,
the first will still be his gain ; but should the third
win his attention too much, he will be very likely
to lose the whole if that attention is directed to
the butcher, but if to stock, then he will certainly
gain the three.
Wlioever saw a cosset with a small carcass or
a light or poor fleece of wool ? This, if nothing
else, would prove what good feed and good care
will do for sheep. I do not expect that a whole
flock will receive the same care that a single lamb
will, but simply introduce the fact to show what
good care and attention can and will do. But the
fact that they are always larger, and have larger
fleeces, and when bred from have large lambs, cer-
tainly points in the direction of good feed ; and the
returns coining from three sources, mutton, wool
and stock, give three chances for success to one of
failure. The long wooled buck should always be
eighteen months old before allowed to run with
ewes, and at that age the number should be limit-
ed. Merino lambs should be a year older.
Some farmers have an excellent method of
dividing their ewes in the fall. Those are allowed
the company of the ram early in October, which
are intended to produce lambs for the butcher,
while those which are intended to prdfluce lambs
for stock receive his company later, stock lambs,
by this method, costing much less, because re-
quiring much less care ; and by selecting the old
ewes, which are intended for the butcher, to pro-
duce the early lambs, they have the advantage of
a month or two longer to feed on grass, after the
lambs are weaned, than those which come in lat-
er. The Prairie Farmer says that an Illinois
farmer has his lambs drop in mid-winter in order
that his bucks may be ready for service in the
fall. Such a system may be profitable to the rais-
er of the buck, but ruinous to the purchaser of
such stock. This is as great a violation of phys-
iological law as to breed from young ewes. Any
one purchasing such bucks with a view of improv-
ing his stock will be greatly disappointed. If his
ewes are as young as his buck he cannot have any-
thing else but degenerate stock. If his ewes are
mature and vigorous, the buck, so far as breed is
concerned, will have scarcely any influence, and
concerning stock, it will be bad; and the buck
will never be so good as he would have been had
his youth been properly served. Tyro.
WHAT IS CULTIVATIOIirP
At a recent meeting of the Fruit Growers of
Eastern Pennsylvania, held in Norristown, the
question propounded above was earnestly dis-
cussed. Mr. A. W. Harrison said : —
Cultivation resolved itself into two divisions.
1st. Mechanical. 2d. Nutritive. ' The first had,
for its object, the improvement of the texture of
the soil, by underdraining and pulverization ; the
second, by adding to the soil the elements taken
away or required for the perfection of the growing
crops. Thought all soils improved by underdrain-
ing : even sandy soils are rendered by it moister
in summer, by the condensation of the moist air
drawn through the soil to the- underdrains. The
object of pulverization was to present new sur-
faces continually to the action of the air. Air and
moisture must act together before the oxidation
necessary to prepare plant food can go on. The
soil must be so pulverized that the particles must
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
207
just touch. If too wide apart, moisture cannot
act -with the oxygen. If we examine a pile of
round iron balls, we find rust only where the balls
touch. The great object of cultivation, in its me-
chanical sense, was to pulverize the ground into
as many small surfaces as possible, and then to
provide for a continued current of fresh air and
moisture through it.
Mr. Satteuthwait said some soils cotild be
injured by ])ulverizing too much. The particles
would grind so very fine, that neither air nor
moisture could go through.
Judge Knox agreed with Mr, Satterthwait.
Soils that, in common language, "bake," do so
through a tendency to this over fine pulverization.
Mr. W. Saunders, also, inclined to this view.
Yet thought no one could go wrong if he knew
his object. If we want air and moisture in the
soil, and if it is too heavy for it, pulverize ; but if
the other extreme, pulverization, which when wet
makes mud. obstructs air and moisture — stop the
practice. With a clear object one could not go
wrong. One might say, manure was good for
soils ; but if we wanted leaf growt'a and succulen-
cy, as in the cabbage, we wanted one kind and
quality ; but if we wanted sound wood and fruit,
as in the orchard, manure is quite another ques-
tion.
In answer to a question, Mr. Saunders added,
that his rule for covering seeds, was to regulate it
by the seed. A seed .i inch in diameter, to re-
ceive a 5 inch of covering ; J inch. J of soil, and
80 of all others.
INFLUEJSrCE OF THE ATMOSPHERE ON
THE SOIL.
The following paragraphs contain a portion of
the remarks made by members of the Concord
Farmers' Club, upon the influences which the at-
mosphere exerts upon the soil and crops. The
discussion was an exceedingly interesting one, and
showed that the members had formed habits of
investigation, observation and inquiry.
MiNOT Pratt did not undertake to prove that
the atmosphere has an influence on the soil, but
took it for granted that the J'ad would be gener-
ally acknowledged. An observing man can hard-
ly fail to see that some effect is produced ; but
hotc it is done is not easily discovered by the un-
learned. Possibly the learned themselves might
be somewhat puzzled to explain all the phenom-
ena. But taking it for granted that a beneficial
influence is exerted, it becomes of importance to
know how to derive advantage from it — how to
bring the air and soil most intimately in. contact.
Every one must have noticed the good effects re-
sulting from the frequent hoeing of crops in sum-
mer, beyond the mere destruction of weeds. This
is more apparent in dry seasons. All crops will
stand a drought much better for having the soil
thoroughly stirred once a week. This stirring
undoubtedly tends to make the surface soil dryer,
for evaporation will go on more rapidly in a loose
than in a compact soil in a hot, sunshiny day.
But the indisputable fact remains that the corn
growing in the stirred soil will stand up with its
leaves all spread out, even in light, sandy soil,
while at the same time, in another field, where
the soil has not been so stirred, every leaf will be
rolled up. This is sometimes accounted for .by
supposing that the loosened soil is more capable
of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere dur-
ing the night, but he thinks that the heated sur-
face can hardly take in at night so much as the
sun and the plant draw out in the day ; so that
the benefit is to be considered rather as the result
of some chemical action of the air on the salts
and organic substances in the soil by which these
elements are made both victuals and drink for the
growing plants. Benefits follow these stirrings
at other times than when parched up with drought.
The air being more freely admitted into the finely
])ulverizecl earth, promotes a ra])id decomposition
of the vegetable matter which it contains, so that
wherever the roots penetrate they find suitable
food and "an abundant supply of the oxygen of
the atmosphere to aid in preparing it." In ail
soils there are also fragments of rock, which, as
they crumble and decay, yield fresh supplies of
inorganic food for plants. This decomposition of
the rocks is hastened by exposure to the air.
One old writer on agriculture was so confident of
the benefits to be derived from frequent plowing.' s,
that he believed land might thus be kept in undi-
minished fertility for an indefinite series of years,
without the application of any manure, and he
actually reaped twelve successive crops of wheat,
the last equally as good as the first, from the same
land, the only fertilizers used being the plow aud
horse-hoe. One of the good effects of draining/
is supposed to be that, by drawing off the water
which saturates the soil, the air is more freely ad-
mitted, by which some of the noxious portions of
the soil and subsoil are so changed in their char-
acter as to become harmless, or even beneficial.
Much of this noxious matter is also washed out
by the descending rains, and carried off.
This suggests that perhaps the cause of the
failure to derive benefit from subsoiling and deep
spadmg, as related at the last meeting, would have
been removed by a previous thorough draining.
In well drained land, there is, of course, no stand-
ing water fiUing the pores of the soil ; this settles
into the drains and is carried away, leaving room
for the air to enter, and do its work. Whenever
rain falls it enters the soil, and more or less dis-
places the air. But as the water sinks, the fresh
air again enters, and is in this way renewed by
every fall of rain. And even in long continued
dry weather, there is, without doubt, a circulation
of air kept up in the soil, by means of changes
of temperature, which rarify and condense the
fluid, and thus keep it in motion. When by these
means the removal and change of noxious matters
in the soil has been efl'ected, it would be safer to
increase the depth of plowing, in most soils.
I)h. Reynolds said he understood that aera-
tion of the soil was included in the subject as well
as the chemical and fertilizing eflects of atmos-
phere on soil. Indeed tiiey must go together, for
without bringing the particles of the soil into con-
tact there could be no chemical action. One ef-
fect of draining is to admit air in the place of wa-
ter. This renders the soil porous and light, and
enables the gases given ofl" in the soil, by the de-
composition of manuridl substances to permeate
through the soil, like the carbonic acid gas from
yeast in bread, and keeps the soil light, so that
roots can traverse it in search for nutriment.
Without the presence of the oxygen of the at-
208
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
mosphere putrifaction and fermentation cannot,
take place. There are elements in the soil which
have an affinity for the elements in the atmos-
phere, and when they are brought into contact,
they act on each other, and form food for plants,
or stimulants which plants need. Frequent stir-
ring of the soil brings these elements into contact.
Alkalies present in the soil attract moisture from
the atmosphere, and thus enable plants to endure
drought. Hence, in a dry time soil should be fre-
quently stirred. Draining, subsoiling and deep
culture all contribute to bring the air and soil
into contact. This is, then, a practical subject.
Plants as well as animals breathe. They cannot
live without air. Elements necessary to their life
and growth are furnished to them through the
medium of the soil also. The atmospheric ocean
by which we are surrounded is the great store-
house of nutrition for them as well as for animals.
Jethro TuU believed that plants derived all their
growth from air and water. In this he was prob-
bly mistaken. But soil hermetically sealed from
the air cannot yield nutrition to plants. Organic
bodies closed from the air do not decay, and con-
sequently cannot be converted into food for plants.
Simon Brown said : Some members may look
at this subject as not a practical one. He thought
it was practical ; as whatever leads us to investi-
gate the laws that are acting upon the matters
with which we are called upon to deal, also leads
us to enlightened practices. There is little cause
for us to discuss the common manipulations of
the farm which we have considered many times
before, and with which we have become familiar.
But by taking a step in advance, and investigat-
ing the operations of nature around us, how they
are connected with our own labors, and learning
what we can gain from them by making the soil
ready for their reception, we can scarcely fail to
find an increasing pleasure and profit in agricul-
tural pursuits. The essential elements of vegeta-
ble productiveness, are earth, air and water. If
•we can place the first of these, the earth, in prop-
er condition, the others will follow as a natural
sequence. That is : when the soil itself is in a
favorable condition to receive atmospheric inflen-
Cis, it will receive, and be greatly benefited by
them, without further agency on our part. For
instance : If a field is thoroughly drained, and
then plt)wed and pulverized, as is usually done
where a good crop of grain is obtained, that field
will constantly receive fertilizing influences, that a
field undrained will not receive, although just as
well plowed and pulverized. When a shower falls
upon the drained fields, the water percolates slow-
ly, but constantly, through the whole earth to the
bottom of the ditches. It does not rest upon the
surface, nor meet with considerable obstruction
on its way to the lowest point of drainage. The
withdrawal of cold, stagnant water has permitted
the air to enter the soil, taking heat along with
it, so that it has actually became warmed and dried,
to a certain extent, and has caused it to occupy
less space than it did before it was drained. The
evidence of this is found in innumerable cracks
or crevices, which may be found to exist through
the whole mass of earth, from the surface to the
bottom of the drains, even though they go down
four or five feet. This is the first efi'ect of drain-
age, and is the prime operation, on our part, to
make the land ready for the reception of atmos-
pheric influences. Ram water is charged — in
greater or less degree — with salts, as well as mois-
ture, that act an important part in the growth of
plants. When, finding little obstruction to such
prepared fields, the rains and dews descend freely
among the particles of soil, heating or oxygeniz-
ing a little humus, starting it into the fermenta-
tive process, so that it shall be easily soluble for
the young rootlets to take up, or touching a grain
of sand, and fitting it to strengthen the tender
plants, by covering its outer surface with a coat
of mail as brittle as glass itself, such as we see
on the stems of wheat and other plants.
But this is not all. Moisture descends in com-
pany with these salts, and carries heat along with
it. It descends freely through the cracks or fis-
sures already mentioned, imparting its warmth as
it goes, so that after passing through the soil, and
reaching the outlet of the drain, it will often be
found 10° coZofer than when 'it first entered the
surface. This moisture is contained in the air,
held there in solution, too thin and unsubstantial
for mortal eye to see, and is continually passing
into the soil, and ranging freely through it, as no
cold and stagnant water is present to prevent its
passage. Here, then, are two most important at-
mospherical operations upon soil that is fitted to
receive them : One actually imparting elements
of fertility, and the other supplying a generous
warmth through its recesses, with all the kindly
influences that are gained from a well-constructed
border, or the genial bottom-heat of the hot-bed.
Again, we see the action of the atmosphere on
soil in times of drought. The atmosphere rests
upon the earth with a pressure equal to 15 lbs. to
the square inch, and, the soil, being light and po-
rous, greedily receives this moisture, and passes
it along from particle to particle, distributing the
ammonia and other salts, and its heat as it goes.
At length, it i-eaches a point where the soil is cool-
er than itself, and is at once condensed into water,
and thus the atmosphere waters the well-diained
soil thi'ough a pinching drought, and brings its
plants to perfection.
J. B. MooKE thinks other members have given
much credit to the atmosphere, that should be
given to other influences, such as drainage, frost
and pulverization of soil, and thinks it impracti-
cable to use the atmosphere to any advantage.
Dinner as an Educator. — You will find that
a great deal of character is imparted and received
at the table. Parents too often forget this ; and
therefore, instead of swallowing your food in sul-
len silence, instead of brooding over your busi-
ness, instead of severely talking about others, let
the conversation at the table be genial, kind, so-
cial and cheering. Don't bring disagreeable
things to the table in your conversation any more
than you would in your dishes. For this reason,
too, the more good company you have at your ta-
ble the better for your children. Every conver-
sation with company at your table is an educator
of the family. Hence the intelligence and the
refinement, and the appropriate behavior of the
family which is given to hospitality. Never feel
that intelligent visitors can be anything but a
blessing to you and yours. How few have fully
gotten hold of the fact that company and conver-
sation at the table are no small part of education.
—Dr. Todd.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
209
IMPOBTANCE OP THE CLOVER CKOP.
The hay crop of New England is of immense
value, and that value is annually inci"eased by the
introduction of new varieties of" grass, and by
quicker and better modes of making and securing
the hay. The consumption and waste of hay, by
horses in the army, has recently been immense, so
that this, combined with the plentifulness of
money, has brought it up to the unprecedented
price o( forty doUars per ton !
Clover hay is not generally considered so good
for horses as timothy and red-top. Such, howev-
er, is not our opinion. We believe that clover,
when properly managed, makes the best hay for
any stock, that we produce, and is less exhausting
to the soil than the production of most grasses.
"It not only makes up the variety necessary to
keep cattle in health, buc its yield is large and
profitable ; it takes less from the soil and more
from the atmosphere, than most other green crops,
and the portion remaining in the soil contains
material to improve its mechanical condition, so
as to progress the inorganic constituents which it
elevates from the subsoil after subsoil plowing,
and is almost sure of success on any soil worthy
of cultivation." It has been ascertained that a
large number of tons of roots are left in the soil,
per acre, after a heavy crop has been cut off. This
mass of vegetable matter must be of essential
service to the soil, because it is just what most
soils need, and is intimately scattered through
every portion of it, whei-e it decays in the very
presence of a thousand roots of succeeding plants,
all ready to take it up. It would be impossible
for us so to place nourishing substances in the
immediate neighborhood of the roots which we
desire to have fed. Nature can do it infinitely
better than we can. Let us, then, employ the
means, and leave it to her to carry out the await-
ing results.
One of our correspondents, "W. E. J.," of Hat-
field, in a communication to us some years ago,
says that "clover is, according to the laws of veg-
etation, a great extractor from the atmosphere,
and is abundantly supplied with leaves which are
spread to the wind, and take in carbon and nitro-
gen ; its roots are thrust into the subsoil and take
up the salts which other plants do not reach.
Here we have mineral elements combined.
When the clover is turned under, and we plant
with corn, it has an abundance of nutriment ne-
cessary for its growth. Oliver Marcy, in an ad-
dress upon agriculture, says, wherever you can
get a crop of clover, you may get a crop of corn.
If you have iiothing but a sand bank, put on
something to make your seed catch and stimulate
the plant, and everything that is in the soil, air
and rain will be brought into the crop. Turn it
in, and you have gained much ; but cast off the
green crops, and you have lost the essential ma-
terials which the plants extracted from the atmos-
phere."
This view of the matter is generally confirmed
by Wilson, one of the soundest and most judi-
cious of the English agricultural writers, who says,
in his "Farm Crops," — "The habit of the clover
plant is to form large and fleshy roots, which
have a tendency always to penetrate deep into the
soil, and to seek their supplies of food from the
lower stratum. This tendency should always be
encouraged in all our cultivated plants. It has a
two-fold power of benefit to the farmer — not only
have his crops a greater range of feeding ground,
but they abstract from the subsoil, and elaborate
into their own structures on the surface, the food
ingredients which, by the percolation of rain or
other natural causes, have been carried down be-
low the range of tillage operations ; while, at the
same time, their roots, being buried deep in the
soil, secure to them the power of obtaining mois-
ture from below at a time wh?n the more surface-
rooted plants are suffering from the effects of the
summer sun and drought." These opinions are
entitled to weight, coming as they do from those
who have given careful attention to the subject.
Gutting, Curing and Housing Clover.
In harvesting clover, our practice is to mow in
the morning, and let the grass remain just as it
fell, whether from the common scythe or the mow-
ing machine, until about three o'clock in the af-
ternoon, and then gather up the thinner portions,
laying them upon the thicker, and turn the whole
upside down. This can be done rapidly with a
three-tined fork. In England, they have what
they call a "collecting fork," made for this pur-
pose. If the crop is heavy, one of our three-
tined forks is as suitable an implement as can be
desired. In this condition the crop is left until
mid-afternoon of the next day, when it is careful-
ly taken up with the fork, made into cocks and
covered with caps. It is kept in this conditi6n
forty-eight hours, and then, if the weather is clear,
it is thrown open — not spread — to the sun for
three or four hours in the middle of the day, and
then carted to the barn. All these operations re-
quire more care than necessary in securing herds-
grass or red top, — but when they are observed,
there will be onJy a trifling loss of leaves, and the
hay will be of the sweetest and most nutritious de-
scription.
Below we give Wilson's account of the English
mode of securing the clover harvest :
The crop is mown with the common scythe, and
left lying in the swathes. Here, however, the
])rocess differs from that of the ordinary hay-field.
Instead of tossing it about either with forks or the
"tedding" machine, for the purpose of exposing i
210
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
as much as possible to the air, the less the clover is
handled the better ; all that should be done is to
turn the swathes over carefully from one side to
the other every day, or oftener, when the weather
is suitable, leaving them as open as possible to the
admission of the sun and wind. Under ordinary
circumstances, in threfe or four days the juices will
have been sufficiently evaporated to admit of form-
ing it into cocks or heaps, and in another day or
two it may be safely carted and stacked in the us-
ual way. ^
Some little care and attention are required
throughout the operation. If the cut crop be
tossed about in making, the leaves get easily sep-
arated from the stems and lost on the field, the
stems get bruised and broken, and allow the juices
to exude and become oxidized and changed by ex-
posure to the air, while the object of the farmer is
to keep them in their natural state, for the pur-
pose of giving flavor and quality to his fodder. In
stacking, too, it is desirable that the crop should
contain sufficient natural moisture in its tissues to
induce a gentle heat and fermentation in the mass,
by which the quality of the hay is greatly im-
proved ; whereas, if it be carried and stacked too
soon, the excess of moisture is always accompa-
nied by an equivalent of heat and fermentation ;
while, if left out on the field too long, the juices
all become dried up, and no heating in the stack
takes place at all. Although a certain amount of
natural moisture is always desirable at the time of
stacking, it is most important that it be free
fron> any surface moisture from rain or dews.
Not a forkful should be pitched up until every
particle of moisture has disappeared ; as, if al-
lowed to be stacked in this condition, mildew and
deterioration are sure to be the result.
In the neighborhood of large cities it is very
much the custom to sell the clover hay, and load
back with stable manure. In other districts,
where the clover is intended for home consump-
tion, it is a very good practice to stack it with
layers of straw, intermixed with layers of clover.
By this practice the clover may be carried a day
or two sooner, more of the juices are retained, and
the hay generally remains in a more tender and
assimilable state, while the interstratified straw
has imbibed to a certain extent the flavor and
odor of the clover, and is ready for being cut up
into chafi' with it for the cattle. When straw is
thus used no other precautions are needed in re-
gard to the ventilation of the stack ; in ordinary
cases, where the quantity stacked is large, a chim-
ney in the centre is frequently resorted to, for the
purpose of checking any excessive heating.
We wish, especially, to call the attention of the
reader to a single expression in the above extract,
viz : — "In stacking, (or storing in the barn, as we
do,) it is desirable that the crop should contain
sufficient natural moisture in its tissues to in-
duce a gentle heat and fermentation in the mass,
by which the quality of the hay is greatly im-
proved." This is a point of the utmost impor-
tance in securing hay, and yet it is one very gen-
erally overlooked by our farmers. In hot and dry
seasons, most of the hay is exposed until there is
scarcely a particle of moisture left in its tissues —
the natural juices of the plant are literally baked
out by a scorching sun and drying winds. The
hay breaks like dry twigs, is harsh and wiry, and
has lost a valuable portion of its most nutritive
properties. The whole subject of making and se-
curing hay demands more care and consideration
than it has yet received.
BLACK TEETH IN SWIWE.
Last year this disease was somewhat prevalent
and destructive in New England, and those hav-
ing swine should be on their guard now that the
season for hot weather has again come. Confine-
ment from the ground is believed to be one of the
causes of this troublesome disease. Its com-
mencement is indicated by loss of appetite, tu-
mours and weakness in the hind legs, and fre-
quently in the loins, with staggering and vertigo.
As soon as these symptoms appear, administer a
dose of brimstone or flour of sulphur. Frequent
applications of buttermilk to the back and loins,
and gentle rubbing with a cob, will generally
bring relief, and frequently entire cure. The an-
imals should also be allowed a liberal supply of
loam, rotten wood and fresh, cool dirt. If there
is a yard attached to the piggery, the animals may
be permitted to run out if the weather is clear and
pleasant.
No hog should be kept entirely away from the
ground, and none without access at all times, to a
dry bed, entirely away from the wind and sun.
Another great oversight in keeping swine is in
not giving them all the pure, freshwater they will
drink, and especially in hot weather. Once each
day, at least, a bucket of cool water should be
turned into a clean trough, where the hog can
drink what he pleases. The opinion seems quite
common that swine do not need much drink.
Perhaps they do not require as much as some oth-
er animals, but unless they get it in their swill,
they should have access to water every day.
The Quantity of Buttee Increased by
Water. — A New York dairyman furnishes the
following advice for the Genesee Farmer :
There has a great deal been said about butter-
making, but I thought, as I had had a little expe-
rience, I might ofier a few hints that may be of
use to some of your many readers. When cows
are feeding on dry feed, the milk is thicker or
richer than when feeding on juicy grasses ; then
add warm water, when setting the milk, in quan-
tities sufficient to make it as the milk from ordi-
nary cows in May or June. The milk from some
cows in the spring and summer months is very I
thick or rich ; then add cold water, if the weather \
be hot. I have practiced the above, and it has
increased the quantity from one to three pounds
per cow, each week.
I
Cracks in Cows' Teats. — These are easily
cured, by rubbing molasses on the teats for a few
days after milking.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
211
THE PUMPKIN.
This vegetable, although long known to the
New England cultivator, is regarded with differ-
ent degrees of favor ; some considering it as near-
ly worthless for feeding purposes, while others
use it as a substitute for corn and other proven-
der in fattening cattle and swine. In looking
over one of our Western agricultural papers some
time since we noticed an article recommending
the drying and grinding of pumpkins. The meal
is then used as Indian meal, and is said to be one
of the best articles for fattening stock that is
known.
One of the principal objections urged against
the pumpkin is that it contains too little nutri-
ment in proportion to its bulk. It is not easy to
set this objection aside ; but by drying it the nu-
tritive matter alone is preserved, and the entire
mass reduced to less than one sixty-ninth of the
original bulk. For this purpose the best and
ripest fruit should be selected, and the operation
commenced by removing the seeds. The sphere
should then be cut in two, horizontally, and each
sphere cut into rings ; the thickness of each slice
being about half an inch. These slices should,
be hung on strong poles, firmly suspended, and
in such a condition as to admit the rings being
slipped on and off as convenience or necessity
may require.
Those who are fond of pumpkin pies in the
winter, preferring them to squash pies, may find
this process a paying one ; but we think it cannot
be made so for feeding and fattening cattle.
We have, however, a high opinion of the value
of pumpkins to be fed to milch cows or fattening
cattle, in a green state, and also for fattening hogs,
when cooked and mixed with potatoes, meal, &c.
All these animals are very fond of them, and
thrive well when fed judiciouslj^with them. They
are easily raised and harvested, and may be kept
quite late by packing them in the lean-to or other
room in the barn, in straw or hay.
rying off sheep by thousands, during the last
winter, has been occasioned, in many instances, by
over-salted hay ! The use of salt for this purpose
leads to the bad practice of getting in hay in a
half-cured condition. The expression with regard
to such hay is, — *'this will answer, with a good ap-
plication of salt." Hundreds of tons are thus got
in under this soothing delusion, and the stock is
obliged to eat it or starve !
In an article in the Country Gentleman, by S.
Edwards Todd, on this subject, he says : "Keep
the salt off it. It does more hurt than good.
There is moisture in salt. And the idea is to
keep as much moisture out of the hay as possi-
ble. Hay is not like flesh. Salt will preserve
flesh from decomposition, but not plants. In-
deed, it will only hasten their decay. Salt will
not dry hay in the mow. It only produces damp-
ness. Therefore, keep it away from the hay."
It is possible that two quarts of salt to a ton of
well-cured hay might give it a pleasant relish, so
that the cattle would like it better ; we do not
know that it would, but to put on half a bushel,
or more, as is often done, to a ton of damp hay,
is wasteful and injurious, in our opinion. Such
hay, certainly, cannot be wholesome as fodder.
Last year, a very large portion of the grass cut
was wet before it was taken to the barn, and was
injured, in greater or less degree, in every in-
stance. In order to secure this valuable crop in
good condition, we must avail ourselves of means,
in one way or another, of protecting it from the
rains, so that when bright suns return we can get
it sufficiently dry, in a short time, to be housed.
It is easier and cheaper, in the long run, to secure
the crop by such means, though the outlay at first
may be a little inconvenient.
SALTING HAY.
Our great hay harvest is again near at hand,
and it will be well for all who are engaged in it to
ascertain what will facilitate cutting and gathering
it, or preserving it in good condition after it is se-
cured. For several years past a practice has pre-
vailed to an extent which we believe has been in-
jurious,— that of salting it.
Cattle fed principally on dry fodder will eat
very little salt, voluntarily, during the time they
are fed in the barn. If salt is freely applied to
the hay upon which they are fed, they are forced
to consume a considerable quantity which they do
not need, and which, to say the least, does them
no good, if it does not induce actual sickness.
Who knows but the disease which has been car-
For the New England Farmer.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY — No. 4.
At a time when the question of a higher tax
upon foreign wool is agitating the minds of both
wool growers and manufacturers, perhaps it will
not be considered out of place to offer a few re-
marks upon the question in this connection. We
have no desire to meet the question as a partisan,
but to treat the matter with that candor which we
believe it demands ; for we have no doubt but
extreme views will be urged by individuals of both
parties. Yet it may be well for even extremists
to pause and consider whether manufacturers and
farmers have interests which are opposed to each
other, or have hid one real and common interest,
depending one upon another for each other's pros-
perity. Whatever tends to advance the interests
of one, benefits the other ; and whatever militates
against one injures the other. If the agricultu-
ral part of the nation is not in a flourishing con-
dition, the manufacturer's best customers are suf-
fering from want of funds ; and though the farm-
ers may be destitute of the very articles for which
the manufacturer is vainly seeking a market, yet
they can only be purchasers on a system of long
212
NEW ENdLAWt) FARMER.
JXTLX
credit, which must be obtained at a price ruinous
to the purchaser. It will not require many bar-
gains negotiated upon such a principle before th.eir
ruin is complete ; and the manufactures are swal-
lowed up in the same vortex which engulphs the
farmers. If, on the other hand, the manufactur-
ing department suflers depression, the farmer's
best customers are curtailed of funds, and their
produce must lay in their granaries waiting for
that market which can only be revived by an in-
creased demand for manufactured goods. That
trade and commerce always keep exact step with
the progress of agriculture, the best statesmen
liave long known, and have always labored to ad-
vance both, in order to make their nations pros-
perous and happy.
The farmer complains that the present tariff
affords good protection to the manufacturer, and
but little to him ; but he must remember that a
tariff on manufactured goods is a protection to the
producer of the raw material as well as to the
citizen.
The manufacturer does need protection against
the cheap capital of Europe, and the American
operative requires protection against the poorer
paid, yet better trained operative of other coun-
tries. For the foreign operative is trained from
almost infancy for that department in which, as a
general thing, he has to labor through life. The
American operative works in one department till
he is about able to operate a machine, then he
either has to move to another department or quits
the business forever. Under these circumstances,
the American manufacturer is always struggling
with badly trained operatives. The farmer, too,
complains of want of skill on the part of his farm
help, yet it is not so serious upon the farm where
one skilful farmer can direct the operations of the
unskilled upon a large farm. And if the Ameri-
can farmer has to pay a much higher price for his
labor than the foreign farmer, he must remember
he obtains his land at a much less cost, and that
wool raising requires but a small per centage of
labor.
, When the American manufacturer asks for a
protective tariff to enable him to employ the for-
eign laborer, — he only asks for protection to ena-
ble him to furnish a market upon his own soil for
the products of that soil ; thus finding a market
for the farmer at home in place of leaving him to
seek it in a foreign land. If all the manufactured
goods which are consumed in America were man-
ufactured here, we have little doubt but the whole
of the produce of the soil would be consumed by
the artisans employed in the different trades, thus
saving an enormous cost of transporting food to
feed the operatives in a foreign land, and bring-
ing the product. of their skill here. The present
tariff on wool would be much better for the fiirm-
er if it did not favor the importation of the dirti-
est, poorest and greasiest wool produced in the
■world — produced on the cheapest lands and with
the least cost of labor. The tariff we would ask
or the farmer would be one that would protect
him against this dirty trash, and bring him into
competition only with the wool raised on the best
lands, and with the best paid labor. A moderate
specific duty would speedily affect this.
We earnestly entreat all to avoid extremes. If
the farmer should obtain a large tariff, the manu-
facturer must have the same, or the foreign man-
ufacturer would soon drive him out of his own
market ; and then the farmer must seek a market
for his wool in a foreign market, where he would
have no protection but cost of transportation, and
perhaps a tariff operating adversely. Should the
manufacturer receive protection sufficient to ena-
ble him to pay an exorbitant price to the farmer
for his wool, he must have an equally exorbitant
price for his goods, which, when the people com-
pared with the prices in other countries, they
would speedily abolish all tariffs as monopolies
too grievous to be borne. Thus we should have,
as we have frequently had before, a principle car-
ried to such an extreme as to produce a reaction
that would destroy itself; and in this case, as it
has done before, it would fall heaviest on the farmer.
For example: The tariff of 1846 proved very
disastrous to sheep husbandry, not only in this
State but in the United States. On referring to
the first article on this subject, it will be seen that
the great fall off in wool and sheep in this State
was between 1840 and 1850 ; and thoui-h there
has been an increase in the United States, yet that
has not been near equal to the increase of popu-
lation or to the increased demand. In 1846, a
large number of factories, and the largest woollen
factories in the country, were employed in produc-
ing broadcloth which was equal in every respect
to the best productions of England and Germany.
"A large amount of fine merino wool, equal in
many respects to that produced in Saxony, France,
or Spain, was raised in this and other States, and
found a ready market at remunerative prices ; but
Avhen that tariff came into qperation, our manu-
facturers could not compete with the cheap labor
and cheaper capital of the old world. The man-
ufacture of broadcloth was abandoned, and in
1860 there was not a single loom in the United
States weaving that kind of goods. The machin-
ery was employed in manufacturing medium and
coarse fancy cassimeres, which required a coarser
and longer stapled wool than fine broadcloth.
But the farmer could not change his sheep so
quickly — they were fine wooled, and with the loss
of the broadcloth trade, the value of fine wool
suffered depreciation ; the sheep were valuable for
wool only, their carcasses being small, their lambs
small, and the sheep tender, rendered them scarce-
ly remunerative, the breeds were suffered to run
out, and this completed the overthrow of the pro-
duction of fine wool in this State and seriously
affected it in every State.
In 1845 the number of fine wooled sheep in
this State were about 200,000; in 1855 their
numbers were reduced to 72,390.
In 1842 a few enterprising firms commenced
the manufacture of worsted goods, and were bid-
ding fair to establish that business upon a perma-
nent basis. This called for another and entirely
different class of wool, — a kind which has been
brought to great jjerfection in England, the rais-
ing of which has given that country the universal
control of the manufacture of coarse and medium
worsteds, and enabled her successfully to compete
with France in the production of the finer varie-
ties, although she has to import her wool for that
purpose. When the worsted business commenced
in this country, there was a demand for long
worsted wool, and some of our most enterprising
farmers imported some of the long wooled breeds
of sheep, with the intention of supplying the de-
1
1
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
213
tnand for that class of wool ; but the tariff of
1846 closed up that business, and coarse wooled
sheep shared the same fate as the fine wooled
ones — and 1869 found us with scarcely a decent
flock of sheep in the State. Yet the manufacture
of mousseline delaine continued ; but for a num-
ber of years the filHng was a fine woollen thread,
and not worsted, and required a medium wool
with a medium length of staple. But on the in-
vention of machinery in England for combing
wool, which before had been performed by manual
labor, and at a great cost, these machines were
introduced into this country, and the United States
have now the control of their own market for
mousseline delaines ; and remember this is but
the alphabet of the worsted manufactures. A
wide field is yet open. We are paying Great
Britain an enormous sum of money e\ery year
for this class of goods, to say nothing about al-
pacas, fine worsteds and fine woollens, the raw
material for which she has to import. Her capi-
tal is cheap, and we are every year doing all in
our power to make it cheaper by increasing it.
