90 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



March 26, 1831 



FOR THE CENESEE FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — Enclosed in the accompany- 

 ing letter, I have received the seeds and de- 

 scriptions therein mentioned ; and as its partic- 

 ular habits, and periods of ripening its seeds,arc 

 unknown to me, I have thought it advisable to 

 plant them in pots, in order to bring them for- 

 ward as early as possible for transplanting. 



That evory facility may be jiven to try the 

 experiment, on as extended a scale as the quan- 

 tity of seed will admit, I shall be happy to 

 distribute the plants among the members of 

 the Society, as soon as they shall be in season, 

 of which notice will be given through the rne- 

 dillm of vour journal. 



From the English -ieseription, if it should 

 not prove a RiUa Baga or Mangel WuriztU bub 

 ble, and unfilled both. to our climate and rural 

 economy, it may prove not only a valuable 

 ortcn crop, bur a curious and ornamental item 

 in our list of herbaceous exotics. 



Acco'ding to the Liniiren system ofBotany, 

 it is refeired to class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 gynia 



The donsr will please to accept my own and 

 - Ii . ■ Society's thanks for his polite attention 

 and donation. Yours, &c. 



March 22, 1831. L B. LANGWORTHY. 



Rochester, March 17, 1831. 



Dear Sir — While I was at Quebec, on 

 business, the oast season. 1 became acquainted 

 with Mr Myers, recently from Ipswich, Eng- 

 land, who presented me with a few seeds of 

 the Prickly Comfiey, a new species of lood for 

 cattle, which was originally discovered by a 

 Traveller at Caucasus between the Mountains, 

 near the Caspian Sea. For particulars in re- 

 gard to the value of the plant, I refer you in 

 the accompanying certificates. It struck me 

 very forcibly lint it might be cultivated to great 

 advantage in the valley of the Genesee; I 

 therefore present the seeds ! obtained, through 

 you to the Monro- Horticultural Society, as 

 one of their officers, hoping it may be found 

 useful to our agiiculturists. 1 am. sir, your 

 ob't servant. SAMUEL MURDOCH.. 



L. B. Langworthv, 



Ouo of the Cor, Sec'y'sof the M. II. Society. 



A Letter addressed to ihe Right Honorable Lord Fnrn- 

 burough, on the cultivation of the Symphytum Asper- 

 rimuni, or Prickly Comfrey, a new species of green 

 food fur cattle ; a hardy perennial of gigantic growth, 

 introduced from Caucasus, as an Ornamental Plant. 

 My I. ouo — Some years back I happened to 



have two of the above plant- growing near an 



open fence, where my cati le passe I daily. As 



sprung up, so that they could reach 



it, they feu on ii with the greatest avidity; 



the following ye u they did the same. 1 then 

 thoughi, if it should prove wholesome.it might 

 be turned to good account, as green food tor 

 cattle generally ; and in consequence, I set a 

 bout increasing it, ami have fed horses, cows, 

 sheep, pigs and geese with it, and they have 

 all done well ; and, as it is of such wonderful 

 growth, and may be cut successively from A- 

 pril to October, it may be cultivated to great 

 advantage. 



For horses, to be put in racks, spread on 

 pastures, or the green stalks to be rui with 

 chaff, it will be found most useful. About two 

 out of three will take it upon tho first trial; 

 the others will soon follow ; and when once 

 th tasle is acquired, they will never leave it. 

 My neighbour, Moorey, the Veterinary Sur- 

 aeon, hail a young mare, lasi autumn, very bad 

 with the strangles, so much so, that she had 

 left off feeding ; bethought of the Comfrey, 

 and sent for soiue ; she immediately began to 

 feed on it, and she s ion gol well : he considers 

 that, on account of its oily nature, it was of 

 the greatest service. 



Cows do not take it, in the first instance, so 

 freely as the horse ; but they will soon take to 

 it, and then are quite as eager for it. In J 827, 

 ( fed the worst cow I had, entirely upon ii, for 

 some length of tune; she did well, and milk 

 od bet'er than -h< h id done before. The 

 .ream was ;bickcr, and good flavored. 



