20 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



ON THE MOST ECONOMICAL WAY OF WINTEEING 

 HORSES. 



In response to your call on this subject, I offer 

 the following suggestions as the continiation of ex- 

 perience. 



The quantity of food which any animal consumes 

 and «eems to require, is no doubt, to a great ex- 

 tent, tlie result of habit. This no one will question 

 with reference to man; and, if true in one part of 

 the animal economy, may it not be so througliout 

 the wliole? It is my belief that a horse or an ox, 

 K'd irregularly and with promiscuous quantities — 

 all he will dispose of, — eats more than nature re- 

 (]uires and more than she can properly ai)propriate. 

 The overplus is rejected and thrown of!" by a pros- 

 trating and debilitating eitbrt of the system, and is 

 worse than wasted — is actually pernicious. — 

 Enough, is the point to be sought in tlie supply of 

 food to any and all animals. Regularity, also, as 

 to time, quality, and condition of that food. Fre- 

 t]uent changes of feed are to be avoided. 



Cut feed, so called, I regard as best adapted to 

 horse-keeping, both as regards economy and the 

 wants of the animal. Of course, the amount and 

 (juality must be modified by circumstances. The 

 age, size, condition, former keeping, and present 

 use of the animal, must be considered, in determin- 

 ing how much or how little is required to keei) the 

 beast in good condition. If a horse is to labor, he 

 needs more sustenance than if he stands idle, though 

 not so much more as is sometimes supposed. A 

 man in health requires and uses about the same 

 <iuantity of food, whether he works or plays ; and 

 this principle guides me in the care of my horse. 

 The same quantity and quality, whether he works 

 or not, given at about the same time each day, 

 keeps liim always in condition for any service re- 

 quired, besides conducing to his health and sound- 

 ness. At this time, I am keeping an eleven hun- 

 <lred horse on three bushels cut hay and nine quarts 

 of shorts daily, wet and put before him at regular 

 intervals — morning, noon, and night, — and though 

 he is used considerably and for various purposes, he 

 gains in condition constantly. 



This method I have tried with a number of 

 h()rses, in the last fifteen years, with the sahue sat- 

 isfactory results. I once kept a nine hundred horse 

 three months on ten hundred pounds of hay and 

 live bushels of corn meal, given cut, wet, and mixed, 

 and found him some pounds heavier at the end than 

 at the beginning of the time. 



Carrots, given once each day, instead of the meal, 

 I have found satisfactory ; and my impression is, 

 that this root is not properly valued as food for 

 horses, and perhaps cattle also. 



In my opinion, if the regimen above suggested 

 were to be adopted generally by horse-keepers, we 

 should have fewer horses affected with heaves and 

 otherwise defective. Over feeding with dry iiay is 

 more frequently the cause of heaves than all other 

 <au<»os combined. But it is objected that it is too 

 . nu-h work thus to i)repare food for horses. "With 

 <)'-\i objectors I have no argument or patience to 

 \\ .tste. A person of properly regulated habits 

 always finds time and a willingness to do what 

 "light to be done, while laziness never wants an 

 excuse for negligence. E. inqham. 



SprtngfitUL, Oonn,, Nov., 1868. 



ON 



THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTGES 

 GRAIN DRILLS. 



OF 



Experiments thus far with grain drills do not 

 seem to settle the question of the propriety or 

 im))ropriety of their use. So far as I have noticed 

 and learned from ^perimenters, about as many 

 have been disappointed in their expectations of 

 benefit from their use, as have had their hopes 

 realized ; and I do not doubt that positive benefit 

 and injury have been the result of different experi- 

 ments. To settle this question, it seems necessary 

 to look at the laws of germination and growth. — 

 Every plant has its crown, or the point where the 

 roots and top unite. This is at, a little below, or a 

 little above, the surface of the earth, according to 

 the habit of the particular plant. In grains this 

 point is one-fourth to one inch below the surface. 

 In the tnrnip, carrot and common beet, this is in 

 most kinds at the surface ; in the mangel wnr- 

 zel and some kinds of radishes, from one to six 

 inches above. The seed having been deposited 

 deep, or shallow, makes no difference in the posi- 

 tion of the crown when the plant is matured. The 

 habit of the plant is to send its roots down and its 

 top up from the seeds ; and it would seem that the 

 proper place to deposit the seed, is where the habit 

 of the particular plant places the crown. This is 

 doubtless correct in theory, for grains and aU 

 plants in which the crown becomes permanently 

 fixed. In a few plants, like the wurzel, the crown 

 rises with the growth. Such cannot come under 

 this rule. For the germination of seeds, air, 

 moisture, and a certain degree of heat are necessary. 

 At the time of seeding winter grains, the soil at 

 the point where the crown is to be, is often too 

 dry, and the seeds, if planted there, will not grow 

 till after it rains. If you then plant them deep 

 enough to reach sufficient moisture, they may be 

 so deep, or the earth so compact, that sufficient air 

 cannot reach them ; but if sufiicient air, moisture 

 and warmth reaches them at, say four to six inches 

 deep, a temporary crown is formed at that point 

 till the top reaches the sunlight, when a new crown 

 is formed at the proper point, and the old one with 

 its rootlets abandoned to decay. To make this 

 change there must be some expenditure of vital 

 force, and the plant more or less hindered in its 

 growth. It is important, in most cases, that seeds 

 germinate soon after planting, and it is a question 

 for the farmer to settle in his own mind, at that 

 time, how deep to plant. If there be sufiicient 

 heat and moisture to start the plant at once, there 

 is no question in my mind that the seed should be 

 [)ut at the crown point ; but if too dry and suffi- 

 ciently mellow, the question comes up whether to 

 plant shallow, and wait for rains, or deep and 

 submit to more or less loss of force. In sowing 

 broadcast, especially upon furrows, the seeds are 

 dejjosited at different depths — some at the proper 

 depth, and some not, and some generally fail from 

 being too deep. All seem to admit that more seed 

 is necessary in sowing broadcast than in drills. 

 Why is this, except that in the former case some 

 fail from being at improper dei)ths? The advan- 

 tages of drills, therefore, are that, as you can guago 

 them to any required depth, you can take into 

 consideration all the circumstances of the case, and 

 sow more under.standingly. The disadvantages 

 are that if you disregard all conditions of soil, 



