(farmers J!Imitl)b l^isitar. 



t-1 -iu'iawM " f'^" 



CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. 



™^^Vq«9^^iH 



^^^^WBSCB 



'^ThOSE who labor I:« the SARtH AhB THE CrtosEN PEOPbB OF GoD, WHOSE BRBAST3 HE HAS MADE HI9 PECULIAR DEtOSITE FOR SUBSTANTIAL AND GENUINE VIRTUE.'* — Jeffcrsoit. 



VOLUME Vlh 



CONCORD, N. H., JULY SI, 1845. 



NUMBER 



t /. 



irr^fTH ^''^■■"' ^•'»^~ 



in« . -w-wu-n-j j»-: 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



I'l'r.i-isrtF.li Rv 



ISAAC HILL, &: vSONS, 



ISSUED ON TIIK LAST UAV OF EVKRV MO.Nl'rt, 



At Athciilmi Buildins* 



{t^-OEscBAi. AoKNTs.— B. C.iuK, Kei'nn, N H> ; Thomas 

 It. rl^>ll■^o^, W'ashingtnn City, D. C. ; Jons llAnsH, \V;is(i- 

 iMRloM St. linsl-.iN, M;i.-i!--. ; C'HiKLEs VV'ABntN, Bunley ltO«i 

 WorCL'stLT. Mass. 



TERMS To single subscriber.*, Fiftij Cents. Ten per 



cent, uill 1) ■ ;illnn-eil to the )>ers(in who shall send more ihun 

 one siihscnl)rT. Twelve eopies will be sent for the ailvance 

 pii) menl of Five DulLars; twenty-live copies for Ten DulUirs; 

 sixty copies for Twenty Dollar.-.. The paylMelll in every caseto 

 be tiiaile in advaiicp. 



^^y-Muvrij and sultscrifitims, by* n^l<ttwn of tke Pitat Jttttcr 

 rirneriil, tnaij in all cases be remitted hij (Ac /\w< Master^ fret uj 

 it<\^taife. 



ftJ-All j;.'ntleiiien who have herelofore acted as .\cpnts aie 

 reipfst-il to continue their .\4!ency. Old subscrihers who 

 cAini- imd 'r th.- new terms, will please notify us of the names 

 already on our books. 



Fcnnomical Hints. 



\W e.MiTiCt llir liilldw iiii; st-iisililL- .-iniole from 

 nil old |iii|ii_'r (if ISlli. Ii coiiluin.-i siigoestioiis 

 to InrrMKr.*, e.-'iierinlly 



tli:it will lie rotiiiil iiscl 



wlifii tlio iTops iiie sliorl. — Boston Joiinuil. 



" Remcilijfor SatrcUtj. — As lliu |iiL'M'iit .-circily 

 (if ;;raiii |iro(lMi'i'S i^eiioiis iliftres.'i :iiiiom^' IIik 

 jKioicr cliis.s of |iL'o|ile ; mid wli;it i.s tdiiiust n,< 

 |i;iiiirill, niiii'li firentcr wniils iuiioii^' the doiiie.'-lli' 

 ;initiinls. it lirroiiics till ciliject offrrcil iiii|iiirtiiiice 

 lo diiiiiiiisli llie i"oii.-iiiiii|ilioii, mid to iiicrejise ilie 

 null iiiiPiU of tliat ciiiksiiiiieil. Proper iilteiiliuii 

 to llii' siilij^et most ceriiiiidy will reduce the use 

 of ;;iniii one half of the present qiiaiiliiy I and it 

 lieliooves every man in jirood ciretiiiit^Iances, lo 

 atleiiil to it, in order lliat tliere may he more lor 

 iii.irkct. If every one will seriously carry into 

 operation llie plan I liavc to propose lor feedinjr, 

 the price of "laiii will in a few days lie so redii- 

 red, that llieir oood eftccl.s will tpiickly he felt, 

 the poor will he supplied on moderate terms; 

 half-slarved cows and horses will pass a comliir- 

 talile winter; and some of the vile sharpers, 

 spri-nlaliii": in articles of the first necessity, will 

 he disappiiinted in their project of latleiiin^' on 

 the spoils of the needy. 



A most important point is, lo siiH'er no animal 

 to eat frrain in its nalnr.-il state. It should all 

 ^o tliroiijLfh the hands of the miller and the cook. 

