88 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



try. A gentleman on board the Africa has, how- 

 ever, made the attempt, and, with some care, has 

 succeeded in bringing them in a perfect state. He 

 has brought them as a present to the family and 

 friends of a gentleman farmer in this town, and 

 may therefore claim to be the first importer of ripe 

 peaches from the United States to England." 



WINTERING DOMESTIC ANIMALS, 



Within the wide range of the science and prac- 

 tice of farming, there is none of higher importance 

 and of more influence on the weal and woe of the 

 farmer, thaii the sustenance of his domestic ani- 

 mals during the winter. It is indeed a matter of 

 surprise, that industrious, money-and-time-saving 

 as our farming community generally is, they but 

 too often neglect to pay the necessary attention 

 to the important subject just mentioned. 



Protection against the inclemency of the weather 

 is needed by beast as well as man, and whoever 

 neglects to provide this is guilty of a shameful dis- 

 regard of the duties he, as a man, owes to his 

 dumb dependent, and to his own welfare and self- 

 interest. 



If those farmers, for instance, who suffer their 

 sheep to be exposed to the rigor of the weather, 

 were aware of the damage done thereby to the 

 quality of their wool, and to the value of the ani- 

 mal, they would cheerfully perform the labor re- 

 quired to provide against such losses. Many are 

 possessed of the foolish idea, that because sheep 

 have a thick coat of wool, they need no shelter. 

 But look at the torn-off and loose fleeces of such 

 sheep in the ensuing spring, and experience will 

 teach you, that you were sadly mistaken in your 

 calculations. Poor in flesh and poor in wool, 

 they will never do for the butcher, and shear on 

 an average one-half less than they ought to. 



It is an old but true saying, that "A want of 

 comfort is always a want of flesh." Therefore 

 provide good stables, sheds and shelter for all 

 your cattle, horses and swine. They will remu- 

 nerate you at the proper time for the attentions 

 bestowed upon them. If you have an abundance 

 of straw, or if your barns or sheds are in a poor 

 condition, you can make cheap shelters in an easy 

 and expeditious way by building pens of large 

 poles or rails, enclosing a space about one foot 

 wide, and covering the top as well as filling the 

 space at the sides with straw. 



This kind of cheap shelter will serve for every 

 kind of stock. 



Skelter being provided, another actual condition 

 for the welfare of your stock during the winter, 

 is to have them sufficiently provided with food- 

 ie this should not be the case, you better sell a 

 part of your stock, even if it were at a reduced 

 price, and reserve your food for the rest. 



Save your fodder in the best way you can, and 

 have your hay well cut, and, if possible, sprinkled 

 with brine, unless it has been moderately salted 

 when put into the barn. Feed well, but economi- 

 cally. 



Keep your stock well provided with pure clear 

 water at all times of the winter season. If you 

 can avoid it, don't suffer them to walk through 

 the mud to obtain their drink, but keep it ready 

 for them in your barn-yard. In many cases, 

 where this is not done, cattle and sheep will get 

 their feet frozen, and hoof and foot ail will be the 

 natural consequence of it. 



"The eye of the master makes the horse grow 

 fat." If you would have your live stock flourish 

 in winter, let it have your own careful supervi- 

 sion daily ; separate the weak from the strong, 

 and those which are too young to have attained 

 full strength, from those which have already ar- 

 rived at maturity. If you have a vicious, ill-na- 

 tured animal, sell it, if you can, at any reasona- 

 ble price ; otherwise it will make as much mis- 

 chief in your barn-yard as a quarrelsome, mali- 

 cious inmate in your family. 



Begin to feed out a little hay or grain early, so 

 that your stock may come into winter quarters in 

 good condition. If you do this, you will find that 

 " well-summered ' ' will be ' ' half-wintered . ' ' Shel- 

 ter them carefully from the storm, m"Le eave- 

 troughs to carry the water from the roofs of the 

 barns and sheds, so as to keep the barn-yard dry, 

 give the stock abundance of clean dry bedding, if 

 you can, feed them well (not over-feeding them at 

 one time and starving them at another,) and let 

 them have free access to good water at all times. 

 Let "waste not, want not, spare not," be your 

 motto, and your success is reasonably certain. — 

 The Wool-Grower. 



MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



This Association met at the State House, on 

 Wednesday, the 14th inst., and was called to or- 

 der by Marshall P. Wilder, its President. Slmon 

 Brown, editor of the New England Farmer, was 

 elected as Secretary pro tem. With one or two ex- 

 ceptions every county society in the State was rep- 

 resented. 



The first business of the meeting after its organ- 

 ization, was to hear reports from the delegates ap- 

 pointed to visit the Exhibitions of the different Ag- 

 ricultural Societies in the State which took place 

 during the past autumn. 



The President, M. P. AVilder, reported upon 

 the Hampshire Society ; Mr. Dodge, upon the 

 Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin ; Mr. Proctor, 

 the Worcester ; Mr. Lathrop, the Essex ; Mr. 

 French, the Berkshire ; Dr. Gardner, the Frank- 

 lin ; Mr. Proctor made a verbal report of the 

 Bristol Show, speaking of it in very complimenta- 

 ry terms, and among other things, stated that a 

 complete apparatus for capturing and storing the 

 whale was on exhibition, and was the object of 

 much interest. It was then voted that Mr. Page 

 be requested to prepare a report of the Norfolk so- 

 ciety ; Mr. King, of the Worcester West ; Mr. Fow- 

 ler, of the Hampden ; Mr. Winthrop, of the Mid- 

 dlesex ; Dr. Reed, of the Ilousatonic, and Mr. 

 Brooks, of the Barnstable Society. 



Mr. Cushman reported a Constitution and code of 

 By-Laws, which were amended so far as to de- 

 clare that the name of the Association shall here- 

 after be THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF 

 AGRICULTURE, instead of the Central Board as 

 heretofore. 



The select committees to whom were assigned 

 specific subjects at the meeting of the Board on the 



