64 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jak. 



a coat of this applied once or twice a day, and 

 allowed to remain for weeks or months without 

 disturbing the heap, will prove highly valuable. 

 Much labor of cleaning out will be s?ived, and 

 the horse will thrive better and his feet keep in 

 a healthier condition than if standing on the dry, 

 hard floor. 



Spent tan is another article, and, if fine and old, 

 will answer a better purpose than nothing. 



But there are some farms where none of these 

 can be cheaply obtained in quantity, and in such 

 cases they have but one material to which they 

 can resort, and that is the common loam of their 

 fields. Where this is the case, we would recom- 

 mend the same use of it as we have suggested 

 for the meadow mud. On nearly every farm loam 

 may be collected from the side of walls where it 

 has been turned by frequent plo-nangs and left in 

 excess, becoming rather an injury to the farm than 

 a benefit, by encouraging the growth of bushes 

 or rank weeds ; or it may be taken from balks or 

 badly managed headlands, or in rich places in 

 pastures or by the roadside. Men who are atten- 

 tive to the acquisition of manure, this vital inter- 

 est of the farm, will find a deposit somewhere, 

 which will enable them to increase their winter 

 heaps, and consequently their annual crops. 



We cannot suggest anything to the farmer 

 ■which will be of so much real service to him, as 

 to induce him, if we can, to give more attention 

 to the saving and increasing his stock of manures. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



HAY CAPS. 



Wishing to procure some hay-caps for another 

 summer, I would like to inquire whether those 

 made without any paint answer as good purpose ? 

 Will those who have given them a fair trial, state 

 the result, with any other suggestions from their 

 own experience, which may occur, as likely to 

 benefit a tyro ? Wm. F. Bassett. 



AshJieM, Bee, 1857. 



Re:maeks. — We have used hapcaps for several 

 years, and have no more doubt about the econo- 

 my of such use than we have about the economy 

 of cutting the grass after it is grown, or of cock 

 ing it after it is cut. The abuse which has been 

 heaped upon tlie use of hay-caps is like that be- 

 stowed upon keeping manure under cover, or of 

 gradual deep plowing, and springs from those 

 miserable prejudices which some cling to as to 

 life itself. Some of these persons stoutly aver 

 that a piece of cotton cloth is no sort of protec- 

 tion to hay, that it will become wet through in a 

 few moments, and yet they may be seen plodding 

 about Avith an old cotton umbrella over them for 

 hours together, with their heads as innocent of 

 rain as they are of fairness and observation. 

 There are few men but have had an opportunity 



of seeing the effects of hay-caps with their ovm 

 eyes, if they would but open them and look. A 

 set of thirty hay-caps will more than pay for 

 themselves in a single summer such as the last 

 was, on a farm where twenty tons of hay is cut- 



An excellent hay-cap may be made oi fow 

 yards of twilled cotton cloth, a yard wide, by 

 sewing two breadths together, which will give 

 a cap six feet square, and that is sufficiently large 

 to be handled comfortably. They should be well 

 hemmed, and each corner turned over about one 

 inch and sewed down ; into these twine should 

 be tied to form loops for the pegs. The pegs 

 may be made of Avhite pine, and should be at 

 least fifteen inches long, and whittled out smooth 

 and sharp at one end. 



Such caps need no paint, and when placed on 

 a cock of hay that is made up tall and peaked at 

 the top, and the side well raked down, will al- 

 most entirely protect it from a rain-storm of three 

 or four days ; and we have known hay and grain 

 kept quite dry with such a cap, when the storm 

 had continued for sev^n days ! 



We have little sympathy with those who rail 

 against the introduction of everything brought 

 upon the farm, that was not there fifty years ago ; 

 but we have considerable for the animals under 

 their care who are to subsist upon their fodder. 

 "I object !" seems to be as natural to some per- 

 sons as the breath of their nostrils ; they do not 

 stop to investigate, but as iheyfeel like objecting, 

 out it comes, "I object !" 



Well, every weed, however useless it may seem 

 to us, undoubtedly has its use, and serves some 

 good purpose, though it may be hidden from our 

 view — and these objectors may stand in the 

 same category — so we will try to believe that 

 some valuable lesson may be drawn from their 

 objections, and exert ourselves to find out vvhat it 

 is. 



We hope the arguments against the use of hay- 

 caps will be urged upon our correspondent, as 

 well as those in favor of them. 



FEEDING STOCK. 



Will you inform me of the best method of 

 keeping stock during the winter? I find that 

 people diff'er in the number of times it should be 

 fed daily ; some feeding only three times, while 

 others feed five and six times. J. L. B. 



Royalston, Nov., 1857. 



Remarks. — In order to use hay of inferior 

 quality, we use a little grain of some kind, cob- 

 meal, oat-meal, cotton-seed meal or shorts, mix- 

 ed with the cut hay, and then wc feed only three 

 times each day. AVhen long hay is fed out, the 

 cattle receive it early in the morning, small fod- 

 derings at a time, and as much as they will eat 

 readily for the space of an hour and a half, and 



