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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JANUARY 1, 1834. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 1, 1833. 



FARMER'S WORK. 



On the feeding and management of Milch Cows. 

 It is of great consequence in the management of 

 a dairy that the cows should he treated with gen- 

 tleness, so that they may not he afraid of being 

 milked, nor dislike the milker. A cow will not 

 yield her milk willingly to a person she fears, hates, 

 or apprehends ill treatment from. Young cows, 

 in particular, may have their characters for gentle- 

 ness, and good milkers formed by the manner in 

 which they are treated. This truth, of much im- 

 portance to all concerned in a dairy or its products, 

 is well established and illustrated by a communi- 

 cation from Mr. Ilussel Woodward, published in 

 Memoirs of the New-York Board of .Agriculture, 

 in substance as follows : 



Having formerly kept a large number of cows, 

 I observed many amongst them that dried up thci 

 milk so early in the fall, that they were not profita- 

 ble, while others with the same keeping, gave mi 

 in plenty, until late in the season. I likewise have 

 often heard my neighbors observe, that some of 

 their cows, though very good in the forepart of 

 the season, dried up their milk so early that they 

 were unprofitable, and they should have to put 

 them off; I accordingly found it expedient to find 

 out the cause if possible : and when I brought to 

 mind the ways that some of my young cows had 

 been kept and milked, I attributed the cause to the 

 milking of them the first season they gave milk ; 

 and by many experiments since, I have found that 

 young cows, the first year they give milk, may be 

 made, with careful milking and good keeping, to 

 give milk almost any length of lime required, say 

 from the first of May to the first of February fol- 

 lowing, and will give milk late always after, with 

 careful milking. But if they are left to dry up 

 of their milk early in the fall, they will be sure to 

 dry tip of their milk each succeeding year, if they 

 have a calf near the same season of the year; and 

 nothing but extraordinary keeping will prevent it, 

 and that but a short time. I have had them dried 

 up of their milk in August, and could not by any 

 means make them give milk much past that time 

 in any succeeding year. I had two heifers, which 

 had calves in April, and after getting them gentle, 

 I seta boy to milk them for the season, (which is 

 often done the first season on account of their 

 having small teats:) he was careless, and dried 

 them both up in August. Although I was satisfied 

 I should lose the greater part of the profit of them 

 afterwards, yet I took it upon me the following 

 year to milk them myself and give good feed, but 

 to no purpose. I could not make them give milk 

 much past the time they dried the year before. I 

 have two cows now that were milked the first year 

 they had calves until near the time of their calving 

 again, and have continued to give milk as late ever 

 since, if we will milk them. 



Economy of Time and Systeinatic Farming. In 

 the winter season you will do well to take break- 

 fast by candle light. You will thus save an hour 

 in a day at the least calculation, and in a week 

 nearly or quite the working part of a winter's day. 

 You may find a profitable amusement for several 

 of these long evenings in contriving and laying 

 out work to be done the next. season. — You should 

 have a plan of your premises, or at least a list of 

 the fields or parcels of land of which they are 



composed, together with notices of the soil, the 

 preceding crops, the kind and quantity of manure, 

 mode of culture, &c. &c. which have been be- 

 stowed on each. Then proceed to set down what 

 is to be done in each field. Such as No. 1, Indian 

 corn, the borders with potatoes of the Chenango 

 sort, the corn in drills, after manuring with stable 



manure at the rate of cords to an acre, spread 



evenly and ploughed under. No. 2, Spring wheat, 

 &e. No. 3. Sowed with winter wheat last fall, to 

 be ploughed immediately after harvest, for a crop 

 of ruta baga, &.c. &.c. 



Treatment of Domestic Animals. Keep up such 

 a sort of social and friendly intercourse with the 

 tenants of your stables, barn yards, and even your 

 pig stye that they may he as tame as kittens, and 

 prick up their ears and wag their tails with joy 

 and gratitude whenever you approach them. An- 

 imals will not thrive even on custard and apple 

 pye if they must eat their allowance with fear and 

 trembling, expecting every moment to be all but 

 annihilated by their cross keeper: who, ■ we are 

 sorry to say, is sometimes more of a brute than any 

 quadruped under bis care. Besides, if any of 

 your stock should be sick, or lame and need doc- 

 toring, you can better handle, and give them their 

 prescriptions, if they are accustomed to kind and 

 familiar treatment, than if harshness and bad usage 

 had rendered them as wild as partridges, and cross 

 as catamounts. 



Singular Modes of Fattening Cattle. In some 

 parts of France according to an English writer on 

 Agriculture, they fatten cattle with maize, [Indian 

 corn] " but in order to render it tender, they pour 

 boiling water upon it, cover it up close, and give it 

 to the cattle the same day, and in this way it is a 

 most excellent fattencr, both of cattle and poultry. 

