1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



477 



clothing and groceries, and we live more comforta- 

 bly than -we could in a village for $500, or in a 

 city for $1000. I put the wear of tools and 

 buildings and my own labor, againgt tlie improve- 

 ment of the farm, by trees and otherwise, which 

 is not less than $50 annually. So that I cannot 

 make the profit of the farm (all expenses paid) 

 less than $336 annually, besides our living, which 

 is doing pretty well for $3000 investment, and 

 poorly managed at that. 



I have no douljt that a skilful man with a little 

 extra capital, might make the farm pay at least 

 double the above profit ; but it will help a man 

 to judge of what a good farmer can do, to know 

 what is done by a poor or middling one. 



In some points Mr. French's estimate differs 

 from mine. For instance, we contrive to raise 

 a couple of heifer calves a year on skim-milk, and 

 though hay here is worth $10 a ton, I find it the 

 cheapest way of keeping up my stock of cows. — 

 Also, notwithstanding the present high prices, 1 

 cannot aiford to "sell off most of my hay and 

 stock," for my butter, at present prices, makes it 

 profitable to keep them. My farm is more than 

 50 miles from Boston by the railroad, and yet is 

 near enough. 



I would hint to J. D. if he chooses to experi- 

 ment with guano, phosphate of lime, &c., the ex- 

 pediency of doing it in a small way at first. I 

 have experimented with those articles and lost by 

 it. Cattle and swine are the most reliable resour- 

 ces for manure. 



Your correspondent D., of Groton, says that 

 "butter packed in tubs as is usually done, docs 

 not keep well." We do not know how butter is 

 usually packed in tubs in Groton, but if D. will 

 come to Sterling, he vt'ill find folks who will make 

 and pack butter in tubs, so that it shall not lose 

 its sweetness or flavor for a twelvemonth. The 

 secret is, work out all the butter-milk by succes- 

 sive workings, using no water — salt it with pure 

 rock salt, an ounce to the lb., put it down solid, 

 and then a decent dairy cellar will keep it good, 

 if good in the beginning. If kept among vegeta- 

 bles, meat, cooked food, &c., it will spoil, of 

 course. Yours, d. m. 



Remarks. — The above is a capital letter, and 

 will do good among the cavillers and doubters. It 

 ■will do good, too, to those who do not doubt — 

 because it will confirm their own opinions. This 

 is just what we want — brief and comprehensive 

 statements of actual farm operations. Write us 

 again, D. M., and give us the name in full, if you 

 please. 



A Cheap Barometer. — A correspondent of the 

 Country Gcnlkman urges tliat henceforth farmers, 

 instead oi watching tlie locusts and crickets for 

 aigns of weather, devote their meteorological ob- 

 servations exclusively to their wife's cainplior bot- 

 tles, lie says : 



"For some years I have been in the liabit of 

 watching the condition of the gum in my wife's 

 oamplior bottle, which stands in our bed-room, 

 and when not disturl)ed, it makes a capital weath- 

 er glass. It answers my purpose as well as a bar- 

 ometer that wouhi cost me from $25 to $50. 

 When tliere is to be a change of weather from fair 

 to windy or wet, the thin tlakes of the gum will 



rise up, and sometimes when there was to be a 

 great storm, I have seen them at the top. When 

 tliey settle down clearly at the bettom, then we 

 are sure of grand weather." 



For the New England Farmer, 



TANNING. 



It may be thought that in writing upon the sub- 

 ject at the head of this communication, I am go- 

 ing out of the line which includes matters appro- 

 priate to your paper. Perhaps it is so. In fact, 

 I have doubts myself about it. But there are two 

 considerations upon which it might seem not un- 

 suited to a paper designed for a farmer's reading. 

 The substances used in tanning are vegetable, the 

 products of the rural districts, if not of the farm- 

 er's care, and it may not be without value or in- 

 terest to him to know their properties ; — but, sec- 

 ondly, I think that those districts where cattle are 

 most raised, and, of course, tliere is the greatest 

 production of the raw hide for tanning, being usu- 

 ally, or often, remote from the tanneries, this 

 business might, in some neighborhoods, be made 

 a branch of the rural economy. But at any rate, 

 its relation to the business of the farm, both in 

 the article to be manufactured, and the material 

 used in the process, seems to me sufficient to war- 

 rant its presence in a farming paper. 



The oak, elm, sumac and hemlock are na- 

 tives of this country, are abundant, and it may 

 be worth consideration, if, in some localties, the 

 materials for this purpose may not be profitably 

 cultivated. The Lavandula vera, common laven- 

 der, contains tannin as well as the aromatic oil or 

 sap which is so well known as a perfume. This 

 plant is a native of a more sunny clime. Yet 

 while it is a fact that in genearl, the secretions of 

 plants are more active in the warmer latitudes, 

 (as for instance the rose yields less of the fragrant 

 oil called Otto of Roses in Northern than in 

 more Southern climates) it is also known that the 

 Lavender is more fragrant in tlie North than in 

 the Soutl). Whether the tanning ^iroperty of 

 this plant is increased, as well as its fragrance, by 

 cultivation in a higher latitude, 1 am not inform- 

 ed. It is the aroma that is generally diminished 

 by Northern removal, while other properties are 

 increased : — and it would be most accordant with 

 observation, to find the tanning property of this 

 plant increase in our climate. 



The astringent principle or element, by which 

 the hide is manufactured into leather, is general- 

 ly obtained, in this country, from oak. Most 

 kinds of oaks possess it in a greater or less decree. 

 The hemlock and sumac are also extensively used 

 in this country. Sheep-skins especially, tanned 

 by sumac, command a higher price in market than 

 those tanned by other matters. In England tli« 

 willow is used. The elm also contains a sufficien- 

 cy of this element to make it availalJe for the 

 purpose of tanning. Tliere are Kome trees of the 

 warmer latitudes, which contain nvore of this 

 principle tlian the best of our oaks. The man- 

 grove, a West India tree, makes very superior 

 leather, and performs the tanning better in six 

 weeks, it is said, than oak bark in ten. The Aca- 

 cia Catechu, wliich yiidds the Terra Japonica 

 has a larger proportion of this element than oak- 

 Some otiier species of Acacia are also good for 

 this purpose. Whether any of those native 



