228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



hardly shriveled. It is a curious fact that cranber- 

 ries, of spontaneous growth on high land, endure 

 the cold of winter, and produce well without any 

 protection during the winter, whilst those cultiva- 

 ted on high land seem to need protection. — 

 Editor. 



Foi- the New England Farmer. 



FARMERS SHOULD COMMUNICATE-- 

 COLOR OF HOUSES. 



Mr. Editor; — I see that you have extended a 

 general invitation to your readers to communicate 

 freely whatever they may feel disposed to offer to 

 the columns of the "Farmer;'' that it is your wish 

 that they may do so. I hope it will induce many 

 who have heretofore been silent, to cast their mite 

 into the treasury of practical information and there- 

 by do something, even if it be ever so little, to- 

 wards enabling the- tillers of the soil to arrive at 

 the best mode of doing the things appertaining to 

 their invaluable branch of industry, which is the 

 very fountain-source of all life's enjoyment and 

 luxuries. 



I am well aware that my unskilled pen can con- 

 tribute but little or nothing that will prove inter- 

 esting and useful, or be worthy of the space it 

 would occupy in your valuable publication; yet if 

 I could but be the feeble means of awakening a 

 desire and willingness, — that will eventually be fol- 

 lowed up by the act, — on the part of older, and 

 consequently more experienced farmers than my- 

 self, to spread the result of their own labors and 

 experiments broadcast before the eyes of the great 

 farming community, where all may read, if they 

 will, and profit thereby; if lean do any thing towards 

 bringing about "a consummation so devoutly to be 

 wished," I hope that you nor I, Mr. Editor, will 

 ever have cause to regret that I have again seen 

 fit to trespass upon your time and patience. 



Let our farmers keep an accui-ate account of the 

 management and profits of their crops, &c., and 

 prepare and send in the results for publication from 

 time to time; let the practice become general, and 

 the benefits arising from it would very soon be 

 made apparent in the growing interest it would 

 awaken in many who, "sick of farming," as they 

 say, plod on in the same beaten path which their 

 fathers tiod before them, strangers to all that noble 

 ambition and honest pride, that fills the expanding 

 heart of the progressive farmer, as he casts his eye 

 over his fertile domain that so amply repays him 

 for all the expense incurred and all the labor be- 

 stowed, and feels that he is indeed "Nature's no- 

 bleman !" 



I am sorry that my article on the "Color of 

 Houses'' did not, and could not, meet with your 

 approval, for I consider pure white to be the color 

 for our dwellings. But we cannot all think alike. 

 It is so ordered, and wisely, and " 'tis well;" but 

 the arguments brought against my favorite white 

 paint in the article of your correspondent, "J. B. 

 D.," which appeared in the "Farmer and Ram- 

 bler" of the 5th, are in my opinion "as light as 

 vanity.'" He says, "Pure white will not harmonize 

 with nature at all." True. But so far from this 

 being an argument against its use, I consider its 

 weight to bear exactly in the opposite direction. 

 The contrast between the face of nature and "pure 

 white" is just the reason why our buildings look 



better white than colored. At least I think so; 

 "/. B. i>." thinks diflferently, as he has a perfect 

 right to do, of course. Argument second reads — 

 "When approaching a situation of which a great 

 white house forms the foreground, the beauties of 

 surrounding field and meadow can never be pro- 

 perly appreciated in consequence of the 'horrid 

 olare,' particularly on a bright summer's day." 

 Comment is unnecessary; let each reader weigh 

 each argument in the nicest scales, and then draw 

 his inference from the well of truth. "Thirdly, — 

 When viewing the same from a distance the eye is 

 irresistibly drawn to the house, and the mind can- 

 not be divested of the idea that it is a great blot on 

 the fair face of nature." Now this is worse than 

 ever, for it gives unmistakable evidence that there 

 is a very weak spot somewhere — an entire want of 

 self-control; or, perhaps I should say, a complete 

 captivation of "the eye" by this same "great blot 

 on the fair face of nature !" 



After quoting a paragraph from one of Down- 

 ing's works, "J. B. D." concludes his communi- 

 cation by asking the following question — "If A. J. 

 Downing is not authority in matters of taste, pray 

 who is?" I suppose every one has a perfect right 

 to consult his own taste, if he sees fit to do so; and 

 I hope that all will exercise this privilege in a 

 spirit of manliness that will suffer no dictation, 

 from any one. I would not for a moment enter- 

 tdin the thouijht that A. J. Downing even icishes 

 to dictate; but at the same time I cannot but ob- 

 serve that "J. B. D.'s" article gives strong indi- 

 cations that he depends too much on Downing. 

 Let him read "A-"s" article in the "Farmer and 

 Rambler" of May 17th, on the "Effects of Coal 

 Tar on Fruit Trees," and learn a lesson therefrom. 

 Infallibility enters not into the nature of erring 

 mortals. J. w. 



Winchester , Mass., Jvne 9, 1851. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PROFITABLE CO'W. 



Mr. Editor: — I will give you an account of a 

 cow which I have. I commenced weighing her 

 milk May 17th, and continued 28 days. I found 

 that it weighed 1264 1-2 lbs. I made from the 

 cream produced in 26 days, 43 3-4 lbs. of butter, as 

 handsome as any person ever saw. It maybe seen 

 by calling on Col. Aaron Brigham, in front of the 

 market. 



The cow is less than middling size; a native, 

 full blooded Yankee — none of your John Bulls. 

 Her age is 11 years. She has had nine calves, 

 only one of which is a heifer. She is 3 years old, 

 and has had 2 calves. She makes from 6 to 7 lbs. 

 of butter per week. I milk three times per day, 

 and give my cow 1 quart of meal in slops, per day. 

 Yours, &c., William F. Gleason. 



Marlboro', Jxmc -15, 1851. 



Remarks. — Mr. Gleason seems to depend on the 

 heifers of this cow for a continuance of her good 

 properties; but he should consider that it is an es- 

 tablished principle among breeders, and one which 

 is recognized generally among observing men, that 

 the peculiar properties of any animal descends in 

 the opposite sex. He should raise a fine bull of 

 this cow, and look for her good properties in the 



