178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DEC. fl. IK4I. 



WHITE WEED. 



The tdllowing article from the Albany Cultiva- 

 tor relates to a plant which is, in this viciiiily, call. 

 ed White Heed. Our farii.ers generally dislike it, 

 thinking that it roots out other and better plants. 



That it makes fjood hay, if cut young, no one 

 doubts ; perhaps we can have none better. Hut 

 where this weed nr daisy, occupies the ground al- 

 most exclusively, the crop is generally siiiall, al- 

 though these plants, by their wide-spreading blos- 

 soms, make a great show, and give the appearance 

 of a heavy burthen upon the ground. 



We know not but that cows like to feed be- 

 twccn the stalks of this plant and eat those of its 

 leaves which lie npun the ground ; but the stalk it- 

 self and the blossom are generally left standing 

 even when feed is short in the pasture. 



Many farmers horo wage an annual war upon 

 this weed. It is feared as an exhausting and vex- 

 atious intruder. We blame no one for wishing 

 to keep it out of his lands — but if it get possession, 

 the harm is not very great ; for while the land is 

 in tillage, this can bo kept down without great la- 

 bor, and among the grain crops, and the first two 

 or three grass crops after the land is laid down, 

 this weed will not be very abundant; as the grass- 

 es decline, this weed increases — and it probably 

 hastens the decline of timothy and red top. — Ed. 



WHITE DAISIES AGAI.N. 



Messrs. Editors — In answer to the intpiirv of 

 " Commentator," I would state that I presume the 

 white daisy of Iris place, which he calls cammomile 

 daisy, is the same" which makes good hay and pas- 

 lure here, and that it will do the same there, if he 

 and his neighbors can divest themselves of their 

 prejudice against it, and treat it as a friend and 

 not an enemy. 



No man can have a worse opinion of daisies 

 than I had from my childhood till I was more than 

 forty years old ; but for more than fifteen years 

 they have grown in my pastures and meadows un- 

 molested, (except when greedily eaten by my cows, 

 horses, and sheep,) and now I would as soon part 

 with any grass I have as witli them. 



I have lately conversed with, several of our best 

 farmers on the subject, and they are all of my opin- 

 ion. 



Lest it should be thought by those where I am 

 not known, that I keep my cattle very poor, and 

 atarva them to eat daisies, I can assure them it is 

 not so ; but I mean to keep my milch cows so that 

 they are at all times fit for the butchers; and as 

 evidence that I do, they killed one for me last 

 vfeck, that had nothing but what she got in the 

 summer pastures with the other milch cows, and 

 was milked twice a day till six weeks aire, and 

 better and fatter grass-fed beef I never saw ; and 

 the daisies, although plenty in June, have been 

 eaten by the cows closer than the other grass. 



These daisies have a round blossom, from the 

 size of a half dollar to a dollar, tlio loaves of the 

 blow white and single ; that part containing the 

 seed, yellow ; one blossom on the end of an erect 

 stalk, from two to three feet high ; sometimes, 

 however, branching out for more blows, each on 

 the end of a stem, and single. The flower stem 

 has a few scattering narrow leaves on it. The 

 other part of the daisy grows round the stem, and 



does not rise but a few inches from the ground ; 



in blossom here the latter nnrt of June. 



Iftliisisthe same ";>c«/" which Commentator 



complains of, and spreads with such "rapidity," he 

 and his neig-hbors can easily make a Iriol of it, and 

 if they do it in faith, and thoroughly, I have no 

 doubt that they will not find it a 7io/i me langere, 

 or " touch me not,' as they have been used to con- 

 sider it. On this subject, it is not theory but ex- 

 perience with me, and I can have no possible mo- 

 tive to deceive. I said it was good hay for cattle 

 and sheep, and I think equally good for horses ; 

 for my daisy. hay, being the handiest in the barn, I 

 have fed my horse on it since haying, and never 

 had a horse eat hay cleaner or do belter than he 

 has. CALVI.M BUTLER. 



Plymouth, a., Supt. IG, Ib-ll. 



INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY. 



Idleness is an inlet to most other vices ; while, 

 by industry, the powers of the mind are turned to 

 good account. Usefulness of character depends 

 much on diligence. Early to accustom children to 

 industry, application and perseverance, is a neces- 

 sary part of education. If indulged in idleness 

 when young, application to business will afterwards 

 be irksome. They should early be made sensible 

 of the value of time, they should be made to under- 

 stand that no economy is so essential as the ccimo- 

 my of time ; and that as by Sfjuundering pence, we 



CRUSHED BONES. 



