180 



SENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 1845 



WINTERING STOCK. 



The most important matter in distinguishing any 

 domestic animal, is to knew that a warm and com- 

 fortable hhelter is equivalent to one third of the food 

 which the creature must have to keep him in condi- 

 tion, if unprotected from cold, Know, rains and winds. 

 Place a five pail kettle of hot water out in a cold, 

 naked barn-yard, and it will cool, and freeze in half, 

 if net in one fourth of the time required to bring 

 abcut ^imiiar results in a warm stable. Now, if 

 you had to keep up the temperature of the water in 

 Buch a kettle to 98 c;egr( e? — the blood heat of cat- 

 tic — nipht and day for the next six months, by burn- 

 ing hay, straw, cornstalks and oats, would you 

 place the five pails of liquid to be warmed, out 

 door^ in the cold, where the keen air and strong 

 winds would make the heat radiate into the surround- 

 ing space Avith a double or treble force ? — or would 

 you put the kettle in an apartment where the fuel 

 could be used to the best advantage ? 



>i'othing is more certain than the fact, that the 

 entire heat of all animals is produced by the burn- 

 ing of their food — the lungs acting as an ever mo- 

 ving bellows for thiit very purpose. If these facts 

 were duly considered, and the loss prevented which 

 is now sustained in this state, the saving would be 

 at least four millions of dollars a winter. 



If you have iho least idea that you •will need any 

 fodder for your Ftcck next winter, be careful to save 

 everything in the shape of either liquid or solid fod- 

 der that escapes from: your domestic animals this 

 winter. Do you know what the word comfort 

 means when applied to an animal ? If you do, then 

 that is the condition in which he can be cheapest kept. 



FAC SIMILF.S of Wnshiiiif ion's Letters to Sir John Siuclair, oD 

 Agricullure an;! ot!ie; interesting topics. 



A beautiful qi;arto volume has recently been pub- 

 lished by Franklin Knight of Washington City, con- 

 taining the correspondence of the Father of his 

 Country on the subject of Agriculture, which he 

 deemed one of the most important to the American 

 people. As a };ractico.l Farmer, Washington had no 

 equals in his day in this country, and few even at the 

 present day. These letters, however, are valuable, 

 not because they alford instruction in the art of far- 

 ming, but on account of the moral effect, which they 

 cannot fail of having, on public sentiment in regard 

 to the pursuit of agriculture , Here, he conies belore 

 us as the practical Farmer. lie delights in this 

 employment far more than in marshalling of armies, 

 or wielding the f-ccptro of government. He beholds 

 in agriculture the wealth and prosperity of this great 

 Republic, and he would promote it by the concentra- 

 ted wisdom of the nation. Half a century has rolled 

 round, and now we just begin to open our eyes to 

 the importance of those measures which Washington 

 prceented as necessary and essential in improving 

 the various branches of agriculture. 



New Orleans Commkucial Timks. — We have 

 received several of the first numbers of this paper. 

 On the tripod J. B. Tharpe sits as Editor, T. Af- 

 lleck as Agricultural Editor, and J. Hawkins as As 

 ■sistant Editor. This is an able EJitovjal force, and 

 they must make a good paper. Its mechanical exe- 

 cution is excellent. It says nothing of political 

 matters, so far, and .seems devoted to business 

 concerns. Mr. Affleck has been favorably known 

 for several years past, as an able agricultural writer 

 — and wc doubt not his department in the Times will 

 be well sustained. 



Destroying Alders and other Bushes. — I notic- 

 ed in your August number, the article on " Killing 

 Alders," and your invitation to others for facts on 

 that subject. 



Mr. JetTerson somewhere suggests the importance 

 and utility of perpetuatmg the experience of old men; 

 and agriculturists depend so much upon fads for 

 what they do, that I am induced to state my own 

 experience on this subject. 



In the town of Salem, Washington co., N. Y., 

 where I have resided for more than forty years, I 

 have been in the habit yearly of cutting all kinds of 

 brush that sprout in open and cleared fields. This 

 has been done in the months either of July or Au- 

 gust, in the old of the moon, when the sign is in 

 the heart ; and when it has been done on the day 

 the moon changed, but before the change, and the sign 

 being in the heart, it has never failed, to my recol- 

 lection, to destroy the brush. — John Crary, in Alb. 

 Cult. 



We had the pleasure of taking the hand of " Hon- 

 est John Crary," at the late annual fair of Washing- 

 ton coimty, held at Salem. He is an excellent far- 

 mer, and deserves honorable mention for his long 

 continued, and valuable services in promoting the 

 cause of agricultural improvement. Judge Savage, 

 Bernard Blair, and a score of other gentlemen, in Sa- 

 lem, many of whom have been tied to other profess- 

 ions and pursuits than that of agriculture, deserve 

 the thanks of farmers for the assistance which they 

 are rendering the hard workiuir tillers of the earth. 

 We wish the leading men in Western New York, 

 the merchants, lawyer?, physicians, and the public 

 press generally, would take a deeper interest in the 

 advancement of Agriculture. Politics seem to swal- 

 low up all the public attention and regards of these 

 men. This is the general rule, while we are happy 

 to know of some commendable exceptions. 



Soaked Corn for Horses. — One of the most suc- 

 cessful and judicious farmers in the vicinage of Bal- 

 timore, efiects a saving of from one-third to one- 

 half his corn, by soaking it thoroughly before feed- 

 ing. His method is this : Two casks are placed in 

 his cellar, where there is no danger from frost, and 

 filled to the chime with ears of corn. He then 

 pours on water till the vessels are filled. When 

 well soaked, the corn is fed to the horses, and when 

 the contents of one cask are consumed, it is again 

 filled, and the horses fed from the other. — Maine 

 Cult. 



The above food would be much more nutricious if 

 it were cooked, instead of being merely soaked ; al- 

 though soaking is better than feeding dry. 



Essay on Guano; describing its properties, and 

 the best methods of its application, in Agriculture 

 and Horticulture: w'ith the value of importations 

 from difTerent localities; founded on actual analysis, 

 and on personal experiments upon numerous kinds 

 of trees, vegetables, flowers, and insects, in this 

 climate. By I. E. Teschkmacher, of Boston, Mass. 



Thi? is the title of a neat pamphlet of 50 pages, 

 which has been politely furnished us by its publish- 

 er, A. D. Phelps, of Boston. It is an able Essay, 

 containing much practical information relative to the 

 value and application of Guano as a Manure. For 

 this work Mr, Teschkmachrr is entitled to the thanks 

 of the Agriculturists and Horticulturists of the coun- 

 try — to whoiTi we commend it as worthy of attention. 



