294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 30, 183] 



the fowls to retire at pleasure, will have a clecideJ 

 preference as the nearest approach to the barn- 

 door system. Fowls which appear to have long 

 legs should he fattened as soon as the hen leaves 

 them, to make the hest of them, it being extremely 

 diflieult, and often impossible to fatten long legged 

 fowls in coops, which however may be brought to 

 a good weight at the barn-door. 



In the choice of full sized fowls for feeding, the 

 short legged and early hatched, always deserve a 

 preference. Where a steady and regular profit is 

 required from poultry, the best method, whether 

 for domestic use or sale is constant high keep from 

 the beginning, whence they will not only he always 

 ready for the table with very little extra attention, 

 but their flesh will be superior in nutriment and 

 flavor to those which are fattened from a low and 

 emaciated state. Fed in this mode, the spring 

 pullets are particularly fine, and at the same time 

 most nourishing and restorative food. The pul- 

 lets which have been hatched in March, if higli 

 fed from the nest, will lay plentifully through the 

 following autumn, and not being intended for 

 breeding stock, the advantage of tbeir eggs may 

 be taken, and the fowls disposed of, thoroughly 

 fat for the table in February, about which period 

 their laying will be finished. Instead of giving 

 ordinary corn [grain] to fattening and breeding 

 poultry, it will be found most advantageous to al- 

 low the heaviest and best, putting the confined 

 fowls on a level with those fed at the barn-door, 

 where they have their share of the weightiest and 

 finest corn. This liigli feeding shows itself not 

 only in the size and flesh of the fowls, but in the 

 size, weight and substantial goodness of theireggs, 

 which in those valuable particulars will prove far 

 superior to the eggs of fowls fed upon ordinary 

 corn or washy potatoes : two eggs of the former 

 going further in domestic use than three of the 

 latter. The water also given to fattening fowh 

 should be often renewed, fresh and clean ; indeed 

 those which have been well kept will turn with 

 disgust from ordinary food and foul water. 



Barley and wheat are the great dependence for 

 chicken poultry ; oats will do for fidl grown bens 

 and cocks, but are not so good as badey; both, 

 when they have their fill of corn will eat occa- 

 sionally cabbage or beet leaves. Steamed potatoes 

 and*oat meal mixed together make an excellent 

 mess, but must not be given in great quantities, 

 otherwise they render the flesh soft and flabby. 



The celebrated Arthur Young, in his Keport 

 of the Couiuy of Sussex, England, says ' North 

 Chapel and Kinsford are famous lor their ponltry. 

 They are fattened there to a size and perfection 

 unknown elsewhere. The food given them is 

 ground oats made into gruel, mixed with hog's 

 grease, sugar, pot liquor and milk : or ground oats, 

 treacle and suet, sheep's pluckt;, &c. The fowls 

 are kept very warm, and crammed morning and 

 night. The pot liquor is mixed with a few hand- 

 fills of oat meal and boiled, with which the meal 

 is kneaded into crams or rolls of a proper size. 

 The fowls are put into the coop two or three days 

 before they are crannned, which is continued for 

 a fortnight : and they are then sold to the higglers. 

 These fowls when full grown weigh seven pounds 

 each, the average weight five pounds ; but there 

 are instances of individuals double the weight.' 



The dung of poultry, which is exceedingly rich, 

 should be carefully saved for use, and the turf of 

 any inclosiu-e in which they may be kept, occa- 

 sionally pared off for mixing with compost. A 

 little molasses, or any other saccharine siibstauce 



is very useful to nnx with the food of poultry, 

 which it is intended to fatten. Perhaps it might 

 be well to boil a proportion of beets, carrots, par- 

 snips, ripe and sweet pumpkins, cornstalks cut 

 fine, sweet aiqdes, or any other sweet vegetable 

 substances with iiotatoes for food for poultry which 

 it is wished to fatten. 



To be continued. 



FARMERS' WORK FOR APRIL. 



SPRING WHEAT. 



It lias been a generally received opinion that 

 wheat cannot be cultivated to advantage in New 

 England ; but with proper management good crops 

 have been and doubtless may be obtained. It is 

 said that the soils of New England, being of prim- 

 itive formation, do not contain all the ingredients 

 necessary to perfect the wheat \ihun. ' The ma- 

 nures,' says Loudon, ' best calculated for wheat 

 are allowed by all agricultiu'ists to be animal mat- 

 ter and lime. The former has a direct influence 

 in supplying that essential constituent to wheaten 

 flour, gluten ; and the latter azote and lime, both 

 actually found in the straw of wheat. At all 

 events it is certain that wheat will not thrive on 

 any soil which does not contain lime. In this 

 Sir H. Davy, Chaptal, Professor Thaer and Gris- 

 enthwaite fully agree.' 



Spring wheat should he sowed as early in the 

 season as the soil can be fitted for its reception. 

 It grows best on rich new lands, or on a soil 

 which has been well manured for the crops, which 

 iminediately preceded the proposed wheat crop. 

