86 



GENESEE FARMER. 



June, 1845 



By having this great depth and small height, snows 

 and storms do not beat in on the open side ; there is 

 space for the whole stock to stand or lie down. 



How often do we see one or two of the master 

 cattle stand or lie down at theis ease, in common 

 shallow sheds, in such a position as to keep out all 

 the others — when there is room enough, if they 

 could all agree. By this method, you only feed in 

 the sheds, and litter them freely ; whereby you in- 

 sure the greatest part of the manure and urine un- 

 der cover, by the time spent in eating and sleeping 

 under them, and during storms and excessive cold. 

 At least three-quaters of the whole winter's dropping 

 will be under the sheds — and that three-quarters 

 will be worth more than double the amount of leach- 

 ed and bleached material which lays five or six 

 months exposed to the elements. 



You also by this method save the trouble of sta- 

 bling and tying up the cattle, and the manipulations 

 of cleaning them and the stables, so objectionable 

 to many persons not educated in that system. 



If, as Liebig, the great agricultural chemist, asserts, 

 and proves it too, — that the liquids of absorption 

 contained in the dung of cattle, are worth thirteen 

 times as much as the \egetable matter constituting 

 its bulk, — and there can he no doubt but almost the 

 entire active virtues of barn-yard manure reside in 

 the urine and liquid absorption of the solids, — all the 

 salts and ammonia are due to it, the rest is mere veg- 

 etable fibre, and constitutes mold when decomposed. 

 Under this state of the case, the system of making 

 and keeping manures under cover, is too palpable to 

 be neglected. 



In those localities where hay is worth any thing 

 in market, and can be sold at a profit, the great saving 

 in the quantity required to winter cattle, becomes a 

 great item, by feeding from racks or deep bins un- 

 der cover and in a warm stable — in place of scatter- 

 ing it on the ground and in the mud, with the ani- 

 mals constantly passing over it with their dirty feet, 

 treading it into the filth and totally spoiling it. 



Let any one who finds his thirty by forty feet 

 barn too small to contain both his hay and grain, in- 

 stead of enlarging it, or building another, put up one 

 of these sheds, sixty or eighty feet long, according 

 to his stock, and fill it up with hay, from the floor 

 to the verge pole, and if he don't find it a comforta- 

 ble operation on stormy days, and a mine of wealth 

 the year round, then his humble servant will sign a 

 cognovit that he believes wheat will turn to chess. 



Sows DEVOURING THEIR OFFSPRING. SomC 



have supposed that this is caused by a desire for 

 meat, and they have fed pork to their sows to rem- 

 edy the evil. But it is a mistaken view of the case. 

 When they are confined to a sty or small pen, they 

 are deprived of pure earth, and various condiments 

 that conduce to their health, consequently a feverish 

 habit is induced, which causes an appetite unnatural, 

 and the unfortunate animal, in her frienziod state, at- 

 tempts to satisfy it by eating her own offspring. 



It has been found that when hogs run at large, 

 seeking various condiments as they please, they do 

 not devour their young. Allow the sow as much 

 room in +he yarrl a? convenient, and throw in fresh, 

 pu'-e earth, if there be not a snp^lv ; and if she be 

 limited to a small space, where there are no green 

 vegetables, give her weeds and grass sods, also char- 

 coal and rotten vfood.^-Boston Cultivator. 



For the Genesee Farmer. 



WHEATLAND. 



Mr. Editor, — Having long been a reader of your 

 paper, with pleasure and profit, I have ever been 

 pleased with the practical communications from 

 practical men which it has from time to time con- 

 tained ; but having no aspirations after the preroga- 

 tives of d teacher, I have been content to sit at the 

 feet of others, and learn. A few observations, how- 

 ever, on the past and present state of agriculture, 

 and of the agricultural community of which I am a 

 member, may not be without interest to your 

 readers : 



The soil of this town is mainly an open gravelly 

 or sandy loam, alternating with spots of clay, of the 

 kind commonly denominated oak openings, with 

 some intervals on Allen's Creek and the Genesee 

 river. In days of yore, when the red man held un- 

 disputed sway, it was covered with a heavy, long 

 growth of coarse grass, which was annually burnt 

 off to make good feed for the deer, and good hunting 

 for the lords of the forest. This annual burning 

 prevented the growth of small bushes, and gave the 

 country a beautiful and park-like aspect. In pro- 

 cess of time, as the settlers became more numerous, 

 this annual burning was suppressed, as it endanger- 

 ed the fences and buildings of the farmers. The 

 deer and wolf, and the red man, gave place to the 

 lowing herd, the bleating flock, and the white man; 

 and the tall rank grass to huckleberry, oak, and hick- 

 ory bushes. 



At this period, the writer of these lines became 

 acquainted with this town. The inhabitants be- 

 longed to that class of men whose patrimony con- 

 sists in their own strong arms and resolute hearts, 

 and whose fortunes were their habits of industry, 

 economy and prudence ; and truly they had need of 

 all these, for their land, impoverished by the frequent 

 burnings, returned a poor reward, and if they did not 



Drive the venturous plow-shars to the steep, 



they tilled a hard and sterile soil. Their crops of 

 wheat, for years, would not average more than from 

 seven to ten bushels per acre ; and if, by luck or 

 chance, a poor farmer realized fifteen, he thought his 

 fortune nearly made. You may be sure they were 

 too poor to patronize agricultural journals, had there 

 been any ; for between the wants of their families 

 and the pressing calls of the land offices for their 

 dues, little leisure was left for mental culture, and 

 but little money to pay for agricultaral or other 

 papers. 



About the year 1812, the Wheatland plaster quar- 

 ries were discovered. This was the dawning of a 

 happier day for the farmers of Wheatland ; but its 

 value as a manure, and the proper method of apply- 

 ing it, were not understood till many years after this. 

 After repeated trials and experiments, the almost 

 universal system adopted is, to sow the plaster with 

 clover, and' alternate it with wheat. Wheat one 

 year, then clover and wheat again ; or pasture or 

 mow one year, then fallow and sow with wheat. 

 Under th's system, which has been practiced for the 

 last twenty years, our farms have gone up from their 

 former miserable condition, to an average of twenty 

 to thirty bushels per acre ; and crops of larger yield 

 ara not nnfrequent. Whether the system followed 

 here is the best and most profitable may perhaps be 

 doubtful, and perchance form a subject for further 

 consideration. Yours, W. S. 



Wheatland, April 2\st, 1845. 



