NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



157 



rtiencement of winter ; and in addition to the best of 

 tay, the daily and alternate feeding of roots and 

 ■vvhoat bran through the winter is the best keep. 

 Fed in this Avay, and pi-ovided with warm yards and 

 sheds, they "vvill attain as much growth in the winter 

 as in the following summer. Sheep kept for the 

 object of wool-growing should never be made fat in 

 the winter for the purpose of increasing the size of 

 the fleece or carcass, as it does not pay the cost ; 

 besides, it injures the quality of the wool, and they 

 will not thrive as well in the pasture the following 

 summer. It is always a matter of economy to have 

 sheep improve their condition on summer keep. 



All animals manifest a fondness for a change and 

 variety of food, and their health, growth, and condi- 

 tion are much improved by the gratiticatlon of this 

 instinctive desire. Sheep manifest the greatest fond- 

 ness for change and vai'iety of any domestic animals, 

 and derive the most benefit from it ; which may 

 probably be attributed to the peculiar composition, 

 structure, and abundance of the outward covering, 

 which nature docs not demand of other farm stock. 

 I am aware that many wool-growers pay little or no 

 attention to change of food and pastures, feeding of 

 roots, and several other matters alluded to in this 

 article ; and the consequence is, they make a losing 

 business of wool-growing. There is no doubt in 

 my mind that the income of seventy sheep, well 

 managed and cared for, would be more than one 

 hundred sheep of a like qualitv indifferently treated. 

 E13ENEZER BltlDGE. 



PoMFRET, Yt., April, 1850. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 CHEMISTRY IN AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Cole : Much is said of the aid chemical 

 science is giving to the farmer. It is true that 

 chemistry in the last half century has done won- 

 ders ; but at the risk of the charge of heresy, and of 

 being behind the age in this day of progress and 

 light, permit me to express my doubts whether the 

 r-cvelations of chemistry can settle decisively what 

 kind of food is best, or contains the greatest amount 

 of material for the growth and production of the 

 various animals fed and used by man. So far as I 

 can judge from observation of what has been done, 

 chemical analysis is of but little value, compared 

 with the experience of practical men. 'Hie labora- 

 tory of the living stomach, with its solvents, shows 

 different results from the baths and crucibles of the 

 chemist. 'J'he hidden delicate operations of nature 

 are not confined to the gauged mechanical operations 

 in scientific experiments. The result of the analysis 

 of Indian corn, for instance, in any number of chem- 

 ical experiments, would show the same component 

 parts ; but svdiject the same corn to the use of differ- 

 ent animals, and the result would be as various as 

 the different living laboratories employed. The flesh 

 of the chicken made by this corn, though differing 

 in flavor, fineness, or coarseness, according to the 

 different breeds used, would not be pork made from 

 the same material. The same corn woidd produce 

 muscle or lean meat in the IJerkshirc hog, and fat in 

 the Suffolk or Newbury White, and milk and beef in 

 the cow. 



The disciples of Graham bring chemistry to their 

 aid, to show that wheat contains more nutriment 

 than beef. This would bo found true fed to grain- 

 eating animals, but not so fed to carnivorous ani- 

 mals. Wheat would fat a horse, but would hardly 

 raise to maturity a young tiger or lion. Tlic moose will 

 live and thrive on browse, — sticks as large as your 

 finger, — but would languish on the best fine hay; 

 the calf would thrive on such hay, but would starve 



on sticks. Considering these facts, and recurring to 

 my own observations, I cannot believe in the hypoth- 

 esis drawn from late cliemical analysis, that wheat 

 bran, or hull, is more nutritious as food, than wheat 

 flour. Whether pure flour, when eaten as food, Ls as 

 hcalthfnl as when u^ed unbolted, is another ques- 

 tion, and, in my opinion, depends upon other yrin- 

 ci])les than the proportion of nutriment, as dis'.dosed 

 by the chemist. It may bo that bread of bolted flour 

 is too concentrated and close, and does its office 

 better mixed with its hull, in greater volume, oven 

 if the hull afford but little nutriment in itself, aB 

 chopped straw is mixed with provender for horses ; or 

 it may act mechanically, as a stimulant, by friction, 

 and also a cathartic, as the late eccentric Dr. Ramsay 

 supposed the rind or peeling of apples, potatoes, and 

 other vegetables do, and insisted should be eaten 

 with the finer parts. 



Chemistry will doid)tless tend to explain, in some 

 degree, the facts disclosed by experience, and will 

 give light and aid in pursuing experiments, in sub- 

 stituting one aliment for another, but, I apprehend, 

 will not afford a very safe guide to discover the most 

 economical and best food for each species of domestic 

 animal, for the various purposes for which Ave keep 

 them. Most men of experience, in feeding compa- 

 nies of laboring men, know the value of white beans 

 as hearty food, which the crucibles of the chemist 

 have not revealed. Nor has cliemistry yet exi)lained 

 all the operations of the earth and soils on vegeta- 

 tion. We see the sugar maple and pine side by side, 

 drawing their nutriment, substance, and juices from 

 the same source; the one yields sap, the other rosin 

 — very dissimilar substances. Experience shows the 

 sap in different years is yielded in very unequal 

 quantities, and quite as unequal in sweetness. On 

 the same soil we have our corn years, our wheat 

 years, our fruit years. Chemistry and meteorology 

 both afford but imperfect exjilanations of these phe- 

 nomena, and little or no aid to the farmer, to direct 

 his operations from year to year. The practice or 

 art of agriculture, in all its branches, is dependent on 

 too many circumstances and contingencies to be sub- 

 jected to the fixed rules of science, like mechanics. 

 But enough of this side of the picture. 



RUFUS M'INTIRE. 



Parsonsfield, March 20, 1850. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARMING NEAR LARGE MARKETS. 



S. W. Cole, Esq. : Would not the assertion be 

 generally subscribed to, that little or no stock of any 

 kind (fancy excepted) should be raised in the neigh- 

 borhood of a good miuket for milk, fresh butter, 

 fresh provisions of all kinds, and where there is a 

 demand for team work ? 



Is it not a fact, that in all the seaports in New 

 England, grain is cheaper than it is in the interior? 



Is it not also a fact, that the ])rice of hay and pas- 

 turage in the interior, range from one half to one 

 third of the price on the seaboard, near great 

 markets ? 



These facts, if admitted, would they not justify 

 the following conclusions ? — 



That horses and oxen should be reared and trained, 

 to the age of four or Jive years, where hay and pas- 

 turage are cheap : after that age, the i)urchaser can 

 make them earn their living. 



That select heifers two years old, that will come in 

 in the spring, sliould be purcliased in October and 

 November, as they could be obtained for half what 

 it would cost to raise them near a city market. 



That full-grown wethers, (South Downs, if they 

 can be had,) purchased from the back country in the 



