NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



219 



GARDEN ROLLER. 



The roller represented here is nvade entirely of 

 iron. The cylinder is cast in two parts, each 1 

 foot long and 20 inches in diameter. This ad- 

 mits of easy turning without dragging. The 

 handle is of wrought iron, and confined to the arbor. 

 Inside the cylinder, and attached to the arbor, is a 

 counterbalance to the handle, which adds to the 

 weight, and causes the handle to stand upright 

 when the roller is not in use. The gai'den roller 

 is sometimes made of stone. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CORN FOR FODDER. 



Mr. Editor: — Corn for fodder is now raised by 

 nearly all the farmers in this vicinity; not however to 

 cure for winter use, but to feed out to cattle, and par- 

 ticularly to milch cows, during the latter part of sum- 

 mer and the beginning of autumn, when the feed 

 in the pastures has become short and dry, and be- 

 foi-e the grass in the fields has acquired that growth 

 which it should have before the cattle are turned 

 into the "fall feed." They all cut a sufficient 

 quantity of hay to keep their stock well through 

 the winter; and for this reason I do not think it is 

 advisable to raise it for winter use. I think the 

 practice of raising it, to be devoured in the green 

 state, is a very good one, as it greatly increases the 

 quantity of milk, and can l)e jToduced by very lit- 

 tle labor or expense. In a very dry time it some- 

 times becomes almost a means of sustenance to the 

 hungry cattle who can barely pick up a living in 

 our pastures, which, in our wettest and most favor- 

 able seasons for grass, are none too good, to say the 

 least. In a few instances our farmers have sown 

 the corn broadcast, but I do not consider this a good 

 way. The best way is to sow it in drills three 

 feet apart. Some sow it quite thick, others quite 

 thin; but I sliould recommend thick sowing, as 



the quantity of fodder is larger and the quality de- 

 cidedly better; and therefore but litth; refuse is 

 left by the cattle. When the corn is ten or twelve 

 inches high, go through it with a cultivator, and 

 the weeds can make but little headway afterwards, 

 even if it is not hoed at all, so rapid is its growth. 

 The ground is soon completely covered, and the 

 weeds, locked in their prison-house, very soon 

 "pine away and die" for want of the necessary 

 nourishment from the sun and air, which alone can 

 bring them to maturity. Still I should be in fa- 

 vor of the hoeing, as it is no doubt in some degree 

 beneficial; nor is this all, it also gives evidence 

 that the field is under the care of a neat farmer. 

 That is a consideration worth not a little. 



When I first commenced raising fodder corn, and 

 saw what a very great quantity of it could be pro- 

 duced in comparison to any other fodder crop, on 

 the same extent of ground, and with the same cost 

 in regard to manure, I could not free myself of the 

 impression that such a heavy crop must necessarily, 

 as a matter of course, exhaust the soil to such a 

 degree as to greatly lessen the real value of the 

 crop, after taking into consideration the vast amount 

 of nutriment it must require to drive it ahead at 

 such a rate. But I believe it is now generally 

 conceded that it is 7iut a great exhauster of the 

 soil. I had never heard any opinion expressed on 

 the subject at the time; but now my views in re- 

 gard to it have clianged. This change has not been 

 brought about by the sayings of others solely, bii^ 

 in part by my own experience. In the year 181/ 

 I had a small piece of ground of about half an acre 

 under moderate cultivation, which was considerably 

 shaded by fruit trees; so much so as to render it an 

 unsuitable place for the cultivation of corn or any 

 of the dillerent kind of vegetables. For this lea- 

 son in part, I concluded to plant it with "cow- 

 corn," which I did in the latter part of the month 

 of June. The manure which I made use oi, was 

 the scrapings of the barn-yard, and, 1 s-hould judge, 



