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THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 



July, 1842. 



cm uiiing lii'ly, or of the amiable und talented 

 poet, Cowper, who wrote that 



" The tim'rous hare, 

 Grown so familiar with liis frequent guest, 



we might perhaps see men and women and the 

 flocks of birds who came to tarry with us for 

 a season and miniate to a warmer climate dur- 

 ing winter, as intimate as the tamed lamb that 

 feeds from our handy, or the faitlij'ul dog or cat 

 who seeks our caresses. — Ed. Visitor. 



Enfield, N. H.. July 6, 1842. 



Gov. Hii.L —Dear Sir— I have noticed with pleasure 

 that you liave liad an ardent desire to promote the interest 

 ot the farmer and mechanic ; and I thought I would con 

 tribute my mite from my own experience. I have been 

 in the habit of keeping a fcW cosset sheep, which run in a 

 small pasture with one cow. I sheared them about the 

 20th of June. Jason Kidder, one of the trustees of the 

 Society of Shakers in this town, examined the wool and 

 pronounced it in good order for sale as to being clean and 

 dry. The fleeces" weighed as follows : 



lbs. oz. 



One 3 years old wether, fleece weighed 9 9 



do. do. ewe do. do. 7 .5 



One 2 



do, do, do. 



do. do. weather do. 

 One yearling wether do. 



39 



Total from five sheep 



Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

 D.WID F. JOHNSON. 

 N. B. The above sheep are about 3-4 blood merino. 

 I took no extra pains to select them, but have taken good 

 care of them. 1 have not fed them with very extra teed 

 as to grain ; once or twice a week in winter gave a few 

 oats and little oat meal, and had salt and water kept by 

 them all the time. 



Five years ago, when sheep liore the liighesst 

 price, the editoi- of the Visitor jinrchased a pair 

 of cosset wethers, then in condition for the butch- 

 er which were on their way from Vermont with 

 fat cattle for tlie Brighton market. We paid ten 

 dollars for the two: from that time to this these 

 wethers have never been in a condition in which 

 their meat would not have lieen a temptation to 

 the eater who best enjoy.s llie earthly " feast of 

 fat things." In the spring o( the year the butcher 

 has offered us ten dollars a piece ; but such has 

 been our attachment for the animals that we 

 have not yet parted with them. In sununer they 

 go a full mile and a half each way morning and 

 night with the cows, feeding wherever they feed 

 and taking the exact fare of the cattle : in the 

 winter they never leave the cattle yard, and live 

 out of doors sheltered in rain or snow storms 

 under the cover of open sheds — decidedly the 

 best method, as we thuik, for keeping all young 

 cattle under three years of age. It seems to 

 have cost us little to keep these two wethers: 

 they have lived with the yoimg cattle in winter 

 upon the inferior hay, preferring to nibble and 

 select the leaves of bushes from the wildest 

 produce of the intervale. If there was any i'eeA- 

 ing of cattle with turnips, or the carrying of 

 grain to throw out to the fowl.s, or threshing of 

 grain or husking of corn at any time about the 

 l)arn yard, the cossets would not fail to beg or 

 steal a mouthful ; and they seem to have been 

 standing teachers to the young calves, heifers 

 and steers, to ask, and familiarly take from the 

 hand their share. The co.=sets have been tlie 

 tamers of their associate young cattle, so much 

 that a child a dozen years old may readily milk 

 the two and three year old heifers as soon as 

 they are calved. With the characteristic timidi- 

 ty of shee[), these cos.sets at the sight of any 

 dog or .strange animal in the pasture or on the 

 highway, flee at once to the cluster of cattle and 

 seek protection almost under the bodies of the 

 creatures to whom they have been accustomed. 



The two wethers are nearly of equal size in 

 body ; but while one gives a 

 about nine pounds, the other gives oidy about 

 five pounds of vva.«hed wool. The former, not 

 absolutely coarse-wooled, is one of 

 specimens of native sheep, when his locks have 

 had the growth of a year: the latter is half 

 perhaps three-quarters Merino blood, and his 

 fleece to us, although finer, is not actually worth 

 as much by at least one third as that of the 

 former. The two sheep at tliis time, a montl 

 af^er shearing, appear nearly of the same shape 

 and size. 



