158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



upon a road now, will be worth as much as 

 two dollars will if expended upon it in 

 June, or at any time when the soil is in a 

 dry and mealy condition. Besides this, <he 

 opportunity in early April is more favorable 

 for the firmer than in May or June. His bu- 

 siness is not so pressing, his teams are stronger 

 and can be better spared from the farm. 

 When the work is done in April, the earth is 

 not only moist on the surface, but the mois- 

 ture extends through it all for several feet 

 downward, so that it has a strong tendency in 

 itself to pack, and when driven over by ani- 

 mals and teams, soon becomes so firm as to 

 make it hard and even through all the coming 

 summer. If left to the last of May or into 

 June, gravel or sand hauled upon the road is 

 displaced by every passing team, and thus be- 

 comes a perpetual nuisance and an unneces- 

 sary source of cost. 



Another April duty, and one sadly neglected 

 by many farmers, is that of getting manures 

 into a position where they can be overhauled, 

 moderately fermented and made fine. They 

 do not reflect that hard lumps of earth are of 

 little more consequence to plants than so many 

 stones. Roots only take in ntjurishment that 

 is in a state of solution. That is, the soil 

 itself should be in fine particles and the manure 

 that is added in same condition ; then when 

 water percolates through them it extracts their 

 nutritive properties and holds them in solution. 

 The soil and manure being fine and loose, the 

 tender roots of plants easily find their way 

 among them, and at the same time the mois- 

 ture which has extracted nutrition from them 

 is holding it for the roots as they pass along. 

 It would seem from this that one cord of ma- 

 nure in a fine condition would be of more ser- 

 vice than two or three would in a coarse, 

 lumpy state. Those, therefore, who are defi- 

 cient in the quantity of manure they would 

 like to use, may find relief by examining and 

 tei^ting this matter in this spring's operation 

 on their farms. There are many other things 

 wjich can better be done in April than at any 

 other time. The observing farmer will see 

 that they are not postponed until "another 

 time." 



— Equal quantities of powdered alum and com- 

 mon salt, well mixed together will often cure the 

 toothache when it will not yield to most other 

 remedies. 



HOKSE BREEDING IN VERMONT. 



Did you ever look into the pigeon holes of 

 an editor, or realize how many excellent arti- 

 cles he reads over but is obliged to defer their 

 publication to a more convenient season. The 

 essay on Raising Horses by Hon. T. S. Lang, 

 read at the Maine Farmers' Convention was 

 laid aside for this purpose, and now wc have 

 in the Rutland Herald an essay on Horses 

 read at the late annual meeting of the Ver- 

 mont State Agricultural Society, by Tj. T. 

 Tucker, Esq., of South Royalton, Vt., in 

 which he considers, 1, What Vermont Horses 

 have been ; 2. What they now are ; 3. What 

 they ought to be ; 4. How to make them such. 

 We regret our inability to publish either of 

 these documents entire, at present. 



In a late discussion of the subject of horses 

 by the Westminster, Vt., Farmers' Club, Mr. 

 W. R. Kimball stated that "twenty years ago 

 our horses were two sizes larger than now." 

 Mr. Tucker says "most of the stallions now 

 in use lack blood as well as speed ; our mares 

 no better, no, not as good." Formerly we 

 showed to the world the best horses to be 

 found ; now others are in advance of us, and 

 control the market." In concluding his ad- 

 dress Mr. Tucker submits the following sug- 

 gestions for the improvement in the breed of 

 horses, which are very much the same as those 

 made several years since by Mr. Meech, of 

 Shelburn. 



First, by any and all means, we must labor in- 

 dividually and by associations, to retain our best 

 stock that we now have. Much of it is good. 

 Had we for the past fifteen years retained our best 

 mares for breeders, and with ihemnow had stand- 

 ing in Vermont Sherman's Black Hawk, 1 aul 

 Clitfurd, Stockbridge Chief, Peck's Black Hawk, 

 Ethan Allen, Young Columbus, Young Morrill, 

 Draco, Fearnaught, and Draco Prince, the value 

 of our stock in the market would be double wliat 

 it is. 



Breeder's associations in every county properly 

 organized for this purpose, could do much toward 

 working a reform in this respect. Sheep and cattle 

 men well understood that to retain the superioiity 

 of the flock or herd the best animals must not be 

 sold at any price. It is just so with horses. 



In addition to this reform, we need and ?)msi 

 have a horse-breeding establishment in the State 

 equal to that of the late Alexander, near Louis- j 

 ville, Kentucky. ^ \ 



On such a place we want two or more of the best ] 

 English Thoroughbred Stallions in the world. 

 Also forty to fifty of the very best mares of this 

 breed that can be found. Also two or more of the 

 best bred and fastest trotting stallions to be had, 

 and some fifty of our best bred trotting mares. 

 These English horses should be kept pure, while 

 at the same time much value could be added to 

 our native stock by judicious crosses. 



There needs from one to two hundred thousand 

 dollars capital to start and run it. An incoiue 



