THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



309 



and tenacious soils — they are preferable for some 

 purposes, and will perhaps bear harder usage, and 

 feel the efl'ects of manure longer, because it is not 

 so readily assimilated. My only object is to encour- 

 age tliose who think that becaustJ a new sandy soil 

 will not produce luxuriantly, with the slight tillage 

 usually given to new beech and maple loams, and 

 will not bear droutli like them, that it is therelbre 

 of inferior value for cultivation. s. b. peok. 



Mankegaii, MicK 



NOTES FEOM DOWN EAST. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — Agricultural affairs look 

 more prosjierous at present. Considerable rain fell 

 during the past month— enough at least to start 

 the feed and mature the late grain, although wells 

 are yet low, and mills remain silent. 



Fruit looks better. Good eating apples are sell- 

 ing in this market at 50 cents per bushel ; cooking, 

 at 32 cents per bushel. 



Corn promises well if we have no early frost. 

 There was a slight frost on the night of the 2d 

 inst. Corn is selling here at 72 cents. Potatoes 

 are yet free from disease, but most of the tops 

 were killed by rust during the foggy weather of 

 last month. All things considered, potatoes have 

 been the most remunerative cro[) our farmers could 

 raise. Many hundred bushel are annually exported 

 from this locality. The principal kind raised for 

 exportation is tlie Foote^ a variety peculiar to this 

 section. It is a large, white, and strong growing 

 variety, and has not yet been badly affected with 

 the " I'ot." We ex[)ort principally to Southern 

 ijiarkets, where the colored varieties are not in de- 

 mand ; hence the superiority. Potatoes are dull in 

 market at present, but the average prices in autumn 

 are 42 and 50 cents. 



Oats were a fair crop ; selling at 42 cents per 

 bushel. Hay still ranges high. Large quantities 

 are yearly exported to Southern markets; there 

 will probably be less this year. 



Stock is rather low, particularly young stock; 

 working oxen in fair demand. Owing to the lack 

 of rain during the summer, and consequent scarcity 

 of feed, the products of the dairy are in good de- 

 mand. Butter is selling at 22 and 25 cents per lb. 

 Poultry in fair demand. Eggs, 12 cents per dozen. 



Sheep-husbandry, which is receiving more and 

 well deserved attention from tiie farmers of this 

 State, is not only [)ro?pering, but is highly remu- 

 nerating. Of horses we have a surplus, and can 

 hardly be given away. Likely four and ffve years 

 old tillies and geldings, which a few years since 

 would bring §125 and u[)ward, will not connnand 

 $75. The farmers of tliis State are beginning to 

 reap the rev^^ard of their insane passion for horse- 

 I'aising, to the exclusion of more important subjects, 

 and tliis passion is still fostered by the County So- 

 cieties, and various other means. 



In the Farmer for September, the time for our 

 Waldo Co. Fair was given wrong. It is on the 

 10th and 12th of October, instead of September, 

 which is too early to admit of all our crops being 

 harvested. 



The mean temperature of August was 67.5° — 

 2.5"^ colder than for August of '59. Extremes for 

 the month were 84° and 55". 



Belfast, Me., Sept, 7, 1860. GEO. E, BKACEJ/rT, 



SALT FOR WORKING OXEN. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer: — Under the above caption, 

 in " Inquiries and Answers," of tlie Genesee Far- 

 mer., No. 5, vol. 21, p. 160, are several inquiries 

 in respect to the use of salt for working oxen, by 

 "A." Now, with your permission, I will give my 

 answers to them, and hope others will do the same. 



1. "How much salt must I give my working 

 oxen?" Friend A, you need not give them any. 

 BoussiNGAULT experimented upon fattening steers 

 for eleven to thirteen months, and decided " that 

 the increase in the proportions of flesh does not 

 pay for the salt employed."* I have tried the use 

 of salt for all kinds of strock, and tried the same 

 without it, and am satisfied that they did the best 

 without. 



2. " Had I better give it with their feed or sep- 

 arately?" You had better not give it at all. If 

 your feed is such as it ought to be, there will be an 

 abundance of salt contained in its constituents; 

 but should your soil be badly exhausted of all the 

 essential salts necessary to produce a good crop, 

 give the land the salt and restore it to productive- 

 ness. 



3. " Will it injure them to give them all they can 

 eat, and to leave it where they can lick it at their 

 pleasure?" Most assuredly it will. It will cause 

 such an intolerable thirst that the water and salt 

 will prove to be a powerful cathartic, and tliey will 

 only overcome this effect in the same way that man 

 can habituate himself to the use of deadly poison, 

 by the system becoming deadened to its debilitating 

 effects. This being the case, it cloys their appetites 

 by the amount of water required, and ultimately 

 produces disease in some form. o. w. t. 



Mm Tree Farm, Maine. 



THE AMERICAN LOTUS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE 

 POTATO. 



Messrs. Editors: — In your issue of August 9th, 

 you notice the Apio or ovate Aracacha as a sub- 

 stitute for the potato. In connection with it, and 

 some of the valuable tuberous lillies, permit me to 

 name the i:\elumbium LiUenum, or great nut-bear- 

 ing lily, which, in the estimation of the writer, sur- 

 passes all other aquatic plants of the United States 

 in beauty and utility. It grows abundantly in the 

 shallow and stagnant waters of our Southern and 

 Western States, and has been found flourishing as 

 far north as the bays and inlets of Lake Erie. It 

 is properly the Lotus of North America, yielding a 

 collecti(,u of tubers much like the sweet potato, at 

 its roots under the \\'ater, and also a liberal supply 

 of nuts at the top of its stem. The nuts are all 

 ripe at the same time, are about the size and color 

 of medium white-oak acorns, so that they might 

 easily be mistaken for them. The nuts are used as 

 food like the chestnut, and are a valuable substitute 

 for coffee. The writer has gathered twenty-one 

 perfect nuts from a single stem. By the extensive 

 culture of tins noble {)lant, many of our pestilential 

 pools and marshes, instead of exhaling poisonous 

 malaria, will at once become fountains of life-giving 

 fertility. — Forrest Shepherd, in the Homtstead. 



* This Is true ; but Boussinsattlt distinctly stated, if we recol- 

 lect riglii, that the catlle having the salt were more healthy and 

 active than those that received none. Eds. 



