1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



and not give them to men who happen by chance 

 to have a good animal in their possession. In re- 

 gard to competitors for prizes for crops, he would 

 require them to make a definite statement of the 

 mode of tillage, the kind of soil, what crops had 

 preceded it, the quantity and kind of seed that 

 was sown, &c. 



Mr. Walker replied to Mr. Howard, stating 

 that he knew very well that our neat stock origin- 

 ally came from England, but that he considered 

 stock, which had been in the country, for two hun- 

 dred years as thoroughly acclimated, naturalized, 

 and Americanized, and fairly entitled to be called 

 native. 



The hour of 9 having arrived, the meeting ad- 

 journed. 



PRACTICAL FACTS FOR PRACTICAL 

 FARMERS. 



Under this head Mr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, 

 N. H., writes as follows iot\\Q Journal of Agricul- 

 ture : — 



The seed-bearing plants cultivated by the farm- 

 er, in common with allother vegetable productions, 

 are, from the first movements of the germ in the 

 seed up to the full maturity of the plant, subject 

 to and regulated in all their growth by fiscd laws. 



Under ordinary circumstances, the results and 

 operations of these laws are the same. The roots 

 possess the power of absorbing the moisture of the 

 •soil, which constitutes the sap. The sap of plants 

 is a solution of nutrient matters, saline and organic, 

 which have been dissolved from the constituents 

 of the soil, manure, &c. The sap passes from the 

 root through the pores and tissues of the stem, 

 trunk, or stalk, into the leaves. The salts are as- 

 similated, as, also, is a part of the water'; the re- 

 jnainder being evaporated by the laavGg. While, at 

 the same time, carbonic acid is absorbed by and de- 

 composed in the leaf — the carbon assimilating with 

 the salts and organic matters. From the leaves the 

 prepared sap descends through another set of ves- 

 sels and furnishes materials to build up the perfect 

 plant in all its varied parts. 



Nature, in the production of the cereals, corn, 

 wheat, rye, oats, &c., has two objects in view : the 

 perfection of the seed for the reproduction of its 

 species, and the providing food for man and ani- 

 mals. 



Prom the early growth of the plant up to the first 

 formation or foundation of the seed the plant is 

 busily employed in drawing from the soil, water, 

 and the atmosphere, the necessary materials re- 

 quired in the mature seed ; but as the seed progress- 

 es towards maturity, the phosphates, salts, nitro- 

 gen, &c., that were disseminated through the en- 

 tire plant are drawn from it and concentrated in 

 the seeds ; and when they are fully ripened the 

 stems, stalks, and straw are much more deficient 

 in nutritive matters than at the time of the flow- 

 ering of the plant. But as the seed of the corn, 

 graui, Sec, is the first object of the farmer, and the 

 forage of secondary consequence, the seed is suf- 

 fered to ripen before harvesting. 



The same or very similar results occur in the ri- i 

 pening of the seeds of the various grasses cultiva- 

 ted for hay. But as it is the stems, leaves and! 

 heads of the grasses that are valuable, rather I 



than the seeds, for feeding purposes, it is for the 

 interest of the farmer to cut his grass for hay at 

 the time it will yield the greatest amount of 

 available nutriment. 



Plants, at the time of coloring, contain starch, 

 gum, sugar, and mucilage ; all of Avhich are easi- 

 ly digested in the stomach of cattle — and they are 

 all known to nourish them. In the formation of 

 the seed the stem and leaves are greatly exhausted 

 of these substances ; and the substance which re- 

 mains is chiefly W'oody fibre — a less nutritive and 

 a less easily digested substance. 



Farmers differ much in opinion in regard to the 

 proper time of cutting grass. But I find (and it 

 does not require very close observation eitlier) that 

 my cattle are much more fond of clover, redtop 

 and herdsgrass that were cut when the plants 

 were in bloom, than they are of the same kinds that 

 remain uncut till the seeds were ripe enough to 

 vegetate. 



From the change that takes place in the grass 

 from the blossoming to the ripening of the seed 

 and the preference given by the cattle to the ear- 

 ly cut hay, and the more favorable apparent efiect 

 it has upon them, I am strongly of the opinion 

 that a given quantity of the early cut affords more 

 nritriment than the same grasses that are left to 

 nearly mature their seed. 



But, as I have said, farmers differ in their views 

 upon a, proper time of cutting grass for winter 

 fodder for their stock. I should like to have an 

 expression of the opinion of those who advocate a 

 later cutting of the "hay crop," through the col- 

 umns of the Journal of Agriculture. 



• For the New England Farmer. 



RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 



Mr. Editor : — Will you be so kind as to advise 

 me. I want to become a rural architect, and to 

 commence at the bottom, as the saying is, even at 

 the root of the subject. What work, or loorhs do 

 I want to assist me ? What are best ] An early 

 answer in the Farmer will much oblige a young 

 friend. Artisajj. 



North Sanbornton, N. H. 



Remarks. — That is right. Become a Rural Ar- 

 chitect, if you have a taste for that business, and 

 stick to your determination to be a thorough one. 

 Not one half of the carpenters in the State are ca- 

 pable of giving satisfactory estimates of the cost of 

 a common house or barn. 



You will find Shaw's Architecture a oompleto 

 theoretical and practical system of building, con- 

 taining the fundamental principles of the art. It 

 has eighty- two copper-plate engravings, showing 

 the elevation and working plans of numerous struc- 

 tures. Published by John P. Jewett & Co., Corn- 

 hill, Boston. 



There is also, The Carpenter's Assistant, by 

 Wm. Brown, and the Modern Builder's Guide, by 

 MiN'ARD Lafever — ninety engravings, for sale by 

 Jewett. 



The American Architect, by Johm W. Ritce, 

 published by Saxtox, N. Y., comprises original de- 

 signs of cheap country and village residences, witU 



