VOL. X vl. >t>. 15. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



in 



le tlasli a convciiiejit distance from tlio moving 



wer, by t"o wires. For a liog or a sheep, (die 

 Met is preferred, both fro:n economy and efficien- 

 /,) a wlieel 8 foot iii diameter, is inclined about 

 i" wiib the horizon, on wliich tlin animal is |)laccd, 



vins; cleats nailcii on to jirevent liis slipping^. 

 \o other harness is required than a strap around 

 neck. His weight is sufficient to move the 

 lachine. On the upper side of this wheel is fas- 

 •ned a oast iron coij wheel or circular racket, 3 

 ■et in diameter, which carries a pinion and crank. 

 lit; wheel is often out door — sonietiine.s in the 

 >llar. It may be in a barn or shed, and the nio- 

 lon communicati.'d by wires, as before stated. 

 ( Wlien the butter begins to curdle, as it is 

 (illed, all is washed down with another pail of wa- 



r, and the motion continued till the butter gatli- 

 •s. Let it be remembered the butitr is never 

 . uched wilh the hands. All is done with a short 

 die, the blade of which resembles in shape the 

 am shell, and is five inches across at the end. 

 he handle about five inches long. 



The ladle and tray are always kept filled with 

 lid water, when out of use, to prevent the butter 

 3m sticking to them. 



The butter is worked and salted with the ladle 



a tray. When it has stood lonj enough to be- 

 inie firm, after saltin;.', all the buttermilk is work- 

 I out, and it is packed down solid in tuba of 40 or 



kins of 80 lbs. If it cannot be made solid by the 

 die, a pounder is used. When one churning is 

 It down, a cloth is put on, covered with salt, 

 his is taken off at each addition and replaced, 

 itil the tub or firkin is almost full, when half an 

 ch of strong brine is poured over the cloth. Salt 



never left between the layers. 



They prefer blown to ground salt, because it is 

 ■ ler, and difli'uses itself sooner and more perfectly 

 rough the mass; it requires a greater measure, 



t the same weight. 



A churn used daily is cleansed twice a week, 

 ine tubs are prepared of oak or ash, and when 

 !t rubbed thoroughly with as much fine salt as 

 ill stick on the inside. 



Butter tliu» made and cured, will keep for years 



a cool plai-e, and sells on an average fifty per 



nt higher than butter made in the usual way in 



r State. 



Cows average from 150 to 200 pounds a year, 

 id the buttermilk is estiniated to make 100 pounds 



pork, which, when it brought ten cents, paid all 



penses of making the butter — Jiou', only half. 



Some churn over the buttermilk after standing 

 , le day and pouring off the water. One man who 

 .d ten cows, told me he made all the butter used 



his family in this way, and had JO lbs. on hand. 

 ' This letter may appear both too long and too 

 linuto. The subject is a most important one, and 



insist on the truth of my assertion last winter, 

 that the same number of animals now kept, if the 

 liry were thus managed, would produce in this 

 ;ate 200,000 dollars more than they now do." 

 Yours, truly, 



JAMES BATES. 



mrridgewock, Sept. 20, 1840. 



Many a farmer has toiled on year after year, beg- 

 :ng, as it were, a pauper existence from his old 

 id emasculate fields, unconscious of the value of 

 lat bog, or that swamp, the prodigious capabilities 

 " which might, in one year, have been developed 

 erhaps by a single drain. — Maine Cult. 



For the New England rarincr. 



SOWED CORN. 



Mr Plt.nasi — In 18:!9 and '40, I sowed corn in 

 drills for green fodder. The last and the present 

 year, sowed southern white corn hrondcnst, follow- 

 ed by the harrow and roller. August (itli, with a 

 careful hand cut and weighed the corn on one 

 square yard. The product gave at the rate of 52 

 tons and a fraction to the acre. August I'Jtli, for 

 the purpose of testing the correctness of the esti- 

 mate made on the 6th, and also of satisfying my- 

 self what might be expected from ground in proper 

 condition to plant for the grain — with a careful and 

 judicious person to assist, we measured and weighed 

 with much care, and found the production was at 

 the rate of 6.5 tons and a fraction to the acre. 



August 22d, cut and weighed 229 lbs. 



Sept. 26th, the same weighed 71 " 



Loss, 158 " 



or 69 per cent. ; giving, say, 20 tons of dry fodder 

 to the acre — which if well cured, is considered by 

 some equal to 10 tons vplnnd hay. 



From one half acre I cut l\\e second crop, which 

 was estimated of sufficient value to defray expense 

 of seed and labor for same. 



Three bushels of seed, allowing some for tlie 

 crows, is suflJcient. 



It may be said that the quantity of ground mea- 

 sured, was too small to make a correct estimate. 

 I called the attention of my assistant to this point, 

 who was satisfied that it gave a fair result, and one 

 within tiie reach of any farmer. 

 Very respectfully, yours, 



GEO. DENNY. 



Ifestboro', Oct. 6lh, 1842. 



