1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



235 



tion to our "broad hint" about the churn. We 



really do not need a new churn unless there is a 

 better one than the half dozen we already possess ; 

 if there is such, we should like to know it ourselves, 

 and inform "the rest of mankind" of the fact. 



FINE CATTLE. 



I saw in this village yesterday, a pair of cattle 

 weighing alive 5100 lbs., apparently seven years 

 old, said to have been reared at Shelburn, Frank- 

 lin County, Massachusetts. They were straight, 

 bright, and well filled out — their horns indicating 

 their breed to be Durham. They were estimated 

 to weigh 4000 lbs. dressed, and to be of the value 

 of $500. When cattle will command such prices 

 — what can the farmer do better than to raise 

 them? They were at the place of business of 

 Messrs. Teel & Moulton. We understand they 

 were reared by Mr. Bardwell. 



Jf/arcA 21, 1857. South Dax^-ers. 



KECLAIMIKG MEADOW OR BOG. 



I have some 5 or 6 acres of lo^ land called 

 swamp, covered with maples, whortleberries, alders, 

 &c., adjoining a salt marsh ; and its greatest eleva- 

 tion, adjoining the upland, 4 feet ; distance from 

 marsh to upland, 20 rods. Peat bottom, depth 

 from 3 to 15 feet, all nearly dry in summer, and 

 can be passed over dry shod, or without trouble of 

 water. 



Now I wish to know the best course to pursue 

 in order to convert it to English grass, cranberry 

 bog or tillage. Jas. Robbiks. 



Osterville, March, 1857. 



Remarks. — We have so often given the process 

 to accomplish the result here desired, that it seems 

 to us like an old story to go over it again. But 

 briefly, — thorough drainage is the first step ; l)ut 

 not so low as to leave the surface like a dry sponge. 

 After draining, manure liberally ; plant with pota- 

 toes, or other crops for a year or two, and then 

 lay it to grass. 



USE of LIME. 



I should like to know M'hich is the best way to use 

 air slaked lime for agricultural purposes, whether 

 it ought to be spread on the surface ? What kind 

 of land will it do best on, or whether it would do 

 better mixed with other manure before being used ? 



E. Freetown, Mass., 1857. R. Washburn. 



Remarks. — Spread on the surface. If the land 

 is heavy and full of vegetable matter, it will stimu- 

 late it to fertility. Use it sparingly on light land. 



now shall sheep be fattened? 



Can you tell me the best way of feeding sheep 

 in the winter for fatting ? What kind of food, and 

 what sort of pens, will be the most useful, and the 

 quantity of food a day ? Samuel Lyman. 



Southampton, Mass., 1857. 



the yellow brake. 



I wish to know if there is any way to kill the 

 yellow brake without plowing ? My land is so 

 filled with stone that I cannot plow. 



.Vp/'on. i8o7. Samuel Griffin. 



horse distemper — wens. 



I see in your March number, on page 1 15, in the 

 receipt that I sent you there is a mistake in one 

 word, it being horn distemper, instead of horse. 



Will some one tell what will cure wens on cattle? 



Cummington, 1857. E. P. WiLBUR. 



chint:se sugar cane. 



I should like to know whether the Chinese sugar 

 cane is the same as the Chinese tree corn, which 

 was so highly i-ecommended fifteen years ago or 

 nearly, by agricultural papers. j. p. 



Jluburn, JV. Y., 1857. 



Remarks. — We think not. 



A potato story. 



A single potato planted in the Spring of 1856, by 

 a boy ten years old, uelded when dug in the fall 

 one hundred and sixty-one pounds, and one single 

 potato weighed two ))ounds and one-half. 



5. Hampton, A'. H. A Subscriber. 



For the New England Farmer. 



INDIAN CORN. 



That this crop is of vast importance, is manifest 

 from the fact that "it is best adapted to the soil and 

 climate, and furnishes the largest amount of nutri- 

 cious food" of any crop cultivated in the United 

 States. In New England, according to the last cen- 

 sus, the production of this grain increased nearly 

 50 per cent, in the ten years previous, while wheat 

 decreased in about the same ratio. Take one year 

 with another, the common eight rowed yellow corn 

 is as profitable as any ; though sometimes, when 

 the season and all else is favorable, a great crop may 

 be obtained from a larger kind. On dry ground, with 

 the manure (eight or ten cords) from the barn cel- 

 lar spread on and plowed in, forty bushels per acre 

 of shelled corn is about an average crop with us. 

 By the way, whether manure from the cellar is bet- 

 ter or not than common, it is made to act quicker, 

 by working it over to the air with loam or mud, so 

 that nothing is lost. The oldest barn cellar that I 

 know of was made some sixteen years ago ; now, 

 though this section of country is like most all agri- 

 cultural communities, thinly settled, I can count 

 thirty not five miles off, which is probably not three- 

 fourths the actual number. 



For corn on high ground, put no manure in the 

 hill. Plant thi*ee feet four inches apart, each way. 

 Cultivate both ways, or, rather, horse-hoe it. — 

 Make no hill of any consequence. Plant five ker- 

 nels in a hill, which, if not thinned out, make it too 

 thick, unless the worms take that part of the job. 

 Plant early, though there is such a thing as too 

 earl)-. 1 planted corn on the 6th of May last, on 

 land plowed the 26th and 28th of April ; there was 

 rain just before and after planting, and somewhat 

 cold. This corn came up well, but was yellow, and 

 looked like destruction, till July, when it did bet- 

 ter, and the frost holding oft' late, was very good. 

 I plowed another piece alongside the first, the 12th 

 and 13th of May, planted the 14th ; everything 

 similar except time ; the last came up, and looked 

 better colored, grew right ofi", and was considera- 

 bly the best at harvest. Joseph W. Brown. 



Kensington, JV. H., 1857. 



