1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



447 



judge that 13,000 are devoted to pasturage. Mr. 

 Wood owns some six or seven hundred, — a consid- 

 erable portion being owned by Massachusetts peo- 

 ple, whose cattle, principally milch cows, graze 

 here through the summer months, or even until 

 the last of October, in flivorable seasons. Capt. 

 JosiAH Stone owns another of the fine farms com- 

 prising this tract; he winters some forty head of 

 cattle, and in his pastures we found about half a 

 dozen heifers, for which we endeavored to effect a 

 change for sundry of the promises to pay by Mas- 

 sachusetts banks ; but without effect. He had the 

 eye of an amateur, as well as th# hand of a farmer, 

 and intends that the heifers shall grace his own 

 stalls. Some fine colts, also, ran in his pastures, 

 among them a Morgan, which we should be glad to 

 "hold the ribbons over" at some future day. Capt. 

 Stone is a progressive farmer. He found a path 

 for the water, and it comes to house and barn by 

 its own gravity. No manures bleach in the sun, or 

 are drenched by storms, in his yards ; cuts hay for 

 horses ; believes in the efficacy of science, and the 

 education of children ; makes domestic arrange- 

 ments convenient and comfortable for his wife and 

 daughters, and wears a cheerful countenance and a 

 happy heart generally — all essentials in farm hus- 

 bandry. The hill portions of this town are mostly de 

 voted to grazing, and afford evidence of the fact 

 that large portions of the lands of the State are 

 fast returning to their primitive condition, — the 

 forest. They are now in the first stage of the pro 

 cess, grazing lands. We look up here to the Grand 

 Monadnock, to which a party of Young America, 

 of both sexes, has just started. We wish them a 

 happy occasion ; but the grim cap on the old fel- 

 low's head indicates anything rather than sunshine 

 and extended vision. 



My letter is already too long. I believe in "short 

 stories." But I shall write again from another 

 halting place. Truly yours, Simon Brown. 



Joel JVourse, Esq. 



in tow its four-wheeled wagon, with coals, and four 

 heavy iron plows, and water enough for four hours' 

 work. When on the soft turnip-field — after a night's 

 rain — it drew after it plows, scarifier, &c., with per- 

 fect ease, and then walked home again to Camdeu- 

 town. It can ascend an acclivity of one in three, 

 which is nearly walking up stairs, our stairs being 

 one in two. It can back, advance or stop instanta- 

 neously, the pinion being shifted from the cogs of 

 the driving-wheel ; and the power thus suddenly 

 released is carried off by a separate fly-wheel, 

 which may be used for driving threshing-machines, 

 mill-stones, or other purposes. In fact, instead of 

 a farmer sending for and sending back a six horse- 

 power engine and threshing-machine, requiring in 

 each trip four horses, this machine will move itself 

 anywhere — draw the corn to market, bring home 

 manure, and do the cultivation and work of the 

 farm. The machine can turn as easily as a com- 

 mon wagon, and does not mind a deep furrow or a 

 side-hill. — Abridged from a LtUerfrovi Mr. Alechi, 

 of Triptree Hall, in the Journal of the Societij oj 

 Arts. 



THE CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 



A correspondent of the Traveller gives the fol- 

 lowing account of a new species of sugar cane 

 which has been introduced into this country by the 

 Agricultural bureau of the Patent Office : 



Have you seen any account of the new variety 

 of sugar cane — the Chinese Sugar Cane — lately in- 

 troduced to our agriculturists through the Agricul- 

 tural bureau of tlie Patent office ? If it is worth 

 half what is claimed for it, the plant is a wonder. 

 First, it produces sugar, the juice having from fif- 

 teen to twenty-five percent, of pure saccharine, va- 

 rying according to the soil and climate. Then 

 as fodder it will yield twenty-five tons to the acre ; 

 cattle, horses and hogs devouring stalks and leaves 

 with the greatest avidity. As a green crop it will 

 produce a great mass of vegetable matter to turn 

 in and enrich the soil. As fodder it will produce 

 two crops in a year, or a good growth of it can be 

 grown for stock by sowing afrer wheat or other 

 crops have been harvested. It is equally good for 

 cattle and horses dry or green. The juice can be 

 made into a most delicate drink that can scarcely be 

 distinguished from cham])agne wine. I've not done 

 with it yet. That same juice — set with alum — will 

 color silk a beautiful red. One thing more ; after 

 that, taking the leaves to feed stock, the roots to 

 manure the land, and the juice to make sugar, 

 champagne or coloring matter, the refuse of the 

 crushed stalks can be manufactured into an elegant 

 article of paper. 



The tops, when cleaned of the seed, make cap- 

 ital brooms, and the seed itself, ground into meal 

 or fed whole, will fatten any kind of stock, from 

 chickens up to elephants. 



There ! If that is not a catalogue of virtues for 

 one plant, that you can appreciate and admire, then 

 I must say you do not deserve the gifts of Ceres 

 by attaching to his feet wide pieces of board, the! or Pomona, or any of " the goods the gods pro- 

 pressure is diminished to a bearing condition. Thus i vide." There is an acre or so of this cane growing 

 in the case of Mr. Boydell's machine, although it i here at Wasbington, on Uncle Sam's own land, 

 weighed nine tons, its impress was scui'01y percep-jnear the Capitol, and a prettier sight in a farmer's 

 tible, where a horse's foot left a deep indentation. The I field cannot be found. It looks something like 

 engine walked from Camden-town to Acton, taking, corn, tall, graceful stalks, and long taper leaves. 



THE NEW STEAM-FARMER. 



I devoted two days to the examination of the 

 operation of Boydell's Traction Steam-engine as a 

 locomotive and tractive power, and have come to 

 the conclusion that it is "a great success." This suc- 

 cess is owing to the endless and wide railway at- 

 tached to the circumference of *he wheels, which 

 gives a fulcrum for the lever, and a bearing suffi- 

 ciently wide to carry a great weight on soft ground, 

 without imbedding in the soil. Hence the avoidance 

 of friction and clogging. We might illustrate this 

 by a sportsman on the mud oozes, whose feet would 

 sink in, and thus render his power unavailable ; but 