For sneYp and lambs it is very good ; they 

 will eat it freely. Lambs will all feed on it 

 before they area month old; and as itissucli 

 a very early plant, it will immediately follow 

 the turnips. For the first crop of leaves to he 

 fed off before the flowering stalks rise, care 

 being taken not to feed too hard, so as to da- 

 mage the crowns of the plants; lobe spread 

 on pastures, or put in racks in the folds, on 

 fallows, it will be found of grpat service. 



For pigs it is very useful, they oat it freely, 

 and do well, I kept a sow chiefly on it with 

 twelve pigs, and she brought them up well ; 

 they all fed on it before they were three weeks 

 old. Geese do well with it; the young ones 

 will feed on it as soon as hatched. 



I have no hesitation, my Lord, in pronoun- 

 cing it a most valuable discovery, as it will 

 grow in all soils and situations, superior to a- 

 ny other plant ; it may be planted by the sides 

 of ditches in anv waste corner of fields, or- 

 ctiards, gardens, &c. where useless rubbish 

 grows ; it is a plant thai no one can lose by, as 

 the only expense is the purchase of a few in 

 the first instance, as it may soon he increased 

 to any quantity, and when once established, I 

 believe, it will last forever. I never knew a 

 plant to die, and I know some that have stood 

 more than twenty years, and are as full of vi- 

 gour now as they have ever been. It is now 

 ready for cutting, which shows it is a plant 

 of such early growth, that it must come into 

 general use. 



I have no doubt but in a few years, it 

 will be cut and carried in bundles, and sold a- 

 bout the streets of London, and other great 

 lowns, as tares, rye, clover, &c. now are ; as 

 it comes before, with and after them, and the 

 produce being so enornions, and the expense 

 so trifling, in comparison with all oilier crops. 

 I have out it when more than seven feet high, 

 and as thick as it could stand on the ground. — 

 1 once cut and weighed one square rod ; the av- 

 enge was seventeen tons three hundred per 

 acre. I have no doubt but in the course of 

 the year, the produce would have been thirty 

 tons. 



I cannot undertake to say what effect con- 

 tinual cutting may have on the plant, or on the 

 land, for tnanj years logo. her. but as far as I 

 have experienced, it does not weaken the 

 plant. I Have cut it three times in the year. 

 & found it equally strong the following spring. 



The proper distance for planting it, is from 

 two to five feet square, according to the quali- 

 ty of the land. Ii may be planted at any time 

 of the year; hut, like other herbaceous planls, 

 it moves best when in a growing stale. 



I am mv L'-rd, your obedient humble ser'vt, 



March 31 1830. D. GRANT. 



A copy of Q letter, extracted from the Farmer's Journal 

 ofth.l-ltliof June, k-<30. 



Sir — Having beard much of the Symphytum 

 Jispirrimum, or Prickly Comfrey, and having 

 had a put of ii during the sprii.'g, for show, I 

 wished to see it in its cultivated state, in the 

 ground. I went down to Lowishrtm, last 

 week, for this purpo-e, and can assure you I 

 was very much pleased, I u ay say astonished 

 at the produce : it was beautifully in bloom, 

 and some of it near seven feet high. AH Mat 

 Mr. Grant has said of the produce and quali- 

 ty, seems t<> be quite correct ; from the taste of 

 it, I think there can he no doubt but it con- 

 tains agreat deal of nutritious matter, and is 

 wi II worth a trial. 



I saw one plant which, I was informed, had 

 been planted three years, containing thirty-two 

 stalks, none of them loss than six feel high, and 

 from one and a half to four inches in circumfe- 

 rence; 1 also saw stalks, said to 1 1 i v . been 

 planted but fourteen months, from five to six 

 no !o s in circumference, and seven feel high. 



I am, Sir, yours, $c. W. W. FARNES. 



