No. 9. 



Hoare's Mode of Planting the Vine. 



ons coiintiy such as this is. At six o'clock, 

 regularly tiiroiigh the summer, they are 

 broug-ht tVom the pasture to the yards, and 

 milked, and then turned out in a dill'erent 

 pasture during the night. This change of 

 pasture every night, Mr. Colvvell looks upon 

 as an item ot' great importance. When the 

 pasture begins to tail, say 1st of October, he 

 commences feeding half a bushel per head 

 per day, of brewer's grains, which arc hauled 

 each day from New burgh, and fed to the 

 cows in heaps laid upon the clean sod. The 

 winter feeding commences on an average 

 the middle of November, and ends about the 

 10th of Alay. The cows arc all stabled 

 through the winter, and at present turned 

 out to water; but Mr. Colvvell intends to fix 

 his stable so as to water them as they stand 

 in the stalls. For winter feed, everything 

 of straw, hay, or stubble kind, is cut up, and 

 corn and cobs, and occasionally oats ground, 

 and two quarts of this meal, with three 

 pecks of brewers' grains to each cow, are 

 mixed up with the chopped straw, &c., 

 twelve hours before feeding, and given in 

 quantities to satisfy each appetite — not for- 

 getting a daily allowance of salt. This 

 feed, and a warm stable, give him almost as 

 much milk in winter as in summer. When 

 I was there in October last, the price of 

 grains was four cents per bushel, and I think 

 1 understood Mr. Colwell, that was his con- 

 tract price through the year. If you will 

 add the present prices of hay and grain, it 

 will be interesting to some of us "outside 

 barbarians," and enable ns to "calculate" 

 the cost of milk. Mr. Colwell could give 

 you many other items worth your notice, I 

 dare say, and I engage you a most hearty 

 welcome, if you will give him a call. 



Quantity of grass seed sown to the acre. 

 — In my own neighbourhood, and many 

 other places in which I am acquainted, four 

 quarts to the acre of timothy seed are thought 

 to be a good seeding; and I am laughed at 

 for talking about putting on half a bushel. 

 If such men ever read, I should like to have 

 them learn how they seed land in Orange 

 county. Noticing while on a visit to Mr. 

 Charles Downing last fall, that he was seed- 

 ing down a piece of ground — dry gravelly 

 loam upon a side hill, I had the curiosity to 

 £66 how much seed he put on to the acre, 

 and found it was half a bushel of clean 

 timothy, one-fourth of a bushel of orchard 

 grass, and one-eighth of a bushel of clover. 

 Now, if four quarts are enough, what a 

 waste of seed is here] And equally waste- 

 ful was he in the labour bestowed upon the 

 land. Not contented with ploughing and 

 throwing on the seed in a windy da|, he 

 actuallj'^ sowed it carefully even, and then 



277 



harrowed the ground until smooth. And 

 what is more, picked up the roots, stones, 

 and trash, besides the waste of puttino- on 

 manure. '^ 



^'^Well, no wonder such folks can make 

 $^)^i from a cow in one season — wo can't do 

 do it out West, that is a fact, stranger; but 

 then we can live without it." 



That is the answer — "i«e can live" — yes, 

 we can and do live, but who knows how; 

 you never will till you come and see. "One 

 half the world don't know how the other 

 half live." No; if they did, they would try- 

 to live better. If some of "your folks" 

 "down East," only knew how some of "our 

 folks" "out West," lived, or pretended to 

 live by farming, they would be more con- 

 tented ; and if Western land spoilers knew 

 how Eastern land skinners had skinned their 

 land to death, they would not go on doing 

 just the same.thing. But they won't know, 

 and of course, won't do. 



Solon Robinson. 



Lake Court House, Ind., Dec. 0th, 1845. 



Iloare's Mode of Planting the Vine. 



A FEW months ago, Mr. Hoare, the well 

 known writer on the Vine, published a new 

 system of managing the roots of that plant, 

 which if not applicable in its widest sense 

 to many climbing plants, may be applied in 

 a modified degree w"ith a reasonable assur- 

 rance of success ; and to the consideration 

 of this, we would now direct attention. 



Mr. Hoare's method for the Vine is to 

 construct compartments for each plant of 

 bricks cemented together, and with a floor- 

 ing of the same material, so as to prevent 

 the roots from penetrating beyond them. 

 These are filled entirely with equal propor- 

 tions, well mingled together, of broken 

 bricks, charcoal, lumps of mortar and bones, 

 the three former generally in fragments 

 about the size of a hen's egg, and well 

 soaked in liquid manure for some time pre- 

 vious to use. Smaller or larger pieces may 

 al.?o be added ; this should be in some mea- 

 sure regulated by the size of the compart- 

 inent ; and it is necessary that the whole be 

 very compactly placed together. When 

 this work is accomplis'.ied, they are covered 

 up with bricks as before set in cement, with 

 the exception of a space where they are left 

 loose for the insertion of the plant, and the 

 administration of fluid. 



The advantages claimed for this method, 

 are, that it presents a continual source of 

 food which is never in excess, or, at least, is 

 so conditioned that the plants can rarely ob- 

 tain an overabundant supply. The sub- 

 stances which afford it are always rnoist, but 



