78 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 18, 1S33. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPT. 18, 1833. 



A NEW KIND OP WHEAT. 



Mr. Joseph Tracy, of Windsor, Vt. Editor of 

 the Vermont Chronicle, has sent us a bushel of 

 Wheat, which he recommends as a valuable va- 

 riety. It was originally brought from Virginia to 

 New Haven, Conn, and afterwards cultivated in 

 Hartford, Vt. Mr. Tracy states, that "it yields 

 less straw, less chaff, and less bran than any other 

 kind known among us. When perfect a bushel 

 will weigh 63 pounds, and will afford from 42 to 

 44 pounds of flour of the first quality. This flour 

 commands a higher price than that of ordinary 

 ' good merchantable wheat.' The common crop 

 on good wheat laud is from 15 to 20 bushels per 

 acre ; on new land from 18 to 22. I have seen 

 it yield at the rate of forty. One man, in West 

 Fairlee, raised more than 170 bushels from four 

 acres of new land. Much is raised on land that 

 yields from 12 to 15 bushels. It is ready for the 

 sickle a few days earlier than other wheat, and 

 generally escapes injury from the Hessian fly, by 

 being a little too old for that insect at the time 

 when its ravages commence. The roots spread to 

 an uncommon degree in the spring, so that the 

 growth is much heavier than its early appearance 

 promises. I recollect one half acre, which the 

 owner had resolved to plough up in the spring, 

 because it was winter killed, hut it finally yielded 

 him 13 bushels. 



" In these last remarks, I have in view the re- 

 gion where this wheat came into notice ; viz. the 

 hills on the north of White River. These, with 

 smaller tracts in the vicinity, having a southern or 

 eastern exposure, are the best wheat lands in this 

 region. They are large, steep, yet arable hills, 

 of mica slate, with a little blue, primitive lime- 

 stone. The natural growth is hemlock, white 

 pine, very large maple, beech, birch, white and 

 red oak, poplar, &c. And after the first growth 

 is removed, sweet fern is apt to spring up, abun- 

 dant and rank. Perhaps the best way of preparing 

 this land for wheat is to pasture sheep upon it for 

 a few years ; after which it may be broken up, 

 and summer fallowed, or, which is commonly 

 quite as well, a crop of peas may be taken from it, 

 or a crop of Indian corn, with a good dressing of 

 manure from the barn yard. The bushel I send 

 you is less perfect than 1 could wish. Some of 

 the kernels have been injured by the yellow worm, 

 which is doing much mischief among us. It con- 

 tains also a few kernels of chess. This with cockle, 

 rye and oats, had been utterly extirpated from the 

 farm. It was introduced again, two or three years 

 since by using seed from another farm, but is now 

 nearly extinct." 



We are under great obligations to Mr. Tracy for 

 bis communication, and the wheat with which it 

 was accompanied ; and agreeably to his advice 

 shall offer it in small portions to such farmers as 

 may be disposed to make experiments to ascertain 

 its value for cultivation. When small parcels are 

 sown, it will be easy to cull out the chess, cockle, 

 rye, &c. which otherwise might contaminate the 

 crop. 



APPLES POOD FOR FARM STOCK. 



The crop of apples the present season has been 

 abundant, and we are told that farmers, in some 



parts of the country, would be benefitted by any 

 information, which would enable them profitably 

 to dispose of their surplus produce of this kind. 

 We will, with this view, republish the substance 

 of an article which was originally printed for the 

 Brattleborough Messenger, from whence it was ex- 

 tracted, and given in the JVeui England Farmer, 

 vol. v, p. 82. 



Apples have been so exclusively devoted to 

 making cider, that many believe them to be good 

 for nothing else, and look upon it as a kind of 

 sacrilege to appropriate them to any other use. 

 Some good old women predicted that the curse of 

 God would follow me because I let my hogs run 

 in the orchard and eat my apples. Instead of 

 making meat out of my apples, they would have 

 me convert them into cider, and my cider into 

 that most wholesome and cheering of all drinks, 

 cider brandy. Many suppose, that as food for ani- 

 mals they are useless, and worse than useless. 

 Their cattle have at times broken into their or- 

 chards, and they have always found that their 

 cows have been dried up, and their cattle other- 

 wise injured. — But would not their cattle have 

 been as much injured by breaking into their corn- 

 fields ; and will they thence conclude that corn is 

 hurtful food ? The very fact that cattle are hurt 

 by them, when eaten to excess, proves them to be 

 a wholesome and nutritious food ; for I believe 

 that cattle will eat nothing to excess (when not 

 driven to it by excessive hunger), except what is 

 healthful and nourishing. 



