185i. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



285 



280 pounds of potatoes. 



280 pounds of artichokes. 



400 pounds of beet. 



400 pounds of ruta baga turnip. 



400 pounds of carrots. 



These equivalents were ascertained in the ex- 

 periments with tlie horses, and it ajipears that 

 where they gained on an equivalent of steamed 

 potatoes of 30.8 lbs. instead of the 11 ll)s. of 

 hay, they lost flesh on 38.5 lbs. of carrots instead 

 of the 11 lbs. of hay. 



But admitting that it docs take 400 lbs. of car- 

 rots to be equal in nutritious properties to 100 

 lbs. of good hay, for the sake of the argument, 

 then let us see whether it is profitable or other- 

 wise to raise them as food for our stock. 



On land that has been plowed eight to twelve 

 inches deep, and manured as is usual for our best 

 crops of corn, it is fiiir to suppose that 800 bush- 

 els of carrots shall be produced on an acre as an 

 average crop, which, at 50 lbs. to the bushel, will 

 give tAventy tons per acre ; then if the 400 lbs. 

 of carrots are equarto 100 lbs. of hay, the 20 

 tons of carrots will bo equal to five tons of hay 

 per acre, which we must get in order to equal the 

 carrot crop ! The expense of tending the carrot 

 crop would be greater than the usual cost of get- 

 ting an acre of hay, l)ut not much more than that 

 of cutting, curing and getting in the five tons 

 which are required to equal the carrot crop. 



There is another important consideration, how- 

 ever, which must not be lost sight of. That the 

 carrots perform an office beyond that of the mere 

 nutriment they may afford, no one who has fed 

 them out and noticed their effect on the animals 

 using them, will doubt. There is no feed that 

 that makes the eye brighter, the skin softer and 

 the hair sleeker, in both cattle and horses, than 

 the carrot. It keeps up the appetite and general 

 condition admii'ably. Horses, oxen, cows, calves, 

 and sheep arc extremely fond of them, and eat 

 them greedily at all times. 



In the winter of 1852 — 3, we fed 7 cows on 

 good English hay, cut and mixed with one quart 

 of oil meal and two quarts of cob-meal, per day, 

 for each cow. In the wintur of 1853 — 4, the 

 same cows, coming in at about the same time, fed 

 on hay cut upon tlie same ground as that of the 

 previous year, and with the addition of 4 bushels 

 of ruta bagas per day, but not a spoonful of grain 

 of any kind, gave just double the gallons of milk 

 that they did fed on the grain ! The circumstan- 

 ces under which the cows existed, both winters, 

 were alike, with the exception of temperature — 

 Ihe weather being much the coldest when they 

 gave the most milk. The barn, liowevcr, in 

 which tliey were kept is a very warm one, so that 

 in the coldest weather they were always comfort- 

 able. 



These facts, therefore, will have more influence 

 in our selection of crops for milch cows, than any ta- 



bles of the chemists, or any of the jwpular preju- 

 dices against the cultivation of roots. Our climate 

 and soils are suited to the roots which we need in 

 order to enable us to realize ready cash from the 

 sale of hay, and we hope to see this summer a lib- 

 eral breadth devoted to the root crop. 



SPEAK SOOTHING WORDS AND KIND, 



Speak sootliing words and kind, 



Breathe tender tones and dear, 

 To the afflicted mind, 



In sorrow's languid ear, 

 Help suffering man across 



Life's tottering Bridge of Sighs, 

 Count all things else mere dross, 



But gain the heavenly priT.e. ^ 



Speak soothing words and kind 



Wear honor's spotless garb . 



All through the march of life, 

 Strike off the poisoned barb 



Of envy and of strife ; 

 The true reformer's song 



Chant, lark -like, on thy way; 

 Till night wears out the wrojig 



And all is perfect day. 



Wear honor's spotless garb 



Twine friendship's noblest wreath 



Around thy brother's brow, 

 Who wears his vest beneath 



As warm a heart as thou ;. 

 The hope, the gem, the star, 



The all that life endears, 

 ! let no trifles mar 



The friendship formed for years. 



Twine friendship's noblest wreath. 

 Sow virtue's holy seed 



O'er the heart's fallow-ground, 

 Eradicate each weed 



That e'er springs up around ; * 

 Spread gospel news about, 



■Where'er thy feet may roam, 

 Till all mankind may shout 



A joyful harvest home. 



Sow virtue's holy seed. 



Mark Lam Express. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HIGH PEICE OF BEEF. 



Mit. Brown : — I notice in your paper, in re- 

 marking on the Cambridge and Brighton Cattle 

 market, that drovers are paying exorbitant prices 

 for cattle and sheep, and that the butchers are de- 

 termined not to support tliem in so doing any long- 

 er — it is wisely added, if they can help it. 



If these men would come into the country where 

 their good beef is fattened, and learn the high 

 price of the food they consume, also the higli price 

 paid for almost every article of food for man, they 

 would admit that they would more likely Imve to 

 pay higher prices than lower. The former that 

 sells his cattle for $7 per cwt. now, do his best, 

 cannot get as much breadstuff as two yea ra ago, 

 when he sold his beef for $5 per cwt. 



I live in Stanstead, Canacfa East, where there 

 arc hundreds of hei\d of good oxen ready for mar- 

 ket. A few of your cattle buyers have been here 

 where they used to purchase our beef cattle for 

 Boston market ; but the insult is, they go away, 

 saying the duties are so high that they cannot pur- 

 chase — the duties being $20 to $40 on a pair of 



