134 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



XOVEMBER G, 1S33. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOV. C, 



1033. 



in such a maimer that your mowing ground may 

 he benefitted bv the wash of the highway. 



On Thursday last, the Hon. Mr. Clay visited 

 the Ten Hills Farm of Col. Jacques, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Boston. Mr. Clay appeared very well 

 pleased with Col. Jacques' stock of different and 

 excellent breeds, and pleased every body present 

 bv his affability and pertinent remarks on the ex- 

 cellences and peculiarities of the different animals, 

 which Col. Jacques submitted to his inspection. 

 It was evident that Mr. Clay was a connoisseur as 

 well as an amateur of agriculture, as much at 

 home in the field of the Farmer as at the cabinet 

 of the Statesman ; and left a very favorable impres- 

 sion on the minds of a number of our most distin- 

 guished cultivators, and other pillars of the farm- 

 in.' interest, who met and accompanied him on 

 the excursion. 



Afterwards, Mr. Clay visited the Agricultural 

 Warehouse, Seed Store and Office of the N. E. 

 Farmer, and gave the sanction of his approbation 

 to the tools, machines and specimens of agricultu- 

 ral and horticultural improvement which are ex- 

 hibited in that establishment. 



.i super superb Beet. Mr. J. A. Kenrick of 

 Newton, Mass. exhibited at the rooms of the Mass. 

 Hor. Society on the 2d inst. a beet of the Man- 

 gold Wurtzel variety, which very far exceeds any 

 thing and every thing of the kind, which we have 

 ever heard, 6een, or reail of in verity, poetry, ro- 

 mance, Scott's Novels, Robinson Crusoe, or Ara- 

 bian Nights' Entertainment. This enormous, over- 

 grown, unwieldy vegetable would make a full 

 meal fur a Mammoth, and bait the largest herd of 

 Buffaloes that ever pervaded a prairie in the Valley 

 of the Mississippi. It weighed, what d'ye guess ? 

 Well, I'll tell you, to wit: It weighed even thirty- 

 six pounds four ounces ! Before you deny this 

 assertion please to call at the New Englantl Far- 

 mer Office, No. 52 North Market Street, where 

 room has been made for its deposit, and it may be 

 ■seen gratis by practical and Amateur CuMvaters. 



From Fcssenden's N. E. Farmer's Almanac. 

 Stiff, hard, cloggy arable land, is best plough- 

 ed in autumn, that frost may assist in pulverizing 

 it. But if your soil is loose and sandy, it may be 

 best to let it lie and consolidate through the win- 

 ter. Barricade your cellar and barn, &c. as much 

 as possible against the intrusion of frost. The 

 only banks with which a good farmer ought to 

 have any dealings are such as are of use to pre- 

 serve his cellar from frost. You may now carry 

 out and spread compost, soot, ashes, &c. on such 

 of your mowing ground as needs manure, though 

 some say that the best time for top-dressing grass 

 land is immediately after haying. Any time, how- 

 ever, will do, when the ground is free from frost 

 and snow. But previous to manuring your grass 

 ground, it will be advisable to harrow or scarify it. 

 Also, it will often not be amiss to sow grass seeds 

 at the time you manure and harrow as aforesaid, 

 to produce a new set of plants and supersede the 

 necessity of breaking up the soil to prevent its 

 being ' bound out,' as the phrase is. Now is as 

 good a time as can be for collecting fallen leaves, 

 and the mould caused by their decay to litter cat- 

 tle, mix with farm-yard dung, use in making hot 

 beds, manure for fruit trees, ccc. Attend to your 

 water-courses, ditches, &c. and please to manage 



From Fesscnden's JV. E. Farmer's Almanac. 

 FOOD FOR FATTING CATTLE. 



It has been often said, and we believe correctly, 

 that it is not profitable, generally speaking, to fat- 

 ten cattle on any kind of grain. Lawrence, on 

 Neat I tattle, asserts that ' eorn [by which is meant 

 oats, barley, rye, peas, beans, wheat, &c] cannot 

 be used in the fattening of bullocks and sheep ex- 

 cept in seasons of superabundant plenty.' Even 

 Indian eorn is often too costly food to be used 

 solely or chiefly for the profitable fattening of cat- 

 tle ; and grass, hay and roots are the materials, 

 which true economy requires.* It is, however, 

 asserted that beef fattened on oil cake, raw pota- 

 toes, turnips, &c. will not be so firm, nor of so 

 good a quality, other things being equal, as that 

 which is fattened on Indian corn. If that be true, 

 it might be well to commence feeding with turnips, 

 potatoes, &c. and give the animals richer food as 

 they increase in fatness. An able writer observes 

 that, 'with respect to feeding, the first rule is, lit- 

 tle at a time and often ; because experience has 

 shown that animals that eat much in a short time 

 do not fatten so well as those which eat less, but 

 more slowly and frequently. The second rule is 

 to begin the course with cabbage aud turnips; 

 then to employ carrots and potatoes, and lastly, 

 Indian, oat, or barley meal, the March bean, or 

 the grey pea. — These aliments ought to be varied 

 five or six times a day, and oftener if convenient ; 

 and instead of always reducing them to flour, there 

 is an advantage in sometimes boiling them. A 

 little salt, given daily, is very useful.' 



