1855. 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



27 



THE BLACKSMITH. 



MY B. ROBEnTS. 



0, a mighty man is the bhicksmith, 



TVith his sinewy arm and strong ; 

 And as the world have termed him wright, 



We will not ivrite him wrong. 

 He'd blow and strike, and hammer and pound, 



Though a man of peace is he ; 

 He's often given to forging, 



But never to forgery. 



He'll screw and twist, and wrench and turn, 



Though honest in his dealing ; 

 And while he often takes the steel. 



He never takes to stealing. 



His stock is seldom less than par, 



And often takes a rise ; 

 No matter what his virtues are. 



He's much to do with vise. 



His temper it is always good. 



Though hard tilings form his lot ; 

 He's often in a "melting mood," 



And strikes while the iron's hot. 



He sometimes sways an iron rod, 



Although a foe to tyranny ; 

 His figures are not those of speech, 



Though oft he uses irony. 



And ere his great work is complete, 



And he shall close his books, 

 Our swords he'll into plowshares beat, 



Our spears to pruniug-hooks. 



Rural New-Yorker. 



CALirORHIA AGRICULTURAL PRE 



MIUMS. 



Farming in California is becoming a businoss, 

 of some consequence. We see by the California 

 Farmer — quite a smart paper for the new State — 

 that a great Cattle Show was to come off the 

 4th of October and following days. The State 

 awards the Agricultural Society five thousand 

 dollars annually for years, to be given as pre- 

 miums. The premiums arc decidedly worth get- 

 ting. Among others, for the best farm, $200 ; 

 second best, $175. The premium for the best 

 flower garden, ($40) is a new idea this way. 

 Tlierc is offered a prize of fifteen dollars for the 

 best twenty-five cars of seed corn ; best fifty 

 pounds of butter, fifty dollars ; best quart of cran- 

 berries, ton dollars ; best evergreen wreath, twenty 

 dollars. For the best six pumpkins, (probably 

 proposed by a New Englandcr,) ten dollars. 



Premiums are ofiered with great liberality for 

 farm vehicles, (why not here?) This is a good 

 one : For the best cart horse, to be shown in 

 cart, twenty dollars. 



The most important " live stock " premium 

 proposed was one of one hundred dollars for the 

 "finest baby under one year old." Just at tlie 

 last moment, the executive committee thought it 

 wouldn't hardly do and wittidrcw it. Their pru- 

 dence will save unnecessary crying. 



Concord, 1854. w. d. b. 



1^" The Tippecanoe Farmer is the name of a 

 new agricultural paper published at Lafayette, 

 Indiana. It is well printed, filled with instructive 

 matter, and will undoubtedly do good service in 

 the cause. Edited by A. J. Weaver and John 

 LovERiXG. Fifty cents a year. 



TURNIPS AND SALT HAY. 



We copy from the Maine Farmer, oi" Oftoher 9, 

 1854, a paper published under the editorial care 

 of Dr. E. Holmes, at Augusta, the following cor- 

 respondence, which, if we do not mistake, will be 

 read with interest by many a farmer. ^Ve make 

 no pretensions ourselves to a knowledge of the 

 growing of turnips, or I lie peculiar qualities of salt 

 hay so much of which springs spontaneously, 

 without culture, all along our shores ; but Avhen 

 the elements of these products are incorporated in 

 the form of a sirloin of beef, with the streaks of 

 fat and lean properly intermingled, (or to use the 

 expressive phi-ase of Mr. Sprague, "well marbled") 

 we yield to no one, of our inches, in the aljility to 

 do it justice. When we see names like those ap- 

 proving this experiment, gentlemen whose opinions 

 are confirmed by the experiments of many years, we 

 think we are safe in following their lead, and in 

 endeavoring to lead others in like paths. There is 

 more real utility, in one such experiment, well es- 

 tablished, than in all the fancy speculations ever 

 put forth, without confirmation by experiment. 



GOOD USE OF TURNIPS AND SALT-HAY. 



Mr. Editor : — I forward for publication in 

 your paper, a copy of a letter that I used in speak- 

 ing to the farmers of York county, on the 5th 

 inst.,at Biddeford. It contains facts, in my opin- 

 ion, worthy to be remembered. It is supported 

 by the names of Webster and Sprague — as well en- 

 titled to credit in such matters as any 1 know. — 

 Let any one pass from Boston to the Kennebec, 

 and take a glance at the salt marshes liy the way, 

 and he will see abundant occasion to seek a valu- 

 able use for salt hay, and for the growing of tur- 

 nips, in these days, when the potato has so gene- 

 rally failed, though I am happy to say that our 

 potatoes the present season are much better than 

 we had any reason to expect. Eight hundred 

 bushels of turnips to the acre, c n be raised as 

 easily as two hundred bushels of potatoes, or as 

 50 bushels of corn, so far as my observation has 

 extended. I was much pleased with the fine work- 

 ing oxen that I saw at Biddeford ; while sucli an- 

 imals can be reared on such farms, there can I)e 

 little necessity of introducing animals from aliroad, 

 at three times the cost for which tliey can be reared. 



J. W. Pkoctor. 



Danvers, Mass., Oct. 7, 1854. 



Hon. J. W. Proctor, 



Dear Sir : — In answer to j^our inquiries i-elative 

 to my experience of the v.ilue of turnijiM uml salt- 

 liay, I can only say that iiotwitlistanding I have 

 raised from one to two thousand bushels of tui'- 

 nips, l)eets and carrots, and fed them to my cat- 

 tle, hiirses and hogs for several years past, 1 iiave 

 no data to estiiuate the real value, but from a sin- 

 gle experiment I made at the suggestion of the 

 late and lamented Daniel ^Vebster. 



Having purciiased a number of young cattle 

 from a drove Irom I\laine, and finding a lieiferiiot 

 in calf, and a steer of ordinary quality, I thought 

 I would try what turnips and salt-liay would do 

 for them. They were both two y ars old ; the heif- 

 er was thrifty .and in fair coudiiion for winter 

 stock ; the steer a mean aninuil, thin of tlesii, l)ad- 

 ly built, a poo? feeder, and such as most of our 

 farmers in tlie vicinity would have thought mora 



