1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



335 



MOWING- MACHINES. 



The favorable weather of May and early June 

 has brought the grass forward with wonderful 

 rapidity, so that by the 25th instant many fields 

 will be ready to harvest. Our friends will do 

 well during the haying season to cut a portion 

 of their grass quite early, ancf then in feedfng it 

 out during the winter, observe what the compar- 

 ative value is of grass cut early and made into 

 hay, and that cut when more mature. We have 

 the impression that the early cut grass is much 

 the most valuable ; that is, cut in its early bloom. 

 It is sweeter, less hard and wiry, and cattle, so 

 far as our observation has extended, eat it with 

 a greater relish than they do later cut grass. 



Another query is, whether a large portion of 

 OMX hay is not cured too much — that is, over- 

 made, dried until it is almost juiceless, brittle, 

 hard and innutritious. Grass cut just at night, 

 and well fended during a bright July day, can be 

 sufficiently dried to go in, by four o'clock in the 

 afternoon — and if a gentle breeze is moving, even 

 earlier. 



Those whose lands will admit the use of a 

 mowing machine, and whb have not yet used one, 

 have not realized the "aid and comfort" they 

 may derive from the use of a good one. Ketch- 

 um's, we believe was the first introduced on our 

 Massachusetts farms. This has been re-modelled 

 • and greatly improved, and one has been recently 

 conistructed for one horse, which we gave a cut 

 of some weeks since. Manny's has been quite 

 extensively used, has been much improved, and 

 is now fitted for one horse, and seems to us cal- 

 culated to do good work. We have not seen it 

 in motion. Then there is Allen's, Russell's, the 

 Buckeye, Wood's, Thompson's, Gore's, &c., of 

 which we have no particular knowledge, and can 

 give no opinion of them. Some of those already 

 constructed, we feel quite confident, will work well 

 enough to pay their cost in a few years, so that, 

 although they may not be perfect, there will be 

 no loss in purchasing and using them. 



HORSE RAKES AND HAY TENDERS. 



The prejudice against the use of Horse Rakes 

 in haying has gradually yielded as they have been 

 more generally brought into use. There are sev- 

 eral kinds, the poorest of which are worthy of 

 introduction, in preference to the sole use of the 

 hand rake. The "Revolver" works clean and 

 well, is cheap, not liable to get out of order, and 

 requires little room when not in use. But it or- 

 dinarily takes two persons to use it, or, if only 

 one, one of the best hands in the field, and is a 

 hard and exhausting labor. The spring tooth 

 rakes clean, too clean, usually takes two hands 

 to work it, and is hard work for man and beast. 



It is sometimes mounted upon wheels, so that 

 the operator can ride, and in that form is said to 

 be a good rake. We have not used it. The 

 "Delano, or Independent Aetion" rake, when 

 well constructed, rakes clean, is easy for the op- 

 erator and the horse, and performs the work with 

 great rapidity. A stout boy of fifteen or sixteen 

 years, will rake after as many carts as half a doz- 

 en men can load at one time, and a skillful man- 

 ager can do all the heavy part of cocking with 

 one, after he has got the hay into winrows. 



We understand that Messrs. NouRSE, Masox 

 & Co. have in process of construction a Bay 

 Spreader made in connection with a Horse Rake, 

 so that either can be used at will. Those who 

 are competent to judge, inform us that it will be 

 a capital machine. We await its advent with 

 Home impatience. 



I^or the New England Farmer. 



VALUE OF CARROTS FOR MILK 

 PURPOSES. 



Messrs. Editors : — I observe that the value 

 of roots for stock is considerably agitated of 

 late. A thorough discussion of this subject must 

 comprehend three departments of utility, viz., 

 their value in increasing the quantiiy #f milk, 

 their value in improving the quality of the milk, 

 and lastly, in what comparative co?idition the ex- 

 periment leaves the stock. As all neat stock is 

 destined in the end for the shambles, no experi- 

 ment can be fully satisfactory under either of the 

 two first heads, that does not also state how far 

 it promoted this end ; still, as far as such an ex- 

 periment goes, it has its value, but the limits of 

 its teachings should be noted. Of the value of 

 carrots for milk purposes, one of our enterpris- 

 ing farmers, Mr. Mason Courtis, recently nar- 

 rated to me the result of an experiment of his, 

 which, as it was made with care, and the result 

 made a memorandum of, at the time the experi- 

 ment was made, appears to be well worthy of 

 record. 



On Christmas last, he began to feed four cows 

 with cut carrots, of the orange variety, giving 

 two pecks daily to each animal, which was con- 

 tinued until the 20lh of jNIarch, as long as the 

 carrots held out. During this period, the yield 

 of milk from the four averaged forty quarts dai- 

 ly. Immediately after the carrots were gone, 

 the cows fell oft' regularly and rapidly in their 

 yield of milk, and in thirteen days had fallen off 

 eleven quarts, when they yielded a constant sup- 

 ply for a fortnight, after which, being fed with a 

 daily proportion of meal, they increased their 

 yield. 



In the whole course of the experiment, they 

 were fed with second crop hay, the hay having 

 been proportionally increased after the carrots 

 were exhausted. They were regularly watered 

 and always milked by the same person. 



Marhlehead, June, 1859. J. J. H. Gregory. 



CI*" There are six or spven generations of gnats 

 in a summer, and each lay 250 eggs. 