In no way can the interests of the farmer be so
permanently benefited as by doing our own man-
ufacturing. The artisans of Europe we can ob-
tain at any time. We have always had their sym-
pathy ; and now that circumstances are doing
what a sound policy has always recommended —
developing our own resources — we may expect
their aid. The fai'mer need have no fears that
the policy of 1846 will again prevail, and blast
his hopes just when they are ripening into frui-
tion. A heavy national debt will require a large
tariff, and a revenue tariff sufiicient to meet the
requirements of such a debt will afford sufficient
protection to infant enterprises ; and the people
now realize more than ever the necessity of keep-
ing their money at home, lest it should be used
in affording material aid to the enemies of a true
republic. Tyro.
For the New England Farmer.
A WORD FOB THE BOYS.
OH Times and New Customs — the Dearl Birii — A Timely Ser-
mon— Orchard Plowing — Saving Life — Sparrows' Nests —
Birds are our Friends — Caterpillars— Result of Honest Indus-
try.
I very much regret it was not the custom when
I was a boy, as it now is, for boys, and girls, too,
to have a little pocket diary in which to note im-
])ortant facts or transactions as they occur. I
liave forgotten a thousand things that would have
been useful to me had I noted them at the time.
I well remember, that, nearly forty years ago,
when 1 was quite young, the robins never failed
to come -and build their nests and hatch their
young among the branoties of two noble elms that
stood near my father's house. We were never
allowed to molest them ; indeed we had no dispo-
sition to do so, for they seemed almost as belong-
ing to the family, — but one day there came along
a cruel man with his gun (they said he was in
drink) and shot one of the old robins, while quiet-
ly sitting upon its nest. The poor bird remained
in the same position, with its bleeding head hang-
ing over the nest, dead. As you may well con-
ceive, I needed no diary to imprint the sad spec-
tacle on my memory. My father, who was ex-
tremely fond of birds, felt very indignant at the
wicked act. He procured some little poles, and
by splicing them together, succeeded in removing
the dead bird. He was an excellent minister of
the gospel, and improved every opportunity to
fasten good moral lessons on the minds of old and
you-ng, and he preached to his boys a short but
instructive sermon on the sad and cruel death of
that poor robin.
I have now lived to have boys of my own, trees
of my own, and a great variety of birds that come
annually to build their nests among the branches
of those trees and upon the ground beneath them.
I have been ploughing to-day and for several days
past in niy orchard, with one yoke of oxen and one
of my boys for a driver. It is tiresome work to
plough an orchard well, without injuring the roots
and limbs of the trees, and requires much pa-
tience, both in the holder and driver ; but as the
fruit yields more cash income than all the rest of
farm produce sold, I feel inclined to cultivate it
every year, notwithstanding many disapprove the
practice. I am almost too tired, after ploughing
all day, to write at all, but I wanted to relate two
little incidents that occurred, trifling in them-
selves, but in striking contrast with the one al-
ready mentioned.
One of them was, that John, as he was driving,
stopped two or three times while the oxen were
moving along, and with his goad stick drove away
a toad that barely escaped being crushed beneath
the oxen's hoofs, remarking as he came up, "/
saved that toad's life." The other was his taking
with him a spade, and removing several ground
sparrow's nests, as we approached them with the
plough. I noticed that he took them up very care-
fully, with the little tuft of grass by which they
were made, and moved them but a short distance
at a time, so that, the furrow being long, the bird
always returned while we were passing round. In
this way, by degrees, he carefully secured them
in a safe place, where they could hatch their young
unmolested. This was done without any sugges-
tion of mine, and the first intimation he has of -my
approval will be from reading this article, — for
our boys never fail to read the Farmer.
Now it may seem a very small matter to some,
to trouble one's self about a toad or a sparrow's
nest, even, but I think quite otherwise. One of
the old poet's remarked, (Young, I believe,) [Cow-
per. Editor,] that he
"Would not rank upon his list of friends
The man who needlessly sets foot upon a worm."
Birds not only add much to the charms of life,
bnt they are very useful, also, in destroying mul-
titudes of troublesome insects and worms ; and
in this latter respect, the toad, perhaps, is q.iite
their equal. But the birds and toads cannot de-
stroy all the worms and caterpillars and insects
that infest our orchards. The men and the boys
must do their part. I take it for granted that
good, neat farmers, have already heeded the sug-
gestions of the editor and others, and removed the
unsightly caterpillars, while small and easily done ;
but if any still remain, just ask your fathers, from
me, to give you a trifle for every nest you will re-
move— not as pay, for all they have will be the
children's by-and-by — but as a present for per-
fortning an unpleasant but necessary task, and my
word for it, they will soon disappear.
Now, boys, one word of advice. Never dis-
charge a gun, or throw a stone, even, at one of
those lovely birds that come regularly to spend
214
NEW ENGtAND FARMER.
July
their summer months •with you, even if they do
take some of your currants and cherries. Say, as
a sensible old neighbor of mine who lives close by
a river surrounded by a great variety of beautiful
trees, and who has several fine cherry trees close
by his windows, once said to me, "That he was
willing the birds should have half of them." One
reason, he said, why he admired trees so much
■was, because he could have the birds with them.
No wonder that he enjoys a cheerful old age. He
is about fourscore — has worked hard all his days,
accumulated a large property, and is quite active
still. Only last night, as I went to his mill with
a grist, after dusk, he was sitting by the river,
catching fish, with his gi'andson by his side to pick
them up.
Remember, boys, that your Heavenly Father is
mindful of the sparrows, and provides for them
their food ; but he is still more mindful of you,
and says "You are of more value than many spar-
rows." J. F. Feench.
Northampton, May, 1864.
For the New England Farmer.
NOTES FKOM THE PROVINCES.
Your correspondent turns up here, intending
to take a tramp through this province on foot,
with carpet-bag in hand. One is surprised at first
setting foot on shore, to find such excellent land ;
but it wants farmers. The tillage land is plowed
about five inches in depth, laid up in beds of about
twelve feet, whether moist or not. The first that
attracts my attention, that is unusual in the States,
is the oat mill, with its large heap of hulls thrown
away. Oat meal, by the way, is a great article of
food, with ^ classes, and enters into general use
more than wheat, which is not much cultivated.
A little farther on, I came to a freestone quarry,
which is removed with less care than the lime-
stone is with you, but of late not much is done in
it. The inhabitants are mostly descendants of
the Scotch and Irish, but, rarely, one meets with
the Acadian, whose tendency is to their primitive
manner of life, with dress of the Normandic style.
You will find, roving, the Nova Scotia red man,
a degenerate race, who, in many cases, intermarry
with the negro. Along the roadside are coal
mines, opened for family use.
After leaving Pictou, is a tract of wood, which
has been burned over within 10 years, and extends
nearly to Truro. At Truro, the terminus of the
Halifax Railroad, is a good farming country, which
seems to be well improved with large barns, to
hold the grain crops. From Windsor to Horton,
a distance of twelve miles, there are many traces
of the original French settlers. As in Canada,
this is shown by the long line of poplars ; so in
Nova Scotia, they are to ba traced by the abun-
dance of orchards. From Windsor, all around
the shore to Annapolis, we find these orchards, at
different points, and the high reputation for fruit
which Nova Scotia, has obtained, is to be attrib-
uted chiefly to the original French settlers. I
must add that I never have seen apples at this
time of the year which retained their flavor like
these, and if I were raising fruit I would be at
the expense of procuring scions to propagate from.
These apples would bring, in Boston market, two
dollars per barrel more than russets.
The new idea of using fresh cow manure was
shown up to be one of the best dressings for cab-
bages, &c., more. than one year since, by myself,
and I was induced to use it by one who made no
pretension to farming, but whom I noticed raised
fine cabbages when others failed. Before I flnish
this letter, I will say that if one wishes to live
cheap, and pay low taxes and low duties, to support
government, let him try the Provinces. Beef-
steak, 8 cts. per lb., veal, 6 cts., sugar, 9 cts., tea,
50 cts. Cloth for which we pay $2.25, there, is
$1. A farm which would be taxed $10 here,
would be $40 in the United States ; a pair of
boots, with you, worth $5 ; here, $3.
S. P. Mayberey.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 1, 1864.
GAME AND BKAHMA JFOVSTLS COM-
PARED.
SiE : — I am quite delighted with your paper,
more especially as I am a lover of poultry. Ev-
ery one has his own fancy for fowls, and I see in
your issue of March 1st that "Game Cock" thinks
there is no variety like game fowls. I wish to
compare my Brahmas with the games. "Game
Cock" keeps 23 hens and 2 cocks, at a cost of 20
cents per week ; I keep 12 hens and 1 cock, which
cost me 20 cents per week ; and which, I think, is
very little. I feed upon corn, buckwheat, and
sometimes barley ; I prefer corn. My hens get a
regular allowance 3 times a day, wiih plenty of
good clean water, and their house is cleaned and
swept every morning. Our notes compare as fol-
lows :
Game (23 hens.) — January, 26 ; February, 14 ;
March, 237 ; April, 255 ; May, 237 ; June, 191 ; M
July, 272 ; August, 267 ; September, 208 ; Octo- f
ber, 210 ; November, 84 ; December, 28 ; total,
2,029 — 169 dozen, or 88 eggs to each hen.
Beahma (12 hens.) — January, 86 ; February,
159 ; March, 226 ; April, 201 ; May, 204 ; June,
136 ; July, 124 ; August, 102 ; September, 97 ;
October, 70 ; November, 23 ; December, 51 ; to-
tal, 1,482—123 dozen, or 123 to each hen.
Now, Mr. Editor, you will see that T got 123 eggs
from every hen, while "Game Cock" got 88. I
also raised 70 chickens ; of course, it cost a little
more when feeding so many chickens. I reckon
the cost of keeping fowls at a little less than one
penny per week each fowl.
John Veitch, in Canada Farmer.
Brockville, April 2, 1864.
Pea Cheese. — There is a very close resem-
blance between several animal and vegetable sub-
stances. Thus animal milk contains a large quan-
tity of caseine, which is the principal substance in
cheese ; and peas also contain a large amount of
the same substance. The Chinese who have ex-
hibited such an aptitude for domestic economics,
that they even make soup of bird's nests, have
also found out that cheese can be made of peas.
For this purpose peas are boiled into a thin paste,
then passed through a seive, and an acid added to
the pea solution, which becomes curdled like sweet
milk by the action of the common rennet upon
the latter. The solid part is then salted, pressed
into cheese molds, and it gradually acquires the
taste and smell of cheese. It is sold in the streets
of Canton under the name of "Taofoo," and when
fresh it is a favorite article of Chinese food.
Whenever we utter a true word, instantly we
feel 'tis God's, not ours.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
215
THE BLITHE LARK.
BY FREDERICK TENNYSON.
How the blithe lark runs up the golden stair
That leads through cloudy gates from heaven to
earth,
And all alone in the empyreal air,
Fills it with jubilant sweet sounds of mirth 1
How far he seems, how far,
With the light upon his wings-
Is it a bird or star
That shines and sings ?
What matter if the days be dark and frore.
This sunbeam tells of other days to be,
And singing in the light that floods him o'er,
In joy he overtakes futurity ;
Under cloud-arches vast
He peeps, and sees behind
Great summer coming fast
Adown the wind !
And now he dives into a rainbow's rivers.
In streams of gold and purple he is drowned,
Shrilly the arrows of his song he shivers,
As though the stormy drops were turned to sound ;
And now he issues through
He scales a cloudy tower.
Faintly, like fallen dew
His fast notes shower.
Let every wind be hushed, that I may hear
The wondrous things he tells the world below ;
Things that we dream of he is watching near ;
Hopes that we never dreamed he would bestow.
Alas ! the storm hath rolled
Back the gold gates again,
Or surely he hath told «
All heaven to men !
So the victorious poet sings alone.
And fills with light his solitary home.
And through that glory sees new worlds foreshown.
And hears high songs and triumphs yet to come;
He woos the air of time
With thrills of golden cords,.
And makes the world to climb
On linked words.
"What if his hairs be gray, his eyes be dim,
If wealth forsakes him, and if friends be cold ?
Wonder unbars the thousand gates to him ;
Truth never fails, nor beauty waxeth old;
More than he tells, his eyes
Behold, his spirit hears —
Of grief and joy, and sighs
"Twixt joy and tears.
Blest is the man who with the sound of song
Can charm away the heartache, and forget
The frost of penury and the sting of wrong,
And drown the fatal whisper of regret !
Darker are the abodes
Of kings, though his be poor.
While fiincies, like the gods
Pass through his door.
Singing, thou scalest heaven upon thy wings,
Then liftest a glad heart into the skies ;
He maketh his own sunrise while he sings,
And turns the dusky earth to paradise.
I see thee sail along,
Far up the sunny streams;
Unseen, I hear his song,
I see his dreams.
■WORKING BULLS IN SINGLE HARNESS.
The Ontario Times gives some experiences in
this matter, and a correspondent of the Working
Farmer adds :
My experience corroborates the statements of
the author as to the service of these animals when
properly trained. I keep three horses, and yet
most of my farm work, except plowing and drag-
ging, has for two years past been done by a bull.
He is used for all kinds of drafts, on the ground,
on drag, in cart, in sleigh, in buggy, covered car-
riage, etc. He is used to cultivators, and rakes
hay without a driver. The harness used is simi-
lar to the one in ordinary use for a horse, except
that the collar and hames are inverted. He is
more hardy than a horse, is guided with perfect
ease and precision without reins, walks or trots,
and is as kind and docile as a pet kitten. I think
he will move as large a load as an ordinary horse.
He belongs to my son, a lad of fifteen, who has
broken and trained him. He will soon be five
years old, is a fine animal, a cross of the Devon
and Durham blood. He has a mate, a stag, so
that when needed he can be used for plowing
and dragging. My son is now training another,
which will be two in a few months. He can be
used already for almost any work, by being led.
Learning to drive without leading requires some
time and patience.
ROOT CROPS-THE TURNIP.
We have often urged upon the reader the con-
venience and economy of raising roots as a por-
tion of the winter food for farm stock ; cattle,
horses, shepp, swine and poultry. We believe the
time will come when they will be considered in-
dispensable to a profitable wintering of stock, and
when the farmer — through their help — will be
enabled to keep a fourth part more than he for-
merly had, on the same number of acres. This
state of things has been accomplished in England,
and a large portion of its arable land made per-
manently rich and productive mainly through the
process of raising and feeding out roots to stock.
If anything is to be done in this direction, the
season is now at hand to attend to it. The prin-
cipal roots used for this purpose are the mangold
wurtzel and the swedes and flat turnip ; the beet,
in several varieties, and the carrot are also em-
ployed with success. Nothing is more easily pro-
duced than the common flat turnip. It may be
sown by itself or with the corn or potato crop,
and large quantities grown with the most trifling
care and cost, and it is thought not to materially
exhaust the soil upon which it grows. Its broad
leaves are supposed to find a large portion of its
nourishment in the atmosphere.
The shape, form, color and modes of growth ex-
hibited by the members of this constantly increas-
ing family are almost infinite. Some are white,
some yellowish, some green and some tinged with
a delicate pink or purple ; — some grow with al-
most their entire bulk exposed above the surface
of the soil, — others entirely below it. In England
it IS said not to be uncommon to see turnips weigh-
ing sixty or seventy pounds, although with us ten
or fourteen pounds is contemplated with astonish-
ment and chronicled as a wonderful development.
It is true that, although evidently not adapted for
transplanting — being of a watery and consequent-
ly of a fragile nature — the English turnip may be
216
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
transplanted if care be t^ken to remove with it a
sufficient quantity of soil ; but this necessity — for
such it is, opposes a serious obstacle to the adop-
tion of the practice, as a general rule, and the
fodder with the tender and juicy roots, and the
roots with the sweet and nutritious hay. This is
the point to which we desire to call the attention
of our farmers, and especially of those who are
farmer acquainted with the habitudes of the plan^ ' constantly fattening cattle and sheep for the mar-
aud studious of his own interests, prefers sowing ! ket. Their chief reliance has probably been com
them where they are to stand.
The ruta baga, and the various other individu-
als of the turnip family, Eire too well known to re-
quire any description here. They are aU hardy,
grow vigorously and rapidly in suitable soil, and
are highly prized as food for almost every descrip-
tion of animal ordinarily kept upon the farm.
They require a generous, but not over rich soil,
and the best stimulants for them are bone manure,
ground oyster shells, ashes, gypsum, and perhaps
guano.
"We have referred above to the high value which
English farmers place upon root crops. Brown,
in his "Treatise on Rural Affairs," says "that the
introduction of the improved tximip culture into
the husbandry of Great Britain occasioned one of
those revolutions in the rural art which are so con-
Etantiy occurring among husbandmen. Before
the introduction of this root it was not possible
to cultivate light soils successfully, or to derive
suitable rotations for cropping them with advan-
tage.
meaL This is now very high and will remain so
for some time. We believe its place may be sup-
plied in a considerable measure by a plentiful sup-
ply of a variety of roots fed alternately with as
much sweet herds-grass, clover and red-top as
the animals wiU eat. We do not know how it
would result in a number of cases, but the best
beef we ever ate was fatted in this way, — a plen-
tiful supply of roots and as much English hay as
the animal would eat, fed at re^lar time*. The
beef was tender, juicy and finely mingled, or mar-
bled, as the butchers term it. We hope that more
attention will be given to the culture of roots, and
that more thorough experiments will be made of
their use in fattening animals.
EXTKACTS AXD HEPT.TF.S.
Habits of the ^^ild Goose.
Thinking that your readers would be interested in
a brief description of the wild goose and its peculiar
habits^ will give a few of them. This splendid bird
is no Mormon, or at least does not believe in a plnral-
i ity of wives, for the gander will never have bat one
. j./r 1 i_ I mate at a time, and never forsakes his first love Bnlesfl
It was, likewise, a difficult task to support , separated by some cause which he cannot prevent ;
live stock through the winter and spring months ; j nor will he allow his mate to take grain from the same
,. . 1,, ' dish with him until he has finished his meal and then
and as lor feeding and preparing cattle and sheep he will allow her to eat hers. Although they are na-
for market during these inclement seasons, the ^^"'■^* of -^°Vn<^ ^^^J" *re °ot "know nothings," for if
" , . J .,1 there is not one of their own nation that thev can get
practice was hardly thought of, and still more they will mate with one of foreign birth and other
rarelv attempted, unless where a full stock of hay colors, rather than remain single Their noise is quite
J ' musical, and especial] V so lust before a storm. Thoneh
was provided, which only happened in a few in- ; wild in their nature, they are easily domesticated and
stances. The benefits derived from it are of very ' <l°'te tond of being caressed. The female goose lays
. J T • i_ -1 i_ ^ 1 i about ten eees, is a eood siner and verv careful of her
great magnitude. Light soils, before useless, are | young. Hef mate does constant sentinel duty, and
now cultivated with facility and profit ; the earth ' fears nothing while protecting its young. Though not
- . J .^ ..1. c -i- T. -^ • v • 11 , i as large as the Afi-ican and other foreign birds, they
18 turned to the uses for which it is physicaUy cal- ^^ ^ |reat ornament to the poultry yard, besides pro-
culated ; and, by being suitably cleared vrith this ducing a good yield of feathers once in six weeks.
' El^in Spritiff, 1864. W. S. Allex.
preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass and
other seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper
with greater vigor than after any other prepara-
tion."
The reader will, perhaps, observe, in the above
extract, that the English custom of wintering cat-
tie was widely different from ours. Brown says
that a "full stock of hay was provided only in a
very few instances." Our practice among good
farmers is, to crowd large barns with good, sweet
hay, to ov^owing, and give every animal as
much as he will eat with a good appetite, and oc-
casionally stimulate that appetite with a mess of
some kind of roots. Each country, it seems to
us, practices upon extremes— one depending main-
ly upon roots aind the other upon hay. TMiat is
most economical and best, is, undoubtedly, a com
Bose Bugs.
As it is most time for the rose bn^ to make their
appearance I would like to inquire if there is any way
to prevent their destroying our grape blossoms, ap-
ples, &c. Last year they injured my grape vines, so
that the crop was an entire failure ; they eat the blos-
soms entirely up, and my apple trees were covered
with them ; about every apple and pear was eaien
more or less, so that I hardly had any fruit but what
was injured by them. If you can prescribe a remedy
for this pest, you will do a great favor to many in our
neighborhood, and I trust others. E. Leoka_rd.
Xetc Bedford, June, 1S64.
A K"ew Insect.
Oni apple trees are covered with little green liee. I
never saw any until last year, and on inquiry I find
but few noticed them at all. I have seen one man
(an early riser,) who remembers they covered the trees
"when he was a small boy." They come out very
early in the spring, or as soon as the leaves begin to
appear ; they sap the leaves as the midge (weevil)
does wheat, "making them look yellow and withered.
A^ soon as the buds begin t-o open they enter them,
bination of both systems-a happy mingUng of . ^t^°hickiy on the growing fruit stems and Wast
both modes of feeding, so as to temper the dry | them. If any escape they do not be<:ome large and
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARRIER.
217
fair, as they used to do. Wherever my observation
extends in Vermont there are plenty of them. Apple
trees blossomed very thickly in this vicinity this year,
but there will be but few apples, I am satisfied.
Can some of your wise entomologists tell us if this
is their perfect state, when they are deposited on the
trees, when they disappear, and if we can get rid of
themf If not, my advice is, do not plant apple trees
in Vermont ; it is time and money wasted.
Washington, Vt., Jutie, 1864. J. J. Watson.
Rem.\rks. — It is humiliating to attempt to answer
inquiries like either of the foregoing. Dominion over
"every living thing that moveth upon the earth," was
in the beginning promised to man. But though he
may have sought out many inventions it is evident
that his "mission" is n6t yet fulfilled. In passing
through Cambridge the other day, we noticed that the
canker worm had commenced its annual ravages on
the fruit and ornamental trees of that beautiful sec-
tion ; sparing neither those which surround the
princely mansions of the faculty of Old Harvard, or
those which shade the very door-steps of her natural-
ists— her Agassi* and her late Harris. The insect
described by Mr. Watson is probably one of the nu-
merous family of Aphid idee, or plant-lice. One of our
contemporaries in reply to similar inquiries by a cor-
respondent, gravely suggests the application of a wash.
But just think of washing the buds of not only a sin-
gle large apple tree, but all the buds of all the trees of
a large orchard ! And yet this is about the sum of
our knowledge of the means for the destruction of in-
sects injurious to vegetation. The thumb and fingers
of children in connection with a dish of hot water, con-
stitute the most eflfectual machine for the destruction
of rose bugs that we know of. Ofifer a small price per
thousand for their heads, and if that fails then appeal
to the "wise entomologists" for further directions.
Fancy Farming. — Mr. C. W. Carpenter, Mt.
Gilead, Ohio, writes to the New York City Farm-
ers' Club, a dissertation on Fruit-growing, which
is published in the New York Tribune. His ar-
ticle closes with the advice that every farmer give
his wife "a quarter, a half, or even one acre to
plant to grapes, blackberries, raspberries or straw-
berries." He says, "If a woman takes good care
of her fruit garden, besides supplying her family
with health-giving luxuries, she can have a hun-
dred dollars worth, or more, of fruit to sell every
year." «Such exercise," he adds, addressing the
women, "will give increased vigor of body and
the light, elastic step ; then you can flj^around
and do your housework in a jiffy." We would
not presume to limit the endurance of the Buck-
eye ladies, but in New England we apprehend
that few farmers' wives will be likely to add the
care of an acre of strawberries to their other du-
ties, however acceptable the one hundred dollars
might be to them.
Birds and Insects. — In a recent club debate
about insects, Mr. Prince, one of the oldest and
most extensive nursery men in the vicinity of
New York city, said that on his grounds they pre-
serve all the birds and are not troubled with In-
sects.
For the New England Fanner.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY — No. 5.
It has been frequently asserted that no country
adapted to sheep husbandry ever entered upon
that branch of agriculture without becoming
wealthy. Probably in no country, in proportion
to the extent of territory, has the breeding and
keeping of sheep been so extensively carried on
as in England, and no country in the world can
boast of more wealth. That this is the result of
sheep husbandry alone, we do not believe ; but
we do believe that it is one of its principal sources
of wealth, and we maintain that no farmer ever
introduced sheep upon his farm, but his land was
improved thereby, and if his sheep were properly
cared for, his finances were also improved. And
no farmer ever abandoned sheep husbandry, but
his farm suffered in consequence, and his income
proportionately diminished. In England, he is
considered a poor farmer, and not up to the spirit
of the times, who keeps no sheep.
It is a well established fact that on any pasture,
stocked to its utmost capacity with cows, as many
sheep may be added, and a horse introduced oc-
casionally, and the pasture not impoverished, but
improved. Sheep will feed upon the herbage which
cows reject. It is an old adage and a true one,
that horses alone impoverish a pasture, cattle alone
improve, but sheep alone enrich it. Where horses,
cattle and sheep are allowed to feed in the same
pasture, we always find the grass evenly cropped,
no unsightly tufts of grass with their rank, coarse
growth, left to rot upon the ground, but all is
economical.
In England, he who should talk of running out
a pasture would only submit himself to ridicule.
There, it is always presumed that a pasture will
be improved, and it is no rare occurrence to take
one, two, and sometimes three crops of grain from
a newly broken-up pasture before applying ma-
nure ; and commonly when a field has been hard
run in tillage for a number of years, so that its
fertility has been impaired, it is seeded down, and
converted into pasture in order to improve it.
This the farmer calls laying it down to rest. The
landlord never objects to his land being laid down
to pasture ; but the tenant is never allowed to
plow up that which was down when he hired his
farm, only under an expressed agreement. It
would be well, perhaps, to state in this connection,
that in England, dairy cows are never stabled
during the night. In many cases they are milked
in the pasture, and when driven up for that pur-
pose they are returned as soon as they have been
milked. The English farmer does not confine the
fertilizing powers of the sheep to his pasture, but
he makes them fertilize his arable lands. In the
vicinity of the Downs, it is a common practice to
fold the sheep at night upon their arable lands,
which feed upon the hills by day, and this is
about all the manure they appl}^
Mr. Hiram Barbus, in the Agricultural Report
of 1860, quotes the following from Mr. Stephens,
that a dressing thus given by three hundred sheep
is sufficient in one week for an acre of land, and
is worth fifteen dollars or five cents per head per
week. Mr. Barbus asked the question : "May
not the universal deterioration of the lands in our
rural towns be attributed to the fact that the keep-
ing of sheep has been abandoned for that of cat-
tle ?" He says "it is laid down as a fact among
218
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
English farmers that the wealth and success of a
farmer may be pretty well calculated by the amount
of his sheep stock." He asks another question,
and gives the answer: "What shall we do to im-
prove our worn out pastures ? When sheep were
universally kept, this question was never asked,
because sheep are ever improving the ground on
which they feed." It is said, that man is a uni-
■versal benefactor who makes two spears of grass
grow where only one grew before. What must
we say of sheep that make four spears of grasr
grow where only one grew before, and two blades
of grain, where before but one was raised, which
clothes us with its fleece, and feeds us with its
carcass !
The manure of sheep, if not equal to guano
and the droppings of fowls, ranks next as a ferti-
lizer, and if not rich in ammonia, it is richer in
phosphates.
Thirty-six pounds of sheep manure are consid-
ered equal to one hundred pounds common barn-
yard manure. We well remember the time before
the introduction of guano, when we collected the
droppings of sheep, and put them in a barrel with
a quantity of water, and after giving them a good
pounding, as some do clothes, till they were thor-
oughly macerated, the liquid was used to force
vegetables, shrubs and plants, and sometimes
fruit trees, with results about equal to guano of
the present day.
But sheep have another element of fertilization
which 1 have not seen referred to in any report or
essay on the subject. There is always exuding
from the pores of the sheep an oily substance
called yolk ; this contains a large amount of pot-
ash and other alkaline matter. The amount
thrown oflF in the course of a year is large, and is
one of the best fertilizers known. This is to some
extent washed off in heavy raias, hence the adage,
that the sheep fertilizes the ground it lies upon.
The committee on sheep husbandry, as published
in their report in the Agricultural Report of 1860,
say : "That to the question proposed in our circu-
lar, whether sheep improved pasture land, there
has been from every return but one unequivocal
yes, especially on those pastures where the coarse
grasses, briars and bushes are coming in.
J. E. Wight, Esq., in answer to the often asked
question, Are sheep as beneficial to the soil as cat-
tle ? says : "This question, I think, will meet, with
those who have had the experience of the culture
of both cattle and sheep, with a ready answer,
that the fertility of the soil can be better kept up
with sheep than any other stock."
Mr. Joseph Reynolds says : "A gentleman writ-
ing frooa Plymouth county, in 1859, remarks:
'Some of the finest examples are afforded here of
the effects of feeding sheep upon pastures that
have become exhausted of nutritious grasses, and
grown to bushes, briars, brakes and moss. I have
seen pastures t6-day that had become almost
worthless, but now green and smiling as a lawn,
with every inch among the rocks covered with the
richest pasture grasses, and not a single blackber-
ry vine, wild rose bush, mullen or other useless
plant in sight. The sward does not seem bound
and compact, but loose and porous, and filled with
the most healthy and vigorous roots. ' "
While Mr. Reynolds himself says : "Experience
shows that sheep walks, instead of becoming ex-
hausted, uniformly grow better and more produc-
tive, and then one of the most effectual means of
destroying the bushes and mosses, and bringing
back the sweet grasses to an exhausted pasture,
is to turn upon it a flock of sheep."
While R. S. Fay, Esq., then Secretary of the
Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agri-
culture, and who has owned a large flock of Ox-
fordshire Downs, for the last ten years, in a very
able essay, says :
"We have constantly had under our eye a hun-
dred acre lot upon which cattle a few years ago
could not live, that maintains in good condition a
large flock of sheep ; and the improvement of the
pasture hes been so great that a dozen head of
cattle beside the sheep do well upon it.
"The reasons for this are obvious to any one
who has observed the habits of sheep ; they are
more indiscriminate feeders than cattle ; they nip
the shoots of almost every shrub, as well as weed,
extirpating many kinds in the course of two or
three years ; they make room in this way for the
grasses to come in where they have been shadowed
out or otherwise displaced ; the white weed, the
broom, or wood wax, as it is commonly termed,
the golden rod, the blackberry vine, the blueberry,
with many other similar plants, disappear before
them, and the finer grasses and white clover take
their place.
"This, however, is only one of the advantages
which sheep possess over cattle upon pastures
which are impoverished — they scatter manure in
the way to produce the largest benefit, besides it
possesses in the highest degree the requisites es-
sential to restoring to the land the phosphates
which it loses by long depasturing with cattle.
"The manure of the sheep suffers no waste, be-
ing in a highly concentrated form, and at the same
time is minutely divided and evenly distributed
over the surface of the ground. So good and
economical a distributor of manure is the sheep,
that experienced farmers in England are feeding
them, when in pasture, with oil cake, for the addi-
tional benefit of the manure."
The report t>{ the committee on sheep, for
Worcester North, published in the report of the
Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture for
1863, says they made the following inquiries of
the principal sheep raisers of their acquaintance :
1. Is it better for pasture lands to have sheep
kept on them, than any other kind of stock ?
2. Do you know of your own experience that
sheep will eradicate bushes, or in any* way im-
prove the pastures in which they are kept ?
In ^wer to these questions, Mr. H. M. Cas-
well says : "I notice sheep always rest on the high-
est parts of the pasture, and spend more of their
time upon the hills than cattle, consequently the
manure is more evenly distributed. Sheep also
require such a variety of food they will even kill
out hardbacks and thistles."
James Mclntire says : "There is no stock like
sheep to renew old pastures. I know clover to
come in, and bushes to die out in pastures where
they have been kept."
Mr. Joel Hayward says : "I am well satisfied
that sheep do materially improve pasture lands,
not only from my own experience, but from what
I have observed of pasture lands in this vicinity.
I have had sheep for nearly twenty years in one
pasture, and am confident that it will keep one-third
more, and keep them equally well as when first
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
219
used for that purpose. I remember an instance
where a piece of land had become quite thickly
covered with a growth of white birch. These were
cut close with a scythe, and then sheep were
turned upon it, which, perhaps, for want of better
feed, kept the young shoots fed down, and cleared
the pasture of brush."
Mr. Hayward does not believe in compelling
sheep to become bush exterminators, but says :
"Give them clover and other sweet grasses ; give
them as good as you have, and if you have used
proper judgment in the selection of your flock you
are well insured of a good profit."
George Fox says : "It is cruel and unprofitable
to keep sheep so short as to compel them to eat
bushes;" but he adds: "There is scarcely a bush
or plant which sheep do not love to eat. I have
many times seen sheep turn from white clover,
they like so well, to bushes and brakes."
If sheep are turned upon wild pastures, the
farmer must expect wild, poor wool and poor
sheep ; but if care is taken not to overstock the
pasture, and properly select stock for breeding, the
improvement of flock will progress just as the im-
provement of the pasture does. Tyro.
■WATERING CATTLE AND HORSES.
Although few persons think it worth while to
pay much attention to this department of hus-
bandry, yet a little reflection will convince any
reasonable person of the value and importance
of furnishing cattle with a constant supply of
pure water. Pure, cool water is said to be a god-
send to a thirsty throat ; and as cattle are apt to
have thirsty throats, they should be permitted to
enjoy a luxury which costs but a trifle, and oper-
ates very favorably in promoting their health.
All classes of domestic animals have as great an
aversion to impure, filthy water, as ourselves ; and
the former will often turn away with disgust from
the filthy stuff called water, which is often found
in water troughs on the roadside, and witlain the
precincts of the barn, and in some pastures. The
common stagnated pond water, which many poor
creatures are compelled to imbibe, is often the ex-
citing cause of disease, especially in the Western
States, where decayed vegetable matter abounds.
Pure water will never injure an animal. I do not
believe the stories which are told about horses be-
coming foundered in consequence of drinking j:)m?'C
water. In a majority of cases Mr. Fastman is
blameable ; he has, probably, either overdriven or
overworked the creature, or else has suffered it,
when heated, to cool off without the necessary
care and attention which should always be ob-
served when animals are fatigued, or perspiring
freely.
