150 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 30, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOV. 20, 1833. 



POTATOES FOOD FOB HORSES. 



A.n Irish writer on husbandry, whose name is 

 Martin Doyle, and whose works were published in 

 Dublin in 1830, has the following remarks: 



With respect to potato-feeding for horses, I 

 recommend it from an experience of some years. 

 My horses are old (one of them at least 20 years 

 of age), but they are in high spirits and condition 

 from having every evening after work, excepting 

 during the soiling months [when grass, &c. was 

 cut and carried to them], an abundant supply of 

 boiled potatoes (warm) regularly given to them ; 

 but as the authority of T. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P. 

 of Workington Hall, Cumberland, is infinitely more 

 valuable than mine on this subject; I shall quote 

 the following passages from his " Agricultural 

 Hints." 



" It requires from 5 to 6 hours for a horse to 

 masticate a stone [14 lbs.] of hay, while he will 

 eat a stone of potatoes in 20 minutes or less. The 

 saving of 4 hours for rest, is alone sufficient to 

 produce the greatest difference in the health and 

 condition of the animal. After great fatigue also 

 a horse would be tempted to take warm food when 

 he would not eat hay. I have at this time in my 

 works horses, which were purchased six years ago 

 of a farmer, who was selling ofl'bis stock as worn 

 out, and of little value, and which are yet able to 

 do their work with the best horses I have. I 

 think there is little doubt of the life of this valua- 

 ble animal being considerably prolonged by this 

 mode of feeding — I have begun to mix an equal 

 quantity of cut straw and potatoes ; racks are, ac- 

 cording to this mode of feeding as unnecessary as 

 they are productive of waste, for to save trouble 

 they are always filled ; and what is not eaten is 

 always so tainted with the breath of the animal as 

 to be wasted." Probably steamed mangold wurt- 

 zel and other roots would be valuable as food for 

 horses. 



LITTER 



For your barn yards, stables, styes, cow bouses, 



&c. may well be gathered from fallen leaves ; and 

 the jnould made by the decay of leaves will also 

 be valuable in your yards, &c. as a receptacle for 

 the liquid manure which would otherwise soak 

 into the ground, enrich the highway, or be lost in 

 a neighboring stream. 



But jingling apart ; unless your animals are 

 made comfortable, your fodder will be wasted ; 

 therefore sell what you cannot well keep, and what 

 you do keep, keep well. 



WINTER 



Sent his card some time ago, but delays his 



actual visitation in order that we the Farmers, 

 Housekeepers and Barnholders, may be the better 

 prepared to wait on his worship. Now, although 

 he is rough as a royster, and rude as a raggamufhn, 

 it will be expedient, nevertheless, to give him a 

 ivarm if not a welcome reception. You will, 

 therefore, make not only your house but every 

 habitation for man and beast in and about your 

 premises, "too hot to hold him." 



And when he comes from desert howling 



And swamps scarce tit to pasture owl in, 



Leave not a crack to let him in 



In which you could insert a pin ; 



Let flocks and herds no shelter lack 



Against lua merciless attack J 



For pinch'd with cold and half alive 



The richest food wont make them thrive, 



But they will be just lit anon 



To starve a flock of crows upon. 



ANOTHER WBGE BEET. 



Mr. D. Blake of Wrenthain, has left in the 

 Office of the New England Farmer a Beet of the 

 kind called Sugar Beet, which weighs without the 

 top IS lbs. 



WHITE PINE. 



Tins tree, which constitutes the uncoined bul- 

 lion and much of the present wealth of this part of 

 the country, is the loftiest tree in the United Slates. 

 It attains sometimes the height of 150 feet, or even 

 more-, with a trunk five feet and upwards in diam- 

 eter. Its foliage is evergreen, light, delicate, and 

 making an elegant appearance. — It is found must 

 abundant between the forty seventh and forty third 

 parallels of latitude, along the Alleghanies to their 

 southwestern termination, and in its greatest glory 

 west of the Rocky mountains, on the river Oregon. 

 On the head waters of the Allegany is cut all 

 the pine destined to supply not only the towns 

 along the Ohio, but also the New Orleans market, 

 3000 miles distant. On the head waters of the 

 Delaware are large forests of white pine, which 

 are floated in spring down the waters of that 

 river, and the West branch of the Susquehannab, 

 for the supply of the cities and towns in that quar- 

 ter. The shores of lake Champlain, and the banks 

 of the rivers flowing into it, abound in this kind 

 of pine, which is partly floated down the St. Law- 

 rence to Quebec, and partly through the northern 

 canal to Albany whence it is distributed down the 

 Hudson. But Maine furnishes about three fourths 

 of all the white pine lumber exported from the 

 1'nited States, and the Penobscot river is the cen- 

 tre of this trade, and hereafter must furnish the 

 main supply in the Lumber market. Throughout 

 the Northern States, about three fourths of all the 

 houses are built chiefly of this material, and the or- 

 namental work of nearly all the rest is composed 

 of it. For masts and spars its use is almost uni- 

 versal throughout the middle and northern States; 

 and owing to its lightness, its loss could not be 

 supplied without considerable difficulty. The Ri- 

 ga masts are said to have more strength ; but the 

 English derive most of those in the merchant ser- 

 vice, and yards and bowsprits for the Navy, from 

 New lirunswick and Canada. As the sources of 

 supply are annually drying up, and the demand is 

 constantly increasing, the pine timber lands of our 

 State are becoming invaluable. — Bangor Rep. 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



A surprising phenomenon occurred on the 12th inst. 

