444 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



Rural J^eiv- Yorker of the 2 1 st, recommends a mix 

 ture of oats and rye for horses. We think his plan 

 of raising the two together, pretty good, and we 

 therefore copy it. 



"I had," says he, "a conversation with a man late- 

 ly, who was an experienced farmer, having farmed 

 both in this State (N. Y.) and Ohio, and liis manner 

 of rdsing horse feed was this : — I take about 2^ 

 bushels of oats, and mix with them one bushel of 

 rye, and sow this amount to the acre. The rye will 

 support the oats in case of a hea^7 growth, and pre- 

 vent lodging. In this manner I have raised sixty, 

 seventy, and even eighty bushels per acre." The 

 soil must have been very strong to do that, but the 

 mixture is about in the right proportion. 



A MORNING IN A MARKET GARDEN. 



The large farmer, who raises broad fields of 

 wheat, corn, potatoes and oats, and pastures and 

 milks or fats herds of cattle, might find lessons of 

 pleasure and profit by an occasional \dsit to some of 

 the market gardens in the Aacinity of Boston. Un^ 

 less he has already done so, he little conceives what 

 a different kind of business the cultivation of those 

 gardens is, compared with the ordinary modes of 

 tarming, and what an amount of product they are 

 forced to yield. Such a visit would afford him many 

 excellent suggestions as to his own modes of cul- 

 ture, and would enable him to supply his table with 

 the choicest fruits and vegetables, and to produce 

 the latter in great abundance, at a cheap rate, for 

 the stock of his o^vn form. 



We were invited last week to look at the gar 

 dens and grounds of Isaac P. Rand, Esq., of Rox- 

 bury. Mr. Rand is one of the firm of Ra7id S,' 

 Darling, Quincy Market, who deal largely in all 

 sorts of vegetables. Their sales of sweet potatoes 

 this year, at the rate already attained, will be near- 

 ly thirty thousand bushels ! the collecting, packing 

 and shipping of which requires the time of one or 

 two men for several months at the South. 



The grounds Mr. R. cultivates at Roxbury were 

 origmally of the roughest and most forbidding char- 

 acter ; covered with ledges and boulders of that pe- 

 culiar character called pudding stone, and mingled 

 witii them, briars and bushes of every description. 

 Tlie large rocks have been used in one of the most 

 beautifully constructed as well as substantial stone 

 walls we have seen, and hundreds of tons of the small- 

 er ones in the ditches that underUe every part of the 

 garden. All tliis, however, did not clear the grounds, 

 as there is scarcely a square foot now but is covered 

 with the flint-hke pebbles broken from the masses 

 of pudding stone, or with its softer and decajing 

 parts. The hoe must ring at every stroke, and the 

 plow grumble as it goes like a young volcano be- 

 neath the feet. And yet this land, with all these 

 difficulties to contend with, is annually covered with 

 the most luxuriant and perfect crops, and is a strik- 

 ing illustration of what skill and industry may ac- 

 complish. 



These gardeners are not content with one or 

 two crops, the same season, but force the soil to 

 yield three ; beginning, perhaps, with early peas, 

 then potatoes, and closing with cabbages, celery, or 

 some plant not easily affected by the frost. But 

 two crops is common on nearly all the land they 

 cultivate. Where we saw sweet corn just getting 

 large enough to boil, some other crop had been 

 cultivated, harvested, and sent to market. Half an 

 acre in celery had yielded a good crop of onions 

 this season, and so of many other thmgs. The soil 

 itself is fine, porous and warm, so that when highly 

 manured, seed germiiiates quickly, and the young 

 plants grow rapidly. But in order to accomplish 

 all this, large quantities of manure are necessary, 

 and these they procure from the stables where the 

 omnibus horses are kept in Roxbury. 



On \isiting the house, we discovered something 

 of the secret of Mr. Rand's success in gardening, 

 in a well-selected Ubrary. He has not been entire- 

 ly satisfied with the experience of himself or his 

 father, who cultivated the same grounds many 

 years before him, but has sought information from 

 the experiences of others in our own country, and 

 in the best foreign works which treat of his busi- 

 ness. In this way he avails himself of the improve- 

 ments which science suggests, and the knowledge 

 gained by others in similar pursuits. 



We found both gratification and profit in our vis- 

 it, and have no doubt our farmer fiiends may do the 

 same by spending a morning in some one of the 

 numerous market gardens in the vicinity of Boston. 



For the New England Fanner. 



INdUIRIES ABOUT HORSES. 



]\Ir. Editor : — I am a constant reader of your 

 monthly. I have always worked on a farm, and 

 like to be about horses. Having seen an article in 

 your weekly, entitled, "A Short Chapter on Hors- 

 es," I am induced to make a few inquiries respect- 

 ing tliem. And first, allow me to ask if I should 

 be likely to get a good colt from a mare that is very 

 stout l)uilt, but a rather clumsy traveller, and car- 

 ries her mouth a little open if her head is checked 

 up, but shut if she is allowed to carry it as she 

 pleases, which is very low ? She is a first-rate work 

 horse. The stallion is a noble animal, rather more 

 than medium height (the mare being short-legged,) 

 with a fine head and neck, is deep through the 

 shoulders, full breast, and is altogether a very fine 

 figure. 



I am fond of riding horse-back. Will you please 

 inform me of the best method of training a horse 

 to the saddle P Is it a good plan to "bit" horses ? 

 Can a long-gaited horse be made to stop short, by 

 checking the head higher, or in any other way. 



August, 1855. An Inquiree. 



Remarks. — Proper answers to all these ques- 

 ries would be of service to many persons, and we 

 hope some one well acquainted with the subject will 

 reply to them through the Farmer. 



