1825.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



'29'i 



appeal with confiilence to the visible chang^es 

 which have been jirnduccd in inanyof otir most 

 respeclable counlios, as well in the approved 

 system of agriculture, its benig^n efTecIs in pub- 

 lic nioriiN, aliove all, incroasnifif our native re- 

 sources in (lompstic m.inulactures, callingf forth 

 many new articles, and thus creatine: a self de- 

 pendence to the fjradual exclusion of foreign 

 manufactures, and in the same proportion en- 

 riching our own citiznns. It will also be admit- 

 ted by every impajtial man, that our domestic 

 anim^N have greatly increased and improved, 

 by means of annual premiums. by jiidicious selec- 

 tions, and the importation of the best breeds from 

 other countries. Were it necessary to multiply 

 proofs, the committee could triumphantly refer 

 to every stale in the Union, and to the testimony 

 of the most distinguished statesmen and agricul- 

 turalists in the United States, in reference to the 

 glorious effects which the Berkshire systemhas 

 already conferred on the nation, although it can 

 only be considered in an embryo state of pro- 

 gression. 



The committee in conclusion will avail them- 

 selves of some extracts from a recent address 

 of the patriotic president of the Jefferson county 

 agricultural society. Also extracts from com- 

 muiiicalions made to him by presidents of ag- 

 ricultural societies, in a condensed view. He says 

 in substance, that the bjjnefits that county has 

 received i>om its agricultural societies, are so 

 great, that their welfare requires their contin- 

 uing the society, even if the state should permit 

 the law to expire by its own limitation. He then 

 speaks of the seven or eight millions of dollars 

 expended on our canals, " What a sum, gentle- 

 men, compared with the small appropriations for 

 the encouragement of agricultural and manufac- 

 turing interests. 1 do not hesitate to say, that 

 preportionally, the annual employment even of 

 that small sum, with proper restrictions and reg- 

 ulations, will be more profitable to the state in 

 a financial point of view, than the sums expended 

 on the can.ils." The illustrious Madison says, 

 " the advancement of agriculture is the primary 

 object of our national prosperity." 



The celebrated Judge Peters of Philadelphia, 

 says, '-the visible marks of emulation and im- 

 provement ajipear in every part of our country." 

 The pre-iident of the Berkshire Society in a 

 recent letter, states, " that the resources''of the 

 county have increased at least fifty per cent., 

 that the tillage products have augmented equally, 

 great improvements in agricultural implements, 

 in all animal-i, a better selection ofseeds, a gener- 

 al incitement mong all classes of citizens, female 

 etlorts greatly excited, in a word, calling into 

 action unusual efforts, taking the most beneficial 

 direction." Another president of one of our 

 western counties, says, " agricultural societies 

 have been highly useful to the community ; the 

 improvements in agriculture have advanced 

 more in a few years than they would have done 

 in half a century without them: the visible marks 

 of usefulness are the improved slate of the farms 

 as to cultivation, fences, orchards, buildings, a- 

 daptation of crops to their proper uses ; improv- 

 ed breeds of animals and of domestic manufac- 

 tures;" the views of the farmers are also enlar- 

 ged, prejudices removed, their resources dis- 

 played,— in short, they feel their importance. 

 The committee will barely add, that if the Sen- 

 ate should be convinced that any one branch of 



the objects committed to the patronage of the 

 agricultural societies, have been " essentially 

 benefited, it will then be found an incumbent 

 dutv to renovate and extend the law of 1810. 



Payments made at the treasury to aijricultu- 

 ral societies and to the board of agriculture, in 

 pursuance to the law of 1819. 



Pd. board of Jig. Pd.socktiet. 



1819, gS0,152 



1820, 11,243 85 



1821, g4,440 7,792 



1822, 7,220 21 



1823, 1,400 7,040 12 



1824, 9,891 



ibfi\0 g4G,337 36 



Total amount expended by the state in six 

 years, ^52,177 00, equal to about one eighth 

 part of one year's interest on the canal loan. 



A CHEAP ANB EASY METHOD OF RAISING CALVES. 



At a week or ten days old, take them from the 

 cow, milk a sufficient quantity for the calf into 

 a bowl or dish, and learn him to drink, which 

 requires about a week's time ; then make a thick 

 gruel of rye meal and water, boiled a shert lime 

 with a little salt. Also take one pint of flaxseed 

 with three quarts of water, boil it ten or twelve 

 minutes, which will make a strong jelly, and set 

 it by in a cool place for use. When the call has 

 learned to drink, prepare a three legged trough 

 made of poplar or some other sweet wood, and 

 let i( always be kept sweet and clean. You may 

 put half skimmed milk with new, and add from 

 half a pint to a pint of the gruel boiling hot, 

 with from half to a gill of the flaxseed jelly, 

 and bring it to the temperature of new milk — 

 let the mess be well stirred up. 



