212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



bafore, alvvajs avoiding the bringing of the sod to 

 the sarface. Phint corn and cultivate it cleanly. 

 The next spring open and pull down the corn-hills 

 with a heavy harrov\% then plow down three or four 

 inchea deep, still leaving the sod undisturbed be- 

 saeath, and sow grain with grass seed and convert 

 the land to mowing. Su fur as I know, Mr. Ten- 

 ney will find this the cheapest combined with the 

 quickest mode of restoring tillage fields considera- 

 bly worn, to productiveness and profit. What was 

 before the surface and became filled with vegeta- 

 ble matter in the form of grass roots and stems, 

 remaining l:)eneath to decay, is a fine mellow bed 

 of nutriment for tlie growing crops ; while the for- 

 mer cold lower stratum is made active by the at- 

 mosphere and the manure ; and the roots of the 

 grasses having a deeper range than formerly by 

 shallow plowing, the sward will not so soon be- 

 come bound out by the entangling of its roots in a 

 thickly-matted web, and the hay crops will Ije con- 

 sequently more lasting and productive. 



Your correspondent, "Young Farmer," in acom- 

 munication dated March 19th, inquires for ways 

 to re-invigorate an old pasture, too far off to re 

 eeive manure from the stables and yards You ad- 

 vise him very judiciously as to the time for plow- 

 ing it, and indicate several fertihzing compounds 

 which he may undoubtedly apply with advan- 

 tageous results following. With your permission 

 I will extend the list a little farther. 



If'Y'oung Farmer" has a bed of muck lying 

 near his pasture, he had better try on a portion of 

 the plowed land a compost of muck with ashes or 

 lime. The compost should be finely worked, and 

 mixed in t!ie proportions of two bushels of un- 

 leached ashes or one bushel of dry-slacked lime to 

 a half cord of muck, and lay in heap a few weeks 

 before using it on the land. If the bed of muck 

 lies handy, and the ashes do not come higher than 

 fifteen cents, nor the lime higher than thirty cents 

 per bushel, a good coat of compost can be furnished 

 for from eight to ten dollars per acre. 



Plow the land in August, seven inches deep, in 

 narrow furrows laid over smoothly, apply the com- 

 post on the surface of the plowed land, and har- 

 row fine. Sow rye, with a mixture of red and white 

 clover, herds-grass and red-top seeds. Sow grass- 

 seed liberally, so as to fill the surflice with a 

 good stand of the grasses. If present profits must 

 necessarily Ije considered, harvest a grain crop the 

 next year ; but if a later return can be waited 

 for, feed off the rye as pasture, taking no matured 

 grain-crop, and the ultimate profits will be the 

 greater. 



Your correspondent, F. 11. Currier, in a com- 

 munication dated Jan Sth., inquires for ways to 

 compost muck and fit it for use as manure. Among 

 other modes, you refer him to one of mine, de- 

 tailed in the 3d Vol. Monthly Former, page 381, 

 and also recommend composting it with lime or 

 ashes. I have frequently tried these modes, and 

 can speak confidently in regard to each of them. 

 A few years since, I plowed up a tract of grass 

 land, and not having manure enough from the sta- 

 bles and yards to go over the whole piece, made 

 a compost of muck and ashes to supply the defi- 

 ciency. Thirty cords of muck dug a year previous 

 were composted with one hundred bushels of un- 

 leached hard-wood ashes, and the mixture was ap- 

 plied to two acres. The ashes cost me fourteen 

 cents per bushel, and the muck two shillings per 



half cord, delivered on the field. The compost 

 was intimately mixed up in the fivll, in one large 

 heap, which was once shovelled over the following 

 spring. It was applied on the surface and har- 

 rowed in. The corn-crop oh these two acres was 

 entirely satisfactory in amount and quality. 



I have frequently applied a compost of muck 

 with dry-slacked lime, — though when I can buy 

 ashes readily at not too high a price, I prefer a 

 given outlay in ashes rather than in lime. The 

 best fresh unslacked lime is the cheapest, l>eeause 

 it is more effective in compost and swells very much 

 in bulk when dry-slacked for use. Six years since, 

 I had a heap of seventy-five half cords of muck 

 mixed with lime, in the proportion of a half cord of 

 muck with a bushel of lime. The muck was drawn 

 to the field when wanted in August. A bushel of 

 salt to a tiei'ce of lime, 6 bushels, was dissolved in 

 water enough to slack the lime down to fine dry pow- 

 der, the lime being slacked no faster than wanted, 

 and spread immediately while warm, over the layers 

 of muck. The layers of muck were about six inches 

 thick, then a coating of lime, and so on till the heap 

 reached a height of five feet, a convenient width, 

 and length enough to embrace the whole quantity 

 of the muck. In about three weeks a powerful 

 lecomposition was apparent, and the heap was 

 nicely overhauled, nothing more being done to it, 

 till it was loaded the next spring for spreading. 

 The compost was spread on the plowed surface of 

 a dry sandy loam, at therate of about fifteen cords 

 per acre, and harrowed in. The land was plant- 

 ed with c.)rn,andthe crop was rising of sixty bush- 

 els per acre. 



It has been the custom with me for several years 

 past to make composts of this kind to supply any 

 deficiency in quantity of other manure to dress 

 and fertilize the amount of land I may want to 

 plow. When these alkalines are used in compost, 

 the mass should be applied to and kept near the 

 surface of the soil, as tlieir tendency is to sink down. 

 They are very valuable when mixed with muck, 

 because they neutralize its acids, promote its de- 

 composition, and make it a free mass of vegetable 

 or organic substance, fit for the nourishment of 

 crops. 



And now, my friend, if you think these hasty 

 observations may be interesting or valuable to any 

 of your readers, you may use them for that pur- 

 pose. Anything herein that is notmade plainand 

 specific enough, will be detailed more fully, at the 

 request of yourself or others. F. Holbrook. 



Braltl(boro\ March 18, 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CHOKED CATTLE. 



Mr. Editor: — I notice in the March number of 

 the Farmer, page 145, an article upon the subject 

 of C'lttle choking in feeding. It is a subject with 

 which I have had some experience, but since the 

 discovery of the following method of operation have 

 bad no difficulty in relieving in all cases where it 

 has been applied. When an animal is discovered 

 to be choked, it should as soon as possible be placed 

 where it jan be handled, and an instrument of the 

 following description forced down the throat until 

 it is relieved. 



Take a tough piece of timber the size of a good 

 whip stock, from three to four and a half feet long, 

 a ball of yarn, or some soft substance put on the 