We consider the wool taken from tlie.se sheep 

 to have paid twice over their keeping. It is said 

 (and we do not doubt the fact) that a few cosset 

 sheep contribute inucli to the health of the cat- 



Da. Dana's Muck iMancal for Farmers. 

 The July number of Silliman's Journal 



n excellent review of Dr. Dan.t'a work. We 

 give the concluding paragraph : 



"In conclusion, we can cordially recommend 

 this work to our agricultural friends for its prac- 

 tical character. It is not saying too much to as- 

 sert, that Dr. Dana has done foV the farmer in 

 this treatise, what Dr. Bovvdich did for the sailor 

 when he published his Practical Navigator. In 

 this respect this treatise contrast.' strongly with 

 such a work as that of Liebig on the Organic 

 Chemistry of Agriculture, &c. which, notwith- 

 standing its originality and the philosophical 

 beauty of its tlieories, is apt to make the impres- 

 sion upon the farmer that he is not at present to 

 expect much from agricultural chemistry hut in- 

 genious conjecture. We are sure that Dr. Dana's 

 work will remove this impression, while on the 

 other hand, the chemist will see in it evidence of 

 the nipid advance of this science. Within two 

 years, three able European chemists, Liebig, 

 baubeny and Johnston, liave given to the world 

 most mature and valuable treatises upon it; and 

 now we have a cis-Atlantic effort, which will not 

 sulfer by a comparison with any other. Truly 

 the genius of agricultiue may exult'iu the bright 

 prospects that are opening before her." 



e with which they live. Some persons keep 

 one or more goats about a stable of horses witli 

 sole purpose of preserving their health. A 

 of well educated cossets in a flock of cows, 

 we think, would be no real loss even if we did 

 not get the profit of an annual fleece of wool 

 from them. 



Green Crops for M.^.nure. — We are happy 

 to perceive that, as a general thing, our farmers 

 appear now to be fully persuaded of the utility 

 of turning in green crops as an enrichment to 

 their soils. There is obviously no method by 

 which a farmer can economize more, or more 

 rapidly increase the fertility of his farm, than by 

 plougiiing in, as a dressing, such crops as derive 

 a portion of their nourishment from the air. No 

 ni.itter how sterile and unproductive the soil may 

 be, he may, by following out this system, speedi- 

 ly make it rich. Peas, millet and buckwheat are 

 all excellent strengtheners, and operate both me- 

 chanically and chemically by their decomposi- 

 tion, upon the constitution and texture of an arid 

 and barren soil. But in selecting crops fb'' this 

 purpose, it is e-ssenlial that we choose such as 

 will (haw the most from the air, and the least 

 from the fertility of the soil. Of the three crops 

 above mentioned, buck wheat is probably the 

 most valuable ; the haulm being more vigorous 

 and succulent, and yieUling more readily to the 

 laws of chemical affinity when buried beneath 

 the soil. It is also preferable on account of the 

 superior facility of ploughing it in, the crisp na- 

 ture of the stalk rendering it easily crushed by 

 the roller, which, in turning in all kinds of crops 

 tshould invariably precede the plough. — Mai 

 CuUivnIor. 



Rye. 



Mr. Cooke, editor of the Keene Farmers' MU' 

 seum (a better title for Mr. Cooke's usefulness ai 

 a farmer " worthy and well qualified," than that 

 of the lordly English cognomen of "Cheshire 

 Republican" as one looking for political distinc 

 tion or emoluments) says there are very fine look 

 ing fields of rye in his town and vicinity ; and 

 mentions "one little patch of one himdred and 

 fifty acres" in the North Woods of that town 

 which was cleared by the fire in the drought 

 season, that " looks grandlv." The little lot m.-iy 

 give this year from 2500 to 3000 bushels of rye. 



The same editor mentions a bundle of rye ir 

 the straw sent liiin tioin Mr. Oliver Dow of Han 

 cock, being the product of three kernels and 

 seven and a half feet in length : Mr Dow has 

 about eight acres of the same kind of rye. 



