150 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Makch 



swine or neat cattle, would keep accurate ac- 

 counts for the benefit of others. 



Mr. Samuel Proctor purchased from a drover 

 a shoat, in April last, I think on the 3d, then 

 weighing 120 pounds. The cost was $10,20: 

 He was butchered Dec. 29th, and weighed 353 



we found the manure all on fire and put it out, 

 as we supposed ; the second day we found it on 

 fire again ; tlie third day it was still burning. I 

 went with my hired man and dug down some 

 two feet and found at the bottom a large bed of 

 fire. Now the question is, is it probable or is it 



pounds; this was eight months and twenty-six j possible, that the barn took fire from spontaneous 

 days from the time when his live weight was 120! combustion ? If so, my advice is for every one 



pounds, as before stated. Mr. P. fed out 24 bush- 

 els of Indian meal and one-half bushel of rye 

 meal, which was his entire living, with the excep- 

 tion of slops from the house, (no milk at all,) and 

 a few potatoes, not exceeding three bushels in all. 

 The entire cost of the animal and his keeping, 



to see that their manure is shoveled over often, 

 or otherwise keep hogs in the cellar, although 

 in my opinion they will not do quite as well as 

 when kept out in a good dry place. 



One more question : — Can any man take one 

 or any number of swallows, and put them in the 



(not reckoning the potatoes,) and allowing for j mud, a hollow tree or log, or in a sand-bank, or 

 the butchering, was $34,73, and is made up as in any other condition whatever, and keep them 

 follows, viz : alive through the winter ? My opinion is that 



,„ „„ it can't be done without food. G. v. 



Cost of the shoat, April 3 $10,20 



One bushel meal bought same day 84 



One bushel meal 90 



Apiil 28, one bushel meal 90 



88 



, 90 



86 



June 25,6 bushels, at 90c 5,40 



Aug. 4, one bushel 1,06 



Aug. 11, one-half bush, rye meal, given in small quan- 

 tities, mixed with Indian 54 



Aug. 14, one bushel Intlian meal 1,10 



1,08 

 1,C6 

 1,06 

 1,06 

 1,06 

 1,00 

 1,00 

 Add for butchering 1,25 



Total $34,73 



The meal was purchased as often as wanted, 

 and the date of the purchase of each bushel shows 

 pretty nearly the amount in the difierent stages 

 of the animal's growth. 



Mr. P., as the result of his carefully conducted 

 experiment, knows that his pork has cost him 

 just about ten cents per pound, not reckoning 

 anything for time spent in feeding — or rather, 

 perhaps, offsetting this against the manure, 

 ■which should certainly be done. 



Essex, Dec. 21, 1859. David CnoATE. 



Remarks. — We are greatly obliged to Mr. 

 Choate for the above ; such precise statements 

 are always valuable. 



For the New England Fanner 



SPOTTTANEOUS COMBUSTIOK IN 

 MANUKE. 



Remarks. — We do not think the barn took 

 fire by spontaneous combustion, under the cir- 

 cumstances mentioned. 



For the A>ir England Farmer. 

 THE ■WEATHER OF 1858. 



FROM MT WEATHER JOURNAL. 



The most noticeable feature of the weather of 

 1858, was the remarkable mildness of the winter 

 season. During a large portion of January, at 

 least two-thirds of the month, the ground was 

 entirely bare in this part of the Connecticut val- 

 ley, and for seventeen days in succession no snow 

 fell. Towards the close of the month of Janua- 

 ry, the frost left the ground, the roads generally 

 became settled, and the ponds were free from ice. 

 Farmers might have plowed, and to my knowl- 

 edge, did plow, without difficulty from frost, there 

 being four days, commencing with the 25th, in 

 which the temperature ranged from four to eigh- 

 teen degrees above the freezing point. Violets 

 in blossom in the gardens, fully exposed to the 

 weather, were not uncommon ; and other plants 

 were reported in flower by the newspapers, in- 

 cluding the strawberry ; but the violets I saw 

 myself in full, bright bloom. 



The first ten days of February were as mild as 

 any consecutive ten in January, the temperature 

 sometimes rising to 50° in the shade, in the open 

 air ; and the remainder of the month, though 

 considerably colder, deserves to rank only as 

 quite mild winter weather. 



The first two weeks of March were more win- 

 ter-like than the same length of time in either of 

 the preceding winter months, producing a tem- 

 perature of 12° below zero — 6° lower than any in 

 the winter months— and about a week or ten 

 days of poor sleighing. This was nearly all the 

 sleighing of the season, and the greatest depth 

 of snow on the ground at one time was not more 

 than five inches. In short, the weather of March 

 was about as ordinarily for this month, and be- 



Will you or some of your readers of the Farmer 

 inform me on a few things? The last of October 

 my large and nearly new barn and sheds, with all 

 their contents, were consumed by fire. We have 

 and do now think it was the work of an incendiary. 

 There was a cellar to said barn ; fifteen feet on 



the west side was partitioned off" by a stone wall, i fore the close of the month the frost generally 

 which made a pit for manure, fifteen by forty j left the ground. During the last days of the 

 feet, and every year till the last I kept hogs and month, farmers began to plow, and only now and 

 let them run under my stable in the cellar. I [then a mud-hole could be found in the roads. No 

 have used common brakes for bedding, (as they j snow fell here after the 20th of the month, 

 grow among us plentifully;) we put into the pit land at the end of the month none couM be seen, 

 all the leaves, old shoes, boots, (S:c.,that we have, not even on the most elevated points of Ilamp- 

 and cover them up in the manure. After ths fire; den and Hampshire counties. 