After the first week of feeding in this way, 

 you may use skimmed milk allogether, with the 

 other ingredients. A spoonful of molasses would 

 be a great addition. If too large a mess is giv- 

 en, the calf will be what is called pot-bellied, 

 which will cause him to scour, to cure which 

 shave off a table spoonful of chalk from a lump, 

 and add two thirds as much rye flour, wet i( up 

 with gin into a paste of the consistence of putty, 

 make three balls about the size of a walnut each, 

 put one hand under his chops, raising his head 

 with the other, put the balls into the side of his 

 mouth, and he will soon be fond of them. At 

 first he \v\\\ drink from three pints to two quarts 

 morning and evening. As he grows, the quan- 

 tity should be increased as you find he will bear 

 without being large bellied or scouring. The 

 method may be pursued 12 or 14 weeks. If 

 loo much trouble, you may omit the gruel after 

 a month or six weeks ; the jelly should be con- 

 tinued, and the milk warmed. Thej should be 

 supplied with good hay and a little Indian meal 

 during the time. On trial, it will be found the 

 calves will be much larger than when brought 

 up in the common way, requiring much less 

 trouble, and a saving of the cream. In this way 



calves may be raised any season of the year. 



They should be kept at hay during the time of 

 feeding ; and it is of no consequence what sea- 

 son they come, if they are promising calves. 



The foregoing is from actual experiment made 

 on a small October calf. I think she will be a 

 well sized cow, and have a calf at two years of 

 age. — Springfield Republican. 



PRESERVATION OP SEEDS. 



The late Dr Roxburgh, when in India, ap- 

 pears to have been in the habit of putting up 

 Ihe various seeds, which, among other things 

 he wished to send home to Englanrl, in an en- 

 velope of gum arable ; they were coated with 

 a thick mucilage of gum, which hardened around 

 them ; and he was informed by Sir John Prin- 

 gle, the President of the Royal Society , that the 

 seeds had been received in a better slate of pre- 

 servation, particularly the mimosas, than he had 

 ever seen the same kinds arrive from countries 

 equally distant. 



SPLITTING ROCKS. 

 Communicated by Dr M'Culloch to the Ed- 

 inburgh Journal of Science.)— Every practic- 

 al man must be aware of the expense and waste 

 of labour and tools attending the ordinary mode 

 of blasting rocks and large ma.';ses of stone, by 

 gunpowder, either for building or lor clearing 

 rough ground. It was this expense, rendering 

 it difficult for him to carry on his >vork at the 

 contract price, which induced Mr Mackenzie, 

 Ihe contractor of a road from Loch Ewe to 

 Gaialochi to abandon the system of blasting, and 

 to adopt, like another Hannibal, that of the sim- 

 ple application of fire. His method was never 

 found to fail, merely consisting in raising a fire 

 of peat turf, bushes, or weeds, according to the 

 character of the adjoining ground on the sur- 

 face of the stone to be split, which being secur- 

 ed at Ihe margin by the stones, or turf, was kept 

 in activity for five or six hours. At first, Mr 

 Mackenzie was in the habit of throwing water 

 on the stone when the fire was extinguished, 

 but this is not necessary, as he found Ihe mere 

 heating- of Ihe mass, in every instance, sufficient 

 for opening and enlarging the fissures, so as to 

 admit of a small wedge. This wedge is easily 

 and expeditiously driven in. and the rock giving 

 way in the direction of some of its natural clev- 

 ages l:ii:;e slices are obtained, fit for the erection 

 of dyke^ or bridges. Although it was connect- 

 ed with road making that Mr Mackenzie first 

 had'recourse to the simple process, it is evident 

 that it can be applied to the removal ef those 

 large masses of rocks which are seen disfiguring 

 almost every field in Ihe inclosed parks of the 

 Highlands ; and though hitherto applied to de- 

 tached fragments of no great magnitude, practice 

 may prove the possibility of employing it in the 

 fracture of the larsjest rocks. 



GUAGE TO. DIVIDE BOARDS AND PLANK. 



I was surprised to see not only boards, but 

 plank, divided by a common carpenters' guage 

 only made large and strong, and applied 

 first on one side and then on the other, instead 

 of sawing as commonly practised. The opera- 

 tion is expeditious, and leaves the edge of the 

 plank smooth : it is not nece.ssary to cut half 

 the thickness on each side, but as the glazier 

 cuts the glass with the diamond, so this cut en- 

 ables Ihe workman to break the work asunder: 

 no wood is lost. 



To preserve Garden Vegetables from being in- 

 jured by frost. — After a freezing night, sprinkle 

 by day-break cold water plentifully all over llic 

 frozen vegetables from a water pot 



