3U 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



July 



small. The labor,. "the great amount of la- j 

 bor/' ha"< always been the chief objection 

 against raising crops ibr soiling. "It is (iiiitc 

 enough," say some, "that we are compclleil 

 to stall-feed full six months in the year with- 

 out continuing it during warm Avcatlier."' But 

 bur pastures, in their present condition, are 

 totally inadecjuate to meet the demands upon 

 them. . The merease of the population, the 

 greater profits when land is devoted to other 

 crops, and even the rise in the value of wood 

 lands, combine to circumscribe and enhance 

 the price of pasture land, so that in many lo- 

 calliies, if obtained at all, it cannot be had at 

 reasonable rates. How then can our farms be 

 well stocked and our animals kept up to a 

 profitable standard, if not by resorting to soil- 

 ing ? It should be borne in mind that every 

 day the products of the dairy fail from want 

 of sulHeient food, money is lost; and that un- 

 less the stock show decided gain through all 

 the warm months, and go into winter quarters 

 without having drawn upon winter supplies, 

 the profits of the year will be small. When 

 the deficiency can, to a great degree, be sup- 

 phed by corn fodder it is surprising it does 

 not receive more attention. Upon the small 

 farm, with its scanty pasturage, it would be of 

 the greatest help; while upon large farms sev- 

 eral acres can be used to advantage. The in- 

 creasing demand for hay, and the high price 

 it brings, presents a great temptation to sell a 

 part of that crop. This could be safely done, 

 and its place supplied by fodder and roots. 

 By the same means milkmen and others who 

 buy largely of grain, (;ould materially lessen 

 their expenses. Where fodder is fed out in 

 the barn and the manure carefully saved, it is 

 one of the best means for renovating a run 

 down farm, or keeping a good one in high 

 condition. 



This estimate of the value of this crop may 

 seem high to those who look upon it only in 

 the form of hard, tough and almost indigesti- 

 ble stover, from which the ear or grain and the 

 weather have extracted all the goodness ; or 

 upon that made from half matured stalks of 

 some large and coarse variety, which is hard 

 to be cured and worth very little when cured. 

 But, as I have attempted to show, corn fodder 

 is just what we make it. All its nutritive 

 qualities may be sacrificed for the benefit of 

 the ears, or the virtue of the ears may be re- 

 tained in the stalk and leaves, and the whole 

 form a palatable and nutritious food, fully 

 equal to all we claim for it. 



This is no new theory. We act upon the 

 same principle in the treatment of other kinds 

 of grain, if oats are cut while in the milk, 

 before the heads are fully developed, the 

 whole forms a imtritious fotlder, equivalent, 

 under many circumstances, to the grain and 

 straw fed separately. And whenever the corn 

 is to be consumed upon the farm, I see no 

 reason why part of the crop should not be 

 grown expressly for fodder. The labor of 



husking, storing the ears, shelling and grind- 

 ing would certainly be saved, and it would be 

 better for cattle to eat a simple, nutritious 

 fodder than to receive it in two forms as com- 

 monly practiced ; one being comparatively an 

 innutritious stover, and the other a rich meal, 

 which has the objection of being too htjarty 

 and heating when fed in any considerable 

 (piantity. The yield per acre by this method 

 far exceeds that planted in hills. Thus by 

 making an economical and judicious use of 

 fodder, corn assumes a higher value and be- 

 comes one of the most imnort:mt crops that 

 can be raised, even here in the Eastern States. 

 Lawrence, Mass., May, 1868. x. s. x. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



IMPORTED HORSE CONSTERNATION. 



Mr. Sanford Howard, a few years ago, while edi- 

 tor of tlie Boston Cultivator, said in one of his 

 editorials, that "Consternation is one of the \'e\v 

 imported thoroughljred hordes that \\x~- improved 

 our stock of ruiid and c;uTiage hor.-es." Tliis he 

 has done l)y his size, (licinglittefn liaiids and three 

 inches high, and weigtiiiigovcr 1200 lbs.,) hi-; great 

 style and symmetry, and his reniarkaljly fine trnt- 

 tiiig action. Mr. Randall, in liis edition of Ycniatt, 

 says of him, he is a compact, and lor a thorough- 

 bred, veiy bony horse. His dam. '-Curiosity," 

 was a large, strong mare; and his sire, '-Figaro," 

 possessed the same characteristies. Consterna- 

 tion's ?ire, "Confederate," after beins wirhdrawn 

 from the turf, was kept l)y his lireeder, Earl Fitz 

 William, to lireed carriage horses from, owing to 

 his size, l)one and symmetry. The size and bone 

 of Consternation were not, therefore, accidental, or 

 merely individual traits ; they l)elong to his fam- 

 ily, and were, eunseqiientl}', far more likely to be 

 transmitted to his descendants ; and experience 

 has shown that he almost invariatily transmitted 

 these properties to his descendants. The writer 

 of this has seen perhaps lift}' colts, from one to 

 three years old, the get of Cunsternation. from 

 commun dams, andthusep.isssetsing different pro- 

 portions of blood. Every one of tliem has shown 

 good size, and quite as mueli bone as it is common 

 to see in the get of tlie ordinary cf)arsc stallions 

 of the country. Consternation was l>eautifully 

 symmetrical in all his proportions, with a plump- 

 ni ss and roundness of outline, more like a perfect 

 hunter, or exceedin<Tly styli^h carriage horse; but 

 wiihoiit a i)ariiele of coarseness, cloddiness, or de- 

 viation from a true blood-like look. lie was a 

 horse of extraordinarj' mettle and a^tiviry ; rapid 

 in all his paces, sugularly elastic and graceful in 

 his movements. He could walk nearly live miks 

 an hour, and was a l)eantit'nl ajtd rapid trotter. 

 VVitli proper training he might have been made a 

 fleet, if not a crack tro'ter. 



tical lions of his get have been standing for sev- 

 eral years in ai kast twelve different States of the 

 Union, and his stock is gaining in public favor 

 every year. One of the best of these was bred, 

 and "is still owned by Orin Trow, Esq , of Hard- 

 wick, Mass., who calls him "Figan*," in honor of 

 Consternation's graudsirc By reference to Ran 

 dall's Edition of Yoiiatt, in which Consternation's 

 pedigree, whic-h perhaps yuu will ii(;t wislj to print 

 in full, is niiiiHtely given', it will be seen that he 

 comes by a iiioietlirect and.-honer line of descent, 

 from the patrianhs of the English turf, than per- 

 haps any stallion living; being only two removes 

 from Waxy and Ilaiihazard; three from Sir Peter, 

 on the side of both sire and dam — three also from 