 But in order to make them fatten sooner and bet- 

 ter, they give them, every night, and sometimes of 

 a morning, a ball of pork grease as large as an ap- 

 ple : they say this is both physic and food, and 

 makes them thrive the better. 



" The fact of bog's grease being given was con- 

 firmed at Souilliac ; it is given to increase the ap- 

 petite, and answers so well, that the beasts perfectly 

 devour their food after it, and their coats become 

 smooth and shining. The most fattening food they 

 know for a bullock is walnut oil cake. All here 

 give salt plentifully, both to cattle and sheep, be- 

 ing but lil. per pound. But this practice is, more 

 or less, universal through the whole kingdom. 



" In Flanders from Valenciennes to Orchies, for 

 fattening beasts, and for cows, they dissolve lin- 

 seed cake in hot water, and the animal drinks, not 

 eats it, having various other food given at the same 

 time, as hay, bran, &c ; for there is no point they 

 adhere to more than always to give a variety of 

 food to a fattening beast." 



Young Cattle. Young's Farmer's Calendar, un- 

 der January, contains the following observations. 

 " Last year's calves should now be fed with bay 

 and roots, either turnips, carrots, or potatoes; and 

 they should be thoroughly well fed, and kept per- 

 fectly clean by means of litter : at this age it is a 

 matter of great consequence to keep such young 

 cattle as well as possible, for the contrary practice 

 will inevitably stop their growth, which cannot be 

 recovered by the best summer food. If hay is 

 not to he had, good straw must be substituted ; 

 but then the roots should be given in greater plen- 

 ty, and with more attention. To steers and heif- 



or straw, with baits of turnips, cabbages, &c. It 

 is not right to keep yearling calves, and two year" 

 olds together; because in general the younger cat- 

 tle are, the better they should be fed." 



Sucking Calves. Although the following article 

 was published in the N. E. Farmer, vol. viii, pago 

 76, we republish it for the benefit of those of our 

 subscribers, who may not be in possession of that 

 volume, or may have forgotten or overlooked the 

 information which the Communication contains. 



A very intelligent and practical farmer states 

 that he considers nothing more conducive to the 

 thriving of sucking calves than to keep in their 

 pens an ample supply of dry yellow loam, of 

 which they are at liberty to eat as freely as they 

 choose. They will use it eagerly, and he regards 

 it as of more value to them than Indian meal. 

 There is no better evidence of its utility than the 

 fact that no man's calves find a readier sale or bring 

 a higher price in our market than his. The phi- 

 losophy of it we do not pretend to explain. S. X. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 SEEDLINGS PROM GRAFTED AND UNGRAFT- 

 ED FRUIT TREES. 



We lately thought the Indian peach bad pro- 

 duced no distinguishable sub-variety. We had 

 seen a great many seedlings of that kind which 

 were not distinguishable from each other; but we 

 have very lately bad ocular proof that when the 

 parent tree grows amongst other kinds, the off- 

 spring is liable to vary. In one small lot we ha,ve 

 been a number of seedlings, all sprung from seed- 

 lings, some ripening their fruit several weeks be- 

 fore others, and some having fruit of a much finer 

 red than others ; yet all of it has the long oval 

 shape and the tartness of the Indian peach. 



By these observations we are therefore confirm- 

 ed in our former opinion that the offspring of 

 seedlings, under similar circumstances, are as liable 

 to vary as the offspring of grafted trees. 



If we were called on to give a reason for the 

 origin of the contrary opinion, we should suggest 

 that it sprung, like other erroneous opinions', from 

 a neglect to take into view all the facts. Where 

 only one kind is cultivated,- the offspring is not 

 subject to the changes arising from hybridism ; 

 neither would the, offspring of any other solitary 

 variety, though grafted, be subject to these changes. 

 Those who graft however, are the most likely to 

 introduce different kinds which will almost as cer- 

 tainly introduce changes into the seedlings. It is 

 not uncommon to mistake one cause for another. 



From the Fall River Recorder. 

 WONDERFUL CURE. 



Ei.ea7.er Chase of this town, some seven or eight 

 years ago, in cutting ttone broke off a piece of 

 cast steel from some of his tools that (lew into one 

 of his eyes and caused the loss of its sight. The 

 steel remained, which made the eye extremely eus- 

 ceptiblc of heat and cold, and caused frequent se- 

 vere iuflamations, with great pahi and suffering. 

 Last winter and spring he suffered extremely, and 

 serious fears were entertained by himselfand friends 

 that he would go off in a consumption. One al- 

 ternative alone presented itself, to prevent this fa- 

 tal catastrophe ; and that was to have his eye cut 

 out, the steel that remained in continued to irri- 

 tate to that degree, and without hope from any other 

 means, and fast declining, and continually tortured 

 by this direful malady, he at last came to the con- 



ers two years old, the proper food is hay, if cheap ; I elusion to submit to the advice of his physician, 



