90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



Alice. Eda Dil, red and white cow, by Princeton, 

 42oo, dam Fanny Battaile. 



From B. B. Marsli. Bourbon County, Ky., Hefta, 

 deep red cow, by Tom Jones, dam Lidy Bell. Red 

 Rose, red cow, by Ori>han Boy 3d, 6015, dam Rose 

 Clark. 



THE SEASON AND CHOPS. 

 In connection with some remarks that we 

 made a few weeks since on the peculiarity of 

 the seasons with regard to the crops, the fol- 

 lowing statement by a correspondent of the 

 Oermanlown Telegraph in relation to the dif- 

 ferent growths of the Early Goodrich potato 

 are Interesting to us, and may be so to many 

 of our readers : — 



In 1866, with me, they proved very productive, 

 but cooked wet up to the time of gathering, though 

 shortly after they began to improve and be- 

 come very fine and dry, and of excellent flavor. 

 Note mark the difference in 1867. They were 

 excellent from the very first digging and con- 

 tinued so all through the summer and winter, 

 the yield being a bushel to every 33 feet, sets 

 planted a foot apart in the rows, rows three 

 feet apart. In 1868, this variety proved deficient 

 in quantity and watery in quality, yielding about 

 one-eighth less than in 1867. The early planting, 

 owing no doubt to a very hot spell aliout the. time 

 they were two-thirds grov-n, caused them to take 

 a second growih, and they grew very knobby; 

 while those planted later grew quite smooth. This 

 variation in shape, quality and productiveness I 

 ascribe to the past unfavoralile sea^^on. I now find, 

 however, they are improving in quality, and I trust 

 win soon come up to their old standard in quality. 



Sales of Improved Stock. — "We learn 

 from the Country Oentleman that Mr. Wil- 

 liam Birnie, Springfield, Mass., has recently 

 sold the following Ayrshires : The five-year- 

 old cow Topsy, to Chas. T. Hubbard, Boston, 

 for $400; the two-year-old heifer Mysie, to 

 S. M. & D. Wells, Wethersfield, Ct., for 

 $300 ; the six-year-old cow Jessie, to Geo. II. 

 Taft, Framingham, Mass., for $250; the bull 

 Johnnie Oroat, to the Messrs. Fairbanks, St. 

 Johnsbury, Vt., and the bull Dugald Grant, 

 to S. L. Warner, Lanesville, Ct. 



Mr. Sherman Ilartwell, Hedge Lawn, Wash- 

 ington, Ct., has sold the following Cotswolds : 

 ; A ram lamb and ewe lamb to J. M. Carnochan, 

 New York ; a two- year-old ram and two ewes 

 to J. M. Walker, Worcester, Mass. ; ten ewes 

 with lamb to Mr. Bull, Plymouth, Ct. ; one 

 ram and ewe to Chas. Stoddard, Naugatuck, 

 Ct. ; a ram lamb to A. C. Smith, New York, 

 and another to Isaac Hart, Bristol, Ct. 



Governor Claflin of Massachusetts has pre- 

 sented to Frank D. Curtis, President of the 

 Saratoga County Agricultural Society, a Jer- 



sey bull, fawn and white, with black tongue 

 and white tail, from his celebrated cow Flora, 

 sired by Mr. Payson's best bull. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 HARVESTING HAY AND GRAIN IN 

 ENGLAND. 



Fancying that a little more minute descrip- 

 tion of the mode of making hay and stacking 

 it in England than that given in the Farmer 

 of Oct. 3d, (Monthly p. 515) may be inter- 

 esting to some of its readers, I beg to give it, 

 with a few additional remarks on harvesting 

 and stacking grain. 



Having been raised on the banks of the 

 "Severn," and within five minutes walk of its 

 stream, I am obliged to differ in opinion from 

 the correspondent of the Country Oentleman, 

 from whose article you quoted. He is rather 

 too hasty in his description of the process of 

 hay making and wind cocks, and slic;htly mis- 

 taken in some of his other statements. He 

 speaks of farmers of 300 acres of meadow 

 land having only "one team." If by this ex- 

 pression he means one pair of horses, as it is 

 generally understood in this Western country, 

 the statement is entirely erroneous. 



A farmer of 300 acres of meadow land on 

 the banks of the Severn, or on the banks of 

 any other stream in England, could not possi- 

 bly, under any circumstances whatever, get 

 possession of a farm of 200 or 300 acies of 

 meadow land if he had only one team, unless 

 it was in the County of Cheshire, where the 

 land is almost exclusively devoted to grass. 

 The principal river in that county is the 

 "Dee." 



Farms in England with 300 acres of meadow 

 land usually have a quantity of arable land 

 also. To be able to rent such a farm the far- 

 mer would be obliged to have not less than 

 from five to nine horses of heavy draught, 

 and weighing from twenty-two to thirty-five 

 cwt. per pair, seventeen or eighteen hands 

 high, and wearing shoes of from oh to 7 lbs. 

 weight, each. 



The grass after being cut is run through 

 with a Horse Tedder. It is then raked into 

 small rows the full length of the field. It is 

 next thrown into small wind cocks, which are 

 turned over once or twice. It is then shook 

 open and afterwards raked into large rows, 

 and frequeutl)'' by women, men following and 

 throwing it into large wagon cocks, in straight 

 lines ; but on no account, nor under any cir- 

 cumstances, would a man get upon the cock to 

 make it, nor does it stand in the field for a 

 few weeks in the cock. It is not reasonable 

 to believe that any farmer would leave his hay 

 unstacked for weeks after it is sufficiently made 

 to stack. ■ Its goodness and nutriment would 

 naturally sweat and dry out. It must be re- 

 membered that it takes a longer time to make 

 hay in England than it does here. The 



