188 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the Xew E/ifflund Farmo: 

 CHARRING AND SETTING FENCE POSTS. 



Mr. Coi-e : I observed in your present volume, 

 page 148, an article taken from the American Farmer 

 recommending charring the but-cnds of i)osts for 

 fence. Now, as the public may be deceived as I once 

 •was, I will say a word about this matter. " Ex- 

 perience " is said to be the best " schoolmaster." 

 "When I -was a lad, my father made a set of bars at 

 the end of a lane leading to the cow-pasture. One 

 of these bar-posts outlasted the other two or three 

 limes over ; at last, the good post, which had lasted 

 60 long, was, by accident, turned out of the ground 

 by running the cart against it, whereupon it was 

 found that the post had been charred as far as it 

 vent into the ground. This fact, corroborated by 

 others, led me to conclude with great certainty that 

 charring would add greatly to the durability of posts, 

 burning them as far up as they were set in the ground. 

 Now, as I was about to build a garden fence and a 

 barn-yard fence in the spring of 1818, I cut and 

 split, out of the very best of Avhite oak timber, a 

 sufficient quantity for this purpose. Those posts 

 were all charred with great care to five or six inches 

 above the surface of the ground when set. But to 

 my great surprise and disappointment, all had to be 

 renewed in seven years. 



In 1819, I set about two hundred and fifty posts 

 to fence through the swamp, peat-muck soil ; all of 

 ■ these posts, without charring, are good to this daj', 

 thirty-one years' standing. "We have another fence 

 about seventy rods, set in IS 30. These posts are on 

 upland, set chiefly top-ends in the ground, all of 

 which are sound, with the exception of a vcrj- few, 

 which were broken by a severe wind this spring. 

 But on examining these broken posts, it is found that 

 they were set but-end down. 



Now, I am inclined to believe, so far as I have tried 

 the experiment of charring, it has been not only a 

 considerable item of expense, but has been a serious 

 damage to the durability of the timber. Perhaps, if 

 I had allowed my posts to season perfectly before 

 they were charred, and then burned the top-ends of 

 the timber instead of the buts, and set all my posts 

 top-end down, I might have been more successful. 



It has been my invariable rule for more than 

 twenty years to have all my posts set top down ; — 

 but my men are sometimes careless, and set a post 

 the same end down as it was grown in the woods ; 

 but these usually tell the stupidity of the workmen 

 in fifteen or twenty years, by breaking off at the 

 surface of the ground. How long posts are to last 

 in the ground, top down, must be left for time to 

 determine. Twenty-one years in coarse, porous, sand 

 does not yet tell cither in regard to oak or cedar. Per- 

 haps, some of your correspondents may give some 

 information on each of the foregoing points, and will 

 greatly oblige a lover of improA'ement by communi- 

 cating the same. 



llespectfully yours, 



JOHN M. AVEEKS. 



West Farms, near Middlebury, Yt., May 6, 1850. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CORN FODDER. 



Mr. Editor : Various opinions have been given on 

 the utility of corn to be cut green and given to milk 

 cows for the puri)0se of increasing the quantity of 

 milk. I was induced last season to try the experi- 

 ment ; so far, at least, as to satisfy my own mind in 

 relation to it. The comparison, you will perceive, 



was made between dry hay and green corn. The 

 result of the trial was as follows : — 



Aug. G, the weight of the milk was 98i pounds, 

 7, " " « 94| " 



'< 8, " " " 97 " 



« 9^ « « « 101 " 



" 10, " " " 102| " 



Monday and Tuesday, (6th and 7th,") the cows were fed 

 wholly on hay. On the 8th, they were fed partly on 

 hay and partly on corn ; on the 9th and 10th they 

 were fed entirely on corn in the morning, with a 

 foddering of hay at night. The milking was done 

 wholly by myself, and at the same time each day, 

 and carefully Aveighed. The pasturing was the same 

 during the whole time, which was rather poor, inas- 

 much as it was very dry. "Whatever difference there 

 was in the weight of the milk, I think, must have 

 been made by the feed given them. The compara- 

 tive cost of the corn and hay I have no means of 

 knoicing, but I guess the corn cost the least. Mj' 

 pasturing is such that I must have something upon 

 M'hich to feed my cows, and I have for years raised 

 corn for that purpose. I shall commence planting 

 for fodder about the 20th inst., and again about the 

 30th, and so on about once a week tiU the 1st, or 

 perhajDS the 10th of July, which will furnish fodder 

 from about the 1st of August to about the 1st of 

 October, or till the frosts come. 



D. MERILL, 2d. 

 Methuen, Mass., May 10, 1850. 



For the Neip England Farmer. 

 CARROTS. 



Mr. Editor : I was much pleased with a com- 

 munication in your paper of April 27, headed " Cul- 

 tivation of Carrots," and I agree with the writer, 

 Mr. Ilolbrook, on their value as an article of food for 

 stock — horses, as well as cows. For fiA'o winters 

 past, I have used them for mj- horses, and they ap- 

 pear in as good flesh and condition in the spring as 

 when I gave them grain. 



In my manner of cultivation, I differ somewhat 

 from the plan recommended by Mr. Ilolbrook. "When 

 I commenced raising carrots, I was told by persons of 

 more experience in farming than myself, that I 

 should not sow them before the first of June, as I 

 could then plough in a crop of weeds before sowing, 

 and should not have so much weeding to do after the 

 carrots came up. This plan I tried till I was satis- 

 fied it was not the best one. The method I now 

 pursue, and which has given me less trouble than 

 any other, is as follows : About the first of Decem- 

 ber, I select a piece of land that has been cultivated 

 the previous summer, plough subsoil, and harrow it. 

 I then cart on, and spread evenly over it, forty loads, 

 thirty bushels to the load, of compost manure, it 

 having been previously prci^ared by being beat up 

 very fine, — plough it in as deep as a single horse 

 plough will do it, and let the land remain in a rough 

 state during the winter ; as soon as the frost is out 

 of the ground in the spring, say by the 20th of April, 

 I plough, harrow, and sow my seed. B}' this method 

 I got through with the second weeding before haying 

 comes on, and the carrots get an carh' start before 

 the ground becomes dry, which frequently happens 

 before the middle of June. My first weeding I do 

 mostly with the hoc ; but the second is done very 

 carefully by hand, thinning the roots at tlic same 

 time to six inches apart, in the rows. !My bed I 

 make as level as possible, and I put the rows four- 

 teen inches apart. 



Last year I harvested eleven hundred bushels per 

 acre, at a cost of six and a half cents per bushel, 