Hard usage, wilful neglect and wanton cruelty,
are mwe likely to produce disease than the "uni-
versal beverage" so acceptable to the palate of a
weary or thirsty horse. How often do we see a
"let" horse come into the stable all exhausted and
used-up, scarcely able to advance one limb before
another ! Examine into the facts, and we shall find
that the powers of the subject have, perhaps, been
overtaxed. He has been driven too far, or at too
rapid a rate, for the present state of his constitu-
tion to endure ; and, perhaps, he has not had suf-
ficient nourishment to repair the waste incidental
to the living mechanism, under the states of rapid
and protracted labor. Is not this enough to ac-
count for the used-up condition ? Is it not more
rational to suppose that abuse of the respiratory
organs, and those of locomotion, operates far
more unfavorably on the horse than water ? It is.
But Mr. Fastman must, if there be any blame
rightly belonging to him, try to shift the same
from his shoulders, and therefore he avails him-
self of a popular error, — "lie drank too mxick wa-
ter" Yet the individual has no means of ascer-
taining the precise quantity needed. We might
say the same as regards our horses whose labor*
are very fatiguing ; they come from their work,
and, as soon as unharnessed, go to the trough
and imbibe from one to three buckets, without
any bad effect. Some animals need more water
than others ; the kind of work, the temperature
of the atmosphere, and the nature of the food,
whether it be wet or dry, all tend to diversify an
animal's wants. The domesticated horse requires
a bountiful supply of good water ; his body is
composed of seventy-five per cent, of the same,
and he can no more exist without it than he can
without food.
A cow or ox is probably the best judge, as regards
its own wants, as to the quantity of water needed.
It is not the quantity which a rational animal im-
bibes which does harm, but it is the quality that
demands our attention.
Thirsty people drink all the cold water they
need ; then why deprive a cow or horse of what
they actually need? Consider the condition of
the inhabitants of populous cities during the sum-
mer season. Thirst amounts almost to a disease,
and, in view of quenching it, the thirsty are con-
tinually imbibing water, rendered cold, hot, sour,
sweet or alkaline, just as fancy dictates, or as fash-
ion prevails ; cold ices and other fixings are called
into requsition, to smother the fire of thirst that
rages within ; everybody partakes freely, the
young and the aged, the exhausted and vigorous,
the laborer, exhausted by a hard day's work, and
the rich man of no work, each and all are doing
their best to see the bottom of the pitcher, and to
pitch their bodies into the watery element ; yet,
after all, how few persons complain of any bad ef-
fect from it !
Cattle should never be allowed to drink pond
water. They should either have access to a run-
ning stream, or, a clean water trough. — Prairie
Farmer.
Cutting and Curing Clover. — Clover should
be cut immediately after blossoming and before
the seed is formed. It should be cured in such a
manner as to lose as little of its foliage as possible,
and therefore cannot be treated exactly as the nat-
ural grasses are. It should not be long exposed
to the scorching sun, but after being wilted and
partially dried, it should be forked up into cocks
and left to cure in this position. The fourth or
fifth day, when the weather is fair and warm, open
and air it an hour or two, and it will then be fit to
cart to the barn.
Clover cured in this way without loss of its fo-
liage, is better for milch cows and for sheep than
any other hay. It may also be fed to horses that
are not hard worked, or to young stock, but it is
most valuable for cows in milk. For other farm
stock it is worth from two-thirds to three-fourths
as much as the best hay. — Manual of AgricuUure.
220
NEW ENGLAND FARMEH.
JULT
GBUBS IN THE HEAD OF SHEEP.
The following valuable communication, written
by Robert M. Montgomery, President of the Ohio
State Wool Growers' Association, is copied, some-
what abridged, from the Bund New Yorker :
In April, 1862, my attention was called to a
flock of sheep owned by my neighbor, Mr. A..
He had about one hundred, of which thirty-five
were what are hereafter to be known as "tegs."
They were apparently in fine condition until the
first of February. But then the tegs began to de-
cline — refused their food, and went languidly
about with watery eyes and drooping ears — dis-
charging from the nostrils, and exhibiting general
and increasing debility. Early in March they be-
gan to die. Those which sickened early died in
from three to four weeks. But those which sick-
ened later in the season died in from five to eight
days. After some ten or twelve were dead, it was
suggested that there might be "grubs," and an ex-
amination disclosed large numbers of them lying
high up in the head, and many of them in the
root of the horns. The only available remedy
known to us, being a decoction of tobacco, was,
of course, resorted to, and was administered to
sick and well ones indiscriminately. There was
some asafoetida in the tobacco juice, but I do not
consider this important. All which showed an ad-
vanced stage of the disease when the tobacco was
first given, died. A part of those which exhibit-
ed a milder indisposition recovered slowly, and
those which seemed well at that time continued
well, and the disease, whatever it was, ceased to
prey upon the flock. And here let it be noted,
none of Mr. A's sheep sickened or died except
the tegs. Let it also be noted that the male por-
tion of them remained entire until they were five
or six months old, and consequently had horns
nearly or quite as large as if they had been rams.
The ewes and wethers (stags) were kept together
and treated in every way alike. Two only of those
without horns died ; while but three or four of
the eighteen having horns were left.
Taking counsel of my neighbor's misfortune, I
then paid more attention to my own sheep. I
found nothing wrong with any of the flocks ex-
cept the ram tegs, of which I had about sixty.
I found but one of them which would have at-
tracted the attention of a casual observer ; but
three or four others, to an experienced eye, showed
evident symptoms of disease. The syringe was
immediately in requisition, and tobacco and asa-
foetida injected up the nostrils of the sick and well
alike, on every alternate, or at most on every
third day, for perhaps two weeks. The result
was that about six of the sixty died. Some eight
or ten others sickened, but eventually recovered,
and the remaining forty-five continued in good
health and condition. It may be remarked here
that my neighbor, who neglected to apply any rem-
edy till the disease had made serious inroads, lost
about 80 per cent, of his horned tegs, while I, hav-
ing applied remedies early, lost only 10 per cent.
Presuming that the grubs were the probable
cause of the disease, two questions arose. Could
liquids be so injected as to reach their location ?
and what effect would certain liquids have ? To
obtain an answer to the first question, I examined
carefully the structure of the head. But to make
"assurance doubly sure," I selected a sheep which
was quite sick, and bored a hole one-fourth of aa
inch in diameter in each of the horns about an
inch above the wool, and also two holes in his
head, about half way between his horns and eyes.
I found that liquids injected into the nostrils came
out freely through each and all of these holes.
It then remained to determine the efi'ect on the
grubs in different stages of development, varying
from the white one of less than a quarter of an
inch in length to the full grown brown one of one
and a quarter inches. I placed them first in a de-
coction of tobacco and asafoetida. The small ones
died in about two minutes, but the larger ones,
although showing signs of discomfort, gave no in-
dication of immediate death.
From the above, and from other observations, 1
deduce the following conclusions : — That the eggs
are usually deposited in the latter part of summer ;
that it depends very much on circumstances when
they are hatched ; that a large proportion are thrown
out and are never hatched ; that it also depends
on circumstances whether the grubs are fully de-
veloped in a long or short time, usually, however,
in the latter part of winter and early spring. But
1 have seen them very small in the spring, and
have also seen them full grown in the fall. I con-
clude, also, that they are not confined to any one
class of sheep, though young sheep, and especially
if they have horns, are more subject to them, be-
cause the larger opening at the root of the horn
affords them a more secure resting place above and
beyond the sneezing power of the sheep to dislodge
them ; that sheep in delicate health are more sub-
ject to be affected by them than strong, healthy
ones ; that sheep may and often do have grubs
and still remain in good health, but that in other
cases they produce serious and often fatal results.
And now, Mr. Editor, if I may presume to ad-
vise your readers, it is as follows : Let the sheep's
nose be smeared with pine tar so frequently as to
carry the smell all the time during the summer.
This seems to be a partial preventive, but not ab-
solute ; therefore, as a more certain resort, let it
be followed during the fall (say once a month)
while the grubs are usually but partially developed,
with injections of tobacco juice ; because, it will be
remembered that in the experiment above, the to-
bacco proved immediately fatal to all the small
ones, while it but slightly disturbed the larger
ones. This will ordinarily be suflicient, but may
be continued as circumstances indicate. This
practice, however, is attended with some little
danger to the life of the sheep ; because, if the
tobacco is too strong or in large quantity, and (to
use the common expression) goes the wrong way,
it will produce sickness and perhaps death in from
one to five minutes. But this is not a common
occurrence. Sometimes, after they have fallen
and are apparently dying, if they are taken -up by
the hind legs and shaken severely they will recov-
er. It does them no harm after the first parox-
ysms are over.
I can give no such directions about preparing
the tobacco as will enable an inexperienced hand
to get it certainly right at first. I advise, there-
fore, as follows: — Take half a pound of plug to-
bacco and steep it in six quarts of water ; then
with a good syringe inject a small tablespoonful
into each nostril, and try it on the least valuable
ones first, and then increase in strength or quan-
tity as the sheep are able to bear it.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
221
HAKVESTIMG GRAIN.
As the season for harvesting the cereal grains is
near at hand, it is well to give the subject some
consideration as to when and how the work may
be best performed. The subject is too important
to be passed over indifferently, when the price of
grain is more than double what it has ordinarily
been for many years past. A rapidly increasing
population, and an immense waste by war, has
created an unusual demand, and one which will
probably not be materially lessened for a consid-
erable time to come. Whatever, therefore, will
tend to swell the aggregate amount, and secure it
in the best possible condition for the use of both
man and beast, is worthy of earnest inquiry and
investigation.
The kind of soil and its preparation, and ma-
nuring and seeding, have long been matters of ex-
periment and inquiry, but the effect of earlier or
later harvesting the crop, upon the quantity and
quality of the product, has received but little
thought by a large proportion of our farmers.
Our present inquiry is, when is the best time to
cut wheat, rye and barley in order to secure the
largest weight of grain, and the best quality of
flour? This is one of the many questions which
have not yet been thoroughly investigated and
solved by individuals, or by any public institution
of our country. When our agricultural college is
established, we may expect that this, and many
other questions of a kindred nature, will receive
attention and be satisfactorily answered. Were
this faithfully done, and the resulting facts spread
before the husbandmen of the country, we believe
the gain, in five years, would be more than the
whole cost of the college, land and all.
There are certain signs of maturity in grain
plants, which are, of course, regarded by all, but
some are governed by one and some by another,
so that little approach is made to any well settled
and governing rule. The motive of convenience
governs too many. As a general thing, farmers
should control their work, and not allow the work
to control them : that is, the plowing, hoeing, hay-
ing, and everything else, should be kept up square
with the season, and then they will be able to se-
lect and improve the precise time when any work
should be done. It would be almost as judicious,
for instance, to plant corn in October, expecting
a crop, as to prune an apple tree in April or May
— and yet thousands of farmers do prune, because
they say it is viore convenient than at any other
time. This is the leading reason why we have
80 many decaying and short-lived orchards.
We have sufficiently tested the matter of cutting
grain to be satisfied that the opinions we quote be-
low are correct and entirely r«*liable, and we com-
mend them to the careful consideration of all who
have grain to harvest. The opinions expressed in
the following paragraphs are by Mr. Anderson,
for some time editor of the Farmer's Journal, 'pxih-
lished at Montreal. He says that :
Grass, while still green, contains a large amount
of starch, gum and sugar. The sugar is perceived
in the sweetish taste of the juice ; the starch and
gum, being nearly tasteless, are not so readily
perceived. The principal nourishing ingredients
in all kinds of food are starch, gum, sugar, and
some nitrogenous compound. But the starch, gum
and sugar are mainly changed into hard, indigest-
ible woody fibre when grass fully matures. If the
ripening process be arrested eight or ten days be-
fore its completion, and the plant be dried rapidly,
double and treble the amount of starch, gum and
sugar will be secured. The same reasoning holds
true of all kinds of grain. Every one is familiar
with the sweet taste of green corn, wheat in the
milK., etc. When the growth is completed, cut
these crops and you save a considerable quantity
of rich nutriment which would otherwise be
changed to the woody fibre of the outer shell.
The only point to be looked to is to wait until the
accumulation of juiqes is completed, and then be-
gin the harvesting at once. The only exceptioa
to this rule is with crops designed solely for seed ;
these may well be left to the natural full -ripening
upon the stalk, especially when the seed is to be
kept long.
The proper time for cutting grasses is at the
moment the seed is set or immediately after the
flowering is over. Clover should be cut as soon
as in full bloom.
A large number of experiments on wheat and
other grains indicate that the proper time for har-
vesting is when the kernel is fully formed, but
still soft enough to yield to a moderate pressure
between the thumb nails.
This reasoning is undoubtedly correct, not only
because it is founded on true physiological prin-
ciples, but also because it is confirmed by the ex-
perience of those wlio have put the matter to
practical test.
In his agricultural tour through England, our
Mr. CoLMAX states that he found by many inquir-
ies that "the best rule for harvesting is not when
the stalk below the head has changed color, and
circulations have consequently ceased, but when
grain, though it has erased to yield milk upon
pressure, is yet soft." The advantages of cutting
at this stage are given as follows : "Wheat cut
early affords more grain, yields less bran, makes a
better flour, wastes less in harvesting, gives better
straw, and enables the farmer to do more work
leisurely."
This precisely accords with the opinions we have
gained in our own operations in harvesting grain.
Perhaps few persons have given the subject more
careful investigation than Mr. C. W. Johnson.
He states, in the Farmers' Encyclopeedia, that
"Grain, if not reaped until the straw is wholly
yellow, will be more than rij)e, as the ear, gener-
ally, except in the late seasons, ripens before the
entire of the straw, and it is observable that the
222
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
first reaped usually affords the heaviest and fair-
eat sample. The indications of ripeness in wheat
are few and simple. When the straw exhibits a
bright golden color, from the bottom of the stem
nearly to the ear, or when the ear begins to bend
gently, the grain may be cut. But as the whole
crop will not be equally ripe at the same time, if,
on walking through the field and selecting the
greenest heads, the kernels can be separated from
the chaff when rubbed through the hands, it is a
sure sign that the grain is then out of its milky
state, and may be reaped with safety ; for although
the straw may be green to some distance down-
wards from the ear, yet if it be quite yellow from
the bottom upwards, the grain then wants no
further nourishment from the earth, and if proper-
ly harvested will not shrink. These tokens will be
found to sufficiently indicate the ripeness of wheat,
barley and oats ; but that of rye arises from the
straw losing some of its golden hue, and becom-
ing paler."
Some of the most valuable experiments which
have been reported on this subject, are those of
Mr. Hannam, in the 12th and 13th volumes of
the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. The trials
were made under his own direction, and with
great care. He cut samples of wheat at five dif-
ferent times, as follows :
No. 1 was cut a month before fully ripe.
" 2 " three weeks " "
" 3 " two weeks " "
It 4 " two days " "
" 6 " when fully ripe.
Of these lots, 100 pounds of grain of each
yielded as follows :
iVo. Flour. Seconds. Bran.
1 75 pounds -.7 pounds 17 pounds.
2 76 " .7 " 16 "
3 80 " 5 " 13 "
4 77 ' 7 " 14 "
5 72 " 11 " 15 "
Thus it appears that No. 3, which was cut two
weeks before it was fully ripe, was superior to the
other lots ; giving more per bushel than No. 5,
(cut when fully ripe,) by 6^ pounds of flour, and
a gain of about fifteen per cent, on the flour of
equal measure of grain; 100 pounds of wheat of
No. 3 makes 80 pounds of flour, while 100 pounds
of No. 5 yields 72 — showing an ayerage of eight
per cent, in favor of No. 3. In grinding, it was
found that No. 5 ground the worst — worse than
No. 1. There were in No. 5 a greater quantity of
flinty particles which would not pass the bolt,
than in any of the other lots. The bran from No.
5 was also much thicker and heavier than that of
No. 3.
Mr. Hannam concludes, therefore, that in cut-
ting wheat two weeks before it is fully ripe, there
is a gain of fifteen per cent, of flour upon equal
measures, a gain of fourteen per cent, in the
■weight of straw, and a gain of 7s. 6d. sterling in
the value of every quarter (560 lbs.) of wheat.
Wilson, in his Farm Crops, says the best indi-
cation of harvest time is given by the changed
color of the straw immediately below the head.
When this changes from green to yellow, which it
does before the body of the straw changes, the
circulation of the plant is arrested, and the head
can receive no more nourishment from the roots.
We know that it can derive none from the air,
and therefore at this period must contain within it-
self all that is necessary for its perfection. If
this be admitted, then it is clearly the interest of
the farmer to run no further risk of injury from
change of weather, or other causes, and without
loss of time to cut it down, and get it safely
housed as soon as possible."
It will be observed that Colman says, above,
that the best rule is in the condition of the seed.
We have been In the habit of judging by both
seed and appearance of the stem, — for when the
stem, just below the head, has turned slightly yel-
low, instead of retaining its former green color,
on testing the seed between the nails, it will gen-
erally be found to have just passed from the milky
to the doughy state. The difference, therefore, be-
tween these tw8 high authorities is not material.
We hope that more attention than ever before will
be given to the matter, and that our correspon-
dents will give us the results of their observa-
tions.
TALK ABOUT HAY-MAKING.
Col. Hawks, of Deerfield, states that he prefered
to cut grass when two-thirds of it was in the blow.
Did not dry it as much as formerly. Hay can be
dried too much to pack or spend well. Likes to
have it green enough to retain its green tea smell
when opened in the winter.
Mr. Lyman, of Northfield, cuts his hay one day
and gets it in the next. Wants it all cocked up
at night, and prefers to have it raked for this pur-
pose before 3 P. M., and in henps when warm.
Likes to cart clover the second day. Can get
hay dry as he wants it, in one good day.
Hon. Hugh Green, of Northfipld, thought that
hay was dried too much in the sun and too little
in the shade. Dew bleaches and injures hay more
than many suppose. He not only gets his hay in
cocks early in the afternoon, but covers it with
cloth caps at night, whether it rains or not.
Dea. Bufl'um, of Winchester, N. H., and Messrs.
Leverett and Hatch, of Keene, use hay caps
whether it rains or not. The former stated that
he usually cut his hay in the afternoon, cocked it
the next day, and the day following got it in.
Cattle do better on hay cut early. They will grow
and give more milk on such hay. First crop hay
gives nearly one-third more tallow than the sec-
ond crop. He weighs his cattle once a month
regularly. Thinks clover cut early the best hay
used. Likes to have it stand two or three days in
the cock under hay caps, as the sun injures hay.
Low land hay needs more drying than English
upland hay. Mr. Leverett uses Manny's mower.
Likes in the haying season to mow every evening
and cart every afternoon. Wants his hay cocked
up early the second day, and the day following
simply turned over without spreading. Clover
needs two or three days curing in the cock. It
•cost about eighty dollars to cut, cure, and house
fifty tons of hay in this way. Estimates the wear
and tear of his mowing machine at six dollars a
year. His men hoe mornings when he has no
hand mowing.
Moses Stebbins, of South Deerfield, said he cut
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
223
but little natural hay. He mows his lands six
years, and stocks with herds grass and clover.
The former will run the latter out in three years.
He never mows when the dew is on, nor latterly
uses salt in packing hay. Thinks he injured sheep
formerly by salt. Cuts clover in the afternoon,
and carts it if the weather is good the next day.
The hay sweats if housed too green, and six or
eight inches of the top of the mow spoils, but has
had no hay mould during the last thirty years,
unless it was unnaturally damp. The second crop
or rowen is more apt to smoke than the first crop.
Hay free from dew and rain is not much in dan-
ger of spoiling if housed rapidly after one begins.
Herds grass is apt to be dried too much, and he
often, particularly in the last of the season, carts
•it the same day he mows it. Considers clover
well ripened the best hay for sheep after an expe-
rience of sixteen years. Hay will shrink 15 to
20 per cent, in the barn, and when moved never
spends like that kept in the solid»mow. Thinks
a mowing machine is as necessary to a farmer as
a plow.
EAKLY CUT HAY FOB MXLCH CO"WS.
What is the best time for cutting hay for dairy
cows ? — should it be cut at the same time for all
kind of stock ? — are practical questions which
every dairyman must consider at each season.
The state of the maturity to which grass should
arrive before it is cut, is a point about which men
difi'er materially. The different dispositions which
are to be made of the hay doubtless modify to
some extent the conclusions at which they arrive.
Some think it should stand till the seed is full and
the stems get pretty well ripened, because it is
then heavier than before. Others think it should
be cut when in full bloom or before.
There is quite a difference in the kind or quali-
ty of hay cut before and after it is in blossom.
Before it is in bloom its extractive matter, which
is used as food, contains a greater percentage of
starch, gum, sugar and fat, especially yellow fat ;
and after it has passed the bloom it has a greater
per centage of flesh-forming material along with
woody fibre and mineral matter. In the former,
it contains more elements of respiration, the
source of animal heat and fatness ; and in the lat-
ter, the foundation of muscle.
These different qualities have their uses. The
horse, by his vigorous exercise maintains his prop-
er warmth, to a considerable extent, by the rapid
waste of tissue and muscular fibre, and hence, es-
pecially in warm weather, can labor and travel
Better on the less heating, late cut hay.
But in the young animal, the calf, the heat de-
rived from the waste of tissue is comparatively
but little, and hence the early cut or more heat-
producing hay is wanted ; and, besides, the green
food is more easily digested.
A cow when giving milk does much the best
upon the same kind of food preferred by the calf,
because she derives her warmth not by exercise,
but by her food directly. To maintain her condi-
tion and give milk, a cow must be fed on food rich
in the elements of fatness. It is impossible for a
cow to give a large quantity of rich milk on late
cut hay, without growing poor rapidly ; because
it does not contain the material from which the
milk can be formed, and is, withal, so slow of di-
gestion, that she can do but little more than di-
gest enough to support herself.
There is, I know, but little use in showing by
argument when hay is best cut for any purpose.
It IS a point that must be settled by practice rath-
er than philosophy. I have experimented till I
am fully satisfied that I have suffered annually a
serious loss by letting my grass stand too long be-
fore I commenced cutting. I have done as a ma-
jority still do, waited till I supposed it had reached '
its full size before I begun. I have had too much
regard to bulk and weight rather than quality.
If any reader is sceptical about the greater val-
ue of early cut hay for producing milk, especially
clover hay, let him try it ; let him cut some late^
and some early, and fodder it out any way that
will satisfy him conclusively as to the value de-
rived from each from a given area of ground, and
my word for it, if he has been in the habit of wait-
ing till his grass has reached its full weight, or
even its full size, before he begins, he will start
earlier next year. — Dairy Farmer.
APHIS ON APPLE TREE BUDS.
Those who have noticed on their own trees the
"New Insect," described by our correspondent of
last week, will be interested by the following arti-
cle written for the Albany Cultivator by the En-
tomologist of the New York State Agricultural
Society — a gentleman who has done and is still
doing the agricultural community valuable service
by his unwearied labors in the sphere which he
so ably occupies :
The fore jj^rt of the present month J. J. Thom-
as sent me some opening flower buds of the ap-
ple tree, thronged with young plant lice, nestling
close down among the pubescence. He finds
these insects, 100,000 to 1,000,000, on every ap-
ple tree in his vicinity, every expanding bud be-
ing crowded with them. And I find the same
aphis common though less excessively numerous,
on the opening buds of the apple trees in my own
neighborhood. They are the young of the com-
mon aphis which infests the leaves of the apple
trees during the summer — t\\e aphis mali. These
insects end their annual career late in the autumn,
by depositing their eggs, crowding therewith all
the crevices under and between the scales of the
bark of the apple trees, as full as they can hold.
Most of these eggs are swept away by the storms
of winter and perish. Those which remain hatch
with the first warm days of the returning spring,
just as the flower buds are beginning to open.
Thus the young plant lice all become crowded up-
on these buds, nourishing themselves thereon un-
til the leaves become sufficiently developed to
sustain them.
No Weeds to Pull. — Stir the ground oflen,
and they will never get big enough to pull. A
loose top-soil can be stirred up a half-dozen times
with a hoe in the time required to go over it once
in the pulling process. The growth of all plants
will be greatly promoted by stirring the soil often.
It is said that warts on the udder and teats of
cows may be easily removed by simply washing
them in a solution of alum and water.
224
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
July
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
Wonders of July Page 193
Baise the Calves 194
Statistics of Cheese Factories — Grub in the Head 195
Moisture in the Air — Bottom of the Sea .....195
Plowing— Draining— Trial of Mowing Machines 196
Sheep Husbandry 196,205,211,217
Note from Vermont— Pruning Fruit Trees 198
Meteorological Record for April 198
Crossing Animals — Sickness and Loss of Sheep... 199
The Bobolink 199
The " Wheildon Pear" 200
Mangold Wurtzel— Beet Sugar in the West 201
Breck's Book of Flowers 202
Eradication of Ox Eye Daisy 202
Cows, Sheep and Hogs — To Catch Sheep-Killing Dogs 204
ITorse Hoe, or Rotary Spader 205
• What is Cultivation? 206
Influence of the Atmosphere on Soil 207
Dinner as an Educator 208
Importance of the Clover Crop 209
Black Teeth in Swine— Butter Increased by Water 210
The Pumpkin— Salting Hay 211
A Word for the Boys 213
Notes from the Provinces — Pea Cheese 214
Game and Brahma Fowls Compared 214
The Blithe Lark— Root Crops -The Turnip 215
Working Bulls in Single Harness 215
Extracts and Replies 216
Fancy Farming— Birds and Insects , 217
Watering Cattle and Horses— Cutting and Curing Clover 219
Grubs in the Head of Sheep 220
Harvesting Grain 221
Talk about Hay Making 222
Early Cut Hay for Milch Cows 223
Aphis on Apple Tree Buds 223
Cattle Markets for June 224
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Initial Letter "A" 193
Wheildon Pear 2C0
Horse Hoe, or Rotary Spader 205
CATTLE MARKETS FOR JUNE.
The fallowing is a summary of the reports t^r the five weeks
ending Jane 22, 1864:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Cattle. Sheep. Shotes. Fat Hogs. Veals.
May 25 1575
June 1 975
" 8 1052
" 15 1481
" 22 1213
2054
3660
2907
3149
3336
Total 6296 15,106
650
625
892
750
500
3417
1150 1100
641 900
800 ICOO
1300 950
600 800
4491
4750
The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep
from each State for the last five weeks, and for the correspond-
ing five weeks last year ; also the total number since the first of
January, of each year:
THIS
Cattle.
Maine 85
New Hampshire 676
Vermont 1423
Massachusetts 434
Northern New York 30
Western States 3316
Canada 32
Total for the five weeks 6,296 15,106 5,748 14,701
Total, since Jan. 1,(25 weeks,)33,626 102,364 33,792 268,766
EAR.
LAST
TEAR.
iheep.
Cattle.
Sheep.
299
284
689
1578
811
2790
5523
1073
5794
810
411
lf.30
616
26
1162
6271
3119
2595
114
24
141
Sheep #■ lb 10 @11
" sheared... 6 J@9 J
Shotes, retail 9 igll
Beef hides, •r Ib.lOigU
PRICES.
May 25. Junel. JuneS. June 15. June 22,
Beef,l,2, 3qual.ll (gl3J 10,i»14 30ii®14 10 @13 9itl3
" ex. and prem. 13^314 14 gU^ 14^S15 13^614 ISJSU
11 ;Slli 10 lill 9 @10 lOiS—
5i-S9 6 (g8J 5 @8 6is7J
10 all 10 (gl2 11 (gl2 11 (gl2
lOigll lOiSll lO^gll lO^gll
Remarks. — During the past months even higher prices than
any heretofore reported, have been paid for cattle and sheep.
June 8th there were more than 100 Western cattle sold at 15c ^
fl)., with an allowance of 30 W cent, on part and 28 ^ cent, on
others for offal. Since then we have known of no sales at any-
thing over 14c, and most of the good Western steers at 13 to
13i^c r fc.
Sheep have also been sold very high. Sheared sheep at 9>^c
to 10c if lb., and it is said that one lot of extra wooled sheep,
bought in Albany on commission, cost over 13c #■ ft>.. live
weight. But the month closes with a large reduction in prices.
The following from our report of sales, June 22, will show the,
state of the market, at that date.
Stephen Mann sold 4 cows and 4 steers best quality of
Addison County, Champlain Valley cattle, and the best cat-
tle at Cambridge this week are from that section of clay
farms — for 12|c, K sk, about 675 lbs, dressed; 5 two-year-
olds to 3Ir. AJger, 45U lbs. each, for $50 W head; 5 steers
laid to dress 600 tbs, for $355 ; 2 steers and a cow for $170,
or lie #■ lb ; and one steer for $15, or 9c ^ lb.
Geo. W. Morrison sold one pair of oxen laid at 2400 lbs,
for $300 ; 4 oxen laid at 3600 lbs, lor $440 ; one pair laid at
1750 lbs, for $215 ; one pair, 1600 lbs, for $205 ; and one pair,
1450 lbs, for $175. These oxen come from another good
farming country, the Winnipiseogee Valley, in Central
New Hampshire. The Boston cattle market may well be
visited by those who wsh to spy out the best agricultural
localities in New England.
I. A. Blake sold 12 oxen to Henry ZoUer for $1190, or
from 10c to 12Jc r lb ; 4 steers for $210, or lie *• lb ; and two
cows for $70, or 9c ^ lb.
M. T. Shackett sold 4 oxen 1100 tts. each, for 12|c, which
he claimed were good enough to have brought 13Jc two
week ago; 4 fat cows 750 lbs. each, for lie; 12 two and
three-year-olds for lOJc, and 6 cows and heifers at 10c.
Batchelder & Bros, sold to Mr. Valpy 19 Western steers,
at 12|c, 33 sk.
G. W. Barker sold 5 steers and oxen to W. E. Gowing
for 122C, to kill and weigh, one nice fat cow for lie, and 9
steers and cows for lOjC.
J. Lyman sold one pair of River oxen at about 13c #" ft.
W. Scollans & Co. sold 365 head of Western cattle,
part of them left over from last week, as follows, omitting
weights for sake of brevity : — 20 to G. Davis, at 13ic, 28 sk;
20 to E. Brewer, at 14c, 30 sk; 31 to S. S. Learnard", at 13Jc,
28 sk; 14 to E. Porter, at 14c, 28 sk; 13 to C. Sanderson, at
at 134c, 31 sk; 13 to A. Mead, at 13 Jc, .30 sk; 28 to C. San-
derson, at 13^c, 30 sk ; 12 to O. Lynde, at 13c, | sk ; 7 to Mr.
Phipps, 13Jc, 30 sk; 42 to S. Davis, at 13c, 32 sk; 8 to S. F.
Woodbridge, at 12 Jc, j sk; 10 to Mr. Ordway, at 12c, 35 sk;
15 at 11 Jc, 35 sk; 10 at lOJc, 35 sk; and 32 for ll|c, 24 sk.
M. T. Shackett sold 120 sheep 81 lbs. each, for 7c, which
he said would have brought 9^0 four weeks ago, and 192
averaging 78 lbs, for from 5^ to Ojc #" lb. Pratt & Way sold
a small lot at 6c; Gen. J. Morse sold a lot of good Canada
sheep and lambs, the sheep at 75C ■W lb, and the lambs at
$5.50 #" head. Jerry Batchelder sold 500 Western sheep at
from 7 to "jC #■ lb ; A. N. Monroe sold 200 Western sheep,
88 lbs. each, for 6.jC #■ lb. W. Scollans sold a lot kept over
from last week, for 6c ; Austin White sold one lot for 7^0
which was the highest price we heard of, for sheep at
Brighton. Grand good lots, fat enough, and too fat, some
of the butchers said, at 7c. A lot of good wooled Western
sheep at 10c.
DEVOTED TO AGRICULTUKE AKD ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES.
VOL. XVI.
BOSTON, AUGUST, 1864.
NO. 8
NOURSK, EATOy & TOT.MAX, Pr«peibT0RS.
OFricB....102 Washington Street.
SIMON BKOWN, Editor.
AUGUST.
O, 'tis a sight the soul to cheer,
The promise of the fruitful year,
When God abroad hi* bounty flings,
And answering nature laughs and sings !
He, "for the e\ll and the good,"
For them with hearts of gratitude,
For them who thanklessly receive,
The blessings he vouclisafed to give,
Bids from his storehouse in the skies,
"His rain descend, His sun to rise."
•^ Buhop Mant.
U G U S T , like
July, is a month
of many duties.
The farmer will,
find but little
respite from his
labors, for no
sooner is the
hay harvest se-
cured than the
grain crops —
wheat, rye, bar-
ley, oats and
other grains, are
to be attended
to. Yet no sea-
son, perhaps, is
ace o m p a n i e d
with sweeter
pleasures or more solid enjoyments. Toil is
sweetened by the reflection that it is amply re-
warded by its results, and a zest communicated to
every employment by the prospect of succeeding
rest. Who is happier, indeed, than the success-
ful farmer ? With wants moderated within the
limits of easy indulgence, and with tastes as sim-
ple as the beauties by which he is surrounded,
there is little to annoy or perplex, or to excite to
those painful and ruinous efforts in pursuit of
pleasure, which are so eminently destructive of
genuine happiness, and attended so often by dis-
astrous and fatal results. He knows the Omni-
potent has designed that in the "sweat of his face
he shall eat bread," and that he can in no way be
so happy as in the performance of those duties
which "devolve upon him in his character of citi-
zen and MAN." Surrounded by the blessings and
enjoyments of a peaceful home, he can smile at
the allurements the world holds out to excite the
ambitious, and stir up the unholy passions of riv-
alry and envy in the worldly mind. Conscious
that he is, to the best of his ability, filling the
sphere which God has assigned as his special prov-
ince of thought and action, without wishing to
transgress its established limits, he does not ad-
mit to his heart a single feeling antagonist to the
emotions of quiet and pious joy which it so nat-
urally begets. Well may he exclaim with the
poet :
I but ask
Of Nature that with which she will comply —
It is but in lier summer sun to bask,
To mingle with the quiet of her sky,
To see her gentle face without a mask
And never gaze on it with apathy.
She was my early friend, and now shall be
My sister.''
