394 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



June 27, 1832. 



els. I have cider apples, and a great supply for 

 family use, enough probably to make forty or fifty 

 barrels, which I do not usually make until some 

 time in October, and have not yet done it. My 

 manner of making cider is the common one. 



As to sowing grass seed, I usually seed down 

 about ten acres annually, with four quarts of clover 

 and four quarts of herdsgrass to the acre, which I 

 consider plenty for mowing land. I have made 

 several experiments. After taking off a corn crop, 

 I have ploughed and sowed nothing but grass seed ; 

 this was done in the month of October and it took 

 well, but did not get to maturity fully the next sea- 

 son. I have also sowed with rye in the fall, and 

 also upon snow covering wheat and rye, and also 

 in the spring with spring wheat, rye and oats ; and 

 I am satisfied that to sow clover and herdsgrass in 

 the spring with oats, is the best time anB way. 



My barn is one hundred feet long and forty feet 

 wide, standing east and west, with a floor through 

 it lengthwise, over which is another floor, each 

 twelve feet wide. Upon the south side of my 

 barn I have a tier of stables extending the whole 

 length, twelve feet wide, which is sufiicient to put 

 up twentyfive head of cattle. 1 have one shed ex- 

 tending from the west end of my barn, south, one 

 hundred and twenty feet, half of it twenty feet 

 wide and the other half fourteen feet, capable of 

 holding thirty or forty loads of hay overhead. I 

 have three or four other temporary sheds of less 

 value. My barn-yard is one hundred and twenty 

 feet square, divided by a line of fence through the 

 centre each way, making four yards of about sixty 

 feet square, with a shed for each and a well of 

 water in the centre, from which I water each. 

 In each of these I have wintered about one hun- 

 dred sheep, and make my manure principally by 

 bedding tliem with straw. Of my sheep, I have 

 now about the same number as last year, four hun- 

 dred and thirty, having disposed of nearly as many 

 as my increase by lambs. I sheared three hun- 

 dred and fifty, which produced eight hundred and 

 fiftyone pounds of first quality wool, sold for sev- 

 entyfive cents ])er pound. 1 raised only eighty- 

 four lambs, in consequence of a severe rain 

 storm the first week in May, which is the time 1 

 usually have them yeaned. I lost a considerable 

 uundjer. I keep them in sejiai^te flocks, and feed 

 them in winter out of boxes prepared so that they 

 can put in their heads on either side, and not 

 waste the hay. Tbis business of growing wool 



in which I put out one thousand cabbage plants ; 

 have raised six and a half bushels of onions, a 

 great su])ply of beets,, parsnips, carrots, winter, 

 squashes ; besides water-melons, musk-melons, cu- 

 cumbers, &.C. I have ten peach trees, ten pear 

 trees, and about one hundred filbert bushes, which 

 have all borne finely, except peaches, with which 

 I cannot succeed here at all. . As to amount of 

 labor, 1 have had but one hired man for six 

 months, to whom I [laid ten dollars per months, 

 or sixty dollars. I have two boys, almost men, 

 belonging to my family, besides my own labor. I 

 have paid for day laborers, according to my ac- 

 count, sixtythree dollars and fifty cents only. You 

 will notice the amount of labor performed with 

 little help and little expense, but I have yet con- 

 siderable more to do ; I have yet to cut, I thiidi, 

 more than ten loads of rowen hay, and intend to 

 sow a number of acres of late rye. Having made 

 no cider the last year, I made trial of molasses and 

 water, but all would not do, I was obliged to fur- 

 nish a little ardent to my day laborers to get 

 through haying and harvesting ; the precise quan- 

 tity I do not know, but I think it would not amount 

 to more than twelves or fifteen dollars. To reca- 

 pitulate, — 



58 acres of mead, mowed & produced 129 loads hay. 

 20 do. of rye produced 4508 sheaves. 



3 do. wiuter wheat 



14 do. oats 

 2 do. spring rye 

 2 do. marrowfat peas 



1 do. buck wheat 



2 do. white beans 



3 do. potatoes 



4 do. corn 



5 do. ruta baga 



15 acres let out on shares, the produce of wliiih 

 not yet ascertained, except 1347 sheaves of oats. 

 The residue of my farm is wood and pasturage. 



In this statement, I believe I have not oversta- 

 ted or over-rated any item ; and I am inclined to 

 think that my corn, which we completed last even- 

 ing, if accurately measured by stricken measure, 

 would hold over something like a half of a pc:k 

 to the basket, which we heaped. 



I am, dear Sir, very respectfully, your obedient 

 humble servant, JONATHAN ALLEN. 



