1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



247 



and State, but throughout New England. The 

 Lyndon farmers, as a class, devote especial atten- 

 tion to ihe production of beef, and to do this not 

 only raise large quantities of grain, which they 

 feed out on their tarnrs, but many of the largest 

 farmers make a practice of purchasing more or 

 less Western corn for feeding purposes. By this 

 means thev not only have extra beef for the mar- 

 ket, which is a source of profitable income, but it 

 keeps their farms in good condition ; if anything 

 improving in productiveness and value from year 

 to year. 



As a sample of the beef produced in town, the 

 following, marketed within the past two or three 

 week?, may be worthy of mention : Amasa Bemis 

 & Sens, a pair of Durham oxen, weighing 4150 

 pounds. This pair received the first premium at 

 the Caledonia County Fair last fall. Another 

 pair, three years old, owned by the same, which 

 M'eighed 3370 pounds. John Howland & Sons, 

 marketed a pair the same week weighing 3950 

 pounds. The week following, Chas. Sanborn sent 

 a pair to market which weighed at home 4230 

 pounds. One of the pair was considered one of 

 the best and fattest oxen — it was not the largest 

 or heaviest — that has been fattened in town for 

 some time; its live weight was 2300 pounds. 

 Henry Chase sends a pair this week weighing 

 about 4000 pounds. A. O. Harris has a pair of 

 white Durham oxen which weigh 4600 pounds, and 

 are still growing and fattening well. He wants to 

 see them weigh 2.^ tons. More anon. 



I. W. Sanborn. 



Lyndon, Vt., March 23, 1869. 



CRACKING rP NEAV THINGS. 



Why do the Farmer and other papers crack up 

 the new kinds of potatoes, oats, &c., which by the 

 time enough of them arc raised to come into gen- 

 eral use, turn out to be very inferior as to quality ? 

 The "Early Goodrich," a year or two ago were 

 praised to the top notch in the Farmer, now they 

 are so poor that there is no sale at all for them ex- 

 cept as teed for stock— no better than the"Califoi-- 

 nias," or the Rohans of old. In a year or two the 

 Early Rose, and No. 4 potatoes, and the Norway 

 oats will turn out, no doubt, in the same way. 



Barre, Vt., March 14, 1869. A. J. Smith. 



E,KMARKs. — As we try to be very cautious about 

 cracking up new things, we hai-dly know what to 

 say to our correspondent, unless it is to throw our- 

 selves on his mercy, with the remark that we find 

 it a hard matter to conduct a paper in such a way 

 as to suit every body. Cowper called a newspaper 

 "the herald of a noisy world" in his day, and if he 

 had lived till now we do not think he would wish 

 to soften down the expression. The world is as 

 noisy as ever. Inventors, discoverers, experimen- 

 ters, and advertisers, all of whom are admitted to 

 our columns, crack up their favorite hobbies, and 

 the poor editors are held responsible for all the 

 noi;e they make. Would Mr. Smith exclude them 

 entirely .> Would he shut out everything "new" 

 from his columns, were he in our place, simply be- 

 cause it is new, or because he was not certain it 

 would prove a good thing ? How long is it since 

 the Jackson White was a new potato ? the Baldwin, 

 a new apple ? the Morgan, a new horse ? the Meri- 

 nos and Cotswol^s, new sheep ? the mowing ma- 

 chine, a new implement on our farms ? the rail- 

 road a new thing in the whole world ? The papers 

 that "cracked up" these new things will not now 



be condemned. Farmer Burns once asked for the 

 gift "to see ourselves as others see us;" but edi- 

 tors need a gift or faculty to see new things as they 

 will be seen after they have been thoroughly tested 

 and tried under all the varying circumstances of 

 thousands of experimenters. If Mr. Smith can 

 tell us how to acquire this faculty, we promise 

 never again to crack up a ■worthless potato, a poor 

 implement, or an inferior race of animals. 



SrMMERING MANURE. 



I wish to inquire through the columns of your 

 valuable paper, if manure made through the win- 

 ter will depreciate in quantity and quality by lay- 

 ing in the cellar until fall, if hogs are kept on it, 

 and the cattle are stabled nights through the sum- 

 mer ? And if such manure will last as long if 

 applied to land in the fall and planted next season, 

 as green manure applied in spring ? 



Stjbscribeb. 



New Hampton, N. H., Feb. 24, 1869. 



Remarks. — If properly covered, as all manure 

 should be, with muck or loam, the manure in a 

 cool cellar will not deteriorate in quality. If it 

 undergoes fermentation it will decrease in hulk 

 somewhat. But if hogs are kept upon it it will 

 not be likely to do so. If it becomes finer hj 

 keeping, it will be more readily taken up by grow- 

 ing plants, and may not last so long as green ma- 

 nure ; but the more the manure is taken up, the 

 larger the crop will be. So nothing is lost in that 

 direction. We are inclined to think that it would 

 always be best to apply all the summer made ma- 

 nure in the fall, and plough it under. That is our 

 practice as far as we are able to do it. 



SEASON IN ORLEANS COUNTY, VT. — CROPS ON 

 THE FARM OF J. H. 



We are having a long winter. We commenced 

 feeding at the barn a month earlier than usual. 

 The ground has not been seen since our first snow 

 storm. We have had but very little extremely 

 cold weather, and scarcely any rain ; our storms 

 having all been snow, which will now average four 

 feet deep. There is but very little frost in the 

 ground. Grass roots have had a good protection 

 unless the mice have worked them. We have, 

 as yet, seen no signs of spring; no robins or other 

 spring birds. 



My cows, ten in number, have averaged the year 

 past, $62.50 per head, beside what we have used in 

 a family of nine persons. Four acres in corn have 

 produced four hundred and twenty bushels of ears, 

 on sod ground broken in spring, with light coat of 

 green manure, applied before ploughing. A com- 

 post of old manure and muck, which was drawn 

 directly from the swamp to the field the fall before 

 it was used, an ordinary shovelful to the hill. It 

 was more than three-fourths muck. One acre of 

 potatoes, Jackson Whites, 250 bushels. One acre 

 and one hundred and twelve rods of wheat pro- 

 duced forty-five bushels. Soil a mixture of gran- 

 ite and lime with some slate stone. I plough 

 from eight to twelve inches deep. We have raised 

 some over #100 worth of poultry. 



1 had a two year old htifer which came in May 

 23, 1868, which gave twenty quarts of milk per 

 day and made one and a half pounds of butter per 

 day, June 17th. I sold her for $100. j. h. 



Remarks. — A very concise statement of good 



farming. Forty-five bushels of wheat on less thaa 



