180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



erately productive, fine for baking and good for 

 boiling ; rots badly in some localities. This va- 

 riety does well in Nova Scotia, from whence Bos- 

 ton market is supplied. I think it equal, if not 

 superior, to all other potatoes for baking. 



The Bullard's Seedling, Cristy, Fluke Kidney, 

 Lapstone Kidney, Old Kidney, Irish Cups, White 

 Cups, Bowen's Seedling, Lady Finger, Vermont 

 Whites, Calico, Pink Eyes, Black Chenango, Mex- 

 ican, Prescott, Crackers, and many others that I 

 could name that I have tried for years, are not 

 worthy of general or extensive cultivation. 



It was my intention when I begun these arti- 

 cles to continue them through the winter and 

 spring, having made notes on all the matters of 

 which I intend to speak, but having in some way 

 lost or mislaid the memoranda, I may not trouble 

 you and your readers with my loose remarks. I 

 shall give more attention another season to the 

 various vegetables, new and old, and shall per- 

 haps give you some of the results of my labors. 

 I shall give you one or two articles on the Chinese 

 Sugar Cane, giving the results of my experi- 

 ments, &c. James F. C. Hyde. 



Netdon Centre, Feb. 15, 1858. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 SAWED SHINGLES. 



The time has past when the farmers of New Eng- 

 land raised the raw material for their own clothes, 

 and when our grandmothers could rival Manches- 

 ter or Lowell in the manufacture of substantial 

 fabrics. We sometimes sigh for those good old 

 times ; especially when the slight intrusion of a 

 knot or nail against our new and ready-made 

 pants show marked sym2)toms of premature ex- 

 posure and early decay. There are many of the 

 customs, habits and materials of by-gone days 

 that I wish were with us still ; not the least among 

 which are old-fashioned rij't shingles ; and while 

 my hand is in wishing, I would have them at the 

 old-fashioned price, which was about two dollars 

 per thousand. But alas ! I have failed of many 

 a pleasant ride, because wishing didn't bring the 

 horses. I might just as well look for the return 

 of the hand spinning-wheel and loom, at the pres- 

 ent prices of labor and manufactured goods, or 

 the method of transportation and communication 

 of fifty years ago, as to advocate the use of such 

 shingles as were made then, when the lumber in 

 its native forests was as abundant as the rocks 

 of the granite hills where it grew. Then, when 

 the farmer had a leisure day, he could go into 

 the woods, and rive a thousand shingles, which 

 he could afford to sell for a less price than the 

 cheapest sawed shingles are now sold for. 



I saw an article in the Farmer of Jan. 9th, in 

 which the writer strongly condemns the use of 

 sawed shingles. He thinks "the community have 

 paid about enough for experiment, and it is about 

 time to have it awakened to its true interest." 

 So do I. An experiment of forty years with an 

 increasing demand, is pretty conclusive that it is 

 awakened, and finds its true interest in using 

 sawed shingles. 



Saj) shingles, so called, are a cheap kind of 

 sawed shingles that are used extensively in Rock- 

 ingham and other counties in N. H., with good 

 satisfaction ; costing about two dollars and twenty- 

 five cents per thousand. It is thought that com- 



mon roofs can be kept covered with this quality 

 of shingles at a less expense than with the best 

 sawed or rift shingles. Since the edict has gone 

 forth that "man shall eat bread in the sweat of his 

 brow," it matters but little whether a man ex- 

 pends fifty dollars in covering his house once 

 with good shingles, or the same amount in cover- 

 ing it twice with a cheaper article, if he can make 

 it pay. 



In the article above referred to, it is said, "there 

 are very few sawed shingles that are not sawed 

 cross-grained, as it is called. This comes of ne- 

 cessity in the use of the saw, and it is unavoida- 

 ble that the rain will at once penetrate the entire 

 shingle." 



I am aware that moisture penetrates soft wood 

 very rapidly, and more so in the direction of the 

 grain than across it, and perhaps there are some 

 kinds of wood so porous that water will filter 

 through it ; but such timber is not usually sawed 

 into shingles ; most of the sawed shingles are 

 made from pine, spruce and cedar, which will 

 not leak water until they become rotten or worn 

 out, however cross-grained they may have been 

 sawed. 



The writer also attributes the rusting of the 

 nails to sawed shingles ; but by a little investi- 

 gation he will, without doubt, find it attributable 

 to their contact with salt water. It is believed 

 that the complaints of shingles rusting the nails 

 is mostly confined to sea-board towns and east- 

 ern shingles. Sap shingle, eighteen inches long, 

 costing $2,25 per thousand, will last without 

 leaking from twelve to fifteen years. Admitting 

 that they will remain sound only twelve years, 

 also admitting that the best rift shingle, the same 

 length, i. e. 18 inches, to cost $5,25 per thousand, 

 and last any length of time, however long ; the 

 sawed shingles are the cheapest. For it will be 

 observed that allowing seventy-five cents per 

 thousand for laying the shingles, Avhich is a fair 

 price, it costs three dollars per thousand less, to 

 shingle a roof with sawed sap shingles than it 

 does with the best rift shingles ; which, with the 

 interest, would amount to six dollars in twelve 

 years, the time which the shingles are presumed 

 to last. Thus it will be readily seen that the sum 

 which it would cost to cover a roof with the best 

 rift shingles, would keep it shingled forever with 

 sawed shingles, allowing them to rot every twelve 

 years. Jonathan A. Robinson. 



Fremont, N. H., 1858. 



Tremendous Hogs ! !— Mr. J. W. Black, of 

 Jobstown, N. J., sends us an account of some 

 hogs which "beat all nater." He says Isaac Har- 

 rison, of New Hanover, slaughtered 35 recently, 

 whose total weight was 19,415 pounds, and their 

 average weight 554 lbs. 



Joseph K. Hulme, of Fountain Green, 21 hogs, 

 averaging 455^ lbs. ! Joseph Neichold, of Wrights- 

 town, 26, averaging 461 lbs. per hog ! Same town, 

 Alex. Shrove, 21, averaging 532^ lbs.! And 

 Thomas Hood, of Shelltown, 44 hogs, averaging 

 533J lbs. per hog. The average a{je of the hogs 

 was 20 months, and they had no feed hut grass 

 between May and September last. 



