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NEW ENGLAND FAIIMER. 



Oct. 



Fiir the Neip England Farmer. 



GREEN CORN FODDER. 



Does green corn, when fed to cows, increase their 

 milk ? This is a point on which different opinions 

 are entertained by practical men. I yesterday met 

 a gentleman, A^ho has one of the best farms in the 

 \'icinity, on which fifty or more cows have been kept 

 for years, to furnish a supply of milk for the mar- 

 ket ; and he expressed a confident opinion that Ut- 

 tle or no benefit, bj' way of increasing the milk, ac- 

 crued from feeding to cows green corn. I expressed 

 surjjrise at this, as I knew it to be cultivated by 

 many good formers for this ])urpose, and as I had 

 often seen it recommended in agricultural publica- 

 tions. He said he knew all this — but still his own 

 experience was to the contrary. Now this is a 

 question that should be settled. It is of far more 

 consequence to know whether such feed is worth 

 growing, than to know how much corn can be 

 groAvn on an acre. We find every agricultural so- 

 ciety of the land off"ering premiums for the best 

 crops of corn on an acre, but I have never known a 

 j^remium offered to test the value of green corn as 

 a feed for milch cows, at the season of the year 

 when the feed of pastures comes short. Mr. Edi- 

 tor, can you give the pulillc any light on this ques- 

 tion ? Yours truly, Agricola. 



August 16, 1855. 



Remarks. — We have never made note of the ac- 

 tual quantities of milk produced with, and without 

 green corn fodder; but we should just as soon 

 doubt whether green grass increased the quantity 

 of milk, as to doubt that green corn fodder does. 

 At the same time, we have great deference for the 

 opinion of others, who have opportunity to notice 

 the effect of such feeding, and whose opinions are, 

 perhajos, as good as our own. 



DANCING CRANES. 



A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer, writing 

 from "The Grove, lUinois," gives the following in- 

 teresting description of the Brown Sand Hill 

 Crane : 



Many of these noble birds still nest in this vici- 

 nity, but their number is small compared with the 

 numerous fiock that a few years since might be 

 seen holding their strange dances on some favorite 

 knoll, or feeding, while their sentinels, judiciously 

 posted, stood ready to give warning of any suspi- 

 cious intruder. 



Some are incredulous as to the dancing of cranes. 

 It is true, their movements are not as graceful as a 

 Frenchman's, or their quadrilles quite a la mode, but 

 dance they certainly do. As for their music, though 

 lacking the harmony, it is about as loud and melo- 

 dious as a fashionable opera air. 



The Sand Hill Crane is omniverous, devoui'ing 

 pretty much anything eaten by birds. The nest is 

 a simple pile of rushes or grass — flat on the top, j 

 built in some deep slough or pond. The eggs, two 

 in number, are shaped much like those of the 

 common turkey, of a light amber color, splashed , 

 with brown. The nest is usually surrounded by 

 deep water, but the young birds swim readily, and j 

 leave it as soon as hatched. It is believed by many 

 that they separate, immediately upon leaving the ! 



nest, each of the old birds taking care of one — the 

 supposition being that they would fight if allowed 

 to remain together. In corroboration of this some- 

 what singular idea, I can only say, I never found 

 two of the young birds in company, and a pair 

 which I had caused a hen to hatch, fought from the 

 time they left the shell, till, in fact, they killed each 

 other outright. 



The bird is easily domesticated. I kejit one for 

 several years, who showed all the attachment and 

 intelHgence of a dog. He never forgot a friend or 

 forgave an injury. If any one had abused him, it 

 was of no avail to attempt disguise ; he recognized 

 his enemy in any dress, and by an angry croak show- 

 ed his displeasure, and warned them to keep out of 

 his reach. He was a great gormandizer, and was 

 very fond, among other things, of field mice, {Arvi- 

 cola,) many of which he destroyed, being quite ex- 

 pert at finding their nests, and searcliing out the 

 inmates with his long bill. He would have been of 

 service in the garden, were it not for his inquisitive 

 propensities, which led him to pull up for examina- 

 tion everything he saw us ])lant. Though a desire 

 for knowledge might be very laudible, this mode of 

 obtaining it met our disapprobation, and eventually 

 caused his banishment. 



Though a migratory bird, he did not seem to suf- 

 fer from cold in the winter, and being fond of wad- 

 ing, even kept a i)lace in a neighboring slough free 

 from ice till late in the season, by tramping about 

 in it. I provided him with a warm house, but he 

 preferred to sleep M"ith the cows. He always slept 

 Ijeside one of them, lying flat on his breast, with his 

 legs folded vmder him, and his head and long neck 

 turned back between his wings. He was on good 

 terms with all the cattle, and might frequently be 

 seen playing with them ; his ])art of the perform- 

 ance consisting in springing up, flapping his wings, 

 and whooping tremendously. This was precisely 

 the same as the dancing of his wild brethren. He 

 would also dance to the Avaving of a handkerchief; 

 and on windy washing-days sometimes danced for 

 hours at a time to the clothes on the line. When 

 much enraged, he would stand with his head and 

 l)ill pointed directly upward, and utter a harsh, 

 croalving sound, quite unlike his usual ivhoop. 



A young crane makes no despicable article of 

 food. The old ones, I should suppose, would be 

 rather tough and snaky ; but an old Indian hunter 

 of my acquaintance says, "A tm'key is not half as 

 good eating." 



Audubon supposed this to be only the young of 

 the White Crane, Imt he was wrong. The AVhite 

 Crane, {Grus Americana) is more of a southern 

 bird, and exceedingly rare here. I saw a pair flj- 

 ing over this fall for the first time. These two spe- 

 cies are amongst the largest and finest of our North 

 American birds. 



The Decay oe Timber. — Some years ago, a phi- 

 losopher, being acquainted with the fact that every 

 species of fungus, which is the real source of the rot 

 in timl)er, can vegetate only on substances which 

 are soluble in water, made the following experi- 

 ment with sawdust. He took a ])ortion of saAvdust 

 from a heap, and divided it into two equal parts. 

 One heaj) Avas washed over and over again in Avater, 

 till everything soluble was removed; the other 

 heap was undisturbed. Both, having been dried, 

 Avere jjlaced, side by side, in a damp, close A^ault, and 

 alloAved to remain there several Aveeks. They Avere 



