278 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



comprising 1600 pages, are illustrated by about 

 600 engravings on wood, of horses, cattle, sheep, 

 swine, poultry, insects and implements. Fourteen 

 of these illustrations occupy a broadside of a page, 

 each, and eight of them are upon steel. 



Now with all this mass of information, and the 

 immense labor which it must have cost to prepare 

 it, the question arose with us, as it will with the 

 reader, was the writer really competent to teach, 

 or was the creation of these volumes the means of 

 gratifying a desire to appear before the public as 

 an author, and that itch for writing which the 

 latinists call cacoethes scribcndi ? In taking up the 

 work, this question was the first one upon which 

 we proceeded to satisfy ourselves. The author in- 

 forms us in his preface, that after receiving what 

 is commonly called a liberal education, he boarded 

 himself with a farmer possessing 600 acres, and 

 there he labored with his own hands at every spe- 

 cies of work which the plowman, the field-worker, 

 the shepherd, the steward, the cattle-man, the 

 dairy-man and poultry tender must perform. He 

 then travelled through most of the countries of 

 Europe, and upon his return to England, purchased 

 a farm and operated upon it on his own account 



In our opinion, he is entitled to the fullest con- 

 fidence, not only as a practical, but a scientific 

 teacher. 



In addition to these free commendations, we 

 think the work possesses other merits, and with- 

 out which it would have small value to us. It has 

 a full and expressive table of contents, and a mi- 

 nute and carefully prepared index. The text is 

 divided into sections and numbered, and the index 

 refers to them, so that there is no difficulty in turn- 

 ing at once to any particular subject. The work 

 is also enriched by "Appendices to the Seasons," 

 by Prof. Norton, of Yale College. 



We shall have occasion for frequent reference to 

 this work in future investigations, and have so 

 much extended our notice as to leave no space for 

 the extracts which we had designed to present. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WHITE BEANS VS. COLORED. 



Why is it that no kinds of beans sell as well in 

 market as white 1 I cultivate and raise a kind of 

 bean that is of a light orange color, which is far 

 better for cooking, and makes a more palatable 

 dish than any white beans I ever saw. And all 

 our friends who chance to sit at our table and par- 

 take of them as they come warm from the oven, 

 agree with me, and say they are very good. 



Yet no beans are inquired for in the market but 

 white. The bean crop is one of the most profita- 

 ble the farmer can now raise for the market, com- 

 pared to the expense of cultivation. My manner 

 of raising is to plant them among the corn, and I 

 cannot discover that they injure the crop of corn 

 in the least. They should be planted in the rows 

 of corn, quite near the hill, and on the south side 

 of the hill of corn. If planted in this manner, they 

 are not in the way of the hoe, and the corn does 

 not shade the beans. Insley Dow. 



East Corinth, Vt., April, 1852. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE LARGEST CALF YET. 



Mr. Ralph P. Gilbert, of Gilead, Tolland Co., 

 Ct., has a finely formed, spotted red and white, 

 (nearly three-fourths white,) bull calf, which came 

 on Sunday, April 18. On the Monday morning 

 succeeding, it weighed, in presence of several wit- 

 nesses, one hundred and eleven pounds. 



Assuming that Mr. Dudley's calf gained the same 

 per day during the first four days, as during the 

 subsequent six weeks, its weight at the first would 

 have been one hundred and seven and one-half 

 pounds, showing a balance in favor of the Gilead- 

 ite of three and one-half pounds. 



Mr. Gilbert's calf is not an Ayrshire, nor a De- 

 vonshire, but a native, and is acknowledged by all 



who have seen him to be the finest and largest calf|| n the wall, is a want of stability "in the bottom 

 of his age that stands on four legs anywhere in stones. 



this region. Yours truly, A Subscriber. it W as formerly customary, in building wall, to 



Gilead, April 28, 1852. Ipay at the bottom two "large cobbles," as they 



Remarks. — Because it is the fashion, friend Dow. 

 The horticultural bean, so called, a nearly round, 

 speckled bean, is far better, cooked any way. than 

 any white bean we ever tasted. And this is the 

 opinion of nearly all who try them. They are most 

 excellent before ripening to eat with green corn, 

 or as a side dish, and are not surpassed by any 

 other when baked. But they are dark colored, 

 and that makes them unfashionable. We have 

 passed some twelve years of our- life among the 

 "darkies," without having contracted such a pre- 

 judice to the "ebony line" as to make us reject a 

 good bean because of its complexion. If people 

 will make trial of some other kinds of beans beside 

 the white, we think they will soon agree with us 

 in taste. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 STONE WALL. 



BY SAMUEL FLINT, JR. 



Mr. Editor : — Farmers and scientific men have 

 made extensive observations to discover the cause 

 of the potato rot. This is well ; but there are causes 

 for other misfortunes, of less importance than the 

 loss of potatoes, and consequently, demand less at- 

 tention. There is nothing, as we travel in New 

 England, more commonly seen than gaps in the 

 wall ; especially in the spring of the year. As 

 there is a cause for everything, would it not be 

 well for our farmers to inquire what throws down 

 their wall? Every body will lay it to Jack Frost, 

 of course. He is a busy mischief-maker no doubt, 

 and very much a "leveller ;" but we often see a 

 piece of wall that defies his power, and stands 

 erect through a long course of years. Stones laid 

 up on a naked ledge, if they are laid so as to stand 

 till the builder is out of sight, seldom ever fall. 

 So on dry sandy land, if the wall is tolerably well 

 built, it generally stands. Why? Because the 

 foundation stones retain their places. The princi- 

 pal, and I do not know but the only cause of gaps 



