No. 10. 



Improved Farmivg. — To keep a Cottage Cow. 



307 



celerate the death of the animal. There is 

 always a quantity of serum loose in the ab- 

 domen, in which the bowels float, and over 

 the whole carcass are sundry yellowish spots, 

 which are, not unfrequently, where fat should 

 exist. 



F^xcess of fluid, therefore, in those varie- 

 ties of grass which the animal selects for its 

 food, and a deficiency of those firm, consist- 

 ent varieties which are peculiarly adapted 

 for strenjTthening' the stomach, for animating 

 and establishing' the muscular system, I take 

 to be the radical cause of this disorder ; yet 

 secondary or exciting causes may operate 

 with such force and vigour as to unhinge the 

 best constitution and dissolve the best con- 

 structed parts, and when this is done, the rot 

 is always the consequence." * 



ImproTsd Farming. 



It is admitted that we may learn the prin- 

 ciples of farming by study, — then why, in the 

 name of common sense, may we not study 

 books? Why should we be compelled to 

 grrope along in darkness, when we may walk 

 firmly and securely, would we but open our 

 eyes .' A young man comes into possession 

 of a farm of poor light soil, upon which his 

 predecessors raised by dint of much labour a 

 small crop of hay and potatoes, and a smaller 

 crop of stinted corn ; — now shall he toil on all 

 his days in ploughing, sowing, and cropping 

 his fields, in the same way and with the same 

 results! or rather, would it not be better to 

 farm a little by book, to learn the nature of 

 soils and the different effects and qualities 

 of manure; to introduce the culture of other 

 crops, and thus by a little book science dou- 

 ble his produce and the value of his land at 

 the same time ? It is allowed that even those 

 who have a horror of book knowledge, adopt 

 improvements as soon as they can see them 

 practised with success in their neighbour- 

 hood ; but they adopt only when they see 

 them ; and if all others were to do as they 

 do, nothing new would ever take place 

 amongst them. To be sure, there are some 

 new modes of cultivation and new articles 

 of culture which find their way by this mode, 

 but they are introduced too slowly; they do 

 not keep pace with the improvements of the 

 age : the good old way is adhered to, merely 

 because it is old, and a thorough contempt is 

 oflen felt for new things, and especially if 

 they are taught by book, merely because they 

 are new. It was this spirit and feeling that 

 was the cause of many of our most valuable 

 crops remaining for years out of cultivation 

 in many parts of the country, while elsewhere 

 they had been introduced and found to be of 

 immense advantage to the cultivators of the 

 Eoil ; and the ruta baga and other roots are as 



yet but partially known, and scarcely tole- 

 rated even now. It was forty years after 

 spinach was introduced into the gardens of 

 the opulent, before it could be purchased in 

 the Boston market; the pie plant, or rhubarb, 

 was twenty years in coming into favour; the 

 tomato, nearly as long; while the sea kale, 

 one of the most delicious vegetables known 

 in England, has not yet been able to tempt a 

 single cultivator. But this spirit is not con- 

 fined to our farmers and gardeners ; for the 

 medical faculty of Paris proscribed as poison- 

 ous the potato, one hundred years after that 

 plant had raised millions of vigorous troops, 

 who, under Marlborough, had again and again 

 beaten the finest armies of France ! 



And 1 repeat, how few of our farmers make 

 any improvements, save those they see insti- 

 tuted bj their nearest neighbours ! But why 

 a man nWy not as well learn from the results 

 of his ijsighbour's experience and science, 

 when stlted in a book, as when seen on a 

 farm, it | difficult to conceive : assuredly, the 

 man wh(|, entertaining a contempt for scien- 

 tific culivation merely because it is honk 

 knowledte, will soon find himself growing 

 worse ir his circumstances; while his en- 

 lightene( rreighbour will be taking advantage 

 of the ir provements arising from the study 

 of the s<ence of agriculture, and bettering 

 his cond ion. To this science, obtained by 

 reading nd study, is Mr. Coke, of Holkham, 

 indebted or the unparalleled increase in the 

 value of his estate. Some sixty years ago, 

 he inher;cd a tract of poor land in the coun- 

 ty of Nrfolk of the value of $!8000 per an- 

 num, bu by reading and study, he has raised 

 his incoie to ^J;200,000, or 24 times its origi- 

 nal valii ! But if he had only adopted what 

 he srtzcnis neighbours do, his whole estate 

 would i; this time have been a vast rabbit 

 warren —Far. Reff. 



Plai' 



I:>w to keep a Cottage Cow. 



sugar beets, fifteen inches apart, in 



every sat or space, nook and corner, of your 

 gardenAvhich you can possibly spare from 

 other nrposes; as, also, in any vacant lot 

 which Jdu can borrow or hire. If the land 

 is wor id well and early, they will require 

 but tw or three light hoeings ; and will grow 

 large lough, oftentimes, to afford a mess 

 each, ■! th the addition of a quart of shoots 

 and a prinkling of ground oil cake. Here, 

 then, i sugar, gluten, starch, and oleaginous 

 matter to boot; and with such food, a cow 

 needs it little hay. — New Gen. Far. 



Yoinay talk about plaster of Paris, lime, 

 marl, id stable manure, for an exhausted 

 soil, b all in vain, if there is not energy 

 and in istry to apply them. 