There is one thing which strikes us most favor-
ably when contemplating the condition of the farm-
ers of the present day, and that is the obvious im-_
provement manifested in their mode of living, and
the regard to neatness which their farms and
homes exhibit. In many details, farming, as a
business, has considerably advanced during the
last ten years. The New England husbandman,
who owns his lands, is now a gentleman — not one
of the gilded butterflies of society, who call them-
selves such, but a gentleman in fact. By patient
industry in an honorable pursuit, he has acquired
the means of happiness and comfort, and enjoys
an independence, a freedom from care, which even
a monarch might envy, and of which no revolu-
tion of society can lawfully deprive him. In this
sentiment of natural independence reposes a pow-
er more to be valued than gold or jewels, — a mor-
al force which imparts energy to every faculty,
and by elevating the intellect and the affections,
226
KEW ENGLAWD FARMER.
Aug,
acts as a guarantee to the social and political in-
stitutions of our country.
The farmer of the present day is not satisfied
■with the results which rewarded the patient labor
of his ancestors. He knows from experience, as
well as by reading and observation, that farming
is an art of almost unlimited capabilities, and that
it is the part of prudence to avail l;iimself of all
the aids which science, by its numerous discover-
ies, has so beneficently placed within his reach.
The benevolent and well directed labors of his
predecessors, who have demonstrated the certain-
ty of improvement in the art, have slowly, yet
surely, wrought out encouraging results. Great
problems have been solved, and satisfactory con-
sequences produced by comparatively insignificant
means. The fields and smiling uplands exhibit
evidence that enlightened mind has directed the
hand of culture in their management, and that
the golden harvest has well repaid the tiller for
his cash and toil. In his house there is also evi-
dence of progress. Comfort is seen in all the ap-
purtenances and surroundings. If we step with-
in and scrutinize the interior arrangement and
discipline there displayed, we shall find that the
farmer's wife and daughters have also participat-
ed in the blessings of progress, and are emulous
of performing well the part which nature and the
genius of domestic life has particularly assigned
them in the great work of improvement.
While we commend the spirit which M'isely
aims to ameliorate the condition of society by
alleviating the burden of the toiler, we are not by
any means in love with that sentiment of false re-
finement which is too frequently allowed to mod-
ify the conduct of so many of our pseudo-reforms.
Innovations which promise nothing valuable, eith-
er in the present or the future, but which tend
rather to weaken or divert the mind, are to be
deprecated as antagonist to our prosperity and
peace. A false and corrupt refinement is the
bane of society and of nations. Athens, Rome,
felt equally the Satanic influences of this great
leveller, and it is against this, more emphatically
than against any other cause that is likely to as-
sail our liberties, that we would raise a warning
voice.
If we labor on moderately, but diligently, and
are faithful to all the trusts reposed in us, leaving
the issue to the Disposer of events, all will be
well with us, here and hereafter.
Liability in Respect to Contagious Dis-
eases.— A New York court has lately awarded
$5000 damages against the Harlem Railroad Com-
pany for turning out their horses infected with
farcy and glanders, in a meadow adjoining the
stable of the plaintiff (Wilks) whereby his horses
took the disease and many of them died.
SYSTEM AND ECONOMY IN FAMILIES.
There is far more depending on a well-ordered
household, than a vast majority of married wo-
men would seem to believe. In looking around
we see on every side how much system and econ-
omy would accomplish if properly observed. I
began married life early ; my husband had no
other income to rely upon than the labor of his
own hands. We lived in a small house, having
attached to it a small garden. Providence blessed
us with health. My duties multiplied by increase
of years ; but they were carefully laid, clown and
punctually performed. We rose early, breakfast-
ed, dined and supped at exact hours, as most fam-
ilies do. Every hour in the day had its allotted
duty or arrangement, and everything was done in
accordance with it. By this means a perfect sys-
tem was maintained, reducing the labor of a fam-
ily nearly one-half ; and in this way I had ample
time for reading, receiving and returning visits,
out-door exercise, &c. Expenditures in every
department were made carefully, and thus while
we wanted for nothing which persons in moderate
circumstances needed, there was an exact account
kept of the amount of income and outlay, and
we made it a jioint always to keep safely on the
right side. By degrees our pecuniary means in-
creased ; capital was supplied for a more extend-
ed business on the part of my husband, and prof-
its augmented until we have a full, and I may say
an abundant share of this.»world's goods. My
husband and I unite, however, in the conviction
that this fortunate result of circumstances is
mainly owing to the system and economy estab-
lished in our young married career, and the smiles
>of Providence upon our industry and our eflbrts
to ])erform our duty in every relation of life.
The great error committed by young house-
keepers, is the thoughtless and unnecessary ex-
penditure of money which they cannot aflbrd,
perhaps in imitation of extravagant neighbors.
And in young husbands wasting their time in
visiting play-houses, billiard-rooms, club-rooms,
worthless exhibitions, parades and other places of
resort, instead of remaining at home with their
wives and families, enjoying domestic comforts,
which will in the end be found to be more endur-
ing and satisfying than ail the rest combined-
Young wives, also, should find their highest hap-
piness in their homes — in meeting and welcoming
their husbands to the spot which ought to be their
mutual paradise ; and, I am clear, their safest
road to prosperity is in establishing and observ-
ing strictly system and economy. — Germanioivn
Telegraph.
An Easy and Simple Yeast. — Take a jar
or quart pitcher and mix in it flour and warm wa-
ter, with a little salt, somewhat thicker than bat-
ter, and about half full. Then set the pitcher in
a kettle of warm water, about the same tempera-
ture, which must be kept up by adding warm wa-
ter occasionally. It must stand thus for five or
six hours, and be stirred now and then, till it be-
gins to rise. It will at last fill the pitcher, when
it will be sufficient for two or three loaves of bread,
by being mixed with more flour and warm water
in the usual way. If you use water half of which
is boiling, mixed with half quite cold, it will give
you the proper degree of warmth. This bread
never turns sour with age, and is very easily made.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
227
EKABICATIOlf OF BUSHES AWT» SHKUBS.
When pasture grounds become overrun with
bushes and shrubs, one method sometimes adopt-
ed for cleansing the surface is to plow them in.
To do this well, will require a very strong plow
and a stout team. It should be a plow made for
the purpose, and sufficiently strong for three pair
of oxen, so that it will turn out partially decayed
small stumps, and the green roots of young al-
ders, berry bushes, &c. As many of these as
possible should be covered by the furrows, where
they will gradually decay and feed the living
plants upon the surface above them.
Everything that has been produced by the soil,
and vitalized by the principle of life, possesses the
power of assisting the development and growth
of plants, and when resolved into its original ele-
ments, by the action of chemical affinities, which
occurs on the cessation of the vital principle, of
adding also to the improvement of the soil.
There are certain constituents involved in the
structure of all vegeta^jle substances, which are,
strictly sj)eaking, of a nature at once permanent
and indestructible. Thus the lime contained in
certain vegetables, when those vegetables cease
to live, is returned immediately to the soil. The
ash, or residuum, which remains after burning,
possesses, likewise, the same imperishable char-
acter, and becomes, as before, a portion or con-
stituent of the soil, and a powerful and indispen-
sable adjunct in the reproduction of future crops
of hay and grain. Thus the bushes, whether
burned or left to decay by a slower process, are
by no means lost to the soil, but impart to it val-
uable fertilizing agents.
There are some lands, however, which cannot
be subjected to the plow, and vjhich must be re-
claimed by some other process, which will clear
them of the spurious vegetation which prevents a
growth of grass. When such is the case, it has
been found a judicious plan to cut, and either burn
the crop on the soil, or remove it to some conve-
nient situation where it can be changed, by the as-
sistance of chemical agents, or by the natural pro-
cess of putrefaction — which, in all green and suc-
culent vegetables is soon induced — to the condi-
tion of manure. In this way the expense neces-
sarily involved in the operation of cutting and
clearing, will be partly reimbursed by the food
obtained, while the actual improvement of the
soil, resulting from the application of that food —
and which is by no means an insignificant item in
such efforts, will be obvious and enduring.
Most sheep ranges are more or less covered
with rocks, rising, occasionally, into steep and
abrupt acclivities, and filled with small cobble
stones, or large embedded boulders. When such
is the geological character of the soil, the surface
must be cleansed with the scythe, as no effort to
invert the sward and cover the vegetable matter
beneath the furrow slice can prove otherwise than
abortive. Where the hushes are cut clean, nu-
merous new shoots will be thrown out, and if the
pasture be slightly overstocked, the sheep and
cattle will continually browse tlrem and greatly
retard their growth, and in many instances entire-
ly suspend their growth. We have known lands
completely reclaimed, and filled with the sweetest
and most nutritious herbage, where the bushes
were cut as suggested, and then the land stocked
with sheep. This is probably the easiest and
cheapest method of restoring rocky lands, as on
such there will remain many places where the
plow cannot operate successfully. In such a case,
nothing but a useless and unprofitable expendi-
ture of time and effort can possibly ensue.
By thoroughly cleansing the surface of such
land, and sowing gypsum, lime, wood ashes, and
other energetic mineral manures over the surface,
a very decided increase of vegetable matter may
be produced, and at comparatively small expense.
Argillaceous, or clayey soils, it is supposed, are
better able to bear repeated ap])lications of lime,
than that of a sandy texture, as, in the first place
the action of the mineral tends, by its physical
action, to disintegrate and loosen the tendency
which all clays have to retain the hfimus, or de-
composable matter, left after the decay of all or-
ganized substances, whether of animal or vegeta-
ble origin.
On low lands, such as bogs and marshes which
have been thoroughly drained, the operation of
lime may be highly beneficial, because thly are
filled with substances which are susceptible of de-
composition which the decomposing power of the
lime tends powerfully to accelerate and perfect.
The effect produced by the solvent influence of
the mineral on soils of this description, is far
more potent, immediate and beneficial than that
of any other manure. But on thin, light soils, if
applied too frequently, or in excessive quantities,
it will tend to impoverish them, and reduce them,
after a time, to actual sterility, even though each
application may, when separately contemplated
in its results, appear to have a favorable effect.
A good pasture is a valuable appendage of the
farm, and without which no farmer can comforta-
bly succeed. As yet, far too little attention has
been given to this important department of the
farm.
Harvesting Turnips. — "Old Hurricane," a
correspondent of the Country Gentlcma7i, who
often starts up a breeze in its columns, states that
one year being hurried up by frost, he "hired six
day-laborers, and an extra team, to work with two
of his own men and horse and cart. That day
228
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.-
they worked at topping Swedes and raising them,
and at night he actually oflfered the men the roots
.housed for their wages, and was refused." Up
also states that a neighbor, who raised two acres
paid enough for extra day-labor in harvesting, be-
sides his regular hired men and team, to amount
to 20 cents per bushel for the whole crop. He
also says that his experience is, that, after a crop
of corn is ready to garner, it will cost more than
the corn will fetch in market to hire it harvested
by ordinary day-laborers. This he acknowledges
to be a specimen of Gentleman Farming. In con-
trast to which he cites the case of a neighbor who
does his own work, is independent of circamstan-
ces and men, has fine buildings, good fruit, early
crops ; in fact, perfect order, neatness and thrift
are the characteristics of that thirty-acre farm.
TOPDEESSING GRASS LAWDS.
It is the practice of many farmers to topdress
their grass lands with composted manure as soon
as they conveniently can after getting off the hay
crop. It is a good practice. The manure pro-
tects the roots a little from the rays of the sun,
and the first shower washes some of its nutritious
properties into the soil and about the roots of the
grass, so that they are stimulated to throw out
new sets of leaves, which afford a still further pro-
tection, botl> to plants and the manure. The sur-
face is also sufficiently hard in summer to allow
the teams to pass over it without cutting ruts, or
being poached by the feet of the animals drawing
the load.
We refer to this matter at this particular time
in order to suggest to those who have grass lands
newly laid down, — that is, that have been mowed
only one or two years, — not to postpone the ap-
plication of some sort of dressing, if they desire
to continue cutting a remunerative crop for sever-
al years. The mistake made by most farmers is,
in postponing the topdressing too long. If clover
is allowed to seed, and is then cut, the roots die
and there can be no further crop from them. If
the clover is cut while in blossom, there will be- a
second crop the same year, and perhaps two crops
the succeeding year, if the land is rich. Red top
and herds grass will continue longer than clover,
but the roots of both of these gradually die out,
or yield to stronger grasses, until the whole crop
is changed from the sweet and nutritious grasses
just named, to the wiry "June grass," weeds, or
some other plants of little value. All this comes
from not topdressing in season. If this were
done, even though but slightly, after the first crop
is cut, and afterwards, each year, the roots of the
grasses sowed would be kept in a vigorous condi-
tion, and our mowing fields would not "run out"
as they do now. Under such a practice, moist,
and naturally good lands would yield a ton or a
ton and a half of hay per acre for eight or ten
years in succession, with more certainty than they
now yield two-thirds that amount.
A neglect of this important item of farm work
brings a train of losses that should be avoided.
In the first place, the farmer, feeling that he can-
not aff'ord to plow so often, allows the field to re-
main m grass for several years, when he gets but
a scanty crop, not half, perhaps, what the land ia
capable of producing under skillful cultivation.
The next expense incurred is that of plowing and
preparing the soil, and the cost of seed to stock it
again. These are all expensive, and if their fre-
quency could be lessened one-half or one-third,
the saving would amount to a handsome sum in a
twenty years' practice.
For the New England Farmer.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY— ITo. 6.
One reason assigned by some farmers for not
keeping sheep is the expense of fencing. We
have said in a former article, that he is a poor
farmer who does not keep sheep ; and we always
say, when we see poor, tumble down- fences, that
the owner is a poor farmer, and has poor land to
farm ; for if land is not worth fencing it certainly
is not worth farming.
An ordinary fence, sufficient to turn the geher-
alitj of cattle, would be all that would be required
to turn, with the addition of a rail, that class of
sheep which would be most profitable for a farm-
er in this section to keep. Mr. Charles G. Davis
says in his report : "A ^e\N sheep were formft-ly
kept in remote corners of Plymouth county, most-
ly known as native sheep, with long legs and nar-
row breasts ; wool of all varieties on the same
carcass except the fine grades, with straight hair
protruding from the more substantial level of the
woolly matting. These sheep could run like deer,
and jump or climb a four-rail fence. The major-
ity of our farmers had been brought up with the
idea that stone walls and common fences would
not restrain sheep ; and they judged rightly of
such as were known to them. We have now
among us many flocks, small in number, which
are easily confined by a good wall or a three-foot
fence, close enough to prevent their crawling
through. Sheep raised for mutton, as in Eng-
land— and it is for mutton principally that they
must in a series of years be raised here — are quiet
and lazy." A good four feet and a half fence
would turn the heavy, long wooled sheep without
a rail. But in this section of country, where stone
is so abundant, we should be iij favor of a deep
loall under the surface to drain off' the water and
out of the way of the frost, and six feet high
above the surface, so that during those cold and
driving storms good shelter would be aff"orded the
cattle and sheep, and such shelter in the spring
would be of incalculable value to the raiser of
lambs ; and which the farmer would fully appre-
ciate after seeing the beneficial effects upon his
stock for a few seasons. What an advantage it
would be in early spring to have the southerly
side of such a fence, with a sweet, fresh grass for
the ewes and lambs to crop while enjoying the
genial rays of the sun, shielded from the bleak,
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
cold, northerly winds ; and in summer the north-
erly side would afford excellent shade from the
scorching rays of the sun !
AVhen we have seen the sheep lyino; panting
under some low bush or wall, we have wondered
that it did not occur to our farmers who have
some old boards and slabs lying round, to make
a cheap shed for their cattle. What a protection
it would be during showers, storms and winds !
and the amount of manure found there would be
sufficient proof that it was appreciated by those it
protected.
But they say it will not pay. If it will not pay
to remove a stone from the surface of the ground,
it certaiidy will not pay to let it remain there.
What profit did the farmer ever realize from that
square yard of land occupied by a stone ? A spire
of grass, a blade if grain or corn never waved
there. But the stone once removed the soil be-
comes productive forever. AV'hether the stone is
used to build a fence or make a drain, it ceases to
be a barrier to the cultivation of the soil. The
question of paying being simply a question of time,
improvements on land ought not to be calculated
like ordinary outlays which endure but for a sea-
son. The improvement of land by removing stone
continues forever.
We have, in preceding articles, referred to the
large amount of wool which is raised in Great
Britain ; but it is not for wool alone that sheep
are kept in that country. Mutton constitutes a
large item in the domestic economy. It, is fre-
quently styled a beef eating country, but a larger
amount of mutton is consumed there every year
than of beef. Mutton is cheaper and more nutri-
tious than beef, and far more nutritious and much
more healthy than pork, and can be produced at a
less cost than either.
The experiments of physiologists prove that
mutton is not only more nutritious, but digests
more easily, and more readily assimilates to the
system than any other meat we are in the habit
of consuming, and is more economical to the buy-
er at the usual prices, for careful experiments
show that while beef in boiling loses 26^ per cent.,
mutton loses but 21 per cent. ; beef loses by roast-
ing 32 per cent., mutton only 24 per cent.
The committee's report on sheep husbandry for
1860 from which we quote, says :
"These facts have not only been long known
and demonstrated by English and French philos-
ophers, but have been actually and practically un-
derstood by the people, and certainly are worthy
the consideration of our own countrymen.
"The taste for and consumption of mutton will
increase according to the quantity and quality of
the production. Mutton can be raised much
cheaper than beef or pork. Mr. Mechi says, 'he
is convinced that beef must sell twenty per cent,
higher to make them pay alike.' When our farm-
ers find the demand for mutton increasing accord-
ing to their exertions to make it good, that they
can raise it a quarter cheaper than they can beef,
and that it is better husbandry to get a hundred
pounds of mutton from one sheep than from two,
and the quality of that will be a ruling condition,
then we shall have our State farmers cultivating
the best breeds of English mutton sheep to the
comfort, profit and health of the whole communi-
ty as well as themselves."
And if farmers wish to increase the demand,
and to cultivate a taste for mutton, let them pro-
duce the kind described, and they will find their
efforts appreciated by being remunerated.
We are satisfied that the supply of good mutton
is not near equal to the demand in this vicinity ;
and the same may be said of the larger towns in
the State as well as the villages. But we do not
blame the people for having no taste for a large
amount of the mutton that has been brought to
market. We are pleased, however, to notice a
marked improvement in the mutton offered for
sale, yet there is room for still further improve-
ment, and the public are ready to reward every
attempt to bring to market a first class article.
In order to demonstrate that the raising of mut-
ton is more profitable than raising stock or pro- '
ducing beef, let us suppose a heifer calf and six
lambs are dropped at the same time, the expense
of keeping six sheep being generally admitted to
be equal to one cow ; the cost, however, of keep-
ing the calf the first six months will be more than
the cost of keeping the lambs. These lambfi we
will consider wethers, of the long or middle wool
description, which are the best for mutton. At
one year old these would have fleeces of superior
coarse wool ; and if we reckon it at the lowest
price, such wool has reached the last twenty years
— twenty-five cents a pound — and reckon six
pounds to a fleece, which is light for that class of
sheep, then we shall have nine dollars for wool
the first year ; and the second year the fleeces
would be larger, though not quite equal in quali-
ty, yet the value M'ould be about the same, — that
would make eighteen dollars for the wool for
both years ; and calling the wethers one hundred
pounds each, which would not be a great weight
for this class of sheep fat, then w-e should have
six hundred pounds of mutton, for which four and
one-half cents per pound could easily be obtained,
then we should have twenty-seven dollars for mut-
ton, added to eighteen for wool, would give us
forty-five dollars. How many heifers are there to
be found at two years of age worth forty-five dol-
lars? But suppose we take six ewe lamlm, the
first year we should have their fleeces, which, if
they had no lambs, would be worth as much as
the wether's ni'ne dollars ; the second year their
coming in with lamb w'e would call the wool only
six dollars, and we would only reckon six lambs,
three for the butcher and three for stock. The
butchers have been paying the present year four
dollars per head, but we call them only three dol-
lars, and two for those kept for stock, which would
be fifteen dollars for wool and fifteen for lambs,
and if we only called the six ewes two and one-
half dollars each, would be fifteen dollars, then we
should have forty-five dollars, the proceeds of six
ewes, not bringing them in as many do at one
year old, but at two, and reckoning in no coup-
lets and low ])rices.
W. R. Putnam, in his report on sheep, gives
the actual sale from one of his sheep for three
years as follows: 1861, two lambs dropped the
oth of March, sold the loth of June to the butch-
er for ten dollars ; six pounds of unwashed wool
sold at twenty-fivjs cents per pound, one dollar
and fifty cents. 1862, two lambs at four dollars
and twenty cents, eight dollars and forty cents ;
four pounds of wool, one dollar and sixty cents.
1863, two lambs at three dollars and sixty cents
apiece, seven dollars and twenty cents ; six pounds
230
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
of unwashed -wool at fifty-five cents per pound,
three dollars and thirty cents, — making a total of
thirty-two dollars in three years. Two such ewes
as this would be a match for a pretty good cow.
Last August a friend of ours killed a wether
sheep sixteen months old, a Cotswold with a little
Merino. The carcass weighed 126 pounds, for
which he received ten cents per pound ; he ob-
tained four dollars and fifty cents for its fleece,
making a total of seventeen dollars and ten cents,
leaving out hide and tallow. Where can the farm-
er be found who can equal these examples for
profit by raising stock ?
We are not in possession of sufficient data to
make comparisons with dairy stock, but we are
satisfied that it would be found largely in favor of
sheep, while those farmers who keep cows and sell
their milk at four cents per quart, would find it
greatly in their favor to keep at least one sheep
for every cow in order to replenish the pasture,
■with the phosphates, of which the milk cows de-
prive, it.
When our estimate of the weight of sheep and
value of lambs and wool are compared with the
following statement, we think it will be allowed
that we have been very moderate in our state-
ments, and left a wide margin in favor of the sheep.
Mr. Lawrence Smith, of Middlefield, writing of
his new Oxfordshire flock, a cross of the Leicester-
shire and Cottswold, says : "My yearling ewes will
weigh in store condition from 125 lbs. to 175 lbs.,
fat wethers at three years old from 175 to 250 lbs.
My heaviest breeding ewe last winter weighed 211
lbs. ; my flock of store sheep and breeding ewes
usually shear from five to seven pounds of wool.
My ram fleeces weigh ten pounds unwashed, and
will sell in that condition for twenty-five cents per
pound. I never feed my store sheep and lambs
with grain, but give them early cut hay, and oc-
casionally a few roots." This statement was made
previously to March, 1859, when wool was low.
O. C. Felton, Esq., in his report of the Berk-
shire Agricultural Fair, mentions a Cottswold
buck ^at weighed 264 pounds.
Mr. Hiram Barbus, in his report for the same
year, mentions a Leicester buck exhibited by O.
S. Moore, of Southampton, five and' a half months
old, that weighed ninety pounds.
Mr. Charles G. Davis says, that the butchers
paid him in June, 1861, for his Oxford Down ewes,
eight dollars per head after the fleece was oft'.
He sold his lambs for ten dollars, and buck lambs
for twelve dollars to breeders.
Mr. Richard S. Fay says, that his lambs of the
same breed often reach 100 pounds in five months
on nothing but milk and grass. A yearling ram
from Mr. Fay's flock gained 15 pounds in three
weeks ; and a ram lamb weighing 85 pounds at
five months, weighed at six months 105 pounds,
on nothing but grass. A five years' old ram of
this breed weighed in the spring of 1859, 360
pounds. Mr. Fay's ewes weigh from 150 to 180
pounds. In 1859 his flock averaged over seven
pounds of unwashed wool per sheep.
We might quote from others concerning difler-
ent breeds and crosses, but we have quoted suffi-
cient to show, we think, that our figures are placed
at the lowest point, and if they prove the keeping
of sheep profitable, what must these statements
prove ? They certainly cannot prove less than
that it will pay to make fences, if not- such as we
describe, such as Mr. Putnam says Mr. Pierce,
of Topsfield, has upon his farm, small posts placed
by the side of the wall about twenty-five feet apart,
set leaning so that a wire fastened to them will be
over the wall about six inches above it, and then
another wire ten inches above that. This, it is
said, is durable and cheap. Tyro.
For the New England Farmer.
MAKING BUTTER.
I have read all the pieces upon making butter
and cheese, published in the goodly columns of
the Farmer, but have as yet (much to my disap-
poiniment) found nothing really applicable to us
farmers on a small scale. I suppose writers think
we that keep one or two cows, the same number
of sheep, a pig and a horse, must reduce the ad-
vice to suit our case, but that we don't like to do,
and the thought entered my mind that perhaps
if I should give a bit of my experience, others
might follow my example and thus enhghten me.
We have one cow, a common milker, good as
farmer' cows average, no better. She gives about
eight quarts at night, and between four and five
in the morning. We have no nice cool place to
keep the milk, and use common tin milk pans,
which we have no trouble in keeping sweet and
clean ; strain the milk in two at night, and after
saving out a quart or more in the morning, strain
the remainder in one. The cream rises pretty
well, and we churn it once a week, always. The
cream is very thick, the butter comes in about
twenty minutes, and we call it sweet and nice ;
the average amount is five pounds a week. We
salt it witli our hands, then let it stand twenty-
four hours, and work it over with our hands, let
it cool and press it through a mould into nice lit-
tle yellow cakes, just large enough for the butter
plate, with a well-defined strawberry leaf upon
them. You see our method is simple and plain.
Now the question is, do others make butter as
we do ?
The best way to deal with milk pans, pails and
cream pots, is to wash them out first in warm wa-
ter and soap, then scald them with boiling water
and wipe dry. Many wash pans that have con-
tained sour milk with hot water ; that is very
wrong, as it will spoil them, by causing them to
smell sour.
If this should prove interesting, I will at some
future time, speak of making cheese, upon a small
scale. Sarah.
Remarks. — We shall be glad to get your ac-
count of making cheese.
Draining. — The Canada Farmer well remarks
that in such a spring as this the benefit of drain-
ing the land is most striking : "We saw two large
fields adjoining each other yesterday, of precisely
similar soil ; one thoroughly drained and the
other not ; the drained field was quite firm and
dry, and the crop (peas) peeping promisingly
through the ground ; while the other is full of
water holes, and will require at least a week's fee
weather before a team can be taken on it. The
difference in the temperature of these two other-
wise similar soils six inches from the surface was
found by careful experiment to be more than
seven degrees !"
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
231
TEN RULES yOR MAKING GOOD BUTTER.
In making good butter there are several nice
operations to be gone through with which require
an eye to cleanliness, forethought and some little
experience.
1. On milking clean, fast, yet gently, regularly
twice a day, depends the success of the dairyman.
Bad milkers should not be tolerated in a herd,
better pay double price for good ones.
2. Straining is quite simple, but it should be
borne in mind that two pans about half full each
will produce a greater amount of cream than the
same milk in but one pan ; the reason of this is
the greater surface.
3. Scalding is quite an important feature in the
■way of making butter in cool weather ; the cream
rises much quicker, the milk keeps much longer,
the butter is of a better color, and churns in one-
half the time.
4. Skimming should always be done before the
milk becomes loppered ; otherwise much of the
cream turns into whey and is lost.
0. Churning, whe'ther by hand or otherwise,
should occupy forty or fifty minutes.
G. Washing in cold soft water is one of its pre-
serving qualities, and should be continued until it
shows no color of the milk by the use of the la-
dle. Very hard water is highly charged with
lime, and must in a measure impart to its alkaline
properties.
7. Salting is necessarily done with the best kind
of ground salt ; the quantities vary according to
the state it is taken from tlie churn — if soft, more ;
if hard, less ; always taking the taste for the sur-
est guide.
5. First working, after about twenty-four hours,
is for the purpose of giving it greater compact-
ness.
9. Second working takes place at time of pack-
ing, and when the butter has dissolved the salt,
that the brine may be worked out.
10. Packing is done with the hands, or with a
butter mull ; and when butter is put into wooden
vessels they should be soaked two or three days
in strong brine before using. After each packing
cover the butter with a wet cloth, and put a layer
of salt upon it. In this way the salt can easily be
removed at any time by simjjly taking hold of the
edges of tlie cloth.
Butter made in this way will keep any length of
time required. — Maryland Farmer.
Health in California. — We clip the follow-
ing paragraph from a communication in the Frai-
rie Farine); written by Edson Harkness, an old
agricultural writer for that paper :
It was the health of my family that induced me
to come here. More than one had weak lungs,
and one had died with consumption. Two others
I have good reason to think restored to sqund
health by coming here, but my wife was too far '
gone, yet the change without doubt prolonged j
her life at least a year. .There are a few unhealthy
districts in CaHfoi-nia, but the main portion is of
remarkable salubrity. The perfect health of the I
children here attracts the notice of every observ-
er. In eight years I have not known a case of
ague or billions intermittent here in the moun- j
tains, except it might be persons from the valleys i
w^ho come up to recruit. I
A PATENT STEP IjADDEB. «
We have rarely met with anything more perfect
of its kind than a light, neat, and really ornamen-
tal Slep Ladder, which we saw the other day at
Mr. J. Nouese's Agricultural Rooms, and one of
which we had immediately transferred, per ex-
press, to our own rooms in the country. There
are various sizes, from four feet high to ten feet,
and the prices vary from $2.75 to $5. It is cer-
tainly the lightest, strongest and most graceful
thing of the kind we ever saw, and should be
owned by every person who wishes to rise in the
world,' from parlor to store, and from the shop of
the mechanic to the farmer, trimming, grafting
and gathering fruit. One can carry a six-footer
on his finger, it is so light, and yet it is warranted
to sustain the M-eight of five medium sized men
without breaking ! Do not be too much in a hur-
ry about it, but be sure to get one the first oppor-
tunity, if you ever have use for a step ladder.
Fur the New Enslaud Farmer,
A PEW WORDS TO FARMERS.
A friend severely criticised my farmer piece,
viz. "Marry a farmer." The gothic cottage and
fountain was a source of much merriment to him.
He said, "There might, perhaps, be a few such
farms in the world, but one did not often see
them." If my sketch was an ideal one, is it not
to be regretted that the farmer cannot erect taste-
ful dwellings, or perchance a fountain ?
Must the farmer devote all his time to raising
grain and potatoes, with no leisure to beautify his
home, that it may be a source of pleasure to him-
self and family? And in after years, when Time
has silvered his hair, he mav sit under the trees
his hand has planted. And is a fountain, with its
crystal waters imparting its cooling airs around, a
luxury to be confined to the grounds of the
wealthy man of leisure ?
Tilling the soil i& a noble occupation if conduct-
ed properly. But how few farmers devote any
time to improvements. They follow the beaten
track of their ancestors, because "Dad did so."
The farm is distasteful to most farmer's sons, for
the reason it is not made interesting to them.
The monotony of the drudgery continues from
year to year, while their souls are in some other
pursuit. Give the boy more recreation. Let him
go into the woods and cull flowers, and there lay
the rudiments for a systematic study of botany at
some future time. Give him works on geology
and chemistry, and he will derive much pleasure
in analysing the different soils, and the formations
of the rocks.
Above all, make your home attractive to your
family. A tasteful villa is not out of place on a
farm, if one can afford it. If not, assist your
children to plant vines, erect trellises for their
support. Let them have a sunny place for flow-
ers, and assist them to transplant forest trees.
Let them cultivate the smaller fruits, while you
attend to the apple trees. Girls will be as much
interested as the boys in these occupations. No
matter if the sun browns their complexions ;
bronze is a prettier color than "pale milk." I be-
lieve farmers' daughters are not so well skilled in
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
household labors as their mothers. A young lady
can master many of the sciences, become accom-
plished in the elegant attainments of refined so-
ciety, and be a thorough housekeeper, without any
detriment to her character as a lady. Domestic
employment must be ranked as a fine art to be
appreciated.
If there is no one but the wife to perform the
menial duties that devolve on a farmer's Avife, pro-
cure help for her at once. The farmer has his as-
sistants— why not the wife ? Keep things in or-
der about the farm. Don't draw water from the
well by a pole with pail attached ; you may some-
time see your wife floating in the water down there.
But, then, hunting wife No. 2 is such a delicious
business. No. 2 would undoubtedly have that
well fixed to suit herself.
I presume my friend will perceive ilm is no
ideal sketch. Mils. S. A. Mighill.
Georgetown, Mass.
For the New England Farmer.
METEOROLOGICAL RECORD FOR MAY,
1864.
These observations are taken for and under the
directions of the Smithsonian Institution.
The average temperature of May was 59° ; av-
erage midday temperature, 65''. The correspond-
ing figures "for May, 1863, were 59° and 67'\
Warmest day the 31st, averaging 74° ; coldest
day the 3d, averaging 39°. Highest temperature
€6^* ; lowest do., 36".
Average height of mercury in the barometer,
29.11 ins. ; do. for May, 1863, 29.23 ins. Highest
daily average, 29.42 ins. ; lowest do., 28.83 ins.
Range of mercury from 28.75 ins. to 29.42 ins.
Rain fell on fourteen days ; amount of rain 3.14
ins. Ten stormy days, and 3.02 ins. of rain in
May, 1863. There was no entirely clear day ; on
three days the sky was entirely overcast. High
winds occurred on the 2nd, 3d, and 24th ; at oth-
er times wind moderate. The comparison of the
temperature of the month of May, 1864, with that
of May, 1863, indicates warmer nights this year
than last ; which have contributed much to assist
forward vegetation. A. C.
Claremont, N. H.
Correction. — In my meteorological table pub-
lished in your paper of May 28, the record of
the months of January, February and March was
for the years 1860-1-2-3-4. Therefore the table
should be cut in two between December and Jan-
uary, and the lower part moved one place to the
right, putting the date 1864 over the right-hand
column, then the whole will read correctly. As it
now stands it reads entirely wrong for the three
months named. A. c.
A Preventive of Bots in Horses. 1 will
give you a remedy for bots which I have used, and
known others to use for twenty years with entire
success. Get some salt from a fish barrel and
feed the horse once a week, and he will never be
troubled with bots so long as the treatment is con-
tinued. My way of feeding is to mix it with
claan salt in the proportion of about two parts of
the latter to one of the former, and give a small
handful once a week. If this is done from the 1st
of January to the 1st of July, there is not much
danger of bots. S. F. B., in Iowa Homestead.
For the Neto England Farmer.
MAKING BREAD.
