VOL. in 



JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHKT) nv .TOllN B. K USSKLL, ROGKllS' B UH.DING.S CONGKKSS STRKKT, BOSTON.— TflOM AS G. KF.S?KNDKN, JuTlTOK? 



No. 27. 



©lignral Commum'cntioiis. 



RUT.A BAG A. 



A liighly valued corrc,s[)onilont, residing; in 

 All);inv, alter Slating that lie li;ul met wilh some 

 disa|)|)oinlment in an altempl lo cnllivate the 

 Jlan^el Wurtzel in conscijuence of the seeds' 

 coming u|i badlv, snys ; 



" 'I'lie Kuli Baga, however, is enhanced in 

 ray estiuialion, as n)y_ experience in cultivating 

 it increases. It is imil'orinly a sure anti iibund- 

 ant crop. 1 have raised it Ihisyear, I'or the lliird 

 time, as a second crop, after Clover. I applied 

 50 lo:u!s of manure to t«o and an half acres, ni- 

 ter the clover was taken of!', spread it, plonglied 

 and harrowed the ground, ;ind drilled in (he 

 seed. Tiiecrop was Letivecn 1 Sand 1 100 liush- 

 els, and the whole expense, including the whoie 

 charge for manure, less than two cents and a hall 

 a hushel. They are more easily cultivated than 

 Mangel Wurtzel, occupy llie ground a shorter 

 time, are more easily preserved, and l;eep long- 

 er. I shall hcgin lo feed them out early in 

 Jlarch, and calculate to keep seven cows, ;ind a 

 yoke of oxen on thoin, with an acre of Lucerne, 

 till the middle or last of July, wiliiout the aid 

 of pasture. Thus the product of three ami a 

 half acres will enable me to to conveit 10 or £0 

 acres- of pasture to meadow ; the hay from which 

 will form no inconsiderable item in the market- 

 al4e produce of my farm.'' 



roa THE Kr.iv Exci-iuD farmer. 



SUPERSTITION. 



" THE TWELVE DAYS OF CimiSTMAS." 



Worcester County, Jan. G, 1825. 



Yesterday was one of the last of the twelve, 

 ant) according (o the vulgar estimate, of a day 

 for every month of the year in their order, 1825 

 is to be a most delightful year. 



On the fourth day of Christmas there were 

 signs of coming snow. I was engaged in a job 

 of work thai snow would interrupt. One of my 

 neighbours, well read in books and tolerably 

 well practised in the vvorld, meeting me, ! sa- 

 luted him as usual; and added in a lone of half 

 inquiry, " we are going to have some snow." 

 1 was surprised, and put to silence by the confi- 

 dent manner in which he asserted the contrary ; 

 and was put in doubt of his calm senses by his 

 gratuitous assertion, " we are not to have much 

 snow this winter." It is hard conversing with 

 a man that knows very much more than we do 

 or can know ; and being totally blanked by his 

 assurance and my own ignorance of the storms 

 to come, I dropped the subject. 



Coming into the wood-lot, some day-labourers 

 soon joined me, io urge forward the work. One 

 said, " This is April ; it will surely be a pleasant 

 month." I paid no attention to bin). 



AVhile I played a stout scythe among the 

 ■brush in front of the choppers, and made a clear 

 space for the falling trees, 1 mused upon the 

 events of the morning. " My neio-hbour," 

 thought I, "says boldly," there will be very little 

 snoxj this winter because Christmas and the fol- 



FR IDAY. J ANUARY 28. 1825. 



lowing days were uncommonly fair and mild for 

 the season: and my fellow labourer's observa- 

 tion of the day and the month, has a tendency 

 lo persuade himself and impress youth, that 

 there is some propriety in noticing these linys." 

 Men that know not wliat eNe ^ talk about, 

 sometimes introduce the indicalin#s of the wea- 

 ther for the coming year by llie twelve days of 

 Chrislma.s, merely to (ill up the time, and to say 

 a pleasant thing. The ignorant and lh<' youn? 

 are puzzled, and many of tliein receive the 

 matter for truth. 



Of (he same idle and extravagant character 

 is another common saying wilh some, that " the 

 last Friday in a monlh governs (he weather of 

 the month following." The folly of these s.ay- 

 iiigs is apparent to every reader : but children 

 and those who do not read coQStilule a large 

 portion of the community, and lo tiiem the fol- 

 ly is not apparent,— they give some*, heed to 

 the sayinffs. 



I have snlTered by listening in childhood to 

 old wometi's fables. — '-To this day," savs a 

 Iriend, " I hardly look upon the new moon, for 

 the tirst time, wilhout feeling a peculiar emo- 

 tion of pleasure at linding it over my right, or 

 of doubt at finding it over my left." All do nol 

 retain (lie impressions of childhood alike. — 

 Then, however, impressions arc deepest, and 

 the utmost care should he taken (o make (hem 

 best — to pull all weeds from (he fruitful soil — 

 not scatter tha seeds of Ihem with a thoughtless 

 hand. B. 



provement of the science of Agriculture verv 

 much in esleem. 



