QQ NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



«ay, it has been rather hurtful. It opens to" us a I Swamps that are full of wood and brush, and 

 new scene, and t.me .nay pcssibly discover it to bo covered wth moes, .f they arc deep .o,l and can 

 the easiest of tillage, the richest and best land. be well drained, cleared and d,tche ■• 



Ily the workings of my own mind I judge ofoth- good land for corn and grass 



SKPT, »». lH4t'« 



ill make 



ers -, however, if I have been mistaken, and that 

 which is uncertain to me, is clear and easy to otli- 

 ers, and so have been longer upon this particular 

 than is needful or useful, I be^' pardon of the reader. 



FATTENINQ SWINE. 



1 find by experience the best time to fatten 

 gwine is to begin at the first of August, if you 

 have old corn. Hogs will fat slowly in very cold 

 weather: they will eat much and fatten but little : 

 if you make a very warm house, they heat in bed 

 and catch cold when they come out into the cold 

 air. 



To save corn, steep it in water or swill till the 

 corn grow very soft: this opens the parts: give 

 them the corn to eat and the water to drink in 

 which the corn has been steeped : the hard dry 

 corn, a great deal of it, passeth through them undi- 

 gested ; this is tlie hardest part of the corn and 

 that which principally makes the fiour. There is 

 a tradition that if you feed one hog with corn, the 

 dung of the first hog will fat another hog, and his 

 dung a third. Although I believe the story to be 

 fabulous, yet it serves to shew that the sense of 

 mankind is, that in the manner we Iced swine, there 

 is a great deal of loss. 



I took the hint of steeping corn, from the advan- 

 tage I once found by some corn I bought that had 

 been shipwrecked, and lain in the water till it was 

 grown soft. 



Such is the diflerence in corn and in swine, that 

 it is impossible to fix it absolutely and know cer- 

 tainly how nuic.li there is saved by this method. It 

 is better than grinding, besides what we save in 

 the toll and the time and charge of the carriage ; 

 for it ia fiiund by experience, that even bran when 

 steeped in water a long time, ia much the better. 



I asked an honest, judicious neighbor of mine, 

 who had leisure to try this method of steeping corn 

 longer and with more exactness than I had done, 

 how much he thought was saved by it? He said, 

 at least one bushel in seven — he believed more. 



Since the foregoing was written, a person of 

 good credit informed me that there being in his 

 neighborhogd a dealer in horses, wlio was famous 

 for skill in making horses fat in ii short time; he 

 desired the jockey to tell him how he did it: the 

 secret was to mix Indian corn and oats together 

 and .soak it in water till it w.is snft; that in cold 

 weather ho steeped it in a cellar, that it might be 

 kept from freezing. 



My informant told me, he had made trial of it 

 and found it did well, giving it to his horse in the 

 same proportion as he was wont to do of dry [iro- 

 vender. 



ITEMS. 



I was told by an experienced farmer, that if you 

 girdle trees or cut brush in the months of May, 

 June, and July, in the old of the moon, that day 

 the sign removes out of the foot into the head, es- 

 pecially if the day be cloudy, it will kill almost all 

 before it : they will bleed, lie said, more freely in 

 a cloudy day, for the hot sun dries up the sap. I 

 have never tried it. if this couhl be certainly 

 found out, it would expedite the cleaning land and 

 save a great deal of labor. ISut experience is au- 

 thority to whom we arc to submit : I am not for- 

 ward to believe, without trial. 



Elder bushes are stubborn and hard to subdue, 

 yet I know by experience that mowing them five 

 times in a year will kill them. > 



It might serve to increase useful knowledge, if 

 something of this nature were published every year, 

 giving a faithful account of the success of all the | 

 experiments and trials that may be made on vari- , 

 ous sorts of lands, and of divers sorts of grain, 

 roots, grass and fruits, not only such as we have in 

 use, but also what we have not as yet introduced 

 among us. 



There are few men of business, ingenuity and 

 observation, but what have found out things valua- 

 ble and useful, but for want of some proper method 

 to communicate them, they die with the discove- 

 ries, and are lost to mankind. 



Therefore, whoever has made any observations 

 or discoveries, although it be but a hint, and looks 

 like a. small matter, yet if pursued and improved, 

 may be of public service. 



A discovery ot the nature and property of things 

 and applying them to useful purposes, is true phi- 

 losophy. A great deal of what has passed in the 

 world for learning, is philosophy falsely so called. 

 A certain person among the Greeks, being a 

 candidate for some office in the state, it was ob- 

 jected against him that he was no scholar. True, 

 saitli he, according to your notion of learning, I 

 am not ; but I know how to make a poor city rich, 

 and a small city great. 