Sugar and molasses are so high at the present
time, that every good wife is trying to use as little
as possible. And therefore, to fill up the place
once asigned to cake and gingerbread, something
else must be prepared. I know of nothing better
than good, light, sweet bread and nice yellow but-
ter. As far as I am concerned, I ask no better
supper than I can make from those two articles,
with a bit of cheese and a cup of tea, enriched by
a spoonful of cream. Milk, cream, cheese and
butter farmers' wives always have ; then let them
learn to make nice bread and they can live, let
the war last as long as it may. Allow me to give
you my way, and if you will try it I will warrant
good bread, unless the flour is too poor to deserve
the name.
Take one yeast cake at tea time, soak it in milk-
warm water, thicken with flour, about like (what
farmers' wives call) flap jacks ; let it stand in a
warm place, covered, until bed-time. Then take
one pint of pretty warm waler, a little salt and
your yeast made from the cake, and add enough
flour to make the whole a batter about the same
consistency as you did the yeast cake. Cover it
and let it rise until morning. Then add a small
half-teaspoonful of soda, and flour enough to make
it very stiff. Take it out upon your board, knead
it thoroughly and divide into loaves ; fill your
baking pans half full, set it in a warm, but not hot
place, say up on the mantle shelf, if you have one,
and let it rise until the pans are just full. Then
put into a hot oven ; bake very quickly. Take it
out, wrap it up in a cloth dipped in cold water,
and if, upon cutting, you don't find good bread it
wont be like mine. Your children will take it in-
stead of cake and gingerbread, and say not a word.
Your husband will make his supper of it and for-
get his usual piece of pie. Your neighbors will
all inquire "how you make such nice bread," and
go and do likewise.
If you have good, nice yeast, so much the bet-
ter ; use one cupful for a pint of water. I use
yeast in the winter and buy yeast cakes in the sum-
mer. ^ Sarah.
Cabbage Fleas. — A farmer in Chatauque Co.,
N. Y., writes to the Farmers' Club of the Ameri-
can Institute : "I want to tell my experience of ten
years in cabbage raising. I first learned of a Swe-
dish woman. Seeing some very nice plants, I
wished to know how she raised them without the
lice or fleas destroying them. She said she took
droppings from the hen-roost, a small quantity ; a
little new milk, enough to soak what seed she want-
ed to plant ; put in her seed, mixed all togethei*,
let it soak for a few hours — eight, ten or twelve.
She said fleas never would disturb the plants. I
thought as I had lost plants from fleas eating them,
I would try her method. For ten years it has j)roved.
a success. I select a sunny spot near the house,
so as to throw on the slops from the kitchen. I
make the bed loose by putting on leached ashes
and hen manure. When soaked enough I sow the
seed, stirring it in well, then if it should be a dry-
ing sun, sprinkle on water often, say three or four
times a day. Sow the seed as early as the ground
is fit to work, set the plants in place when three or
four inches high, keep them well watered and the
ground nicely worked, and you can raise cabbage.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
233
Fur the New England Parm*r.
KETKOSPBCTIVE NOTES.
Diseases of Farm Stock. — Under this cap-
tion, in the issue of this paper of April 30th, we
made some remarks intended to show that the
want of information in regard to the causes and
cure of the diseases of farm stock, resulted in
great loss to the farmers and much needless suf-
fering to the poor brutes ; and we also made some
suggestions intended to assist those who are de-
sirous of a better knowledge of proper medical
treatment of domestic animals.
We return to the subject in consequence of
having met with some very sensible and useful
observations in connection with it, from the pen
of Dr. Henry S. Randall, in a recent issue of the
Rural New-Yorker. After some remarks upon
the folly and venturesome presumption of a cor-
respondent who wrote that he tried everything he
could hear for of grub in the head, which he sup-
posed to be the ailment under which some of his
sheep were laboring. Dr. Randall remarks that be
who "doctors" at random, or because some person
as ignorant as himself has recommended this or
that, both being ignorant of the properties of the
drugs prescribed or used, stands more than a hun-
dred chances to one of doing a positive injury to
his poor, mute, defenceless patient. "We have
no patience," he says, "with this trifling with the
lives of our valuable domestic animals. We have
a right to kill them, in a prompt and decent way,
when our needs require it. But we have no right
to murder them by inches and in torture, by our
infernal nostrums and ignorant experiments.
"The most ignorant is always the most presum-
ing person in such cases. The man of large ex-
perience and knowledge finds out that 'doctoring,'
under the most favorable auspices, for serious and
constitutional maladies, is very uncertain in its
results, and that, usually, sheep which are 'doc-
tored' much, die. His opinions, therefore, are
given with hesitation. But your ignorant booby,
who knows nothing about the properties of drugs,
and who never owned a hundred sheep in his life,
understands everything at a glance. He either
had or saw 'just such a case once' — such and such
things were given — and the sheep 'got well right
oflr.' And some sensible men listen to such non-
sense !"
After showing that this blind and inconsiderate
way of experimenting with animals laboring un-
der serious disease, bad as it is, is not yet so bad
or foolish as that of those intermeddlers with na-
ture, who drug and dose animals in perfect health,
to prevent some future anticipated or dreaded
disease. Dr. Randall, remarks, most judiciously,
that the whole doctrine of medical preventives,
as commonly understood, is based on error, ad-
vises abstinence from drugs and trying every-
thing one can hear of, even when disease seems
threatened, and concludes with the following sen-
sible admonition, which it would be well if every
owner of farm stock would follow, both for them-
selves and for their sufiTering animals : "My
friend, if you don't know what to do, and have
no well-informed, experienced and intelligent
friend to tell you what to do, it is better to give
healthy surrounding, cleanliness, fresh air, good
nursing, and then fold your arms and wait for re-
sults. In nineteen cases out of twenty, those re-
sults will be less calamitous than they will be if
you fall to drugging and dosing. Lay it down as
the first and best rule of medical practice among
sheep, that when you do not know what to do, do
nothing at all. This is true of all animals." We
conclude, for the present, by saying that there
would be less sickness if there were more good
management and kind treatment.
More Anon.
THE PKIGE OF "WOOL IN 1864.
Every circumstance would seem to show that
wool must bear higher prices this year than it did
last year. Nothing has occurred, or is likely to
occur, to diminish the consumption. First, our
own great civil war continues to rage — expanding
rather than contracting in the magnitude of its op-
erations and consequently in the employment of
men. The most sanguine have ceased to antici-
pate its termination before the close of 1864. For-
eign wars have not diminished, and there is a
strong probability that they will increase. And
while the extra demtlnd for woolen clothing will
thus be kept up, the ordinary demand will be pro-
moted by the fact that there is less than the usu-
al surplus of woolen clothing left over from last
year, in the possession of consumers. During the
high prices of 1863, a disposition was manifested,
throughout the world, to economize in its pur-
chase. Even in our own country, where there is
less providence in such matters in proportion to
means than in any other, there was an obvious re-
trenchment in this particular. Accordingly nine
out of every ten persons have less spare woolen
garments than they were in the habit of having
before woolen fabrics rose to such high prices.
The consequence is that they will be compelled to
purchase more freely during the current year ;
and the least increase of consumption per head,
throughout the wool consumers of the world, will
sum up to an enormous aggregate.
Second : The price of wool is considerably high-
er abroad than last year, and the tendency is still
steadily upward. Old accumulations are exhaust-
ed. In some countries the product, owing to cli-
matic and incidental causes, is diminished in quan-
tity and quality. Especially is this true of Buenos
Ayres and the Cape of Good Hope. These two
countries supplied the United States last year with
32,000,000 lbs. of wool — within a million pounds
of half of the whole quantity imported ; and they
supplied us with considerable more than two-
thirds of all our imported j^/ie wools.
Third : No doubt exists in any quarter, that the
tariff on foreign wools will be materially increased
during the present season of Congress.
Fourth : Gold, and consequently exchange, is
gradually advancing. Gold yesterday (June 6th)
reached 194 — so that it would have required $1-
.94 in our currency to buy a dollar's worth of wool
in England, at the Cape of Good Hope, or in
Buenos Ayres. This state of things alone should
keep wool fully up to the best last year's prices,
provided the consumption, the tariff and foreign
production and prices remained the same. But
supposing the war to continue, the increase of for-
eign prices and of the tariff", and the diminution of
foreign production, must necessarily, according to
all the laws of trade, advance the price of wool in
our country in 1864. The usual effort will prob-
ably be made to depress the new clip, but if the
growers patiently bide their time, all these eff'orts
234
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
AlTG-
•will fail. And on whom will this advance in wools
operate as a special hardship ? All the previous
circumstances above enumerated, united, have not
carried up wools in proportion with most of the
other great staples of consumption. Woolen
goods, including cloths, carpetings, &c., &c., are
about 100 per cent, higher than before the war.
Linens, on the average, have probably advanced
full 100 per cent., if not more. Cottons have ad-
■vanced from 300 to 500 per cent. Hardware gen-
erally has advanced at least 100 per cent. Pig
iron has advanced at least 300 per cent. ; bar iron
150; carriage springs 250; tin 150; cast steel
100; nails over 140; screws and bolts, stoves,
axes and trace chains 100 ; lead, window glass and
paints 100; oil say 125, &e., &c. It probably
would not be unsafe to assume that articles of
consumption generally, except provisions, have
doubled in cost.
Some of the articles above enumerated have
been rendered dear, like W09I, by scarcity — oth-
ers not. Wool has been brought into immensely
increased demand for consumption as the only ex-
tensively available substitute for cotton in a mul-
titude of important uses. It is not excelled if
equaled in importance by any one single specific
article of consumption, and in none, probably, ex-
cept cotton, is the present supply less equal to the
demand. Yet wool, as already said, has not risen
since the opening of the war like other less im-
portant, and in various cases, less scarce commod-
ities. The rise in 1863, in the country generally,
in fine and medium wools, probably fell below 60
per cent. In coarse, it was higher.
How is this to be explained ? Partly, unques-
tionably, by the fact that the manufacturers, who
are the ultimate purchasers of all wool, are but a
mere handful of men, who are wealthy and highly
intelligent in their occupation, and who, from the
smallness of their number and their business-like
habits and associations, are capable, in their pe-
cuniary operations, of acting almost with the uni-
ty and energy of a single individual. In this re-
spect, and consequently in the power of effecting
their objects in the market, they are to the disu-
nited producers acting without concert, what a
Macedonian phalanx is to an unorganized mob.
That they have struggled during the past year
with indomitable resolution, and with a very great
degree of success, to keep down the price of wool,
is not, we think, to be disputed.
Are they to blame for those efibrts ? Whether
80 or not, we are disposed to believe that the pro-
ducers would have done precisely the same, with
the same opportunity for doing it. Human na-
ture is pretty much alike in all occupations ! We
take occasion to say this, because in nothing that
we have uttered would we be understood as
preaching up any crusade against the manufac-
turers. We want the wool-grower to have all
that belongs to him, and the manufacturer to
have no less than belongs to him. A feeling of
hostility between them is only injurious to both.
If the contemplated tarifi" on woolens is enacted,
there is no occasion for the former to entertain
any jealousies of the latter. He will be placed in
a situation where even the circumstances above
named will give the manufacturer no advantages
over him. But let there be reason and modera-
tion on both sides. In the day of his success, let
the wool grower never forget one fact, viz., that in
pursuing any line of action which will necessarily
prove destructive to the manufacturer, he only
performs the Sampsonian feat of tearing down the
edifice whose ruins must overwhelm himself. All
our present advances in wool growing will be
thrown away and lost unless American manufac-
turers continue to flourish. No American in our
day and generation, can raise wool for profitable
exportation, at least north of Texas and east of
the Rocky Mountains. — Bural New-Torker.
PKUNLBTG PBDTT TREES.
The following sensible and practicable remarks
are copied from the Michigan Farmer :
Pruning is a scientific operation, requiring
knowledge combined with good judgment. The
apple tree is an institution that should never be
touched with saw or knife unless you have a good
reason for it. That is, you should know how,
when and what to prune, or let the tree alone.
The rules of pruning are mostly negative, to avoid
doing mischief to the tree. The plum and cherry
rarely require any, the pear but little, the peach
more, and the apple more than all. The peach
should be cut back at setting so as to create a low
head, and then annually cut off from the head one-
half of the last year's growth of each shoot. This
is what is called "heading back," or "heading in,"
and this heading in process should be practiced on
the pear.
The apple needs pruning or not, according to
the form and habit of growth of the tree. Some
trees grow with heads erect, some diverging, some
spreading, and some drooping. Others are as-
cending, while others have an irregular or strag-
gling growth ; hence much judgment is required
as to what and what not to prune. Every limb
should be so cut at its "swell" as to make the
least wound. Always avoid cutting ofl" very large
limbs, as it endangers the health, if not the life,
of the tree. The little fruit spurs on the bodies
of the larger limbs should be generally left on.
Some thick headed trees, like the Spy, need half
thinning out in the centre of the top, to let the
sun in to ripen the fruit. Those sorts with sparse
heads need thickening by heading back the limbs.
It should always be born in mind to keep the head
of the tree well balanced. The apple should be
pruned very lightly if done in the Spring, and a
little done every Spi'ing. The month of August
is the best time for heavy pruning, for the reason
that if you prune heavily in the Spring, you have
taken away so many channels for sap that the tree
is obliged to throw out limbs — "sap-suckers" — to
carry it ofi"; but if you prune in August, when the
flow of sap is weak, the wound heals over, and, at
the same time, new channels are formed for sap,
so that in the following spring the sap will take
to those channels without throwing out sap-suck-
ers. It is rare to see sap-suckers from August
pruning.
The Currant Worm. — A correspondent of
the Rural New Torker recommends the following
wash as death to the worms, but not injurious to
the leaves :
Take one oz. carbonate of ammonia ; 1 oz. ni-
tre. Dissolve in one quart of soft soap ; mix the
whole thoroughly in nine gallons of rain water.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
235
HAVE PATIENCE "WITH THE BOYS.
Labor is scarce and produce is likely to be ex-
travagantly high this season. While farmers will
be obliged to economize in the amount of hired
help, they will be anxious to raise all they can.
There is, therefore, danger of undue anxiety of
mind and over-exertion of body. This year, if
never before, let patience have her perfect work.
Have patience with the new machine. If at first
it does not meet your expectations, if it is harder
to manage than you anticipated, and fails to do all
you hoped, have patience ; "practice makes per-
fect."
Especially is this old saw true in respect to
the boys, for whom we would ask a large share of
patience — patience not only with the poor man-
ner in which they accomplish their tasks, but pa-
tience, and a great deal of it, with their inability
to do all you would like to have them do, now
that the work presses so hardly in all directions.
Just take that boy's hand in your own ; feel of his
arm, his shoulder, chest and ribs — wonderfully,
fearfully, slightly made — is it strange that he ac-
complishes so little ? that he so soon tires, and
complains of the "hard row" that has fallen to his
lot ? Will fretting or scolding harden his bones,
toughen his sinews, increase his endurance, or
make him love the hard work of the farm ?
Farmers are generally careful about putting
their colts to hard work before they get their
growth. It is well they should be. Many a fine
animal has been injured and its value greatly de-
creased by being used too much before its system
•was sufficiently developed and matured.
That parents intend to be much more careful
•with their boys than with their horses we have no
doubt. But the boys are so much longer in "the
green tree," their bones harden so much slower
than those of domestic animals, that there may be
danger in the present scarcity of farm help, of
laying out more work than ought to be performed
by the available working force of the farm, and,
consequently, danger of "putting up" the boys
too hard ; not purposely, not willingly, but from
an apparent or supposed necessity.
But the body is not all. There is danger of
discouraging their minds as well as dwarfing their
bodies ; of breaking their spirits as well as their
backs ; of distorting their fancy as well as their
frames. In fact, everybody knows that "all work
and no play makes Jack a dtM boy" — dull of mind
as well as Of foot.
What, then, shall be done ? With Cowper, we
boast,
"I would not have a slave to till my ground,"
nor would we have our sons so overworked as to
become as stiff and stupid, as dull and clownish
as the ignorant peasantry of Europe. The histo-
ry of New England, and, in fact, of all the other
free States, has demonstrated that there is a hap-
py medium between these alternatives ; that the
day-laboring farmer may improve the mind as
well as the soil ; that he may think as well as
work. The great mission of the present age and
of the present generation is by many supposed to
be the abolition of slavery, and the demonstra-
tion of the true dignity of labor. But do not the
models and drawings of our national Patent Office
show that at the bottom of all these efforts lies the
idea of substituting machinery for slavery — of
doing by ingenious combinations of wood and
iron, put in motion by steam and horse power,
just that kind of drudgery which from time imme-
morial has been performed by slaves. The big
water-wheel revolving in the dark basement of
the factory ; the hissing boiler, which, like the
Southern slave, is cautiously "lodged" in an out-
side "cabin ;" the patient ox and the noble horse
are henceforth to be our "hewers of wood and
drawers of water." And our sons, — they are to
be overseers ; taskmasters, — not of human sinews
"bought and sold ;" not of down-trodden, abused
man, thank Heaven, but of the inanimate, soul-
less machine.
The question, then, is not simply whether any
given tool or machine will save money. We
should consider whether it will save hard work, —
A few years since we passed two farms in early
hay-time. On the first farm a man and a boy
were mowing in a lot near the road. We passed
along leisurely. The man was far ahead of the
boy, who was slowly and awkwardly hacking his
way along. After "mowing out" and whetting
his own scythe, the man walked back somewhat
impatiently, to the boy. "Why don't you put the
heel down ?" — "Stand up to your grass." — "There !
right into the gi-ound again !" — "Seems so you
never would learn." "Well, it'« all loose here,
and bent out there," replied the boy, as we went
out of hearing of what else he had to say, and out
of sight of the old black implement in his hand.
On the next farm a man and two boys were mow-
ing— the shortest and probably the youngest was
on the lead. Their scythes and their hats looked
new. We heard nothing of their conversation,
but everything indicated that they were starting
right — that their tools were good, the iron sharp,
and the boys full of courage and ambition.
This courage and this ambition should be kept
alive, if possible, during this season. They are
worth more than good tools cost ; more than pret-
ty frequent holidays cost ; more than kindness,
more than pleasant words cost. We see it stated
that a farmer in Illinois kept up the courage of
his boys by giving two of them, — one ten, the
other twelve years of age — twelve dollars, telling
them playfully, to "go and buy out" a neighbor
236
XEW EXGLVJTD FARMER.
Are.
wha had a )aige fiodk of fine-vookd «heep. The
Vfft bou^ faar eves. Tfais vas tbree jeara
ago. Widi tktf fpcmg's increase, the flock and
^ Tocd ther hare prodaced is esdmated at near-
ly 1300. The PraiHe Fanmer, who tells this sto-
ly, sap that in aB that seetioa small hoys are en-
fhrniattir sheqi raisezs, talk precodoosfy of dis-
eases, aad K^j^—^'^ earnestly the relatxre qnaSties
ef difiocBthneds, grades o^vooL &c.
We coinend the exam^ of these pareitts.
KXTRACnS AMD SEFIiEBS.
▲n 'SxeetkeaA AUiexney Gov.
VmnagwatitedmjomT last paper an aeeonm of a
ftK earn in Hoffistoo, I Aoo^ I wooJd like to tell
Yoaofafirilbkwd JenKj. Iboo^lia-of Xr.Tlram-
as Dirv. fatUj of WeRCSta, wkca ske mas fire
ve^soU. Ske bad her &st eslf Then die was two
▼can olfH, and wo«ld auke ti4 pounds of tatter in a
'4Mf. nKbm^E^feeraBsoMleatfwkeaAewasfDa-
joD oU and Bade in oae week eieron poands and
tea oanees of tatter. Shehadbo'diinlealf tke tlurd
Atf«riMl AptM. 8beis novfire yeari ^d,wei^
obIt 700 pfl«fT"*«, and nMde last week Lo3^ pooods of
teoxr. '■ '^- Moi:£E.
TT.«»*>««« —The dcfitale, deer-lflte appeataaee. and
AenckaBkof tkeJeiae7e0ws,seeaito6( tbemes-
j.^M^aiiy fn-th» grnfV— »«^« *«»« ""* »*««•- pr»Ta»g fa»-
Sf, jet Mi. Hint s^s. in kis txeatiEe oa Daiiy Farm-
%m^_ tkat "cme or two good Aldonejg wifh a berd of
ifieea er twealy ordinary oows will make a great dif-
fticaeein tteqndity^ tke aulk and batter of fke
iriMte cetaMMiaifat.''
pnncnired, triien ibere emdes a mtetance which, Trhen
1 BEzed with a eavH qaaatity of asilk and sof&r, acqaires
the coosiaoicy (rf batter. It can then be worked into
balls tbe same as taner. Many who ka^e used it pre-
.fcr ft to bnuer. My iukaaMBS 8»fs be has ased that
kept three xBonthe and Itand it sweet and good. The
fir^ plant was siren to him by a naral officer who ar-
xired at Ponsnuiatb firom soaae fesciga ffatiMi.
Seahrook X. H, Jiate, ISRi. S. P. 3f .
•ptPTtATtTs — ^At first ihoaght we supposed onr cor-
le^Kmdent was slyly reeommending good lai^ baked
4ples; if that is not the case, win he please brash tip
Ms fiotaiy a little, or jog the elbow of his nsTy-yard
irfead who is so qtieCly doigng the pieseat high
ofbaU bMtcr,''tbtt alstle farther iaforma-
m^ be imparted as to this wonderful plant tmaa
"foreign station."
-Keepine Stock.
AsUiere have beea soaw b% sagar stones told in
A* Fmnmer, I woold Uke to tell what has been done
jBthiBtown. There hare been made, this last spring,
w tea ftrawxs wilkia one mile of aae, tweaty-three
tkiM^md poaads o( sa^u. Yoa may think we lire
m die woods aad oa ■agar,bat the same posons hare
wirtcwd twOn k^i^cd rtKep. oae bnadred and
cigAtr-two bead of eaoie, and thirty-fire horses.
^^VK^hay, Vt^ Jvme 12, 1864. C. Grates.
SxK;iBxs.— These (acts are ecareely more credit^-
1^ to the "ten ferment of 81uewfetaij>, than the man-
^eref Aeanwianeeaseatii to frieadGiaresL Itdoes
«ar pear aid eyes good— it does the yofn^^cr aad
trig****' ^es of die prtaters good,— to see now and
tkea a f«»*i*«g manaso^ ; one in which the writing
ia neat and ^etinct, the words aad fines properly eep-
atated by fibenl Uaaks, the capital letters aid marks
M poaetaaciaa jast as th^ shoidd be oa die pmded
ilaetofallwitlMatasapertaonsword. We
r wka» Slueastaij is; hare seen her menntains
aad soaMtldng of hCT Cums, and hope Mr. Glares will
Ikror the readen of the Farmer with sooie further no-
fiee of the indastiy of his neighbors. Hare not the
expcrieaee Ot these toi fioners who produce 2300
foaate of sagar, keep 120 sheei^ IS cattle aad 9ii
kefsea»oa an arenge^to each farm, elicited soau faeu
whieh, if pobliehed, wonld encourage and benefit, pcs-
riMy , some of their lees prosparoos brother Ikrmers ?
BobaCitate for Batter Used by a 'Workman at
the Portamooth Havy Tard.
As ray knowled^ of bf^anr has lain onnsed of late
1 will not andenweto deecrflje the plant that he says
aiodacea the ftait which is about the sizeof fint piek-
Dg of the baldwin ivple. It arrrres at mainrity alxiut
Angast 19th, whea K is picked, laid oa plate* aad
That Check-Bein.
If tb^ neif hbcTS of the man who stiil persisu in the
Bse of ihe ereck-rtin, will tie np his arms and pnt him
OB the dotiTjle-^nic-k OTer some twelre or f fteen miles
of a hiUy road, he will learn to appre:iate ibe disad-
rantages nnder which a horse trarels wi:h his head
Cttteaed in an annatnral position. e. p. x.
Small Cowa.
) I saw a breed of caale a few days since, which, as
' milkers, are preferred to any others by those who like
small feeders. They do not gire as much milk as
some largnr cows, bat the qnantity is l^rge for their
■ riae. T& cow that I saw did not exceed in size a
I yeartiBg of the natrve breed. Her "points" were ail
I first-rate, the only disproportion being her bag. which
was too large for her conTenience. s. p. m.
Seahrook, .V. H^ June, Vm*.
I BaitAaKs. — ^We pablieh the foregoing as a specimea
i of that iadcfiait^icas which gready mars aaiay agri-
cattaral coaaiuniealions. Whether oar correspond-
* ent has be^ smitten by a little iawn-like Jersey, or by
' Ecane diminntire Irish, Kerry, Norman, or Canadian
breed, is more than can be gathered from his state-
I FACTS BEAHISG OJT CATTliS BBEHDrETG.
j The Secretary of the Masaadiasetts Board of
Agnenltare gives the following abstract of some
rcauorks made by PioC Agassiz at a meeting of
I the Board bst December. VTbatever may be
thoagbt ti the practical truth of the theory ad-
vanced, if it shall lead to greater caution as to the
Me of inlerior males either first or last, it can do
■o barm in that direetion at least.
**AfteT expretang some sonnd .sentiments with
r^ard to the eonnection between science and
practice, and showing bow the two ought to be
connected in the bnnness of agric-uitoral educa-
tion, he presented an elaborate view of the laws
of reprodactioB, and their connection with the
of farm animals, as an iiluAtration of the
vaatimportanee of profound science in guiditig the
bxma to his work. He had found by ezpenment
that the process of fecundation was governed hy
some extraordinary laws. The common turtle, for
iastaoee, does not corameaee to breed nntil it is 7
years old. At the second year, connection be-
tween the male and female takes place, without
aay apparent result. The tbird year connectioa
taaes ulhce, and still no eggs. And so on until
the 7tn year of the life of the female, when she
eoAmences bringing forth maternal egga. At
tlifit tim« the eggs m the ovaries present rarioat
1864.
NEW EXGLAXD FAKMER.
■Ews, as if tfaer had been impfcgaated at the dtf-
fierent periods.
Certain retj cnimis CMts m Hbe leptedacdoc
cf other animals, go to ^tum thai the impre^oa.-
tion of an otum max take fdaee a loop time pir-
Tious to its derdopsMnt. and that it pnbaldT only
zeqaires the stimulus of fatare cooncctioa vttfa the
■laie, to bring it into e^stence. He had exp^-
■tented with a Xewfoondland hitch, bf eoapiin^
her with a wattrr-do^. and the pregeny were pan-
]t water-dog. partly Xewfiumdiand, and the re-
mainder a mrxtare of both. Fatnv eaaMedpn of
the same bitch with a grerhoond p«>d»«»d a Utter
Hke the farmer, with hartUv a tnee of the grey-
hocmd. He had br«d rabbits with the lava estab-
lished by this experiment, and had art leal so im-
pregnated a wnite rabbit with the gray rabbk, that
connection of this white rabbit with a black male
inTariabh- pittduoed grar. A &et stated by Mr.
Oiapin, of Yiifardf that a hen tnrfcrr woald lay
two or three saece^ve litters of eggs, harmg be«a
impnrgnated only for the first Utter, was new to
Prof. Agassix. It was undoubtedly with a knowl-
*dge of these laws of reprodBCtJoiB, perhaps pro-
foonder than that which we possess, that the Jew-
ish code declared that if a widow having eUidren
marr}- again, the ehildrot of hear second hitb^id
shall be heirs of the first.
Hicse laws, established by these experiments,
shonld govern us in the breeding of oar animals,
and should make us careful in a selection of males
for the first impregnation of females, as apon this
depends the future value of the female in produc-
ing the type which the breeder may design.
The lecturer threw much light on the sabjeet of
breeding and rearing cattle, and clears op many
points which have always been tronblcaomc to the
breeder.
In conclusion. Pivf. Agassis dwelt upon the in-
fluence which soil and climate e:xercise in devel-
oping the animal system. Large frames, great
bony structures, srrow on limestoce soils, saaaller
bones on granite formations. He thought this
ought to be taken into consideratioQ m selecting
animals for any locality. And he was moreover
sati>fied that a breed of animals could, if confined
to any given spot, grow into confonnitr with that
»pot.
The Professor confirmed these views with great
distinctness by reference to the animals which rep-
resent the dillerent cantons of Swiuerland."
OF TSE BTSna.
CCTllT BaiAXl.
' a little tkraat,
.:e-Iikeaio(e,
-"'ifTCTSOB^.
ScToreR Drink. — A -Practical Farmer" rec-
ommends in the OfrmantotrH Trie'jrapk the fol-
lowing as a refreshing beverage, and one that
may be safely drank in the hottest weather:
Take of the best white Jamaica ginger root, care-
folly bruised, two ounces : cream of tartar one
ounce : waiter, $i\ quans. to be boiled for about
five minutes, then strained : to the strained li-
quor add one pound of sugnr, and again place it
over the fire : keep it well stirred till the sugar is
perfectly dissolved, and then pour it into an
earthen vessel, into which you have previously
put two dractims of tartaric acid, and the rind ot
one lemon, and let it remain till the b««t is re-
duced to a lukewarm tem|vfrature : then add a
tablespoonful of yeast, stirring them well together,
and tx.>ttle tor use. The corks must be weU se-
cured. The drink will be in high perfcetioa ia
four or five days.
Oa kafless .-
Trarm he tbe
Yet winter iV
FcrfitMSskal
Agumikel
WbM a white
And load th
Xes, hajpli, fir>.>Bi '. ^
Waked br aa car
Tbe bte>i>wafd wilc-
Te come ia haste .
For thcfe is beard rr
The boomiai; gaaa u
And oa d»eir chariKrs.
Armed wairioisV
There w^HT h<<«ir5
la valievs :!:
And Karth bu". -
Of half am
In lETores where saea y« ^
la orchards where ve had joar iMtth,
A thousand ^iitteiiBe a:Ees swing
To smite the trees~to eani.
Ye lore the fidds hy plowmaa trod ;
6m there, whaa synrnts the becche
Tbe soldier obIt breaks the sod
To hide the :»ain away.
Slav, Then, beneath oar mder sky ;
Heed not the storai-ckwd^ lisii^ ^farl",
2f or yelliDir winds that with thea t!v ;
Nor let ihem frf^t you back,^
Back to the si^iag banle-dond.
To bwaiait towns that hlo( fte ^y,
Aad trains of moaatnit dast that shroad
The armies oa their way.
Stay, for a tint of jtrccn shall creep
SboB o'er the <^rcfa^rd*s <Tas!<y floor.
And from its bed ihe envus p««p
Beside the ho«aewift% door.
Here bniTd, and dread no 1
To scare yiMi m>m the sheten^ tree,'
Thau winds that stxr (be branches roand
And murmur of :be bee.
And we ^i" pray, that ere a^ia
- M' amamn btoom and die«
Oc -id their stTOBj^sumed men
M...- ....• ...(.J- weaqpms by.
Then nay ye warble, anafraid.
Where hands thai wear the fttter now.
Free as your wings shall phr the spnde.
And jnlde the peneefhl plow.
Then, as oar conqaeriaic hosts rctnra,
Fr ■ . <:em
A - .
Ami midi-ind plain and ocean-stracd
Shal! thuudtT: "GJory to tbe brave.
Peace to the torn aad M"eed?!>« lard.
And fkeedoa to the slave :"'
jIffiwtrtV Ifimfll^ fmr JiiL,
238
NEW EXGLAXD FAHMER.
Aug.
FcT tie Sev Etigiaad Farmer. I enemies of this insect. The greatest preventtive
HOBSE HOE — COHX— POTATOES. ! of its increase is the protection of the birds, many
Mr. Editor :— The farmer seems to have his ' ^^^^ °f ^^^^ ^^^^ extensively upon it. Some of
foil .hare of aU the improvements of the da\. and o"'". .^eed-eaUng birds, the sparrows and finches,
the last invention is the "horse hce," which'looks • Z^^"^"- ^''^^ Pf^P^^ suppose do but uttle good, or
like a thing of great miHtv, and far surpassing' ^^rm, to the farmer are very fond of them, and
the culH^^or or horse plow, the latter the only destroy mulntudes of them in autumn and spnng.
implemeat known to me when a boy for working ' I>a^^ 0"^° QOf'^^*^ ^^f ^^^ sparrow and the chip-
-amoag the com and potatoes. | P»°g ^P^"^ Vl^k^g them off the trees ; and for
AU that seems to be needed now to complete Y^^,* ^^o"* the last of Octooer and the last of
the farmers Ust, is a perfect potato-digger, a com- ^pnl and fore part of May, the pme finches and
hii8ker,an apple -gatherer and a sheep-shearing ' f^^^ co°J"^° 7^^^°'^ >rds frequent the apple trees
machine. It mav net be too much to expect per- ^ ^^^f^ P^^^'- ^^^ seem to derive a large part
bans that the ume will come when a flock of °f ^^^F ^°^' especiaUv the pine finches, from
sheep mav be driven, full ran, single file, through ^hese insects. ^^ hen the buds are opening m
a machine, and all come out sheared from riplol ¥^-^' J^^^^ "^^^^ ^^\° dinging to the extremi-
tin Genius, machinerv and horse power, have I ^^ of the small branches, often head downwards,
ii^measurablv lightened the labors of the farmer, searching for and devouring the aphis. At these
and his hard'uo^k has almost become a pastime. ^^^ {^""^ ^0"°^ hundreds at a time m their
Inre-ard to biUing com. or scarcelv making stomachs on dissecting them, and rarely much
thefon^of ahill,isitneeessarv? WUl not this "ther food. Many kinds of warblers destroy
farmers -horse hoe" do nearlv aU the work ? ^ t^^"" '^ great numbers, parucularly the yeUow-
See the com root* diverging from everv point, ««>«;°^d '^^^bler or myrtle brrd the Nashville
like so manv guvs, to hold it erect against heavv warbler and the blue yeUow-backed warbler, which
winds Homing' deep and hilling high, must cut ^!^ «« beneficial to our trees in May, when a va-
off manv rootsrand the holes that are made leave ""J" ^^ destructive insects are swarming among
a fine e»^pe for the water, without doing as much i ^b,«. oPt°*°g blossons and tender leaves, upon
good ais if the land was leveL
which these species and many others exclusively
feed- J. A. A.
Springfidd, Mass., June 20, 1864.