MANURES. 

 The manufacture of manure, is the most impor- 

 tant part of the farmer's business. It requires a 

 knowledge of the component parts of vegetables, 

 and the chemical properties of the various kinds of 

 manure. In the hilly country of New England and 

 several other States, there is scarcely a farm to be 

 found, but like the human intellect, contains abun- 

 dant resources for its own improvement; and they 

 are to be found in every sviramp, pond, basin or 

 valley. Alluvial deposites, muck, or animal and 

 vegetab'e decomposition, are the natural conse- 

 quences of an uneven surface. All our creeks, 

 and harbors on the sea coast, contain inexhaustible 

 beds of these deposites; but most of them having 

 lain long excluded from the atmosphere and sun, 

 in a state of rest, have imbibed an acidity, which 

 requires the application of alkali, which is contain- 

 ed in lime, ashes and potash to remove it. These 

 decompositions, a,ided by fermentation, thus be- 

 come manure, on^ a proper medium to attract and 

 retain the gases and salts necessary for vegetable 

 nutriment, Every clement which enters into the 

 formation of vegetables, must be in a state of solu- 

 tion, or a gaseous form, as neither the roots nor 

 leaves of vegetables are capable of imbibing or 

 absorbing the insoluble portion of manure, desig- 

 nated by chemists by the name of geine or humus. 

 The kind of humus, or earth, best calculated to at- 

 tract and retain the gases combined with atmosphe- 

 ric air, are clay, gypsum, chalk, muck, and others 

 of similar character. An open, sandy soil, will at- 

 tract or retain them very imperfectly, and there- 

 fore a mixture of muck is necessary to render such 

 soils productive. 



A great portion of vegetable nutriment is no 

 doubt derived from tlio gnses contained in the at- 

 mosphere. 'I'he powerful effect of gypsum, char- 

 coal, &c., can be accounted for on no other princi- 

 ples. Nitre and .'iait operate as powerful manures, 

 from their tendency to attract and condense atmos- 

 pheric vapor, and bring the nutriment they contain 

 ill contact with the vef,etable. Sal aniiiionin, com- 

 monly called spirit of hartshorn, is ascertained to 

 be the most important manure known, and is con- 

 tained in great abundance in urine. It is the es. 

 sence of all manures, and forms the chief ingredient 

 in poudrette and urate. Gypsum, pulverized char- 

 coal, muck, ground oyster shells, lime and ashes, 

 saturated witli urine, form a highly concentrated 

 manure by extracting the ammonia and preventing 

 its escape in a volatile state. It then undergoes a 

 solution by water, in which state it is transmitted 

 to the roots of vegetables, and enters into their 

 composition. Thus a continual change is going on 

 in the vegetable kingdom, from organic life to 

 death, from death to decomposition, by which the 

 same gases are rejiroduced, which are again re- 

 quired to reorganize the same species of vegetables 

 into new life, or to enter into new comhinatioiis 

 necessary for animal or mineral production. The 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are com- 

 posed of some of the same elements, but in diffe- 

 rent proportions. It becomes the farmer, therefore, 

 to understand the nature and relative impurtance 

 of them all, in the preparation and supply of ma- 

 nures. We know of no work from which he can 

 derive more useful information on these topics, 

 than the excellent lectures of Johnston, of the Dur- 

 ham University, on agricultural chemistry and ge- 

 ology. The work is addressed to practical far- 

 mer.^, many of whom know nothing of scientific 

 chemistry or geology. — Conn. Farmer's Gaz. 



CHEAP COVERING FOR OUT BUILDINGS. 

 It is frequently the case that farmers find it ne- 

 cessary to erect buildings, the real value of which 

 is scarcely sufficient to warrant the expense of a 

 coat of shingles, notwithstanding their principal 

 utility depends upon the circumstances of their be- 

 ing thoroughly tight and impervious to winds and 

 rains. Whenever such buildings are to be con- 

 structed, a very economical covering may be sup- 

 plied by thoroughly seasoning the boards, and cov- 

 ering them with common sheathing paper, previ- 

 ously dipped in tar, and spreading over the whole 

 roof a cement composed of tar, lime and sand. 

 This is represented by those who have tested its 

 value, to be equal in point of durability to shin- 

 gles or any other covering that can be supplied. 

 They who are desirous of economizing, would do 

 well to attend to this suggestion. — Maine Cult. 



Most Important. — A man in Bristol, Md., de- 

 clares that the coming winter will be awfully se- 

 vere, because the onions have such thick skins — a 

 sure sign. Thin skins, warm winter — thick skins, 

 cold winter: that 's the doctrine. What a lucky 

 thing that the world has been blessed with onions. 

 —Ibid. 



There is what Goethe would call a naturalness 

 in the writers upon agriculture, that is very re- 

 freshing. Defending the breed of while cows against 

 imputations upon the quality of their milk, tiie Maine 

 Farmer enumerates as one of their virtues, that 

 they are sometimes handy to find of a dark night. — 

 Bost. Post. 



