1,30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



be reserved to give them in the coltlest weather ; 

 for it is then that they have the keenest appe- 

 tites.'" 



All sorts of cattle that chew the cud, as sheep, 

 cows, &c. do not like either to graze after each 

 other nor to eat one another's leavings in the 

 foddering yard. But cattle that do not chew the 

 cud will eat after those *hich io,Tim] vice, versa. 



Moveable racks, if made so strong as not to 

 be easily overturned are fiest for foddering from, 

 because they can be easily lifted up as the dung 

 or snoiv rises. It is best, however, to place 

 such racks under sheds as well to shelter the 

 Cuttle as to preserve the manure from the wea- 

 ther, which will be droppcfl in tte largest quan- 

 tities near the places where the cattle are fed. 



" There is a reraarkalde difference in cattle's 

 eating straw when fresh threshed, and when it 

 has been threshed several days, especially if 

 the straw is but indifferent fodder."* We be- 

 lieve, however,if t'resh threshed straw is cut with 

 hay of a pretty good quality, the whole sprin- 

 kled a little with a pretty strong brine, or tine 

 fait and permiHed to lie in a heap fbrseveial 

 days it will improve in quality. 



Much chaff and straw that is often thrown 

 away, may with a little pains be made good fod- 

 der for cattle, by being mixed with green corn 

 stalks or good hay, the greener the better, cut 

 with a machine, sprinkled with tine salt, or 

 brine, if the mixture will bear wetting. The 

 sweetness of th'e stalks and hay are imbibed by 

 the chaff and str.iw and the whole will make a 

 compound very agreeable to cattle. They should 

 not, however, be conlined wholly to salted food 

 but have fresh messes a part of the time. 



When young animals are pinched for food at 

 an early period of their growth, or fed with 

 such as is not of a sufficiently good quality, they 

 never thrive so well afterwards, nor make s<' 

 good stock. Young's Farmer's Ca^el3li'e^ says, 

 "In the winter, the yearlings should be fed with 

 hay and roots, either turnips, carrots or pota- 

 toes, mangel wurtzel or ruta baga, and they 

 should be thoroughly well i'ei\, and kept per- 

 fectly clean by means of litter. At this age it is 

 matter of great consequence to keep such young 

 cattle as well as possible; for the contrary 

 practice will stop their growth, which cannot 

 be recovered by the best summer food. It' hay 

 is not to be had good straw must be substituted, 

 but then the roots must be given in greater 

 plenty, and with more attention. To steers and 

 heifers two years old, the proper food is hay, if 

 cheap, or straw, with baits of turnips, cabbages, 

 potatoes, &c. It is not right to keep yearling 

 calves and two years old together, because in ge- 

 neral the younger cattle are, the belter they 

 should be fed." 



* LisWi Husbandry. 



(to ee continued.) 



[From Koiglit on the Apple and Pear.] 

 ON PRUNING ORCHARDS. 

 The apple tree, being naturally very full of 

 branches, frequently requires the operation ol 

 pruning ; and when properly executed, great 

 advantages will be found to arise from it. But 

 as it is generally performed in Herefordshiri!, 

 the injury the tree sustains is much greater 

 than the benefit it receives. The ignorant pru- 

 ner gets into the middle of it, and lays about 

 him te right and left, till be leaves only small 



tufls of branches at the extremities of the large 

 boughs. These branches, now receiving the 

 whole nourishment of the tree, of course in- 

 crease rapidly, and soon become, when loaded 

 with fruit or snow, too heavy for the long naked 

 boughs to support, which are of necessity full of 

 dead knots from the former labors of the pruner. 

 Many hundred trees annually perish from this 

 cause. The present system of pruning ought 

 to be precisely reversed ; and the pruner should 

 confine himself almost entirely to the extremi- 

 ties of the bearing branches, which are always 

 too full of wood, and leave the internal part of 

 the tree nearly as he finds it. 



In pruning the apple tree, and all other stan- 

 dard trees, the points of the external branches 

 should be every where rendered thin and per- 

 vious to the light; so that the internal parts of 

 the tree may not be wholly shaded by the ex- 

 ternal parts : the light should penetrate deeply 

 into the tree, on every side ; but not any where 

 through it. When the pruner has judiciously 

 e\ecute(l his work, every part of the tree, in- 

 ternal, as well as external, will be productive 

 ofl'ruit;and the internal part, in unfavorable 

 seasons, as I shall have occasion to remark when 

 speaking of blights, will rather receive protec- 

 tion, than injury, from the external. A tree, 

 thus pruned, will not only produce much more 

 fruit, but will also be able to support a much 

 heavier load of it, without danger of being bro- 

 ken ; for any given weight will depress the 

 branch, not simply in proportion to its quantity, 

 but in the compound proportion of its quantity 

 and of its horizontal distance from the point of 

 suspension ; by a mode of action similar to thai 

 of the weight on the beam of the steel-yard ; 

 and hence a hundred and fifty pounds, sus|iend- 

 ed at one foot distance from the trunk, will dis- 

 tress the branch which supports it, no more 

 than ten pounds at fifteen feet distance woull^ 

 do. Every tree will therefore support a la. ger 

 weight of fruit, without danger of being bro- 

 ken, in proportion as the parts of such 

 weight are made to approach nearer to its cen- 

 tre. 



