8U6 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH 30, 184S. 



For ihe N. E. Karmer. 



NO GUESSING— CUTTING OF HAY. 



Mb Editor — Much has been said and written 

 upon the aiivantages of cutting fodder for cattle. 

 I have frequently heard it said that to cut the foed 

 for cattle, ivns a saving in the amount eaten of 

 from 20 to 30 pounds to the hundred. An asser- 

 tion to this amount, I not very lung since read in 

 jour valuable paper. It appears to me some men 

 live for the Sfake of firming, while others farm for 

 the sake of a liviyif^. I pet my bread by the sweat 

 of my fuco, and liavo long since learned to receive 

 cautiously the views of those who give experiments 

 to the public from what " my man" says. I never 

 was persuaded to be at the expense of cutting fod- 

 der for my slock, until the pat^t winter. In the 

 early part of last winter I purchased one of Green's 

 machines for cutting straw and hay. After having 

 learned my cattle to cat cut feed, (for I was oblig- 

 ed to learn them,) I commenced what I considered 

 an experiment that would prove the loss or gain of 

 cutting fodder. I weighed, cut and fed myself, 

 with the exception of three or four days, when ill 

 health prevented. And now if you think my expe- 

 riment will be of use to my brother farmers, you 

 may give it a place in the N. R. Farmer. 



1m 1840 I was unfortunate, and nearly lost my 

 grass seed by the drought, so that in 1841, my 

 crop was full halfsorrel mi.xed with clover. Upon 

 this hay I fed my cows, with the addition of now 

 and tlien a foddering of corn stover. I commenced 

 with two cows, the 2iUh of January, giving them 

 all they would eat for seven days ; at the end of 

 which I found I had given them 270 lbs. All that 

 remained of wliat I had given them, and which 

 Hhey refused lo eat, was U lbs. Actually consum- 

 ««d, 2(>7 lbs. 



T then fed witliout cutting for seven days. At 

 the expiration of this time, I found I had given 

 them 2'JO lbs. ; and there remained of what they 

 refused to cat, 30 lbs. Actually consumed, 200 lbs. 



I then put two cows Doro with those above re- 

 ferred to, and fed their t.i fine hay and herds grass 

 for seven days, witho It cullHig, and found there 

 liad been given them 101 /fbs. There remained 

 which they refused to cn£, 45 lb». Consumed, 44<j 

 lbs. 



I then put them seven days on the same hay cut 

 and mixed, and found I had given them 454 lbs. 

 There remained of that which they refused to eat, 

 20 lbs. Consumed, 434 lbs. 



It will be seen that in the last case, 37 lbs. more 

 was given lo the four cows of uncut hay, and 16 lbs. 

 more was eaten than of that which was cut. This 

 I account for in the change from the poorer to the 

 better hay. Had the good hay been given first 

 cut and then whole, the difference would have been 

 the other way, in all probability ; for the two weeks 

 succeeding, lliey consumed a few pounds more of 

 cut tlian of whole hay. 



Perhaps you may suppose that by this time, my 

 hay cutting machine is stowed safely away in some 

 back corner, as lost and uselcs^s. Hut this is not 

 the case. But 1 am thoroughly convinced that 

 there is no saving in the quantity of hay by cutting. 

 Nor do I believe that good clear hay pays the ex- 

 pense of cutting for any stock, unless it be for a 

 horse. Hut coarse clover and coarse meadow hay, 

 pays well for cutting, because cattle will eat more, 

 not Ust. I have cut and mixed these two kinds of 

 hay, and if the condition of my cattle may be ad- 



mitted as evidence of the benefit of cutting such 

 hay, it is proved to my satisfaction. 

 Vours, respectfully, 



OTIS BRIGHAM. 

 n'e3lboro\i4lh March, 1842. 



[IlA'Mr ISrigham is worthy of all confidence. He 

 has here given very valuable statements. The 

 facts surprise us. We had supposed that there 

 wos more actual saving from cutting food for our 

 cattle — but the statements of the scales must be 

 taken; — a single tale from them is worth a thou- 

 sand guesses. In one important respect, this trial 

 is deficient: the time is not long enough. To 

 show that other trials have resulted differently, we 

 copy the following statement: 



" Mr Benjamin Hale's .^ccowil of Ihe Saving made 

 by the use of Straw Cutters, employed to cut h^y 

 and straw, as i odder for Horses. 



