54. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



173 



covered the earth around them to the depth of two 

 or three inches with tan bark, putting some half 

 a dozen shovelfuls into the centre of each bush. It 

 operated to a charm, — the grass was exterminated, 

 and the next season I spaded in the tan bark, and 

 since then my bashes liave yielded bountifully. I 

 am satisfied that vegetable dressing is equally as 

 good, if not better, for trees and shrubbery than 

 barnyard manure, which I save for field dressing. 

 Topsham, Nov., 1853. D, p. h. 



Maine Farmer. 



CAREOTS FOR HOESES, MILCH COWS, 



&c. &c. 



BY OXE WUO UAS HAD TUOROUGH EXPERIEXCE, 



The value of the carrot as an article of food 

 for hors;!S and milch cows in winter and spring, 

 is very iar from being universally appreciated, 

 else its culture for that purpose would be more 

 general. There is nothing grown by the farmer 

 that yields more abundantly in proportion to the 

 labor, nor is there a production of the soil that 

 will furnish a greater amount of nutriment to the 

 acre than this root, for the use above named. They 

 are a most admirable food for horses, in winter 

 and spring, as they possess the peculiar quali- 

 ties necessary to promote health and vigor in 

 the animal during the period of the year when 

 there is no grazing. They are, indeed, they best 

 known substitute for grass, as regards horses, and 

 if given in sufficient quantity, with as much straw 

 and salt as the horse chooses to consume, will 

 keep him in as fine condition in every respect 

 A medium sized horse requires from two to three 

 pecks a day, when standing in the staVde, and an 

 additional peck when put to labor ; though if the 

 labor be very severe and constant, corn meal 

 may be profitably added, (a.) One hundred 

 and eighty days, or from Nov. 1st to May 1st 

 is the average time during which there is no graz- 

 ing. A horse will, in that time, if i:iut to hard 

 labor, and fed upon straw and oats, consume at 

 least ninety bushels of thelatter,or halfa bushel a 

 day ; and thirty bushels peracre being an average 

 yield, it requires three acres of ground to produce 

 the amount. Now for the carrots. One thousand 

 bushels per acre is less than an average crop when 

 properly cultivated, (though I have grown at the 

 rate of two thousand, on highly manured ground,) 

 and two Isushcls of them contains rather more 

 nutriment than one of oats ; therefore less than 

 one-fifth of an acre of carrots is equal to three 

 axjres of oats ! The expense of tillage for this 

 fifth of an acre is about the same, all told, as for 

 the throe acres of oats. It also requires about 

 double the labor to feed them, that it ordinarily 

 does grain, as they should be chopped or cut with 

 a knife, in small pieces, for feeding. But this 

 additional labor, together with the extra cost of 

 enriching the soil beyond the usual condition of 

 oat-ground, is but little in comparison with the 

 more than fifteen hundred per cent, increase of 

 nutricioua matter on the same quantity of land. 

 Carrots are almost uijivcreally a favorite food 

 with horseg ; l>ut should one refuse them at first, 

 an appetite is soon cultivated, and he devours 

 them greedily. The effect of carrots upon horses 

 always is, when fed liberally, a bright eye, a' 

 glossy coat, and an energetic, healthful appear 

 ance. 



As a regular food for milch-cows, through the 



winter and spring, carrots are very valuable. 

 They increase the flow of the milk, give it a deli- 

 cious flavor, and always insure yellow butter in a 

 legitimate way. They are, without doubt, prefer- 

 able to any other root, all things considered, fw 

 cows giving milk through the winter, or for new 

 milch-cows before grass. They are said to fatten 

 on them, when boiled, much faster than on pota- 

 toes, and sheep are usually very fond of them. 



Carrot tops, fed to horses and cattle in Novem- 

 ber and Decemljcr, are worth their weight in good 

 meadow hay, and an acre of them is equal to half 

 an acre of ordinary meadow, {b.) 



When the enormous yield of this root, and its 

 value as a healthy diet for stock in winter is duly 

 considered, it is somewhat surprising that its cul- 

 ture is so generally neglected, especially by those 

 ha\ing but a few acres. Every farmer and kitchen 

 gardener knows how to raise a bed of carrots for 

 family use, and they have only to enlarge their 

 space and apply the additional labor, to extend 

 the benefit to the yard and stable, and through 

 them to their own pockets. l. h. w. 



Phil. Dollar Newspaper. 



Remarks. — "Two or three pecks a day" would 

 probably "scour" any horse so that he would be 

 unfit for labor in one week. Unless the horse ia 

 very large, and fed mostly on dry hay, without 

 grain, one peck j)er day will be found a liberal 

 feed of carrots. 



{b.) The term "meadows," used here probably 

 means upland, and not, as with us, low ground 

 producing an inferior quality of liay. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DOES COLD KILL THE PEACH TEEES. 



Friend Brow.v : — Some years ago it was a pop- 

 ular doctrine that a certain degree of cold, say 12*^ 

 below zero, would kill peach buds, but I did not 

 believe it, as within the last few years the belief 

 has become general that they were not afiected by 

 extreme cold. I have been examining my trees to- 

 day (Feb. 22,) and have not been able to find a 

 living bud, and for certain reasons I think they 

 may have been destroyed by the extreme cold. 

 Sometime betweeu the 28th of Nov. and the 10th 

 of Dec, I Avas at work among my peach trees, 

 and examined the buds on eight or ten trees, and 

 found them all alive. About the 16th of Jan., 

 1854, I was pruning and heading in my trees, and 

 examined again and found them all alive. Some- 

 time during the week commencing Jan. 29, I was 

 at work again among them and^found some dead 

 buds, the most of them, ho we^-er, were alive. Now 

 they are all dead ; and I find by looking at my ac- 

 count of the cold mornings that on Jan 25th the 

 mercury went 12'^ below ; 2'Jth 17* below ; Feb, 

 5th, 10'^ below, and Feb. 7th, 20'^ below. Now, 

 as the ground has not been thawed, and no warm 

 weather of any conseouence has ensued, I can aC' 

 count for their destruction in no other way than 

 by the cold. Yours &c. B. F. Cutter 



Pel/iam, N. H., Feb, 22, 1854. 



Shoes. — Next to agriculture the shoemaking 

 business is the most important and profitable pur- 

 suit in Maasachufietts, and has the largest number 



