1858, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



119 



For tlte New England Farmer. 

 EHKOHS IN BOOK FARMING. 



Mr. Editor : — So contradictory are many of 

 the statements concerning agricultural opera- 

 tions, published in agricultural journals, and re- 

 corded in "the books," that it is hardly to be 

 wondered at that so many farmers decry "book 

 farming," or that the new beginner should despair 

 of ever being able to pursue the business of farm- 

 ing upon any reliable basis or settled principles 

 of action. Now while it is partly true that ag- 

 riculture is not one of the exact sciences, there is 

 still a vast amount of settled fact concerning its 

 practical pursuit, and many of these facts can be 

 reduced to rules, as certain in their operations as 

 the rules of any of the exact sciences. Rules of 

 science are established upon well defined facts, 

 and facts are rendered thus available only by pa- 

 tient investigation of the conditions under which 

 they are developed. Now every fact that is a 

 fact in agriculture, is so only upon certain condi- 

 tions, and if in the application of any one of these 

 facts we overlook, neglect or ignore these con- 

 ditions, the fact may prove a stumbling-block in 

 our way instead of aiding us in our labors. It is 

 from the superficial manner in which experiments 

 in agriculture are often made, and their results 

 given without intelligent observation of the cir- 

 cumstances and conditions on which they are 

 based, that so many errors and contradictions oc- 

 cur in "book farming," and which robs this source 

 of knowledge of much of its r(!al value and use- 

 fulness. I have been led to these reflections from 

 noticing an article in the N. E. Parmer of Dec. 

 19th, entitled "Little Things by the Way-side," 

 cautioning farmers against feeding corn fodder to 

 milch cows, because it would decrease their milk. 

 Now not only myself, but hundreds of better 

 farmers, know the value of corn fodder, both dry 

 and green, for milch cows, too well not to know 

 that such advice is absurd and contrary to all in- 

 telligent experience. That green corn fodder is 

 often fed to milch cows without profit I have no 

 doubt ; when, for instance, it is fed in such a 

 manner as, while it is insufficient for the animal's 

 entire food, it begets a dependence upon this ex- 

 tra feed, and renders the animal indisposed to 

 seek other and more feed from the pastures. But 

 it is a fact well established that corn fodder, both 

 dry and green, when intelligently fed out, is one 

 of the best milk-producing fodders amongst the 

 list of grasses. 



Again, if it be true, as stated in an editorial in 

 the last issue of the N. E. Farmer, (Dec. 26th,) 

 that Hon. Elmer Brigham, of Westboro', obtains 

 an extraordinary amount of milk from his cows, 

 by feeding only twelve lbs. of hay and two quarts 

 of meal each per day, surely Mr. Brigham must 

 have discovered the means of making milk (real 

 cow's milk) cut of almost nothing — a discovery 

 more valuable to a hungry world than would have 

 been tlie discovery of the long sought "philoso- 

 pher's stone," which was to turn everything into 

 gold. But I apprehend that here, too, is another 

 "error in book farming ;" since every intelligent 

 farmer knov.s that a milch cow cannot be profita- 

 bly sustained upon any such quantity of food. 

 Not less than twenty lbs. of good hay per day 

 will well sustain an average size milch cow du- 

 ring the feeding season ; and this quantity will 



not produce a liberal flow cf milk unless grain or 

 roots be added thereto. 



By reference to the Report of the Massachu- 

 setts Board of Agriculture for 185.5, it will be 

 seen that, in a series of very carefully conducted 

 experiments upon the feeding of stock, the av- 

 erage quantity of dry fodder actually consumed 

 by thirteen milch cows for twenty days in Feb- 

 ruary was nineteen lbs., together Avith twenty lbs. 

 of carrots and five lbs. of cob-meal — each per 

 day — while seven dry cows consumed in the same 

 time twenty-one lbs. of dry fodder each per day ; 

 and for the next twenty days the same milch cows 

 consumed nearly twenty-three lbs. of dry fodder, 

 (it not being of quite so good a quality,) togeth- 

 er with twenty-five lbs. carrots and five lbs. cob- 

 meal each per day, while the dry cows consumed 

 each per day nearly twenty-seven lbs. dry fod- 

 der and twenty lbs. carrots. These results per- 

 fectly correspond to the general experience of all 

 farmers who have taken the trouble to ascei'tain 

 by weight the amount of food required by the 

 average of cows. Animals require quantity as 

 well as quality of food. The philosophy of 

 feeding our farm stock has been but little attend- 

 ed to by farmers generally ; yet it is a field of in- 

 quiry which will pay as richly for investigation as 

 any the farmer can explore. 



If these remarks shall serve to correct the "er- 

 rors" lluded to, something will have been gained 

 towards advancing the usefulness of that valua- 

 ble — though often much abused source of knowl- 

 edge — '^book /arming." T. A. s. 



Westboro', Jan. 9, 1858. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SUGAR CANE SYBUP. 



Mr. Editor -. — Last spring, hearing a good 

 deal about the Sorghum or Chinese sugar cane, 

 and wishing to know more about it, I procured 

 some seed and planted a small patch containing 

 about one-fourth of an acre, planting it very thick 

 in drills, for fodder, not having any idea that it 

 would make molasses, as it was late when I plant- 

 ed it, and it did not fully ripen ; but having read 

 in the papers that molasses had been made from 

 it, I concluded to try it and know for myself. I 

 made a wooden mill on the sn me principle of a 

 cider mill, with which I could press out, (using one 

 horse,) from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred gallons of juice a day, and procuring a sheet 

 iron pan four feet long, two feet and a half wida 

 and one foot deep, I commenced proceedings. 

 In the fu-st place, I set two upright posts in the 

 ground, about six feet apart, and building a fire 

 between the two posts, I suspended the pan over 

 the fire, and having some juice already expressed 

 I commenced boiling down, adding more juice as 

 it boiled away, and skimming off the skum a« 

 fast as it Avould rise, while at the same time my 

 man was expressing it as fast as I had occasion 

 to use it. I would generally boil all day, com- 

 mencing in the morning and adding more juice 

 as it boiled down, and at night I would have 

 from fifteen to twenty gallons of good, nice svt- 

 up, as good or better than most West India mo- 

 lasses. After I had commenced making syrup, 1 

 bought all I could of the cane from my neigh- 

 bors, and obtained one hundred and five gallqiM 



