



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



•winter, when animals cannot get green food, 

 turnips are excellent to keep the stomach in 

 tone, and give them an appetite for dry feed. 



The different varieties of turnips vary in nu- 

 triment. The Swedish I consider best, but my 

 experiments have been mostly with the English, 

 ■which I have raised and fed for several years. 



I frequently winter a part of my cattle upon 

 corn fodder, straw and turnips, until the latter are 

 fed out, when I use corn meal as a substitute for 

 the turnip. As nearly as I can judge from the 

 growth and appearance of the stock, (and I have 

 observed them closely, to satisfy myself,) six 

 bushels of fifty pounds turnips are equal to one 

 bushel of corn, to feed with coarse fodder. When 

 corn is worth one dollar to feed, I value turnips 

 at one shilling per bushel. In many localities, 

 ten bushels of turnips are more easily raised 

 than one of corn. I have frequently raised good 

 crops, at a trifling expense in cornfields where 

 the worms had destroyed a part of the corn, and 

 it was too late in the season to replant it, by 

 sowing broadcast and cultivating and hoeing in 

 the seed. James R. Walker. 



Spri7igfield, Vermont, 1859. 



the cows had then been turned upon it, we have 

 no doubt they would have surfeited themselves 

 and quite likely some unpleasant flavor would 

 hare been imparted to the milk. 



That is not the way to treat cows with such 

 food ; it is no more rational than it would be to 

 set fifteen hungry children down to make a dia- 

 ner upon the richest pudding or cake. 



Farmers must exercise a good sound judgmert 

 in every department of their labor ; that is the 

 only safe guide for them. 



E3PFECT OF GHBEN" BYE ON THE MILK 

 OF COWS. 



T. P. Shepard & Co. lately made the following 

 statement to the Standing Committee of the 

 Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of 

 Domestic Industry: 



"On Thursday, Nov. 5th, we turned fifteen 

 milch cows into a lot containing sixteen acres. 

 Eight acres had been planted with corn this sea- 

 son, and harvested a few weeks before. Eight 

 acres were sown with rye in September, which 

 had come forward very fast, and commenced to 

 joint. On Thursday and Friday the cows fed 

 exclusively in the corn-field, gleaning the corn 

 fodder and a few small ears of corn that re- 

 mained upon the ground. During these two days 

 there was but little increase in the milk, ajid no 

 change in (juality. On Saturday, Sunday, Mon- 

 day and Tuesday, the cows fed in the rye field, 

 and the quantity of milk was increased more than 

 twenty per cent. On Saturday the milk had a 

 slight unpleasant flavor, which increased, until 

 Tuesday it was so offensive to the taste and smell, 

 as to be wholly unfit for use. On Wednesday 

 the cows were turned into the meadows, and on 

 Wednesday evening the milk was perfectly sweet, 

 and free from any unusual flavor. During these 

 days the cows had no access to salt water, salt 

 meadows or fresh bogs. There were no weeds 

 in the rye field, and no more among the corn 

 than is usual in a well cultivated field. The cows 

 were as usual stabled at night and fed with clover 

 hay." ___ 



Remarks. — Our cows feed upon rye, not only 

 ■without detriment, but with decided advantage. 

 The land upon which it grows was plowed last 

 September, and sowed to rye and grass seed 

 As soon as the rye was four or five inches high, 

 we turned the cows upon it, and they have con 

 tinued to keep it pretty well cropt. If it had 

 been allowed to grow until it began to joint, and 



NURSLING VESPERS. 



BY EEV. J. E. RANKIN. 



A row of little faces by the beJ, 

 A roiT of little Lands upoQ the spread, 

 A row of little roguish eyes all closed, 

 A row of little Baked feet exposed. 



A gentle mother leads them in their praise, 

 Teaching their feet, to tread the heavenly ways, 

 And takes this lull, in childhood's tiny tide, 

 The little errors of the day to chide. 



No lovelier sight, this side of heaven ii seen, 

 And angels hover o'er the group serene ; 

 Instead of odors in a censer swung, 

 There iloats the fragrance of an infant's tongue. 



Then tumbling headlong into waiting beds, 

 Beneath the sheets, they hide their timid heads. 

 Till slumber steals away their idle fears. 

 And, like a peeping bud, each little face appears. 



All dressed like angels, in their gowns of white, 

 They're wafted to the skies, in dreams of night. 

 And heaven will sparkle in their eyes at morn. 

 And stolen graces, all their ways adorn. 



The American Home Garden. Being principles and rules for 

 the Culture of Vegetables, Fruits, Flowers and Shrubbery. 

 To which are added brief notes on Farm Crops, with a table 

 of their average product and chi-mical constituents. By 

 Alexander Watson. Illustrated. Harper & Brothers, New 

 York. A. Williams & Co., Boston. 



This is a neatly-printed volume of 500 pp., on 

 fine, white paper, and large, clear type, — capital 

 recommendation to any book. The opening of 

 the book gives a plan for a garden, aspect, fec- 

 cing, protection, mechanical preparation of vari- 

 ous soils, draining, plowing, &c., and then passes 

 on, touching upon every possible topic and mani- 

 pulation necessary in the management of an 

 American Home Garden. 



There are ten thousand families In New Eng- 

 land to whom this book, if read and practiced 

 upon, would save annually more than ten times 

 its cost. It is handsomely got up, and has the 

 great merit of having a good index. We do not 

 mean to say that it contains all the amateur might 

 want, but that it is admirably calculated to ben- 

 efit the American Home Gardeners, 



A Useful Fact. — In peeling onions, put a 

 large needle in the mouth, half in and half out. 

 The needle attracts the oily juice of the bulb, and 

 any number may be peeled without aflfecting tL» 

 eyes. — Frairie Farmer. 



