442 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



Fleece found by our Pilgrim Fathers on their 

 first landing." It has certainly always been an 

 important article in the productions of the Unit- 

 ed States, and is still much used in the "brown 

 bread" of the North, and the "corn cakes" of the 

 Southern States. 



It is possible we are writing for some who may 

 remember the "huskings," which have become 

 almost traditional among us now, when the 

 great barn-floor was swept as clean as the floor 

 of the good wife's kitchen, and the whole scene 

 was made brilliant by tallow-candles hung up in 

 tin lanterns at a safe distance from the hay-loft, 

 while the party below, consisting of young peo- 

 ple of both sexes, sat around on the floor, on 

 such seats as could be easily improvised, and 

 stripped off the husks amid much laughter and 

 merry talk. A red ear was said to give peculiar 

 privileges to the finder, but of this we would not 

 be supposed to know any thing from experience. 

 The festivities of the occasion were wound up 

 with a supper, and perhaps an eight-handed reel, 

 for we are speaking of times when "the sinful- 

 ness of dancing " had not been made an article 

 of faith in all our country villages — when even 

 the parson himself might look on with an ap- 

 proving smile. 



Whether more business was accomplished by 

 a husking of this sort, than by a good, steady, 

 gander-party, we are not prepared to say, but 

 certainly there must have been a good deal more 

 fun, and we have great faith in uniting the "use- 

 ful with the agreeable." 



Belonging to the same category, were the "ap- 

 ple-bees" of the olden time — and we cannot say 

 they may not be in vrgue in some of our rural 

 districts even yet, — when neighbors met at each 

 other's houses to help prepare the winter "sarse," 

 — and sour enough it was, if we may trust the 

 memory of our early days. 



It is wonderful how an apple-paring taken off 

 whole, and thrown over the head, would al- 

 ways form the initial letter of your "true-love's" 

 name. It never comes any thing but a long 

 crooked S ! 



Now, with the gathering in of the harvest, and 

 preparations for Winter, October is a busy 

 month. It is a month, too, when the farmer sees 

 the reward of his past labor spread out before 

 him — for it is only the "fowls of the air" who 

 are privileged to expect food or clothing while 

 they neithcjr toil nor spin. On man it devolves 

 to win his bread "by the sweat of his brow." 



In an old volume of the JVtio England Farmer, 

 dated 1822, we came across the following : — "In 

 a country where the springs are backward, as in 

 the northern parts of New England, farmers 

 should do all they can in autumn to diminish or 

 lighten the labors of the following spring, when 



they will have much work to perform in a short 

 time." 



We offer the quota' ion as "a word to the wise," 

 which is said to be "sufficient." 



For the New England Farmer, 

 FOWJL MEADOW GRASS. 



Your issue of to-day contains an interesting 

 article by Mr. Holbrook on the cultivation of 

 fowl meadow grass, at the close of which he calls 

 for the experience of others. 



I am now fifty years old, and have been ac- 

 quainted with this grass all my life, and cannot 

 understand why it has received so little attention 

 from farmers. Without going into a general 

 discussion of the subject, I will state a few facts 

 which can be relied on. 



1. For cows and young cattle, there is not a 

 better or more economical hay grown in New 

 England. 



2. Under the most favorable circumstances the 

 yield is very large. I have seen more than three 

 tons to the acre. 



S. It does best on natural moist meadows, 

 which are properly but not too much drained. 



4. It should never be cut until a portion of the 

 seed is sufHciently ripe to fall and re-seed the 

 land, litis is indispensable. 



5. It is not injured by standing until the seed 

 is all ripe. I have known it to ripen, lodge and 

 sprout at the joints, yet in a ton of such hay fed 

 to cows and young cattle in the winter, there 

 would not be one pound of waste. In fact there 

 is no waste in this grass. 



6. Fowl meadow is never ready to be cut un- 

 til all the other haying is over. 



These facts apply only to the grass as I'aised 

 on moist meadows. I know nothing of it as an 

 upland crop 



I would advise farmers to procure a few quarts 

 of seed and sow it as early in September as pos- 

 sible, on their rich, moist meadows, plowed if 

 dry enough, if not, unplowed, and if it grows, 

 watch it with the greatest care, and let every seed 

 ripen for their own use. T. r. c. 



Avg. 27, 1859. 



MILK WHICH DOES NOT YIELD BUT- 

 TEfi— MEANS TO REMEDY" IT. 



M. Deneubourg addresses those who are 

 chiefly interested in cases in which there is no 

 disease of the mammary gland or loss of milk, 

 but a want of oleaginous matters in the fluid. 

 In the causes of this deficiency of butter-making 

 quality, he concludes that there are two princi- 

 pal ones, viz. : idiosyncrasy and alimentation. 

 But there is another which cannot be so easily 

 defined, and which occurs in animals that are 

 well kept, and whose milk has been previously 

 rich in butter. It is to these that the remedy is 

 principally directed. The remedy consists in 

 giving the animal two ounces of the sulphuret 

 of antimony, with three ounces of coriander 

 seeds, powdered and well mixed. This is to be 

 given as a soft bolus, and followed by a draught 

 composed of half a pint of vinegar, a pint of 

 water, and a hand'ul of common salt, for three 

 successive mornings, on an empty stomach. 