The world was a long time amused with the 

 learning of .\ristotle and the Arabians, spun out of 

 their own brains, and not founded in truth ; yet 

 among all this trumpery .there were two pieces of 

 useful knowledge for which we are indebted to 

 them ; one was the knowledge of the nine figures, 

 so useful in arithmetic; the other was the first ru- 

 diments of algebra, now grown up to a great height. 

 Experimental philosophy being founded in nature 

 ami truth, is obtained no way but by time and dili- 

 gence : the knowledge of things useful ia gained 

 by little and little. 



We are not to admire or despise things merely 

 because they are new ; but value things or disre- 

 gard them just so far as they are found (by expe- 

 rience, that faitliful instructer) to be useful or un- 

 profitable. 



UOM.IMG LA.ND, &C. 



Our first planters were wont to roll their barley, 

 as they do at present in England, with a largo wood- 

 en roller drav n by a horse, wliicli is of service to 

 break all the clods and fasten the loose carlh about 

 the roots, and prevent the progress of worms. I 

 remember 1 heard an old man say, that when a boy 

 his father left him to roll a piece of barley — he 

 was idle, and left a part of tlie land not rolled, 

 thinking it would not bo known: hi? father found 

 it out by iho dift'ercnce of tlic crop at harvest, and 

 silid upon It, you was an idle jack, and did not roll 

 this part of the field. 



This brings to my mind what a man once told 

 me ; tliat having sutl'ered much in his young apple 

 trees, by the mice eating off tho bark under the 

 snow, both in his nursery and orchard planted out, 

 to prevent the like evil for the future, he used to 

 tread down the snow hard about his trees, and it 

 was effectual. 



Ins 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY., 

 iMr Editor — The practice of sending delegate 

 among kindred associations, is every way commei 

 dable, and calculated to accomplish much good, 

 supports mutual dignity and respect — promote 

 cordial feelings, animates the desponding, atrengtl 

 ens feeble hands, and accomplishes, on a more ei 

 tended scale, the objects of the local association 

 Mr Solon Robinson and others have strongl 

 recommended a National Society for the Promotio 

 of Agriculture. One of the articles of tho const 

 tution should make every county agricultural soc 

 ety of the wliole country a constituent part, a pa; 

 ing member, having one or more votes by delegi 

 tion. 



I would suggest that the societies of New Enj 

 land and also those of other sections of the cou; 

 try, send, this fall, delegati'S to each other at the 

 Fairs; and also to the American Institute of tl 

 city of New York, at the I'air commencing the 11 

 of October next — requiring their delegates to ci 

 lect as much information as possible, and tn nial 

 regular reports to their respective societies. 



I would also silggest to Mr Robinson and "th 

 friends of the grc3t leading interest of the 

 the jiropriety of constituting the .^meriot 

 tute of New York the national society he contei 

 plates. It has obtained permanency of organiz 

 tion — lias been, every successive year, acquirii 

 nationality, by its increasing usefulness and exten 

 ed operations, and has gained the confidence ai 

 respect of every unprejudiced and patriotic .Aioei 

 can. The objects of the Institute are those of t 

 whole Union — as much so as those of any associ 

 tiiui can be. The principles on which it has ev 

 been conducted have been liberal and .Americi 

 Agriciillnre, at the first organization of the Iiif 

 tute, was ostensibly the leading object; and 

 late years it has become more so in practice, a 

 will continue to command increasing attentii 

 The Legislature of New York has appropriated 

 the Institute a considerable annual sum for the ( 

 courageiiient of agriculture. This, in addition 

 the resources of the Institute and other ineasui 

 in contemplation, will give to agriculture the proi 

 iiency it deserves. Among these measures is i 

 speedy commencemeiit of a cheap monthly perio 

 cal entitled the Vniled Stales Farmer and Joun 

 of the jlniericiin Itxs'.itulc. 



All that would be required, for Mr Robinson 



realize his fondest anticipations, would be, for I 



Institute to have a stated national meeting at Wai 



ington during the regular sessions of Congress. 



"Westclutter Co., A". 1'., Sept. 1641. S. F. 



CROPS IN ENGLAND. 



The Mark-lane Express, of Aug. 30th, stai 

 that reaction has every where taken place in t 

 pricesof grain and tiour. The best brands of 

 S. (lour were selling at Liverpool for 'Ms. per b 



:3 shillings less than a few days before. T 



later wheat in the norlliern counties was likely 

 come in well. 



CATTLE SHOWS. 



In Essex and Plymouth on Wednesday, 2J 

 inst. 



In Middlesex, Hampden, Ilanipshire and Frat 

 lin, on OcU Gth. 



In Bristol, October 13th. 