 It is njit to he injured by the growth of grass and 

 weeds,. and should, therefore follow jiotatoes or 

 some other hoed crop ; or it may follow peas, or 

 a clover lay, if the land is free from weeds. Dr 

 Deane observed that wheat sown in the spring 

 shoidd be only covered with the harrow, as it has 

 no time to lose and ought to be up early. Wheat 

 requires a good loamy soil not too light nor too 

 heavy. An English writer says, ' the soils best 

 ailapted to wheat are rich clays and heavy loams; 

 but these are not by any means the only descrip- 

 tions of soils on which it is cultivated. Before the 

 introduction of turnips and clover, all soils hut 

 little cohesive were thought quite unfit for wheat ; 

 but even on sandy soils it is now grown exten- 

 sively, and with much advantage after either of 

 the^e crops.' 



J. BuEL, Esq. of Albany says that ' Many plan ts 

 require a speckle manure, which other jjlants do 

 not consume, or yield on analysis. Thus wheat 

 requires the elementary matter of gluten and phos- 

 phate of lime, which it yields on analysis, and 

 which most other plants do not take up or afford. 

 These elements, thereforp, must exist naturally in 

 the soil, or be supplied by art to insure a good 

 crop of wheat.' And he also observes that ' Tiie 

 soils of New England, being of primitive forma- 

 tion arc iiot naturally adapted to the culture of 

 wheat, because they do not contain all the ele- 

 ments of this valuable grain; and that this natural 

 defect can be remedied only by the application of 

 animal tnanures, or manures containing the ele- 

 ments of animal matter.' Again he says ' The 

 elements of gluten, [one of the constituent parts of 

 wheat] exist in bones, urine, horn, hair, night soil, 

 in the refuse of the taimer, morocco dresser, tallow 

 chandler, soap boiler, the offal of the butcher, the 

 dung of fowls, soot, woollen rags, &.c, and the 

 proper application of these substances in sufficient 

 quantities will insure a good crop of wheat. I 

 will suggest a few remarks on a part of these. 



' 1. Bones have become an important material 

 for fertihzing lands in the hands of the English 

 farmer. Ship loads of them are annually importe*- 

 from Holland, and in one neighborhood in York- 

 shire three mills have been erected exclusively fo> 

 the purpose of pounding and grinding them. Bom 

 dust is sold through the country to farmers, at 2s 

 G(/. per bushel, including freight, and is applied at 

 tho rate of from 10 to 20 bushels the acre, nios! 

 on the poorest ground. It answers best on ligli 

 soils ; and its beneficial effects are found to las 

 many years. - One farmer uses 1200 bushels even 

 year. Immense quantities of bone might he col- 

 lected about Bo.-cton and other towns, and the poor 

 and children might be profitably emplnypi! in 

 gathering aud breaking them with hammurs until 

 mills for grinding them should be constriMted, 

 Their nnmediate effects are in proportion to thi 

 fineness ; but the durability of their benefit is 

 proportion to their size ; for the larger the pieei 

 the longer they are in decomposing, and in irnpaj 

 ing fertility to the soil. And even if buried 

 tire, would be found of great service. Boi 

 contain 50 per cent of decomposable anim.al mi 

 ter, 37 phosphate, and 10 carbonate of lime. 



' 2. Urine possesses strong fertilizing powers, 

 abounds in animal matter ; and this must be tl 

 jnincipal resource in New England for wheat lands 

 The Flemish farmers, according to Dr Radcliffp 

 enrich a moiety of their grounds with liquid ma 

 niire. Though it must be remembered that thei 

 cattle arc soiled under cover during the summer 

 The stable and sheds are paved, and the urini 

 collected in tanks and cisterns, into which it flo] 

 through glitters or ])ipes. It is applied to 

 grounds in the manner in which the streets 

 watered in New YDik and elsewhere, by a mitt 

 with a horse and cart ; oris taken out in ban 

 by men, with two poles made fast to the bilgi 

 the cask, and extending horizontally and para' 

 The New England farmer can adopt the Flemis' 

 mode; or he may realize partial advantages, li 

 constructing a concave or hollow cattle yard will 

 a bottom impervious to water ; kee|)ing it well lit 

 tered and apply the manure before it undergoe' 

 much fermentation. The litter becomes saturate 

 with the urine and carbonaceous liquids of the yarii 

 and imjiarts them to the soil. Fermentation gen- 

 erates ammoniacal gas, which being volatile, tbe 

 animal matter is lost if the mass is suffered to un- 

 dergo much decomi)osition in the yard. It canriit 

 be loo often repeated, that urine composes one balf 

 of the manure of animals ; and that he who sat- 

 fers his manure to rot in his yard loses the best 

 half of the remainder. Fresh urine should he di- 

 luted with double its quantity of water beforeil 

 is applied. 



3. Horn contains a larger quantity of animal mal- 

 ter than bone, and is one of the most ]]owerful 

 manures. It can be obtained only in small quan- 

 tities, and consists, principally of shavings from 

 the comb maker with the addition sometimes of 

 the butts and pith. 



To be continued- 



(Ivarlerly Revieio. — The 87th number of the Lon- 

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