Berkshire, ss., Pittsfcld, Sept. 2i), 1831.— Then 

 the above named Jonathan Allen personally ap- 

 peared, and made oath that the foregoing state- 

 was my principal object in farming ; but the low j merit by him subscribed, is, according to Ids best 



price the wool has brought for three or four years 

 past, has almost wholly discouraged me. I have 

 been disposed to reduce my flock about one half, 

 because I could not grow the wool for the [)rice it 

 has brought. This year, however, it has brought 

 a fair compensation for growing. My sheep are 

 first quality, merino and saxony, the fleeces light. 

 I have kept only two yoke of oxen, three cows, 

 and three horses. From my cows, which are of 

 the first quality, we have made butter only enough 

 for family use. Of swine, I only keep and fat 

 enough for family use, and some little surplus to 

 pay laborers. I am now feeding six of the Ry- 

 field breed, which I intend to wake weigh from 

 300 to 400 pounds each. I have one that will 

 now weigh more than four hundred. I make my 



belief and judgment, true. 



Joshua Dakforth, Justice of the Peace. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



The following, from an experienced cultivator 

 in the State of Maine, we have been permitted to 

 copy from a conmiunication sent to Hon. John 

 Welles, of Boston. 



AGRICULTURAL MEMORANDA. 



I have proved the value of parsnips as a substi- 

 tute for my usual green food. The experiment 

 was made on a cow, exhibited as a fat cow, about 

 eight years since, at Brighton. It was not long 

 before she was turned into pasture. On carrots 

 and turnips she gave twelve pounds of butter per 



of her second calf, which was killed at four years 

 old and weighed nine hundred pounds, I have a 

 cow with her third calf. The cow gives two pails 

 full of milk per day, of which the calf takes a lit- 

 tle more than half, and is very large and well 

 shaped. 



The cow exhibited at Brighton met with an ac- 

 cident, and at five and a half months lost her calf, 

 and was afterwards unfit for breeding. In the 

 five and a half mouths she gave, 



Of butter, •202 J- lbs. 



Of cheese, 38 lbs. 



Milk for the calf, 482 quarts. 



In tlie first fifty days she gave fifty pounds of but- 

 ter, and on an average rather more than nine quarts 

 per day of ndlk to the calf 



From the same heifer, which I sent to North- 

 boraugh, a calf was raised last year by Mr How- 

 ard, which at seven weeks old he sold for twenty- 

 five dollars. An accident happened to it at five 

 months, and when dressed it weighed three hun- 

 dred and seventyfiye pounds. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEGLECTED CATERPILLARS. 



Mr Editor — 1 had occasion last week to visit 

 Lowell, and as I rode past the farms on my way, 

 I was astonished to see fruit trees and especially 

 [he apple, so much neglected. The pruning knife 

 and its use, I should judge, was not known to the 

 proprietors of these fiirms ; and the caterpillar in 

 (lie thick tops of the trees, finds a secure and un- 

 molested retreat ; so abundant were their nests, 

 tliat ill many cases the branches appeared white 

 iviih them. It would certainly be more credita- 

 ble to tiie managers of these farms, to cut down, 

 at once, these monuments of their neglect, than to 

 remain the subject of remark to all those who 

 pass, and as so many proofs of their want of inter- 

 est in horticulture. Q. L. 



Boston, June 9, 1832. 



pork by boiling potatoes the fore part of the season, week. While fed on turnips she gave 13 J lbs. per 

 then pumpkins, provender and corn. week. They were better than Indian meal. 



In addition to my crops, I shall have probably 30 You lecoileet two heifers I sent to the Denton 

 bushels of English turnips. I have a large garden | bull. I have one now left, and from the produce 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



On Saturday, 23d inst., Messrs Winships, of 

 Brighton, exhibited a collection of herbaceous 

 plants ; amongst them, a very fine specimen of 

 Delphinium sinensis, and Scotch and other Roses. 



By I\lr David Haggrrston, of Charlestown, a fine 

 collection of Ranuiiculu.sses and Anemones, for pre- 

 mium ; also, by the same, yellow, pink, tea, and 

 Moss Roses. 



By J. Prince, Esq., Liriodendron tulipifera, or 

 Tulip Tree. 



By Mr Phipps, of Charlestown, Moss Roses and 

 other flowers. 



BURN DRY WEEDS FOR MANURE. 



Our young farmers may perliaps want to be re- 

 minded, that spreading any sort of dry vegetable 

 substance on the land and setting fire to it, previ- 

 ous to harrowing in or drilling turnip seed, is one 

 of the most powerful manures that can be used. 

 There are situations where fern from wastes, war- 

 rens, &c, may be collected in almost any quantity ; 

 if he has it in his power to preserve more than be 

 wants for littering, he should save it carefully for 

 this use. In the fens of Cambridge and Lincoln, 



