416 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



mer, as with his other crops, would not the whole 

 Hat of agriculture be complete in your land ? 

 This, in addition to your perfect science and high 

 attainments in horticulture, would put you far 

 m advance of any other portion of our country. 

 New York, July 24. Henry Poor. 



Remarks. — We are happy to be able to encour- 

 age our earnest friend, and friend of all farmers, 

 by saying that his preaching and practice have en- 

 couraged a great many to try a crop of winter 

 wheat. Fields of it are often seen now where it 

 has never been attempted until recently. We 

 hope the good advice given by Mr. Poor will be 

 wett considered. He is a practical man, and 

 speaks of what he has done with the wheat crop 

 himself. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 STOCKING GHAIN. 



In riding about the country just now while 

 formers are cutting their winter grain, I am re- 

 minded of an intention that existed too late to 

 ripen last year. This was to call attention to the 

 mode of stooking grain. In the showery weath- 

 er of last year, I saw not a little grain greatly 

 damaged for want of being properly put up. 

 Now it is just as easy to put grain up in the 

 stook so that it shall shed rain for a fortnight, 

 as it is to set it up as it is often done. 



The plan is this. I can vouch for its correct- 

 ness, both from personal trial and from seeing 

 grain stand, put up by my father, through weeks 

 of dull weather, without hurt. The bundles 

 should not be too large. Then ten and only ten 

 should be put together. Select the two straight- 

 est and evenest bundles for the caps. Then of 

 the others, take one in each hand by the tips, 

 and chuck their butts firmly upon the ground 

 about a foot apart. Bring the tips closely to- 

 gether. Put up four more in the same way, leav- 

 ing a space of six inches between each couple. 

 They will then stand in two parallel rows, three in 

 a row. Now put one at each end, and bring the 

 tops all closely together with the hands. They 

 will stand thus : • « » 



In this arrangement they will stand firmly, and 

 the air will readily circulate between them. Now 

 take the caps and slip the straw in the band so 

 that it shall be shorter above the band where the 

 cap is in place on the side of the tie. As the 

 straw is rolled together in binding, it will readi- 

 ly separate at this place to the centre of the bun- 

 dle. Having the hands in the bundle, place the 

 upper part of the opening near the base on the 

 end bundle below all the heads, and raise it care- 

 fully up till it covers half the stook. Do the 

 same with the other, and bring the two inclined 

 butts together in the centre of the stook. Now 

 spread out the straw so as to cover the whole, 

 and if you have done it well, you need not fear a 

 long storm, for the stook will stand up and shed 

 rain, while the interior will readily cure by the 

 circulation between the bundles. It will be seen 

 that in this way the outside of the siook is com- 

 pletely thatched by straw that meets in the mid- 

 dle and slopes oflF every way. 



If this is a long description, Mr. Editor, bring 

 on your grain, and I'll put it up in half the tim« 

 I have been writing this. j. n. A. 



Hinsdale, N. II,, 1858. 



CORNFIELDS. 



When on the breath of autumn breeie 



From pastures dry and brown. 

 Goes floating like an idle thought 



The fair white thistle-down, 

 O, then what joy to walk at will 

 Upon the golden harvest hill ! 



What joy in dreamy ease to lie 



Amid a field new shorn, 

 And see all round on sunlit slopes 



The piled-up stacks of corn, 

 And send the fancy wandering o'er 

 All pleasant harvest fields of yor*. 



I feel the day — I see the field, 



The quivering of the leaves, 

 And good old Jacob and hia house 



Binding the yellow sheaves ; 

 And at this very hour I seem 

 To be with Joseph in his dream. 



I see the fields of Bethlehem, 



And reapers many a one 

 Bending unto the sickles' stroke, 



And Boaz looking on ; 

 And Ruth, the Moabite so fair, 

 Among the gleaners stooping there. 



Again I see.a little child, 



His mother's sole delight, 

 God's living gift unto 



The kind, good Shunamite ; 

 The mortal pangs I see him yield. 

 And the lad bear him from the field. 



The sun-bathed quiet of the hills ; 



The fields of Galilee, 

 That eighteen hundred years ago 



Were full of corn, I see. 

 And the dear Saviour takes hit way 

 'Mid ripe ears on the Sabbath day. 



O, golden fields of bending corn, 



How beautiful they seem ! 

 The reaper-folk, the piled-up sheaves. 



To me are like a dream. 

 The sunshine and the very air 

 Seem of old time and take me there. 



THE HOBTICUIiTUBIST. 



This time-honored, instructive and popular pe- 

 riodical, is now published by C. M. Saxton, Esq., 

 25 Park Row, New York city. After a long, use- 

 ful and successful career in book publishing, and 

 a pioneer publisher of agricultural works, Mr. 

 Saxton retired for a while to the fresh fields of 

 his farm in Orange, N. J., to recuperate his en- 

 ergies by stirring the soil and new mown grass, 

 and breathing the pure air away from city life. 

 But the old love came back to him, after a brief 

 repose with his family and his heifers and pigs 

 and poultry, and he is now in his old line again, 

 and sending out monthly the Horticulturist, in a 

 most neat and attractive style, and is ready to 

 serve his fellow-men in any honest way that wiL 

 promote agricultural pursuits, but especially so, 

 in publishir^ agricultural works. 