The introduction of bones as a fertilizer, is per 

 haps one of the must important and successful ag- 

 ricultural efforts of modern days, and has been cer 

 lainly one great means of sufficiently increasing 

 the national production of corn to keep pace witt: 

 an annually enlarging population. It required 

 however, like all other agricultural improvements, 

 much pi.Tseverance and unshaken energy in the 

 promoters of this mannre, to induce its general 

 adoption ; many a long and stubborn argument had 

 to be answered ; many hundred loads of the bone 

 refuse of Sheffield and Birmingham had to be giv- 

 en away, before the cautious and suspicious York- 

 shire farmers could be generally persuaded of the 

 fallacy of the assertion that " there is no good in 

 bones.*' To this tardy conviction the erroneous 

 mode of employing them originally adopted, main- 

 ly contributed, for they were at first used without 

 even roughly breaking them, and in consequence, 

 they decomposed so very slowly in the soil, that 

 the farmer's patience was naturally exhausted: he 

 sought in vain for immediate and striking results. 



The introduction of machinery, however, by ena- 

 bling the cultivator to procure them in a crushedl 

 state, did away with this objection, for when crush- 

 ed they putrefy with much greater rapidity ; and' 

 has louL' since induced a consumption of this ma^ 



are very soon deprived of poiiiids, .-io, by wastin^^ 



minutes, we shall lose not only hours, but days and | """^ """''^ 'h"" adequate to the national produce ot 



months. We must endeavor to inspire children '"'""s- It bas been necessary, in consequence, to 



with the spirit inculcated in the following precept ; I search in other countries for a supply ; and for the< 



' last fifteen years the quantity of bones imported^ 

 from abroad has been steadily increasing. Thus., 

 the declared value of all the bones imported intcw 

 England — 



•We think tlmy are iiol the same — IOd. N E. !•'. 



" Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all 

 thy might." 



For a young woman to have been properly in- 

 structed in the management of a family, is far 

 more essential to her than all the elegant arts on 

 which so much time and expense are by some be- 

 stowed. If she has been made acquainted with 

 every particular circumstance of a servant's duty, 

 taken an active part in family concerns, combines 

 frugality with plenty, retrenches superfluous cost 

 and decoration, and thus is fitted to meet adverse 

 as well as prosperous circumstances she will be 

 useful and respectable in her father's family, and 

 particularly so in a married state. When domes- 

 tic economy is viewed in tliis light, is there a wo- 

 man that would disdain to rank it amon? her ac- 

 complisliments ? Or a sensible man who would 

 not prize it in his wife ? 



Whatever may be our occupation in life, there 

 is in an industrious, upright, liberal and benevolent 

 mind, an inherent dignity, that will meet with es- 

 teem from all whose opinion deserves to be guarded. 



And as frugality and industry are by no means 

 necessarily connected with an avaricious disposi- 

 tion, the most opulent parent ought not to 



Into the port of Hull alone, in 1815, were imported j_ 

 about 8000 tons ; this had increased to 17,.')00 tons ' 

 in 1833, and to 25,700 tons in IS.'JS. These come ' 

 principally from the Netherlands, Denmark, and 

 the Baltic, but they have been imported from much 

 more distant places, .such as Buenos Ayres and the 

 Mediteranean ; and I am confident that if the seal 

 fishermen of North America and other distant sta- 

 tions were aware of the fact that the bones of fish 

 are nearly, if not quite, as valuable for the farmer 

 as those of other animals, that they would not suf- 

 fer nny falling ofl" in the supply. By the 3d and 

 4th William IV., c. 5(>, a duty of one pound per 



be 

 ashamed to adopt, in the economical education of; , .■ j , , , . 



his children, the excellent motto, " waste not, want "'^ ."", '1'^ t .'^'^ '=''"^' " •"'7'''''« °" »" ^°"^' 

 not » Early habits of care, and early aversion and ""!';"'^'' ^"' ^'"'""'*'' P"^P''«e8. 

 contempt of waste, are interesting lessons for chil- '"*''' ''""o*y'"g table, extracted from one by Rioli- 

 dren to learn. The ruost industrious and frugal i "■■'' ^'"""'' ''^*1> "^ Hull, will show to the farmer 



are frequently the most benevolent and useful. 

 And it is upon this principle, that children should 

 bo taught not only to save, but that they are res- 

 ponsible for making a right use of what they save, 

 or possess. 



While encouraging children in industrious hab. 

 its, let us not forget or neglect to encourage in- 

 dustry at their books, and to afford them opportu- 

 nities for mental im(>rovoment, to qualify them 

 rightly to enjoy the necessary intercourse with 

 mankind. — Seltcleil. 



from whence the great supply of foreign bones is 

 derived. This table contains the imports during 

 1827, in which year the following number of ves- 

 sels entered the purt of Hull, loaded with bones: 



