314 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



April 20, ISHl. 



and wagon wheels on hand with which to make 

 one, may dispense with its use for want of some- 

 thing more cheap and easily constructed. I have 

 one formed of a but of timber 20 inches in diam- 

 eter, after being rounded by rule by a carpenter, 

 would be better if larger, and 3| feet long. The 

 shafts for a horse are made of 2 pieces of scantling 

 of suitable size for that purpose; a hole is bored 

 in the end of each to receive an iron gudgeon ^ 

 of an inch diameter, which is driven into the cen- 

 tre of each end of the roller ; a board for a seat 

 crosses immediately over it,jind rests on a rising 

 from each shaft, and the feet of the driver rest 

 on the draw bar ; thus the weight of the driver is 

 added to the roller, and 2 or 3 may ride, and a boy 

 of 10 years old has rolled several of my fields 

 this spring of 4 to 5 acres, in a half a day each, 

 taking the whole field, or at least the half of it, at a 

 land. This length moves very little if any ground 

 in turning. Your most obedient, B. 



Bridgeport, Con. April 5. 



[1829] by a gentleman in Dennis of soaking seed 

 corn in solution of copperas, from 24 to 40 hours 

 previous to planting, as recommended in the N. E. 

 Parmer and in Pessenden's N. E. Farmer's Almanac 

 The corn thus soaked was untouched by worms, 

 while some planted on the same piece in the common 

 way was very much injured. A Connecticut farmer 

 has made a similar trial, and says that it was not 

 only untouched by worms, but yiel ded one third 

 more. A ponnd of copperas dissolved in warm 

 water is to be used tp a peck of corn. We have 

 likewise received many verbal accounts of the ef- 

 ficacy of this preparation. 



It may be recollected that last season was un- 

 commonly wet and it is possible that the copperas I u 

 with which seed corn was impregnated might have 



REMARKS ON LIVE STOCK. 



Concluded fium page 291. 



Though it may seem very extraoi-dinary t 



the careless and unobserving, yet it is a fai 



well known to the attentive breeder, that 



general, all our best and most valuable kinds o 



stuck are found upon the middling and wort 



ground.*, and not upon the best lands as we shou1 



naturally imagine ; and the reasons that it is so, ai 



simple tind obvious; — those breeders who occupi 



the middling and indifferent tracts of countrj 



are under the necessity of producing an Indus 



trious and thriving breed of animals, because; 



large, tender, big-boned kind could not subsii 



1 their keeping, or the produce raised upon suc1 



while the good laud makes up for ever; 



Iff 



'« 



*: 



been e.xtracted by moisture after the corn was plant- 1 deficiency, or at least so far warps the jiidgmen 

 ed. The solution is not poisonous and can oper- i of the unthinking breeder that he plumes hiinsel 



ate as an antidote to insects and birds only by mak- 

 ing the taste of the grain disagreeable to those depre- 

 dators. But facts on this subject are still wa .ted, 

 for if the preparation be useless it ought to be laid 

 aside ; if not further proof of its utility is desirable. 



Extracts fron 



an(]aisun,N. 



THE EFFICACY OF COPPERAS ON SEED CORN 

 DOUBTED. 



I prepared some seed corn with copperas so 

 strong that my planter declared it had made his 

 hands so sore he could not hold his hoe handle, and 

 refused to use any more, leaving about half a peck, 

 which when dry was the color of copperas ; I 

 gave some to a lame cock in the door yard, 

 where the other fowls were not admitted, and see- 

 ing no bad efliect, I gave it toall of them without 

 perceiving any bad effect. 



I planted some of it in the garden, and out of 

 about 30 hills there were 5 or 6 stalks aff'ected as if 

 by a worm, but I did not see the insect and there 

 fore cannot say what kind. I do not know that there 

 was any difference in th ; field. B. 



Bridgeport, Con. April 5. 



Remarks ly the Editor. — We should be sorry 

 to learn that a recipe so often and so strongly re 

 commended by practical farmers as that of copperas 

 water for preserving seed corn against worms, birds, 

 &,c, should prove unavailing. We wish, however, 

 that the truth may be ascertained, and vvill as readily 

 publish facts against as in favor of the use of the 

 solutions we have so often recommended. In an 

 article in the third vol. of N. E. Parmer, published 

 in 1825, we mentionedthat Dr Deane had advised 

 to use a solution of copperas as a steep for seed 

 barley and proposed its trial for seed corn. A 

 correspondent, who signed ' A Subscribei-\ and 

 dated, Gloucester, March 18, 1826,' whose com- 

 munication was published N. E. Parmer, vol. 4, p. 

 284, states as follows : From an article which I ob- 

 served in your paper I was induced to try the exper- 

 iment there recommended, to soak my seed corn 

 in copperas water before planting. It immediately 



struck me that it woidd have a beneficial effect. I ' stock. He at once declared young Admiral to be 

 tried it and the result was fully equal to my most a noble animal, fully equal to any he saw in Eng 

 sanguine expectations, &c. The same volume, 



SCOURS IN CALVES. 



