NEW ENGL/xND FARMER. 



March 



mile would be sufficient, unless the Competition be 

 very sharp. I think, therefore, no premiums should 

 be ottered, which would have the efl'ect to exclude 

 the best horses, unless there can be a properly con- 

 ducted trial of speed. 



One objecaon is, that it engenders betting, but I 

 think not as a matter of course. True, it may be 

 made the subject of betting, and so may many oth- 

 er things connected with every exhibition of the 

 kind. A man may bet that his oxen will draw a 

 hundred pounds more than B's ; or that his cow 

 will jield more milk in a given time than any other 

 on exhibition; or that his swine will weigh more 

 than C's, and so on through the whole catalogue. 

 But if betting should occur among some few, (al- 

 though I should hope it might not, for 1 discounte- 

 nance it,) ought the society to be held answerable 

 for it? I think not, and the objection is not suf- 

 ficient to exclude him. 



I have been looking for some plan which your 

 correspondents who are so bitterly opposed to trot- 

 ting horses, should propose, which would do away 

 with the objectionable features, and secure the val- 

 uable, but while they are so ready to publish their 

 condemnation of the practice, they offer no plan as 

 a remedy, unless it be implied that they would have 

 all trotting abolished. Such a course 1 should deem 

 unwise. Old men and young, matrons and maid- 

 ens, do like to see the light and nimble steps of a 

 beautiful trotting horse. They come from the farm 

 and the shop, where they have toiled through the 

 heat of summer, to enjoy a gala-day, and they find 

 a h.'althy and satisfactory recreation in a well-con- 

 ducted agricultural exhibition, and they return to 

 their farms and merchandise to await M'ith interest 

 the return of their State and County festival. To 

 exclude the excitement of the exhibition of horses 

 would be to rob it of one of its most attractive fea- 

 tures, and would also have a decided tendency to 

 multiply Horse Shows where there is nothing but 

 trotting, and betting, and, I may add, a good deal 

 of profanity. Our youth would find their way there, 

 and instead of witnessing a fair and orderly trial of 

 speed under the care of parents or guardians, whose 

 presence and dignity would serve as a wholesome 

 restraint, they would see more of the brute in man 

 and less of the "poetry of motion" in the horse. 

 Would it not therefore be far better to seek to con- 

 trol this amusement which thus far has been foster- 

 ed by nearly all our agricultural societies, and con- 

 sequently will continue, for a time at least, rather 

 than disown, and cast it off to assume a more reck- 

 less, exclusive and objectionable form ? 



Some have thought it unmerciful, and as "a mer- 

 ciful man is merciful to his beast," it should be looked 

 upon as a violation of this scriptural precept. I 

 have visited several fairs this season, and there has 

 been trotting at each, also plowing and drawing 

 matches, and I have seen no trotting that appeared 

 so "unmerciful," as compelling a pair of oxen under 

 the free use of the lash to try, and try, and try again, 

 to drag a ponderous stone that would require the 

 united strength of two yoke, or goading a pair of 

 cattle to perform a piece of plowing in twenty min- 

 utes, that would require thirty or thirty-five. It is 

 not an easy matter to decide where the competition 

 shall begin and where end. In fact the whole ex- 

 hibition is one of competition, and was established 

 for the commendable purpose of "provoking one 

 another to good works," and if our exhibitions are 

 left in. the hands of competent men — men of digni- 



'.y and moral character, I do not apprehend that 

 •■^n avalanche of immorality will roll down upon us 

 ai a 2 : 40 speed that will crush all our hopes in the 

 good our annual fairs are so well calculated to im- 

 part, v. c. G. 

 JVashua, JV., H. Dec. 22, 1856. 



for the Nete England Farmer. 



THOROUGH DRAINING. 



Mr. Editor : — Some of your correspondents 

 are praivsing a "farmer's life," who, I think, would 

 sing a different tune were they on a mountain 

 farm. One says, "thorough farming will pay well." 

 Now, sir, that man has little if any idea of moun- 

 tain farming, where much of the land answers your 

 description of New Ilami^shire land in a late num- 

 ber. 



What is called thorough draining on most of 

 our lands is wholly out of the question. Subsoil- 

 ing, if not wholly out of the question, would cost 

 far more than the land would bring. On much of 

 our land, ledges and boulders render it wholly im- 

 practicable. Thorough draining would cost far more 

 than the land v/ill bring, probably four to six times 

 the amount. Special manures are for the most 

 part so far to be brought, it is doubtful whether 

 they would pay. Of guano I tried one bag en va- 

 rious crops, and my conclusion is, the guano was a 

 total loss, not more than paying the expense of 

 putting it on. Phosphate and muriate ol lime have 

 not been tried to my knowledge. What theu* ef- 

 fect would be, cannot be decided. 



jNIy opinion of deep plowing is, that where it can 

 be done without more manure than we can com- 

 mand, it vrould, for years at least, spoil our lands. 

 I do not know but gradually plowing deeper might 

 be beneficial. In view of all circumstances, I thin)' 

 a farmer's life is not all poetry. P. Gibes. 



JV. Hanfordi Mass. 



REAR YOUR HEIFER CALVES. 



Good cows in the neighborhood of Boston, aad 

 at the Brighton and Cambridge markets, have for 

 more than a year past been bringing from thirty- 

 five to fifty dollars, and the supply, at these prices, 

 has scarcely been equal to the demand. Cows that 

 are of large size, and that give an extraordinary 

 quantity of milk through a large portion of the 

 year, sell at prices varying from sixty-five to one 

 hundred dollars! Good looking two-year old 

 heifers, in calf, of almost any breed, sell quickly at 

 thirty to forty dollars, and if of some particular 

 breed and of supposed merit, frequently command 

 fifty dollars. Milk is in demand, and will continue 

 to be so, and ought to be supplied to the cities by 

 those living near them, in abundance and of the 

 best quality. 



We are aware that even with those who can 

 winter from ten to forty head of cattle, it is often 

 found inconvenient to rear the calves and produce 

 their own cows. The calves require constant and 

 careful attention, and when old enough to feed 

 themselves, pasturage is deficient. But under the 

 circumstances we have mentioned we tliink the 



