310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



fruit and flower, and checkered with abundance, man 



is conducted uithin its limits, and ordained its cul- 

 tivator, under the very eye and sanction of Heaven. 

 The ancjels of heaven descend upon its hills; God 

 himself appears within its valleys at noonday ; its 

 proves are instinct with life and purity, and the 

 blessed stars rise at night above the celestial moun- 

 tains, to keep watch over its consecrated interests. 

 Its gorgeous forests, its broad savannas, its levels 

 of flood and prairie, are surrendered into the hands 

 of the wondrously favored, and newly-created heir 

 of heaven ! The bird and the beast are made his 

 tributaries, and taught to obey him. The lark sum- 

 mons him at morning to his labors, and the evening 

 chant of the night bird invites him to repose. The 

 ox submits his neck to the yoke ; the horse moves at 

 his bidding in the plough ; and the toils of all are 

 rendered sacred and successful by the gentle showers 

 and the genial sunshine, which descend from heaven, 

 to ripen the grain in its season, and to make earth 

 pleasant with its fruits. 



BEST TIME TO CUT TIMBER. 



A pamphlet has been published under the super- 

 vision of A. S. Iloberts, Esq., corresponding seci-e- 

 tary of the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agri- 

 culture, in reference to the best time for cutting 

 timber for fencing and other agricultural purposes. 

 It embraces the substance of letters received from 

 various persons, who had been requested to commu- 

 nicate the results of their observation on this subject. 

 The writers do not profess to found their opinions on 

 experiments conducted in such a manner as to fully 

 settle the question ; on the contrary, so far as con- 

 clusions are given, they are drawn from such facts as 

 have fallen in the way of the respective individuals. 

 For this reason, it is not, perhaps, strange that they 

 should present great diversity — some being in favor 

 of the winter as the best time, others the spring, 

 others midsummer, and others autumn. Several, 

 perhaps a majority, of the writers are in favor of 

 June, or that part of the season when the bark will 

 most easily peel off". Such has been the conclusion 

 to which our own observation has tended. It may 

 be here suggested as probable, that the general dura- 

 bility of timber cut at this season of the year, is at- 

 tributable to its being divested of its bark as soon as 

 cut, and exposed at once to the drying influence of 

 the atmosphere, which soon evaporates the moisture, 

 causing so great a shrinkage as effectually to close 

 the pores, reiulcring it thereafter almost impervious 

 to the agents of decomposition. 



ECONOMICAL FOOD FOR HORSES. 



Some of the English farmers, who use horses in 

 their work much more than we do, have experi- 

 mented carefully on the different modes of keeping 

 them economically, at the same time keeping up 

 their flesh and strength. 



Stevens, in his Book of the Farm, has considerable 

 to say upon this important branch of rural economy. 



Our farmers, where they have an abundance of 

 fodder, pay but little attention to these matters. The 

 boy is told to go and feed the old horse, and he 

 tumbles down hay before him, more than he can eat 

 in a day. ITc is told to give him his provender, and 

 he puts before him a lot of oats, it may be six quarts, 

 or eight quarts, or half a bushel, just as it happens. 

 But where th; re is less profusion of feed, and more 

 economy required, the first thing obtained is a good 

 straw-cutter, and the horses are kei)t on cut feed. 



Stevens says there should be a regular feed pre- 



pared for farm horses, and administered every day, 

 and he gives the following formula to prepare this 

 feed, as follows : — 

 In the morning, 3^ lbs. of oat and bean meal, 



and 1 1 lbs. of chopped straw, 14^ lbs. 



At midday, 3 lbs. of oat and bean meal, 



and 12 lbs. of chopped straw, 15 lbs. 



At night, l^ lb. of oat and bean meal, 11 lbs. 



of steamed potatoes, and 2 lbs. of chopped 



straw 14i lbs. 



44 lbs. 



This quantity, he says, will bo sufficient for the 

 strongest farm horse, and less will be consumed by 

 ordinary ones; but that can be regulated according 

 to circumstances, by withdrawing a little meal and 

 straw. The bean meal which he mentions is the 

 meal of the English horse bean, which is made great 

 use of in that country. We can raise it well enough 

 here, but it is not equal to Indian corn, which we 

 can raise much easier. By substituting corn meal for 

 bean meal in the above mixture, you have a better 

 compound, 



Stevens says the usual allowance of oats in that 

 country, for a horse, is eleven and one half pounds 

 per day, when the grain is of the finest quality; but 

 as horses do not always get the finest qualitj', the 

 allowance may be taken at ten pounds : and when 

 hay is given them in spring, they eat at least one 

 and one half stone, which is twenty-one pounds, and 

 this, with the oats, will make thirty-three pounds 

 every day. 



It will be seen that the above mixture is made up 

 of straw, instead of hay, for the fibrous part. 



The meal and the chopped straw are mixed to- 

 gether in a tub, and a little salt mixed with them, 

 the steamed potatoes, or twenty-three pounds of 

 ruta baga turnips poured in with them, and the 

 whole mashed up and let stand to acquii-e a uniform 

 temperature. 



This part of the process, namely, the boiled or 

 steamed roots, will not be convenient for our farmers 

 to attend to every day; but their place can be sub- 

 stituted by a little more meal and cold water, in the 

 warmer parts of the season, or warm water in the 

 winter, and it will make an excellent and economical 

 feed for horses that work on the farm. — Main* 

 Farmer. 



« 



STEAMING POTATOES. 



The secret of " steaming " potatoes is very little 

 understood, and rarely carried into full effect, al- 

 though it is indispensable to the nutritious develop- 

 ment of the vegetable. The whole mystery consists 

 in suffering the steam to escape, and at the same 

 time keeping the potatoes hot. When the cook 

 throws off the water, under the jurisdiction of the 

 cookery book, what is she to do next ? The steam 

 rushes out, and she places the vessel opposite the 

 fire ; but fearful that the potatoes may cool in the 

 mean while, she puts on the cover. Thus she undoes 

 one process by the other ; for the steam no sooner 

 escapes from the potatoes, than, being confined by the 

 lid, it condenses rapidly, and falls back in water 

 u])on the vegetables. And thus, through the igno- 

 rance and obstinacy of our cooks, we are perpetually 

 served with what are familiarly called wet potatoes 

 — a sort of vague excuse, which helps to throw the 

 fault against the season, or the gardener, or any thing, 

 or any body, rather than the real culprit. The Irish 

 peasant woman, wholly ignorant of science, but with 

 instinttive sagacity, gets rid of the difficulty by the 

 simplest process imaginable. Placing the vessel, with- 

 out the cover, in a slanting direction, opposite the 

 fire, so as to hasten the process of steaming by tho 



