• t . x\. sro. 41 



AND H R T I C U L T 17 R A I. REGISTER 



339 



Tor iho N. E. Kariner. 



' i;ttjng hay bv gufss. 



iToR— I find in tho N. E. Farmer of 



I. nn (irticio headr-d ■• No luifssinp 



llay," from my old friend and townsman, 

 - Uriglinin, nnd ihonjii it comes from so 

 yisuio i» source, I fesr Hint it is not quite or- 

 r, and in my opinion is fraupht wiili danger 

 agricultural commiiiiily. I have waited till 

 expecting tlial an abler hand would have an- 

 J It : as It i.1 not done, I feel constrained tn 

 few word;-. And my ohject in what I om 

 to puess, (for f have neither weighed nor 

 red) is, to renioTC the erroneous impression 

 Ihink might he made on the minds of some, 

 ursory view ,.f that article, " and that the 

 agriculture) receive no damage." 

 ting hay is a subject on which I have read 

 ought muih, and practiced u lillle. 

 ,T« r«ad the N. E. Farmer most of the time 

 lU first publication, and there has been much 

 I on this subject; and well there might be, 

 :lie farmer it is an important one. And as I 

 working with my hands," to get a living, 

 metimcs it not only makes my face sweat, 

 back too, as I presume it does Capt. B.'s, 

 says that he gets his bread by the sweat of 

 !, and I conclude he thinks the more sweat 

 re bread. Not so with me : the less sweat 

 'er, — I want the easiest way, and then I 

 «nes have to cat my bread while my brow is 

 led with sweat, especially when my porridge 

 •warm. But there are other men, such as 

 .incolD and Webster, and many others, " good 

 id true," that do not farm to get a living, 

 Capt B. aayo, " live for the sake of farming." 



would say, live for the sake of farming for 



; of doing good — and I hope for tho inte- 

 .he farmers, that they will live long—for to 

 ch, scientific, independent minded experi- 

 , the agricultural community are indebted 

 5t of tho very valuable improvements that 

 ■en made in the king of sciences. 

 was saying, cutting hay is an important 

 I have taken pains to consult those who 

 lit the most competent to judge in the case, 

 T very mature deliberation on tho subject, 

 ed to " guess" that it would he best to cut 

 And then the next question was, how 

 lo it.' What is the best machine to do it? 

 10 Boston and examined all the hay. cutters 

 find : I then went to Bolton, lo see the 

 Whitneys' machine with which they cut by 

 «wer all the hay for a large stock of cattle, 

 e forty head. I next went to Worcester to 

 Hovey's cutter, and I think it a very good 

 «t he had never made one so large as I 

 one to go by horse power. I finally 

 that Green's was the hest fashion I had 

 [ accordingly went to Rhode Inland ami 

 <1 Mr Greene on the subject. I found that 

 making precisely the thing I wanted. He 

 I it would cut, by a good horse power, ten 

 an hour. We soon struck a bargain for 

 liars, and he was to send it to me as soon 

 led, and come and see that it performed 

 g tu the recommendation. The 30th of 

 er he came, but my horse power was rot 

 idy to operate, and we concluded to do the 

 could by hand, and found that it cut at the 

 20()0 lbs. in sixtythree minutes — nearly 

 much as was warranted, 

 that time I have cut all my fodder fur six 



yonrluigs, thr.a two year olds, four horH<<s, four ox. , no saving in Iho quantity of h:.y by cuttin- " And 

 on and thirtye.ght cows-fiflylive in all, mo.tof.h... fHrtl.o, aays, " Nor do I believe that g.md clears 

 Ihcm grown cattle, and ton of tho cow, gave milk hny pays the expense of cutting for any stock unJ 

 all winter, and required much more hay than they loss it be for a horse." Now, I would n«k of what 

 would have done bad they been dry—which is use it ia to lay an article into tho scales, and «-u..„ 

 al.oi.t twenty per cent, more stock than I have at tho weight .' If you inl.-nd to go by guess dis- 

 iiHiiolly kept. And besides this, in consequence of I pcnse with the scales entirely and wo will call iL 

 selling my stock and hay a few ycnr- since, my '" guess" work. I want facts, when F pretend to 

 m.inure was lose, and the season was unfavorable | weigh. • • . . y^,|j now Mr IMi 

 for grass, nnd my stock of hay was sJiortcned, I , tor, to conclude this article, which I fear will' be 



, ' i " P'"""*'" "'"« •"■ •<•" '«""• 't is true tliat I considered like tho old minister's sermon After 



have bought tJiis son.-ion, as I generally do. several the delivery of ,i, he inquired of a friend how he 

 tons of coarse hay and .straw to bi-d my oatllc and ' liked it ; but he declined answering directly but 

 ■tiogs-three or four tons more than usual, nnd the old divine pressed him so hard that ho .aid if 

 some of ,t I have cut for my cattle— and I have j he must give his opinion, ho would say that it was 

 kept forty iKigs, which is about three times my the /rnnw/, the /c.ffM/, and the /«n<«/ sermon that 

 common number, and as fate would have it, they he ever heard. After you have looked at this scrib 

 began at the commencement of cold weather to ble, you will lay it on the table, fling it under the 

 wet their nests, and during the winter, notwith.stand- table, or do with it as you please. With two or ' 

 ing all my efforts to prevent it, they became the ! three more " guesses," I finish. I have "guessed" 

 mosl inveterate piss-a-bcds, and it required very I by Capt B.'s weighing, that there was a savinjr in 

 considerable daily draughts from the hay-mow to good clear hay of fifteen per cent by cutting and. 

