1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



T5 



about half as much other teaming in the same hne 

 of business to other places, making in all, at least 

 25,000 miles that they have travelled on the road 

 since they were 5 years old. Their labor on the 

 farm, logging, &c., was equal to more than twice 

 the above amount ; so that it may safely be said 

 they have travelled in the yoke miles enough to 

 measure the circumference of the earth at least 

 3 times. 



The nigh one retained his vigor to the last, and, 

 to all appearances, was as active and fit to labor as 

 ten years ago. The off one failed rapidly after he 

 was 18 years old, at which time he was lamed by 

 some means in his hip, and, for a year past, has 

 been unfit to perform any great amount of work. 

 Had he been as active as his mate, they would have 

 been kept some years longer. 



In their appearance they resembled, in more re- 

 spects than one, the old people whom we notice 

 among us ; comporting themselves with a kind of 

 dignity and lofty bearing among the other animals 

 of the farm, that betokened their age. 



Their average girth at the time they were slaugb 

 tered, was 7 feet 2 inches, and their weight in round 

 numbers, was 8 and 10 hundred, respectively ; and 

 this, too, they attained the past season without be- 

 ing stall fed. — Drew's Rural Intelligencer. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



WILLOW CULTURE. 



From what we have read in the various agrlcul 

 tural papers, and heard from miscellaneous sources, 

 the idea has become quite prevalent in this vicinity 

 that the willow may be set in any wet place and 

 left to the mercy of the weeds and grass, without 

 care or culture, and still "do well." Undoubtedly 

 it will live and grow upon such fare, but is it not 

 reasonable to suppose tliat, like all other plants, the 

 better the cultivation, the better the growth and 

 the more the profits — if any ? Why not leave 

 potatoes or corn without hoeing, because they will 

 live when so neglected ? 



In passing many new plantations of willow dur- 

 ing the past autumn, I noticed that the weeds and 

 grass had wholly covered the precious thing from 

 the eye, and even on a microscopic inspection, the 

 far-fetched "cutting" can only be found to have 

 sided out a poor feeble twig, nearly six inches long, 

 No wonder the owners wish their money back 

 again, and it will be a wonder if they do not event- 

 ually pronounce the thing a perfect humbug. They 

 will denounce every thing for the common farmer, 

 but the old line of corn and potatoes, and if agri- 

 cultural pajjers and books are not favored with a 

 wholesale curse, they may feel content, for they 

 must walk out of my house, and atone for theu' 

 want of common sense. 



Instead of this, let every man who commences 

 this new business, do it thoroughly, and take the 

 same care, in kind, though less in degree, that he 

 would of a young apple nursery. Let the ground 

 be in order, and kept clean from weeds, at least 

 during the first year. Commencing such an en- 

 terprise last spring, the thought occurred to me, 

 why not have sometliing to pay for all this care the 

 first season? Accordingly the rows of willows 

 were set 2h feet apart, and a row of carrots sowed 

 between each row of willows, and while hoeing the 

 willows, the carrots were also hoed. The work was 



but little more than without the carrots, and the 

 extra trouble of thinning out well paid by 160 

 bushels of good-sized carrots. The rows were 

 about 8 rods in length, and averaged 4 bushels per 

 rod. 



In addition to the direct profit from the carrots, 

 I consider the digging necessary to harvesting them, 

 of considerable service to the next year's growth of 

 willows. Where carrots would not do well, turnips 

 might be set in place of them. 



Dea. Parker, the owner of the successful willow 

 plantation at Waterbury, Vt., assures me that good 

 care pays as well upon the willow, as upon corn or 

 potatoes. Hoping to hear from others on this sub- 

 ject, I leave the "ttvig patch" for the present. 



Randolph, Vt., Dec, 1855. g. f. N. 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



State House, Dec. 5, 1855. 



The meeting was called to order in one of the 

 new rooms in the west wing of the building, by 

 His Excellency, the Governor. Present : — Messrs. 

 Tower, French, Sprague, Phillips, Chandler, Lewis, 

 Brooks, Page, Parkhurst, Hubbard, Clapp, Bart-^ 

 lett, Wilder, Nash and Brown. 



The first business was reading the i)roceedings of 

 the last meetmg by the Secretary, and then came 

 the reports of the several standing committees, and 

 first in order was that of the committee on Crops, 

 by its Chairman, Marshall P. Wilder, The 

 crops experimented upon were peas, potatoes, com, 

 onions, carrots, beets, parsnips, cabbages, turnips, 

 oats, bromus, millet, rye. On these crops all the 

 fertihzers usually resorted to were employed ; com- 

 mon bam manure, superphosphate of lime, muriate 

 of lime, guano, potash, leached ashes, coal ashes, 

 poudrette. The time of application, the amount of 

 each, the kind of soil and state of the weather were 

 all noted by the Superintendent of the farm. 



The manures were applied in exact values. If 

 twelve dollars worth of barn-yard manure was ap- 

 plied, so the same value in guano, or any thing 

 else, was applied, and the various fertilizers were 

 given upon different portions of the same field, 

 where there was no particular difference in the 

 quality of the land. 



The gentlemen to whom was assigned the duty of 

 experimenting with manures, were Col. Wilder 

 and Prof. Nash ; at intervals of some weeks dur- 

 ing the growth of the crops, springing from the 

 manures which they applied, they visited them, and 

 after careful observation noted their appearance. 

 When the crops were gathered, they were both 

 measured and weighed, so that the amount of land 

 they were grown upon being known, the exact val- 

 ue of the manures used, and the quantity of crop 

 obtained, it would seem that some facts of great 

 practical value to the farmer should have been ob- 

 tained. But such does not appear to be the case. 

 For instance : The same land that jn'oduced one 

 hundred and twenty bushels of pot.itoes last year, 



