352 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



thrust a pine pin about a foot long through the 

 string at each corner, and up into the hay, which 

 •will keep the cap in place, unless the whole cock is 

 overturned. 



Your cap, made as above, will be two yards 

 square, which will be sufficiently large to cover half 

 or two-thirds the way down of a common cock ; 

 beyond this the rain will do no harm, as the water 

 will not penetrate the hay. 



Good firm sheeting, worth eight to nine cents a 

 yard, will shed the rain from the hay through a 

 storm of three or four days' continuance ; and 

 the caps will last a lifetime by taking good care of 

 them when not in use. 



Take a light nail cask and make a bail to it from 

 part of a hoop, to keep and carry the pins in, and 

 you are then provided with a remedy which will 

 pay its cost in a single season of "catching weather." 



Caps may be found ready for use at Nourse, Ma- 

 son & Co.'s store, Quincy Hall. 



For the New England Fanner. 



BREEDS OF POULTRY. 



Mr. Editor : — There is no one subject perhaps, 

 connected with farm economy, upon which a great- 

 er diversity of opinion exists, than the superiority 

 of the different breeds of poultry. The popularity 

 of the ostrich raced Shanghaes and their compeers 

 is deservedly at an end. With some, the Bolton 

 Grays are a sine qua non ; others advocate the black 

 Spanish ; while some avow a prejudice for Dork- 

 ings and Rolands. If we drop the pure bloods and 

 descend into the mixed breeds, we also find a vari- 

 ety of opinions. Some advocate yellow legs, oth- 

 ers blue, and all can produce quite a formidable ar- 

 ray of statistics to prove the excellence of their fa- 

 vorites. 



I am not sure that we have greatly improved up- 

 on the type so eloquently given by Dryden, which 

 I take the liberty of transcribing for the benefit of 

 your readers to whom it may not be familiar. 



"High was his comb and coral red withall, 

 In dents embattled like a castle wall, 

 His bill was raven black and shone like j''t, 

 Blue were his legs and orient were his feet, 

 White were his nails like silver to behold, 

 His body glittering like the burnished gold." 



Now T doubt whether the most enthusiastic ad- 

 mirer of any breed can give us a description ex- 

 ceeding this. Be this as it may, however, after a 

 somewhat extensive experience, I have come to the 

 conclusion, that, take them for all in all, the grey 

 Dorkings and the Games are the best birds for this 

 climate. The former are larger and hardier than 

 the white Dorkings, are remarkably full breasted, 

 and are excellent layers. The Games are the har- 

 diest of all, approaching, perhaps, more nearly to 

 the wild breed than any other. Out of a great 

 number hatched last spring, I do not remember 

 losing one by disease. For splendor of plumage, 

 they are altogether unapproachable, and I am con- 

 vinced that few surpass tliem in laying qualities, 

 while the delicacy of their flesh is unrivaled. 



Dartmouth, 1856. J. R. s. 



For the Keie England Farmer. 



THE VALUE OF LAUD. 



We last spring told our neighbor and highly 

 esteemed friend, who has many a time represented 

 hi£ town in the Legislature, filled county offices of 

 trust and honor, and who owns a very large farm, 

 that we had made a purchase of real estate. "How 

 much land have you bought ?" was asked. Two and 

 a half acres, fenced with stone wall, no stones re- 

 maining on the surface of the ground, with over 

 fifty apple trees upon the same, was answered. — 

 "How long have the trees been transplanted ?" 

 Four years. "How much did you pay for the land ?" 

 Two hundred dollars an acre. Shaking his head, 

 "no land is worth two hundred dollars an acre for 

 cultivation." We informed him that it was worth 

 that for building purposes, and he shortly after took 

 his leave. 



The land was in grass, except a strip on one side 

 of the field containing one row of trees which were 

 full twice as large as the other trees, which had 

 been only imperfectly dug around. This was taken 

 as conclusive evidence that trees thrive better when 

 cultivated around. 



Not wishing to plow the whole fiield, having no 

 manure to apply, a strip was plowed around each 

 tree nearly a square and planted to potatoes. What 

 slight pruning the trees needed was attended to, 

 and they were washed twice during the summer. 

 The last of April they were washed with strong 

 suds and sal soda; the first of July they were 

 washed with potash water not quite strong enough 

 to bear an egf:^. The land had received no manure 

 or other fertilizer for many years. The following 

 is the result : 



Dr. 



To plaster and ashes $3,50 



To labor, seed, &c 18,22— $21,72 



Cr 



By hay standing, 3480 lbs. sold for $20,00 



By crop of potatoes, &c 13,72 



Growth of 54 trees, 33|c 18,00— $51,72 



$30,00 



The growth of the trees I set down at two shill- 

 ings each, not that I thought that a fair price, but 

 because that amount made thirty dollars the inter- 

 est of five hundred dollars one year. Mr. Shel- 

 don, of Wilmington, remarked at a Legislative 

 Agricultural meeting that "a good tree, set one year, 

 is worth a dollar ; it will increase a dollar a year 

 for the next nine years, and in the next twenty 

 years it will pay the interest of that ten dollars and 

 the principal also." 



There are many, doubtless, by high cultivation 

 and great care, verifying the truth of the above 

 statement. Would for their own interest there 

 were more such. 



However cheap land may sell in the inland towns 

 of New England, there is undoubtedly much land 

 that pays the interest of two or three hundred 

 dollars an acre, and if put on an equal footing with 

 bank, railroad and other stock, would be worth 

 that. Yeoman. 



Brookfield. 



{{^'An editor out West says — "If we have offen- 

 ded any man in the short but brilliant course of 

 our career, let him send us a new hat, and say 

 nothing more about it." 