Mr Hale was proprietor of a line of stages run- 

 ning between Newburyport and Boston. He says : 



The whole amount of hay pur- 

 chased from April 1 to Oct. 1, 

 ISHi, (G months,) and used at T. ciot.gr. lb. 

 tlie stage stable, was 32 4 10 



At $25 per ton, (the lowest 

 price at which hay was pur- 

 chased in 181G,) $800 00 



From Oct. 1, 1816, to April 1, 

 1817, whole amount of hay 

 and straw purchased for, 

 and consumed by the same 

 number of horses, viz : 



Straw, r. 1 13 3 10 .$1(30 23 

 Hay, 13 14 1 00 350 00 



Deduct on hand April I, 1817, 

 by estimation four tons more 

 than there was Oct 1, 1816, 

 at $25 per ton, 



Saving by the use of the 

 Straw Cutter, four months of 

 the last six months, or tlie 

 difference in expense in 

 in feeding with cut fodder 

 and that which is uncut. 



$510 23 



$100 00—410 23 



$389 77 



Mr Colman, if we are not mistaken, has some- 

 where given an experiment for three months, by 

 which he made the saving 50 per cent, or more. — 

 Ed. 



Bishop Watson found that even when there had 

 been no rain for a considerable time, and the earth 

 was dried by the parching heat of sunuuer, it still 

 gave out a considerable quantity of water. By in- 

 verting u large drinking gloss on a close mown 

 grass plat, and collecting the vapor which attached 

 to the inside of the glass, he found that an acre of 

 ground dispeised into the air about 1600 gallons 

 of water in the space of 12 hours, of a summer's 

 day. 



Within the last twelve months, have been chron- 

 icled the remarkable deaths of a President of the 

 United States, a Commodore in command at Wash- 

 ington, a Commander in Chief of the Army, a 

 Judge of the Supreme Court, and four distinguish- 

 ed members of Congress — all suddenly deceased 

 in the nudst of their responsible duties. 



OF MIXED EARTHS AND CREEK MUl 



"What expi?riinents have been made of creek 

 harbor mud from the sea flats ? what of mud tai 

 from I'rcsh-water ponds? what of the soil ta 

 from swamps overflowed ? how have they bi 

 used ? on what soils, for what crops, for what gi 

 ses, in what iranner, in what quantities, and w 

 advantage has bi'en derived froi.i them?" 



Mr Btrden of ff'elhersfteld. A piece of lane 

 my neighborhood was manured witli earth that 1 

 been leached to make salt petre — the earth I 

 been leached 10 years before — the land has bo 

 surprising crops ever since this earth has been 

 plied. I have never vvitnessed so great and last 

 effects from any species of manure. 



Mr Hart, of Berlin. One of my neighbors c 

 ried on to his up land mowing a number of loi 

 of earth from under an old barn. It has improi 

 his Innd surprisingly. For several years the C 

 has been very great, 



.Mr .Ibel Branson, of )f'attrbunj. I have tr ; 

 the earth, taken from the ditches in my meado' 

 but never found that my land received any ben€< 

 I have carried large quantities into my hog sv 

 and barn yard, in autumn, and in the spring hi 

 manured my Indian coin with it. I h.ave foun> 

 load of this mixture of the earth and manure, as b« 

 eficial as a load of unmixed manure, from the bit 

 yard or the stye. I Imve used the mixture, wH 

 it has lain in this situation a year, and never fon 

 any dung better. 



OF YARD OR STABLE DUNG, TANNBl 

 BARK, &.C. 

 " What methods have been taken to augment 

 manures taken from the yard or stable ? 

 means have been found to succeed best for 

 purpose." 



Mr Andrew Hall, Jr., of Cheshire. I have ft 

 no manure so beneficial, on poor land, for pots 

 as the droppings of the cattle intermixed 

 straw, thrown into the yard to make mixture, er< 

 before it is matured. 



Mr <lbd Bronson, of H'aterbury. I have tbi 

 pumice, tanner's bark, &c. into my hog styoi 

 found them to become very good manure. 



Mr BlakesUy, of Plymouth. More than twei 

 years past, I had a large nursery of fruit 

 To prevent weeds, &,c., from growing, I co' 

 the ground over with tanner's bark. It prevei 

 every thing hut the trees from growing. Afl* 

 some years had elapsed, when the trees had I 

 been taken from the nursery, I sowed the land wi 

 oats and clover. The oats were good, and I 

 clover excellent Since the clover has gone » 

 the natural grass has come in, and the hndb 

 continued as good as any I have. I have fuui 

 bark one of Iho best kinds of manure. 



I find, from experiment, that Iw • Ivuis of duB 

 carried on the land in the spring, are worth tbli 

 loads carried on in the fall. 



PLOWING IN OF CLOVER, OR BUC» 

 WHE.VT. 



" Have any experiments been made of maflf' 

 ing land with clover, buckwheat, or oats turned, 

 plowed into the earth before they were ripe j II 

 has any benefit been received ? 



Mr Hart, of Berlin. 1 have made an experimc 

 in plowing up a field, on which I had two ye» 

 before sown clover. The clover was mowed (i 

 yielded a good crop. Soon afterwards I plowf 