 The life of the frraiii resists the action of the 

 stoiiiiicli so loiiL', that it passe,s into the howeLs 

 hefore decomposed; and li'om thence, in like 

 condition, is expelled. Three quarts of oats or 

 corn, };roimd fine, will yield more nourishment 

 than three L'allons not i{ioiind. This is generally 

 helicved hy waf.'oners, who feed their hor.ses on 

 r)e meal, calleil chop. The grinding of oats and 

 corn, is jiir^t as henelicial nsthat of rye. ;\i)il, ut 

 as much importance as grinding, is hoiling the 

 meat with water, so as to make a thin mnsh. — 

 This mnsh, mixed np with hay or cm siiinv, will, 

 in a day or two he preterred hy the animal confi- 

 ned to it, to any other diet. One gallon of meal, 

 added to two gallons of hoiling water, in the 

 manner in which it is adiled to soups or mnsh 

 when thickened, and if not hoiled with hay or 

 straw, which would lie best, poured on it and 

 siirred up, and given at night, will, with the aid 

 of a little hay in the day, preserve any horse or 

 cow in good order. This mixture, or mnsh, 

 ought hy all means to ho hoiled a few minutes, 

 otherwise hut liille good will he done. This is 

 confirmed hy the I'ollowing experiment, repeat- 

 edly made in Englainh A man, confined lo a 



given ipiaulily of raw mateiials, uilh iihnudaiice 

 of water, would gradually decline in Hesh ; hut 

 with the same cpiaulity of raw materials made 

 into soup, would conlinllc in good conilition. 

 The union of the water with the food, hy hoiling, 

 in like that in vegetation, it heromcs a component 

 pari, mill Is converted into nourishment tor the 

 Ixidy, il' not chemie.-illy iiniied. Whether this 

 iTiiWMiing lie Convincing or nol, matters lint little, 

 since those to w liom it is not satisfactory may re- 

 ly iipnii tlin fact, that hoiling thin meal, hetbre 

 adding to it Straw or hay, will make il go twice 

 as [:»■ iti the suppoit ol' iheir slock, tamely, for 

 such all advantage, so easily ohiaiii'fd, every one 

 might to get over the natural iiidoleiu'e and com- 

 mon aversion to deviate from old liahils 



Anolher cnnsiderahle saving well svorlli alten- 

 timi will he made hy giving the animals all Iheir 

 meal food llefiire dusk, and wiihont hay during 

 the night. 15y eating the meal (iiod at iilglil, 

 their stomachs cm. vert the whole of it into nour- 

 ishment. That taken in the day, does very little 

 giioil — more frequently injury than good. It op- 

 erates on the stomach, instead of the stomach's 

 operating on il, hut it ifXcites pain, cholic, and 

 other s\'niploms of intl.immation. This can he 

 well mideisiooil, from the experiment ol'aii Eng- 

 lish physician ; he gave a given qiianlily ol" the 

 same loud lo two similar dogs, keeping the one 

 quiet, the other in constant motion, for six hours, 

 when holh were killed. The sloinacli of the one 

 at rest had digesteil all its contents: tliat of the 

 other, had nol produced any efiect. The frequent 

 repetilion of this expenment has ended in ils \u^- 

 ilispuied Hstahlishii.enl. Hence, it is clear that 

 the j;rain given in the day to animals in use, is of 

 no henefit, as it passes through the stomach he- 

 fure rest eiuihles the digestion to take place. 

 Hence giving hay at night, really injures horses, 

 hy keeping ihein awake miil moving. During 

 the night, exce|iting with those animals nature 

 made liir snhsisling in the dark, rest and sleep 

 are indispensahh! ; and more or less are they in- 

 jured hy every deviation ti'om naliire. 



The practice of giviiiL' hav .'it ni^ht to horses, 

 I am sure, was introdnced liy tavern ki'epeis: 

 and, if nol kept np hy their interesis, would 

 speedily he ahandoned hy every one who had 

 sense enough to perceive the lolly, lii one or 

 two hours during the day, horses can eat ;\s much 

 hay as will do them good. In confirmation of 

 this, I heard of the trealtnont, several travelli'rs 

 gave their horses ami pursued during a journey 

 of many hundred miles. They gave their horses 

 only grain at night, tiiid hay hir an hour in a day. 

 Dining the last ihoiisand miles, they gained in 

 flesh (iliongh they travelled imu'e expeditiously 

 under this regimen) that which they lost in the 

 heginning, under the (Uistomary treatment of 

 giving grain in the day, with hay at night. 



The last point I have to press, is, tlie necesity 

 of keeping stock sheltered; that is, securing to 

 them the henefit of their own warmth. It is a 

 li mil, indeed, that during their exposure to the 

 irregularities of the .season, they require twice the 

 ordinary (nod, for their nourishment and stimu- 

 lation, (Mid are suhject to ten times as many fatal 

 disorders as otherwise they would he. The mas- 

 ter has taken them from a stale where nature 

 supplied their wants ; and if he he not too much 

 of a brute to feel for their hardships, he ought to 

 he so miieli of a man of honor as to supply what 

 his interests dictate, as a requital to tlie animal 

 fiir its loss of what nature designed fiir its origi- 

 nal. 