West Smtthland, June ll th, 1830 



The plant containing the thirty-two stalks, 

 was cut and u ighed in the presence of Mr, 

 VV. G. Selby, of the Bridge-house Farm, Lew- 



isham, on Monday, the 14th of June, 1830, and 

 weighed 56 lbs. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Being at Philadelphia in in the year 1819, I 

 bought an Agricultural Almanac, embellished 

 at the heatl of each calendar p^ge with wood 

 cuts descriptive of such rural labour? as seem- 

 ed most appropriate to the month. I had to 

 remark, however, that in all my researches a- 

 mong pictures, from the period of my child- 

 hood till that day, I had never seen any thing 

 so destitute of expression, as several of these 

 figures. 



The following year,if I mistake not, an Ag 

 ricultural Almanac was got up by my old friend 

 the Editor of ThePlough Boy; and greatly to 

 my surprise, the same awkward images were 

 pre-ented on his pages. Whether he procu 

 ! red the blocks at Philadelphia, or got some Chi- 

 nese genius to copy them, 1 know not; but 

 !from that time we may date the decline of the 

 \jine arts in New York, as applied to almanac. 

 [ making Either the same blocks, or copies of 

 them, have been employed, on other almanacs : 

 and we presume more than a hundred thousand 

 impressions have been presented to the inhab- 

 itants of ihe Old Genesee Country. 



Let any farmer look at those (.lu.osv fellows 

 in the firs: picture, and say if they ever had 

 hold of Jlails before 1 See that creature with 

 au ax In the next picture, and say if he has the 

 attitude and nerve of an American ? The man 

 at the break appears to he just commencing a 

 new business. Perhaps the best representa- 

 tion is the hoy who pulls the sheep towards 

 the water precisely as an awkward boy might 

 be expected to do. Both boy and artis' should 

 be better taught. The prints from these old 

 blocks are wretchedly black and indistinct ; 

 and 1 enter myprolest against those caricatures. 

 Let our almanac-makers throw away such 

 old trumperv,and either leave the spaces blank, 

 or represent us at our labors in decent style. 



A Farmer. 



SELECTION?. 



t-N RAISING CALVES. 



Extract of a letter from Gorham Parsons, Esq. to the 

 Rev. Gardener B , Perry. 



Respecting the proper time and manner of 

 weaning calves, I have considered if you in- 

 tend raising the calf at the time it is calved, it 

 is best to take it from the cow the day after, or 

 not to exceed two davs — unless the udder of 

 the cow is swollen 01 hard, then it may require 

 the process thai nature points out lor the calf, 

 the forcible application of the head against the 

 udder, which generally reduces the swelling 

 and hard bunches; while either remain I should 

 noi take away the calf. But supposing no 

 difficult) of that kind, the caif should be taken 

 from the cow the first day, or twelve hours al- 

 ter it is calved, thin fed from a bucket or small 

 lub, with two quarts uf milk from the cow, in 

 the morning and evening. the finger hold in tbo 

 milk will very soon induce the calflo suck, and 

 in a very short time he will drink the milk free- 

 ly and readily. 



I have h id a piece of leather (upper leather) 

 sewed together, of the size and in the form of 

 a cow's teat, a small opening at 'he top, the 

 bottom so cut as when nulled to the bottom of 

 the bucket or tub with three pump nails, (be 

 milk will |iass under easily, and tlow to the or- 

 ifice of the teat; the calf will soon press for.it 

 with as much earnestness as for that of his 

 dam, and shortly he will be so impatient for 

 .us i.i, akfasl and sapper, that tin- process of 

 tucking will tie too tedious, and he will dftVik 

 fieely — it will not be necessarj to increase the 

 quaotit) of milk beyond iwo quarts night and 

 morning, hut as be ad', a ices in size, add a lu- 

 ll water, a pint at first, and increase it, e 

 same Warmth as the in. Ik, lo which add a gil 

 of Ind.an meal, which may, be increased to a 

 pint, al hough I prefer using double the quan- 

 tity of wheat bran, and ibink it far bettor for 

 milch cows than Ind an meal— offer b' rn "ecom! 



