446 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



man." « * * «It has appeared to me that the 

 sort called sweet com (having a white, shi'ivelled 

 grain when ripe) jields stalks of richer juice than 

 the common jellow corn. It is also more disposed 

 to multiply suckers, — an adcUtional recommenda- 

 tion of it, when planted to be cut in its green state, 

 for horses and cattle, and especially for milch cows ; 

 and its time of planting may be regulated so as to 

 ftirnish a supply of food, just when the common pas- 

 tures usually fail. I am inclined to doubt whether 

 any other green food will afford butter of equal ex- 

 cellence." 



In September, 1828, in his last address to the 

 society, Col. P. says, — "The great value of Indian 

 corn stallvs, m their green state, for feeding cattle, 

 milch cows, especially, I have formerly mentioned. 

 To have this fodder in its green and most juicy 

 state, it should be planted at different times ; so 

 that the latest planted should attain its proper 

 growth by the middle of September, and continue 

 till the frost comes, at the close of the month, or 

 early in October." Thus we see hkjirst and his 

 last lessons of instruction to the farmers of his 

 county, recognized green corn fodder as a valuable 

 feed for milch cows. 



I frankly admit these quotations do not prove 

 that cows when fed on green com will give more 

 nuU;. for being thus fed — but they come so near es- 

 tablishing the fl\ct, that I think it M'ill be taken for 

 granted, until the contrary is clearly shown, by au- 

 thority more reliable than that of Col. Pickering. 



August 25, 1855. Agricola. 



one point, and very deficient in another. Size has 

 nothing to do with "profit ; it was not what an animal 

 made, so much as what it cost mailing. _ The Lin- 

 colnshire farmers are second to no men in the im- 

 provement of waste lands; the Wolds, Lincoln 

 Heatli, and the Fens, for instance : the lower parts 

 are now drained by steam engines. And the breed 

 of shec]) which they have is the most profitable for 

 their county. Samuel Arnsby. — Mark Lane Ex- 

 press, London. 



MECHI'S MODEL FAEM. 

 We find the followmg notice of Mr. Mechi's farm 

 at Tiptree Hall, England, in the JVew York Tribune, 

 furnished by its correspondent, "M. T. H." Mr. 

 Mechi was not bred a farmer, but a tradesman, in 

 London. 



Once every year, just at the close of the London 

 season, Avhen every one in town is sighing for a 

 breath of country aii", just before the commencement 

 of the harvest, when the green wheat, fully grown, 

 is just beginning to get the first tinge of gold upon 

 its ears — once a year, when the days are hottest in 

 the town and brightest in the country, Mr. Mechi 

 has an "Agricultural Gathering" at Tiptree Hall. To 

 this gathering are invited all the noUxbilities of the 

 day — ^linisters of the Cro\™ and Ministers of the 

 Gospel, Poets and Plenipotentiaries, Peers and Com- 

 moners, Lawyers and Literati, Citizens and Coun- 

 try-foils., Tradesmen and Farmers, imitators and ad- 

 mirers, all turn out to see "Mechi's Model Farm." 

 To these, collected at his hospitable Hall, Mr. Mechi 

 proceeds to show liis improvements. He walks 

 them over his fields and through his stock-yard — 

 he expatiates upon his difficulties and explains his 

 imj)rovements — he discourses on his crops, exhi- 

 bits his machine, lectures learnedly on his manures, 

 shows how he distributes them, and when the party 

 ha\e acquired sufficient information and astounding 

 appetites, he concludes the day by setting them down 

 to a banquet such as a Londoner alone knows how 

 to manage. 



Now that politics are no longer mixed up with 

 Mechi's model processes, and now that all parties 

 will consent to hear and think of Tiptree farm with- 

 out prejudice, I shall have a chance of being hstened 

 to, if I tell you quite the truth concerning it, and 

 lead you to regard it as it is, and not as you would 

 see it through the spectacles of faction. As a place 

 of country resort, then, I am bound to say in the 

 first place that Tiptree Hall is one of the least 

 pleasing I ever chanced to visit. England is pro- 

 verbial for its pleasant ])laces. Who, in your back 

 woods, however improved may be his material con- 

 ewe ; at the same time, it was proved that a giant ' dition, will not sigh at the fond remembrance of 

 ram lay in the adjoining field, which very easily 'the Aillagc home in which he grew — of the Avhite 

 accounted for the giant being produced from a 'church spire that pointed up to heaven so fondly 

 dwarf. It has always been said that like produces | from the clustered elms of the old manor-house, 

 like, and a fine bone denotes a feeding propensity, ' scenes of many a farm-house and Christmas revel, 

 and a long fxce and ears, with a Roman nose, | of the clear, bright, never- fliiUng stream that rip- 

 denotes a large breed. The breeders of Lincoln- j pled past his cottage door, the \illage green on 

 shire sheep say that neither the Cots-wolds nor the , which he fought his earliest battles, the lane so 

 Downs mix well with their heavj'-wooled sheep,! calm, so tranquil in the evening shadows, where he 

 but a dip of the Leicester does wonders. So says courted the first fair oliject of his love, the bank 

 the far-famed Mr. Kirkham, of Hagnaby. Mr. ' where grew the earliest and brightest primroses, 

 Bakewell always said that extremes were bad, and ' the bean-field that exhaled its thousand odors to 

 that the middle-sized animals answer the best for , the dewy evening, the cultivated farm, the busy 

 profits. But, above all things, said Mr. B., let an! mill, the meadow where the land-rail craked, the 

 animal's make be in proportion — not very large in pile fi"oni which he caught that first glim^Dse of the 



CROSSING SHEEP. 



For upAvards of fifty jears I have seen a great 

 deal of crossing the different kinds of sheep — Lei- 

 cesters with Leicesters, Leicesters with Cotswolds, 

 Leicesters Avith South-Downs, and Leicesters with 

 many other kinds of sheep. I have always found 

 the Bake-well or Leicester sheep to improve every 

 kind they have been j^ut to, by giving them the 

 Bakewell barrel form, small bone, and to feed at 

 early maturity. The first cross in most animals has 

 been proved the best ; the next cross generally pro- 

 duces size and weight, except you put a gigantic 

 animal to the first cross : Avhen I say gigantic, I do 

 not mean an animal made a giant with fat flesh, 

 with the head and ears of a dwarf upon him — I 

 mean a giant in frame when in a lean state, with 

 bone in proportion, aye, and a head and ears in pro- 

 portion to his body — a long, thin head, and not a 

 gigantic broad one. Giants do not produce dwarfs, 

 neither do dwarfs produce giants, any more than 

 bulldogs produce greyhounds. It has been jjroved 

 that a gigantic ram has been produced fi-om a dwarf 



