220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



composed of about three parts of loam and meadow 

 mud to one of animal manure. This weak com- 

 post was applied in the furrow, with not a very 

 lavish hand, considering what it was composed of. 

 The result was, I had a stout crop of fodder for my 

 cattle. The following year I gave about the same 

 quantity of manure, of perhaps a little better qual- 

 ity, and again planted with "cow corn;" the crop 

 was good — about the same as the year before. 

 The next year I sowed it down to grass, sowing 

 barley at the same time. No manure was applied. 

 The barley grew finely, and a good crop was real- 

 ized, where it was not too much shaded by the 

 trees. Last year a good crop of clover was ob- 

 tained; and now the grass looks exceedingly well 

 and gives good promise of a large yield. No top- 

 dressing has been given since the raising of the 

 fodder crop. 



These results settle the question satisfactorily to 

 me. I am convinced that corn fodder exhausts the 

 soil to but a small extent; therefore I believe it to 

 be a very profitable and desirable crop, all things 

 considered. What say you, Mr. Editor^ and what 

 say you, biother farmers? j. w. 



Winchester, Mass., June 14, 1851. 



Remarks. — Where hay is generally plenty, and 

 the crop of grass looks promising, there may be no 

 advantage in raising com for winter food for cattle; 

 but in all parts of the country we are liable to se- 

 vere droughts, and when they occur early in sum- 

 mer they sometimes cut short the hay crop. In 

 such cases, a deficiency in the hay crop will be 

 known in season to raise a good crop of corn for 

 dry fodder. This would be far better than to re- 

 duce one's stock at a time when it must be cheap. 



A great many farmers have thought that fodder 

 corn must be a very exhausting crop, from the 

 large amount of nutricious food produced to the 

 acre; but this w-as mere hypothesis. Practice gives 

 a different opinion, as this crop bears a succession 

 w^ell, as our correspondent has shown; and other 

 crops succeed well after it. So it is only a mod 

 erate exhauster; or considering the large crop it 

 yields, it is only a small exhauster. The corn fod- 

 der crop collects nearly all its nutriment from air 

 and water, andas it does not mature seeds, there is 

 no draught upon the phosphates and other sub- 

 stances that are usually rather scarce in the soil, 

 especially in old soils. 



' For the New England Farmer. 



SAVING MANURE. 



Hota shttJI I make the monure? 



Do look at your barn-yard. Your ten cows are 

 allowed to scatter their manure all around the yard 

 at night, the fowls come in next day, and spread it 

 quite evenly over the surface, while the sim dries 

 up about tlie whole of its value. 



What can I do 1 



You can do nothing worse. If you yard your 

 cows, why don't you have a shovel, or a ten-tined 

 fork, which is a great deal better, and clean up the 

 yard every morning? Then you might throw some 

 fresh loam on to the pile to cover it from the sun. 

 Tn (Li's ivnv von miirlit fTPt niiito a pile of JTOod mnl 



nure by September, which would come handy about 

 the fall-seeding. 



What do I think about tying up coivs at night? 



The best plan in the world to save labor and ma- 

 nure. The cows will go at once to their stanchions, 

 and may be fastened in a very short time. The 

 milker can sit down and do his work without being 

 obliged to get up and travel the yard over, through 

 the pond-hole, and over the dung-heap, a score of 

 times. It makes a hired man good-natured, don't 

 it, to chase a restless cow? Haven't you seen the 

 stool fly many a time, only making a bad matter 

 worse? Now, were the cows all tied, no such ex- 

 ercise would be necessary, when the milker often- 

 times is weary. Cowsmay be milked inaboutone- 

 half the time in the barn. Heifers are more easily 

 managed. They come to their winter places; they 

 see other cows milked, and seldom make any oppo- 

 sition. Now look at the first summer, with a heif- 

 er in the yard, and is not there work and vexation 

 in milking her? 



You save much labor in stabling your cows, but 

 you save more in the manure. I hope you have a 

 barn-cellar; if not, begin to dig to-morrow; get 

 some screws, and raise up the barn a few feet — 

 build what wall you can, and then dig out under 

 your stables. You need not cart out half the earth 

 at first, for no matter what it is, you can mix it 

 with the strong manure. Having prepared au am- 

 ple space for the solid excrements, see that your 

 stable floors have cracks sufliciently open to let the 

 liquid pass at once through, and not stand upon the 

 planks to waste by evaporation. Now, neighbor, 

 just throw in soil with this mass, and you will have, 

 by September, a heap worth four times what you 

 would have if you left your cows in the yard. I 

 have seen this proved with my own eyes. 



Huw shall I manage my horse stable? 



Why, with greater care. The ammonia is freely 

 generated. The manure should be mixed with soil 

 under the stable every two or three days. It should 

 never be allowed to burn iu)r to heat more than 

 enough to decompose the straw. 



You may keep your stable sweet by having a keg 

 of plaster of Paris near, and after cleaning out, 

 sprinkling a handful over the floor. The rankest 

 smell may thus be at once abated. Where does 

 this pungent gas go to, do you suppose ? All ab- 

 sorbed by the plaster, and held there lor hungry veg- 

 etation. 



Save, save your manure. Swell the compost 

 heap and your purse together. Enrich your land, 

 and your land will enricii you. b. 



Concord, Mass., June 10, 1851. 



A Cure for Poison. — If a person should be 

 stung by a bee or other insect, rub some spirits of 

 turpentine on the place, and the pain will cease in 

 a minute, [t is said that pain arising from the bite 

 of a copperheaded snake may be arrested in a few 

 minutes, by the continued application of this arti- 

 cle; and Irom my own knowledge of the effects, in 

 other cases, I have not the least doubt of it. The 

 effect of poison is to contract the blood vessels, and 

 prevent a free circulation; the natural consequence 

 is pain and inflammation immediately. Spirits of 

 turpentine, by their penetrating and expanding qual- 

 ities, soon overcome the difficulties. — Far. Cabinet. 



^^ Science must be combined with practice to 

 make a so(h] farraer. 



