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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



only work among us devoted to the wool growing 

 interest — has been conducted with ability, and is 

 printed in a neat and attractive form. We hope 

 the "woolsack" will be plump and easy under the 

 editor, and that friend Moore's twins will multi- 

 ply and replenish as rapidly as do rabbits. 



A REMARKABLE MARE. 



The m ire owned by me was raised in Hopkin- 

 ton, N. II., and was brought to Rockport in the 

 fall of 1832, being then between five and six years 

 old. She is of a deep bay color, about fourteen 

 hands high, and weighs in her best condition scant 

 800 lbs. She has been owned in this place, and 

 used as a let horse, successively by Messrs. Gen. 

 Gott, Jahez Gott, Jr., and Choate & Hadlock, un- 

 til last July, when she came into my possession. 

 So that her employment in that capacity falls 

 short of nineteen years but a few months. Each 

 of the above named gentlemen are ready to vouch 

 for the statements I shall make respecting her, 

 and are willing to add a little something on their 

 own responsibility. 



Whenever a horse was wanted for a journey 

 that required speed and endurance, this mare was 

 invariably called for. To carry two men in a 

 chaise, from Rockport to Boston and back, a jour- 

 ney of 70 miles ; to drag a carry-all, with four 

 persons, to Salem and back, 42 miles ; were com- 

 mon daily performances with her. She has seen 

 Boston and Rockport as many as five times in six 

 weeks. In her prime she was often hired by a 

 stone-contractor, who lived nearly two miles out 

 of this village. To his house it was usual to send 

 her in the m)rning, from whence he would drive 

 her to Charlestown bridge and back — not always 

 alone — and return her to the stable in the evening, 

 making the distance of her travel upwards of 75 

 miles. Recently he assured me that he once drove 

 her to Charlestown in 3 1-2 hours, stopping in Sa- 

 lem about half an hour, and returned the same 

 day. Tiiis was at the rate of 12 miles an hour. 

 About this time, she came from Ipswich to this 

 place, 18 miles, in an hour and a quarter. 



When about 11 years old, she had seen so much 

 hard work, and had had so many hard drives, that 

 it was thought she must be worn out ; and she was 

 offered for sale for $75, without a purchaser. Sub- 

 sequently, however, she was sold for over $100 ; 

 and since this latter period, it has cost nearly 

 $5000 to keep a horse in the stable by the side of 

 her. Three horses, valued at upwards of $100 

 each, subject to the same service with her, and 

 often favored at her expense, have been complete- 

 ly-used up. One of them returning from Salem in 

 company with her at noon in the hottest day of 

 the summer of 1810, the mare having the hardest 

 of it, died within an hour after his arrival. While 

 the mare was in harness the next day, as if no- 

 thing had happened. 



In January, 1843, she went with a sleigh to 

 Salem in an hour and three-quarters, stopped there 

 one hour and a quarter, and returned in an hour 

 and fifty-five minutes — 42 miles in three hours and 

 forty minutes. Not long before this period, she 

 carried four persons in a heavy carry-all to Salem 

 in the forenoon, returned with them late in the 

 evening, and at midnight was harnessed to the 

 same vehicle and sent back in urgent haste, to re- 



turn early the next morning with two persons. 

 Thus, in scarcely more than twenty-four hours, 

 dragging that carry-all, with its load, 84 miles. 

 Rockport, Feb. 14, 1852. B. Haskell. 



SORREL. 



The presence of sorrel indicates an acid soil. 

 It is a sour plant, and thrives only on such lands 

 as are destitute of calcareous matters ; consequent- 

 ly, the application of the latter in sufficient quan- 

 tities to correct the acidity suggests itself as the 

 most effectual method of getting rid of it, and ren- 

 dering the soil fit for profitable cultivation in oth- 

 er and more desirable crops. Yet the quantity of 

 soil on which this plant is naturally produced, 

 precludes the hope that it will ever be entirely 

 eradicated, and it hence becomes a part of farm- 

 ing to know in what manner it can be most sucess- 

 fully economized, and rendered valuable as an ar- 

 ticle of animal sustenance or food. 



There are, indeed, but few vegetables, however 

 mean and valueless they may be considered, which 

 do not possess some quality capable of redeem- 

 ing them from the hasty yet common charge of ut- 

 ter worthlessness ; and of this order we regard 

 sorrel. As a food for horses and sheep, it not on- 

 ly possesses considerable value, but if chaffed, and 

 mixed with meal, it will fatten them as rapidly, 

 perhaps, as English hay prepared in the same man- 

 ner. Fed to these animals in its natural state, 

 and without any accompaniment, it is found tore- 

 tain them in health and heart, and the seed ground 

 and made into "mush," is said by those who have 

 had no inconsiderable experience in feeding it, to 

 be equal to Indian corn. Yet no farmer will ever 

 cultivate sorrel as a farm product. It is exhaust- 

 ing in the extreme, and it is only when it obtrudes 

 itself upon him, spontaneously, that he should en- 

 deavor to render it of any account. 



The only effectual method of extirpating it is to 

 sweeten the soil by liming, or to increase the sta- 

 ple to a degree which will promote the develop- 

 ment of more valuable herbage, and cleanse the 

 soil thoroughly by a succession of manured crops, 

 such as corn, potatoes, or some other vegetable 

 which is cultivated exclusively with the hoe. The 

 seed of the sorrel is not only abundant, but it is 

 so invested in an integument, or horny involucre, 

 which possesses the power of preserving the vital 

 power unimpaired for years, when placed by cir- 

 cumstances so deep in the soil as to be beyond the 

 influence of those vitalizing principles upon which 

 germination is found mainly to depend. 



This peculiarity of the seed explains why sorrel 

 so often appears after long pasturage, and the dis- 

 appearance of the plant from the surface of the 

 soil where it has previously grown. 



EF" The excesses of our youth are drafts upon 

 our old age, payable with interest. 