I will add a sure remedy against that dread tD 

 all breeders of cattle, the scours ; especially affect- 

 ing young calves ; — the use of a little pulverizei\ 

 chalk in any mess. I have used it with success| 

 All young calves are subject to this disorder, es- 

 pecially if brought up by hand, and even on the 

 cow I have known them to be greatly injured by 

 it especially when the ground was covered by snowJ 

 This malady has been the greatest difficulty ii| 

 raising calves by hand of anything, I ever met\ 

 with. Perhaps you may have noticed it before in 

 your useful paper. If so, it may be acceptable a 

 second time as coming fioin a breeder, who makes 

 this statement from actual experiments. It is 

 simple, cheap, and within the reach of every breed- 

 er at a trifling expense. I would ask the question 

 whether lime thoroughly water slaked, woidd nrt 

 be a good substitute for chalk, and answer iha 

 pur|)ose equally well ? 



IMPROVED BREED OF CATTLE. 



The Cow, named in my circular is the sani? 

 which you have before mentioned in youri)aper.* 

 She was imptuted by G.W. Featherstonhangh, Esq. 

 Admiral, the young Bull presented by your worthy 

 tovvnsrvian, and public benefactor, the Hon. Johj 

 Welles is a noble animal. At a year old be 

 weighed 788 lbs. I shall have him weighed again 

 this spring and will send you an account of bis 

 weight. His |)roportions are just — figure admiral 



upon having slock superior to his iud\istriou! 

 neighbors, while the merit consists in the goodtiesi 

 of the land and the richness of its pasturage ant 

 produce. Satisfied with his stock being the larges 

 he Jilso concludes they are the best ; while hii 

 more active and industrious neighbor, from beinf 

 situated in a less fertile soil is obliged to seek on 

 fiir a hardy thriving breed. 



I will beg leave to remark on beef and niultoi 

 exposed to sale in pieces on the shambles oi 

 stalls. When we consider that the differencM 

 between what is called the coarse and fine oi 

 the best and worst parts of beef, when cut up 

 is not less than one hundred per cent, of what 

 vast consequence then, must it he to the breedei 

 to |)ropagate those cattle that have the greatesi 

 proportion of those valuable parts and always 

 feed in less time than the big-boned, coarse sort. 



But it is not so with mutton ; the ilifterenceil 

 value between one joint and another is scarci 

 worth naming. In different parts of the kingdon 

 they give the [u-eference to particular joints ; bal 

 the variation is seldom more than a farthing, oi 

 half a penny per pound at most. Nevertheless il 

 is still right for the breeder to pursue that specie! 

 which pay most for what they eat; and these I ap- 

 prehend will always be found to be the small bofr 

 ed true formed sheep, for they not only produce the 

 finest grained mutton, but more of il in a given 

 time, in proportion to offal than any other sort of 

 sheep I know of. But in speaking of ofi'iil hen^ 

 1 would be understood to include more than whal 

 the butchers generally do. By offal, they mean 

 hide am! tallow, only in neat cattle, or skin and 

 tallow in sheep, and so on ; but by offal iu this 

 place, I would take in not only hide or skin, and 

 tallow, but bones, horns, pelts in sheep, blood in- 

 testines, and even wool and hair. 



Suppose two bullocks, or two sheep are fatted 



page 395, contains an article, copied from the 

 Hampshire Gazette, which states that Mr Ralph 



MrC. H. llallof Harlem, near N.York, a celebrat 

 ed breeder of fine stock, who has imported many fine 1 (og^ihcr on tlie same food, the one reniarkable for 

 aniinals,made me a call last^ fall, and^ reviewed my | coa,.seness,the other forfineness, and admit that the 



coarse one eats only as much as the other, thougb 



, 1 have no doubt of his eating more, still as a con- 



and, and superior to Wye Comet, Mr Powel's fa- , j,i,,gi.^.ji,|p ,,„,.( ^f \,\s {■„„,{ n,„st go to the support 



mous bull. Mr II. is a man of nice judgment in fiiie | ^f. ^^^^.^ ,|j,,j. g,. |,g,j^ (3^,,^^ g^^^ ^y|,jig ,|,p othert 



food is principally converted into arimal flesh; 



stock, as his yard fully evinced at the sale last fa! 



Owen, of Belchertown, in May last, planted 3 or 4 and it was gratifving to me to have the opinion of | ^^i^j^i^ f^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ average call only worth 3d. per 

 acres with corn, which had been soaked in copperas j sut^h a man. Mr Welles remarked that he was a calf 

 water ; the seed came up well and not a plant was . of great promise, and I should now be proud to 

 destroyed by worms. An adjoining field, jdanted ; show him to hiiii.t 



with corn which had not been steeped was very 1 'You will excuse the freedom I take with you, 

 much injured. ' ''Ut I ain the more particular on account of the Hon. 



The 8th vol. of N. E. Farmer, p. 355. contains | ^r Welles, to whom I am under great obligations.' 

 the following article, copied from the Barnstable »See N E Farmer vol. viii. p. 334. 

 Journal. An experiment was made last season f See N. E. Farmer, vol. viii. p. 74. 



lb. I am afraid the horns, bone, pelt. Sec, are not 

 worth above a farthing [ler lb. consequently a very 

 great loss to the community. Indeed the hide of 

 a bullock is sometimes worth as much ))cr pound 

 as his flesh, and particularly firm strong hides 

 what are generally called leather hides are worl! 

 more ; but then these very thick hides mo^ 

 generally cover a very slow feeding carcass ; am 