What can we say of potatoes, with their long, '
clinging roots ; the umbilical cord, connecting the
Eotato with the vine, (tough as a whip-lash :j the
ttle bmsh-like roots around the vine, to give p.yr the Sea England Farmer.
growth to the top, while the combined powers of bkEEDS AST) MAJS-AOEMEJTT OF STOCK,
earth and atmosphere contrive to give us our
mother earth's best esculent vegetable ? Is hoe
inf deep and hilling high the better practice for
thL crop ? While we doubt it to some extent,
we would beg to ask the practical fanner what is
best. He ought to know. It would be a simple
E«ad b*fore the Concord Farmers' Qab by Johs B. Moob£.
The term breed, as I understand it, appHes only
to the distinct families of animals who have been
bred without admixture of blood with other ani-
mal?, for so long a period of time as to have their
test to hill, half hill, and barely add a little fresh various points become so fixed and permanent as
earth in weeding the third row, and at digging
time the experiment would be fairly tested.
-These suggestions may be of no avail to your
readers, vet cultivation of these two most impor-
tant crops, cannot be too well understood. I
trust they may elicit a reply from some of your
thousands of readers that till the soiL
Brooidyn, L. L, 1864. H. PooE.
REatAKKS. — Excellent suggestions. We hope
some of our progressive fanners will give us their
views on the subject of hilling, with reasons for
and against.
F'/r i'M -V«w Enghind Parmer.
THE APPLE THEE APHIS.
Me. Editoe: — The apple tree aphis mentioned
bv your correspondent /. J- Watsox, of Wash-
in<non, Vt., in the Fanner of June 18th, is not a
new tlAng under the sun. It has been known
here for a long time ; and though somewhat inju-
rious, to the apple trees, has not caused any such
painful evils as your correspondent fears. The
insect is most noticed late in autumn and early in
spring, being more concealed in summer by the
abundant foliage of the trees. It is most seen
to render it certain that the offspring bred from
the male and female of such stock wiU always
show the same points possessed by the family to
which it belongs ; and if an individual animal said
to belong to any one of the different breeds should
produce an offspring not having the points be-
longing to that breed, it would be sufficient cause
for saying that the animal was not of pure blood.
The following distinct families of animals are
among the number usually designated as pure
bred animals, namely : — Durham, or Short Horns,
Hereforfls, Jjfxons, Jerseys and Ayrshires. The
term Soiite Bn/td, which we so often hear used,
is true in only one sense, that is, that the animals
to which it is applied are bom here, and the term
native could be applied with just as much propri-
ety to the Devons, or any pure-blooded animals
who have been bred in this country, through many
generations, as if they were also bom here, and
in some instances their parents before them. Per-
haps the term groule would be a better name for
all animals not of pure blood, and I will venture
to say, that no animal can be found in this vicini-
ty, called native, but that has more or less of
blood in its veins of one or more of »he breeds be-
fore named. And if you examine the best author-
ities upon breeds and breeding you will find that
those classes of cattle that I have named have
in (summer on young sprouts growing from the
hedges and limbs of neglected trees, where the ' been bred for special purposes, and in each case
wood is new and tender, and new leaves are con- with a particular object in ^-iew. Thus the Dur-
tinually putting forth- I write to speak of the I hams and Herefords for beef certainly excel all
1864.
NEW EXGL.\XD F-\E>IER.
239
other breeds ; the Devons for beef, dairy and beef after being done with for milk, will give dairy
working oxen. As working oxen they excel. The nine months of the year, two quarts of milk a
Avrshires and Jersevs for the dair}-, in which they day at least more than the Durham. If they gi^e
excel all the before-named breeds, and ueither of only one quart of milk a day more, in nine months
the families combine all the qualities required for it would, at two and a half cents a quart, amount
beef, work and the dair)-. to $6.S0, which, tailing seven years the average
It is of secondary importance to us to raise number of years that cows are usually milked,
beef and working oxen, compared with animals would amount to ^7.60, and the diderence in
capable of producing large quantities of good value of the two cows for fattening would be only
milk, which we sell in the form of milk or of new- from $2 to $5, leaving from $42 to $45 in favor
ly-chumed butter. Of the above-named breeds of the milker.
we find that there are only tic^:' families now prom- The next thing af^er procuring a good calf is to
inent enough to call your attention to as dairy raise it properly. Much depends on this, as it is
stock, namely : — the Jerseys and Avrshires, and a well established fact that no animal, half-starved
for the improvement in animals for the dairy we for the first two or three years of its life, will ever
must rely upon these two breeds. I do not mean come to the standard of perfection of the breed to
to say there are no good milkers in the other which it belongs, — so that good feeding from the
breeds, but they are exceptions to the general time of dropping the calf up to the time of the
rule, such not being the fixed habit of these breeds, heifer coming into milk, is necessary for the per-
Some may think it would be better to raise a feet development of the animal. I do not mean
breed of our own, or. in other words, a pure -\mer- by this that I would have an animal pampered, hut
lean breed from our native stock, so called, think- that they should be well fed and kept in a thriv-
ing that such a breed would be better adapted to ing condition all the lime, and in the winter
our pastures and climate than the pure bred cat- more particularly, and that they should always be
tie we now have. It is evident that it would be kept from vermin, which are often allowed to in-
the work of two or three generations of men. at crease to such an extent as to almost eat the very
least, to produce such a breed — but premising life out of our young cattle. Then they should
that such is the fact, then the most feasible way be sheltered from the storms in cold weather, for
for us to breed cattle for milking purposes is to they will sufi'er from being exposed to the cold
adopt one or both of these breeds, or. in other rains, and then left in the yard or put in a cold
words, take advantage of the improvements made barn, where it will take them many hours longer
for the last hundred years in the Jersey and -A.yr- to become dry and comfortable. Some persons
shire cattle for making that improvement. As it say it is no matter, it will make them tough and
would take a long time to raise a sufficient num-" hardy to stay out in the cold storms. But what
ber of pure bred animals to stock all our farms, would be thought of a man who would keep his
perhaps the best way would be to select good- children out all day in a drenching rain, and then
shaped, medium-sized cows of our common stock, let them dry their clothing on their backs in a
who have a thin, soft-handling skin, a broad and cold room at night for the purpose of making
capacious udder, with medium-sized teats, and a them hardy? Children would probably soon die
heifer, the product of such a cross, will be likely under such treatment: but animals, having more
to be a good milker, although that will not always tenacity of life, survive, but do not attain to such
follow. To raise good milking stock with any perfection under that treatment as they would if
certainty, it will not do to breed from a grade bull ; properly sheltered ?
because, although he may be a fine animal to all I do not know but the idea of poor keeping is
appearance, he might. — and probably would, — encouraged by many of the statements in regard
mark many of his progeny with the bad stain of to cattle made to the various agricultural societies
blood in his composition : and the chances of pro- for the last few years. The substance of some of
ducing a fine animal would be much less with such them is pretty much as follows : — A gentleman
a bull and the same cow than with one puie bred, enters a fine fat ox or cow for premium, and in his
Good cows, raised in this way. will answer our statemeat says that the animal was kept on poor
purposes for milking, and for which they would be hay, without any grain during the winter, and
as good, probably, as pure bred animals. Any summered in the pasture with very short, poor
one breeding pure blooded stook should confine feed ; or of a cow, giving an enormous quantity
himself to one breed, as in a stock of cattle all of of milk — that she has been kept on very poor
one blood there would be no danger o^ accidental feed, and a little corn fodder once a day to eat.
admixture of blood, and they will look better for Can any sensible person pretend than an animal
being all nearly alike. can he fattened, or made to give a large quantity
It may be urged that we should have a breed of of milk, without good and nutritious food ? Men
cattle that, after they were worn out for milking that make such statements — instead of receiving
purposes, would be as valuable for beef as the premiums — should have their statements sent to
Durhams. The Durhams, as a whole, are not the grand jury, for them to inquire into the mat-
good milkers, although some families of them ter, and see if they would not be proper subjects
are much better than others ; but you will find to be indicted, under the statute, for cruelty to
that those who do give a fair quantity of milk animals !
are inclined to go dry five or six months each i A uniform kind treatment, regularity in feed-
ypar. ! ing, good shelter, cleanliness and a plenty of nu-
A Durham cow that will make 600 pounds of tritious food fed to them in comfortable stalls, in
beef after she is laid aside for milk, will be worth the winter, good pasturage in the summer, with
about $25 for the purpose of rurning out to fat in an abundance of good water at all times, is what
the spring of the year. My idea is that an Ayr- I suppose would be called good management. If
shire or Jersey cow, that will make 550 pounds' of, I were called upon to state some of the points for
3i0
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
■which Jersej' cattle are noted, I should say, gen-
tleness, quietness, both in the pasture and in the
barn, a constant and regular flow of milk, many
of them milking the whole year (which I very
very much doubt the profit or utility of) but
think it would be better to let them go dry from
six to eight weeks. It not only gives them time
to recruit themselves, but their calves are much
stronger for it. They are also noted for the rich-
ness of their milk, the fine yellow color of their
cream and butter, and for its fine flavor.
FiNE-WooLED Sheep in Illinois. — The ed-
itor of the Prairie Farmer says that in a trip
through Du Page and Kane counties he scarcely
saw a farm but had its small or large flock of
sheep. Barns costing twenty-five hundred dollars
were not uncommon.
"There can now be found in Northern Illinois
as good sheep as are to be found in Vermont. In
fact, the celebrated sheep that carried off the great
prize at the Hamburg fair last year, have been
outdone in yield of wool by sheep owned by Mr.
Kelley, — who has just sheared a part of his flock,
intending to take them to the great exhibition in
Ohio in September next, the rules requiring that
they should be sheared on the 3d day of May.
The sheep are those that were shown at the Illi-
nois State Fair, at Decatur, last fall, and received
the first prizes as best pen of ewe lambs, best pen
of yearling ewes, and best pen old ewes, and
sweepstakes of nine ewes and one buck ; the buck
being a lamb of 13 months old."
When to Cut Wheat. — A club of ten fai-m-
ers in Chester county, Pennsylvania, made exper-
iments in cutting wheat. Their conclusion was
that the best time to cut wheat was "when the
grain can be pressed between the thumb and fin-
ger, and leave nothing but the husk and a thick
pulp, without any fluid around its edges." The
reason and the rule are thus stated by a Gettys-
burg farmer in the Oermantown Telegraph :
Wheat is composed of gluten, starch and bran.
Gluten is the nourishing quality of the grain,
makes the flour stick together in the hands of the
baker, and gives weight to the grain — and there
is the greatest quantity of gluten in the grain just
when the straw is yellow two or three joints from
the ground, the head turns downward, and you
can squeeze a grain between your fingers without
getting any milk from it. Every day the wheat
stands after this tinge of its ripeness, the gluten
decreases in quantity and the bran increases in
thickness.
New Code of Maine Laws. — By a law of
this State any person who shall, to the acceptance
of the Selectmen, place a trough by the roadside,
into which a stream of water shall be constantly
kept running, is entitled to an annual deduction
of $3 from the amount of his yearly taxes. And
by another law, towns and cities are authorized to
give bounties to farmers and other citizens who
shall plant out and protect shade trees by the
road-side.
DEATH OF DISTINGUISHED AGBICUL-
TUKISTS.
Within a few weeks past several men, whose
names have long been familiar to the readers of
agricutural papers, have departed this life.
Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsw^okth fell at the
head of his division May 6th. He was President
of the New York State Agricultural Society in
1842 and 1843. Was a man of great wealth and
equal benevolence. Lived on one of the most
beautiful farms on the Genesee River.
Dr. Eva Pugh, President of the Pennsylva-
nia Agricultural College, has also been taken from
us. Like many other distinguished scientific
men, he was from the humbler walks of life — hav-
ing been originally a blacksmith. He devoted all
his spare time and earnings to the improvement of
his mind. He was at length enabled to go to
Europe to complete his chemical studies. After
he had spent some time in several of the most cel-
ebrated laboratories on the Continent, he spent
two years with Mr. Lawes on his experimental
farm at Rolhamsted, engaged in investigations in
regard to the absorption of atmospheric nitrogen
by plants. Returning to this country he was
elected President of the Agricultural College of
his native State, and soon gave it a character pos-
sessed by no similar institution in this country.
He was a man of unbounded energy and perse-
verance, and thoroughly acquainted with the sci-
ence and practice of agriculture. His loss is irre-
parable.
Charles B. Calvert, President of the Mary-
land Agricultural College, died at his residence,
at Riversdale, May 12th. He was a large and suc-
cessful farmer, prominent in every agricultural im-
provement, and his loss will be severely felt, not
only in his own State, but throughout the whole
country.
Rev. C. E. Goodrich, of Utica, N. Y., well
known for his experiments on potatoes, and for
the number of excellent seedlings he has pro-
duced, died at Utica, May 11th, aged 62 years.
Tenant Farming. — The ambition of the Amer-
ican farmer is to own the land he cultivates. He
scorns the position of tenant, and if obliged to
rent a farm for a few years, seldom thinks of mak-
ing any considerable outlay for improvements, es-
pecially for those of a permanent character. In
England, where long leases are taken, large sums
are expended by the tenant for such purposes.
An instance of very liberal improvements made
by a tenant is mentioned by a late Scotch paper
in an obituary notice of Thomas Logan, of Wood-
end:
Mr. Logan entered on a new lease of the farm,
formerly leased by his father, at Whitsunday,
1859. During the first year he limed 700 acres at
a total cost of £3500 ; in the same year he drained
600 acres, the drains 3 feet deep and 30 feet apart,
at a cost of £2520.
1^=" Coal oil dropped upon the nests of caterpil-
lars when the "varmints" are inside is said to be
a safe, sure, and speedy means of accomplishing
their destruction.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
241
MULTIPLICITY OF PLAKTS.
The number of plants now known and regular-
ly classified, amounts to several hundred thous-
and. The Linnaean enumerates twenty-four class-
es, one hundred and twenty orders, two thousand
genera, and thirty thousand species.
Of these species, the varieties are almost innu-
merable. The arrangement of Linn^us is very
ingenious, and serves greatly to facilitate the ac-
quisition of botanical knowledge by its clearness,
and the ease with which it enables one to discrim-
inate between plants so nearly assimilated in ap-
pearances as to demand no inconsiderable degree
of research to avoid confusion.
Of these plants, there are a great many which
administer directly to the wants, comfort and hap-
diness of man, by affording healthy food, wood
for building and other artistic purposes, as well
as for medicine, and a great variety of other things.
"There is nothing in nature," says an ingenious
author, "without its use in the animal or vegeta-
ble kingdom. Of plants, some give out in the
sunshine, vital air, called by chemists, oxygen
gas. This he imbibes into his blood through the
medium of his lungs, in breathing, and without
which we could not live. Some afford substance
to the silkworm which spins for him those elegant
garments so much worn and admired. Some
plants are used for feeding and fattening his cat-
tle. In short, without vegetables there would be
no animals, and man himself would only catch a
glimpse of life, and then miserably perish with
hunger."
What, however, should more particularly ar-
rest our attention, is the almost endless variety
of vegetables, possessing such a varying degree
of taste and of nutritious and medicinal matter.
They seem, indeed, to be adapted to all the wants
of man and animals. In sickness and in health,
for the strong and the weak, some one may be
found to suit every case. We know a physician,
for instance, of extensive practice, who rarely uses
anything as an alterative but apples. If he is
sleepless, and is slightly feverish, he rises and
eats a crisp and juicy apple, and finds it more ef-
fective than any narcotic. This remedy would be
quite likely to throw another into convulsions,
who would be relieved by a dose of hellebore or
the juice of the poppy ! Another person afflicted
with a painful disease finds relief from the free
use of pears, and another from grapes. Where
the kidneys are affected, the patient is often re-
lieved by eating freely of ripe peaches, the prussic
acid which they contain being properly adminis-
tered in this mild form.
Then, how wonderfully they are adapted to the
varying seasons. By the time the snow is fairly
gone, some plants push forth their tender leaves
with rapidity, so that in a few days the table may
be supplied with fresh and healthful "greens" of
various kinds. Then succeed the delicious small
fruits, ripening in succession until delicious pears
and apples are waiting to be gathered.
There is no other country, we believe, where
there is such a variety of eatable vegetables, and
such an abundance of them, as we have here, —
certainly, the markets of England do not afford
them.
MILK, BUTTEB AND CHEESE.
Mr. Brown: — Having had some dispute in
regard to milk, we agree to leave the decision to
your valuable paper. As to qualities for butter
and cheese in proportion to its weight ; also,
which will make the most butter, the lightest or
heaviest? Please discuss the matter generally,
and oblige n.
Templeton, July, 1864.
Remarks, — It would afford us pleasure to make
this controverted question clear to our Templeton
friends, — but when they disagree — the practical
"doctors" in the case — men and women of great
experience in all matters that relate to the dairy,
we may well approach it with diffidence and dis-
trust. We have had, however, considerable ex-
perience in the dairy room, and with the light
which that affords, together with the opinions of
good dairy women, and what we can find that is
reliable in the records of others, we will present
a few paragraphs for consideration.
The question propounded seems to be as fol-
lows:
Which will make the most butter or the most
cheese, the lightest milk, or the heaviest milk ?
The specific gravity of milk is 1.032 — that is,
one, and thirty-two thousandths parts, while pure
water, which is the standard, is 1,000 ; milk,
therefore, is 'the heaviest by the difference in these
two sums.
Several years ago, when the adulteration of
milk in the Boston market had become so notori-
ous and intolerable that the Legislature took the
matter in hand, many experiments were made by
different persons to ascertain the various degrees
of adulteration. In these trials, new milk, that
was known to be pure, was used in nearly all the
cases, and with the surprising result, that the spe-
cific gravity of all new milk is nearly alike, — the
extreme variation being only one ounce in a wine
gallon !
This certainly is a remarkable result, when we
take into consideration the fact that the milk of
different cows has a wide range of quality, — the
cream varying from Jive or six per cent, in one
cow to eighteen or twenty per cent, in another !
We have owned two cows, each of which gave a
large flow of milk, for several months after calv-
ing, but from neither of them could six pounds of
butter per week be obtained from their milk.
242
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
AVG,
Tbey invariably brought large calves, however,
which grew and fattened with remarkable rapidi-
ty. This is undoubtedly owing to the abundance
of caseine, or cheesy matter, which yields the
materials of the growing muscles and of the or-
ganic part of the bones ; while along with the
curd and dissolved in the liquid milk is the phos-
phate of lime, of which the earthy part of the
bones is to be built up. A grade Ayrshire, stand-
ing by the side of one of the above, not yielding
much more than half as much milk, would give
nine or ten pounds of excellent butter per week.
With these facts before us, our Templeton
friends will see how difficult it must be to give a
satisfactory solution to their inquiry.
In his excellent work on "Milch Cows and Dai-
ry Earming," Mr. Flint says : "Milk is exceeding-
ly sensitive to numerous influences, many of which
are not well understood. It is probably true that
the milk of each of the divisions of the udder dif-
fers to some extent from that of the others in the
same animal ; and it is well known that the milk
of different caws, fed on the same food, has marked
differeiices in quality and corriposition. But food,
no doubt, has a more powerful and immediate ef-
fect than any thing else, as it goes directly to sup-
ply all the secretions of the body. Feeding ex-
clusively on dry food, fqi* instance, produces a
thicker, more buttery and cheesy milk, though'
less abundant in quantity, than feeding on moist
and succulent food."
It is quite clear, we think, that the quality of
the milk, and consequently the proportions of its
several constituents, vary with the breed of the
cow, with the food on which it is supported, with
the time that has elapsed since the period of calv-
ing, with its age, its state of health, and with the
warmth of the weather, — as in warm weather the
milk contains more butter, but in cold weather
more cheese and sugar. In all cases, the milk
contains the same substances, though in diflerent
quantities and proportions.
Let ue see now what the influence is, of breed,
CONSTITUTION, FOOD, SOIL, &c., on the quantity
and quality of the milk.
Both the quantity and the quality of the milk
are affected by a great variety of circumstances.
Every dairy farmer knows that his cows give more
milk at one season of the year than at another,
and that the quality of the milk also — its richness
in butter or in cheese — depends, among other con-
ditions, upon the kind of food with which his cows
are fed.
1. The quantity and quality of the milk are af-
fected by the breed. — Small breeds generally give
less milk, but of a richer quality. Good ordinary
cows in this country yield an average produce of
from 8 to 12 quarts a day. Thus the dairy cows of
Devonshire gi^e 12 quarts a day,
Lancashire 8 to 9 quarts a day,
Cheshire and ) o .. ,
Ayrshire \ ...8 quarts a day.
during ten months of the year ; but crossed breeds
are, in many districts, found more productive of
milk than the pure stock of any of the native
races.
The influence of breed both on the quantity and
quality of the milk appears from the following
comparative produce of milk and butter of one
cow of each of four different breeds, in the height
of the season, and when fed on the same pasture.
The
mm. Butter.
Holderneas gave 29 quarts and 38 ^^ oz.
jMderney 19 " 25 "
Devon IT " 28 "
Ayrshire 20 " 34 "
Not only was the quantity of milk very differ-
ent in the four cows, but the produce of butter
also — the Holderness, in the quantity both of milk
and of butter, being greatly superior to all the
other breeds.
The milk of the Holderness and of the Alderney
breeds was equally 7ic7i in butter, as was the case
also with that of the Devon and the Ayrshire,
since one pound of butter was yielded by
12 quarts of milk from the Holderness cow,
2 " " " Alderney cow,
9J^ " " " Devon cow,
9>^ " " " Ayrshire cow.
Some stocks of Jersey cows produce one pound
of butter from eight and one-fourth quarts of new
milk, the year round, and at the same time con-
sume less food than others.
The butter of the milk is often in great part de-
rived directly from the fat of the food. Hence
the value of food which, like Indian corn and lin-
seed cake, is rich in oil. Hence, also, those ani-
mals which lay the smallest proportion of this fat
upon their own bodies will be likely to give the
largest proportion in their milk. Thus the Ayr-
shires and Alderneys, which are good milkers are
narrow across the shoulders, and loiry and muscu-
lar about the flanks. They give a rich milk, but
rarely fatten well. The short-horns, on the con-
ti'ary, are celebrated for their fattening tendency.
They deposit more of the fat under their skin, and
impart less of it to their milk. In both breeds,
however, there are striking exceptions, because —
2. The individual form and constitution of the
cow causes both the yield and the richness to vary
much among animals of the same breed. Every
dairy farmer knows that some Ayrshire, or Hold-
erness, or Devon cows are better milkers than
others. And even when they yield nearly the
same quantity of milk, the richness or produce in
butter may be very unlike. Thus, four cows of
the Ayrshire breed, fed on the same pasture, gave
in the same week — the
MUk. Butter.
First 84 quarts which yielded Z\i lbs.
Second and third, each 86 " " 5>;i "
Fourth 88 " " 7 "
so that the fourth, though it produced only four
quarts more milk, gave twice as much butter as
the first.
The tendency to yield butter, is, no doubt, con-
stitutional, like the tendency to lay on fat.
3. The kind of food also exercises, as all cow-
feeders know, much influence upon the quantity
and upon the richness of the milk.
If the food contain little fat, the animal still
produces butter. Is has the power of changing
the starch and sugar of its food into fat during
the process of digestion. It even robs its own
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
243
body of fat, becomes leaner, and thus yields more
fat in the form of butter than it has eaten in its
food. Where only part of a dairy of cows is kept
for their butter, and the rest for cheese, the but-
ter-milk from tlie former may be given to the lat-
ter, and thus the produce of cheese increased. In
the State of New York, cows are said to yield one
hundred pounds more cheese in a year when the
whey from tbeir own milk is added to their daily
food.
4. The nature of the soil, also, in which plants
grow, end the manure by which they are raised,
affects their influence upon the milk. It has been
known from the most remote times, that when fed
upon one pasture the cow will yield more butter,
upon another more cheese. This diffei-ence must
depend upon the soil.
5. The milk is affected also by a tmrieti/ of other
circumsta/ices. Its quantity depends very much
upon the distance from the time of calving. •
The quality of the milk is better from cows that
are in good condition and have already been two
or three times in calf — it is richer in warm cli-
mates, in dry seasons, and when the cow is not
too frequently milked. It is said to be richer
when cows are kept constantly in the house and
regularly fed — those which go at large in the pas-
ture yielding more cheese. When a cow is al-
lowed to go dry for two or three months before
calving, it is believed to give more milk the fol-
lowing season. . In autumn it is richer upon the
whole, giving a less proportion of butter, but a
greater of cheese (AlTON) while it becomes poorer
in both when the cow is in calf. The first milk
which comes from the udder is also poorer than
that which is last drawn, the stripp'mgs or strok-
ings — and, lastly, the quality of the milk is very
much affected by the treatment and moral state of
the animal. Gentle treatment and a state of re-
pose are favorable to the richness of the milk ;
while anything that frets, irritates or harasses the
animal, injures its quality.
Lassaigne obtained some curious results on ob-
serving the composition of the milk of a cow,
which he examined at ten different periods, four of
these before and six after parturition. The milk
examined during the first three of the former pe-
riods, namely, 42 days, 32 days, and 21 days be-
fore parturition, contained no casein at all, but in
place of it albumen ; and no sugar of milk and
no lactic acid, but a sensible quantity of uncom-
bined soda. The milk examined eleven days be-
fore and just after parturition, contained both al-
bumen and casein ; while milk eleven days before
parturition, and always after it, contained free
lactic acid and sugar of milk, but no free soda.
The milks examined 4 days, 6 days, 20 days, 21
days, and 30 days after parturition, contained ca-
sein and no albumen. It would appear from these
observations that the milk of the cow is at first
very similar to the serum of blood ; and that the
casein, sugar of milk, and lactic acid, to which it
owes much of its distinguishing characteristics,
begin first to make their appearance in it about
eleven days before parturition.
We are aware that in this discussion we have
not answered the question put, and we think those
who have followed us thus far, have come to the
conclusion that it is just as difficult to answer as
it is to tell why one plant produces red fruit and
I another yellow, or why one apple tree bears sweet
\ apples and another sour.
j The truth is, that life, in its action, devolopes
! results that are entirely beyond any human power
I to trace out. This diversity in the products of
the cow is not more strange than is sometimes
observed in the growth and quality of plants. It
is pleasant and instructive to inquire, because
such inquiry leads us to many interesting particu-
lars perhaps unknown before, and brings the mind
to act upon a special and highly important topic.
We shall be glad to hear from some of our cor-
respondents, on a subject of so much consequence
to all.
For the New England Farmer^
SHEEP HUSBAIyrDRY--3Sro. 7.
In populous districts it will be found more ad-
vantageous to raise the long or worsted wools
than clothing or shorter wools, on account of the
market for mutton and lambs. And it would be
particularly profitable for farmers in this section
of the country to raise the former class of wool,
having a market so near at hatid, where they have
found a ready sale for the last twenty years, and
where the consumption of long and middle wools
has been increasing, and in all probability will
continue to increase for some time to come ; and
we may reasonably suppose that enterprising cap-
italists will not leave their capital unemployed un-
der the present high tariff, high rate of exchange,
and particularly the present price of cotton, which,
let there be peace or war, must rule high for some
years to come — not less, certainly, than twenty-
five cents per pound.
Upon the mtroduction of cotton warps into the
manufacture of worsted goods the English farmer
thought it would seriously affect the price of
long wools, but the cheapening the manufactured
article so increased the demand for that class of
goods, that notwithstanding the introduction of
cotton warps in the place of worsted ones, and
the introduction of alpacca for filling, yet so great
was the demand for half cotton and half worsted
goods that the demand for long wools increased.
And in 1844, in the vicinity of Bradford, Eng-
land, the great centre of the worsted manufacture,
there was scarcely a loom to be found weaving
worsted warps. In the vicinity of Halifax a few
mills were employed making lastings, a class of
worsted goods which require worsted warps, and
there is no reason in the world why this article —
the material of which our wives' and daughters'
boots and shoes are made, and many of our vests
and summer coats — should not be made in a
country which in all probability exceeds every
other country in the world in its consumption.
But in order to do tfiis, we must have the materi-
al either produced at home or brought from abroad ;
but the importation of the raw material would no
more benefit the country than the importation of
the manufactured article. The production of the
raw material is with the farmer ; which we have
endeavored to show in former articles can be pro-
duced at remunerative prices. We would call the
attention of our readers to the fact that bunting,
of which all our flags are made, is imported;
glory as we may in the stars and stripes, we must
iU
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
Aug.
bear in mind that they are produced in foreign
lands. Bunting is ail worsted and requires a
strong thread, in order that the article may be
light. The warp must also be worsted, for the
hard twisted filling would cut a cotton warp and
render it unfit for the breeze.
To produce worsted warps it will require a bet-
ter class of wool in some respects than the farm-
ers in this section of country have been accustomed
to produce to any great extent. There are some
fleeces produced that are good warp wool, but the
great bulk is only fit for worsted filling, and some
so short that it is only fit for woolen goods.
But in order that the farmers may operate in-
telligently in the production of the class of wool
required for this purpose, it may be well to give
them a few leading ideas of the' character of the
wool required, and some reasons why it is re-
quired ; and also state that that wool which is
best adapted to make worsted warps will also
make the best filling. Therefore, should worsted
warps never be made, the farmer would have the
satisfaction in knowing that he was producing
■wool best adapted for worsted filling. •
The kind of wool required for worsted is that
which will make the smallest and strongest thread
with the least napf and the smallest amount of
stock, and this can only be accomplished by jomb-
ing the long stapled wool.
Combing has two objects to accomplish — the
removal of the noil, which is the short fibres at
the bottom and the hard ends at the top of the
staple ; it also lays the fibre straight by taking
out the curl to a great extent. This is done by
the warm comb while the .wool is moist. "Wool is
the same in character as horn or hoof, warm them
and they are easily worked. The wool is worked
with a warm comb, and by repeatedly passing
through the wool while warm, the curl is taken
out, causing the fibre to measure one-third longer
after being combed than it did before.
The wool best adapted for making worsted
warps is that sheared from yearling wethers. This
is what is called, in England, hog wool ; but when
only a limited supply of this can be obtained, then
wether wool is used, that is, wool sheared from
wethers two years old and upwards. The first
fleece of an ewe is as good as that of a wether,
provided she has no lamb, — if she has, her con-
dition is likely to be impaired, which weakens the
wool, causing it to break easily, making more
noils, which are of less value than the long, and
by shortening the fibre unfits it in a great meas-
ure for warp, and makes it less valuable for any
other purpose. Wethers being always kept in an
improving condition their wool has strong, good
bottomed staples ; but if from scarcity of food, or
want of proper care, or by disease, at that partic-
ular time when the wool is gi'owing, there will be
a weak place in the staple, and should the difficul-
ty be serious the staple will scarcely hold together.
Hence ewes' wool is never so good for any pur-
pose as wethers'. Their condition is always vari-
able, and their wool will be as variable as their
condition ; consequently a young ewe, having
lambs before she has arrived at maturity, cannot
have a good fleece of wool, and no ewe can be
drawn heavily upon by lambs without its wool be-
ing poorer, therefore a moderate supply of lambs
will be made up to the farmer by a larger quantity
and better quality of wool.
Wool grows from a soft pulp included in a lit-
tle sack underneath the true skin, through which
it passes in the form of a cylinder, consequently
whatever tends to diminish the supply of pulp,
robs the fibre of nourishment, and checks its
growth. You cannot have both pulp and milk,
and old age furnishes it very sparingly.
The fibres of wool have externally a scalv tex-
ture, the scales pointing from root to tip. These
scales form a sort of fine points or serrations,
which, when wrought into cloth, lock themselves
together, producing by this means a much strong-
er thread than if smooth. These scales are small-
est and most numerous, and the serrations finest
pointed, in the finest wool, therefore broadcloth
made from the finest wool is stoutest if not too
much reduced in stock. But in worsted, where
the strength of the thread depends in some meas-
ure upon the length of the splice, the longer the
fibre the stronger the thread ; yet the strength is
increased, if, in proportion to the length of the
fibre, we have a proportionate number of secre-
tions, and the scales being shortest in young sheep's
wool, the secretions will be most numerous and
finest pointed, and will produce the strongest
thread. Older the sheep the longer and more
blunted the points of the scales and fewer the ser-
rations, and these less capable of cohering to oth-
ers, cannot produce as strong a thread as young
wool. On this account old sheep's wool is fre-
quently styled slippery-haired, — a proper appella-
tion,— it will not hang together well in worsted.
A firm piece of broadcloth cannot be made from
it. The farmer will now easily understand why
young .sheep's wool is so much more desirable
than wool from old sheep, and if he desires good
cloth he must produce a good material to make it
from. He is interested in the production of good
cloth, but he cannot have it unless he produces
good stock ; the production of the material is his
part, the working of it the manufacturer's.
The farmer should bear in mind that pastui'es
abounding in burrs waste a great amount of wool,
and unfits it for worsted ; if these are cast out with
shears half the staple is cut away, the part cut off
is but of small value, and the part left is not fit
for worsted, and of little value for woolens. If
the briars are taken out with a machine, the staple
is broken by the process, and its quality seriously
impaired ; this, too, unfits it for worsted. Mark-
ing the sheep with tar or pitch wastes a great
amount of wool — this must be cut off" with shears,
which destroys about half the staple and serious-
ly impairs the value of the other half.
Sheep, allowed to run amongst the bushes, will
have the back of the neck, between the shoulders,
and sometimes along the back filled with leaves,
seeds and little sticks ; this injures the wool for
any purpose, but entirely unfits it for worsted.
And a careless manner of feeding sheep in winter
with hay, fills the neck and back with the seed ;
this also impairs the wool very much, as it is al-
most impossible to remove it, and also unfits it for
worsted. Sheep ought always to be fed in racks
which will not allow them to shake the hay over
their backs — a hopper-shaped rack is the best —
not of so blunt an angle as to prevent the hay
from falling into the trough, but projecting suffi-
ciently to protect the back and the neck. The
slats should not be more than eight inches — these
should be perpendicular — and the hopper above
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
245
should be of boards. Chaff, when allowed to get
among the wool, is worse than hay seed, and great-
ly impairs the value. We hope to live to see the
day when the farmer will learn that it is his bene-
fit to bring his wool as clean to market as any oth-
er of his iarm produce. Tyro.
For the New England Farmer.
PAKMING THE COUNTRY'S MAIN STAY
—"ECONOMY EVERYTHING."
