78 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



disposed of another, and by taking a little extra 

 pains with the three Icl't, I churned more buttci from 

 the three than I had in any preceding year from the 

 four or five, thus proving that it is not the greatest 

 amount of capital invested, that brings in the largest 

 profits. 



It is too often the case that farms arc overstocked. 

 It is generally thought to be good economy among 

 experienced farmers not to be obliged to turn cattle 

 into mowing lands, although most farmers resort to 

 this practice. Some one says, the more stock the 

 more manure. True ; but it is better to buy a load 

 of manure, than a load of hay. An empty barn the 

 first of April has a very bad look with it, and this is 

 oftentimes the result of close feeding. Few farmers 

 prosper who keep more stock than can be kept in 

 good condition on their own premises. 



A. TODD. 



Smithfield, R. I., Feb, 1850. 



For the Neio E?igland Fanner, 

 THE WEIGHT OF LIVE BEEF CATTLE 



May be ascertained by the following rule. Take 

 the girth of the animal just behind the shoulder- 

 blade, and the length from a point on the tail-bone, 

 ■whence a perpendicular line wiU. just clear the thigh, 

 thence along the back-bone to the foroside of the top 

 of the shoulder-blade. Reduce the girth and length 

 to inches. Multiply the square of the girth by the 

 length, and that product by the decimal .002, which 

 will give the M-eight, in pounds and decimal parts. 



Suppose an ox to measure 7 feet or 84 inches in 

 girth, and o-i feet or 66 inches in length ; then, 



The girth 84, multiplied by itself or squared, 7056 

 Multiplied by the length, 66 66 



Product, and solid contents of the ox, 465,696 



Multiplied by the decimal, 002 



Gives 931 pounds, the weight of the ox, 931.392 



The above rule gives the weight of the meat, hide, 

 and tallow, of oxen having from forty to eighty 

 pounds of rough tallow, cows from thirty to sixty 

 pounds, and two year olds having from fifteen to 

 thirty pounds. JUVENIS. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 SIZE OF FOWLS. 



Mk. Cole : In the " American Union " of the 16th 

 inst., there is a statement of the comparative weight 

 of fowls, in which pullets or hens which weigh 

 seven and eight pounds, and cocks that weighed ten 

 pounds, are spoken of as something remarkable. I 

 have caused some to be weighed, of the kind my son 

 wUl furnish eggs from, and find Shanghac pullets and 

 hens from stock o.iginally imported by R. E. Forbes, 

 Esq., to weigh six and a half, seven, eight, and nine 

 pounds each. I have also this day weighed my 

 Cochin China cock, a splendid bird, and find the 

 •weight to be eleven and one half pounds. He has 

 been ohut up in the barn chamber from the first day 

 of December last with five handsome pullets, from 

 which I expect to raise a good stock of chickens, if 

 possible to reserve eggs enough from many pressing 

 demands. 



About the middle of March I shall have my poul- 

 try in shape to be seen by any who wish to satisfy 

 themselves as to the above statements. 



Yours, HOWARD B. COFFIN. 



Nbwxon Cobnek, Feb, 20. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BEARING YEARS OF APPLE-TREES. 



Mr. Cole : I have seen a good deal in agricul- 

 tural papers about apple-trees bearing in odd years- 

 I have been on the farm on which I now live eight- 

 een years. I have one tree of the Baldwin apple, a 

 part of which bears full every year, one part one 

 year, the other the next. I do not now recollect 

 that it has failed of bearing full, one part or the 

 other, for eighteen years. I have a nrunber of trees 

 of the Baldwin apple that bear in odd years, so that 

 I have for a number of years had about two thirds 

 as many apples in odd years as in even years, which, 

 owing to the greater price they bring, makes my 

 orchard about as much profit in odd as in even years, 



GEO. FITCH. 



South Bridgton, Jan. 24, 1850. 



Remarks. — There are numerous cases in which, 

 part of an apple-tree bears in alternate years, and 

 the other part in the intermediate yeare. The bear- 

 ing year of a part of a tree may be fixed on certain 

 years, while the other part bears in dilTerent years, 

 on the same principle that any tree bears in certain 

 years and not in others. A blast may come upon the 

 windward side of a tree, owing to heavy storms at 

 the season of blossoming, and change its bearing 

 year on that side ; or a hot sun may kill the blossoms, 

 or the organs of the flowers, on the side most exposed 

 to the heat. This prevention of fruit may change 

 the bearing year, as well as picking off the blossoms, 

 or the defoliation of the tree by canker worms or 

 other causes. — Ed. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MANURES. 



Mr. Editor : Having read frequent accounts in 

 your excellent journal the past year, concerning the 

 different modes of preparing and applying different 

 kinds of manures to the soil, I propose to furnish 

 your readers with a small experiment of my own, 

 some four years since. Possessing a field on my 

 farm containing a dozen acres or so, of an alluvial 

 and loamy sod, I had planted of it, the year alluded 

 to, about two acres in Indian corn, and being desirous 

 to lay it down to grass the same fall, I was advised 

 by a young man who worked for me that season, to 

 cut it up and shock it. I did so as early as it would 

 do, and sowed it down to grass and with winter rye, 

 I think about the first of October. 



Being made acquainted by ocular demonstration with 

 the good results of salt lye upon a piece of land 

 belonging to one of my neighbors, I was induced to 

 try the experiment on a part of my two acres of rye. 

 Accordingly I laid it off into three equal lots. Upon 

 the first I put two loads of salt lye, upon the second 

 I put two loads of night soil, and upon the third lot 

 I spread a moderate amount of meadow muck, which 

 had lain in the barn-yard, in which were kept five 

 cows over night, from the first of June to the time 

 of laying down, at which time it was all lightly 

 ploughed in. Now for the result. That part which 

 received the salt lye was very heavy, and produced 

 much the largest crop of rye. The part that received 

 the meadow muck was next best, being a very fair 

 yield. The part that was dressed with night soil 

 was the poorest, being nothing more than middling. 

 And so have continued the crops of grass every year 

 since, varying in the same proportion. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I am not very fond of trying too 



