334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



ers. In conclusion, the chairman summed up by 

 stating "that the number of members who had spo- 

 ken on each side was equal. Both were doubtless 

 right, for milk and beef were alike necessary, and he 

 would say that Short-horns should be kept for feed- 

 ing, and Ayrshires for dairy purposes. He re- 

 garded the Short-horns as most important in a na- 

 tional view. Though they were not as good milk- 

 ers as the Ayrshires, they would give a sufiScient 

 quantity of milk to support their calves and a little 

 besides. Some of them, indeed, would only keep 

 up their calves, and no more, while others were 

 nearly as good as Ayrshires." 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Parsons on the Rose. A Treatise on the Propaga- 

 tion, Culture, and History of the Rose. By Samuel 

 B. P.irsons. New and Revised Edition. Ihustrated. 

 New York: Orange Judd & Co., 1869. Boston: A. 

 Williama & Co. 215 pages. Price $1 50. 



This is a revision and enlargement of a work 

 published over twenty years ago. The varieties 

 are classified and described, with directions for 

 cultivation, grafting, budding, &c; operations 

 which are illustrated by excellent cuts. In addi- 

 tion to his home experience the author adds the in- 

 formation derived from a personal inspection of 

 French and English nurseries. The history of the 

 rose and of its uses in ancient and modern times 

 is enlivened by many interesting anecdotes. As 

 evidence of the increasing attention given to the 

 rose, it is stated that in 1762 Linnaeus was acquaint- 

 ed with only fourteen species, while in 1832 two 

 hundred and five were enumerated, to which con- 

 siderable additions have since been made by dis- 

 coveries in the Himalaya Mountains and else- 

 where. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARM IMPKOVEMBNTS.— HOW AND 

 WHAT. 



I should like to know how "R. N.," of Randolph, 

 Vt., got his farm in so high a state of cultivation, 

 and what he could find to sell to the amount of 

 $oW from a farm of fifty acres. A farmer here is 

 doing well if he turns ofi #500 from a farm of one 

 hundred acres, and some do not reach that 

 amount from twice that number of acres. Old 

 winter has come back in earnest. About four 

 inches of snow fell last night. k. s. d. 



Williamstown, Vt., May 3, 1869. 



Remarks. — The above inquiry was sub- 

 mitted by the Editors of the Fakjier to 

 "R. N." himself, who has kindly responded 

 as follows : — 



The inquiries of '^K. S. D.," as to "how 

 ■R. N.' got his farm in so high a state of cul- 

 tivation, and what he could find to sell off from 

 a farm of fifty acres to the amount of $500," 

 open a wider field for discussion than I feel at 

 liberty to engage in just now, however much I 

 desire to. 



In brief, then, I reply — by the practice of 

 so much common sense as Providence blessed 



me with, (which, by the way, is not enough to 

 brag of!) and selling the effects ! just as every 

 other roan can and ought to do. 



If farmers will persist in fettering their in- 

 tellects, reason, common sense, as they do by 

 practically ignoring the means of agricultural 

 grace that I mentioned in the article alluded 

 to, i. e., farmers' papers, discussions and fairs 

 — they certainly ought not to wonder or com- 

 plain if they don't find their farming "pay." 

 As well might a man complain of being hun- 

 gry after having purposely plugged up his ears 

 so as to be unable to hear the dinner bell ! 



Farming is a profession, requiring not less 

 study, investigation, thought and practice, in 

 order to success, than other professions ; in- 

 stead of being as is apparently often supposed, 

 an instinct, requiring only age, or a certain 

 time, for perfect development. 



As to the "high state of cultivation" of my 

 twenty-three-acre farm, I do not claim or 

 think it is really in that state ; it is only com- 

 paratively so, i. e. in a better condition than 

 it used to be, and perhaps than those adjoining 

 it ; for I do not believe it yet produces one- 

 half what it ought to, or what it will within 

 five years, if I don't "sell out and go West," 

 as my health and mechanical business demand. 

 What improvement I have made has been by 

 studying and practicing the farmer's profes- 

 sion in regard to making, saving and apply- 

 ing plant food or manure — rotation of crops, 

 and the time, manner and implements for the 

 sowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, feed- 

 ing or marketing them — the kinds, breeds, and 

 relative numbers of farm stock, and science of 

 breeding them, and best manner of feeding, 

 using or selling them, «&c., &c., — as best I 

 could, with several other kinds of business to 

 see to, feeble health, and six children to 

 "train up in the way they should go." 



To be a little more explicit. Every foot of 

 my farm is excellent, arable land, a slate, 

 loamy lime soil, with a little blue clay occasion- 

 ally ; easily worked, lying high above all large 

 streams, and not often injuriously affected by 

 rain, drought or frost ; nearly level, descending 

 slightly to the east, and free from stones, 

 stumps or other obstructions to mowers, rakes 

 or ploughs, — it being a standing order that 

 every stone or snag that the plough hits, must 

 be dug out and carted off. Every stone, big 

 enough to throw at a skunk, is picked and 

 drawn off from each new seeded field before 

 rolling it. 



The rotation is corn, pumpkins, potatoes 

 and turnips, on green sward turned just before 

 planting, with raw manure cultivated in, and 

 a shovelful of decomposed manure in the hill 

 one year; wheat, with fifteen to twenty-one 

 bushels unleached ashes to the acre, one year ; 

 and clover and timothy four to eight years. 

 Product per acre, last year, early cut, extra 

 hay oSOO pounds ; sound corn, 85 bushels ; 

 pumpkins, ten one-horse loads ; potatoes, 300 

 bushels ; turnips, 600 bushels. 



