NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



July 18, 1832. 



outer l)ark ; hence tlie atlvaulaire (if scraiiiiig it ofl' 

 in old trees, while removing it in young trees does 

 harm. Mr Thomson lias scraped oft' the outer 

 bark of old trees for upwards of twenty years. 

 The best season is the spring and autumn ; and 

 after the operation the trees are painted over witli 

 a paint made of clay, pounded into a fine powder 

 and mixed with water. 



Recipe for Scab in Slieep. — The JIunster Farm- 

 er's Magazine informs, that "A member of the ag- 

 ricultural committee having found the following 

 wash very efficacious in the scab, thinks it, of ad- 

 vantage to have 'it published. The cheapness, 

 cleanliness and convenience with which it may be 

 used, recommend it in a particular manner. Half 

 an ounce of corrosive sublimate is to be dissolved 

 in two quarts of water, and to this, when dissolved, 

 a table spoonful of spirit of turpentine is to be add- 

 ed. The parts affected must be wet with this 

 mixture by means of a painter's brush ; common 

 cases will be cured by three or four applications." 



Mulberry Trees. — The quickest and most cer- 

 tain mode of raising the mulberry tree, is from the 

 cuttings of the old branches. Take a branch 

 early in the spring, eight or nine feet in length, 

 plant it half its length in any good soil, and it will 

 succeed to admiration, producing fruit the follow- 

 ing spring. — Gardener''s Magazine. 



All directions for making hay in this country, 

 without the sun, are worse than useless. Clover, 

 like other hay, to be good for anything, must be 

 dried in the sun ; care should he taken not to 

 waste the leaves, and much more not to waste 

 the stalks. Cut it when rank, as soon as half of 

 it is headed out; give it nearly three days of sun- 

 ny weather ; and dejiond on it, your cattle will 

 cat both stalk and leaf, and fatten on it. A poimd 

 of it thus cured, jirobably contains as much nutr- 

 ment as a pound of any other grass. The excro 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARSIER. 



" After being cut, the clover sliould remain in 

 the swath till it is dried about two thirds of its 

 tbicknrss. ]t is then not tedded or strewed, but 

 turneil over, either by the hands or the heads of 

 hay rakes. If turned over in the morning of a 

 day, it may be cocked in the evening. The hay 

 lis little shaken or scattered about afterwards as 

 possible; and if the weather be good, after remain- 

 ing for two 01- three days in the cock, it may be 

 carried into the stack." 



Mr Lorain gives us both sides of this question. 



ment of cattle fed on such hay, will look as if they ^Ile says, " I did not like to abandon the practice 



were fed on meal. 



The objections to clover hay are, it is not so 

 easily secured from rains in cocks, and it suffers 

 much by renroval after it has been once stored, 

 more than other hay docs. 



Yours," respectfully, - W. B. 



Framingham, July (i, 1832. 



Remarks by the Editor. 



The directions which we republished from the 

 Farmer's Manual, relative to making hay from clo- 

 ver, and which form the subject of our correspon- 

 dent's animadversions, correspond with the rules 

 laid down by most of the writers we i-ecollect to 

 have read on this subject. Still, on inquiry, we 

 tind that our practical fanners entertain different 

 opinions, and pursue different practices in making 

 clover hay. The general method is tliusdcsctibed 

 by Loudon and others. 



The making of herbage plants, [such as clover, 

 lucerne, sain foin, burnet, <Scc,] into hay, is a pro- 

 cess somewhat different from that of making hay 

 rasscs. As soon as the swath is 

 thoroughly dry above, it is gently turned over (not 



MAKING HAY FROM CLOVER. 



Mr Fessenden — In your last No. (vol. x. page 

 402,) I noticed an extract from the Farmer's Man- 

 ual, on making clover hay. The writer assutues ) from natura 



that " the heads and leaves of clover are its prin , , , . . ^ 



cipal value," and he then sives directions for cu- tedded nor scattered,) without breaking it. Some- 

 ring these at the expense ol the stalk. 1 have ol- 

 ten seen similar directions in English ])ublications, 

 but all our practical farmers, I trust, know a iar 

 better mode to make hay, either from clover or 

 any other grass 



If the writer's premises arc true, why do we 

 cultivate clover ? Its stalk is twice the weight of 

 its head and leaves. It would be absurd, then, to 

 cultivate this grass and lose two thirds of it, when 

 we can raise other grasses equally good and save 

 the whole. Wc are directed in haying clover, to 

 let the swaths, cut after the dew is off", lie untouch- 

 ed till noon ; but if showers threaten, make the 

 clover into small cocks immediately after it is cut ; 

 these must never be opened, but are to lie four 

 days at least in the heap, to cure the leaves and 

 heads. Now it will not require three days to cure 

 • the whole, stalks and leaves, when exposed to the 

 sun. We are not much in fear of showers on grass 

 of any kind just cut, and do not put it in cocks. 