It would be advantageous to the community of 

 farmers, if something like the following experi- 

 ments were made and their results published. Let 

 a number of cattle of similar or the same breed, age, 

 propensity to fatten, as ascertained by hand, &C 

 &c. he fattened at the same time. Let one be fed 

 entirely on potatoes raw, a second on the same 

 root, steamed or boiled, a third be made one half 

 or two thirds fat on potatoes, and his fatting com- 

 pleted with Indian corn ; a fourth be fatted on In- 

 dian corn or com meal ; a filth be fed with a mix- 

 ture of all these kinds of food, given together in 

 the same mess, or in different messes. The first 

 food in the morning for the last mentioned bul- 

 lock, might be a small quantity of potatoes, pump- 

 kins, or turnips ; the second, ruta baga or carrots, 

 mangel wurtzel or parsnips. Then, as the last 

 course of the day's feast, give Indian meal or oth- 

 er food, the richest you have. It would be well 

 likewise to try the virtues of sweet apples. The 

 most important object of such experiments, how- 

 ever, would be to ascertain whether the beef of 

 cattle fattened on potatoes or other roots, raw or 

 boiled or steamed, is equal in qitcililyto that which 

 is fattened ou Indian corn. If not, whether an ox 

 may not be made nearly fat enough for profit on 

 roots and hay, his fatting completed on corn, and 

 the flesh be as good as if he had been fattened 

 wholly ou corn. And if an ox partly fattened on 

 roots, and his fattening completed on corn gives 

 as good beef as one wholly fed on corn, the ques- 

 tion arises, how long a time will it require to give 

 the beef its good qualities arising from the corn ? 

 We know, as respects swine, that farmers make 



•See a Communication for the New England Farmer. 

 I. p. 134, 



Vol. 



them partly fat on any thing which they will de- 

 vour, and then feed them for some time before 

 they are killed with Indian corn or meal to 'har- 

 den the ftcsh,' as they express it. And perhaps the 

 same process will answer as well for beef cattle. 

 Some farmers say that the red or La Plata pota- 

 to, given raw to swine, makes as good pork as 

 that which is corn i\:t\. Others say that any kind 

 of potato, if steamed or boiled, will make as good 

 pork as can he made of corn. If this be true of 

 pork, it may be so of beef. 



It is a truth, which has been confirmed by re- 

 peated experiments, that food for swine, fermented 

 and become a little acid, will go farther and fatten 

 them faster than unfermented food of the same 

 quantity. But it is not, we believe, generally 

 known in this country that acid food is most valua- 

 ble for neat cattle in certain circumstances. Mr. 

 Bordley, (a celebrated American writer on Rural 

 Economy,) however, asserts, that 'Oxen made half 

 fat, or in good plight, ou grass or turnips, are then 

 soon finished in France, upon a sour food, prepared 

 as follows: rye meal, (buck wheat or Indian corn 

 meal may be tried) with water, is made into a 

 paste, which in a few days ferments, and becomes 

 sour; this is then diluted with water and thickened 

 with hay cut into chaff, which the oxen sometimes 

 refuse the first day, but when dry, they drink and 

 prefer it. All the husbandmen are decidedly of 

 opinion that they fatten much better because of the 

 acidity. They give it thrice a day, and a large ox 

 thus cats 22 lbs. a day. Maize [Indian] meal, or 

 maize steeped till sour, should be tried. This sour 

 mess is given during the last three weeks of their 

 fattening, and they eat about lh bushels of meal, 

 value four dollars. 



Care should be taken that the process of fer- 

 mentation be not carried too far. The paste should 

 not become mouldy, nor the liquid food in the 

 slightest degree putrid. We think, moreover, that 

 there is reason in waiting till animals become ' half 

 fat,' or in good plight before they are fed with acid 

 food. Acids, like alcohol, create appetite by stim- 

 ulating the stomach but if long continued, they 

 weaken the digestive powers, and in time totally 

 destroy the tone of the stomach. The animal will 

 then be visited, with what in a human subjeet 

 would be called dyspepsia, or a want of the power 

 of digestion ; fattening him will be out of the ques- 

 tion, and he will be worth hut little more than the 

 value of his hide. The constitution of an ox may 

 be destroyed by excessive eating, and it is only to- 

 wards the close of his days, near the last stage of 

 his preparation for the butcher, that he should be 

 allowed to become an epicure, and indulged with 

 as much as ho can eat of rich and high seasoned 

 food. 



Store keep should neither be too rich nor too 

 abundant; and if an ox is once made fat, and theu 

 loses his flesh, he is like one of Pharaoh's lean 

 kine, the more he devours, the leaner he becomes. 

 If young cattle are kept in rich pastures in sum- 

 mer, and poor fodder in winter, sometimes stuffed, 

 at other times starved, they lose their disposition 

 to fatten. To such cattle Mr. Lawrence alludes, 

 when he says, ' It is extremely imprudent, indo 

 lently to continue at high keep, animals which d 

 not thrive ; I advert chiefly to individuals, wit 

 which the first loss is always the least.' 'Stoi 

 cattle,' said Mr. Bordley, 'are kept, others are fi- 

 tened. The feeding is different. Cattle kept, nd 

 no kind of graiu, nor even hay, unless to ccs 

 about calving time. Straw, with any jute?/ fd 



