THE GENESEE FARMER. 



3G9 



alue of the food that goes to form it; for the 

 alue of the manure from any animal depends ou 

 le quality of food consumed, and not any pecu- 

 arity in the animal. So you see there may be a 

 •eat difference in the goodness of manure, even 

 om two animals of the same species; for if one 

 i fed on poor fodder and meadow hay, and the 

 her on good English hay and plenty of provender, 

 ie manure is richer in power in proportion, 

 ence the superiority of hog manure; for except 

 an, the hog, perhaps, receives the most nutritious 

 id valuable kinds of food." 

 "Don't you use any artificial manure?'" 

 " Nothing except a little plaster. I roll the seed 

 it, and place a little on each hill just after the 

 rn comes up. I think this last application of 

 pecial value if the season happens to be dry. 

 it there is another point in which I take consid- 

 able pains with my corn, and that is in regard to 

 e selection of seed. It is my habit to take only 

 ose ears that are perfectly ripe, are full and eir- 

 ely filled out at the end, and particularly only 

 ose from stalks which have two or more ears. I 

 this for the reason that there is a law of Nature 

 it ' like produces like' to a certain extent, and I 

 pect that according to the seed I plant so will 

 7 crop be, other things being equal; and I think 

 it by a careful and judicious selection of seed for 

 eries of years the quality and quantity of corn 

 ist be visibly increased." 

 " How do you usually save your corn ?" 

 ; 'I trace all I can conveniently, give the pig-eat 

 •n to the hogs, and spread the -remainder on the 

 amber floor. It is a little more work to trace or 

 lid up the corn, but when 'tis once done and 

 ng up you have no more trouble with it." 

 Mfdst, Me., 1862. GEO. E. BRACKETT. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL PEESS. 



'he Value op Food for Cattle.— The Maine Farmer 

 s: "The nutritive value of food is estimated by the 

 mtity of nitrogen it contains." This was the old rule, 

 since the results of Mr. Lawes' experiments in fatten, 

 cattle, sheep and hogs, were published, we supposed 

 idea was abandoned. It is certainly not a correct 

 hod of estimating the value of food. It would make 

 ashel of peas more nutritious than two bushels < f corn, 

 ch we all know is not the case. It would be nearer 

 truth to say that the nutritive value of food is in pro- 

 tion to .the amount of available carbonaceous matter 

 irch, oil, sugar, etc.,) which it contains. This should 

 n the basis of our estimate of the value of food, and 

 a the more nitrogen we can get in addition the better. 

 n is perhaps too carbonaceous, and peas and beans too 

 ogenous. A mixture of the two would be better than 

 ier alone. 



he amount of nitrogen in the food determines the 

 ie of the manure derived from it, but not the nutri- 

 is value of the food itself. Clover hay contains twice 

 nuch nitrogen as timothy hay, but while it is very nu- 

 ious, it is not worth twice as much as timothy hay.— 

 making manure, however, it is twice as valuable. 

 'he Cheapest Wat to Raise Turnips. — Albert 

 .be says, in the Farming/ton (Me.) Chronicle, that he 

 eves he " has found the cheapest way to raise Eng- 



lish turnips." He manures his laud at the rate of 20 or 

 30 loads to the acre; sows the seed by hand, about the 1st 

 of July, first marking off the rows about 15 inches apart, 

 with a marker made in the form of a hand rake; then 

 cover the seed by drawing a dray load of stones over it 

 till the surface of thegrouud is made fine and quite hard. 

 He thins carefully, "pulling out the largest weeds."— 

 This is all he does until harvesting. This year he got 

 " 100 bushel* from 31 rods of ground." This is equal to 

 516 bushels to the acre. 



Not a very big crop, Mr. P., and your method of cul- 

 ture is not of the most approved pattern. Instead of 

 having the rows only 15 inches apart, it would be better 

 to have them two feet or two and a half feet apart. Then 

 instead of " pulling out the largest weeds," you could use 

 the horse cultivator between the rows, and destroy all the 

 weeds with the hand hoe, thinning the plants 12 inches 

 apart at the same operation. This is the plan adopted in 

 Canada, where a thousand bushels per acre are not un- 

 frequently obtained on acres together. 



Does it Pat to Feed Hogs?— A correspondent of the 

 Maine Farmer answers this question in the negative.— 

 Last winter he took two shoats weighing over 100 lbs. each, 

 and estimated to be worth $12. He fed them carrots, 

 potatoes, corn, barley, peas and buckwheat meal, to the 

 value of $32.45. He killed them early this fall, and the best 

 one weighed only 343£ lbs., for which he got 6c. per lb., 

 or $20.61— say $41.22 for the two. Deduct from this $12, 

 the original value of the pigs, and we have a loss on each 

 pig of $1.61. In addition to the above food, the pigs had 

 the waste from the house and the milk of three cows for 

 which nothing is charged. 



At the present prices of grain in the Eastern States, we 

 cannot see how pigs can be fattened with profit, if the 

 pork only sells for 6c. per lb. 



The American Milking Machine.— This machine 

 which was alluded to in the Genesee Farmer some years 

 ago, and which we thought more ingenious than practi- 

 cally useful, created quite a furore in England. The right 

 to manufacture was sold for a large sum, and the machine 

 is now made by the "Cow Milking Machine Company," 

 of Smethwich, near Birmingham. The Irish Farmer? 

 Gazette says a public trial was recently held, in which 

 the machine gave satisfaction, though it is admitted that 

 "none of the cows were clean milked," but it is supposed 

 "this will not be the case when the machine is tried on 

 new milch cows and heifers." 



"Shall we all raise Wool?"— Such is the caption 

 of an article in the Maine Farmer. It says that, stimu- 

 lated by present high prices, many are curtailing other 

 branches of farming, and- turning all their capital and 

 energies to wool-growing. The writer thinks they should 

 not be in a hurry to sell off all their cows, and all their 

 colts and oxen, and go with a rush into the .-heep specula- 

 tion. Extremes jin any business are seldom lasting, and 

 it is better to pursue a mixed system of agriculture. 



Fall Plowing for Corn.— A correspondent of the 

 W iscontin Farmer, plowed a field of land for corn last 

 fall, leaving a strip in the center of the field unplowed. 

 The field was cross-plowed this spring, and on the part 

 not fall-plowed the crop was fully one-third less than on 

 the rest of the field. 



