48 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



is by means of excessive evaporation, and a great 

 waste of moisture from the system, and when sub- 

 jected to this, they will add but little to their size 

 or weight. 



S/iclter is as important in winter as shade in 

 the summer. 1 need not dwell on the liability to 

 sickness and death from exposure to all the vicis- 

 situdes and inclemencies of our winter weather. 

 The annual loss sustained from such causes has, 1 

 presume, made this matter sufficiently clear ; but 

 the increased consmnplioti of food comequent on 

 deficient shelter, is possibly not as well understood. 

 Food, as every one knows, is required to I'urnish 

 the materials for building up the animal frame, 

 and for repairing its continual waste ; but in cold 

 weather the larger portion of what is consumed, is 

 appropriated to the production of animal heat. 

 The carbon of the food combines with the oxygen 

 taken into the lungs in respiration, and in the 

 union heat is evolved in a manner analogous to 

 that by which heat is obtained from the consump- 

 tion of fuel in a stove. Whatever the temperature 

 of the atmosphere, the circulating fluids of animals 

 must be kept up to a uniform heat, or death will 

 ensue, and enough of the food consumed will be 

 used for this purpose before any can be appropri- 

 ated for the purposes of growth or fattening. Build 

 good comfortable shelters for all kinds of stock, in 

 which they can feed and lie warm, and It will 

 soon prove to have been a profitable investment in 

 the saving of food and in the better growth of the 

 animals. N. S. T, 



For the New England Farmer. 



WITCH GRASS. 



Mr. Editor: — It is often the case that we 

 may partially cure an evil, when we cannot whol- 

 ly eradicate it. A selection in the last week's Far- 

 mer, on the subject of witch-grass, — a subject 

 well calculated to excite the malevolent feelings 

 of one's nature, who may have much of it to 

 deal with, — has led me to pen a few thoughts on 

 the subject. 



I have succeeded pretty well in eradicating it 

 from three different kitchen gardens by breaking 

 up the ground and planting with potatoes, and the 

 next spring, after plowing, by going over the 

 ground with the manure-fork, and throwing out 

 the roots into heaps, and wheeling them into the 

 hog-pen ; plant again with corn and potatoes in 

 large hills, and during the first hoeing dig out 

 every root. This, though a slow process, is not 

 so much so as might at first be imagined. By 

 watching every blade of this grass as it springs up 

 during the season, it can be completely subdued, 

 without any further trouble, after the second year. 

 It is of no use to get vexed in the spring of the year, 

 and swear vengeance against it by digging out a 

 pile of roots, and stop there. The worst part of 

 the difficulty is over, but a blade left here and 

 there will, by the next spring, form an extensive 

 supply of roots, for they grow late in the fall and 

 early in the spring. 



While surveying a piece of valuable intervale, 

 the last summer, on the farm of Tyi.i:u P. Towx, 

 Esq., of this town, I was struck with the garden- 

 like aspect of his farm, and was infoniied by him 

 that he had succeeded completely in eradicating 

 witch-grass from his field, wherever he had tried 

 it, by summer tilling. lie took a given piece oi 

 land and let it go fallow one year. During the 



drought of summer he plowed it and harrowed it 

 several times, and in this way exposed the roots 

 to the sun. The expense, he informed me, was 

 about ten dollars an acre, which was cheap for 

 land worth in the market one hundred dollars an 

 acre. By repeated plowings, the land becomes 

 completely dry during summer, when not covered 

 with vegetation, and wiich-grass roots icill die 

 when deprived of moisture, as well as other roots. 



I remember, when a boy, that my father, whom 

 I honor as having been a skillful farmer, was in 

 the habit of sowing his fields, which were of a 

 sandy soil and subject to witch-grass, with winter 

 rye, and turning them out to a sheep pasture, and 

 taking up another portion of pasture into his field. 

 In a few years the witch-grass was completely eradi- 

 cated, except around the stumps and fences. I 

 believe that witch-grass rarely ever spreads by the 

 road-side, even where it abounds in the adjacent 

 fields. W^hen witch- grass is troublesome around 

 fruit trees, I have found spent tar not only a 

 good mulching, but also a check to the roots of 

 this grass. 



I have no theories or suggestions to make on 

 this subject. What I have written are plain mat- 

 ters of fact : and if they offer suggestions to 

 others by which they may at least partially rid 

 themselves of a weed ten times more troublesome 

 than thistles, 1 shall be gratified. 



N. T. True. 



Bethel, Me., Dec. 9, 1854. 



Remarks. — We hope to hear often from Mr. 

 True. 



Rockingham Fair. — The annual meeting of 

 this society was held in Exeter, N. H., on Wed- 

 nesday, Nov. I.'), and the following persons were 

 chosen officers for the ensuing year, viz : 

 President. 

 Henry F. French, Exeter. 

 Vice Presidents. 



James Pickering, Neirington, 

 Jacob B. Brown, Hampton Falls, 

 Moses Eaton, So. Hampton, 

 David Currier, Berry. 



Trustees. 



Winthrop H. Dudley, Brentwood, 

 Silas F. Learnard, Chester, 

 Nehemiah P. Cran, Hampton Falls, 

 James H. Dinian, Strutham, 

 Zebulon Sanborn, Epping. 

 Secretary. 

 Wm. P. Moulton, Exeter. 



Deadening Timber. — When the bark slips 

 freely in June, July or August, it is the best time 

 to girdle trees. Cut the s-mall growth three feet 

 above the ground ; the roots do not s{)rout, and 

 the htuniijs are more eas-ily removed. 



Impoutanck of Draining. — By a recent de- 

 cree of the French government, 100,000 francs, 

 about $20,000, are devoted to encourage the manu- 

 taclure ot draining tiles for agricultural purposes in 

 the provinces. 



