im 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



thing to make earth beautiful, home delightful, 

 and aW things pleasant to enjoy. 



And would not these attractions tend to check 

 the spirit of discontent which is now bringing so 

 many young men into scenes and occupations 

 which are drudgery in comparison with the farmer's 

 life ■? Farmers in the present day, if you would 

 have your sons respect the profession which you 

 have followed so calmly through life, if you would 

 have them stay "on the old homestead,'" dear to 

 you from a thousand associations, and which you 

 may wish to retain in your family, — if you would 

 save them from vice and folly — to which new scenes 

 frequently allure, — teach them that mind can find 

 as great a sphere for operation in the farming 

 fields as in the pent-up shops and counting-rooms, 

 and that independence is easier won in the pure 

 air of the country, than in the dingy, contamina- 

 ted atmosphere of town, and encourage the far- 

 mers' lyceum as a means of elevating them to the 

 positions they so earnestly desire. w. b. 



Elmwood, Jan. 22, 1853. 



Remarks — We commend the above remarks to 

 everybody. It will be gratifying to friend B. to 

 learn that the farmers of the State are occasion- 

 ally getting an agricultural lecture in the town ly- 

 ceums, and surprise him as much to be informed 

 that probably not one town in ten in the common- 

 wealth has a farmer's club orlyeeum, where agri- 

 culture, in its higher phases, is discussed. Here 

 and there, in the town libraries, a few agricultu 

 ral books are supplied. Where there are ncf town 

 libraries, farmers cannot do better than to form a 

 club, and purchase a few of the best books for 

 their own purposes, and when the town library is 

 formed, merge them in that. 



ROOTS VS. HAY. 



Many farmers are loud in their denunciations of 

 roots as a substitute for hay in feeding stock. 

 They regard them as vastly more expensive than 

 the latter, and in every important respect, inferior. 

 Some who were formerly loud in their praises of 

 rata baga, sugar beet, parsnips, carrots, &c., are 

 now as loud in their denunciations. Truth, we 

 opine, hovers in the middle region between these 

 extremes, and it may not Iw improper to call the 

 attention of those interested in the premises, to a 

 few facts which have a very important and direct 

 bearing upon the subject. 



As far as mere nutriment is involved, we are by 

 no means in the dark concerning the value of any 

 farm product, not excepting even the meanest and 

 most worthless. Science has already made us ac- 

 quainted with this part of the subject. We know 

 that one thousand parts of the potato, for instance, 

 contains fi-om 200 to 2G0 parts of nutritive matter, 

 consisting mostly of starch with a small admixture 

 of mucilage — from 15 to 20 of saccharine matter, 

 and from 30 to 40 of gluten. 



The common red beet contains, in 1000 parts, 

 150 parts of nutritive matter— L. e., 14 parts of 



starch, 121 of saccharine matter, and 13 or 14 of 

 gluten. 



Mangel wurtzel contains, in 1000 parts, 136 

 parts of alimentary matter, which is made up of 

 13 parts of starch, 119' saccharine matter, and 4 

 of gluten. 



English turnips, in 1000 parts, contain 42 parts 

 of nutritive matter, i. e., 7 of starch, and 34 of 

 saccharine matter. 



The ruta baga-rthe root sometimes denounced 

 at this day with great virulence — contains in 1000 

 parts, G4 parts nutritive niatter, consisting of 0^ 

 parts of starch, 51 saccharine matte? and 2 of 

 gluten. In 1000 parts, the parsnip affords 100 of 

 nutritive matter, 10 of which are starch, and ther 

 residue saccharine substance. 



The carrot, in 1000 parts, affords 9& of nutritive 

 matter ; 3 of which are starch and 95 of saccha- 

 rine matter. There is also in addition to these, 

 an extract which appears insoluble. 



But these nutritive products are not the only 

 valuable parts — the remainder of the vegetables is 

 composed of fi.brous substance which assists ali- 

 mentation by eommunicating to the stomach the- 

 stimulus of distention^ and by other means not yet 

 fully ascertained. 



Now let us examine elover. Of this hay, lOOO 

 parts contain about 41 parts of alimentary, of which 

 32 are starchy 3 saccharine matter, 2 gluten, and 

 3 insolubk vegetable estract. 



Of herds-grass {Phleum Pratense) we have no- 

 very reliable analyses, as yet. Some chemists s&t 

 down the nutritive matter it contains at 100, oth- 

 ers at 89, 90 and 97, in 1000 parts. 



If we ascertain the number of tons of either of 

 the above named roots, produced on an acre of any 

 lesser extent of surface, with the sost of produc- 

 tion, we may, by the assistance of the above table^ 

 decide with a tolerable degree of accuracy as to 

 the specific value of each, compared with bay, or 

 any other description of fodder. That a vastly 

 greater amount of fodder may be obtained from 

 an acre cultivated in roots than from a similar ex- 

 tent of surface in grass, is a point already too ob- 

 vious to need any demonstration. The following, 

 from the Newark Daily Advertiser s-hows what may 

 be expected, with proper care from the potato : — 

 "Mr. Joseph I>. Coe raised from an ounce and 

 a quarter pf seed, 40 Rohan potatoes, weighing 18- 

 lbs. whi&h he tells us, after an accurate measure- 

 ment of the ground occupied , is at the rate of 

 1440 bushels to the acre. He cut his seed into 

 five tubers, and the produce is equal to 225 bushels- 

 of potatoes to one bushel of seed. The largest po- 

 tato weighs about 2 pounds. The vine grew eleveii 

 feet three inches." 



From the Farmer and Gardener we estract the 

 following on "Horse Feed." 



"There is no one who regards the comfort of 

 domestic animals — those noble creatures which 

 contribute so much to the comfort of every hom &- 

 stead, wliether it be the splendid establishment of 