We (Visitor) have this year over twenty acres 

 of rye instead of ten acres as we supposed last 

 fall. Our ground is that not favorable for crops 

 when first cleared: it is pine plain where the 

 wood had been cleared off witliin the last three 

 years, which in its first clearing could neither be 

 well burnt over or well ploughed, altliough both 

 methods had been attempted. Last year we had 

 an indifferent crop of rye upon ten acres' of tl 

 kind of ground, and concluded to let the land 



rest for one year. In the heat and drought of 

 last summer, the rye was hardly tall enough for 

 reaping, and was cradled vvitli a scythe at a time 

 when the wind blew and scattered no inconsid- 

 erable part of the crop : we got not over seven 

 bushels to the acre when thrashed and cleaned. 

 Afterwards when clearing a new field along side, 

 we observed the springing up of young rye at 

 the distance of six or eight inches apart pretty 

 generally through the first field. This spring the 

 rye early sprung up green, and before the month 

 of June looked like a young field of grass. The 

 rye has grown generally in clusters, stands at 

 least two feet higher, and will be a larger crop 

 than it was last year. On the 20th of July it is 

 ready for the sickle. 



Draining and Irrigation. 



Water is a necessary agent in the production 

 of vegetation : the redundancy of water is scarce- 

 ly less deleterious than the entire absence of it 

 on any piece of cultivated land. Where the 

 water stands a large part of the year upon and 

 near the surface, the production will he little or 

 nothing. Lands drowned in time of rain and 

 wet of\en in time of drought suffer as nnich 

 for want of wet as the most dry and porous 

 soils. The difficulty with much of this land is 

 that there is no action of the soil but upon a 

 very thin surface, becau.se the standing water 

 in spring and fall hardens all to the surface; 

 and as soon as the dry weather succeeds, the 

 corn and potatoes droop, and sometimes wither 

 and die. So in any sunken swamp which may 

 not be flowed and drained at pleasure, the water 

 stand.sa part of the season, leaving only a chance 

 for the growth of wild grasses, while the con- 

 tinued absence of rain in the summer months 

 leaves the swamp itself high and dry, and the 

 growth of the poor vegetation is weak and 

 stunted. 



The land thus rendered little lietter than waste 

 possesses the elements of more fertility than 

 much of the upland. Drainage and submersion 

 are the two great princi|)les to be brought into 

 u.se on sucii land. 



1. Drai.nage. — There are many swamps in 

 most towns that may be very easily drained by 

 ditches deepening the natural passage of the 

 water. In some cases a single ditch will carry 

 oft' all the water that may be required. Lower- 

 ing the water one foot in some in.stances may 

 be sufficient: the nnid in swamps that have 

 been submerged for ages may he brought into 

 action as the best of soil, yielding hay and other 

 vegetable productions (bra long time almost with- 

 out the aiil of manures. If cold sprit. gs come in 

 near the edges, these may Ix; cut off and carried 

 away by means of ditches filled in with rocks 

 that are often found near at hand ; or where 

 rocks are not to be found, the logs and stumps 

 dug from the swamp may be used in the place 

 of stones, leaving apertures in the drains for the 

 water to pass off. Large swamps are by these 

 means reclaimed, and a vast quantity of the 

 richest soil brought into use. 



Of the hard lands contiiuially suffering from 

 surface water, there are thousands of acres that 

 may be changed entirely by drainage : when an 

 imder-drain cutting off cold springs and receiv- 

 ing the water from the surliice is once made, the 

 ground or subsoil may be stirred below ; and 

 the deeper we go less than eighteen inches or 

 two feet, the greater will be the cajvicity of the 

 ground to produce. Even stiff clayey soils may 

 be drained so as to become light and permeable. 

 The action of stimulating manures upon such 

 gromuls often brings out of the ground giant 

 vegetable productions. 



In the cultivation of all lands, whether they be 

 wet or dry, the stirring of t',;e subsoil or deep 

 pluiighiug is always of great advantage. The 

 ground cannot be stirred too deep. It is true the 

 turning up of mere cold saiuj or gravel or clay 

 upon the surface, and the burying deep of the 

 vegetable mould already upon the surface may 

 injin-e present crops; hut the stirring of uu<ler- 

 soil while the vegetable mould is kept above will 

 always be of advantage to the cropS. In some 

 instances crops are doubled simply from the mo- 

 ving of the under soil : this is orten done in gar- 

 dens by trennhiug, taking care to keep the mould 

 upon the surface. 



Whether the ground be ib\y and porous sand or 

 gravel, or whether it be stiff' clay or loam or gra 



