250 



NEW ENGLAND FARiVIER, 



FHB. 8, 1S43. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



LINSEED OIL FOR FATTENING CATTLE. 

 Mr Putnam — Dear Sir — I observed in your pa- 

 perof llie 11th inst., some extracts from a Scotcli 

 work (111 farminfj, — among others, an article on lin- 

 seed oil as a fattening food for cattle — giving it the 

 preferance to other articles. I have since referred 

 to some of my early memoranda of farming, in 

 1810. In Monk's Agricultural Dictionary, it states 

 that 5 galls, of linseed oil (raw) will fat a beast soon- 

 er than Jive pounds sterling in any other way. 

 Having about that period been greatly taken in in 

 the purchase of an expensive, large-sized cow, 1 

 dried her up at pasture, and early in autumn deter- 

 mined she should be fatted on oil. I ordered 1 

 pint to he well mixed in half a bushel of wheat 

 bran, to be for one day's food, with such hay as 

 she would eat. She refused absolutely to eat of 

 it, until the third day, after which she came to 

 and became fond of it, and in one week we could 

 perceive she was gaining finely. After using. "5 galls. 

 I purchased 2 more. I then for a fortnight gave 

 Indian meal in lien of the oil. I then offered her 

 for sale to the butchers in my vicinity : they all 

 examined and declared her uncommonly well fat- 

 ted, but as she had been fatted on oil, they were 

 afraid the meat would not be good. Finally, one 

 young man gave $9 per ](jO lbs. ; (she weighed 

 798 lbs.) 1 never saw finer looking meat, and the 

 purchaser several times afterwards told me his cus- 

 tomers often spoke of the superiority of that beef, 

 not knowing it had been oil fed. 



One or two years after that, I fatted a yoke of 

 oxen. One I fed on oil, the other on meal and 

 vegetables. 'J'hey were very fat, and I fully thought 

 the oil-fed one did not cost half as much to fatten 

 as the one on meal and vegetables. I sold them 

 to an English butcher to carry to Halifax, from 

 whence for one or two years afterwards, I heard of 

 the superiority of the meat of those animals. The 

 purchaser told me that in England they fed much 

 on oil dike, and said he should, before slaughtering 

 the oil-fed one, for a week or ten days, bleed once 

 or twice, as is customary here with calves. 



I have not fatted any beef animal since, or I 

 should have adopted the oil plan. I have frequent- 

 ly spoken of it, but have never heard of its being 

 tried since. The oil appeared to frighten the folks, 

 for which 1 am confident there is no cause. 

 Very truly, yours, 



J. PRINCE. 



Jamaica Plain, SOlh Jan. 1843. 



QJ^'VVe are pleased to receive and insert this 

 communication from Mr Prince, who has long been 

 one of the most liberal and generous promoters of 

 all matters pertaining to agriculture that the com- 

 monwealth has contained. The real value of oil 

 as an article for fattening cattle, we cannot know 

 without more trials than have yet been made here. 

 The fact that it is ranked high in " The Book of 

 the Farm," a work th:it is now coming to usi in 

 numbers, from Henry Stephens, Secretary of the 

 Highland Agricultural Society, and this statement 

 from Mr Prince, we hope will induce some of our 

 fanners who can afford "an experiment," to give it 

 further trial. 'Hie usual price of wheat bran per 

 double bushel, is about <'iO cents. Two double 

 bushels nearly and one gallon of oil nearly per 

 week, besides hay, would be required probably to 

 feed a good sized ox. The cost would be such as 

 to require great gain in the animal to remunerate 



the feeder; but it may be that the gain would ren- 

 der this article a profitable one. To feed out a 

 bushel and an half of ruta bagas, or a bushel of po- 

 tatoes daily, will cost a dollar per week, or more, 

 and if one gives three or four quarts of meal in ad- 

 dition, this will cost near 50 cts. weekly. How 

 much more or less hay the ox might consume, 

 when fed with roots and meal, than when kept on 

 oil and bran, we know not. 



The cost of proper stall-feeding is great in the 

 vicinity of the city, let us use what we may. That 

 oil would be cheaper than meal, we are not yet 

 prepared to say ; hut we are ready to ask those 

 who conveniently can, to ascertain by trial, wheth- 

 er it is so or not. — En. N. E. F. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE ESSEX AGRI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The doings of this Society in 1842, will make a 

 larger volume than in any previous year. How 

 soon it will be ready for distribution we are not 

 iiiforiued. Nearly 100 pages of its proof sheets 

 have been submitted to our inspection. 



The good, sensible, practical Address by Allen 

 \V. Dodge, Esq., of Hamilton, before the Society 

 at its annual Exhibition, occupies the first 20 pa- 

 ges. From this we shall make liberal extracts. 

 Then follow 15 pages upon plows and plowing, 

 much of which lias already appeared in our.col- 

 nmns. The reports of the committees on these 

 matters, enter into minute details, and are of un- 

 common excellence. The reports on stock gener- 

 ally contain only the names of those entered and 

 of the successful competitors. No information is 

 given by which the reader can get any instruction 

 upon the science of breeding, feeding, or training. 

