1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



19 



For the N«w England Farmer. 

 DRAINING IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Our solitary but good-natured friend, "S. F.," 

 in a recent article upon thorough draining, of- 

 fers some statements and logic that are rather 

 flattering to the ability or good sense of our New 

 England farmers. He says, in italics, just as 

 though he meant it, "That the thorough drain- 

 ing of our old farms in New England, is simply 

 an impossibility." All are ready to admit that 

 there are many farms, which, at the present val- 

 ue of land, I mean good land m the immediate 

 vicinity, would not "pay" for draining : but it is 

 no less a fact that all wet and low lands can he 

 drained, and nine-tenths of them at a moderate 

 price, say from thirty to fifty dollars per acre. 



Let us look a moment at his mode of reason- 

 ing. He says that the average value of our farm 

 land is twenty dollars and twenty-seven cents 

 per acre ; draining costs twice that amount, hence 

 it is impossible ! To illustrate this mode of rea- 

 soning : suppose that S. F.'s watch has been neg- 

 lected for a long time, needs repairs, and stops. 

 S. F. takes it out, looks atit, finds "no tick here," 

 says to himself, "This don't go, no use, think I 

 will throw it away and get another." But a bright 

 idea strikes him ; "the watch as it is, is worth a 

 dollar and a half, if the watch-maker will repair 

 it for a dollar, I shall make fifty cents by saving 

 it." F. starts for the watchmaker, finds him ; but 

 the extravagant mechanic wants two dollars for 

 adjusting the watch. S. F. indignantly informs 

 him that the watch is only worth one and a half, 

 and it is absurd to think that he will pay two 

 dollars for having it repaired. Watchmaker says, 

 your watch will be worth twenty dollars when 1 

 have done with it. S. F. goes off" disgusted with 

 the stupidity of watchmakers, throws his watch 

 into the dock, and finally believes that he has 

 saved a half-dollar by his sagacity. The whole 

 point of his argument is this — that a farmer must 

 not spend more in the improvement of a piece of 

 land than the land is worth before he begins to 

 improve it. Every practical man knows better 

 than this, for ho may have a piece of meadow 

 land so wet as to be entirely v/orthless, and by 

 laying out ten dollars in ditching, he can make it 

 worth a hundred to him. But to be still more 

 practical, I will give a fact which will prove the 

 fallacy of all such reasoning Two years ago 

 there was a piece of land near Boston which was 

 >vorth nothing at all ; in fact, was a nuisance ; 

 Jie owner spent about five hundred dollars per 

 acre in improving it, and his land is now valued 

 at one thousand dollars per acre ; was it possible 

 or impossible, to lay out more on the land than 

 its value, and still make it pay ? 



Your correspondent seems to be in a severe 

 fright about ditch-digging — he fears that when 

 our young farmers learn what an unlimited 

 amount of ditching is in store for them, they will 

 "start in their boots," and scamper for the west 

 without as much as looking behind them ; he 

 seems to have forgotten that the West is pre-em- 

 inently a muddy place, and that they have alrea- 

 dy called one of our laest engineers to lay out 

 drains, and extricate them from the mud. If all 

 accounts are true, "top boots four feet high," 

 would aff'ord no protection for travellers on the 

 soft lands of the West. 



Since F. thinks it so horrible for our farmers 

 to be dbliged to dig ditches, I would like to ask 

 him which he thinks the most pleasant and satis- 

 factory for a farmer, to spend two or three weeks 

 in the dry part of the fall, ditching and laying 

 tile, or to have for life to pole his hay from spun- 

 gy wet meadows, with boots full of filthy water, 

 green snakes, lizards, frogs, and other such 

 pleasant denizens of his good old-fashioned farm, 

 and dig his half-crop of potatoes out of black 

 mud, while his boots are loaded with the same 

 rich alluvial, and his hands feel "kinder dry like." 



I am truly sorry that the sight of tile gives our 

 friend the horrors, for I see no chance of relief 

 for him, indeed, my imagination is so very difter- 

 ent from his, that I see the spirit of the age still 

 remaining with us. Her crown is still the wheat- 

 en wreath ; with one hand she swings the spade, 

 with the other firmly grasps the drain tile, 

 through which she lustily shouts, "home, boys, 

 home, there is no place like home." 



Boston, Nov., 1858. Pensa. 



WINTERING CATTLE. 



In New England, the winter feed of cattle con- 

 sists principally of dry, unsucculent fodder — hay 

 and straw. Occasionally roots are given either 

 daily or at intervals, in order to give variety to 

 their diet and create a keener relish, — but as a 

 general thing the main reliance is upon the arti- 

 cles first named. Of straw, the most nutrimen- 

 tal, probably, is that of wheat, especially when 

 the crop is harvested when in the "milk," or at 

 the period of its growth when the grain is chang- 

 ing from its milky condition to a doughy or pul- 

 py consistence. The straw of oats and barley 

 rank next in value, and that of rye, as fodder, 

 the last. On farms of large size, much more ac- 

 count is made of the straw of these grains, than 

 in smaller ones. It is then prepared by cutting, 

 and is generally fed out in conjunction with corn 

 and cob meal, or with roots, rasped, cut or 

 cooked. It has not yet been fairly ascertained 

 by accurate comparative experiment to what de- 

 gree the various roots used in feeding cattle are 

 improved by cooking. That their nutritive pow- 

 ers are considerably augmented by the process, 

 seems now to be generally admitted ; but wheth- 

 er, when we consider the advantages of rasping 

 — which is performed by a machine capable of 

 dispatching the business with great facility, the 

 increase of alimentary power secured by boiling 

 is adequate fully to indemnify the operator for 

 the trouble and expense involved, is somewhat 

 doubtful. 



Where rough fodder is to be used, either boil- 

 ing, cutting fine or rasping, will be found highly 

 economical, as without some such aid, a very large 

 portion of the haulm and straw produced on the 

 farm would possess but a mere nominal value in 

 an alimentary estimate of the products, and would 

 scarcely be worth the storage for any purpose to 



