rLBLlSllED UY WILLIAM MCHOLt^, R()C;l:K!^' IJLILDLNGS, CONGl{i:S8 S^lll]•;^7^, (FOURTH DOOIl 1 KOM S'l'A'l t STKKLT.) 



t^oi.. n. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, NOVElMBER 29, 1823. 



No. 18. 



Fctrincr'i.- and Gardener's Rcinembrancer. 



[nY THE F.DITOR.] 



FODPEKING CATTLE. 

 [Concluded from page 130.] 

 t is of verv great importance Unit your barn 

 d bo proviiled with pure and wholesome na- 

 epecially it the winter food of yourcattle 

 i^^- chiftly.nr altogether of hay, straw, or olb- 

 rv tood. It has been ascertained that a bnllocti, 

 o has water at command will drink of it eight 

 ics a day.* Dr. Anilerson says, in substance, 

 particular attention should be paid, not on- 

 that c;^ltle have water mi plenty, but that it 

 of a good quality and that he knew a man, 

 o bec.ime very rich by being great in such 

 « niitters ; or, in other words, by attending, 

 eiul'.y, to things, which matdiind in general 

 Ider of too little consequence to command 

 ch attention. This man always made it a 

 to see ihat his cattle, particularly his 

 ch-cows, should have a constant supply ol 

 purest water, and he would not suffer any 

 nal to put a foot into it, or even let it be 

 ted by their breath. Cattle, which are 

 ged to wander away to some distance from 

 yard for water, through deep snows, and 

 pery paths, exposed to be harrassed by dogs, 

 gored by each other, or by neighboring cat- 

 SutTer more than is generally imaginefT. 

 ■ i? this all, rather than adventure on such 

 ilgrimage, they generally stay about the 

 I, and loiter along the highway, eating snow 

 a livelihood, which chills them, causes them 

 ave the horn distemper, (a disease brought 

 y pour keeping) ami other i:;ji:rics then and 

 e does (as the lawyers would phrase it) 

 list the peace and dignity of ther owner, 

 likewise lose a great part of their manure, 

 eil as their thrift; and you must either 

 somebody, or go yourself', and escort your 

 t to water, or you must leave your barn 

 bars down, or gate open, tliat the poor ani- 

 may wait on themselves to their watering 

 !. Then, in addition to the inconveniences, 

 osses above mentioned, your yard is throng- 

 ith your neighbors' colts, and other halt- 

 ed ill bred quadrupeds, who pav no regard 

 e rights oi nieuin and (»ih«, but steal all the 

 'i r the^ can lay their mouths on. Then 

 Jlrive the said four footed plunderers to the 

 Jcl ; and thence cometh lawsuits, quarrelling 

 "\% neighbors, povert3', profane language, 

 ther evils natural and moral, too numerous 

 ecapitulation. Therefore, Mr. Cultivator, 

 id of taking your cattle to water, please to 

 ivater to your cattle, yea, even in a ihim- 

 n egg-shell, or, the crown of your hat, if 

 ;an tind nothing bigger or better, or we 

 put you down a bad husbandman ! 

 have heretofore, in a number of instances, 

 imended the use of roots for feeding ami 

 ng cattle, &c. But as the majority of 

 England farmers do not raise any roots, 

 t the potatoe, in any considerable quanti- 

 ve shall here mention some uses to which 

 ery important root may be applied, as 

 or horses, neat cattle, sheep, S;c. 

 « of ^ricuUure. 



PoTATOl.S FOR CoWS, AND OTHER NKAT CATTLE. 



— Ill Mr. Arthur Young's .Vnnals of .Agriculture, 

 vol. XV. is a detailed account of potatoes being 

 used for feeding cows, together with cut straw, 

 which concludes as follows : 



'•The result of these experiments was that 

 potatoes occasioned the milk at lirst to diminish, 

 [in cows which have not been used to them,] 

 w hich may be supposed to arise from the change 

 of food, for it required nearly eight days to ac- 

 custom the beast to that food, which afterwards 

 augmented their milk about a quart. I also 

 made some observations on the quality of the 

 uiilk ; but it will take ii|) too much time to give 

 my observations on that he::d in detail. It will 

 be sufficient to oliserve that the tirst day, the 

 milk appeared to have less cream, and gave 

 about one seventh less butter than before, and 

 kept ill this state about five or six days ; after 

 which the milk became thicker, and the cream 

 upon it was in greater quantity. Without be- 

 coming 3'ellow, the butter was less white, and 

 nian3' people, who tasted of it thought it more 

 pleasant, but that ditierence was not apparent 

 to me." The quantity given to those cows, was 

 thirty pounds raw potatoes, and twelve pounds 

 of cut straw to each per diem.* 



Mr. Marshall, an eminent English agricultu- 

 rist says, " Potatoes are more nutritious ; and in 

 tlje opinion of those, who have used them, fat 

 cattle much quicker than either turnips or 

 cablagcs, and if properly laid ii[), are a food, 

 I'Jiieh may be continued without inconvenience, 

 uutir^hG cattle are tinisbe.i or the grass has ac- 

 quired the requisite growth for finishing them in 

 the field." 