Wilh sentiments of respect, thine, &c. 



.lOIlN M. KAIGHxT^ 



TO THE EDiroR OF THE KP.W ENGLAND FARMER. 



MACHINE FOR RAISING WATljJR. 



Vellow Collagt, {Pa.) Ist month ^j, 1S25. 

 Rr.spccTED Friend,— >hi the New England Farm- 

 er for i\ugust 21, 1821, (here is a communica- 

 (ion signed II. requesting information on "the 

 subject of raising water for irrigation, and olher 

 economical purposes, by a wind-mill or a pump 

 set in motion by wind, — the advanlsges and dis- 

 advantages attending that mode of raising water, 

 the manner of making, and adapting, — and (he 

 expense of the machinery for that purpose." — 

 This request, I believe, has not ye( been com- 

 plied wi(h. I would iherefore propose for Ihy 

 consideration, whether it would not be a suita- 

 ble time to again solicit of the patrons of the 

 Farmer, such information on the subject as any 

 of (hem may be in possession of; for there are 

 many farms that are not accommodated wi(h a 

 stream of water running (hrough them, and have 

 suffered much loss for the want of an easy power 

 to raise water for stock and other purposes of a 

 domestic nature, as in such situations it is gene- 

 rally a considerable depth to the springs, and if 

 a pump is put in a well, it is so laborious a bu- 

 siness to get water, that in some instances il 

 amounts to almost a prohibition, unless il can be 

 done by machinery of a simple construclion. — 

 If thee is \0 possession of the information re- 

 quested, and will give it publicity, thee will 

 confer a favour on at least one of the subscribers 

 to the New England Farmer, who has the im- 



TO THE flinoR OF TriE NEW E.\Gl.AMri FARMER . 



Mrddlrscr, Jan. IC, 1C25. 

 Mr Fr.ssi:.M)EN, — I have been much pleased 

 wilh the Address of Gen. Hahteii, of Maryland, 

 and the Reports of the Committees of (he Wor. 

 cester Agriculliiral Society, lately published in 

 yonr paper, and beg leave to make a few re. 

 marks, suggested by them, and by some other 

 articles in your paper. 



The Committee have found (ba( further cir 

 cnmspeclinn is necessary as lo Ihg appearance 

 of cattle presented for premiums. In some in- 

 stances a want of discipline was observed in (he 

 working cattle ; (his ever ought to be noticed 

 by the Committee as a culpable neglect in the 

 farmer, and for this neglect, he ought to be neg- 

 lected by (he Commidee. The ox can be as 

 easily disciplined as the horse or the camel. — 

 As respects cows, it is right (o require certifi- 

 cates of (heir quality and keeping. 



The regulation at" the fee<ling of catlle uni- 

 formly, 'and keeping them clean is important, 

 and ougiit lobe observed by every prudent farm- 

 er, who expects to receive encouragement from 

 our excellent Agricultural Societies. Mr Dear- 

 horn has constructed a weighing machine to be 

 adapted to any barn; but I have not heard of 

 itshi:'np used by farmers, so that no observations 

 can be made on it as an im[irovement. respect- 

 ing (he quantity of food consumed by each crea- 

 ture, which is as important as to know the quan- 

 tity of milk given by each cow — so as lo contrast 

 the one with (he olher in these da3s of improve- 

 ments. 



Green food is highly .recommended as winter 

 food for cattle, particularly pumpkins, which 

 are said to be excellent; but as they do not 

 keep long after being housed in the fall, turnips, 

 (hough not so good, are recommended as a sub- 

 stitute. 1 wish to mention here an improvement 

 (ha( I lately ascertained by accident, respecting 

 (he keeping of pumpkins. Knowing their im- 

 portance as food for catlle long ago, and being 

 disappointed in all my schemes to preserve them 

 long, after gathering them in the fall, I adopted 

 various modes, and failed in them all. In the 

 (irst part of this winter, I carefully examined 

 the nalure of the defect as it occurred, and found 

 that those which had the stems broken offclose 

 lo the body of the pumpkin invariably began to 

 be defective and to rot, while those which had 

 a stem to them, ever so weak, remained sound, 

 and are so now. I suppose the air entered 

 where the stem was and occasioned (he decay. 

 A new species of pumpkins or squashes intro- 

 duced among us some years ago, called negro 

 heads, promised a great improvement of the 

 kinds — but (he real species have almost disap- 

 peared, and it is to be regretted that they were 

 not managed better, by planting them in a sepa- 

 rate field from any other kind. Neglecting thi« 

 [irecaution produced degeneracy, as is the case 

 wilh almost all exotics. But I Wc^ pleased to 



