1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



63 



the first premium of $200, as a stoclv horse for gen- 

 eral use. He is acknowledged to be the most pow- 

 erful horse in New England, I belieA'e. 



There are fast, fancy, family, draught and mili- 

 tary horses, but one that combines all these quali- 

 ties is a very scarce, though very desirable animal. 

 A'oung Morrill comes up well nigh to the standard 

 of perfection. His sire was "Old Morrill," his dam 

 "Sherman Morgan." The colts from him are very 

 promising. His owners, so far, I think, have 

 managed him wisely ; preferring to keep him for 

 stock, rather than put him on the race-course. In 

 justice to his owners, I would say, that they are 

 very careful men, and safe hands in which to trust 

 valuable breeding mares. The horse is a valuable 

 one, making a fine income annually, but his stock 

 belongs to the public. May they appreciate it. 

 How long will our farmers cling to runtlings to 

 improve a race, and continue to feed and rear from 

 the fourth down to the sixteenth rate horses which 

 are miserable to look upon, and to ride after are 

 truly painful ? Leonard T. Tucker. 



Meredith Bridge, JV. H., JVov, 29, 1856. 



For the A'eir England Farmer. 



CONDITION OF THINGS IN IOWA. 



Winter has set in. New England fashion, in Iowa, 

 Seldom do you have a more decisive north-easter 

 than . we are having to-day. Early in November, 

 we began to have manifest tokens of approaching 

 winter, in the form of sleet, and snow, and bitter 

 frost. This was succeeded by heavy rains, and hor- 

 rible mud, so that we have had but little pleasant 

 weather and good travelling since October. When 

 we are to have any more, time will show. Surely, 

 the seasons are very variable in the West ; for we 

 have "heard tell" of mild and beautiful weather, 

 even till the very last of December. However, we 

 have no complaint to make about the weather. — 

 Whoever, or whatever else may be wrong, the 

 iceather is always right. We may not always be 

 prepared for its developments, but that is not the 

 fault of the weather, nor of its Author. Therefore, 

 we say concerning it, "Let be the things that are to 

 be." 



The weather is not the only variable thing at the 

 West. The price of wheat is nearly as much so — 

 often to the great disappointment of those who 

 raise it, and depend upon it to pay their store bills, 

 and meet their other obligations. Early in the 

 season, it was one dollar a bushel, delivered at the 

 railroad, or the river ; now, it is only seventy cents 

 at the same places. So much for being behind- 

 hand. Potatoes, on the other hand., are higher 

 now than they were two months ago. As to chick- 

 ens, you can buy as nice and as fat ones as ever 

 grew, for fifteen cents apiece, all dressed, ready for 

 the cook. Undressed, they are a bit apiece ; or, 

 as you would say, a ninepence. Molasses, again, 

 the cheapest kind, seventy-five cents a gallon ; 

 brown sugar, the cheapest, eight lbs. for a dollar ; 

 and common crushed sugar, six lbs. for a dollar. 

 Dried apples — we have no others — twelve and a 

 half to fifteen cents a lb. So, while we get our 

 flour, and meal, and pork, cheaper than you, we 

 pay much more for almost all imported articles, 

 dry goods, hard ware, furniture, rent, interest- 

 money, etc. I name interest, because many more 

 are paying than receiving interest. The rise of 



property in many, jierhaps most cases, balances 

 the high rate of interest. I am paying ten per 

 cent, on some land, bought six months ago, that 

 would not bring any more to-day than I ])aid for 

 it. In other instances, the value has been doubled, 

 in the same time. * 



It is astonishing with what avidity the people go 

 in for railroads. Several years ago, one was al- 

 most built through Cedar county. Thousands of 

 dollars were spent in grading, and thousands of 

 dollars thereby added, as many afhrm, to the val- 

 ue of property in the county, although the road 

 was never completed, and never will be. Just now, 

 there are no less than three or four others in con- 

 templation, through the same county; two of 

 them starting from nearly the same point, and run- 

 ning within a few miles ol each other, for a consid- 

 erable distance. They are all sine to go, their ad- 

 vocates affirm ; and the grading of one of them, 

 (from Camanche on the river, to Iowa city,) is ac- 

 tually contracted for, 1 am informed, though no 

 survey has, as yet, been made! And the market 

 Value of land, and other proj)erty, along the route, 

 and in the villages, will rise from twenty-five to fif- 

 ty per cent., if the road is constructed ; and simply 

 remain stationary for a time, if the project fails. — 

 A very intelligent gentleman in this town told me 

 that he would give one thousand dollars to the 

 road, if it should come. He did not think the 

 stock would be worth a cent ; but it would raise 

 the value of his property to that amount. 



One of our chief wants, in this part of the State, 

 is good fuel. We are beginning to use coal ; but 

 have not yet got our fixings nor our coal on hand, 

 (waiting for a railroad to bring it,) and so we are 

 obliged to pay four or five dollars a cord for the 

 meanest wind-fail trash that was ever burned. I 

 have never seen a respectable load of wood, such as 

 I used to see in Massachusetts, in this goodly coun- 

 ty seat of Cedar county. Not because there is not 

 good wood enough in the county ; but because 

 there is so great a demand for building and fenc- 

 ing purposes ; and because those who own it, in 

 large quantities, are keeping it for higher prices. 

 For the sake of the poor, we humbly hope, and ful- 

 ly believe, that it Avill turn out to them as in the 

 proverb : "There is a sore evil which I have seen 

 under the sun ; namely, riches kept for the owners 

 thereof, to their hurt." M. K. C. 



Tipton, Iowa, Dec. 2, 1856. 



Activity of Birds. — The activity of birds when 

 they have young is most surprising. Dr. Macgil- 

 livray records the observations made by a friend 

 on a pair of blue tit-mice when rearing their young. 

 The parent birds began their labor of love at half- 

 past three o'clock in the morning, and did not 

 leave off till after eight o'clock in the evening, af- 

 ter being almost incessantly engaged 17 hours. — 

 Mr. Weir counted their various returns to the nest, 

 and found them to be 475. Up to four o'clock, as 

 a breakfast, they were fed 12 times; between five 

 and six, 40 times, flying to and from a plantation 

 more than 150 yards from their nest; between 

 nine and ten o'clock they fed them 46 times, and 

 they continued at their work till the time specified, 

 sometimes bringing in a single large caterpillar, at 

 other times two or three small ones. The number 

 of destructive insects removed by birds when feed- 

 ing their young must be astonishing, if they were 



