1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



5,-9 



ately over the end of the pipe. It lessened the 

 force of the water, which should fall into the 

 driving pipe without the slightest hindrance. 



I suppose some will like to know how 1 kept 

 the ram from freezing. It works well under wa- 

 ter, and I had only to settle it down until the 

 moving part was covered. Great care must be 

 taken that the ram be so boxed around that the 

 dirt will not wash over it. 



Your readers may remember that while the 

 ground was almost bare, last January, we had a 

 very cold time. My pipe froze up that supplied 

 the barn. I dug down to it and found the ground, 

 to my surprise, stiff with frost, below the pipe. 

 The two and a half feet was not deep enough to 

 bury it. It was with great regret that we werc- 

 obliged to get along at the barn for weeks till 

 milder weather, without this convenient stream 

 of water. It was at once double the work to turn 

 out the Brighton cattle, water them at the pump, 

 and get them back to their places again, than 

 •what it had been to just set down before them 

 some two to four bucktts of water in the barn. 



And, besides, I noticed that the change was 

 not beneficial to the cattle. In the barn I had 

 •watered all twice a day, the cows three times. 

 The store cattle now were "turned out" but once, 

 and if they felt like capering or fighting, or, if 

 the day were windy and cold, they went without 

 water the whole day. When water was given 

 them in the barn they ate more, and as the haj 

 was of that quality that the more consumed the 

 better, that v/as a gain. 



On the whole the ram has already been of 

 great value, and promises to continue to save 

 much labor. I would not part with it for five 

 times its cost, and can most sincerely recommend 

 it to all who wish a cheap and abundant supplj 

 of water, and are in the vicinity of a fall. 



I have connected with my "water works" a va- 

 riety of contrivances to enable me to control the 

 stream and direct it where desired. These con- 

 sist of waste stop cocks, hose, couplings, &c.. 

 •which are readily obtained at the Boston plumb- 

 ers. 



I shall be very happy to show any of your 

 readers what I have, I fear, very imperfectly des- 

 cribed, if they will favor me with a call. 



, Your friend, Wm. D. BROW>f. 



Concord, Mass., Oct., 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ORDER AND ECONOMY ON THE FARM. 



Messes. Editors : — I was glad to see the re- 

 marks of your correspondent, "W. C," in your 

 last issue, and 1 wish he had pursued the subject 

 still further, and said something of idleness and 

 economy on the farm. Where you see buildings 

 in the plight spoken of by W. C, it may be in- 

 ferred that the occupant is lazy, and not a 

 "church-goer." Whenever you see a neat and 

 well-filled ■wood-shed, the owner is, generally 

 speaking, a patron of churches and schools. It 

 is lamentable to see how fev/ farmers are suffi- 

 ciently careful to lay in a good supply of wood, 

 that it may be at hand, dry, for use, while too 

 many either burn their wood green or half rotten. 

 A small wood-lot will afford an ample supply for 

 a fire, without injury to the growth, if properly 



attended, in clearing the broken off branches, and 

 decaying trees. How much waste wood could be 

 gathered about a farm and saved from becoming 

 rotten, by giving a little care to the subject? 

 Waste land, also, could be reclaimed, and if too 

 stony for cultivation, made to bear a fine growth 

 of oak, by giving a little care to collect and plant 

 acorns. 



Our friends in New Hampshire are improving 

 in the science of farming, and are becoming more 

 liberal in the general improvemen" of th>i land. 

 Instead of skimming their farms, and looking for 

 that which will supply their daily wants by sell- 

 ing all they can, they strive to enrich the ground, 

 and many obtain four-fold more from farms, than 

 was gathered ten or twenty years ago from the 

 same. Less land is cultivated than there was 

 twenty years since. Such is the fact, generally 

 I think, throughout New Enghnd. 



The tendency is to expensive buildings on a 

 farm, and firmers, as well as mechanics, traders, 

 and professional men, are not careful to live with- 

 in their own means. A farmer is the last person 

 who should buy more than he has the means to 

 pay for. J. D. 



Bosto?i, Oct. 22, 1859. 



BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 



The following will answer several inquiries 

 about the nature of biennials and perennials : 



Biennials, speaking in a general sense, are sown 

 one summer, and bloom and die the next, as soon 

 as they have ripened their seeds. Most of them 

 are hardy enough to stand our winters, for one 

 summer is not long enough to complete their 

 growth, even with the help of the hot-house, 

 green-house or frame. Many stocks are bienni- 

 al ; the Canterbury bell is a biennial, and if sown 

 about June, and planted out when large enough, 

 will flower about the same time next year. 



Perennials are plants which do not die at any 

 given period, but wouid live on like an oak or 

 vine, if the necessary conditions could be sup- 

 plied, and the great family of plants comprises 

 most of this kind. 



Hardy perennials will grow many years in the 

 same spot, and spread into large masses. Bulbs 

 increase in number. Fibrous and tuberous root- 

 ed subjects spread out into many plants all round, 

 and only want to be separated from the parent. 

 Many of them separate themselves, and when 

 they degenerate, it is from remaining too long in 

 the same spot of soil, which they in time exhaust. 



Stove perennials, cultivated in pots, are from 

 time to time shifted from one sized potto anoth- 

 er, and new soil is filled up round the old ball 

 of earth, and the plant continues to grow so long 

 as this can be done. — Artisan. 



To Make Pure Wine of Apples. — Take 

 pure cider made from sound ripe apples as it runs 

 from the press ; put sixty pounds of common 

 brown sugar into fifteen gallons of the cider, and 

 let it dissolve ; then put the mixture into a clean 

 barrel, and fill the barrel up to within two gal- 

 lons of being full with clean cider ; put the cask 

 in a cool place, leaving the bung out three or 

 four weeks. 



