92 



£{)c jformtt's iHontljln bisitov. 



driven off; lint the lime hiis a constant tendency 

 to return !o its original eonilition by the re-!il>- 

 sorplion of' the properly it had lost. Animal 

 manure contains ammonia, combined with car- 

 bonic acid. When fresh lime is added, it at- 

 tracts the carbonic acid, which, uniting with the 

 lime, sets the ammonia dee, and it escapes. 



A. B. 



Rearing and Feeding Stock. 

 The following is a summary of remarks made 

 by Mr. Lyon, in a lecture before the Derby Inr- 

 triers' Club. The principles laid down are 

 worthy of attention : 



Young animals grow more quickly for a given 

 amount of food than older. By high feeding, a 

 land> of Southdown breed (not a large sort) may 

 be fifteen or sixteen pounds a quarter at it year 

 old ; at the same aire, a young ox may be from 

 five to six score a quarter. This produce, from 

 the smaller quantity of food which animals 

 consume while young, is equal to what they will 

 yield in any subsequent year, from a larger 

 quantity. 



If young animals be reared well, or kept fat 

 from the beginning, they acquire a constitution 

 which ensures their growing more in subsequent 

 years from a less proportion of food. The pro- 

 geny of well-reared stock improves from gene- 

 ration to generation. 



When ail annual is ill good condition, it yields 

 a greater produce for its food than when it is 

 poor and lean. 



If, therefore, an animal be first fed on good 

 pasluie till it is fresh and fit, and then removed 

 to poor keep, so as to lose its condition, not oidy 

 is the food wholly Inst on which it declined in 

 flesh, but all the good food which it may con- 

 sume for some time afterwards has very much 

 less effect. 



The feeding of animals should therefore be 

 qniie continuous, as well as liberal, in order to 

 be fully profitable. 



All animals pay best for that amount and kind 

 of food which causes them to produce most 

 largely. That which makes rearing stock 

 grow and thrive fastest, that which makes feed- 

 ing beasts or sheep fatten most quickly, and thai 

 which makes milking beasts mi k most profnse- 

 Iv, and for the longest time, is the most profita- 

 ble kind of food. 



The principle of continuous feeding is espe- 

 cially applicable to milking cattle. For if the 

 milk he suffered to fall off, it cannot be brought 

 fully to return, like the fattening propensity ; and 

 if, during the interval between the cessation of 

 the milk and caking, the state of constitution 

 which promotes the flow of milk decline, it re- 

 quires a 1 1 1 riir period to bring out the full effect 

 of the liberal food given afterwards, and the cow 

 never yields so largely as she otherwise would 

 have done. 



It is always profitable to grow on land a suc- 

 cession of nutritious food for all slock kept on 

 it. But in those cases where the natural pro- 

 duce of the land is deficient ill richness, or 

 where much straw, in proportion to other forage 

 is grown, or where the casualties of season 

 cause crops of cattle-food to be deficient, it is 

 always advantageous to add a portion of artificial 

 strong food, such as cake, or corn, or linseed, 

 to the food of animals, whether rearing, feed- 

 ing, or milking stock. 



inequalities of the land's surface have been lev- 

 eled to practical grades. Wagons, however, to 

 bear such increased weight, should be made 

 some stronger than they are commonly made for 

 ordinary use— but yet a common wagon will 

 bear a much greater weight on a plank than on 

 a common road, for the reason that the pressure 

 is direct and uniform on a plank road, whereas 

 on a common road, by reason of ruts and ine- 

 qualities of surliice, the wagon is subjected to 

 severe trials by oblique and Internal strains. 

 Both wagon anil harness in constant use on a 

 plank road by means of this steady action and 

 diminished friction, will last longer than on ordi- 

 nary public roads 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 Address before the New Vork State Agricul- 

 tural Show at Syracuse. 



We learn from the Secretary of the society, 

 that Prof. James F. W. Johnson, of Durham, 

 England, has accepted the invitation of the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, and will deliver the annual 

 address in September next, at Syracuse. Prof 

 Johnson is one of the most distinguished agri- 

 cultural chemists in Great Britain, ami we doubt 

 not the announcement of bis name for that oc- 

 casion will secure the attendance of many dis- 

 tinguished gentlemen from our country, as well 

 as from the British Provinces. 



Prof Johnson, we understood, is expected to 

 pend a year or more in this country and the 



Suppose a farmer living some ten miles out of «,,.,, is |, p ro vinces, to make himself familiar with 



From the Commercial (Detroit) Bulletin. 

 PlanK Roads. 



Scientific experiments have proved that the 

 same power required to move one ton in a com- 

 mon lumber-wagon on a level earth road, will 

 move the same wagon with a load of four and 

 one-third tons, on a level wood surface. 



One ton is the average practical load for a 

 two-horse team over a tolerably level common 

 road ; it follows then, that the same team can 

 with equal ease draw a load of four and one- 

 third tons, on a properly graded plank road. 

