356 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ter, in clearing ground, taking manure from the 

 barn and other places, and sledding it over meadow 

 lands which cannot be passed when the ground is 

 not frozen. 



A year's supply of fuel should be procured, and 

 fitted for use and housed by the first or middle of 

 March. Let some time he appropriated in collect- 

 ing broken and decayed wood and underbrush 

 from the forest before the snow covers the ground 

 in the autumn, and early in the winter, and when 

 the ground is covered with snow, let this wood be 

 hauled and fitted for the fire, and well housed, for 

 wood is much better seasoned, without being ex- 

 posed to the weather. 



In like manner can preparations be made for 

 building stone wall. Let the stones be dug and 

 laid in heaps at a convenient distance before the 

 frost enters the ground, and when the snow covers 

 the earth let them be taken to the place where 

 you wish to build your wall without any injury to 

 the land. 



Portable fence is of great convenience on a farm. 

 This can be made at any leisure season, and be 

 kept under cover till wanted for use. How conve- 

 nient to have a few acres enclosed for a short pe- 

 riod only, where a permanent fence would be a 

 great inconvenience. Pasture grounds are much 

 better divided in small enclosures, than to give the 

 cattle too much range, where they are apt to waste 

 the feed early in the season, and as the drought of 

 summer comes on, the early grown grass is trod- 

 den down, and therefore much feed is wasted from 

 not having the ground early fed. Better let a por- 

 tion of pasture land be early mowed, then the 

 second growth of grass will be readily eaten by the 

 cattle. 



These desultory remarks, Messrs. Editors, have 

 been thrown together without any particular refer- 

 ence to time or season, and may be useful to some 

 young agriculturist, not as being particularly new, 

 for we most of us need to be reminded of our duty, 

 or of what we already know. h. e. 



Andover Horticultural Society. — We learn 

 that some of the enterprising citizens in the old 

 and beautiful town of Andover, Mass., have had 

 a meeting preliminary to the formation of a hor- 

 ticultural society in that town. Interesting ad- 

 dresses were made by Mr. S. S. Young, Mr. John 

 Aiken, and others. The following gentlemen were 

 appointed a committee to report a constitution and 

 by-laws for the government of the society, and 

 call another meeting : 



S. S. Young, 

 E. Sanborn, 

 Geo. Cruicksuanks, 



Dennet, 



Rev. Mr. Loring, 



David Middleton, 

 George Foster, 



Clark, 



N. Morton. 



Extract. — "In looking over the Farmer of last 

 week, I sec you take notice of the cold summer ol 

 1810. This brings to my mind what an old lady 

 in North Andover told me a week ago. 'On the 

 10th of June, 1810,' she said, 'one of her daugh- 

 ters went out to drop potatoes, and it was so cold 

 she had to wear a cloak, hood and mittens.' 



Yours, Subscriber." 



REPORT 



FROM THE WORCESTER COUNTY SOCIETY, 



ON FEEDING STOCK. 



[concluded. 1 



It is understood that a man witb a fair hand 

 cutting machine can easily cut during any of the 

 short days of winter a ton of hay, and not have a 

 hard day's work at that. 



Those who have large stocks of cattle will find 

 it profitable to make use of some animal power, 

 (horse or ox,) to aid in cutting their food for them. 

 The same power may be used in cutting vegeta- 

 bles, sawing wood, &c. The quantity of food re- 

 quired for the support of cattle, as established by 

 these experiments, although no greater than is 

 stated in some agricultural publications, is believed 

 to be considerably larger than has been usually es- 

 timated by the farmers in this vicinity. The steers 

 of Mr. Dodge requiring but little for additional 

 growth, beyond their support in good condition, 

 consumed in hay, or its equivalent, daily, not less 

 than 2 per cent, of their live weight. The dry 

 cows of Mr. Demond, for their own support and 

 for the support of the calves with which they were 

 pregnant, demanded for their food an amount of 

 hay, or its equivalent, equal to 2 1-3 per cent, of 

 their live weight, and this proportion would be 

 constantly increasing until they dropped their 

 calves. The cows of Mr. Lincoln required a suffi- 

 ciency of food for their own support, the supply of 

 milk they were giving, and the sustenance and 

 growth of the calves within them, of which they 

 would be delivered at different periods. The one 

 consumed of food, or its equivalent in hay, 2 4-10 

 per cent., and the other 2 4-5 per cent, of their 

 live weight. Of the oxen referred to in the trial by 

 Mr. Haw T es, they required more food in conse- 

 quence of their being employed in labor instead of 

 heing at rest, and more in consequence of being 

 exposed to the inclemency of the weather for a 

 part of the day instead of being in the barn pro- 

 tected from the cold. The consumption of food by 

 them was 2 4-10 per cent, of their live weight. — 

 These facts are important for the information of 

 every farmer, that he may be enabled to calculate 

 with more precision whether he has sufficient sus- 

 tenance for his stock through the winter, making 

 a liberal allowance for a late spring. No man can 

 afford to stint his stock in their food. Should he, 

 at any time, have reason to fear that his supply of 

 hay, straw, &c, may be insufficient to carry his 

 stock well through the season, it will be far better 

 for him to sell a part at a reduced price, or even 

 to give them away, than to allow them to become 

 poor. An ox or a cow, poor in the spring, will re- 

 quire nearly the whole of the summer months in 

 good feed to recover its condition, and its use be 

 of little benefit to the owner. With young cattle, 

 to be stinted in their growth through poverty is 

 an irreparable injury. 



Of the manner adopted by Mr. Dodge in the 

 care of his steers, the committee cannot approve. 

 After the first week they were confined wholly 

 within the barn, without being allowed to go out 

 for drink or for air and exercise. They were fed 

 twice each day, and had water given to them but 

 once each day. That cattle closely confined will 

 take on fat more readily, is undoubtedly true, but 

 in this instance the tendency to increase in flesh 



