BvQStisiiiwsfjttSiisa^srsa 



NEW EJ^GL.ANB FARMER. 



PUBUSHED BY J. B. RUSSELL. AT NO. 58 NORTH MARKET^EET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)_T. G. FESSENDE.N, EDITOR. 



OL. IX. 



BOSTOiV, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1831. 



NO. 35. 



THE NtW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I Tliose two kinds, the ^-oose grass a iid Mack gruss, 

 JM'lu'n rut iti .-icasoii aud well cured, aie vury 

 I iiiglily and richly rfaginnt. Thoy ))ioduce ahund- 

 lant cnips, are very tender and soft to the inouih.s 

 the ■ "'" cattle, and very greedily eaten. Many other 



S.\LT MAY. 

 Fe.sSEM)F,\ — I have no uisli to enter 

 nlliesalt huy controversv. Dut I can siate I '*'"''^' "'' ^^''''^'' ' know t)ot the hotunic name, 

 I'lCls, which may throw light 0.1 the snhjeef,:'*"^'' '"^ Utie giass,n. malted grass called ?«<Ho 

 serve in a measure to reconcile the a(>|iareijt ' t''"'*' '-"^ •"''""■' *^''°'f''j ^""j '"^ 

 aiiiiiioiis, that lune appeared in relation 

 le. From the several articles yon hnve 



Fon THE NEW ENGLANU FARMER. 



hed, it IS evident there is a coiisidcrahic 

 siiy of o()lnion, hoth on its intrinsic and rela- 

 ihie, not only with tho.se who profess not 

 knowledge on the sniiject. Ixit among e.\pe- 

 itl men and good jndges. This arises, I pre- 

 for the most pan, from not duly regarding 

 •t, that there is very great v.'ricty of salt 

 s ilitTering essemially in value. I have many 

 io.Mi exieiisive tracts ofsalt miii>(i covered 

 illcreni; kinds of short, hard and wiry grass. 

 1 would not make into hay, and secure 



excellent ha 

 The/or grass, a red topped grass, if not cnt early, 

 is loo hard and woody, almost bidding defiance to 

 steel or ivory. 1 have nnifornily noticed, that 

 cattle kept upon salt hay always look in good con- 

 dition. While those ke[)t upon lies h hay may 

 geneially he known hy their long hair, bare boeies, 

 and ihiii and gliastly appearance. 



There seems to he a very general prejudice 

 against feeding milch cows with salt hay which 

 I think is not entirely well founded. I woidd by 

 no means recommend its e.xclnsive use, nor do I 

 think it so productive of mdk as lowen, clover 

 cnt early and well secured, or the finer kinds o 



or sicick for the eniire crop, nnles.e in a season English grass. For the last twelve years, having 



■-■arcity. Again, there are many knuis 



hialile, that, cattle, horses and .sheep being 



(and I have always been in the h.ibit of 



gre.it deference to them as the best judges 



"pialiiy of hay,) I am not slow to believe 



1,'lit even be prefer/ed to English hay. For 



■e years or more I have had opportunity 



less the value of salt hay, by feeding cattl^ 



ihc-m fed wiih it. My' ln.nored fat.<er: 



Ic John Capen, of Dorchester, raised much 



kln<l called blatlc grass from its dark color 



growing, and made into bay, which, for 



.■ows, working oxen, and for horses occa- 



', he used to consitler hut little, if any, le.ss 



e, than English hay, if cut in the flower 



II cured. There is a kind .slill better which 



s light color I have been used to call white 



I believe it is more properly called goose 



It is a very early grass, usually found on 



narshes, hy the side of creeks, or such as 



een rendered more firm by ditching. 



low of marshes which a few years ago 



) barren as scarcely to be worlh mowiu"- ; 



being intersected with narrow ditches two 



e rods apart, have changed to this grass: 



lich produce an average, I should judge, of 



two tons to the acre, of hay ' worth as 



([say it not in jest) as English hay. 



■n I resided in Doichester, about ten years 



hired a piece of marsh, where there was a 



■rable tpiaotiiy of this grass. Tliis was 



the barn promiscuously, with the other 

 I once tied a friend's horse in the barn floor, 



lalt hay mow side, and gave him a baiting of 

 lit English bay, as I thought. Going to the 

 while alter, I found he had rejecmd the 



1 hay, aud taken the liberty to help himself, 

 made a spacious e.vcavalion into the salt 



ow. This horse had long been kept near 

 Iter on a farm where saU hay was no rarity, 

 ercd at the the animars taste. But in such 

 if ever, it was true ' de giislibus von est 

 ndum ; ' There was no disputing with him 

 fl&if of taste. Upon examination, I found 

 the goose grass, he was regaling Liinself 



lived mar and owned salt marsh, I have very 

 freely fed my milch cows upon salt hay, and 

 am satisfied, that u()nii good salt bay, vviib the 

 adii'tion of a few vegetables, they will give as 

 much milk, of as good finality, will bold out in 

 milk as long, and keep in as good condition as upon 

 co.'onion English hay, and the .same quantify of 

 v<iPtables. In t!ie winter of 18-24, 1 kept a, cow 

 '.• lely vpc.i.salt hay of the commcvi mixed kinds 

 of glass, with the addition of from a peck to a 

 half bushel of carrots, and usually some meal or 

 bran, not exceeding two cpiarts of the former, nor 

 half a peck of the latter, a day. The cow bad 

 given milk from the first of May and was expectet! 

 to calve again in April. The milk she gave, dur- 

 ing the three winter months yielded a very small 

 fraction less than seven |)ouuds of butter a week, 

 nearly as rich in color and flavor, as summer but- 

 ter. 



