NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



559 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FEEDING APPLES TO COWS. 



Mr. Editor : — A correspondent from Groton 

 wishes to know if any of your readers have made 

 experiments on feeding apples to cows. I thought 

 this question had been settled a long time ago, 

 that apples were good food for cows and stock of 

 all kinds, including swine ; but I have found, by 

 conversing with many of the farmers, that they 

 still have doubts. The old prejudice still lingers, 

 that apples dry up the milk. I have tried the ex- 

 periment of feeding apples to milch cows for near- 

 ly thirty years, and mostly sour apples ; there is 

 no food they are more fond of, and I think it would 

 be profitable for farmers to set out orchards on 

 purpose for cattle. It would be cheaper food than 

 any thing else they could raise ; but I would not 

 recommend this, but rather to set out the best of 

 fruit, and give the cattle the refuse, sending none 

 but the best to market, which will always com- 

 mand a good price. There is no danger of over- 

 stocking the market with the best of fruit. 



I have this year tried what quantity a cow would 

 eat and not hurt her, but do her good. I began 

 by feeding a small quantity at first, and increased 

 until I gave them a bushel each per day. This 

 quantity, so far from hurting the cows, has done 

 them a great deal of good ; one of them is fat 

 enough for the butcher ; and their milk was never 

 better. When cows are fed with apples, or roots, 

 or any thing of the kind, they should be fed regu- 

 larly, and at the same time of day; if not, they 

 will neglect to feed on poorer food, and stand and 

 wait ; by neglecting this precaution, many far- 

 mers have got an idea that green stalks and roots 

 make cows poor. 



Yours with respect, Benjamin Wheeler. 



Framingham, Nov. 1, 1852. 



CRANBERRIES. 



The cultivation of this excellent and wholesome 

 fruit is receiving more attention in this State than 

 ever before. No farm product has quicker sales, 

 at high prices, than this. It is easily transported, 

 keeps a long time, and may be prepared for the 

 table in various and most acceptable ways. As a 

 preserve, to be used in tarts, as a jelly, a sauce for 

 the table, or for pies, it is scarcely surpassed by 

 any fruit that grows. It is eagerly sought for by 

 all, and the demand is rapidly increasing for ex- 

 portation, even while the home demand is not half 

 supplied. The low price of sugar has also had a 

 tendency to increase the use of them. Mixed 

 with apple, they give the latter a fine flavor and 

 sprightly acid, and are preferred by some to be- 

 ing used alone. 



By reports made to the agricultural society in 

 Middlesex county, it appears that the cranberry 

 may be produced abundantly by artificial cultiva- 

 tion; that is, by plowing swamps until the bush- 

 es are dead, then tearing them out roots and all, 

 and planting the cranberry vines in sods through- 

 out the reclaimed swamp. We have seen them 

 raised in great abundance, and of fine size and fla- 

 vor, in this manner. 



In listening to the reports made to the Barnsta- 

 ble society at Sandwich, on Wednesday last, we 

 were interested in one on the subject of cranber- 

 ries, by Mr. 0. Brooks, Jr. He said "the fact 

 should ever be kept in mind that there is proba- 

 bly no place in the world so favorably situated for 

 the production of the cranberry as Cape Cod. 



"The growth of this fruit is confined to very 

 narrow limits of latitude. If we go very far south 

 or north of the latitude of the Cape we find it de- 

 generates very rapidly in size, quality and quanti- 

 ty. It is stated on good authority, that the best 

 specimens of this article in the markets of London, 

 are labeled 'Cape Cod Cranberries.' 



"Peat swamps exactly adapted to the cultiva- 

 tion of the cranberry abound to a greater extent 

 on the Cape than in any other part of New Eng- 

 land. 



"The high price which good cranberries always 

 command (being at present $3,50 per bushel) 

 shows that it is a most profitable crop. 



"As stated by Mr. Alvin Cahoon, of Harwick, 

 who has probably done as much in growing the 

 cranberry as any other man on the Cape, it ap- 

 pears that an average crop with him is one bushel 

 to the square rod — which makes the good round 

 sum of $560 to the acre. 



"The mode of preparing bogs consists in the 

 simple process of getting the white sand on the 

 surface, placing the turf underneath. 



"A mixture of mud and sand he has found to 

 be congenial to the growth of the vine, but such 

 a soil also encourages the growth of the cranber- 

 ries' worst enemy, the rushes." 



We invite Mr. Brooks and Mr. Caiioon to give 

 us such further facts in relation to the cultivation 

 of this plant as they may have it in their power to 

 impart. It is the particulars — the details — of the 

 success which those who undertake it anew will 

 need. 



For the New England Farmer. 



NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN. 



Mr. Brown : — The establishment of an Ameri- 

 can Botanic Garden at or near Washington, which 

 should embrace every species indigenous to the 

 United States and Territories, so far as they have 

 been discovered, would redound to the honor of the 

 nation and advance the cause of natural science. — 

 There should be, at least, one hundred acres of 

 land devoted to the purpose, including various 

 kinds of soil adapted to the wants of different spe- 

 cies of plants, and a sheet of water for aquatics 

 as well as extensive conservatories and green- 

 houses, for growing such as do not withstand the 

 climate. We have already many thousand species 

 known to the botanist, and new discoveries and 

 the spirit of adventure with w T hich the world is 

 rife at the present day will make daily additions 

 to the catalogue. It therefore seems desirable that 

 they should be collected together, so far as prac- 

 ticable, for the purpose of examination and refer- 

 ence as well as to exhibit to the world at one 



