64 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



Now, Mr. Editor, if I have not weaned you 

 with my "four years' experience with a mower," 

 I should like to tell you what I consider to be 

 the advantages of a mowin<^ machine. 



1. It gives all the hands about three hours 

 every morning to pitch off hay carted the day be- 

 fore — keep clear of weeds the hoed crops, and 

 throw up muck and compost manure for fall seed- 

 ing. The importance of the two last items far- 

 mers have net yet begun to appreciate. 



2. It gives an opportunity of cutting all we 

 wish to cut for the day after the dew is off, and 

 the reputation of the day for a haymaker estab- 

 lished. 



3. It spreads the swaths better than is done 

 by hand. 



4. The facilities for cutting are such that they 

 enable us to cut our grass at the precise time it 

 ought to be cut, thereby saving a loss by being 

 cut too early or too late. 



5. The cheapness of the operation makes it 

 advisalile to take from grain fields the stubble 

 and weeds which remain after the reapers or cra- 

 dlers and doing which cleanses the future crop 

 and affords bedding for stock. 



6. In cutting the after swath, you can cut at 

 the rate of an acre an hour, and cut to "suit your 

 taste," whether close to the ground, or take off 

 the heads of clover for seed. 



Finally, the mowing machine imparts to the 

 whole process and operation of haying, the pleas- 

 ing aspect of relief and comfort, instead of labor 

 and anxiety. CiiAs. Humphreys. 



Lancaster, Nov. 24, 1S58. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ROOT CROPS. 



I noticed in a recent Farmer the article of "E. 

 E.," on "Root Crops." He seems so much to un- 

 dervalue turnips, that I feel constrained to bring 

 in my testimony in favor of them. Having had 

 an opportunity of testing their worth, I am desi- 

 rous that others should be informed on the sub- 

 ject. 



Last year I raised sixty or seventy bushels ot 

 French and rutabaga turnips among my corn. I 

 had a first rate crop of corn notwithstanding. 

 Now I do feel confident that turnips are good 

 not only for cattle, but for hogs also. I began 

 to feed my shoats last fall oh boiled turnips, and 

 continued so to do, until the next June, and think 

 them as good, if not better, than potatoes for 

 hogs. Your correspondent objects very much to 

 the smell of turnips ; for my part I wish I had 

 five hundred bushels of them, for the smell would 

 be no more offensive to me than the sweet odor 

 of a confectioner's shop. L. Chase. 



Hampstead, N. II, 



Pork and Scrofula. — There has long exist- 

 ed a strong prejudice against the use of pork as 

 food for human beings — how it gained such 

 strength, we cannot tell, but have always be- 

 lieved the prejudice to be without any good rea- 

 son. We have known persons with comparative- 

 ly feeble powers of digestion, to eat pork in va- 

 rious forms with as much comfort as they did 



any other meat, and we believe it may be used 

 in moderate quantities by most persons with as 

 much benefit as is derived from any other meat. 

 When well cooked, it is so palatable and deli- 

 cious that we are apt to partake of it too freely, 

 and this is probably the reason why pork has got 

 so bad a name. 



We refer the reader to an interesting article 

 on the subject of pork as food, in another col- 

 umn, and thank Dr. HoLSTON for his lucid ex- 

 position of the question. 



INSCRIPTION FOR A WATCH. 



Could but our tempers move like t'jis machine, 

 Nor urged by passion nor delayed by spleen ; 

 And true to Nature's regulating power, 

 By virtuous acts distinguish every hour : 

 Then health and joy would follow, as they ought, 

 The laws of motion and the laws of thought ; 

 Sweet health to pass the present moments o'er, 

 And everlasting joy when time shall be no more. 



Dr. J. Byron. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 POTATOES— ROOTS AND STOCK. 



Mr. Editor: — I have made an accidental ex- 

 periment this year, that may be worth adding to 

 your collection of facts in respect to the potato 

 culture. I plowed an acre of green sward in 

 April, and planted it with Carter potatoes, cut in- 

 to one eye pieces, and without any manure. It 

 was plowed deep, and a handful of ashes was ap- 

 plied to each hill, at first hoeing. For some 

 time the potatoes looked small ; but they yielded 

 a hundred bushels of very good sized, i.xcellent 

 potatoes, quite free from disease. 



In the middle of the field, however, there was 

 a large heap of barn-yard manure, that had been 

 drawn out in the fall and left there till planting 

 time. The manure was carried away and the spot 

 it had covered planted exactly like the rest of the 

 land. The result was a much larger yield of 

 larger potatoes on this spot than on any other 

 part of the field. But all of them were so much 

 diseased as to be almost entirely worthless. 



•I may also add my experience to that of sev- 

 eral of your correspondents, in favor of roots 

 for cattle. A year ago my stock of cows and 

 yearlings were kept entirely on turnips, straw 

 and corn fodder till March. They were then in 

 good condition and never wintered so well. 



C. B. Haddock. 



West Lebanon, N, H., Dec. 6, 1858. 



Origin of the Carter Potato. — About 

 thirty years ago, more or less, John Carter, a res- 

 ident of Savoy, in the county of Berkshire, ex- 

 perimented for the purpose of the improvement 

 of potatoes by planting potato lialls, and at har- 

 vesting the first year he found that he had ad 

 vanced one step towards bringing out a new po- 

 tato. He, therefore, the next year planted the 

 seed raised the first, and so on for several years, 

 till he produced the potato now distinguished as 

 the Carter. Mr. Carter died soon after, and 

 therefore did not enjoy the full glory of his dis- 

 covery. — Spruigjield Itepublican, 



