428 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 7 



new business, not intended 1o continue — and of 

 course attended vvitli more than double cost. Mr. 

 M. has gone to work like a man of business, as 

 well as of enterprise — and tliough he also has his 

 apprenticeship to pay for, I am confident that he 

 will show the expense of water-borne marl !o be 

 less than half the previous usual esiituate, and his 

 operations will extend its use beyond what any 

 one supposed possible a \'e\v years aijo. No means 

 yet are furnished for makmg correct estimates: but 

 I count on the total expense of landing marl 8 to 

 20 miles from the place at which it is dug, and em- 

 barked, being within 2 cents the heaped bushel — 

 including every part of the labor. When this is 

 proved to be true, the use will be extended to every 

 farm on tide water, that has not marl beneath its 

 own surface. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 WHITE RATS. 



A year or two since a friend of ours had some 

 pumpkins late in the fa!!, lying in his barn, and 

 once or twice he observed among them some 

 white animal, which he at first supposed to be a 

 white weasel; but on obtaining a fairer view, saw 

 it was a rat. Driven to its retreat it was (bund 

 that a pair of them had taken possession ol' one 

 of the largest pumpkins, in which they had com- 

 menced a nest, preparatory to a winter's abode. 

 They were both killed. There was not we be- 

 lieve a dark hair upon them, and thouirh not a 

 pure white, having a slight yellowish tinge, their 

 appearance was on the whole singular. They 

 were evidently ^^Ibinoes, having the pink eyes so 

 peculiar to that race, whether belonging to man or 

 to the animal. A week or two since we caught 

 in a trap another, possessing the same peculiar- 

 ities of color, and the Albino conformation. Se- 

 veral years since we shot a squirrel, resembling in 

 size and in every respect one of the common 

 black or gray squirrels, except that he was of a 

 pure and beautiful white, and had the pink eyes 

 BO characteristic of the Albino. He was one of 

 the finest looking animals we have ever seen, and 

 there was a feeling of regret, that in order to se- 

 cure him for a closer inspection it was necessary to 

 kill him. There was not a hair of any other co- 

 lor than pure white upon him, and his large bushy 

 tail, as he frolicked on the ground or playfully 

 leaped about on the trees, gave him a most ele- 

 gant appearance. Albinoes exist amontj all races 

 of men ; even among the negroes of Africa. 

 Park found one of chalky whiteness ; and wiier- 

 ever they exist, the striking peculiarity attending 

 their eyes, serves to render them more observa- 

 ble, and entirely distinct from any other of the 

 same race, 



G. 



From the Farmers' Series of the Library of Useful ICnow- 

 ledge. 



MEADOW. 



It has been remarlced by the writers on agricul- 

 ture, that natural meadows are no where '^to be 

 found ; because all grass land which is in a 

 state of nature, neither enclosed nor cultivated, is 



universally pasture. Many centuries probably 

 elapsed before the invention of preserving grass 

 by drying it into a state of hay ; and this discove- 

 ry, which gave rise to what we now term mea- 

 dow, IS supposed to have preceded that of tillage ; 

 though this may be considered somewhat doubt- 

 lijl, when we reflect that, in the primitive stute of 

 husbandry in this country, the cattle which were 

 intended f()r consumption during the winter, were 

 slauglitered in the hitter end of autumn, and salt- 

 ed ihr use. To such ti'actsof ground as consist of 

 maiden earth, some persons are still disposed to 

 limit the extent of meadow land; but, generally 

 speaking, all land that is annually, or even occa- 

 sionally, mown, is at present known under the de- 

 nomination. Some considerable tracts of marsh 

 have never yet been submitted to the plough, and 

 much land, which, lying on the banks of rivers, is 

 subject to be occasionally overflowed, is still in a 

 virijin slate ; but by far the greater part of the up- 

 land meiulow throughout the kingdom bears evi- 

 dent marks of having been anciently under culti- 

 vation. 



The general management of meadow land lies in 

 a narrow compa^^^s — little diversified by practice, 

 except when rendered necessary by difference of 

 season and quality of soil. As the early vegeta- 

 tion of grass is promoted by taking the stock soon 

 off the ground, the uplands are usually "hayned," 

 or laid up at Candlemas ; but richer land is often 

 left open until the latter end of March; some- 

 times, indeed, particularly if the weather be moist, 

 even later :* but, if continued too loncj, the hay- 

 harvest is proportionably reiarded and diminished. 

 On this subject Mr. Sinclair has stated that a 

 given space of the same quality of grass having 

 been cut towards the end of March, and another 

 space of equal size left uncut until the last week 

 in April, the produce of each being afterwards 

 taken at three different cuttings, that of the space 

 last cut exceeded the former in the proportion of 

 three or two; and in one instance during a dry 

 summer, the last cropped space exceeded that 

 which was cropped [first] nearly as two to one.f 

 On land of the latter description, care should also be 

 taken to remove the heavy cattle early in autumn; 

 for such ground being commonly of a loamy na- 

 ture, and soon softened by a fall of rain, would 

 otherwise be poached, and it is well known that 

 in wet weather the hooves of bullocks form holes 

 which hold water, and thus render the herbage 

 sour. 



After the hay has been removed, the meadows 

 are generally shut up for some weeks, until the 

 grass again springs, when the stock are turned 

 upon them in such proportion as they appear able 

 to bear during the autumn ; though light store 

 s'ock are sometimes turned in immediately to crop 

 such spots around the margins, and in the water 

 furrows, as may have escaped the scythe. Other 

 farmers, however, reserve it during winter, and 

 then use it in the manner already stated in the 

 preceding account of fogging. Some, also, who 

 live in ilie neighborhood of large towns, where 

 they have the advantage of procuring manure, 



* Land of this description has been spring-fed till 

 the 12th of May, and has afterwards — when mown on 

 24th of Juno — yielded two tons of hay per acre. So- 

 merset Rep., .3d edition, p. 179. 



t Hort. Gram. Woburn. ; 3d edit. p. 389. 



