1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



135 



ety, is a problem that farther time must determine, 

 so far as I am concerned. In harvesting, I person- 

 ally inspected the produce of ten hills, each seeded 

 ■with a single potato, and the average yield was 

 thirty-four and a fraction, ranging in size from that 

 of a robin's egg to a circumference of 7 to 9 inch- 

 es, about one-half medium to full size quoted, | than common whitewash, 

 and remaining half from medium down to the size 

 first mentioned. Of seven varieties which I raise, 

 equally great difference in size prevailed, Avith the 

 exception of White Chenangoes ; they were few in 

 the hill in comparison with all the others, but in 

 size uniformly large, although much affected by the 

 disease. I am of opinion that the variety is worthy 

 of cultivation with a view to general use, not only 

 on account of its early variety, but for its excellent 

 baking qualities. Will not others who produce the 

 the seeds for trial give their experience through 

 your valuable journal ? Middlesex. 



Jan. 3d, 1856. 



For i'awn color, add 4 lbs. umber, 1 lb. Indian 

 Red, and 1 lb. lampblack. 



For grey or stone color, add 4 lbs. raw umber 

 and 2 lbs. lampblack. 



The color may be put on with a common white- 

 wash brush, and will be found much more durable 

 Scientific American. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WATERING CATTLE. 



THE OLD HOMESTEAD. 



Whene'er the happiest time is come 



That to the year belongs, 

 Of uplands bright with harvest gold, 



And meadows full of songs — 

 When fields of j-et unripened corn, 



And daily garnering stores, 

 Remind the thrifty husbandman 



Of ampler thrashing floors — 

 How pleasant from the din and dust 



or Uie thoroughfare aloof, 

 Seems the old-fashioned homestead, 



With steep and mossy roof ! 



When home the woodman plods, with axe 



Upon his shoulder swung, 

 And in the knotted apple tree 



Are scythe and sickle hung — 

 When light the swallows twitter 



'Neath the rafters of the shed, 

 And the table on the ivied porch 



With decent care is spread — 

 The heart is light and freer 



Than beats in populous town, 

 In the old fashioned homestead. 



With gables sharp and brown. 



When the flowers of summer perish 



In the cold and bitter rain. 

 And the little birds with weary wings 



Have gone across the main — 

 When curls the blue smoke upwards 



Up towards the bluer sky, 

 And cold along the naked hills, 



And white the snow-drifts lie — 

 In tales of love and glory, 



Is forgot the cloud and storm. 

 In the old fashioned homestead, 



With hearthstone large and wartu. 



Whitewash for Out-houses and Fences. — 

 Take a clean barrel that will hold water. Put into 

 it half a bushel of quicklime, and slack it by pour- 

 ing over it boiling water, sufficient to cover it four 

 or five inches deej), and stirring it until slaked. 

 When quite slaked, add two pounds of sulphate of 

 zinc, which may be had at any of the druggists, and 

 one of common salt, which in a few days will cause 

 whitewash to harden on the wood work. Add suffi 

 cient water to bring it to the consistency of thick 

 whitewash. 



To make the above wash of a pleasant cream 

 color, add 3 lbs. yellow ochre. 



Being under the necessity of going out in this 

 driving storm of snow to see that my stock are 

 watered at the neighboring brooks, has impressed 

 on my mind the loss I am suffering by not having 

 provided water for them in their stalls, or in the 

 barn-yard adjoining. This same brook loins with- 

 in two hundred feet of the barn, where, at an ex- 

 pense not exceeding $50, machinery could be placed 

 that by the power of the water itself, would yield a 

 constant supply of pure water for as many cattle as 

 the barn will accommodate. That this is so, I 

 know, because on my neighbor's farm, where he 

 keeps constantly fifty or more cows, and as many 

 oxen, horses, and other animals, as are needed on 

 a large farm, for the last^^ye years, he has obtained 

 all the water they needed, both winter and summer 

 from a small pond in his pasture distant 2500 feet f 

 forced through a lead pipe, by a fall of only 13 feet 

 head — the original cost of the preparation did not 

 exceed $200. Here then, at an expense not ex- 

 ceeding $20 a year, is obtained a convenience that 

 is equivalent to the services of one man, and an ad- 

 ditional benefit, more than double this saving. 

 Think also of the saving made, in the droppings of 

 the animals, one-half of which would be lost by 

 their roaming abroad, and irretrievably lost, when 

 dropped in and floated away with the stream. — 

 This is no fancy picture ; instances of this kind may 

 be seen in every farming village ; aye, more, we 

 have known farmers who have boasted of their 

 convenience of watering their cattle at the brooks, 

 or neighboring j3onds, as their fathers for a hun- 

 dred years had done before them. It is perfectly 

 easy to demonstrate, that the loss sustained in fer- 

 tihzers, by this careless usage, in this period, at a 

 moderate valuation, would exceed the present value 

 of the farm, at a high valuation. So much for heed- 

 lessly going on in the steps of those who have been 

 before us, without regard to consequences. 



January 1st, 1856. \* 



Remarks. — The above communication is an ex- 

 ceedingly valuable one. It is the notice of such 

 practical, every day wants of the farmer, that gives 

 an agricultural paper much of its value. Water 

 arrangements are generally expensive, we are aware 

 but that should not deter one from making a be- 

 ginning. We know a good farmer — one of the best 

 — who pumped water forty years, for forty head 

 of cattle per day. Now this would require at least 

 a minute for each animal, twice a day, making eigh- 

 ty minutes, and of very hard work, too. At length 

 after wearing out some dozen pumps, and pretty 

 nearly wearing out himself, he dug a well in the 

 side of a hill twenty-one hundred feet from his barn, 

 put in a half-inch gutta percha pipe, and for several 



