1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



141 



ole objects that fall-plowing exposes the manure 

 to waste. 



Official Visits to Farmers. — Recommending the 

 emplo3-ment of men in each county, under the 

 appointment and pay of the State, to visit farms 

 reported to be good, and to present the facts as- 

 certained through the press. For my own part, 

 I don't like that word "official." Mr. Colman 

 once held an office similar to the one proposed. 

 Iq his valedictory preface to the Fourth Report, 

 lie says : — "By many persons, the Commissioner 

 has been regarded as a kind of tax-gatherer, and 

 his approach has carried their hands, almost in- 

 voluntarily, to clench their pockets." 



Culture of the Pear. — "75 cents a dozen," 

 ''$1,50 adozen,""G cents each," "I2ccnts each," 

 and such like, are every fall on the cards in pear 

 dishes, displayed in the fruit stores of Boston. 

 This article comments on and recommends choice 

 varieties, and then promises to give us the wri- 

 ter's views on the proper culture of the Pear, 

 which I am looking for with much interest. 



i>«M-/cs.-— Report of Middlesex County Commit- 

 tee, in which some thrusts are made at certain 

 Book-farming cows. 



Po'iiltrij cheaper than Pork, if figures don't lie. 



Pulverized Peat.—Maj not this material be 

 used to save a portion of city waste? What has 

 become oi that committee? 



Value of Root Crops. — This article is reviewed 

 hj E, C. P. on page 90, in a sensible article 

 he<'ide<l Relative Value of Food. 



Wire Fences, madehy Machinertj. — The pictures 

 of this fence make a pretty appearance on paper, 

 and may work well on the farm, where fencing is 

 expensive. From my ol^servation of the effect of 

 the elimat« upon iron, I have always feared that 

 rusting would prove a serious objection to wire 

 feneijig. But it seeiiLS that no trouble is anti- 

 cipated from this source, as it is "calculated" to 

 last a century or more, by being varnished, 

 painted or tarred once in five or six years. 



Basket IFe/foic— Whether the people of the 

 United States can raise their basket-stuff better 

 than they can their silk dre.<«es, seems about to 

 be tested. We have in this number an account 

 of a successful experiment in raising the Willow 

 in Hingham, Ms., and also of a machine for peel- 

 ing it, invented in Vermont. The "rod is in a 

 pickle," then; but, gentlemen, don't get up a 

 multicaulis fever with it. Do let us be sober 

 once. 



An Agricultural Glimpse of Washington. City. — 

 Two very interesting letters by one of the Editors. 

 Pity such pictures of life should be drawn in the 

 capitol of a free people. 



Profits of /f.«5.— Why are hens worth a third 

 more in Decemltor than in March ? 



Turnips for P/y.?.— The writer found that Swe- 

 dish turnips wintered over, and fed raw to his 

 pigs in June, kept them growing finely. 



Legislative Agricultural Meetings.— ^Y a have 

 tM reports of the first two meetings of this asso- 

 ciation, at which the sultjects of last suiiiiaer"s 

 drouglit, and of the smairgraius, were discussed. 



SrrJ Labor in Poland.— When any American 

 farmer gets tlie blues, let him turn to the iuoiitlily 

 I'armcr, and read this extract. j 



Value of Applcf.— An article that em!)0(lies the 

 result of much labor to ascertain the value of' 

 apples, by scientific process js. The cuiichision 



seems to be that for fattening stock, sweet apples 

 are worth as much as potatoes ; and that sour 

 apples are worth twice as much as potatoes for 

 growing stock, compared by weight, not measure. 



Machine for Chopping ^Brush, that does the 

 work of forty men ! ^laiiy farmers in !Massachu- 

 setts burn little but lu-ush, themselves, as the 

 merchantable wood is all sent to market, and it is 

 lots of work to chop it up with axe and hatcliet. 

 Don't see why a brush cutter might not be of 

 great advantage, where wood is worth six or eight 

 dollars a cord. True, the work by hand may be 

 done evenings and at odd jo!)s ; but I have thought 

 sometimes, this winter, that I had rather be read- 

 ing the Farmer, than cutting brush by lamp-light, 

 to keep one stove warm. 



Although I have alluded, directly or indirectly, 

 to only about one-half of the articles that make 

 up this number, I will stop here, and claim for 

 once the merit of In-evity — a higher mark tlian I 

 often deserve. A Reader. 



Winchester , Feb., 1854. 



ENCLOSURES. 



There is, perhaps, no department of agriculture 

 which can properly be considered of more imme- 

 diate importance to the farmer than that of 

 FEXciyc. Yet, singular as it may seem, there is 

 none which, by the generality of husbandmen, is 

 so much neglected, or more badly managed. The 

 habit, already become inveterate, in many sec- 

 tions, of compelling the animals of the farm to 

 carry the fences on their horns and necks, in the 

 shape of "blind-boards," "stoops," "hampers," 

 "jewsharps" and "pokers," is one that calls 

 loudly for reform. Good and substantial fences 

 are by no means so expensive as they are sup- 

 posed to be ; and if, to adopt the language of an 

 able writer in a late New York paper, "the pro- 

 portion of crops that are annually lost in the 

 country from the use of such apologies for 

 fences .as are frequently seen, could be correctly 

 ascertained and added to the sum which must be 

 deducted from the value of the horses and cattle 

 thus tiiught vicious and unruly habits, and the 

 whole presented at once to the eye of the far- 

 mer, or land-holder, it can scarcely be doubted 

 he would be surprised at the result, or that he 

 would at once awaken to the importance of hav- 

 ing good fences." As to the cost of fences, the 

 following remarks, published some j'ears since by 

 Mr. SuuRTLEFF, in tlic Farmer, afford valuable 

 data. 



A fence of white cedar — posts and rails, five 

 rails in height, and tlireo lengths to two rods ; 

 cost nearly ninety-one cents per rod. 



A fence of white jiiue and chestnut — rails 

 white pine, sawed two inches by eight, chostnr.t 

 posts, four I'ails liigli, three lengths to two rodrj ; 

 cost sixty-four cents per rod. }n both thi'sc caseg 

 the cost was exclusive (if the setting. 



Stonewall — four and a half feet high, A'aried 

 from one dollar to two dollars fifty cents per r'jd, 