 From about midnight till day -break the sky seemed fill- 

 ed with a countless multitude of meteors, or shooting 

 stars, which diverged in every direction from a point 

 near the zenith, resembling a shower of fire. The sky 

 was clear, and the scene magnificent beyond any thing 

 of the kind ever witnessed except in the polar regions, 

 where similar appearances are said not to be uncommon. 



One of our correspondents, experienced in the culti- 

 vation of Grape Vines, says the N. Y. Journal of Com- 

 merce, advises that they be pruned in all this month, 

 selecting a mild day for the operation. If the Vines are 

 left until the Spring they are subject to bleeding. 



We are authorized to state, that at the request of the 

 President and Directors of the Connecticut River Steam- 



Boat Cumpany, a number of scientific and practical gen- 

 tlemen met at Essex, on the Sth instant, and under the 

 direction of Professor Silliman r wcnt into a full and thor- 

 ough investigation of the causes which led to the recent 

 disaster on board the New England. We understand 

 their report will soon be laid before the public. — Coim. 

 Cmirant. 



From Mexico. An arrival at New-Orleans, from Vera 

 Cruz, brings advices from that port to October 12th and 

 from the city of Mexico to the 5th-. An express arrived 

 at Vera Cruz on the 12th, with intelligence that a gen- 

 eral engagement had taken place between St. Anna and 

 the rebel troops, in which the latter were totally defeated. 

 Duran escaped to the mountains with bis cavalry, and 

 Arista retreated to Guanaxuato with the remnant of his 

 troops. St. Anna had possession of the main entrance 

 to the latter city, and a deputation had come out with 

 propositions to surrender the place to prevent its being- 

 taken by storm. 



Hop Culture. The Bangor Courier mentions that one 

 of the packets of that place, bound for this city, recently 

 took on board 200 bales of No. 1 Hops raised in Penob- 

 scot. The value of this quantity is $8,000, and the pre- 

 sent prices of the article make the crop worth, on an 

 average, $150 per acre. As the Maine soil and climate 

 are suited to the cultnre,we sec no reason why it should 

 not be carried, in that as well as other sections, much 

 farther than it has been. In Great Britain, about 00,000 

 acres are occupied with hops. — Bost. Pat. 



Mud Foxes. We are informed by a gentleman from 

 the town of Hunter, that mad foxes have become very 

 numerous and troublesome in that town. They have 

 bitten many cattle, sheep and several dogs, some of 

 which have since become rabid. In one section of the 

 town they are said to be so plenty that the inhabitants 

 dare not venture out without being armed. — Cuttsk'dl 

 Messenger. 



President Jackson has presented to Princeton College, 

 for its museum, a collection of insects from South Amer- 

 ica, which is spoken of as being very valuable, and as 

 adding, considerably, to the interest of the entomologi- 

 cal department. 



A late number of the London Courier, contains the 

 following extract of a letter from America: — "lam 

 travelling in Vermont for pleasure and information. I 

 have journeyed 500 miles in my own carriage, by easy 

 stages, and have not seen a single person in my progress 

 to whom 1 should have dared to offer alms ! As I was 

 detained an hour or two a few days since, I saw a sturdy 

 lookinc farmer pass the inn driving a one horse cart, 

 loaded with wool, on which he was seated. He drove 

 to a store, shouldered his bales of wool, one after another 

 and placed them in a merchant's shop. — Who do you 

 think he was? Palmer, the present Governor of the 

 State of Vermont ! 



Law of the Road. At Salem, last week, at a term of 

 the Supreme Court, a case was tried, the plaintiff having 

 sued for damages, occasioned by running a loaded wagon 

 against the chaise of the plaintiff, causing the breaking 

 of the shafts and other injury to the chaise, and to his 

 person, while riding from Boston with two ladies. The 

 accident happened near the farm of Mr. Dodge, on the 

 Lynn Road, near a sharp bend, and was caused by the 

 hind wheel of the wagon, catching the wheel of the 

 chaise. The defendant failing to prove that there was 

 any just impediment to his turning out and giving the 

 proper share of the road to the other party, the jury 

 found for the plaintiff $47 damages. In the charge to 

 the jury the court remarked, that the law presumed the 

 party to take the right and to drive in the mode pre- 

 scribed by the statute ; and the burden of proof is on 

 him to show an impediment, That, where there is no 



