386 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Au« 



the power of choice, and will sometimes turn 

 and go directly backwards, if the favorite bone 

 of some prudent dog has been buried behind 

 th^-ir onward course, or if some gushing spring 

 or water-course breaks out in their vicinity. 

 We do not suppose they hold a conversation, and 

 resolve what course they will pursue, but go 

 where they find the best pasturage, as naturally 

 as the branches of the tree shoot upward. 



An observing gentleman told us the other day 

 that early in the spring he observed a beautiful 

 shagbark walnut tree standing in the bank of a 

 deep cut excavated for a railroad, and that he 

 determined when the proper time arrived to 

 transplant it. On digging he found the tap-root 

 near the edge of the bank so that it was easy to 

 reach it. He dug to it, then followed it carefully 

 down, and found it es-tenUm^ four feet below the 

 surface, so that there was just as much root as 

 top ! It Avas properly set and is now growing 

 well. 



Would not apple trees be much better planted 

 and tended where they are to stand, having all 

 the tap-root that nature gives them ? 



THE GREATEST FABMEB IN THE 

 UKITED STATES. 



On the 18th of December, ult., we published 

 the following sketch of what was supposed to be 

 the largest and most profitable farm in the coun- 

 try. We published it then, well knowing we 

 could- soon procure items here, in (/alifornia, that 

 would far excel it. Here is the Great Farm in 

 Texas : 



"An Extensive Farmer. — A correspondent 

 of the Silver Creek Mirror says that Col. Jacob 

 Carroll, of Texas, is the largest farmer in the 

 United States. He owns 250,000 acres of land 

 (nearly 400 square miles,) in that and adjoining 

 counties. His home plantation contains 8000 

 acres, nearly all valuable bottom lands, along the 

 Guadalupe river. On this farm he has over 600 

 acres in cultivation, on which he raises annually 

 about 300 bales of cotton, worth at the plantation 

 from $75 to $100 per bale, and 20,000 bushels of 

 corn, worth about 50 cents per bushel. He has 

 a force of about fifty field hands, and he works 

 about sixty mules and horses, and fifteen yoke of 

 oxen. Col. Carroll has, on his immense ranges 

 of pasture lands, about one thousand horses and 

 mules, worth $50,000 ; one thousand head of 

 cattle, worth $7000 ; six hundred hogs, worth 

 $2000 ; three hundred Spanish mares, worth 

 $15,000 ; fifty jennies, worth $2000 ; fifteen jacks, 

 worth $9000 ; and five stallions, worth $2500. 

 Col. Carroll's property, in stock and negroes, is 

 worth at least $150,000; and the value of his 

 landed estate will swell the amount to over half 

 a million of dollars. His annual income from the 

 sale of stock amounts from $5000 to $10,000 ; 

 and from the sale of cotton, to from $15,000 to 

 $20,000." 



And here we present the following : 



A. P. Smith, of Smith's Pomological Gardens, 

 at Sacramento, on the American river, cultivated 



about sixty acres the last year ; about fifty acres 

 in orchard, nursery and flower garden, and ten 

 acres in a vegetable garden. 



Mr. Smith employs from twenty to forty men ; 

 runs one team in the spring to the mines with 

 vegetables, one team twice a day to the -' ty with 

 vegetables, and in the fruit season keeps a team 

 constantly going to the mines. He has agericies 

 for the sale of his splendid peaches in San Fran- 

 cisco, Marysville, Stockton and Sacramento ; and 

 we learn that the gross amount of his sales in the 

 year 1857, exceeded the round sum of $60,000. 



What will our great planters and farmers say 

 to this ? We can give them the particulars, if 

 they need it. 



Each year of those famous gardens only in- 

 creases the amount. This should teach men who 

 are laboring on their thousand, or five thousand 

 acres, that it is the "little farm well tilled," and 

 not the great Spanish grant that covers all out 

 doors, that makes the money or brings prosperi- 

 ty. If all our large grants were cut up into small 

 farms, our State, and all, would be better oS". 

 California Farmer. 



THE MILK BUSINESS. 



The Springfield (Mass.) Republican furnishes 

 the following facts in relation to the supply of 

 milk for that city : — 



We have made an efi"ort to learn some of the 

 aggregates of this industry ; to compare the av- 

 erage quantity of milk per cow in each herd ; to 

 learn the different methods of feeding ; all points 

 of curious interest and suggestive value. For 

 this purpose circulars have been addressed to 

 most of the milkmen of this city, of course with 

 varying success. All have not answered, but yet 

 enough have done so to give a nearer estimate 

 than otherwise would be possible. Not far from 

 2,000 qts., or $100 worth, are sold daily through 

 the year. The highest quantity sold by any one 

 milkman, in the best of the season, so far as is 

 known, is 400 qts. daily, and this man, in the av- 

 erage for the year, is put down at 250 qts. Tak- 

 ing all the milkmen, the average is 166| qts. 

 each, daily. To raise this milk requires a herd of 

 390 cows, which give, on an average, about sev- 

 en quarts each. The highest quantity given by 

 extraordinary cows ranges from 20 to 25 qts. 

 The force requisite to carry on this business, 

 equals one man for every six cows, or an aggre- 

 gate of fifty men, summer acd winter. The best 

 milkers, generally, are crosses of Short-Horn 

 with Ayrshire and Natives, but good milkers can 

 be found of almost every breed. 



The feed that produces the most milk is yet a 

 vexed question. In the opinions received, cot- 

 ton seed meal, corn, rye and buckwheat ground 

 together, and roots, with rowen hay, have equal 

 prominence. The order of feeding cows varies 

 with diff'erent individuals. Some feed roots the 

 first thing in the morning, and others late at 

 night. Each feeder gives his practice and rea- 

 sons with equal freedom — a hopeful symptom in 

 any debate. Our conclusion is, that the best or- 

 der is as follows : wet cut feed mixed with meal 

 after each milking, with hay and roots between. 

 Neither roots nor grain should be fed upon an 

 empty stoanach. In the first case, the milk is 

 more likely to receive the odor of the roots. In 