We^are next told to follow the mower and turn 

 over the swaths gently. Why gently? will the 

 leaves fall oft' when green ? We direct our boys 

 to shake them roughly; shake ihein to pieces; 

 shake off"the dew and expose the whole to the sun 

 and air, to be dried and sweetened. We never 

 turn it gently till it is partially dried. When a 



times this is done by the hand or by a small fork ; 

 and some farmers are so anxious to jirevent tbe 

 swath from being broken, that they will not per- 

 mit the use of the rake shaft. Another writer ob- 

 serves, that the practice of the best English, Flem- 

 ish, and French farmers, is to expose the hay as 



f.^' curing hay in the swath, having observed that 

 it saved labor. The grasses are at all times very 

 expeditiously turned in the swath. If continued 

 rains occur, the swaths are not only quickly turn- 

 ed, but if the sun shines powerfully between the 

 showers, the inside of them is not parched by its 

 rays. By turning the swaths throughout long con- 

 tinued rain, as often as the underside of thorn was 

 likely to be injured by fermentation, I have saved 

 extensive "fields of hay ; while my neighbors, w)i«j 

 gave no attention to this interesting subject, had 

 their crops entirely ruined. If the grasses, how- 

 ever, be raked up into small winrows, they are as 

 readily turned and may he as eff'ectually preserved 

 as if they remained in swaths, but in this case the 

 labor is greater." 



The same writer, however, in the next para- 

 graph, takes other ground. " Curing hay," he 

 observes, " in swath, to save the juices, seems to 

 be not only practically wrong, but also opposed to 

 reason. The confined heat and moisture in the 

 interior of the swath promote fermentation, and 

 must le more or less injurious to the nutritive mat- 

 ter ccntained in the grasses. It is exactly calcula- 

 ,ted to weaken the grasp of the leaves, and to sep- 

 arajc them from the stalk. It also greatly we.ik- 

 ffns their general texture .and causes them to crum- 

 into pieces, when they become dry. While this 

 is doing, the outside surface of the swath is scorch- 

 ed by the rays of the sun, and becomes but little 

 better than straw, before tbe inside is moderately 



little as possible to the sun. It is carried in dry, ; cured. In raking, cocking, heaping, and inning 



but preserves its green color ; and we see hay oi 

 one or two years old in their market, of so bright 

 a green color, that we could scarcely conceive it 

 to be cured. Yet they are in the practice of pre- 

 serving it for years, and value it more for its age. 

 If such a course be best in climates so cool and 

 cloudy, how much more important would it be 

 under our scorching summer suns. 



" But if the weather be unsettled or if showers 

 be Irequent, it may be better to spread grass zocll 

 as soon as it is mowed, stir it often, cock it the 

 same day it is mowed ; open it the next fair day, 

 when the dew is oft'; let it sweat a little in the 

 cock, and house it as soon as it is dry enough. It 

 will bear to be laid greener on a scaffiild than in a 

 ground mow ; and in a narrow mow, greener than 

 in a broad one ; and that which is least of all 

 made, should be put upon a scaffold." — Deane. 



Sir John Sinclair is very explicit on the subject 

 of "making clover into hay." "The process," 



the swaths are so far separated, that many of the 

 leaves are lost before the hay gets into the mow ; 

 jut few of them get into the rack." 



We have thus given both sides of the contro- 

 verted question in agriculture, and our readers 

 Till take that which appears to them most tenable.. 

 "Ve confess ourselves rather inclined to embrace ' 

 the o])iuions of our correspondent above. If it be 

 (orrect to " make hay while the sun shines," it 

 nay be well to make it as (piickly as possible ; but 

 it this, as in many other processes, circumstances 

 ater cases. 



hired man turns green swaths gently, we give him observes, " is quite diff'erent from the plan of mal. 



only half pay. 



The direction to make it in dry weather, we 

 do not object to. None of us think wet weather 

 so good as dry, for hay-making. Some are daily 

 looking at the moon and the almanac, to learn 

 when to cut hay. We say to them, the moon has 

 no hand in the business, that one day's sun is 

 worth a dozen moons for making hay. 



ay from natural grasses. In all cases, clover 

 ought to be mown before the seed is formed, that 

 the full juice and nourishment of the plants may 

 be retained in the bay. By the adoption of this 

 system, the hay is cut in a better season, it can be 

 more easily secured, and it is much more valua- 

 ble ; nor is the strength of the plant lodged in the 

 seed, which is often lost. 



From llie Ijiverpoot Slercury. 



REMARKS ON THE CHOLERA. 



We shall not waste our time nor expose our 

 igiorauee, in discussing whether the cholera he of 

 amospheric, volcanic, telluric, electric, galvanic, 

 or magnetic origin ; nor whether tbe disease be 

 enfeniical, epidemical, or contagious. As these 

 ar^points upon which the learned difl'er toio calo, 

 we shall off'er no opinion ; for " Who shall decide 

 wh^n doctors disagree ?" It is more to our pres- 

 ent |)ur|)ose to urge the following facts upon the 

 attention uf our readers. It appears jiretiy gener- 

 allyadmitted, that the atmosjdiere and llie disease 

 are In some way connected, as cause and eff"ect, 

 whilevcr other Influences may conspire to aggra- 

 vatathe symptoms. 