Each variety of the apple tree has its own 

 peculiar form or growth ; and this it will ulti- 

 mately assume, in a considerable degree, in 

 defiance of the art of the pruner. Something 

 may nevertheless be done to correct whatever 

 IS defective. When the growth of any variety 

 is weak and reclining, the principal stem should 

 be trained to a considerable height, before it 

 be allowed to produce branches ; and if any of 

 these take an horizontal, or pendent direction, 

 they should be regularly taken off. One princi- 

 jial leading stem should be encouraged almost 

 to the summit of the tree, to prevent a sudden 

 division into two large boughs, of nearly equal 

 strength; for the fork which these form, is apt 

 to divide and break, when the branches are 

 loaded with fruit. All efforts to give the heads 

 of young trees a round and regularly spreading 

 form, whilst in the nursery, will be found injuri- 

 ous in the future stages of their growth. 

 Large branches should rarely, or never be am- 

 putated. 



1 would not be understood to disapprove ot 

 judicious pruning; on the contrary 1 think it 

 ought very frequently to be done; but the free 

 ought always ;o retain, internally at least, much 

 of the close branchy growth, which its nature 



always gives it. The pruning knife may, \ 

 ever, be used with some degree of freedor 

 young treers, for the branches of these sooi 

 pair any breaches which may be made in th 

 but if an old tree, or one which has cease 

 grow larger, be so thinned as to admit a 

 current of air through it, it is ruined fore 

 It has been supposed that the fruit, which st 

 exposed to the sun and air on the outside ol 

 branches, is alone capable of making fine cii 

 but experience by no means justifies this coi 

 sion. When a tree has been pruned accor 

 to the preceding directions, the fruit, on e- 

 part of it, will be fiund to possess very ne 

 the same degree of excellence. 



CATTLE SHOWS. 



JVorthainpton Cattle Show. — We have aire 

 page 119, given a brief sketch of the late 

 tie Show, &c. held at Northampton, undei 

 auspices of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Hi 

 den Agricultural Society. The premiun 

 warded on that occasion were as follows ;- 



ON ANIMALS. 

 To Isaac C. Bates, of Northampton, 1st premiui 



for Bulls, 

 To Erastus Graves, of Sunderland, 2d do. 

 To Noah Shearer, of Palmer, 1st premium for a bu 



calf. 

 To Moses Warner, of Hatfield, 1st premium fc 



milch cons, 

 To Joel Smith, of Hadley, 2d do. 

 To Theodore Bridgman, of Bclchertown, 1st pre | 



miiim for two years old heifers, 

 To .^'^ahel Strong, of Northampton, 2d do. ] 



i'o Theodore Bridgman, of Belchertown, 1st pr i 



miiim for one year old heifers, | 



I'o James Shepherd, of Northampton, 2d do. 1 



i'o Isaac Graves, of Sunderland, for workiiio; ox 

 I o Samuel Buffington, of VVorthington, for do. 

 To Fzekiel Gomer, of Worthington, for do. 

 rro Kbenezer Stebbins, of Deeriield, for cattle f 



ted for the stall. 

 To Henry Hitchcock, of Hatfield, 2d do. 

 To Henry Hitclirock, of Hatfield, 3d do. 

 To Samuel Bufliiigton, of VVorthington, 4th do. 

 To Edwin Clark, of Northampton, 5th do. 

 To Theodore Clap, of Northampton, 6th do. ,. 



To Jedediah Taylor, of VVcstfield, 7th do. „ 



To John Field, of Conway, 8th do. 

 To Moses Nash, of WiUiamsburgh, 1st premiu, 



three years old steers, 

 To Elisha Strong, of Northampton, 2d do. 

 To Stephen Tower, of Cummington, Ist pre; 



for two years old steeis. 

 To Austin Smith, of Sunderland, 2d do. 

 To Roland Burliank, of West Springfield, 3d 

 To Theodore Bridgman, of Belchertown, 4th d( 

 To Asahfl Pomeroy, of Northampton, 5th do, 

 To Lewis Hubbard, of Hadley, 1st premiun^ 



one year old steers. 

 To Cephas Clark, of Northampton, 2d do 

 To Noah Shearer, of Palmer, 1st premium for 



best steer calf, 

 To Noah Shearer, of Palmer, 2d do. 

 To Nathan Tyler, of Chesterfield, Ist premiu: 



heifer calf. 

 To Nathan Tyler, of Chesterfield, 2d do. 

 To Isaac C. Bates, of Northampton, for merinol^i 

 To James Shepherd, of Northampton, 2d do. 

 To Isaac C. Bates, of Northampton, lor five m 



ewes. 



To John A. Judd, of Westhampton, 2d do. 7 

 To Asahel Pomeroy, of Northampton, premioUti 



native ram, >« 



To the same for five native ewes. 

 To Parley V\ ilson, of Northampton, for a bo»||jj;lji| 

 To James Shepherd, of do. for do. ^, 



To Oliver Smith of Hadley, for sows, jlljjj 



To Thomas Lyman, of Northampton, for do. "il» 

 To Frederick Hunt, of do. for the best litter 