That apples are nutritive is evident from the 

 fact, that when eaten freely they abate the appe- 

 tite for other food ; and persons have, in many 

 instances, been known to live wholly upon them 

 for a length of time. Mr. D — of W. in a state of 

 mental derangement, would eat no food but apples 

 for fear of being poisoned, and he lived upon them 

 forty days without injury to his health or flesh. — 

 The spirit which the juice of apples yields is 

 another proof of their nutritive qualities. Most 

 animals are very fond of them. When apples and 

 potatoes are thrown together to hogs, the apples 

 will be eaten first. 



I have tested l^y ten years experience the value 

 of apples, as a food for animals. I keep five or 

 six hogs in my orchard upon nothing but apples 

 and a little swill ; and have uniformly found them 

 to grow faster than hogs fed upon any thing else, 

 excepting grain. On the first of November they 

 are very decent pork ; after which I feed them 

 about six weeks on grain, before I kill them; and 

 I believe I have as fat hogs, and as good pork as 

 my neighbors, who give to their hogs double the 

 quantity of grain that I do to mine. 



Having proved by experiment the utility of ap- 

 ples as food for hogs, I next turned my horse in- 

 to a small orchard, which would yield about as 

 many as he would eat. A neighbor of mine, a 

 very judicious farmer, seeing my horse in my ap- 

 ples, informed me that I should spoil my horse — 

 that he would get poor, and that I could not fat- 

 ten him in the whole winter. Though somewhat 

 alarmed by this information, I determined to per- 

 sist in the experiment I had begun, and I found 

 the result exactly the reverse of the prediction. — 

 My horse never gained flesh faster, and I experi- 

 enced no injury whatever. 



The two past years, I kept fatting cows and 

 oxen in an orchard where they could be full fed 

 with apples, and with obviously good effects. I 



have never known cattle fat faster on grass and 

 pumpkins, or raw potatoes, than mine have on ap- 

 ples. Care must be taken not to turn them in 

 hungry at first, as they will certainly eat to excess 

 anil injure themselves; and if tiny have not a full 

 supply, there may be danger, when there is abun- 

 dance of apples beaten off by storms; but a little 

 care will prevent such injuries. 



I have never had a creature choked by thenr; 

 and I believe there is very little danger, when the 

 creatures have liberty, and are accustomed to feed 

 upon them. 



Apples are worth nothing at all to make into ci- 

 der, unless it be worth over fifty cents per barrel, 

 and if you have to hire your labor, you may as 

 well let them rot under the trees, as make them 

 into cider. I consider my apples under the tree 

 worth more for my creatures, than the cider would 

 sell for, if made up for me for nothing. I make 

 an estimate in this way; I call potatoes worth for 

 cattle 12J cents per bushel, and apples half price. 

 Nine bushels of apples, the average quantity for a 

 barrel, at 6^ cents will be 58 cents, or eight cents 

 more than your cider will sell for. And I believe 

 apples are worth more than half the price of pota- 

 toes, and am confident that when cattle are full 

 fed on each, they will fat faster on apples than on 



potatoes. 



# # * # * 



I know of several farmers who fed their hogs 

 on apples through the fore part of last winter, and 

 are fully satisfied of the utility of the practice. As 

 our fodder this winter will be deficient, I think it 

 important, that those who have orchards, instead of 

 wasting their time in making a useless quantity of 

 cider, and cider brandy, should lay up their late 

 apples to feed their hogs and other stock in win- 

 ter. 



I should also recommend to farmers to save 

 their pumice. A load of pumice is worth as much 

 as a load of pumpkins. I have given it to young 

 cattle and to sheep in the fall, and in one instance 

 I saved a load for my sheep in winter, which they 

 ate with greediness and good effect. 



A gentleman informed me that he first discov- 

 ered the worth of pumice, as a food for neat 

 cattle by the following fact. He owned a cider 

 mill, immediately upon the road side, and the pum- 

 ice was thrown into the street. When he began 

 to make cider early in autumn, there were a num- 

 ber of lean half starved cattle running in the road, 

 that came daily and ate his pumice, and though 

 there was, at that season, very little grass in the 

 road, yet these cattle, only by eating pumice, be- 

 come before winter very good beef. 



I am too well acquainted with the fixed preju- 

 dice of mankind to suppose that many will believe 

 what I have written. If only one farmer in a 

 hundred should be induced to make the experi- 

 ment my expectations would be fully answered. 



Agricola. 



By the Editor. Benjamin Wheeler, Esq. of 

 Framingham, a gentleman favorably known to our 

 readers, for his improvements in agriculture, in- 

 formed us that he has for some years been in the 

 habit of turning his cattle into his orchard, after 

 the apples begin to fall off. He gives them the run 

 of the orchard, in the forenoon, after the dew is off, 

 for about an hour, and then turns them out, lest 

 they should injure the trees, or hurt themselves by 

 eating too much fruit. 