Mr. Editor : — The old adage, "facts are stub-
born things," holds as good as ever. How many
times has the question been put, is farming profi-
table ? Let facts decide without regard to the
cost of producing a bushel of corn, but take the
business as a whole. We can run the expense of
carrying on a farm to any amount above the in-
come, where economy is wanting, but that don't
prove that farming is a bad business. The facts
are, that prosperity at farming depends, like all
other business, wholly upon the manner in which
the business is conducted. If the farmer, like
many men in other occupations, must smoke ex-
pensive cigars, drink the "best of liquors," with
other corresponding requisites, he would soon be
admonished that he had mistaken his calling.
Now what makes the difference between the farm-
ing population and inhabitants of villages? It is
coerced economy : the farmer and the villager
have naturally the same propensities, the farmer's
caj)ital is land ; his income is tardy, his money
comes in small sums at uncertain times, he dreads
infringing upon his capital and that is what saves
him. On the other hand, the villager's capital is
his trade, which directly produces him cash, in-
stead of a crop for the market.
It is frequently the case that those who earn
the most are the greatest delinquents, and most
apt to wrong their creditors. Those who receive
the highest wages, as well as those who receive
salaries, are as apt to fall short as those who re-
ceive but moderate pay ; theycommence upon a
higher grade of living and, to carry it out, are
often under greater perplexity than those who
make less pretensions.
A few years ago I was conversing with a very
respectable and worthy clergyman, whose salary
now would be considered vary small. Among
other talk, I remarked that we had to pay some
regard to economy to steer through the world like
honest men, and not disgrace oui selves by paying
our honest debts by the laws of chancery. He re-
plied with em^j^aAts, "economy is everything." That
clergyman's note at that time was good for $10,-
000. That is the true idea ; economy is what sus-
tains the farming interest. If farmers were to
drink expensive liquors and smoke Havanas dai-
ly, and follow other fashionable habits which are
indulged in by respectable merchants and receiv-
ers of salaries, how long would it take the farmer
to cancel a mortgage ? The industrious, econom-
ical farmer has the advantage of laboring men in
manufacturing villages in many respects. Every
farm has some kind of a tenement attached to it
which answers to sheltir the occuj^ant, which is
rented or sold with the land and draws no extra
pay as rent ; then the little trifling things that
grow about every farmer's buildings, of the vege-
table kind, including cultivated and fruits of spoii-
taneous growth, which if purchased, take off the
small paper, and if not, must dispense Avith some
of the greatest luxuries of the season — the berry
pies.
We can make no rational estimate of the in-
come of the farm from the cost of any one or two
individual articles of produce, from a year or two
in experimenting, but we must be governed by
the product of the farm as a whole. At the year's
end, if the farmer finds himself as well,' or better
off than when he began the year, he may consid-
er himself more fortunate than the average of the
working world. The proprietor of a small farm
of 80 or 100 acres of good land, is the best off, if
he would be contented. Large farming establish-
ments require a high degree of skill, good calcu-
lation, economy and unceasing care in the man-
ager, or errors may happen to defeat his expecta-
tions, and the business prove a failure.
That blight and curse to all comfort, the un-
bounded desire to get rich, seizes the farmer oc-
casionally to the annihilation of all tranquility and
rest, in doors and out. Hurry and confusion per-
vade the whole premises, and reign supreme ; the
women are unmercifully burdened to ])erform
their share in the enterprise ; the sons, under con-
tinued pressure, get tired, and a growing hatred
to the business drives them from home, perhaps
to their ruin ; and so it goes on till sickness from
exhaustion enters the premises and the deluded
farmer, when too late,_/ee/s the effects of his folly,
if he does not see it, by the loss of his wife and
desertion of his sons — himself an old, suffering,
broken-down man before he is aware of it, and
compelled to die before he gets the last purchase
paid for. "What does it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own life" in the at-
tempt? I have been an eye-witness to a like trag-
edy. Not so with the rational, contented farmer.
His sons and daughters love home and leave it
with reluctance, and as many of them as can be
accommodated stay there.
I have spent some of the happiest hours of my
life with such families. Ignorance is not a neces-
sary element in the constitution of a farmer. A
clown may enlist in the calling as well as into
other business. Well educated farmers are mul-
tiplying, and our instructive agricultural newspa-
pers will prove a continued school of progress in
teaching the art of agricultural science as well as
improving minds in physical and moral subjects.
Money cannot be expended for paper in any shape
to belter advantage than for our agricultural pa-
pers ; they are not party bigots, but inculcate
good, practical Christianity, which is useful to
everybody. Undoubtedly there are individuals
among merchants and speculators wlio are richer
than farmers, in estimated property ; but when
fluctuations take place in consequence of embar-
goes, blockades and wars, which, God forbid, as
in 18Q8 to 181 j, there comes a change; land now
in Boston worth from one to ten or more dollars
a foot, was an unsaleable drug, while in the coun-
try, farms sus'ained their prices ayd were more in
demand as the war lield on. A landholder in the
city worth a million to-day, under similar causes,
if obliged to sell, may find himself a very poor
man to-morrow. Farms in the country aie a mat-
ter-of-f\ict property, while land in the" city has a
temporary, fictitious value, regulated and gov-
erned by business operations. In conclusion, the
incontrovertible evidence that farming is the
"main stay of the country," is that every other
246
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
kind of business is dependent upon it. If my
statements above are incorrect it would give me
great pleasure for some of your correspondents,
better informed than myself, to point out my er-
rors. Silas Brown.
North Wilmington, June, 1864.
For the New England Farmer.
THE SEASON AND CKOPS IN VERMONT.
How cheering and refreshing to the parched
earth is the rain, now gently falling, which has so
long delayed its coming ! Our wet spring has
bsen followed by an unprecedented drought, com-
mencing with the month of June, though there
had been but a trifle of rain for some time before
the first of the month. We had a slight shower
the ninth day, when the wind suddenly shifted to
the north, and the next day the snow-flakes flew
among the green hills of Vermont in high style.
The thermometer stood at 46° all day ; the clouds
and wind kept off frost that night, but the next
morning, Sunday, the 12th, the thermometer was
found standing at 30°, giving us a hard freeze in
the valley, killing early potatoes level with the
ground, and entirely spoiling some fields of corn
and beans. I think the corn that was killed was
not planted so deep as it should have been. Some
of our best fields are now large enough to hoe the
second time, and give promise of a crop yet if we
have a favorable season till October. From the
12th, the thermometer rose gradually to 90*^ in the
shade, and in some villages in the valley several
degrees higher, scorching the gi-ass on gravelly
and sandy lands till it would burn like dry stub-
ble, as was proved by fires catching from engines
passing by the fields. But the rain is again fall-
ing, and we may yet have an average crop on most
of our lands, if the summer should be wet.
Could some of your readers inform me, either
by letter or through the Farmer, where a year-
ling heifer and bull of the Jersey breed could be
produced. I don't know that there is any of that
breed in this vicinity, but I lately purchased a lit-
tle quiet red and white cow that had her last calf
the first day of last December, and the 28th day
of May the milk she gave made a pound and four-
teen ounces of butter, and she had no other feed
than she got in a very good sheep pasture. I
don't know what breed she is, but am satisfied
that she is a very good cow. W. I. Simonds.
Boxbery, Vt, July 2, 1864.
For t/ie New England Farmer.
LEADING ANIMALS.
The horse, cow, calves and sheep may be easily
led by making a slipping noose and fastening it to
the lower jaw, passing the rope (which must be
small) around the neck and through the noose on
the jaw. It is a very easy way of leading a sheep,
not being obliged to go behind and "push." Af-
ter once pulling, the sheep will follow right along
•with no trouble. It costs nothing extra. Try it.
Dickson.
Remarks. — We have no doubt but this would
be effectual. It is the contrivance which Mr.
Rockwell uses in managing a vicious horse. In
leading a bull, never trust to his good nature.
Bulls are unreliable animals. They can be led,
but often take a fancy to "push with their horns"
in a most uncomfortable manner. Always, there-
fore, have a stick as strong as a good hoe handle
between yourself and the bull, and fixed in such a
manner as to poke the sharp end of it through the
rascal's skin if he undertakes to poke you. Nev-
er trust a bull. Make it a rule and you may es-
cape getting terribly gored. Frightful occurren-
ces by them are not uncommon.
PLANTING CABBAGES.
A correspondent of the Mark Lane Express,
who highly extols the cabbage for feeding milch
cows, store cattle, sheep and swine, and more es-
pecially for spring-feeding of lambing ewes, says
that the average product per acre in England may
be stated at 25 tons. He gives the following di-
rections for planting them :
The cabbage plants freshly drawn from the nur-
sery-bed, with the extreme end of the slender fi-
brous root cut off', are brought to the field, and
immersed in tubs of water, with the roots down-
wards, and taken from the vessels as the plants
are required for use. Persons provided with dib-
bles insert the plants on the top of the drills, at
the distance of two feet from each other, making
a hole with the dibble for the insertion of the plant
to the depth it has stood in the nursery-bed, and
pushing with the dibble the sides of the hole to-
gether, in order to give the plant a firm position.
It must be very carefully observed not to insert
the plant deeper or more shallow than they stood
in the nursery-bed, as a transformation of the ex-
posed or earthed up skin is the consequence, and
a necessary delay in the onward progress of the
plant. AH plants with a large foliage require
much moisture, and the dung that is used for cab-
bage must be thoroughly moist, and even wet,
whether it be cool or fermented ; the plants im-
mersed in water, and the insertion in the ground
should be performed in the wettest weather in
which the work is possible to be done. When
any plants are seen to be dead, the places must be
immediately filled with fresh plants in order to se-
cure a full crop all over the field.
The Western _Grain Crops.— A gentleman
having an extensive telegraphic correspondence
with the Western grain markets speaks of the
crop prospects of the present season as very fair,
taking the country as a whole, notwithstanding
the prevalence of drought in many parts. Recent
rains have done incalculable good, though not as
abundant or general as might have been desired.
In Southern Ohio the harvest will soon be ready
for gathering, and the crop is spoken of by Cin-
cinnati papers as a good one. Corn and oats still
need rain, but promise an average yield. "" West-
ern agriculturists, as a class, are represented as
exceedingly comfortable in regard to money, as
the high prices of grain have induced them to send
forward their old crops, exchanging them for cash,
and paying off incumbrances. Farm mortgages,
so much desired for investment, are not to be had.
— N. Y. Journal of Commerce.
Scouring Knives. — A subscriber to the Amer-
ican Agriculturist writes that the ashes of hard
coal unmixed with any from wood, are a better
article than Bath brick for scouring knives, forks,
etc.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
247
■WHY BEES WOKK IN THE DARK.
A lifetime might be spent in investigating the
mysteries hidden in a bee-hive, and still half of the
secrets would be undiscovered. The formation of
the cell has long been a celebrated problem for the
mathematician, whilst the changes which the hon-
ey undergoes offer at least an equal interest to the
chemist. Every one knows what honey fresh from
the comb is like. It is a clear yellow syrup, with-
out a trace of solid sugar in it. Upon straining,
however, it gradually assumes a crystalline apjjear-
ance — it ccuidies, as the saying is, and ultimately
becomes a solid lump of sugar. It has not been
suspected that this change was due to a photo-
graphic action ; that the same agent which alters
the molecular arrangement of the iodine of silver
on the excited collodion plate, and determines the
formation of camphor and iodine crystals in a bot-
tle causes the syrupy honey to assume a crystal-
line form. This, however, is the case. M. Schei-
bler has enclosed honey in stoppered flasks, some
of which he has kept in perfect darkness, whilst
others have been exposed to the light. The inva-
riable results have been that the sunned portion
rapidly cr\stallizes, whilst that kept in the dark
has remained perfectly liquid. We now see why
bees are so careful to work in perfect darkness,
and why they are so careful to ob?cure the glass
windows which are sometimes placed in their hives,
the existence of their young depends on the li-
quidity of the saccharine food presented to them,
and if light were allowed access to this, the syrup
would gradally acquire a more or less solid consis-
tency ; it would seal up the cells, and in all prob-
ability prove fatal to the inmates of the hive. —
"Chronicle of Optics," in the Quarterly Journal of
Science.
OLD-FASHIONED COMFORTS.
Our ancestors were a frugal, self-denying peo-
ple, inured to hardships from the cradle ; they
were content to be almost without the luxuries of
life, but they enjoyed some of its comforts, to
which many of us are strangers (old-fashioned
comforts, we may say) ; and among these the old
fire-place, as it used to be termed, held no mean
rank. How vividly the picture of one of those
spacious kitchens of the olden time comes to our
mind, with its plain furniture and sanded floor,
innocent of paint, but as white as the neatest of
housewives could make it ! In one corner stood
the clock, its very face wearing an aspect of good
cheer, and seeming to smile benignantly upon a
miniature moon over its head, wliich, tradition
said, had, at a remote period, followed the rising
and setting of its great prototype in the heavens,
though its days of active service were long ago
over.
But the crowning glory of that kitchen was not
its white sanded floor ; nor the high desk with its
pigeon holes and secret drawers, which no ven-
turesome youngster ever dared to invade ; nor yet
the old clock ticking so musically in the corner ;
but it was the old fashioned fire-place, with its
blazing embers, huge back-logs, and iron fire-dogs,
that shed glory over the whole room, gilded the
plain and homely furniture with its light, and ren-
dered the place a type of true New England in
"ye olden times."
Never were there such apples as those which
swung around and around upon strings before the
bright fire of a winter's evening, never such baked
potatoes as those buried deep in the ashes upon
the hearth, never such cornstalks as those which
caught golden hue from the blazing embers, or
turkey like those turned upon a spit, filling the
room with savory odors so suggestive of a dainty
repast.
Before the fire was the wooden settle, and here
the children were wont to sit in the long evening,
telling stories, cracking nuts, conning their les-
sons for the morrow, or listening in silence to the
words of wisdom that fell from the lips of their
superiors, and anon gazing in silence into the
bright fire, and conjuring up all sorts of grotesque
fanciful images from among the burning coals.
No fabled genii, with their magic lamps of en-
chantment, could build such gorgeous palaces, or
create such gems as the child could discern amid
the blazing embers of the old fashioned fire-place.
And we must not neglect the chimney corner,
where sat our grandfather in his accustomed seat,
his hair silvered with the snows of many winters
— a venerable man, to whom old age had come
"frostly but kindly," and whose last days were like
those of an Indian summer, serene and beautiful,
even till the stajs appeared in heaven.
How pure was the air in those days ! The huge
fire-place, with its brisk draught, carried off the
impurities of the atmosphere, and left the air pure,
life-giving and healthful. Now, we crouch around
hot cookins-stoves, and think it strange that we
feel so stupid and drowsy of an evening ; or we
huddle about air-tight stoves, and wonder that
the air seems burned and impure ; or we sit down
in chilly rooms heated by a furnace, and marvel
that with all our costly furniture, soft carpets,
bright mirrors and damask curtains, they are
cheerless places — so unlike our ideas of a New
England home.
Alas ! that with all the so-called improvements
of our advanced civilization, the fire should be per-
mitted to go out forever in our old fashioned fire-
places, thus burying in the ashes of the past so
many means of health, home comfort, good cheer
and happiness.^- >SVi'ert;[/fc American.
THE PORTtriiACAS. ,
In looking over the horticultural publications of
the day, there is so much said of new varieties of
plants and flowers, often with high sounding
names, that we greet with especial pleasure any
notice of an old friend. In the June number of
Hovey's magazine we find the following compli-
mentary notice, by the editor, of portulacas in
general and of a late improvement of this old fa-
vorite, in particular :
The portulaca, though one of the most common,
is still one of the most showy and beautiful annu-
als, admirably adapted to our climate, growing
freely and flowering abundantly under conditions
of soil and treatment where many other flowers
would scarcely make any display ; the old orange
and scarlet, when planted out in large patches, vie
in brilliancy and decorative efl'ect with the show-
iest verbenas.
VoT a long time there were but two or three
shades of red and orange, but with the skill of
cultivators they have been crossed and fertilized
till we have nearly a dozen diflerent sorts, some
248
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
scarlet, some crimson, some yellow, orange, white,
&c., with a mixture of the two colors. These
have hardlj' become well known before we have
another improvement, obtained by the German
florists, in double flowers, as double as the rose.
These double varieties are in fact charming ob-
jects, and may well claim a prominent place among
the novel things of recent introduction. The flow-
ers are perfectly double, about the size of a twen-
ty-five cent piece, and a bed of them in full bloom
presents a gay appearance, not uglike that of the
beautiful ranunculuses, or the little Burgundy
rose, so that the Germans call them "Portulaca
roses."
The portulacas love a warm and rather light
soil, and a dryish situation, to flower well. They
need not be planted early, unless in a frame or
hot-bed, as the seed will not grow freely till the
ground is warm. About the middle of June the
pla'its begin to appear in the open ground, and
grow with great rapidity, soon covering a large
bed, and making a dazzling display, with their
many-hued flowers, from July to frost.
The double varieties, like all other double flow-
ers, cannot be relied upon with certainty to pro-
duce all double flowers, but the larger part of
, them will be double, and the single sorts may be
pulled up and thrown away or transplanted, unless
it is desired to retain them in the same bed with
the double kinds.
Indian Corn. — A correspondent of the Prai-
rie Farmer, after a few remarks on the culture of
corn, waxes eloquent, as follows, on the value of
this grain :
With a nominal cost of seed, a range of two
months for planting, it waits for the sick and the
absent — may be harvested almost any time without
expensive machinery, is almost indestructible, de-
stroys worthless plants, gives about as much rough
feed for all domestic animals, and is unequaled
for fattening purposes. The buxom girls and stal-
wart sons of the West deem it the stafi" of life
when made into bread, and when made into whis-
key many think it life itself. It supports the poor
man's family, the rich man's flask and the mer-
chartt's trade. It is the basis of an immense trade
in beef, the main pillar of our national prosperity,
the golden fleece of America, the staple of the
West, the pride of Illinois. From its partial fail-
ure last season we more fully appreciate the ines-
timable value of this splendid gift of the Great
Spirit to the Red Man, the jewel of our rich in-
heritance.
About Milking and Talking, — A corres-
pondent asks : "Does it affect the quantity of
milk a cow will give if conversation is carried on
between milkers when milking?" We do not
think there is any doubt about it — especially
where the dairy is made up of young cows, We
would not have a loud-talking milker in the sta-
ble. And it would be better without doubt, if
conversation were entirely tabooed when milking.
We remember some years ago, a dairyman assert-
ed at a meeting of a farmers' club, that he had
discharged a man because he would talk and inter-
rupt the milking in his dairy, and that in three
days the increase in milk was equal to the man's
wages. Such are important facts, if established.
— Hural New Yorker.
FIRE-FLIES.
'Tis June, and all the lowland swamps
Are rich with tufted reeds and ferns,
And lihny with the vap'rous damps
That rise when twilight's crimson burns ;
And as the deepening dusk of night
Steals purpling up from vale to height,
The wanton fire-flies show their fitful light.
Soft gleams on clover-bloom they fling,
And glimmer in each shadowy dell,
Or downward, with a sudden swing,
Fall, as of old a Pleiad fell ;
And on the fields liright gems they strow,
And up and down the meadow go,
And through the forest wander to and fro.
They store no hive, nor earthy cell.
They sip no honey from the rose;
By day unseen, unknown they dwell,
Nor aught of their rare gift disclose ;
Yet, when the night upon the swamps
Calls out the murk and misty damps.
They pierce the shadows with their shining lamps
Now ye who in life's garish light.
Unseen, unknown, walk to and fro.
When Death shall bring a dreamless night.
May ye not find your lamps aglow ?
God works, we know not why nor how,
And one day, lights, close hidden now,
May blaze like gems upon an angei's brow !
"The Round Table."
PURE "WATER FOR STOCK.
A good draught of good water is, probably, as
refreshing to beasts as it is to people. But in the
month of August, nearly all domestic animals suf-
fer for want of good water. Sheep will thrive far
better if they can have access to pure water.
Teams will endure the heat far better if they can
have plenty of pure water ; and if milk cows must
drink stagnant water wherever they can find it,
how is it possible for them to give their usual flow
of good milk. It is impracticable for them to do
this.
Some people allow water to stand in troughs,
day after day, many times, and compel their ani-
mals to drink it all up. Uld such people ever
drink water from an old dirty slop pail, after it
had been allowed to stand in the sunshine for two
or three days ? Let them try the experiment of
drinking such water, and wait for the result ; and
then they will be prepared to express a correct
opinion, whether or not such water is as good for
stock, in the sultry days of August, as pure cold
water would be.
Water troughs and water tanks should be
cleaned frequently, during the hot days of August
and fresh water pumped into them severar times
during the day.
Milk cows require a vast quantity of pure water
in hot weather, in order to produce their usual
flow of good milk. — Country Oentleman.
Stone Houses. — The writer of an essay on
"Country Houses," printed in the Baltimore
Farmer, concludes that, "As to the economy of
stone, we believe, at the present prices of lumber,
it is quite as cheap, if not actually cheaper than
wood ; and as to the comfort of houses built of
stone, when compared with those constructed of
wood, the odds are altogether in favor of the
stone."
1864.
KEW ENGLAND FARMER,
249
•WSEAT — GOOD SEED,
I've seen the largest seeis, Uio' rear'd with cans
Degenerate, HPJess the iEiJustrious hand
Did yearly cull the largest. Thus all things
By fatal doom, prow worse, and by (iegrtes,
Decay, forced back into their primevous state.
p-irgiU
Too many of us are apt to think that we pos-
sess a sufficient amount of knowledge in the busi-
ness we pursue, in and of ourselves, without re-
ference to the almost infinite mass of mind around
us, or that ceaseless research and activity that has
existed before we came upon the stage of being,
ajid which is now constantly aflecting us.
It is true that great progress has been made in
the art of cultivating the soil, and especially in
regard to the labor-saving machinery and imple-
ments that have been introduced, and which have
proved of the utmost efficiency. Improvements
have also been made in many other directions, —
in buildings, stock, &c., and in the introduction
of new and valuable vegetables and fruits. There
are several important rules, however, well under-
stood by the ancients, and observed by some of
them, at least, with scrupulous care, that are very
generally disregarded by us. One of these is in
regard to the selection of seed.
Columella, who wrote about the time of our
Saviour, in some remarks upon the selecting of
the best seeds to propagate from, says :
"I have this further direction to give, that when
the comes are cut down and brought into the
threshing-floor, we should even then think of
making provision of seed for the future seed-time ;
for this is what Celsus says — where the corn and
crop is but small, we must select the best ears,
and of them lay up our seed separately by itself"
The method, however, most farmers practice iii
reference to this important matter is far less sci-
entific and rational ,• they do not hesitate to pur-
chase of any one having the reputation of being
a "good farmer," any kind of seed he may chance
to recommend or have on hand. In this way fa-
tal mistakes are often made, and lands which have
been prepared with patient industry, are stocked
with seeds which are nearly worthless, and sure
to disappoint the expectations of those who have
expended much time and capital in procuring and
planting them.
An able writer, who is also a practical farmer,
says : "I am convinced that a proper selection of
wheat is indispensable, my crops having almost
doubled in produce since I have raised seed of a
pure sort. Those intelligent and superior farmers
who have already made great strides towards pure
crops by a careful selection of seed, must not ex-
pect so great an increase. But even to those I
hold out decided hopes of improvements by the
means I recommend."
There are a great many varieties of wteat.
Le Couteur's collections embraced one hundred
and fifty distinct sorts. One ear of one of these
varieties he. sowed grain by grain and suffered the
plants to tiller a part. The amount of produce
exceeded four ounces ! Indian corn, when care
is exercised in selecting the best formed, but not
always the largest ears, and those which are the
earliest ripe, and continuing the practice for a
succession of years, is found to be greatly im-
proved, both as regards earliness of maturation
and productiveness. The same remark" applies
with equal force to other vegetables — roots as well
as grains.
Attention to this subject will result in great
gain to all who are cultivating extensive crops.
COMSTOCK'S BOTARY SPADEB.
Believing that hard work is the great objection
to farming, especially in the mind of "Young
America," we rejoice at every indication of the
near ap])roach of the good time coming when the
drudgery of cultivation shall be performed in a
great measure by machines instead of human
hands. For many years an indefinite vision has
floated in our brain of some machine to take the
place of the" simple plow, which has changed only
inform from the primitive "crooked stick" of our
antediluvian forefathers. Last year we copied from
the Western papers a brief notice of experiments
with the Rotary Spader. The universal scarcity
of farm help throughout the country has increased
the demand for machinery beyond all precedent,
and it is used this year as never before. Hon.
M. S. SuUivant, of Broadlands, Champaign Co.,
Ohio, has four of Comstock's Rotary Spaders on
his extensive farm this season. With these ma-
chines he estimates the cost of preparing the soil
and planting corn at fifty (50) cents per acre, al-
lowing one dollar and a half per- day for men and
fifty cents per day for horses. In a commimica-
tion to the Rural New Yorker, he says ;
I commenced working one of them on the 19th
of April, preparing ground for corn, and have
worked it constantly since, when the ground was
in condition ftjf working. A few days later I
started two more, and a fourth some days since ;
they have all been running constantly when it was
not too wet. I am working two of them with four -
horses and one man each ; the other two we work
in a gang, with a team of six pairs of oxen, driv-
en and managed by one man.
"These machines work three feet in width and
eight inches deep, pulverizing the soil more thor-
oughly and preparing a better seed bed than I
have been enabled to do with the plow and har-
row. The horse machines do one acre each per
hour, with a speed of two and three-quarter miles ;
the gang will do one acre per hour, with a speed
of one and three-eighth miles.
"I expect, in a day or two, to have a machine
the full width of a corn row, (three feet, eight
inches,) at work, with a self-acting corn-planter
attached. This machine will be capable of pre-
250
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Atis.
paring and planting the ground at the rate of one
acre per hour, with a speed of two and a quarter^
miles ; we think four horses, or six oxen, and one
man, will work and manage it readily.
"As to my opinion of it, I have no hesitation in
aaying that I think it the greatest step forward
that has been made in agricultural machinery. I
believe they will supersede the plow on our prai-
ries, and similar soils, and cause a great revolu-
tion in Agriculture."
In the Prairie Farmer we notice a statement by
another farmer who has one in use, and who writes
"that one man and four horses spade about eight
acres per day, if the weather is reasonably eool.
He says :
"The Spader iss the implement for me. It
gives, what I have always desired, a depth of
CLEAJsrrcrQ government beans.
We have several times spoken, in these col-
umna, of the devices of one Sanford Adams, of
Boston, to separate good things from bad ones, so
that each shall stand before the worJd upon its
own merits, — where all ought to stand now, but
where we shall be obliged to stand by-and-by.
It is said that some government contractors have
few scruples as to what they bale and barrel and
box and send to our brave soldiers in the field
and our gallant sailors on the sea — but hide be-
neath the boards and staves, which enclose them,
articles not contracted for, and entirely unfit a»
food or clothing. This shows a moral obliquity
in some of our business men which is now a crime
tilth that is not obtained with the plough at one closely akin to disloyalty, and which it is not
operation. It also gives a quicker and better way
to prepare the soil for the seed, enabling the farm-
er to do his work at the right time and in the
right season."
Mr. Wicks, for that is the name of the writer,
adds that his teamster "either walks or rides at
_^his pleasure or convenience, and that with good
improved tools and harnesses and horses farming
is a real pleasure to any man."
THE SEASON — CROPS — DROUGHT.
Since the middle of June the weather has been,
at times, excessively hot during the day, with suc-
ceeding cool nights. The thermometer, in the
shade, has risen to 98" and lOO''. In the midst of
these tropical suns there has been but little rain
for several weeks past, so that the grass crop has
been hurried to a most rapid maturity. Haying
•was commenced in earnest during the last week
in June, and more grass was probably cut than
was ever known to be cut before during a similar
period; On old lands the crop will be light, and
the impression is quite common that the entire
crop will fall short a full third of that of last year.
Such, however, are not the conclusions to which
yie have arrived, after visiting various portions of
this State and New Hampshire. We believe we
shall have not only a full average crop, but that
the fodder will be worth at least itventy-Jive per
cent, more than it was last year. Many farmers
have already, July 18th, got well nigh through
with their English hay harvest, and are striking
vigorously into their meadows. Scarcely a ton
of hay has been wet so far, so that what has been
housed is of the best quality, and will make milk
and beef almost as rapidly as grain.
The drought now begins to pinch the barley
crop pretty sharply, and the early potatoes feel it
sensibly. Corn never looked better, nor have we
ever seen finer fields of winter rye than are pre-
sented in every section we have visited. We
have seen only a few fields of wheat, all of which
were of an average quality. We must have rain
soon or the second crop of grass will be light.
pleasant to expose. We wish all persons of this
stripe were obliged to submit to such a verdict as
Gen. Butler pronounced upon an unworthy son of
Massachusetts, who allowed numerous casks of
whiskey to be smuggled into Norfolk, Va., for a
petty bribe of $750, viz : that he should be ar-
rested, tried, convicted and sent to State Prison.
It is enough, certainly, for the government to
sustain itself against its public and open enemies,
— but it is still harder to protect itself against
those in the guise of friends, and whom it is daily
protecting at enormous cost and sacrifice.
Disloyal ! Under such a mild and eqiral gov-
ernment, and in such a crisis ! It is a crime which
has scarcely yet found its way into the calender of
crimes ! It is treason, not only to one's govern-
ment, but to one's family, against humanity and
human liberty ! Treason against God himself, —
for treason, now, tends to deprive the children
whom he has made of liberty and of life itself!
An'd yet the government is robbed and wronged
every day by scoundrels who wear meek faces and
use honeyed words, who sit in high places and
pass as "tolerably honest men." If we had the
power of the "Grand Turk" for a single day, the
"Dry Tortugas" would groan with the weight of
lusty shovellers who should press its hot and
heavy sands ! We could, possibly, listen with pa-
tience to the apology of a Southern traitor, but
with none to him or her reared amid Northern in-
stitutions and customs. If there are any "bolts
of Heaven, red with uncommon wrath," ought they
not to be hurled upon those who have enjoyed the
protection and blessings of such a country and
such a government as ours, and then, with traitorous
spirit and acts, turned their heel upon them when
everything is imperiled by wicked and open ene-
mies?
We recently saw a portion of a lot of more than
i^ree thousand bushels of white beans, which had
been contracted for by government agents, and re-
Jeded as bad by government inspectoi-s. After re-
maining some time, and being greatly needed by
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
251
the ai-my and navy, the agent brought Mr. Adams
and his curious mill to his aid, and has rescued
from the mass about three thousand bushels which
are fit for the camp, dining cabin or king's table.
In the debris which was left were tx^'o bari-els of
broken bean pods, two barrels of a variety of small
seeds, chaff and other refuse, sixty-four barrels
of small beans, in perfect form but that did not
get fully grown, and six bushels of smaU stones!
The complete separation of this huge mass was
performed in twelve days with his mill and the
services of one man and three small boys.
We wish his "Separator" could be set in motion
and sift out every person with secession tenden-
cies as thoroughly as he sifts the chaff from the
wheat which passes under his care. Would it not
be a singular and just judgment upon them to
march in gangs "down South" with haltered necks,
"And coffle''s weary chain .''"
May God grant that they repent before this dread-
ful doom overtakes them.
For the New England Farmer.
CHICCORY AND COFFEE.
Messes. Editors : — In these trying times,
when the price of coffee has gone up like a balloon,
I have been thinking of the expediency of rais-
ing chiccory or succory or endive, (Chicorium Inty-
bus) which is growing wild along all our road-
sides, and is now in bloom and will be all summer,
with brfght blue showy flowers.
It goes under the same specific name (Intybus)
as the French plant of whose roots a substitute for
coft'ee is made. Can you or any of your readers
tell me loiUi certmnty that it is exactly the same as
the coffee plant, or if it is a variety of that, and not
proper to make coffee of. In "Ze Bon Jardiuier,"
I find the following :
"Wild chiccory is very early and productive as a
fodder, very good food for cattle, either in a green
or dry state, and it resists drought well. It suc-
ceeds well either in strong or light soils, if they
only have sufficient depth. It is usually sown
broadcast in the spring, either by itself or with
red clover, or barley or oats. It may be sown in
Septembei". When sown by itself, take about
twelve pounds, Troy, to the acre. It lasts three
or four years. The roots do not freeze, and may
stand in the ground during the winter."
I wish some one who knows (not guesses) will
tell me whether or no this plant by our roadsides
will do as a substitute for coffee ?
Remarks. — Chiccory is a pest. It has got into
our grounds by some means unknown to us, and
defies all our efforts, thus far, to eradicate it. A
plot of it has been dug up four or five times in a
single season, and the next spring would show it-
self in full vigor again. It roots very deeply,
bears a sharp drouth and all manner of trampling
upon by man and beast. We dislike it, both in
field and coffee-pot, and should rather di'ink the
tea steeped from raspberry leaves than any decoc-
tion of chiccory. Arthur Young brought the seed
from France in 1788, and grew the plant exten-
sively on his own farm in England. He says : —
"The root runs deep into the ground and is white,
fleshy, and yields a milky juice. On the conti-
nent the dried root is roasted and used instead of
coffee. The root contains a strong bitter which
may be extracted by infusion."
"When the roots are used as a substitute for
coffee, they should be first cleaned, then put into
an oven after the bread has been taken out, and
allowed to remain until cool. Should once bak-
ing be not sufficient, the process is to be repeat-
ed, after which mix with one-half of coffee."
We have no doubt that the plant which our
correspondent describes is precisely that described
by Arthur Young.
EXTBACTS AND KEPLIES.
DifFerence between Good and Poor Farming,
I have seen this strikingly manifested in two farms
that have come under my observation. One, tlic town
farm in South Danvers, on which the poor are sup-
ported,— the other, the County farm in Topsfield,
given to the Essex County Society, by the late Dr.
Treadwell, of Salem.
On the one, thirty tons of prime English hay was
cut upon ticenty acres! On the other, less than half
this amount. Originally, they were of soil equal in
quality. One has, for years, been skinned by tenants,
— the other has been dressed by liberal applications of
manure made on the farm. Other crops m like pro-
portions. Facts are stubborn things. p.
July, 1864.
A Good Clip,
I have 102 sheep, 50 of them are % Atwood blood,
one year old wethers ; they sheared*8'i pounds, on au
average. The other 52 are X Atwood blood ewes, two
years old last spring; they sheared 9>2 pounds on aa
average.
