260 



NEW E.N GLAND FARMER, 



FEU. 15, 1843. 



For the New England Fanner. 



POUDRBTTE. 

 Mi'Ssrs. Breck Sf Co. — GentlpniPn — I oliserve in 

 last number, for Jan. 25th, a requnsl for infor- 

 mation in relation to the inoile of using, and the 

 results oftlie application, of pou(//-e(fe as a manure. 

 In your reply to the letter of your correspondent, 

 whose name and residence is omitted, you refer to 

 " accounts published by D. K. Minor, in New York," 

 but make no e.Nlracts from those ptiblications, with 

 the single exception of the following two lines and 

 a half, viz: " i o;- wheat, 40 bitshels per acre ; for 

 corn, half a gilt to the hilt at the time of planting, 

 and as much more after the corn is up" — and then 

 you Bay, "No account of the use on grass has been 

 given, 80 far ag we remember." 



Presuming, that your desire is to furnish your 

 correspondent with the information asked for, and 

 believing that I have the means of doing so — 

 (which 1 would cheerfully have done, by sending 

 him a pamphlet by mail direct, without troubling 

 you, if his name and residence had been given in 

 liis letter,) — I take the liberty of requesting you to 

 publish the following extracts from letters .written 

 by intelligent practical farmers who have used pnu- 

 drette in considerable quantities for several years 

 past, in connexion with this communication. 



Mr Edward Condict, of Morri=town, N. J., says : 

 "In 1841, I planted a field of corn, on about one- 

 third of which I used poudrette, putting a small 

 handfull, say something less than a gill, in each 

 hill. The other part of the field I manured with 

 good barn-yard manure, a shovel full in each hill : 

 the corn was planted about the 10th of May, and 

 by the 20lh of June, when the corn was dressed 

 out the second time, that part where the poudrette 

 was used, was more than as large again as the 

 corn on the other part of the field ; it also ripened 

 a week or ten days earlier: there was, however, no 

 perceptilile difference in the yield. I also used it 

 with good effect on buckwheat, potatoes, and tur- 

 nips — particularly the latter. In order to ascer- 

 tain its effects on turnips, I sowed a strip in the 

 middle of the piece, mixing the turnip seed and 

 poudrette together, and sowing it broad-cast. The 

 effect was very perceptible: the turnips were larg- 

 er and fairer, and were not disturbed by grasshop- 

 pers, or any other insect. The soil on which the.se 

 crops grew was light and somewhat inclined to 

 Band or gravel. Early in October last, I used the 

 poudrette on a loamy soil, somewhat inclining to 

 clay, which I had prepared for wheat. There was 

 no diffL'rence in the soil nor in the preparation, ex- 

 cept that on about one-fourth part of the field, after 

 the wheat was put in, twenty bushels of poudrette 

 to the acre was sown broadcast. The result is, 

 that on harvesting, that p:irt where the poudrette 

 was put, is much the heaviest grain, and but very 

 little injured with rust or mildew, while the other 

 part of the field is considerably injured." 



Capt. Coleman, of the Astor House, used 125 

 bushels of poudrette on five acres of wheat, on his 

 farm, near Poughkeepsie, in the fall of ]8.'59. His 

 main object was to ensure a good crop of grass af- 

 ter the wheat. About one-half of the field was 

 well manured with good barn-yard and stable ma- 

 nure, and the other half with pmidrette, as above. 

 The crop of wheat was best where the poudrette 

 was used ; and the grass was so much better on 

 that part of the field in June, 1842, that lie told 

 me " it could be distinctly marked out by the luxu- 

 riant growth of grass on it, being superior to that 

 adjoining." 



Mr Win. F. BIydenburgh, of Smithtown, L. I., 

 who has used over a thousand bushels within five 

 years, pays : '• On grass lands, in the month of 

 May, it has a decidedly beneficial effect as a top- 

 dressing. I should think twenty bushels to the 

 acre would double the crop for one year." 



Mr Samuel Fleet, of Westchester county, N. Y., 

 says: "I find it very efficient if applied when seed- 

 ing down. The seed took much better in the same 

 field where poudrette was used at seeding, than 

 where other manure was used, the whole being put 

 down at the same time." 



I could give many other facts, communicated by 

 farmers of intelligence, if I had leisure to copy 

 them ; but I have not. From the statements (in a 

 pamphlet accompanying this,) and this communica- 

 tion, a good idea may be obtained of the value of 

 poudrette as a manure, and of the mode of using 

 it on various crops ; but if any of your readers de- 

 sire more information, or to make inquiries, I shall 

 cheerfully furnish them, on being applied to by let- 

 ter, or otherwise, any facts which five years' expe- 

 rience may have brought to my knowledge, in rela- 

 tion to its value as a fertilizer. 



With respect, D. K. MINOR. 



1 1 8 J^assau street, JV. Y. 



[From 'Transactions of the Essex Agricultural Society.'] 



ON FATTENING CATTLE AND SWINE. 



