54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



lay out much labor on the jNIountain Ash, vinless 

 he intends to scU liis pears "two years from the 

 bud." Other valua])le articles on"Gathering and 

 Preserving Pears ;" caution against selectifig va- 

 rieties for cultivation from specimens exhibited at 

 "Exhibitions of Fruit ;" "Remarks on Transplant- 

 ing Trees,"' and notice of a new seedling "Frost- 

 Proof Grape." 



GARDEN. 



The editor gives us some Autumnal reflections 

 in "The Garden," with hints on work there for 

 the season ; "A short Garden Chat" on peaches, 

 peas, and beans ; and "The product of an acre and 

 a quarter," in Canada. 



IMPLEMENTS. 



An editorial on "Agricultural Implements ;" a 

 cat and description of a "One-horse Farm Tilt- 

 cart;" with an article on "Agricultural Machin- 

 ery," which says, " though thousands of very in- 

 genious men have labored for years to improve the 

 plow, still the best now in use consume live-sixths 

 of the moving force to overcome friction and cohe- 

 sion." 



MANURES. 



In a report of the proceedings of a late meeting 

 of the Board of Agriculture I am glad to notice 

 the appointment of a committee on the waste of 

 fertilizing substances in cities, and from the names 

 of the committee, think we may believe the mat- 

 ter will not end in the "iJesoZi'e" by which they 

 were appointed. We find also a "Table of Man- 

 ares," giving the composition, mode of application, 

 weight, &c., of several special manures ; remarks 

 on "Bones and Sulphuric Acid ;" "A New Ma- 

 nure ;" and the "Meadow Mud" controversy, con- 

 tinued ; in which the editor says "many things 

 are recommended to the farmer that are altogeth- 

 er unattainable by the great mass of cultivators ; 

 and many courses or plans proposed that can only 

 be adopted by a few." IIow true ; and yet this 

 idea has subjected his remarks to the criticisms of 

 the Tribune and of "Glen." No wonder there is 

 prejudice against book-farming ! I was brought vip 

 among farmers that had hai'd work to get salt for 

 their pork, where lime enough to plaster the 

 "square room" could not be had by all, and where 

 an oyster shell would have been placed in the calj- 

 inet of curiosities on the mantel piece. 



PIGS AND TURNIPS. 



Thoughts, suggestions and facts on feeding pigs 

 on turnips. Though not much of a turnijoite my- 

 self I can wish all manner of success for ^Mr. 

 French in his experiments. One country raises 

 turnips with a profit ; another sugar beets ; and a 

 third, Indian corn — but this does not prove that 

 either country can succeed with all these articles. 

 When Cobbett went back to England he attempt- 

 ed to get up a corn fever among the farmers there, 

 but with as little success among practical men, as 

 the turnip advocates have thus far met with in 

 the United States. 



REMEDIES, 



' for "Warts on Cows ;" for 

 and for "Burns." 



those of Normal schools, then will Mr.GoLDSBURY's 

 argument be to the point, and the "Agricultural 

 Lectures proposed by II. S." can be delivered by 

 those "having authority." "Science as a co-work- 

 er" with the farmer is recommended by Mr. Perrt. 

 He says, "It cannot be possible that agriculture 

 alone, of all the arts, must stand aloof from the 

 aid offered by science. All other industrial occu- 

 pations owe their elevation and importance to it." 

 Now is it not a fact that agriculture suj^ports two 

 periodicals devoted to its interests, where the oth- 

 er "industrial occupations" support one — pays for 

 two volumes on the "application of science," where 

 they pay for one? Shoemakers and masons, wheel- 

 wrights and tailors, may be far ahead of farmers, 

 in science, but I have no proof of it. 



TITLE PAGE AND INDEX. 



The printer gives us a neat title-page, and the 

 editors a copious index of subjects, illustrations, 

 and correspondents for the volume. From which 

 it appears that some two hujidred and forty differ- 

 ent individuals have contributed more or less of 

 their thoughts or knowledge, during the year ; 

 that some 47 cuts or pictures have illustrated its 

 pages, and that the mere names of subjects lill up 

 nine columns. It may be that there are some 

 readers who will throw aside this index with the 

 feelings of the lady who remarked of Dr. John- 

 son's Dictionary, "though the language is magni- 

 ficent, I don't think much of the story," yet the 

 great majority will agree with Daniel Webster in 

 his estimate of the value of an index, when he 

 said "I never look at a book that has none." 



SHEEP. 



Nine particular, and a good many general rea- 

 sons for preferring "Merino sheep for mutton" and 

 other purposes. 



WHEAT. 



Several encouraging instances of success in rais- 

 ing wheat in New England, the past season, are 

 mentioned in this number. A Reader. 



Winchester, Dec, 1853. 



THE FINEST OX IN THE WOULD. 



An ox, acknowledged by all who have seen him 

 to be the most extraordinary one they have ever 

 heard of, is about to be fca-warded to the Smith- 

 field Cattle Show, from Sir H. Vcrney's, of Clay- 

 don House. He was bred and fed by the Hon. 

 Baronet, and is a pure short-horn. He is rather 

 over five years old, and is supposed to be much 

 heavier than the famous Durham ox, about which 

 so much noise was made at the beginning of the 

 present century, or than the American ox, which 

 some few years since attracted so much notice. 

 Ho stands nearly 18 hands high, and measures 6 

 ft. Gin. from hip to shoulder, 3 ft. across the hips, 

 Oft. 11 in. in girth behind the shoulder, and 12 ft. 

 in length from the tip of the nose to the rump, 

 while his depth from chin to brisket exceeds 4 ft. 

 6 in. He is exceedingly well made up, particular- 

 ly along the whole length of his l)ack ; and not- 

 withstanding his great size, presents none of those 

 [monstrous fatty excrescences which so generally 

 seiK^cj!;. » disfigured the highly-fed beasts, and were so gen- 



When government shall take the business of ag- crally condemned a few years since. He has been 

 riculture into its hands, as it has done that of ed- fed upon grass, cake and corn ; and is supposed by 

 ucation, and be able to place the graduates of various judges, who have courteously been permit- 

 " Farm Schools" into lucrative places, as it does I ted by Mr. Eraser, Sir II. Verney's steward, to 



For "Borers 

 "Lice on Cows : 



