490 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



in scientific knowledge, books ■will be introduced 

 and studied, and a sweet serenity and calm con- 

 tentment of mind will pervade the whole house- 

 hold. This is true wealth ; a wealth of which he 

 cannot be robbed, so long as reason holds her sway. 

 Corporations may refuse dividends, and banks their 

 discounts, but they cannot reach that mine of wealth 

 locked up in the recesses of his own thoughts. — 

 They will not be obliged to roam for subjects of 

 contemplation, for he finds them in his daily walks 

 ever new, varying and instructive. 



J\rovember commences the period which offers the 

 farmer the opportunity for this particular depart- 

 ment of farming. Will he not embrace and im- 

 prove it ? Will he not remember that knowledge 

 ispower to him, as well as to the mechanic or law- 

 yer ? Does he not confess that the skilful plow- 

 man, or he that best sows his grains and grass seed, 

 or tends his nursery and orchard, stands the best 

 chance to make the most money ? The money ad- 

 vantage ought to settle the question with all — but 

 when connected with the other, it leaves no room 

 for indecision. 



JVovember, however, demands a variety of hand- 

 work, as well as head-work. 



Fuel and Timber. — In district where snows 

 lie deep, it is difficult to chop and collect wood or 

 timber 5 this may be done to great advantage this 

 month. Cord the wood, or if left sled length, place 

 that and the timber in an easy position to be loaded. 



Cellars. — The house cellar walls should be 

 thoroughly white-washed, and the whole cellar per- 

 fectly cleansed of all decaying wood or roots and 

 so drained that water shall not stand in any part of 

 it for a moment. 



Pumps. — These should be in order now, and pro- 

 tected from freezing. 



Cracks akd Crannies. — If you wish to save fu- 

 el, and always have your wife good-natured, stop 

 all access for the wind about the underpinning of 

 the house. It is difficult to keep warm rooms where 

 the wind is allowed to sweep under any portion of 

 the house. It works its way up between the ceil- 

 ings, and makes double the fuel necessary to secure 

 a comfortable degree of warmth. 



Fatting Hogs. — JVovember is a good time for 

 the pigs to grow and the hogs to fatten. Give 

 them a warm, dry place, and just as much clean, 

 nutritious food as they will eat with a good appe- 

 tite, and no more. If any is left in the trough, take 

 it at once away, dash in cold water and sweep it 

 out ; at the next feeding be sure to give no more 

 than will be greedily eaten. There ought to be 

 this sentence printed in large letters and posted in 

 every piggery in the land — "Leave no sivill in the 

 trough." The annual money-loss in Massachusetts 

 by this error, would purchase a good farm. 



Sheep. — Give them plenty of sweet clover haj', 

 and opportunity to go under cover when they 



please — and they should have racks and be fed un- 

 der cover in stormy weather. 



Quince, Pear, Cherry, Plum and Apple trees 

 may be set this month, so may Currant, Gooseberry, 

 and Raspberry plants. 



Cuttings and Seedlings should be protected by 

 a compost of muck and manure. 



Pruning. — Better do it now than in March or 

 April, if you care anything for your trees. 



Young ORCiLiRDS. — Bank up around the stems 

 of young trees with earth, and when the first snow 

 comes tread it down around them. If mice are 

 particularly numerous, place a tin, ten inches high 

 round each tree. "It costs something." Certainly 

 — but better do that than lose a nice tree and break 

 up your rows. 



November! Welcome, JVovember! Are we all 

 ready for you ? 



For the New England Farmer. 



GEEEN CORN FOR SOILING. 



I have read with interest the number of the JV. 

 E. Farmer containing ilr. Blakely's article on 

 green corn for soiling, and I well remember the 

 article in the October number referred to by him. 

 I was sorry, then, that the writer did not give his 

 manner of feeding, for very much depends on that, 

 more than many farmers seem to think. But Mr. 

 Blakely has told us how he feeds green corn, and I 

 have observed that those farmers who have not 

 found, on trial, green corn and other green 

 food to be beneficial, have generally used it as he 

 has done. He says : "Three years ago, I fed sev- 

 en cows quite liberally, for a month or more, on 

 green stalks. My custom was to feed in the morn- 

 ing, as it was the only convenient time of doing it, 

 and to scatter the stalks over a portion of an ad- 

 joining pasture on which they had not of late been 

 fed, so as to give them as clean a place as possible, 

 taking care to give them much more than they 

 would immediately consume, which they would gen- 

 erally finish off in the course of the day." Now I 

 beg leave to say to Mr. B., and to all others who 

 pursue his course, that that is not the way, and 

 that that makes all the difi"erence. 



Then he says, "1 could not perceive that the 

 stalks made much if any difference in the quantity 

 of milk produced ; but the cows continued to give 

 less and less, about as the grass failed them, al- 

 though they continued I0 consume a proportionably 

 larger amount of stalks." He does not say wheth- 

 er his cows, finally, to cap the climax, jumped the 

 fence between his corn-field and the "adjoining pas- 

 ture," and ate to excess of the corn which they had 

 so long been impatiently waiting and reaching for; 

 but if they did not, he may consider himself a for- 

 tunate man, that his experiment terminated no 

 worse. . 



And now, by the way, is there any kind of food 

 that cows ever eat that has not been by somebody 

 condemned as useless, or injurious? Some of our 

 so called best farmers have their doubts in regard 

 to carrots as a food to make milk and butter from, 

 (except they be grated and churned with the 

 cream) and very few would dare to feed milch cows 

 on apples, sweet or sour ; and some even think 

 Indian meal will dry up the milk ; and still others 