 Practical results have proved this to be true, be- 

 cause four tons now constitute the usual load for 

 a two-horse team on all plank roads where the 



Detroit, has one hundred and forty bushels of 

 wheat to take to market, in his wagon, over com- 

 mon roads in the condition in which they gene- 

 rally are. He would not ordinarily carry more 

 than thirty-five bushels at a load— the weight of 

 which at sixty pounds the bushel, is 2,100 lbs.; 

 one would occupy so much time that he could 

 only make one trip a day, and then he would 

 have to make four trips and consume four days 

 in conveying his one hundred and forty bushels 

 to market — hut if he could travel on a plank 

 road he would carry the whole one hundred and 

 forty bushels at one load ; the weight of the 

 whole at sixty pounds the bushel is four tons 

 and four hundred pounds. How then dons the 

 account stand? Four trips over a common 

 road will cost, four days for himself and team 

 at $1 50 a day, $6 00. 



One trip over a plank road, in one day is SI 50. 

 Toll both ways, at two cents per mile is $1 90. 

 Difference in favor of plank road is $4 10. 

 The first impression is very strong against be- 

 ing taxed for travelling to market, and great hos- 

 tility is naturally felt against the conversion of a 

 free into a toll road, hut this arises from not un- 

 derstanding the advantages of a plank road. 



The above calculation shows that the payment 

 of forty cents for toll is not in fact a tax out of 

 pocket, but the cost of a privilege by which four 

 dollars and ten cents are saved. Money saved, 

 is money made — and in the case above stated, 

 the farmer takes forty cents out of his pocket 

 and puts 84 50 in the place of it. 



In the above calculation no notice is taken of 

 the cost of strengthening the wagon, because 

 such cost is more than made up by the saving in 

 blacksmiths' and other mechanics' bills for re- 

 pairing damages which continually accrue on 

 common roads and in the greater duration of 

 wagon and harness. 



Raising Chickens. — Many persons fail in raising 

 chickens, for want of a little attention to them at 

 this season of the year. Convenient boxes for 

 them to lay and hatch in should now be made. 

 They should be cleans d, scalded with boiling 

 water, anil the bedding renewed. As soon as a hen 

 shows a disposition to sit, twelve or fifteen eggs 

 should be given her, and a date twenty-one days 

 in advance, should be marked with chalk in a 

 conspicuous place. Hens should be preferred 

 that have proved themselves good sitters, and 

 that have been successful in raising their broods. 

 The difference between a good and a bad hen is 

 worth attention. 1 have a hen whose long and 

 polished spurs prove her six or eight years old, 

 which lo my recollection, has hatched her eggs 

 and raised two broods of vigorous chickens n\e- 

 ry season. — Albany Cultivator, 



the progress of agriculture in this new world. 

 We trust be will be most cordially welcomed by 

 the agriculturists of America, who have long 

 known him through bis writings and who we 

 doubt not, will be truly rejoiced to form a per- 

 sonal acquaintance with one who has done so 

 much for the improvement of agriculture. His 

 Catechism on Agricultural Chemistry and Geol- 

 ogy, adapted lo common schools, has been intro- 

 duced into many of the schools in this country, 

 with the most gratifying success: and he will 

 find on his arrival here that many of our youth 

 have, through his instrumentality, been enabled 

 to enter upon a course of study that will lead 

 them onward, until they become thoroughly pre- 

 pared for their profession as agriculturists. We 

 think the society have been peculiarly fortunate 

 in securing the attendance of this distinguished 

 gentleman at their annual convocation. 



From the Albany CultiTator. 

 System, Order and Economy. 

 An evil of great magnitude seems to pervade 

 and influence too many farmers, and that is the 

 employment of an insufficient force to perforin 

 their duly at the proper season, and with econo- 

 my of time. The oft-repeated excuses for such 

 neglect, ami for the losses flowing from it, are, 

 too much land in occupancy, or want of means, 

 alias capital. Doubtless there are instances 

 where such causes do operate harshly, but they 

 are probably exceptions only, anil by no means 

 a general feature. As a general rule, the due 

 cultivation of one hundred acres requires a per- 

 manent steady application of the force of labor 

 of one man, a lad, and one good team of horses. 

 With less power, it cannot be maintained in 

 good condition, or continue profitable. This 

 proportion of force is indispensable for any 

 larger quantity of kind. The owner of a farm 

 of one hundred acres, if an able workman, 

 needs the addition of but one laborer if study- 

 ing the closest economy ; but a liitle reflection 

 will convince us that two laborers will be more 

 effective, and provide against the contingencies 

 of sickness, casual calls from the farm to the 

 neighboring markets, or occasional public duties, 

 to which every man is called to contribute a por- 

 tion of bis time. Judging from the county best 

 known to me, the great bulk of our State is di- 

 vided into farms of about one hundred and fifty 

 acres, or less — a size quite easy to coutrol by a 

 proprietor, with two laborers, rendering the ex- 

 cuse of too much land in occupancy, as untrue 

 and invalid. 



The next excuse, the want of capital, is equal- 

 ly unsound ; for no man ever pays wages out of 

 his capital or principal. Wages are ever derived 

 from profits, and every farmer most naturally 

 enlarges or diminishes the rate of wages, no- 