 The re|)ort upon cows, makes one ask why the 

 committee awarded the premiums as they did. We 

 know nothing of the facts, excepting what the re- 

 port and accompanying statements disclose, and 

 are not all disposed to question the cornclness of 

 the decision ; for we know well enough that there 

 are often many facts which come to the knowledge 

 of a committee, that do not appear in the state- 

 ments of competitors. The account shows that 

 from the 1st of June to Sept. 24, Dr. Joseph Kit- 

 tredi^e's cow gave an average of 32 lbs. of milk 

 per day, on pasture feed: 1st premium awarded. 

 Jeremiah Stickney's, from March to Sept. 27, ave- 

 raged 35 lbs. per day, " on hay and grass only": 

 2d premium. George Hood's, for 133 days from 

 May 12tli, averaged 43 lbs. per day, on good pas- 

 ture, with oats and corn fodder, cut green at morn 

 ingand evening, and also 5 bags of wheat bran in 

 4 months : 3d premium. 



The committee " assume the position that the 

 farmers of Essex do not consider it good policy to 

 feed cows with grain during the summer season." 

 Granting this, Mr Stickney's cow w(iuld seem to 

 stand much above Dr. Kiltredge's. But if we 

 were to speak for the farmers of Essex, we should 

 say that they will approve of giving grain to cows 

 in either summer or winter, if results shall show 

 that this is profitable. And where a cow gives, 

 as Mr Hood's did, II lbs. (or more than 1 gall.) per 

 day more than Dr. K.'s, we should expect to find 

 this excess, in four months, paying well for the 5 

 bags of wheat bran, and the expense of the oat and 

 corn fodder. 



We arc not fault-finding, but asking for infor- 

 mation. 



The statements relating to the dairy contain 



nothing ne^v in regard to processes of making and 

 preserving butter and cheese. The committtco 

 (no doubt with abundant reason,) think that " some 

 of the claimants were not acquainted with good 

 butter." 



The report of the committee on Reclaiininij 

 Meadow Lands, and the statement of Hon. Daniel 

 P. King, of Danvers, we copy entire. 



The committee on Fattening Cattle and Swine, 

 favors the heretical position, that uncooked is more 

 profitable than cooked food for swine. A trial by 

 Joseph How, of .Methuen, strengthens their posi- 

 tion. An account of this we shall soon give to 

 our readers in an authentic form — though we gave 

 the substance of it from memory in December last. 



On grain crops, it is stated that Mr Enoch Brad- 

 ley, of Haverhill, on interval land, sowed to oats 

 in 1841, stubble plowed in autumn, in '42 dressed 

 with 13 cords of barn manure, also on half the 

 land put a bushel of lime, do. of ashes, do. of 

 plaster, plowed twice, ground one acre and eight 

 rods — produced nearly ninetyseven bushels of corn 

 per acre. Mr James Stevens, of Andover, by com- 

 mon cultivation, obtained seventy bushels corn per 

 acre. Allen Putnam, of Hamilton, on exhausted 

 sward land, with a peculiar compost, 32 loads, or 

 from 10 to 11 cords per acre, (which cost about the 

 same as 5 1-3 cnids of stable manure,) obtained 

 07 3-4 bushels of corn per acre. 



Overseers of the Poor of Danvers, upon the 

 town farm, obtained 27 bushels of summer rye per 

 acre. • 



John P. Webber, of Beverly, obtained 24 bush- 

 els of wheat per acre. 



Tn Mr Bradley was awarded the only prenjium 

 on corn. 



To Allen Putnam, a gratuity for his "full detail 

 of the mode of applying his compost to his corn 

 crop." 



Remarks upon 'the remainder of the Transac- 

 tions, we must defer to some future number. — Ed. 

 N. E. F. 



The following is the report of the committee of 

 the Essex Agricultural Society on 



IMPROVING MEADOW & SWAmP LANDS. 



The Committee on Improving Meadow and 

 Swamp Lands, Retort: 



That the attention of your committee has been 

 called to one claim only for improving these l.nnds 

 — that of Daniel P. King, of Danvers. Mr King 

 has made experiments on several pieces of meadow 

 lands, with good success, the crops of hay, the 

 first season after sowing, with the parings of the 

 meadow for manure, having more than paidtlhe ex- 

 pense of reclaiming. His statement, herewith 

 submitted, will explain his mode of reclaiming and 

 cultivating said land. 



Your committee regret that more claims for pre- 

 miums have not been made the present |year, so 

 that by the statements of claimants, the process of 

 draining and cultivating and of the ditferent kinds 

 of crops produced with the greatest success, might 

 have been made more generally known ; but not- 

 withstanding there has been but one claim present- 

 ed, they have the pleasure to know that there are 

 many pieces of these lands now in the process of 

 reclamation within the county; that many pieces 

 that have been worked but a few years are very 

 productive in grain, grass and vegetables, and that 

 the result of the experiments already made, has 

 raised the value of these lands very much within 

 two or three years past. Our meadow and swamp 



