326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



nicety. We sowed a bushel last year ; a part of it 

 on old corn ground, and the rest on burnt land. The 

 burnt land yielded the most, but it was smutty. 

 One of our neighbors raised this year the greatest 

 crop ever known in this town. He sowed only two 

 bushels on as many acres of land, and from what he 

 has threshed, he judges he shall obtain from seventy- 

 five to eij^hty bushels. It was the ' Banner wheat.' 

 I just write this to let you know that we can raise 

 wheat in Somerset, as well as they can in Kennebec 

 or Aroostook. Somerset is * right side tip ' in these 

 matters, if in no others ; all we have got to do is to 

 sow the seed, and we are up with you ; and this is 

 just what farmers are doing now. Every one has 

 sown a little, and some have sown from four to six 

 bushels apiece " 



The above speaks well for the crops of next season, 

 and we think that if the seed be well sown, there 

 need be no doubt of a good yield the coming year. — 

 Maine Farmer, 



LIVE POSTS-WIRE FENCES, &,C. 



Under the caption of " Wire Fences," in the June 

 number of the Agriculturist, I sec a statement that 

 a wire fence has been built for $200 per mile, suffi- 

 cient to turn cattle, horses, &c. Cheap as this may 

 appear, I think I can offer a plan of constructing a 

 fence sufficient to turn cattle, at a far less cost, say 

 $10 or $12 per mile, which, if it prove practicable, 

 ■would be some saving. 



The plan I propose is, to procure about eight 

 quarts of long-leaved pine seed, and sow them on a 

 breadth of land where the fence is wanted, not ex- 

 ceeding two feet in width. There is no danger of 

 getting them too thick ; the thicker the better ; say as 

 thick as you would sow buckwheat, I should think 

 might answer. They will require the cattle and 

 other stock to be kept from them for about four years, 

 but will need neither cultivation nor attention of any 

 kind, except to destroy the worms, which will be 

 likely to attack some of them, in the month of June, 

 in the second, third, and fourth years, after which, 

 they will be out of danger of worms and stock ; and, 

 by the sixth or seventh years, cattle could not force 

 their way through them, and if they come thick 

 enough, there will be but little danger to be appre- 

 hended from animals of the smaller kind. 



I have a pine thicket now growing, not sown, how- 

 ever, with design of fence, in many places of which a 

 sucking pig of a few weeks old could not pass be- 

 tween them, and I infer, if the pines will grow so 

 close without arrangement, they would do the same 

 with. The above is a theory based upon observation. 

 You can take it for what it is worth ; but I intend to 

 put it into practice the coming winter, to some ex- 

 tent. Should it prove practicable to make a fence of 

 this description, large farms could be enclosed with 

 it without much loss, especially when land is cheap, 

 and a great deal of waste land, or commons, might be 

 enclosed. 



In regard to live posts for wire fence, it occurs to 

 me that pines would be better adapted than any other 

 kind of wood, as they would grow large enough in a 

 few years ; and I think the turpentine would prevent 

 corrosion of the wire. Should this prove correct, I 

 think there could be nothing more suitable ; for they 

 are rather more a fertilizer than exhauster of poor 

 land, at least, and I think they would add to the 

 beauty of the farm. Fancy to yourself a farm hand- 

 somely laid off with rows of evergreens at intervals 

 of forty or fifty feet in a row. Do you not think it 

 would he an improvement on the zigzag fence of the 

 present day ? As for the ground occupied, wheat, I 

 think, would grow up to the very roots of the tree. 

 I have just harvested wheat five feet high, within the 



distance of a common cart track from a row of pines, 

 in places thick enough for fence themselves. Corn is 

 growing on the opposite side, and looks quite healthy 

 within a few feet of the trees. This row is about one 

 eighth of a mile in length, sowed with the design of 

 seeding an old field, which the introduction of guano 

 has saved the trouble. I now intend to thin it out on 

 the plan above proposed, and insert wires with a 

 handsaw, and hope to make a formidable fence. 



Z * * .♦ 

 — America7i Agriculturist. 



Remarks. — At an agricultural meeting, a few 

 years since, at the State House, Mr. Sheldon, of 

 Wilmington, recommended the preceding plan of pine 

 hedges for fences, and stated facts in regard to the 

 rapid growth of pines under his own observation that 

 favored this plan for fences. One advantage is the 

 growth of pines for timber or fuel, if wanted for these o 

 purposes, after the trees become large. — Ed. 



RECOGNITION OF VOICE BETWEEN THE 

 EWE AND THE LAMB. 



The acuteness of the sheep's ear surpasses all 

 things in nature that I know of. A ewe will distin- 

 guish her own lamb's bleat among a thousand, all 

 braying at the same time. Besides, the distinguish- 

 ment of voice is perfectly reciprocal between the ewe 

 and the lamb, who, amid the deafening sound, run to 

 meet one another. There are few things that have ever 

 amused me more than a sheep-shearing ; and then the 

 sport contintics the whole day. We put the flock 

 into a fold, set out all the lambs to the hill, and then 

 set out the ewes to them as they are shorn. The 

 moment that a lamb hears its dam's voice, it rushes 

 from the crowd to meet her ; but, instead of finding 

 the rough, well-clad, comfortable mamma, which it 

 left an hour or a few hours ago, it meets a poor, 

 naked, shrivelling — a most deplorable-looking crea- 

 ture. It wheels about, and uttering a loud, tremu- 

 lous bleat of perfect despair, flies from the frightful 

 vision. The mother's voice arrests its flight — it 

 returns — flies, and returns again, generally for ten 

 or a dozen times before the reconcilement is fairly 

 made up. — Lay Sermons, by the Eltrick Shepherd. 



RUTA BAGA TURNIPS. 



Mr. Editor ; I wish to offer a few remarks rela- 

 tive to the most profitable method of feeding the ruta 

 baga to stock. It has generally been the custom with 

 farmers, and I presume still is so, to cut the roots, 

 and feed them to the various animals raw. A ma- 

 chine, however, has recently been invented, by which 

 these roots are reduced to a finer and much more 

 eligible condition for feeding, and in less time than 

 it requires to cut them. The machine by which this 

 is effected is called a " rasping machine," and is so 

 constructed that roots of all sizes are at once reduced 

 to a soft, pultaceous mass, very nearly resembling 

 pumpkin when prepared by the " gude vrow " for 

 pies. In this condition it requires no mastication by 

 the animals of consequence, and may be mixed with 

 facility with chopped or " chaffed" straw, cornstalks, 

 or coarse hay, all of which are eagerly partaken of 

 when mixed with it, by almost every kind of animal 

 except the hog, on the farm. Horses will " rasp " 

 their own food ; all that is necessary being to place 

 the large roots in their mangers, with no further pre- 

 vious preparation than merely to see that they are 

 carefully cleansed and freed from dirt. If one has 