It is a well known fact that cows pastured 

 upon islands, or near the salt water, where they 

 can feed partly upon salt grasses yield milk in 

 abundance and of the best quality. 



To conclude this article, which I have nnex- 

 pectedly prolonged, 1 will refer the classical 

 reader to a sentiment which has lost none of its 

 value by age, llioiigh older than the Christian era. 

 The correct doctrine upon the use of salt hay is 

 lain down in Virgil, Georgic 3d. 394 — and which 

 the lover, of milk,' cni laclis amor,' will still do 

 well to observe.* Together with other snccn'enl 

 food he will furnish his cows with sail hay'iw their 

 stalls- This will not increase their appetite for 

 drink, and add to the quantity of their milk ; but 

 improve its favor, by imiiavting a relish and thus | 

 correcting that peculiar freshness, often found in j 

 milk, which to many is very unpleasant. I 



South Boston, Mil rch -2,1831. L. CAPEN 



LIVE FENCES. 



Mr Fesessdkn — The jjlants of the Virginia 

 Thorn of one year's growth can be obtained of IVIr 

 .loshna Peirce, Linnajan Hill, near Washington City, 

 of fine growth from 12 to 24 inches high for $5 a 

 1000 and from St.) 10 inches for $4, and if 10,000 

 or more are taken one dollar will be deducted per 

 1000 on each size. When plants are brought from 

 such a distance, or when the roots appear to have 

 dried in the le«st, or the land is not in a fit state 

 of preparation for immediate planting they should 

 be soaked in thick water one night, and the next 

 day put in a trench and the roots should be cover- 

 ed with rich, friable unadhesive earth and well 

 drenched every 2 or 3 days with wafer, and when 

 taken up for setting, let them have another night's 

 snaking. This is called puddling and trenching. 

 Those I had of Mr Peirce in 1818, I soaked the 

 iiight previous to setting, in tubs aud buckets with 

 fresh, new adhesive c.uile luanure, and carried 

 them in the same vessels to the place of setting, 

 laid them in the trench, and covered the roots 

 while wet, aud did not lose one out of a hun- 

 dred. 



William Pontey, nursery man and forest pruner 

 to the Duke of Bedford and a director of planta- 

 tions and other improvements says in his Profitable 

 Planter, page 1G7, 'J} puddle for trees is made by 

 miving wall ;th ,? ly soil rather tenacion.s, so in- 

 timately as to form a complete pndille, so thick 

 that when the plants are dipped info it, enough 

 may remain upon the roots to cover them. The 

 process of puddling is certainly simple, and its 

 expense too trifling to deserve notice : its efl^ects, 

 however, in retaining, if not attracting moisture, 

 are such that, by means of it, late iilanting is ren- 

 dered abundantly more safe than it otherwise 

 would be. It is an old invention, and lience it is 

 truly astonishing that it is not more frequently 

 practised. If pec pie were to adopt it generally 

 in spring planting, the prejudice in favor of au- 

 tumn jilanting would soon be done away.' I have 

 written to Mr Peirce for 4000 plants to set this 

 spring, and hope to be able to set 10,000 or more 

 next spring. Vours, respectfully, 



Boston, Feb. 1S31. Benjamin Shurtleef. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



* The passage alluiled to is as follows : 

 At cui laclis amor cyli'ium lotosque frequentes 

 Ipse nianu snlsasqiic t'erat prasepil)us herbas. 



Which may be thus rendered. 



Whoso on milk dclicioiisily would fare, 

 Lenlils and clover to his kine will bear. 

 And saline herbage liberally provide 

 To swell the luscious and salubrious tide. — Ed. 



WILD RICE. 



Mr Fessenden — The following extract from 

 GiUeland's 'Ohio and and Mississippi Pilot' may 

 perhaps be interesting to some of your readers, 

 ' Among the vegetable productions of the Western 

 Territory, north of Illinois and west of Green Bay, 

 on the Onisconsin and Fox rivers, tlie Wild Rice, 

 called Folle avoine by the Freindi, and Menomen 

 by file Indians, claims particular attention. It 

 grows in inexhaustible abundance, through all 

 parts of the territory, in almost every one of the in 

 numerable lakes, ponds, bays, rivers, and crcek.s. It 

 is said to be as palatable and as nourishing as com- 

 mon rice, and if so, it will be incomparably more 

 valuable. It grows where the water is from four 

 to six feet deep, and where the bottom is not hard 

 or sandy. It rises above the surface of the water 

 from four to eight feet, and is often so thick as to 



