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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



grain, has observed that the seeds come soonest in 

 the tracks of the animals used in drawing the 

 roller. This makes it sufficiently evident, that, in 

 order to secure quick and healthful germination of 

 the seeds, the soil should be closely pressed about 

 them, while the mass of the soil should be light 

 and finely divided. 



WHE A.T— EYE— OATS. 



We had a little chat last week with Mr. R. S. 

 Blanchard, one of our subscribers in Walpoic, N. 

 H., who came to market with a flock of sheep fed 

 by himself, the sale of which was noticed by our 

 reporter. Mr. B.'s farm is on the Connecticut 

 River, but none of his land is subject to the annual 

 overflow of that stream. His soil is a heavier 

 loam than much of the River land. On half an 

 acre of this land he harvested fourteen bushels of 

 wheat last year. The land was in good order, 

 having been planted to corn the year before. On 

 the half acre he sowed some twenty-five bushels of 

 ashes ; leaving, however, two corners purposely 

 without ashes. On one of these comers he applied 

 a dressing of lime from a parcel that had been left 

 by the masons and had laid in a cellar two or three 

 years. On the other corner nothing was applied. 



When the wheat was just beginning to head, the 

 whole field was beat down by a storm as flat almost 

 as though it had been passed over by a roller. 

 The neighbors thought it could never rise. In a 

 few days, however, it gathered itself up pretty 

 well, but in about two weeks it was again pros- 

 trated by another storm, but not quite as badly as 

 at first. Most of it again stood erect. Between 

 the portion a'slied and that limed there was little 

 diflerence ; but on that to which neither ashes nor 

 lime was applied the growth was considerably 

 lighter, and the straw was rusty, while it war. 

 bright and handsome elsewhere. He believes the 

 ashes and lime strengthened and toughened the 

 straw, and saved the crop. 



He also mentioned a little experiment in sowing 

 winter rye in the spring. From twenty quarts 

 sown in March seven bushels were harvested. If 

 put in early enough to have the ground well frozen 

 afterwards, he thinks winter rye may be sown in 

 the spring. 



In reply to our questions about raising oats he 

 * said his crops ranged from 50 to 95 bushels per 

 measured acre. Had raised 85 bushels per acre on 

 a field of five acres. He had tried superphosphate 

 but on his land thought it was no better than the 

 same amount of leached ashes. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 RAISItSra CALVES. 

 I do not propose to give a method of rais- 

 ing calves, so as to produce large and fine ani- 

 mals at one year old on a minimum quantity 

 of milk. For such a purpose, Mr. Secretary 

 Flint's hay- tea system is perhaps the best that 



is yet known. Yet nearly all the experiments 

 that I have seen tried, to raise calves on a 

 meagre allowance of milk, have been unsuc- 

 cessful. I have a method tested by ten years' 

 experience, without a single failure, that will 

 produce yearlings fully equal in size t j average 

 two-year olds reared on the old system. The 

 method requires only a small quantity of new 

 milk, and not a large quantity of skim-milk. 



The breeding cow should be at least four, 

 or, better still, eight or ten years old ; and 

 should be dried two months before calving. 

 She should be kept in good trim, but not very 

 fat, by giving her all the good hay she will eat 

 up clean, and two quarts only of corn cob 

 meal, daily, or its equivalent in some other 

 concentrated food. 



Let the calf remain with the cow from four 

 days to a week after it is dropped, or until it 

 becomes sprightly and eager for nourishment. 

 This is a great advantage both to the cow and 

 calf; for the calf will learn to drink more 

 readily, and the subsequent flow of milk will 

 be increased. If the instinctive yearnings of 

 the mother for her offspring, during the first 

 few days, are not gratified, such violence is 

 done to her feelings as will reduce permanently 

 the quantity, if not the quality of her milk. 

 The cow should be milked clean twice daily, 

 after the calf is satiated. 



Remove the calf as much out of sight and 

 hearing of the cow as circumstances will per- 

 mit, to a clean, dry appartment, well littered 

 with straw or sawdust, and always supplied 

 with fresh loam for the calf to lick, and keep 

 the apartment dry and clean through the entire 

 season of its use. Let the calf fast eight or 

 ten hours, before attempting to feed it. Then 

 if it will suck your finger, with or without a 

 rag wound around it and wet with milk, 

 you may gently press down its head so as to 

 bring its lips in contact with a little warm 

 milk in a dish, still keeping your finger in its 

 mouth; and with a little kindness, patience 

 and perseverance, and such means as the trial 

 will readily suggest, you will soon learn it to 

 drink. 



But occasionally there is a calf that will not 

 suck the finger, nor anything else, except what 

 nature has provided for it, without long and 

 weary solicitation, partial starvation, and an 

 exhaustion of more patience than any ordinary 

 man or woman possesses. I have known sev- 

 eral such cases, where the final result has been 

 despair to the owner and death to the calf. 

 Such a result can be avoided by taking a tin 

 coffee-pot, partially plugging the spout, wind- 

 ing a rag around the same, — passing one thick- 

 ness of a thin rag over the end of the spout, 

 and making all last. Make the cover tight by 

 a rag or otherwise, then put in the pot a quart 

 of milk, fresh and warm from the cow, and in- 

 sert the. spout in the mouth of the calf, elevat- 

 ing its head so that the milk will run down its 

 throat. If fed slowly, the calf will swalloiv. 

 If there be symptoms of choking, or extreme 



