1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



469 



the^alf first plowed, and the next spring sowed 

 with oats and grass seed. The crop was 50 bush- 

 els to the acre; this course was pursued until the 

 whole field was in grass. He mowed this field six 

 years, and obtained a fair crop. He then plowed, 

 applied 30 loads of manure per acre, planted corn 

 and got a yield of 50 bushels an acre. After corn 

 one year, wheat was sown ia the spring, and on the 

 first half 20 bushels, and on the other 26^ bushels 

 was obtained. The land at the same time was 

 seeded to grass. Last year, on eight acres of this 

 field, he got 196^ bushels of wheat, and this, twen- 

 ty-four tons of hay ! The second crop, we should 

 judge, will yield a ton to the acre. 



Mr. Preston stales that the hay on the whole 

 farm when he purchased it in 1840, did not exceed 

 15 tons, and that this year, up to the date of this 

 letter, he had cut and got in seventy-five tons, and 

 had much more waiting for fair weather. 



The cows and heifers which we saw on his farm, 

 are crosses of native Durham and Ayrshire. Five 

 of the calves are half Jersey, quarter Ayrshire, 

 eighth native and eighth Durham. Most of them 

 are half Ayrshire, quarter Durham and quarter 

 native. This cross is, he says, very satisfactory. Of 

 the 44 cows and'heifers which we saw, two only 

 are above the age of seven years, and nearly all four 

 years old and under. 



We have seen a good many dairies in New Eng- 

 land, and several south, where great pains had been 

 taken with them, but no one, containing so large a 

 number, of so much marked excellence. The cas- 

 ual beholder would be quite likely to say that their 

 ribs and hip bones were too prominent; but the 

 skilful herdsman would instantly recognize the 

 strongly marked milking qualities in a large majori- 

 ty of them. Mr. Preston is a lawj'er, and like all 

 men who mean to make the world a happy and pro- 

 gressive one, is called on to do and say a thousand 

 things about town and State affairs, and banks and 

 railroads, and every thing else. Yet he has found 

 skill and opportunity to make a thousand spears of 

 grass grow where only one grew before, and what 

 is exactly to the point, has made them grow profita- 

 bly ! We are inclined to think that success is not 

 entirely due to him, — for we found his wife enam- 

 ored of the farm, conversant with stock and soils, 

 plants and flowers, acquainted with theories as well 

 as stubborn facts, and ready to criticize sharply the 

 errors of the field or the barn. With such an aux- 

 iliary, who couldn't be a good husband — man ? 

 Truly yours, SiMON Brown. 



Joel JVburse, Esq. 



thrown into a sink, will remove the ofi'ensive 

 effluvia. Choloride of zinc and chloride of lime 

 are better, but much more expensive. Three 

 cents worth of copperas applied every week in the 

 manner described, will keep down ofi'ensive odors 

 in a pretty large sink. 



We say it with all seriousness, that there are 

 thousands of persons in our cities who should be 

 hung up by the ears for being ignorant of, or neg- 

 lectful in not applying this cheap disinfectant. — 

 Scientific American. 



Cheap Disinfectants. — For all we have said 

 on this subject, we have frequent inquiries re- 

 specting the best and cheapest substances for 

 removing ofi'ensive odors in sinks, &c., during 

 hot weather. Half a pound of sulphate of iron 

 (copperas) dissolved in a pailful of hot water and 



THE WEATHSU AHD ITS SIGNS. 



There is no subject of more importance, and yet 

 there is none with which men of science, and others, 

 are so superficially acquainted, as that indicat- 

 ed ia the above caption. 



The heat of summer and the cold of winter, the 

 rain and the snow, the thunder and the lightning, 

 the hurricane and the gentle breeze, — how many 

 mingled associations of pleasure and grief are con- 

 nected with these. Our enjoyments, yea, our very 

 existence, it may be said, are dependent on those 

 operations of nature, which we call the iveather. 



Sometimes, as in 1854, the clouds will refuse their 

 refreshing showers for a long period, and over ex- 

 tensive tracts of country the grass withers, and 

 the lowing kine perish for want of the water- 

 brooks, and then famine comes and desolates many 

 once happy homes. Sometimes, again, the clouds 

 will pour down their torrents for long periods, and 

 the floods \\ill come and sweep resistless over broad 

 lands, carrying the crops of the farmer from his 

 fields, and his fiocks from the vales. Again, the 

 hurricane will sometimes come on swift wing, bear- 

 ing destruction in its pathway ; and, if accompanied 

 with red bolts of lightning, may consume well filled 

 barns and storehouses, and level many beautiful 

 dwellings to ashes. Were those weather changes 

 governed by immutable laws, and were we well ac- 

 quainted with these, we might adopt special means 

 to meet special ends, and provide against the com- 

 ing drouth, the floods, and the hurricane. Hither- 

 to the weather has been considered fickle as the 

 human temper, and if it is governed by fixed laws, 

 the whole world lieth nearly in gross darkness re- 

 specting them. The sky may be cloudless to-day, 

 and to-morrow, yea, in a few hours, the lightning 

 and the tempest may come, and no man living, so 

 far as we know, can predict the event with certainty. 



The astronomer has watched the motions of the 

 distant plants, has weighed them in a balance, and 

 can tell the exact period when the moon, after a 

 long interval, will hide the sun's rays from the 

 earth by day ; and also when the eccentric comet, 

 after long journeys in unseen regions of space, will 

 revisit our system again, but he cannot positively 

 tell the particular atmospheric changes that will 

 occur to-morrow in the city where he dwells ; 

 and yet a correct knowledge of coming atmospheric 

 changes would be most useful to all men. 



Can such information ever be obtained? Not 

 unless such phenomena are governed by fixed laws. 

 Well, when we consider that the planets roll, and 

 the tides flow by immutable decrees, can any person 

 doubt that the weather is governed by fixed 

 law? That such laws do exist, no one in his 

 senses can doubt, and that they will yet be dis- 

 covered, we have as little doubt, and it is a 

 shame that so little has been done to discover 