PoTATOK.s FOR IIoRSES. — A Correspondent nf 

 Mr. Young [see Young's Annals, vol. i. page 21.] 

 says, " 1 had a peck of potatoes, boiled every 

 day, alter dinner >vas cooked in my kitchen, 

 and given to m3 saddle horses, a quarter of a 

 peck each daily, on which they did their work 

 well as long as they lasted, that is upwards ol' 

 two month-, instead of oats; only a trifling quan- 

 tity of which were now and then given. If 

 they were roasted on kilns, as 1 understand is 

 the practice in some parts of England, and mix- 

 ed with ground oats, it would, 1 imagine, be a 

 great saving in oats and a more hearty food." 



Another correspondent of Mr. Young [see 

 Young"sAnnals, vol i. p. 285.] says, "Nothav- 

 ing any potatoes of my own, 1 bought some ol a 

 neighbor, to try them in horse feeding, and from 

 the result prefer them to carrots. They were 

 ijiven raw, but washed, to saddle horses, each 

 liaving a peck a day, and no oats whatever. — 

 The horses were worked moderately, the same 



I as on oats, did their work well and were in good 

 'order. At lirst they scoured, but it soon went 

 I otf, and the potatoes did no more than keep 

 their bodies gently open." 



Another writer in the same work afiirms 

 " that potutpps are far sujierior to turnips, in 

 \ feeding, to the amount of one third, both beinf 

 used in equal time. 1 never had horses in so 

 I good condition as when led upon potatoes. Thev 

 ! are a certain remedy for a horse with swoln 

 ] legs, or out of condition in other cases, and dis- 

 I orders inwardly, one peck a day. They arc 

 i accounted good for hunters, giving them the day 

 after they have had a severe run, eight or ten 

 large potatoes. Likewise a writer in the IGth 

 volume of Young's Annals, states, in substance, 

 that a gentleman feeds his horses in the follow- 

 ing manner. Half a bushel of boiled potatoes 

 is mixed with a bushel of chaff, (and more if 

 it abounds;) the roots are boiled in a basket, 

 which is let in and drawn out by a pulley. One 

 woman washes and boils 25 "bushels a day. 

 With this food horses have no oats. He has 

 men that keep horses at work for him, who buy 

 potatoes in preference to oats. The old horses, 

 that used to go down [lose flesh] in winter, 

 do better on potatoes than even in summer. 



Potatoes for Sheep. — "'Gen. Murray use.s 

 potHtoes for fattening sheep, as well as for lean 

 stock. He has now 196 fat weathers, that e.nf 

 very near 11 bushels of potatoes and 100 

 weight of hay per diem : it may be reckoned 14 

 bushels for 200 sheep. If they iiave as many 

 potatoes as they nil] <x,i, u.cy ,lo not reqime 

 more than halfa pound of hay eacD per aiein. — 

 y'oung^ Annuls, vol. ii. p. 285. 



It will be proper in feeding cattle with pota- 

 toes, or other roots to give them but a small 

 quantity at first, increa.sing it by degrees as they 

 become accustomed to that sort of food. It will 

 be Letter to give a little every day than a large 

 mess, once in three or four days or a week. 

 Mr. Deane observed that " When a farmer 

 thinks that he has too mucn stock for his fodder 

 aswill>ometimes be the case,it isnnt best to pinch 

 them in their allowance as much in the fore 

 part of winter as in the latter part. For the cat- 

 tle are more liable to be pinched with cold, in 

 December and January, than afterwards. And 

 no man knows how favorable the latter part of 

 winter may be. Advantage also may be made 

 of browsing in the latter part more than in the 

 fore part of winter, as the buds then begin to 

 swell and the ttVigs have mere sap in them than 

 before." 



* It may be well, however, to state in tliis place that 

 the Farmer's Assistant is opposed to usin^ potatoes for 

 the purpose of feeding rnilch cows. That writer says. 

 •• We never should advise to feed milch cows with po- 

 tatoes, either boiled or raw ; as we have frequently 

 linown cows to be greatly lessened in their quantity 

 of milk, by being fed on this root," It is probable, 

 however, that in the instances to which the Farmer's 

 Assistant alludes, the cows were not fed with potatoes 

 loDg enough to become accustomed to them. Mr. 

 Young says that potatoes caused the milk al first to di- 

 minish, but after eight days its ijuaatity was increased. 



From the Massachusetts Yeoman. 



IRRIGATICN. 



Further Extracts, by the Editor, from, the Manuscript of 



a practical Farmer. 



I have irrigated hard land seven years — and 



soft, four years. The hard has nearly doubled 



',n crop, once in every three years — the soi't in 



two. Ifl had been supjilied with a plenty of 



water, I cannot doubt 1 should have realized 



twice the quantity of the hard land's crop in two 



years ; but at the tinie when most needed, my 



brook was generally almost dry. 



