1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



383 



abroad for butter. At a recent visit to the Tread- 

 wU farm, I learned it took more than twelve 

 quarts of the milk of the Ayrshire stock, there 

 fed, as it ordinarily flows, to yield a pound of 

 butter. Ten quarts, or twenty pounds of the 

 milk, from Mr. Dodge's cow, will do this. 

 June 27, IBM. _ Essex. 



PROFIT OF HENS. 



As there is considerable talk about the profits 

 of keeping hens, I thought 1 would give you a 

 bit of experience. A little over one year ago I 

 commenced keeping debt and credit with a few. 

 I had but 11 hens and 1 rooster ; I kept the ac- 

 count one year, and it stands thus : 



Cr. by 120 tlozen eggs at 13 J cents $1^,20 



Cr. by 19 pounds chickens at 9 cents \.'!\ 



$17,91 

 Dr. to feed., worth 6-21 



Balance in favor of hens $11,70 



They were fed in the summer with corn, 

 oats and wheat screenings, with occasionally a 

 mess of warm dough or potatoes, boiled and 

 mashed and given to them warm. They did not 

 have a very good chance, as we had to keep them 

 shut up a while in the spring on account of the 

 crops. In the winter they were kept in a rather 

 cold stable. Some of the hens are full blooded 

 black Polands, the rest a mixture of the Poland, 

 bantum and what we call the old-fashioned hens. 

 I think the Polands are as good layers as there 

 are. Black Poland. 



Monipelier, Vi., June, 1859. 



SEED CORN. 



In the Farmer of June 1st, I noticed the fol- 

 lowing : "Corn for planting should be selected 

 from an equal number of male and female ears, 

 shelling and mixing them together." Signed, S. 

 P. Baker. I believe that plants have sex as well 

 as animals, but being no botanist, permit me to 

 ask a few questions. 



If you plant a kernel of corn alone in a field, 

 •why does the stalk ever "ear" at all? In a pile 

 of ripe corn, how can the male and female ears 

 be distinguished ? Will you or Mr. Baker, who, 

 from an experience of eighty-three years, is 

 doubtless well posted, inform me upon the sub- 

 ject? What is the most convenient size for hay- 

 caps ? A Farmer's Boy. 



Charlemont, Mass., June 22, lSo9. 



Remarks. — Two yards square for hay caps. 



STUMP-FOOTED CABBAGE. 



Can you tell me what maizes cabbages grow 

 stump or clump-footed, and what is a remedy ? 

 I have often seen large pieces nearly entirely lost 

 from this cause, for a clump-footed cabbage will 

 not head. Albertus. 



Remarks. — We have heard it said that cab 

 bage seed raised from the stumps — that is, where 

 the head has been cut off and the stump set out 

 — will produce clump-footed cabbages. The 

 whole plant, head and all, should be set, to raise 

 seed from. 



hedges. 



I have a hedge in progress, part of which has 

 arrived to the height desired. Will you or some 

 of your correspondents inform me, through your 

 columns, at what time and how often it should 

 be pruned ? and oblige, Hedge. 



Derry, N. E., 1859. 



Remarks. — Prune it now, and if the growth 

 continues luxuriant, prune again in six or eight 

 weeks. 



shedding milk. 



I wish to be informed of the liquid that has 

 been recommended by some for the suppression of 

 milk from the cow's udder where the cow sheds 

 her milk. 



Cambridge, Vt., 1859. 



Remarks. — The trouble is probably organic ; 

 some of the muscles or other parts not acting 

 with sufficient force. The liquid to which you 

 refer may be glycerine or liquid cuticle, but we 

 doubt whether its use would prove efficacious. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PASTURING— COWS— 'ViTOODIjAND. 



Mr. Editor: — If any one thing is neglected, 

 forgotten, and left to take care of itself, it is the 

 old farm pasture of New England. How many 

 farmers, and good farmers, too, that crowd to 

 the ridge-poles their barns with hay ; that fill to 

 overflowing their corn and grain bins, all, (ex- 

 cepting wheat, to their shame,) still trusting to 

 the same old pasture, unassisted, unnourished ; 

 their flocks and herds feed there ; generations for- 

 gotten and living, still pull down the old pasture 

 bars ; perhaps fifty to one hundred acres is the 

 "area of freedom," for fifteen or twenty cattle ; 

 they ramble, (poor creatures,) grub and nip all 

 the day long, to carry home their scanty messes 

 and empty stomachs. Now summer has ended, 

 they have gained a little vitality of the skin, and 

 all they have lost is their old shaggy coats, aid- 

 ed by a long tail, and plenty of bushes in rubbing 

 it ofl'. What a preparation this, for another win- 

 ter's campaign ; to enter the leanto thin, and 

 come but thinner, in spring. There is no money 

 in this operation. 



The pasture should be the fattening ground ;_^ 

 the farmer enriches his land to make his hay to 

 feed his winter's stock ; why should he not make 

 rich ten or fifteen acres of his good old pasture, 

 and make it produce more fattening feed than 

 seventy-five to one hundred acres of the old 

 mossy mounds, that time has affixed to decaying 

 nature ? The advantages are, a self-manuring 

 process ; it necessarily becomes so, the range be- 

 ing made small ; animals inclined to be breachy 

 are contented to graze in good feed, and lie down 

 quietly in their own enclosure. This is the place 

 to give the calves and colts a start ; the young 

 stock, growth and sleekness ; the faithful ox, 

 muscle and fat; the noble cows, flesh and full 

 udders, to increase the business of the "milk- 

 man," to better fill and enrich the cream-pot, and 

 sweeten the butter for a better price in market. 

 Dollars and cents come of good pastures. Ilav- 