 make them comfortable— enough to keep, I should "guess" that in poor hay and corn stover the'sav- 

 " guess," three or four cows. It will be recolloc- ing would be three times as much. And I " guess" 

 ted that I did not commence cutting my hay tillihe that Capt B. made some of his calculations by • 

 last of December, and by this time I had made '«oo»sAine, and that if he will wipe his glasses' 

 fearful havoc of my hay. Now, if I had began to clean and take good clear sunshine, and take into- 



cut my hay the first of November, I will venture to 

 "guess" that I should have made a saving of at 

 least thirty per cent, by cutting my hay. This 

 -you will perceive is cutting hay by "guess." 



Biit before I quit, I want to " guess" a little at 

 friend Brigham's "no guessing." And in the first 

 place, I " guess" that where friend B. weighed, he 

 found that there was eight per cent. less given to 

 tho cattle and seven per cent less wasted, or that 

 was not eaten, when it was cut. Hero I " guess" is 

 a saving of about fifteen per cent. — which is worth 

 looking after in a large stock of cattle. I do not 

 know as it has ever been a question amongst far- 

 mers, whether cattle could be made to cat more or 

 less by having tho feed cut A man, or a horse, or 

 an o.v, or hog, may eat too much as well as not 

 enough : — Th« question is, will hay that is cut, 

 afford enough more nutriment or "stick by the ribs" 

 enough better, and be enough less wasted or left 

 that the cattle would not eat, and keep the cattle 

 in the same condilion, to pay the expense and 

 trouble of cutting? I might cut tho feed for my 

 cattle and they might be in so high order in the 

 spring, that I might think that tlicir extraordinary 

 condition might amply pay for cutting. But there 

 might another question arise: have they not eaten 

 enough more in consequence of having the food 

 cut, to make a balance against cutting ? In order 

 to know what is the best way, we must take into 

 view the condition of the stock, the expense of cut- 

 ting, and tho quantity of hay consumed. 



Friend B. says that " coarse clover and coarse 

 meadow hay pays well for cutting, because cattle 

 will eat more, not less." I rather "guess" that 

 friend B. " guessed" at that, for he does not pre. 

 tend that he weighed for it — and as for their eat- 

 ing more for having it cut, I "guess" that he did 

 not "guess" right, for it is rather against all expe- 

 rience on the subject — and as to the gain or loss 

 on the cows kept on cut feed a week and then on 

 whole hay, Capt B. does not pretend even to 

 "gucsb" — nnd tho time is so short, that it could not 

 be determined with any degree of certainty, if the 

 gain or loss were not very marked. 



He says that he " is thoroughly convinced (by 

 which I "guess" that he " guesses") that there is 



view the whole subject— the good condition of hi 

 stock nnd the saving of fodder— he will come to 

 the conclusion that there is a saving of at least 30 

 per cent, by cutting hay, or I will lose my "guess." 

 SAM'L CHAMBERLAIN. 

 ffestboro', JipriiW, 1842. 



0"This articlo from Mr Chamberlain, is more 

 cutting upon Capt Brigham than we like — for cer- 

 tainly Capt. B. made a nearer approach to a fair- 

 experiment than most others do who give us the re- 

 sults of chopping Fred. We were surprised at the • 

 result at which he arrived, and we think that far- 

 ther experiments will show that he haa not reached 

 the bottom of (he matter. But wo have no dispo- 

 sition to raise or join in a laugh at him for what ho 

 has done ari' written. We in-^iert Mr C.'s commu- 

 nication beer: :se it cxprr.sses the opinion of a prac- 

 tical man upon a question of practical consequence, 

 and not because we'tliink it just in its tone towards 

 Capt. Brigham Eu. 



Cure for Canker Rash and ScarM Fever. Wc 



are requested by an aged and esteemed friend, to 

 give for the benefit of the public, now so severely 

 afflicted in their families by this frightful malady, 

 the following recipe f<ir the cure of scarlet fever 

 and canker-rash. It was the only medicine admin- 

 istered by the late Dr. Porkins, of Dartmouth Col- 

 lego, in these cases ; and it rarely if ever failed of 

 effecting a cure. Its simplicity renders it not only 

 available to every family in the community, but is 

 a guaranlue of Its harmlessness, if it does not ef- ■ 

 feet a cure. 



Recipe. — Take the inner sole of nn old shoe, 

 and burn it to a coal — pulverize this coal, and ad- ' 

 minister half a toaspoonful, with (hreo or four drops "^ 

 of spirits of turpentine, every half hour. It can b» j 

 rendered more palatable by sugar, if necessary. — •' 

 Haverhill (.V. H.) Mgia. 



Cure Jar IVieunuHitm. — Take a mess of rock- • 

 weed ; boil it two hours till the liquor has the ap- 

 pearance of thin glue ; with this rub the part affect- - 

 ed, and immediate relief will follow. 



Deacon Jacob Dodge, of Wenham, telli ua h«-/ 



has tried tliis and found it an excellent recipe 



Mass. Ploughman. 



