1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



221 



are in the two particulars above mentioned, same service, if the grass be cut and fed out. 

 Another prominent error is too sliallow plowing. Where the price of land is high, it will take but 

 The soil in this county is generally very deep — in ' few figures to show that the interest on the cost 

 many tracts two to three feet — and should be! of the extra nine acres, far exceeds that of cut- 

 plowed to the depth of ten or twelve, instead of | ting and feeding out the grass on the one acre — 

 four to six inches. The farmers who plowed to, to say nothing of the grciit saving of manure by 

 the greatest depth, suffered the least from thcitlie soiling process. It is, 1 believe, the uni- 

 drought of the last summer. jvcrsal testimony of English farmers that soiling 



In one or two of our towns, hop (/roirinff is ! is the cheapest process, aside from the fact that 

 becoming "the mania," one of the results of it is a conservative mode of forming, and greatly 

 which is already being experienced — an obvious; increases the productiveness of land from year to 

 deterioraciouof the soil, and a deficiency in bread- j year. It is but foir to presume that cattle 

 stuffs and fodder. To say nothing of hop fjrowing trample down quite as much grass in the pasture 

 in its relation ta temperaijce, I must regard it as as they eat, while t!ie too frequent croppings 

 a serious evil to the true ivalfh of every agri-| binds the sod and hardens the surface of the soil, 

 cultural coiiimuaity. Whatever tends to lessen; If soiling cattle is, in the end, cheaper than the 

 the quantitj- of manure, or to use up the strength j pasturing of them, then the thirty-five millions 

 of the soil, must in the end prove injurious. : worth of hay, used up of a winter in New Eng- 



Respectfully_your8,_ _ Samuel W. Hall, {"land, is well expended. 



I really wish some' of our milk-farmers in the 

 I neighborhood of Boston would try the experi- 

 ment of soiling their cows, and give us the re- 

 I suits. It is an experiment which cannot be tried 

 fairly in one year or five ; but I candidly believe 



Browmnr/len, Vt., 1855. 



F<!r the JVeiv England Farmer 



SOILIITG CATTLE. 



In the Farmer of Mai-ch 31, Hexrt F. Fkenth, [that; iu tea years, any farmer trying tb'e experi 

 Esq., gives us his ''Tlioughts on Climate,"' in ment, would be astonished at the increased aggre 



•which he assumes that the expense of keeping 

 'Cattle, horses, sheep, &c., during our New Eng- 

 land winters, exceeds that of keeping the same 

 number of animals in a southern climate, where 



gate productiveness of his land. 

 Soinerville. 

 P. S. In regard to my article on the subject of 



growing fruit trees, you expressed . regret that I 

 they obtain their own forage, by the total amount 'did not give my experience as to the proper time 

 of our hay crop. This crop in New England is for trimming them. The cause of the omission 

 estimated at thirty-five millions of dollars ; and, tlies in the fact that I have not fulli/ made up my 

 if the assumption bo correct, it is certainly a 'own mind on the subject. From what experi- 

 prettj large expenditure in the competition ofjence I have, I incline to the opinion that about 

 climates. I hope, however, that none of our the time of the fall of the leaf, is the best for 

 New England farmers will be induced, by this; trimming off all small shoots or suckers, and that 

 array of figures, to emigrate to the south — at ' the fore part of June is the best time for cutting 

 least, not until they have looked a little below^off larger limbs, where such amputation is deemed 

 the surface of the calculation. Mr. French must necessary. The question, however, is a very im- 

 be aware that it re.quire-s land, and a good dealjportant one to fruit-growers, and I dislike to 

 ■of it, to pasture cattle during the winter, and i hazard a positive opinion until I _/et/ positive. 



that lands thus graze-d the whole year round,! 



■without opportunity to. rejuvenate, must gradu-j Remarks. — We think the remarks of Mr. French 



ally deteriorate, though they be composed of t!ie 

 richest alluvions of the southern valleys. It ma}^ 

 be true that the wild cattle of the great pampas 

 of South America are raised more cheaply than 

 our domestic cattle ; but wo do not learn that 



agree with those of "E. C. P." — that, upon the 

 wJiole, it is best to remain in New England awhile 

 longer. 



We believe tliere is no one operation in which 



those who catch and kill them for their hides the farmer acts so much in direct opposition to his 

 and tallow, become more wealthy than our New I interests, as in that of pruning his orchards. The 

 England farmers When those immense plainsi ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^.^ ^^^^ daily mutilating and 

 are parcelled out into rarms, it will be time . . , , /. , . . 



enough to settle the question whether cattle can Igivmg mortal wounds to many a fair and promising 

 be raised cheaper because there is no winter. |tree, and this is done against the laws of voge- 

 It is not, licwever, witli a view of discussing, table physiology, and contrary to the plain priu- 

 the relative advantages of different localities in (.ipi^g y^- nature, merely to conform to an old 

 regard to the hay crops, that I have taken Mr. i , 

 French's remarks for a text. ]\Iy real object is | * * 



to Bay a few words upon a subject which tliosc c; xr t^ ., >r,. t .,.; r» 



».^,r>nX.i,, x^A- ii • 1 1 ti ■;• Soap versus IIexs and Ckows. — Mr. lievi \). 



remarks indirectly involve — namely, iha soihng],^ , c .\ ■ \ • r , .,o ti, .*■ k., ..,,ri j.;e 

 of cattle. In England, where the price of land ,^«^j/'^«' ^^ ^^'« P ace, informs us t at he and 

 is exceedingly hi|h, (a though the pastures aref^^'^^^V^'^^^ ?^- ^'^•^^''^ ,. ™n^^^,,/ nd 



more productive °tl.an ours?) this /node is fostK^V'""^'"°,'^, ''f "^^ / 3t -'^ °^.^^^^ 

 u„ • r- 1 i • 1 i- Ti rollnii' in iilasti'r hciure plantmii, as a m^'ans or 



becoming one of almost univers;il practice, it !''-"i'"p '" 1 ':'^-''^ \ i «?' 



*^ ' ! securing (iuick and vigorous growtli, and as a 



remedy against crows and liens ; and he says tliat 



jecommg 



consists siuiply of mowing the grass and feeding 

 it out to the cattle, both summer and winter, 

 instead of pasturing them tiirough the summer. 

 It takes about ten acres of our common pasture 

 land to keep a cow well through the siinuuer ; 

 while one aero, well cultivated, will pcrlorm the 



nothing will give tlie corn a better start, and that 

 Oeither hens nor crows will touch the corn when 

 so treated. AVe have often heard of this before. 

 The Messrs. Cowles say it is positively so. 



Nash's Farmer. 