The whole sheared 920 pounds, or a trifle over 9
pounds, to average the whole. I did not raise any
lambs because I did not think my ewes old enough.
My sheep were well washed" about two weeks before
shearing. I sheared the 30th day of June, 1864.
I would like to have some one beat this, and I will
try again. A. D. Nelson.
North Haverhill, N. H., 1864.
For the New Ensland Farmer,
ON BUTTEK-MAKING.
Messrs. Editors : — In the Fanner of July
2d, I noticed an article on butter-making, which
does not exactly coincide with my sentiments, or
at least, I differ from "Sarah" in some particulars,
namely, she stated that their cow gave eight quarts
of milk at night, and that she strained it in two
pans. I should use three or four — prefer four if
I had plentv of room and plenty of pens, as I
think the cream would rise much sooner ; milk ,
ought not to stand more than thirty-six hours in
very warm weaJier, before being skimmed, I think.
She also sai.l she had no nice, cool place to
keep milk ; how can she make nice, sweet butter,
as she says she does ? I could not. She says
she churns once a week. I think it is better to
churn oftener, as the cream does not get so sour,
and I think the butter is much better. I consider
a "nice, cool place" to keep milk and cream indis- •
pensable in butter-making. I have a nice, cool
milk-room, constructed on the principle of ice-
houses, a space filled with sawdust, with double
doors, double window, and an ice-box inside for
252
NEW ENGLAND FAKMKR.
AtTGi
ice during the hottest weather. I can brin*!: the
temperature of the roo-m to 58° or 60° by filling
the ice-box, when the thermometer stands at 90°
outside.
When my milk is brought to the house, I cool
it during the hot weather, by putting it in tin pails
and putting the pails in tubs of cold water, then
strain in tin pans, 2^ or o quarts to a pan. My
pans are so arranged that the air can circulate all
around them. I let the milk stand 36 hours, then
remove the cream, put it in a tin pail, being care-
ful to keep the crep.m cool. 3 sprinkle a very lit-
tle salt in the cream as I gather it. I skim milk
morning and night, stirring my cream each time
when I put cream in the pail. I have the tem-
perature of my cream at the time of churning
SB*'^ or 60°, which I think is about right for warm
weather. I churn twice a week, and use the "N.
E. Air Pressure Clmrn." I have two other pat-
terns of churns, but I think, for all times, I prefer
the air pressure, as it churns the butter more
even, that is, all the cream comes to butter.
When the cream is churned to butter, I remove
the butter from the churn, work out the butter-
milk, salt the butter, putting one ounce of salt to
each pound. I let it stand twenty-four hours,
then work over twice, Avith hands, working three
or four pounds together first, and then each pound
separately, so as to be sure and get all the butter-
milk out. I then form it into pound lumps, and
put into boxes for the market.
Mary T. Townsend.
Marlboro' , July, 1864.
For the Neia En<;lanci Farmer.
BIKDS—CHERBIES— INSECTS.
Friend Farmer : — I write a few lines to tell
you what I have observed in birds, as related to
cheeries and insects, as follows : — Birds, of what-
ever kind, whether robin, cherry birds or what
not, never wantonly destroy or feed upon cher-
ries. I have for two seasons particularly exam-
ined their depredations, and have come to the fol-
lowing conclusion, viz ; that birds never trouble
fruit unless there is a worm in it ; whenever they
find such, (and God has given them instinct, rea-
son, or whatever one chooses to call it, enough to
enable them to seek and find their food,) they bore
the fruit and secure the worm. I have gathered
cherries which were perfectly fair and sound and
found a worm inside. 1 have examined cherries
which the birds have pecked, and have found in-
side a worn cavity larger than the hole which the
bird made to get at it. Birds have free access to
my trees — the insects do not destroy their foliage.
The birds are so tame, that while I am gathering
cherries they gather insects, and I could easily
.catch them (the birds) with my hand. I believe
that the way to get rid of insects and bugs on
fruit is to cherish the birds, treat them as friends,
feed them, if necessary, to induce them to fre-
quent our premises. C)ne or two or three seasons
of such a course may not wholly free our orchards
from pestiferous insects, but 1 believe that a con-
stant perseverance in encouraging the birds will
in time effectually remove all obnoxious insects
from our trees. There is no poison that will at
one application rid our premises of bed bugs, yet
all good housewives will tell you that by persever-
ance they can accomplish the end aimed at.
South Danvers, July, 1864. t. a. s.
Far the New Eiialand Fariner.
SHEEP HUSBANDRY— No. 8.
In a former article we referred to an oily sub-
stance exuding from the skin of the sheep. One
object designed by nature in furnishing this yolk
appears to be to soften the scales on the exterior
of the fiber. To this yolk the wool is indebted
for much that makes it superior to hais, for it ren-
ders it softer, more pliable, and more readily
worked than it otherwise would be. This yolk is
plentifully supplieci in young and well fed sheep,,
but in old and half-starved sheep it is scarcely
perceptible, and ttieiv fleeces partake as much of
the character of hair as of wooL For the want of
it the scales are not so soft and the fibre not so
phable, and cioth made from such stock is harsh
and tender ; and science has failed thus far to dis-
cover an unction which can render that wool soft
which has been left harsh by nature not supplying
its own emollient.
The ancient Romans appear to have exhausted
BTery known expedient to aid "nature in producing-
a soft and delicate filament. They smeared it
with fine oil moistened with wine ; the fleece was
combed while growing, that it might not become
matted, and the sheep were washed several times
a year. This lack of yolk in old and ill fed sheep
is another reason why we have urged upon the
farmer the necessity of keeping their sheep in
good condition, and disposing of them before they
become old. And those who have old and badly
fed sheep should not complain because theii*
neighbors, who have young and well fed animals,
obtain a higher price for their wool, though it may
be coarser than their own ; for it will make softer
and firmer cloth than finer wool from poorer and
older sheep.
Though this yoik is essentially necessary to the
production of good wool, yet no more is required
than just sufficient to keep the fibres soft and pli-
able. Any quantity in excess of this is of no ben-
efit to the wool, but is sometimes injurious. Soiptie
farmers feed for the purpose of exciting a large
supply, thinking that by so doing they obtain
what many may suppose a heavier fleece ; but the
quantity of wool is not increased by the increase
of yolk, and the purchaser would certainly be un-
fit for his business if he did not make a proper al-
lowance for all excess of grease and dirt, and it
seems to be a poor speculation on the part of the
farmer to feed his sheep with special reference to
producing a yolk. His fleece will hold from*
twenty-five to thirty per cent, excess of the proper
quantity required in good healthy wool, which
would amount to about two pounds, and this is
produced in about a fortnight, and in order to
have this two pounds of yoik at the time of shear-
ing, they will produce in the course of a year from
fifty to one hundred pounds ; and it is not unfre-
quently produced at the expense of the pulp,
which is the source of the wool. When this is the
case, the wool, though soft and pliable, will be
weak and stunted in growth. Generally this ex-
cess of yolk is produced at the expense of mutton
— ihe food of the sheep in place of building up the
carcass and fatting it, is expended upon the yolk
— and the farmer frequently finds his endeavors
to feed his sheep defeated. He has fed high and
is surprised that his sheep have not gained in
weight. It is also produced at the expense of milk.
Sheep which produce large supplies of yolk are
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
253
always deficient in milk. Corn too liberally fed
to sheep will produce this effect. It contains a
great amount of oil, and in place of producing fat,
as in some domestic animals, it too frequently
produces oil in sheep. Sheep fed largely on oil
cake will be excessively yolky, particularly meri-
nos. A large numl)er of those remarkably heavy
fleeces are produced from oil cake. Wool having
its origin in ihe skin, will be atl'ected by whatever
afl'ects that part. Too ni'.ich dry food is apt to af-
fect the skin of all animals unfavorably, and man
is no exception, — while all succulents have a hap-
py influence upon the coats both of the horse and
cow; some of the sleekest coated horses we ever
saw were indebted to a small supply of potatoes
daily, for the softness and brightness of their hair.
Corn and hay are dry food, and fed exclusively
and liberally to sheep are apt to affect their skin
unfavorably, and consequently their wool. We
have frequently noticed that sheep, which have
been fed liberally with corn, show a falling off in
the build of the staple during its winter growth,
and is sometimes as weak as though its feed had
been deficient ; the bottom of the sta])le is often
yellow and filled with a salvy substance, a sure
sign of skin disease. This we have rarely no-
ticed in wool when the sheep have been fed upon
roots and hay, and scarcely ever saw an excessive
supply of yolk from sheep so fed, but have known
a great many cases wliere shee]) on such feed have
rapidly improved, while those fed upon corn and
hay have lost weight, which could only be ac-
counted for from the fact that corn, containing a
great amount of oil, produced yolk and not fat.
A little corn,' with roots and hay, we have no doubt
would be good feed, yet we have never seen roots
fail. Sheep have many slight diseases of the skin
which are rarely noticed by the flock "master, but
an ordinary judge of wool quickly detects them.
They are frequently manifested by a discoloration
of the wool — which is found to be yellow at the
bottom of the staple. One reason, we think, why
dry food is found to be injurious to the sheep is,
it draws heavily upon the saliva in the process of
mastication, and deranges the whole system by
the drain.
In this connection we would urge upon the farm-
er the importance of looking well to his sheep in
the fall. They are too often suffered to run too
late in the pastures after the feed has been seri-
ously impaired by the frost, and consequently lose
condition. The growth of the wool is affected, a
weak place is produced in the staple at this time,
and any animal suffered to lose condition at this
season of the year, cannot afterwards be restored
when the weather is much colder, except at a
greatly increased outlay. A little feed sometimes
judiciously supplied before folding time, might be
of more benefit than high feeding after they are
housed. The past fall was not an exception, hut
we think an exemplification of this matter. We
know of a great many cases when the sheep were
allowed to run out till after Christmas, and pick
up their own living from the sour, frozen grass ;
we do not oliject to their running out when it is
dry, though it may be cold, yet they ought to have
some better feed than the hard, frozen pastures
afford ; we believe a little good hay fed nights and
mornings, at that season of the year, would have
saved the lives of many sheep and produced bet-
ter and heavier fleeces. Tyro.
NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY.
General Arrangements.
The first annual e.Khibition of the New England
Agricultural Society will be held at Hampden
Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Se[)teniber
Gth, 7th, 8th and 9th, 1804. The "gates will be
open for the admission of the public from 8 A.
M. till sundown of each daj'. The Marshals and
Superintendents of the various Classes will meet
at the President's marquee at 8 A. M., on Tues-
day, to perfect arrangements for the day. The
Judges and guests will rejjort themselves at the
Secretary's office on the grounds where cards of
admission, etc., etc., will be furnished, vacancies
will be filled by the Board of Trustees, at the
President's quarters, on Tuesday, at 10 A. M.,
when the book of entries will be delivered. The
reports of the Judges must be handed to the Sec-
retaries before 9 o'clock, Friday morning. No-
tice of intention to enter life stock, and all other
contributions, should be sent to either of the Sec-
retaries on or before September 1st, that proper
arrangements may be made for their accommoda-
tion. Letters may be addressed to C. L. Flint,
Boston, Mass., or Henry Clark, Poultney, Vt.,
Secreiarics, or J. N. Bagg, Springfield Mass.,
Corresyxmding Secretary. Entries may also be
made on the grounds at the Secretary's office'until
9 A. M., on Tuesday, September 6th, when the
books must be made up for the Judges. Arrange-
ments will be made for the sale of stock on the
grounds at the close of the Exhibition. Male and
female animals used for breeding must have been
owned in New England at least six months previ-
ous to the Exhibition. Stalls will be provided
for the stock ; and hay, straw and water without
charge. Grain furnished at market prices. Favor-
able arrangements will be effected with the various
railroads in New England, for the transportation
of stock and articles intended fur exhibition.
^Entrance Fees.
Members of the Society can enter animals or
articles for premium, free of charge, and are en-
ticled to a season ticket. All others will pay an
entrance fee of one dollar, and receive four tick-
ets of admission, with the following exceptions :
Competitors for premiums on horses will pay ten
per cent, on the first premium offered. Single
iiorses under the saddle or in harness, entered for
exhibition, btit not in competition«^for premium
and subject to the call of the Marshal, ."ii3 ; spans
or tandems, .^4 ; four or six in hand, .§6. Exhib-
itors of horses under the above rules will be en-
titled to an exhibitor's ticket, and when necessary
an attendant ticket good during the Fair.
Amount of jiremiums ofl'ered, ."$10, ()()().
Address on Friday, by His Excellency John A.
Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts.
Farmers' meetings will be held every evening.
Prize animals will be specially signalized, and pro-
vision made for the sale of stock. Am])le accom-
modations will be made on Hampden Park. An-
imals and articles competing for premiums must
be on the grounds by 6 P. M., Monday, Septem-
ber oth, the day before the exhibition. Arrange-
ments have been made with most of the railroads
to transport stock free, and run half fare excur-
sion trains. Entries may be made in writing with
254
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
Aug.
J. N. Bagg, Corresponding Secretary of the Soci-
ety, at Springfield, Mass., the week prior to the
exhibition. Inquiries can also be made of C. L.
Flint, Boston, Mass., and Henry Clark, Poultney,
Vt., Secretaries of the Soci^y. For further par-
ticulars send for pamphlets or bulletins.
President — George B. Loring, Salem, Mass.
Vice Presidents — Ezekiel Holmes, Winthrop. Me. ;
T. S. Gold, West Cornwall, Ct. ; Frederick Smyth,
Manchester, N. H. ; Amasa Sprague, Cranston,
R. I. ; David Kimball, Rutland, Vt. ; W. H.
Prince, Northampton, Mass. Superintendent of
Grounds — William Pynchon, Springfield, Mass.
Superintendent of Halls — James E. Russell,
Springfield, Mass. Secretaries-^Charlefi L. Flint,
Boston, Mass. ; Henry Clark, Poultney, Vt. Chief
Marshal — George Dwight, Springfield, Mass.
Treasurer — Thomas Sanders, Brookfield, Vt. Cor-
resjyonding Secretary — J. N. Bagg.
CURIOUS FEATURES OF "WAK.
War presents some curious features to our view.
It has drained our cities in large part of a redun-
dant, idle, diseased and degraded class ; these
either soon die or are killed oft". But there are
examples not a few where the activities of the
camp, its discipline and its experience, have made
invalids robust ; have imparted a higher moral
tone to some, and given character and energy to
others, who before were by common consent con-
sidered to be inane and worthless.
When a man of a good common education and
some steadiness of character, goes to war and fair-
ly engages in battle, he is thereafter, until his dy-
ing day, more of a man than he ever was before.
No one of even common observation can have
failed to notice in the faces of returned veteran
regiments as they have marched along our streets,
a stereotyped cast of countenance, common to all ;
there is an imprint of sternness on every face ;
of determination, and an elevation of spirit, de-
spite of tattered garments and soiled clothing and
the dust and sweat of a long march ; as much as
to say, I have been fighting for my country, I have
imperiled my life to maintain her liberties and her
unity ; these are first things ; my mission is God-
like, to wit, to maintain liberty and the right for-
ever! Amen.
When this war is ended, much of the scuff and
scum of society will have disappeared, and nine
out of ten of those who return from victorious bat-
tle-fields will make better, sterner, more manly
members of society than ever before. The most
of the great soldiers of history were men of sim-
ple tastes, quiet manners and of unassuming de-
portment. This is the tendency of war, to lop off
excrescences, to consolidate the character, to in-
ure to self-denial, to impart energy, determination
and self-reliance, and to mold the whole man
aright. This war will leave more men in the coun-
try than were found in it the day when Sumter
was fired at and fell.
Official reports of European countries have
shown more boy-children are born in war than in
times of peace, and that although at the end of
the wars of the First Napoleon, it was rare to find
a Frenchman over five feet three, there was a re-
cuperation in the next age, and now the average
height of the men does notvary much from what it
was before the Directory.
As soon as the war closes there will inevitably
be a universal financial crash ; in five years there-
after the country will exhibit a degree of solid
prosperity and national power which can defy the
world besides ; an amount of cotton will be raised
annually, which will astonish all civilized nations.
Why ?
War makes men ; determined, self-reliant men ;
such men have a degree of self-respect which idlers
never dreamed of; these characteristics will impel
them to labor ; to intelligent labor, to labor well
directed. Five years ago, many a planter had
from five hundred to five thousand acres of land,
of which a few hundred only were cultivated, the
remainder was held in reserve for children who
were growing up with the expectation of a fortune
and with the full calculation to live in ease and
luxury, to end in a life of idleness, intemperance,
and debauchery. Five years hence, there will be
ten households instead of one, to every thousand
acres ; there will be ten families instead of one to
be supplied with school-books, and libraries ; with
^le ubiquitous newspaper ; the weekly journal and
the monthly magazine. Ten families will want a
sewing-machine, a piano, a reaper and a clothes-
wringer, where one does now. 'Ten neat cottages
will spring up, where was seen but five years since
a solitary planter's house, never papered, seldom
plastered, and always in a more or less unfinished
condition. Intelligence will not plant the teeming
soil with corn and potatoes at a price of twenty
doUai's an acre when it can raise a hundred dol-
lars' worth of cotton, and sometimes three hun-
dred dollars' worth, with less labor.
That country is strongest, is most prosperous,
and can best defy all outside nations which is
marked off" into farms of forty, fifty, or an hundred
acres instead of embracing ten or twenty of these
in one partially tilled plantation. So that aside
from the mere question of slavery there will be
benefits arising from this war which will present
an encouraging front compared with the opposite
phases.
The ravage of war as to human life is exagger-
ated in almost all minds, and is never so great as
it seems to be. Many of the soldiers who sicken
and die in hospitals would have sickened and died
at home ; while the proportion of all who die
from wounds is astonishingly small, and some of
these would have perished by accident had they
remained at home.
It cannot be denied that war is always a curse ;
and can seldom, if ever, fail to be a sin ; but as in
the present state of human morals it will come
sooner or later, to the nationalities of the earth, it
is well to look at both sides calmly and dispas-
sionately, take an intelligent view of all its phases,
and endeavor to make the best of it. — Hall's Jour-
nal of Health.
Galls ox the Backs of Horses. — It is s^d
that an ointment made of white lead and milk,
will greatly soothe and heal galls on horses, occa-
sioned, as they frequently are, by a harness that
does not fit, or from some other cause. In cases
of long standing, it will be necessarj' to repeat
the application daily for a week or more, gently
rubbing and stirring the blood about the injured
parts. Care must also be obseived not to cause
fresh irritation by riding or otherwise exciting the
wounds.
1864.
NEW ENGLAND FARMER.
255
Don't Stint the Colts. — At no time in the
life of colts, do English farmers pay so much at-
tention to these animals, or feed them better, than
during their first winter ; and these men contend
that, if you inform them correctly how a colt is
fed and cared for the first year, they will predict
what kind of a horse he will make.
Just so soon as a colt is weaned, he should have
a few handfuls of good oats, bruised, per day, a
few pounds of cut straw, and a few pounds of hay
cut. All else that he procures in the pasture will
fill up the gap in his stomach (which occurs be-
tween meals,) and he will not over distend that
organ, nor his. intestines, simply because the wants
of nature have to a great extent been satisfied, or
rather provided for, by feeing the articles just
alluded to. Some persons may object to feeding
colts in a generous manner, on account of the
expense ; but if good fodder makes strong, vigor-
ous and healthy colts, and such colts make valua-
ble horses, then I think that such investment must
pay well. Finally, the principal effect produced
on the growing animal by an insufficient nutrition,
is, to hinder his best development. Therefore, I
say don't stint the colts. — Dr. Dadd.
LADIES' DEPARTMENT.
THE BRAVE AT HOME.
BY T. B. READ.
The maid who binds her warrior's sash
With smile that well her pain dissembles,
The while beneath her drooping lash
One starry tear drop hangs and trembles.
Though Heaven alone records the tear,
And fiime shall never know her story,
Her heart shiill shed a drop as dear
As ever dewed the field of glory.
The wife who girds her husband's sword,
'Mid little ones who weep or wonder,
And gravely speaks the cheering word.
What though her heart he rent asunder-
Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear
The bolts of war around him rattle.
Hath shed as sacred blood as e'er
Was poured upon a field of battle.
The mother who conceals her grief.
When to her breast her son she presses,
Then breathes a few brave words and brief,
Kissing the patriot brow she blesses.
With no one but her secret God
To know the pain that weighs upon her,
Sheds holy blood as e'er the sod
Received on Freedom's field of honor.
DOMESTIC KECEIPTS.
Canning Fruits. — It may be interesting to
our readers to know that in these times of high
prices many fruits can be preserved with little or
no sugar. Currants, gooseberries, cherries, peach-
es and pears, require no sugar to preserve them.
Raspberries and blackberries do not require more
than four ounces of sugar to a pound of fruit,
and strawberries but little more. We have now
the different kinds nearly as fresh and good as
when first gathered. Put them up the same way
as if you used the usual quantity of sugar — that
is, expel the cold air by heating the fruit after it is
placed in jars, by setting the jars in cold water,
which heat to boiling. The jars we use are Ma-
son's self-sealing, with zinc covers, which can be
screwed on before the jar is removed from the
water. We have never lost a jar of fruit put up
in them. — Maine Farme):
Flemington GiNGEftBREAD. — Stir together
till quite light, a quarter of a pound of butter
and the same of brown sugar. Then mix in half
a pint of molasses. Sift in rather less than a i)int
and a half of flour. Beat four eggs very light
and stir them gradually into the mixture alter-
nately with the sifted flour, a tablespoon of gin-
ger and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir all well.
Dissolve a level teaspoon of soda or pearlash in
as much water as will melt it, then stir in at the
last, and set immediately into the oven, which
should be brisk, but not too hot, and bake well.
Spice to your taste, as the spices frequently vary
in strength.
Corn Meal Slappers. — To a quart of sweet
milk stir in suflRcient meal, with one handful of
wheat flour, to make rather a thin batter ; add a
little salt and not more than half a teaspoon of
soda, but you can judge better by stirring in a
very little at a time till the mixture feels light.
Bake like buckwheat cakes.
Hop Beer. — The editor of the Genesee Farmer
pronounces beer made by the following rule, very
superior. It is easily manufactured, and will keep
six or eight months. This receipt is for fifteen
gallons :
Twelve ounces of hops, six quarts of molasses,
ten eggs. Put the hops in a bag and boil them
fifteen minutes in three pailsful of water. Put
in the molasses while hot, and pour immediately
into a strong ale cask, which can be made perfect-
ly air tight, and put in the remainder of the wa-
ter cold. Let the mixture stand until cool, then
add the eggs. The beer will not ferment in cold
weather, unless put in quite a warm place.
Small Tea Cake. — Seven ounces of flour, four
and a half ounces of butter, three ounces of white
sifted sugar, the peel of one lemon, the yolks of
three eggs, worked well together, rolled into small
rolls, and pressed on one side with a knife, and
then baked.
To Clean Paper Hangings. — Put a clean,
soft bag, or an old pillow-case, over a new broom,
and gently brush the dust from the paper ; then
take crusts of stale bakers' bread, and wipe it
dojvn lightly, beginning at the top. If you rub
it, the dirt will adhere to the paper. After thus
brushing all around the upper parts of the walls
with the bread, begin just above where you left
oflf, and go round again. Do thus until you have
finished the paper. The dust and crumbs will
fall together. Whenever a room is cleaned it is a
good way, before the paint and windows are
washed, to wipe the paper with a covered broom,
as above directed.
A Cat Hint. — When a cat is seen to catch a
chicken, tie it round her neck, and make her wear
it for two or three days. Fasten it securely, for
she will make incredible eff'orts to get rid of it.
Be firm for that time, and the cat is cured — she
will never again desire to touch a bird. This is
what we do with our own cats, and what we rec-
ommend to our neighbors ; and when they try the
experiment, they and their pets are secure from
reproach and danger henceforth. Try it.
256
NEW ENGLAND FAEMER.
Aug.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.
AuRURt * Page 225
System and Economy in Families — Simple Yeast 226
Eradication of Bushes and Shrubs.... 227
Harvesting Turnips 227
Top<lressinR Grass Lands... 228
Sheep Husbandry 228, 243, 252
Making Butter 230, 231
Patent Step Ladder — Few Words to Farmers 231
Meteorological Record for May — Cabbage Fleas 232
Making Bread— Preventive of Bots.. 232
Retrospective Notes— Price of Wool in 1864 233
Pruning Fruit Trees— Currant Worm 234
Have Patience with the Boys 235
PJxIracts and Replies 236, 251
Facts Bearing on Caltle Breeding 236
Return of the Birds— Summer Drink 237
Horse Hoe — Corn- -Potatoes — Apple Tree Aphis 238
Breeds and Management of Stock 230
Death of Distinguisheil Agriculturists — Tenant Farming 240
Time to Cut Wheat— Fine- Wooled Sheep in Illinois 240
Multiplicity of Plants— Milk, Butter and Cheese 241
Farming the Country's Main Stay--F,conomy Everything.... 245
Season and Crops in Vermont — Leading Animals 246
Planting Cabbages- Western Grain Crops 246
Why Bees Work in the Dark 247
Old Fashioned Comforts- The Portulacas 247
Pure Water for Stock— Indian Corn 248
Fire Flies— About Milking and Talking 248
Wheat--Good Seed— Comsiock's Rotary Spader 249
The Season— Crops— Drought 250
Cleaning Government Beans 2S0
Chickory ami Coffee— Butter Making •. 251
Birds— Cherries--Insects 252
New England Agricultural Society 253
Curious Features of War 254
Don't Stint the Colts 255
Ladies' Department 255
Review of the Markets 356
CATTLE MARKETS FOR JULY.
The following is a summary of the reports for the four weeks
ending July 20, 1864:
NUMBER AT MARKET.
Shotes
600
Cattle.
June 29 1.503
July 6 883
" 13 1343
" 2C 1913
Sheep.
4134
4293
2995
5070
230
400
Fat Hogs,
900
600
1600
850
Veals.
800
600
700
500
Total 5642 16,492
1230
3950
2600
The following table exhibits the number oi cattle and sheep
from each State for the last four weeks, and for the correspond-
ing four weeks last year ; also the total number since the firstof
January, of each year:
THIS TEAR. LAST YEAR.
Cattle. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep.
Maine 10
New Hampshire 362
Vermont 1465
Massachusetts 220
Northern New York 210
Western States 3357
Canada 18
2272
357
2611
1613
586
1405
5952
937
4480
1.592
92
1708
2192
92
12.2
2446
3331
384
425
24
— .
Total for the four weeks 5,642 16,492 5,419 11,840
Total, since Jan. 1,(29 >Tt;eks,)39,268 102,251 39,211 78,269
PRICES.
June 2^3. Jul 1/6- July IZ. July 20.
Beef,l, 2, 3qnal 9 glS 9 ,al3 9 glS 9 igl3
" ex.andprem 13J513^ 13^il3i 14 ©15 13igl4
Sheep ^ flj 5 @ 6g 5 @ 6J 6@7 6J@ 8
Lambs, each $4 @ 6h 4 (g6^ 4 @ 6J 4 iS6|
Shotes, wholesale;.,.. .....g.lSlOJ — (g— 9Jgl0i — @10
retail »....10 ©12 — @— 10 (312 11 @12
I Fat hogs, live weight lljsll^ 11 &U — SHJ — (all
I Beef hides, lOifflli ; tallow 10gl2 ; calfskins 25a28c ^ tb.
1 Remarks. — Although the prices of beef have fluctuated some-
i what during the past month, they have not reached a higher
; point than that attained last month, and last market closed con-
i siderably easier than the one immediately preceding.
j Sheep gradually advanced in price until tlie last market, when
I they took a large jump upwards — from $6.37 to $8 tf" 100 lbs.,
i on those bought in Albany.
1 Milch cows very dull ; in consequence, in part no doubt, of
the drought which has parclKd up the feed in all this section.
1 Nobody talks about working oxen as everything goes for beef.
Calves have been high— from $9 to $14 #" head.
i Hides, pelts and tallow all seem to be going up with "every
I thing else."
I The following from our report of the market July 20, will show
the state of the market at that date:
' G. W. Barker sold one pair of steers to S. F. Woodbridge at
lie #■ lb ; 5 to Mr. Winter at 10>^ ; 7 to Mr. Gage at lOc, 35 sk ;
and 5 of his lightest at 9c ■T ft.
Geo. W. Morrison sold one pair of oxen laid at 2000 fts, for
$240 ; one pair, 1600 fts, for $195 ; one pair, 1500 fts, for
$182 ; 4 three-year-old steers, 2100 lbs. for $210 ; one cow, 600
fts, for $60 ; and 2 heiftrs, 6.50 fts, for $65.
I. A. Blake sold 6 oxen to Henry Zoller, for $690, or from 11
to 12c #" ft ; one pair to Mr. Wenthworth for $165, or llj-^c W
ft ; 8 cows for $4.52, or lie, 5 two year-olds for $1.35, or 9c ^
ft ; 4 heifers for $118, or 9>^c #■ ft ; and a steer and a cow for
$87, or 9c.
Stephen Mann sold 6 oxen and 1 cow to S. S. Learnard to kill
and weigh, at 12'2C ; 8 small cattle to W. E. Gowing at 9^^c ;
and other stock, at from 9^'^c to lie ■^ ft, on his estimate of
their dressed weight.
O. E. Taylor sold the four best oxen that we saw at Cam-
bridge, and rich ones they were for this season, for $575, or
ISijC #■ ft ; one pair for $215, or lie ; another for $2.30 or 12c ;
9 two-year-olds and one cow, to dress over 400 fts, for $40 each ;
2 heifers 550 fts, for $60, 8 other light cattle at 9c or jess {^ ft.
Lambert Hastings sold 6 very nice 3 and 4-year-old steers,
laid to dress 900 fts. for nearly 13c 4f* lb. on his estimate of
their dead weight, although buyer hoped they would not cost
over PiijC ; his other fair cattle were sold from 12c to 10c ^ ft,
and some of the lightest at OJ^ ig 10c.
A. N. Monroe sold 50 Western steers, live weight 1261 fcs,
each, at IS^^c, 32 sk, as his highest, and 24 light steers, 781 fts.
each, at 9c #■ lb, 42 sk, as his lowest sales ; 31 at lie, y^ sk ; 7
at 12'|c, >^ sk ; 6 at 12c, 35 sk ; 8 at lie, 35 sk ; 29 at lie, ^
shrink.
John Sawyer & Co. sold 35 steers at 12, | «k ; 25 at 13c, 34
sk ; and 7 at loyc, 37 sk.
Mr. French sold what he considered a fine lot of New Hamp-
shire Iambs, for $5.25 •(?' head ; Luce & Tyler sold sheep and
Iambs at $5.40 ^ head, without weighing ; j. P. Fowler sold 265
sheep and lambs at $5.25 ■^ head ; JohnLarmon sold his lambs
at $5 ^ head and his sheep at 7»2« *' ^ ; one lot of Canada
Iambs brought $6.00. N. E. Rice sold lambs at $5 and sheep
at $6.60 ijf head ; Berry Long sold 192 sheep, 80 fts. each, at
7J^c r ft ; M. T. Shackett sold 150 sheep, 90 fts. each, to J. W.
Hollis, and 155 of 89 fts, to Jerry Pratt, at 7c ^ ft, and 62
lambs, at $5.25 ^ head ; one carload of Albany lambs we un-
derstand would cost a fraction over $6. One lot cf old sheep
were sold at Cambridge for 6^jC ; Lambert Hastings ~sold 400
lambs with a very few sheep at $5 to $6 #" head.
J^elu €nglanb Jfamer.
BOSTON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1864.
Entered acccordlng to Act of Congress, in the year 1864,
by >{OUKSE, Katon & Tolman, in the Clerk's office of the
District Court of the United States, lor the District of JIiis-
sachusetts.
SUSPENSION OF THE FAKMEB.
We announce, reluctantly, a temporary suspen-
sion of the New England Fakmkr. It is due
to our subscribers that some exi)lanation of this
step should be given.
At the time when the subscription price of the
present year was fixed, and our calculations for
the year's business made, our expenses were less
than one-half what they have since risen to. Qf
course, this is too great a difference to leave any
margin of profit — on the contrary, we have, for
some time, been compelled to draw upon resour-
ces outside of the amount received from our sub-
scribers, and we do not find ourselves able to con-
tinue this course. Our list being all prepaid, we
should be unable to derive any relief from an in-
creased subscription price in time to save us fron;
heavier loss than we are able to sustain, and, at
the same time, as the efi'ect of a rise to $3, which
is as low as the paper can be afforded to return
anything like a suitable profit on the outlay, we
could but expect a large reduction in our list.
This, too, would leave us in a worse position than
if we stopped outright.
We have, therefore, determined to suspend the
publication of the Fakmer until the prices of pa-
per and labor are somewhere nearer a living stan-
dard, and hope that every subscriber will under-
stand the necessity of the step. We cannot, of
course, fix any definite time when we shall resume
the publication of the Farmer, but it will be at
the earliest period that we can feel assured of such
a permanent reduction in expenses as will prom-
ise a living support. We shall then send the paper
to all our subscribers, for a period corresponding
to the length of time for which they have credit
on our books, and shall hope for a renewal of their
support. We wish them to understand one thing
— there are no club subscribers on our list whose
paper has not already cost us more than we re-
ceived from them for the whole year. That, how-
ever, was our misfortune and not their fault.
It is with sincere regret that we make this an-
nouncement. Nothing but stern necessity has
driven us to it. The farmers of N^ew England
need the services of the agricultural press. The
benefits which they have derived from agricultural
newspapers and books during the past thirty
years have been of incalculable profit to them, and
they should not hesitate, at this crisis, to pay the
increased amount necessary to keep them alive.
We speak feelingly, when we urge them to sus-
tain agricultural papers, and we assure them they
will regret it, if they fail to give such publications
a liberal support.
When the prices of material and labor are again
at a reasonable figure, we intend to resume the
publication of the New England Farmer, re-
newed and reinvigorated by a period of rest, and
place it once more in the van of those Avho are
laboring for the elevation and instruction of the
class upon which depend all others. To that end
we have copyrighted for our future use, the name
and title "New England Farmer," and claim its
exclusive use as a title for agricultural publica-
tions.
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