The Committee on Fattening Cattle and Swine, 

 beg leave to make the fidlowing Report: 



But one claim for the premium was entered, viz: 

 by IMr Joseph How, of Methiien, accompanied by 

 an exact and minute detail of the manner of feed- 

 ing five swine, for the space of ninetysi.K days, end- 

 ing Nov. 28lh, 1842. This statement — which, we 

 think, will not fail of arresting the attention of the 

 fatteners of swine — is herewith submittled. 



The committee were unanimous in awarding him 

 the first premium of fifteen dollars. 



No claims have been entered with the committee, 

 for fattening cattle ; and as we have very little ex- 

 perience ourselves upon the subject, we will dis- 

 miss this part of our duty. 



With respect to the fattening of swine, wo have 

 a little more experience : we usually fat one a year. 



Considerable lias been said, of late years, in 

 this county, respecting apples, as food for swine. 



For the last three or four years, we have been 

 in the practice of giving all our refuse apples to 

 our swine. The last year, viz. 1841, we gave him 

 nothing else, except the common wa.sh of two cows 

 and a Pmall family, for the space of three months, 

 and he had had but three bushels of meal when he 

 was slaughtered. He was of the China breed, 

 small-boned, and weighed in December, twenty 

 months old, 28'J pounds. 



The swine that we are fattening this year, has 

 had the same food till the apples were exhausted, 

 when raw potatoes were substituted, and has up to 

 this time, only eaten four bushels of meal; he will 

 probably weigh between 330 and 400 pounds, 

 dres.sed, being of the common native breed. 



We have not been able to discover any essential 

 difference in the progress of l;is fattening, on the 

 various kinds of food, either on the apples, raw po- 

 tatoes, or meal. A common sized hog will con- 

 sumcj about half a bushel of apples, or a peck of 

 potatoes, or half a peck of meal per day. The 

 feeding with uncooked potatoes was suggested by 

 a good farmer of Topsfield, who has been in the 

 practice of feeding his swine with them for many 



years, and is of opinion that they are quite as good 

 as when cooked. We have taken particulsr notice 

 of his swine for several years, both before and af- 

 ter killing, and they always have been good. All 

 his stock is of the first order of thrift, and his 

 whole farm gives evidence of being managed by a 

 good farmer. 



There does not appear any difficulty in making 

 swine eat raw potatoes, if they are accustomed to 

 them when young. As to apples, they are very 

 fond of them, especially sweet ; and we think 

 sweet better than sour, inasmuch as swine will eat 

 more of them. If uncooked potatoes are as good 

 as cooked, (of which I have no doubt,) at least one 

 half of the expense of feeding on potatoes is 

 saved ; for the expense of cooking must, at least, 

 be as much as the cost of the potatoes before cook 

 ing, in small families. And we think from the few 

 trials we have made with cooked apples, that they 

 are quite as good without cooking. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to say, that after the ap- 

 petites of swine have been pampered up with cook- 

 ed food, they will refuse that which is not cooked 

 With respect to the quality of the pork which 1 

 have made by apples or potatoes, it has been dis- 

 tinctly pronounced good, by experienced raisers o 

 pork, and 1 have never discovered any deteriora 

 tion myself. 



We have been told by a distinguished pomatis 

 in the county, that he kept half a dozen shoats al 

 winter on the pomace of his cider-mill, withou 

 any thing else, and that they did well. He en 

 closed ten or twelve square rods, where he deposi 

 ted his pomace, with a temporary shelter for then 

 He makes five hundred or more barrels of cider i 

 a year. Another gentleman told me, that for seve 

 ral years, since cider was not in so great denianr 

 he had turned his swine into his orchard, and If 

 them pick the apples for themselves, without an 

 other attention, except watering, and that he we 

 satisfied with their growth ; that the trees were i 

 much benefited as the swine. For the apple tree 

 standing somewhat thickly, the swine kept tf 

 grass from growing, and the surface of the grour 

 in a loose and mellow state, which increased tl 

 quantity of fruit. 



Per order of the Committee, 



R. A. HIERRIAM. 

 Topsfield, mv. 30, 1842. 



JOSFPH How's Statkjient. 

 To the Committee on Fattening Call e and Swine : 



Gf.mtlemf.n — I resolved, the present season, 

 try several experiments to ascertain the compar; 

 live value of different kinds of food for swine 

 also, scalded and unscalded food. In consequenc 

 however, of change of food, some of the swii 

 did not eat well. I found the experiment wou 

 not be satisfactory to myself, and I in part discoi 

 tinned it. 



The following is the result of the experiment ( 

 scalded and unscalded meal: 



On the 24th of August, I weighed five pigs, ati 

 put them into four pens, and fed them with tl 

 same quantity of meal ; each pig was fed with 2i 

 pounds of meal, in fiftysix days, to wliicli was ad( 

 ed about three pinis of skimmed milk per day. 



August 24th, their weight was as follows: 

 Pig in pen No. ], 100 lbs. — fed on scalded meal, 



2, 110 



3, i»9 



4, 81 

 ", 73 



scalded meal. 



