184 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



chamberlye, and sprinkle the whole on the 

 heap as you shovel it over, and at the same 

 time add two bushels of slacked lime. Then 

 pack it up under cover, and when jeu find by 

 thrusting a stick into the mass that it is heat- 

 ing, t-hovel it over ; this done a few times it is 

 ready for use, and you have a good supply 

 for one acre. 



If the compost is designed for wet land, 

 leave out the mold or muck, and use instead 

 the dryest sand loam you have on the farm, 

 and in the place of lime and copperas put in 

 six bushels of hen dung or backhouse manure, 

 and you have a compost for wet land, and 

 need not go to any pick-pocket or money- 

 bought advertisement to get the stimulant you 

 need. You have the materials on your farm 

 and are letting them lie dormant, rather than 

 put your brains and hands to work, in proving 

 all things and holding fast that which is good. 



Brookiidd, Vt., Feb., 18G9. V. Baker. 



Remarks. — Not long since a middle-aged 

 man who participated in a convention com- 

 posed of young and oW men, on observing 

 the little deference that was accorded to the 

 opinions of the most aged members, remarked 

 in a regretful tone, "I shall be afraid to grow 

 old.'*' We hope the time is far distant when 

 the practical correspondents of the New Eng- 

 land Farmer will have occasion to utter a 

 similar remark. To the five senses on which 

 young people pride themselves, the aged add 

 a sixth — the sense of experience — perhaps the 

 most valuable of all. We therefore take 

 much pleasure in publishing the counsel of the 

 aged on agricultural matters, and assure them 

 of a most hearty welcome to our columns. 



GOOD CALVES. 



The Utica Herald copies the statement re- 

 cently made in our columns by Mr. W. F. 

 Loomis, of Langdon, N. II., of his ten months 

 old Durham grade steers which weigh 1400 

 pounds, and then says that a full blood Dur- 

 ham calf, raised by Mr. Oscar Calkins of 

 Sherburne, N. Y., eight months old, and 

 another seven months, raised by Mr. Joseph 

 Sheffield, of the same place, were recently 

 sold to a Utica butcher, which when dressed 

 weighed 1110 pounds, realizing the handsome 

 sum of $132.20. 



The older one was fed on nothing but sour 

 milk, uncooked corn meal and hay, not being 

 allowed to taste a mouthful of grass or any- 

 thing else to vitiate its appetite. "When dressed 

 it weighed 570 pounds, the leaf was equal to 



that of any hog, and the tallow was almost as 

 white as snow. 



The younger was fed scalded meal and milk, 

 hay, grass and whatever else came handy. It 

 was seven-eighths Durham, and appeared on 

 foot much the fattest of the two ; but on being 

 dressed did not "prove" near as well. It 

 dressed 540 pounds. The tallow had a creamy 

 hue — whether the result of a strain of other 

 blood or of the different mode of feeding, we 

 cannot say. It is thought, however, that the 

 promiscuous diet somewhat injured the appe- 

 tite, and prevented the accummulation of tal- 

 low to the degree found in the older one. 



PI.OUQH3 AND PLOUGHIWa. 



Eeport fN THE Tkial cf PLOUGHS, held at Utica- 

 by the N^ew Vork State Agricullur.il Society, cotn- 

 m9Dci!igti'. pteiJiber.lSGZ. With iiiSupplement, show, 

 Ingttien 8ult?*ot a Special Tri .1 atBratdfiioro', Vt., to 

 determine fev ral dii-puted Qaefetions reaptcting the 

 Act on of the Plojgh, 



We have before us the Report of these trials of 

 ploughs, in a well-printed pamphlet of two hun- 

 dred and eighty-ei.c^ht pages, from the printing 

 house of C. Van Benthuysen & Sons, of Albany. 

 The Report is understood to have been drawn up by 

 the chairman of the judges, Hon. John Stanton 

 Gould, of Hudson, N. Y. 



The first one hundred and thirty-four pages of 

 the report are occupied in giving a history of the 

 plough, beginning with the forked stick, that 

 merely scratched or rooted a small mark in the 

 ground. It then traces them down, through all 

 the improvements, to the plough of to-day, that 

 not only cuts a furrow one foot deep, but so com- 

 pletely pulverizes the soil, that the committee say 

 that, at their trial, "there can be no doubt that the 

 work was much better done than it could have 

 been done by a spade." 



Numerous illustrations are given which show 

 the plough in all its forms. The first specimen 

 given is copied from an ancient monument in Asia 

 Minor, made wholly of the natural crooks of the 

 branch of a tree, the only artificial contrivances 

 being a S'hort brace between the share and the 

 beam, and three {ins for the yoke to press against. 

 It was with a plough like this, the report says, 

 that the servants of Job were "ploughing in the 

 field when the Sabcans came upon them and drove 

 them away." 



The first important improvement upon the forked 

 stick is thown inaplough of the eleventh centur}''. 

 "It consisted of a simple woodtn wedge, covered 

 with strips of iron, one tide bging placed parallel 

 to the jlough's direction, the other sweeping over 

 to the left hand, and leaving an unobstrmtod fur- 

 row for the next slice. A coulter, not unlike those 

 now in use, is inserted in the beam, and a wheel 

 is placed in front to regulate the depth. The idea 

 of a wedge form for a plough had begun to dawn 



