568 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Dec. 



For the Kew England Farmer, 

 BKAIITS US PAKMINQ.— No. 3. 



Mr. Editor: — Perhaps you and some of 

 your readers will think that Uncle John is in 

 danger of running brains into the ground. 

 If so, I would just say, that there is no dan- 

 ger at all on that score. Indeed, that is the 

 very thing I have been trying to do on my 

 own farm, and in these articles. 



I don''t know whether Bradley's Superphos- 

 phate pays or not, never having tried it ; but 

 X do know ihdA the superphosphate of brains 

 pays bountifully. I have tried it on my twen- 

 ty-acre farm, and the result has been, that I 

 have doubled my cropS: Could I get enough 

 of this fertilizer, I could make farming a mag- 

 nificent success. 



But the trouble is, I am sliort, and this is an 

 article not to be had in this market. 



I have been looking round among our Ver- 

 mont farmers some, to see what indications I 

 could find of the practical use of brains in 

 agricultural operations, and I discover some 

 singular contrasts. 



In the town of Richmond, in this county, there 

 is a daii'y firmer, E. D. Mason, Esq., who 

 owns a fine farm on the Winooki River. He 

 milks from seventy-five to one hundred cows. 

 His milking vard is so located that all the 

 wash therelrom runs down on to a hundred 

 acre meadow, and enriches several acres to 

 the highest degree. These are sowed to man- 

 golds, carrots, and Western corn, which 

 afford an immense amount of feed for his 

 cows. 



In another town is a fine farm, — I will not 

 mention the owner's name, — with nice build- 

 ings ; soilof the first rate quality, but the crops 

 indicating that not one-fourth of its capabilities 

 were developed. Passing along, on the look- 

 out for indications that brains were used by 

 this farmer, in the management of his farm, 

 judge of my surprise, when I came in sight of 

 Lis milking yards, in which I counted some 

 thirty cows, to find it located on descending 

 ground, where all the wash ran into a slough- 

 faole by the road-side, and from thence into a 

 small stream near by. Surely, thought I, 

 brains must be at a discount with this farmer. 



One of my neighbors has taken up Mr. 

 Beecher's method of killing Canada thistles; 

 that is, to cultivate them as a crop, and en- 

 deavor to make money out of them. He has 

 a splendid crop. They show no signs of giv- 

 ing in, notwithstanding Mr. B.'s prediction 

 that the rust would strike them, woms would 

 gnaw them, bugs would bite them, «fec., &c. 

 My neighbor tells me that I may inform you 

 that he will soon be ready to supply the trade 

 with seed for another season, at a very rea- 

 sonable price. So that all farmers who wish 

 to cultivate this magnificent posy, can be ac- 

 commodated. 



In one of my communications to the Far- 

 mer, I spoke of the wasteful practice of 



stacking hay, which prevails through all this 

 section. I have been expecting some of my 

 neighbors would be down on me, with the ex- 

 clamation : — "Physician, heal thyself," or, 

 "O, consistency, thou art a jewel!" for I 

 have been under the necessity of stacking some 

 of my hay, this season. The fact i-, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, that the application of brains to my land 

 causes my crops to increase in undue propor- 

 tion to the size of my barn, and if I keep my 

 place, I sha'l have to apply a few brains in 

 that direction. 



It is a master of no little surprise to me 

 that these Vermont farmers, who are so sharp 

 to discover a dollar whenever one turns up, 

 cannot, cr do not, notice the inconsistencies 

 of some writers for the agi'icultural papers. 

 They seem to take the thii g very cooly, as if 

 it were a mere matter of course. More anon. 

 Uncle John. 



Charlotte, Chittenden Co., Vt., Oct. 5, 1889. 



PBEPABINQ riiOCKS FOK -WINTJER. 



Selection. — The time has arrived for 

 "drafcing" Hocks of sheep — i. e., picking out 

 those which it is not desirable to winter — where 

 that process has not been already performed. 

 The best time to do this was at shearing, when 

 every fleece could be properly examined, bat 

 it is indispensable now. Under the present 

 circumstances the selection should be rigorous, 

 especially in flocks kept on the high-priced 

 lands. Take out those old enough to be 

 broken mouthed, the weakly young, every one 

 known to be a poor breeder, every one de- 

 fective in form, tleece or constitution. With 

 fine wool at forty cents a pound, it will not 

 pay to winter such sheep on the good lands of 

 New York, Ohio, &g. It is better to sell 

 them at the price of their pelts than to keep 

 them. 



Coupling. — Let no very old Merino ewes, 

 and none younger than three, have lambs next 

 spring. The stock rams should be as care- 

 fully selected as ever ; for improvement is all 

 the profit that can now be made on sheep in 

 the old sheep growing regions of (he Union. 

 It costs no more to keep a good sheep than a 

 poor one ; the former produces more now, 

 and it will be greatly more valuable when fine 

 wool husbandry revives. (That it will revive, 

 if the present wool and woolen tariff stands, 

 we anticipate as confidently as we do that men 

 will continue to wear woolen clothing.) It is 

 a good time now again to commence treating 

 stock rams more rationally than they have been 

 treated for the last few years. Instead of 

 enormously high keep, an enormous amount 

 of work and close confinement, let us give 

 them moderate keep, moderate work and their 

 liberty. 



Let us give our breeding ewes, too, such 

 feed as will keep them hearty, plump and 

 strong, but not fat, as a butcher would un- 

 derstand the woi'd ; and let us not only give 



