

158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 





There is no doubt but there are many long 

 keeping varieties of great merit among our native 

 apples, which have never been brought into pub- 

 lic notice. It is desirable that they should be 

 sought out and proved, and sucb as are found 

 worthy of propagation, widely disseminated ; it 

 perhaps might be advisable for our horticultural 

 societies to offer a premium for the best late keep- 

 ing apple ; this would call out many kinds from 

 which to make a selection, altogether new, as the 

 offer should embrace native or seedlings only. 



Good late sweet apples have been much inquired 

 for, for several years past. In this region there are 

 not enough grown for home consumption. We 

 have many varieties of fine Winter Sweetings, 

 and it is singular that there are not more of them 

 cultivated. The Danvers Winter Sweet, Seavers 

 Sweet, Tolman's Sweet, and many others which 

 might be mentioned, will always sell quick and at 

 good price in market. 



Apples are peculiarly refreshing in the early 

 part of summer, when the warm season commen- 

 ces, and other fruit is not to be had. After the 

 cherries and other fruits begin to ripen we can dis- 

 pense with them better ; but the extra price which 

 good late apples will always demand, if nothing 

 else, should induce fruit growers to search out and 

 cultivate the best of them. o. v. n. 



Leominster, March, 1852. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 WHEAT— CORN—HENS. 



Friend Brown : — We have received and read 

 the N. E. Farmer from its commencement, and 

 have been satisfied that the dollar paid annually 

 for it has been returned to us in a four-fold pro- 

 portion, and not wishing longer to remain "as 

 barren sands which imbibe the shower and render 

 neither fruit nor flower," will give to the public, 

 through the columns of the Farmer, our success in 

 raising winter wheat, Indian corn, and a few re- 

 marks on hens. 



In the 8th mo., 1850, we spread 4 cords of good 

 stable manure on 3-4 of an acre of what is called 

 in this vicinity good corn land, (which in the pre- 

 vious month yielded not more than one ton of 

 hay per acre,) plowed it in, rolled and harrowed 

 with a light harrow, sowed 3 pecks white flint 

 wheat, worked it in with a harrow and seeded 

 with timothy and red-top. In the 7th mo., 1851, 

 harvested the wheat, which appeared fine, threshed 

 it the following month, and obtained 21 1-2 bush- 

 els of as good heavy grain as we could wish to see. 

 The ground appeared to be well seeded, and we 

 shall be disappointed if we do not obtain 2 tons 

 of hay per acre the next season. 



A writer in the Farmer says that Indian corn 

 is not a good crop to i*aise after potatoes. We do 

 not know what he calls a good crop, but we feel 

 pretty well satisfied with 00 bushels to the acre, 

 which we have raised for the past three years on 

 land which bore a crop of potatoes the previous 

 year by giving a dressing of stable manure. Last 

 season we had one acre of sward land by the field 

 where potatoes grew the previous year ; both were 

 manured alike and the cultivation was the same. 

 The yield was at least one-fourth less on the 

 sward" land, which does not agree with the theory 

 ot s nil writer. 



One year ago the 10th of this month, we had 50 



hens, mostly the old-fashioned Yankee hens, a few 

 of them crossed with the Poland and Yellow 

 Dorking. In the course of the spring and sum- • 

 mer 10 or 12 of them died — raised 53 chickens, 

 and obtained 450 dozens of eggs in 1851. Eggs 

 sold amounted to a trifle over $02.00. This winter 

 we have a few pullets of the China breed, and are 

 satisfied that they begin to lay younger and lay 

 more in cold weather than any breed Ave have ev- 

 er kept. Batley & Aldrich. 

 Blackstone, Id mo. 23d, 1852. 



HAY AND GRAIN. 



The culture of hay and grain, with the pastur- 

 age of cattle, engrosses no small part of the farms 

 of New England. Full three-fourths of all the la- 

 bors of the farmer are applied to these objects. 

 Take a well averaged farm of 160 acres, 120 of 

 which are said to be in a state to be cultivated, 

 and how will you usually find it subdivided ? Prob- 

 ably 30 acres devoted to mowing, 10 acres to the 

 growing of grains, 60 acres to pasturage — the re- 

 maining 20 acres, to orcharding, and various other 

 purposes. This is not an unfair view of the sub- 

 division of our farms — and here we see a major 

 part of the whole ordinarily used for the purposes 

 mentioned. 



How much stock will be kept on such a farm, 

 when well managed? Perhaps 12 cows, 4 oxen, 

 and 2 horses — supposing it to yield 30 tons of hay, 

 400 bushels of grain, and a balance of vegetables 

 sufficient to complete the feed of the stock. This, 

 if we mistake not, is a fair sketch of Yankee farm 

 management. Now, on such a farm, it is appa- 

 rent that the profits must accrue principally from 

 the milk of the cows, and the grain products ; and 

 he must be a skilful manager, who can realize an 

 income, over and above the cost of labor, of $400 

 a year on such a farm, without charging any in- 

 terest on the cost of the farm. 



If any system of management can be devised, 

 whereby fifty per cent, can be added to the crop of 

 hay and grain, without an essential addition to the 

 labor, except that of gathering them in, it is ajipa- 

 rcnt that the annual income of such a farmer will 

 be changed from $400 to $600. He who shall de- 

 monstrate how this change can be brought about, 

 will be entitled to be classed among the friends of 

 the farmer. 



We know it is much easier to imagine castles in 

 the air, than to erect them ; but still, it does not 

 necessarily follow, they never can be erected. 

 Stranger things have happened. Who would have 

 believed, thirty years ago, that beef and pork 

 could have been transported from the valley of the 

 Ohio to the shores of the Atlantic, for half a cent 

 per pound ; and that so great would be the over- 

 flow of these products, from these regions, as to 

 crowd our own supplies from the market? May 

 we not, by proper care in tillage, produce two tons 

 of hay to the aci*o instead of one 1 Suppose the 