If by this plan of grinding and boiling, the half 

 of the grain he saved in the country, as most cer- 

 tainly it may, there will he hut little occasion for 

 pressing the extension of the principle to man, 

 liy advising eating muHh instead of bread, and 

 taking soup instead of meat. 



TaoMis EwELi.. 

 Georgetown, 3d Dec, 1816. 



Vai.i K or Oatmkal AS IIlman I'oon.— It will 

 he recollected hy our reaih'is, that we adverted 

 to this, page 8!> of onr current volume, iinri we 

 are glad to find onr remarks no less strongly than 

 jocosely seconded by the high authority of Black- 

 wood's iMaga/ine : "Yon won't pity us Scotch 

 oaimiNil-eaters any more, Mr. Cockney, we guess. 

 Experience and science are both on our side. 

 What makes your race-horses the best in the 

 world, may he expected to make \onr peastmtry 

 the best. We otleryoii a fair Int. Von shall takt; 

 ten English ploughmen, and feed them upon 2 

 1-2 poiiuils (d" vvheaten flour a day, and we shall 

 take as many Scotch ploughmen, and li :ed lli/in 

 upon the same weight of oatmeal a day — (if they 

 can e;it so much and that is douhtful) — and we 

 will hack our men against yours for any sum you 

 like. They shall walk, run, work — or fight yoii, 

 if yon like it, they shall thrash you to your 

 heart's content. We should like to convince you 

 that Scolidi porridge has some real sol'ul metal in 

 it. We back the oatcake and the porridge against 

 all the wheaten messes in the worhl. We defy 

 voiir home-made bread, your baker's bread, your 

 fancy bread, your rolls, muflins, crumpets, and 

 coiikies — your bricks, biscuits and rusks — your 

 Bath-buns and your Sally Lnns— your tea-cakes, 

 and safTron-cakes, and slim-cakes, and plank- 

 cakes, and pan-cakes, and soda-cakes, and cur- 

 rant-cakes, and sponge-cakes, and seed-cakes, 

 and oii(|<lle-cakes, and singing-liinuies — youf 

 shortbread and yonr currant buns — and if there 

 be any other names by which you designate yonr 

 vvheaten jibominations, we defy and detest them 

 all. We swear by the oat-cake and the porridge 

 — the substantial bannock and the hrose — long 

 may Scotland [irodiice them, and Scotchmen live 

 ami fight upon xUvuiV^Ameikan .Igiicidluratisl. 



Rt.NG-BOi«E IN IIoRSKs. — Riiig-honc commen- 

 ces in the lower pastern, and nsnally in the joint, 

 lint it rapidly spreads, and embraces not only the 

 pastern-bones, but the cartilages of the foot. 

 There is at first a slight enlargement or bony 

 swelling, on each side of the li)i>t. and justtdiove 

 the coronet. It is more fretpient in the hind loot 

 than in the fore, because there is more violent 

 exertion in tliese than hefore ; yet th<; himeness 

 is not so great, heciiuse these bones are not liable 

 to so much injury ; in its early stage it is not im- 

 possible to remove the disease by a<'li\e blister- 

 ing, or by the hot iron. Ring-bone is one of the 

 most serious lamenesses, wiili which horses can 

 be .-ifllicted. It is unsoundness when existing in 

 the slightest degree— for when the bony deposit 

 begins lo spread, the disease is inctirable. In 

 slight ctises rubbing the swelling night and morn- 

 ing with a drachm of mercurial oiiiiment, rub- 

 bing it well ill, and after applying a blister, and it* 

 2 or 3 weeks another will be of benefit. 



Pulverization. 



Of all agricultural reforiners, tlie once cele- 

 brated .lethro Tnll, the first to suggest anil invent 

 important iiiipro\eiiients in farming machinery, 

 and author of the drill system of husbandry, Je-. 

 serves in my judgment lo stand at the heail of 

 the list. True, he carried his theory in, favor of, 

 extreme pulverization to the extravagant length, 

 of maintaining that it might even, lit; niaile to sur 

 persede manure ; still his leijejing principle of 

 perfect pulverization is !,co much overlooked ill, 

 common practice. No firmer need expect a good, 

 return whose lantl m horse or hand hoed crops. 

 is not kept clea,ij, qjid infinitely pulverized. This, 

 is the reasojpi vxhy nothing is. more destructive, at, 

 least foj; that year, than ptonghiu!; wet land It, 

 bakes and. liefiomes imperviahle alike to moisture 

 Hiul la t!ie ropts of plants. There is no sign of] 

 mismanagement whiqh should he nioie signally^ 

 condemned atyl sli,gniatise<l, than that of slirring: 

 land lehen t«et. Frost alone can restor<; it to a 

 healthy condition. But, for breakitig down ant^ 



