PEAT. 231 



We are not sure that we save any labor in adopting 

 this mode of harvesting, but it is certain the fodder is 

 better when secured in this way. If the stalks are cut 

 above the ear, they should always be put in pikes, or 

 shocks, as some call them, and there suffered to stand 

 as long as two or three weeks : they become sweeter, 

 and are better relished by cattle. When we house 

 them soon after cutting, they retain an acid which is 

 not agreeable to cattle, even though we take the trouble 

 to hang up the bundles on poles and let the air in the 

 barn draw through them so much as to prevent any 

 mould from gathering. We have had stalks that were 

 thus kept, and looked perfectly well and bright, but the 

 cattle would not eat them so well as they would others 

 that had been weather-beaten. 



When we have put stalks in the pike we are apt to 

 suffer them to stand out too long. Three weeks of 

 pretty good weather will fit them to be packed close 

 on the scaffolds. They should be opened and sunned 

 on the day of carting. 



PEAT. 



We take much pleasure in copying into our columns 

 a letter from Mr. Phinney to Dr. Charles Jackson, on 

 the subject of peat. 



E. Phinney, Esq. of Lexington, is one of our most 

 scientific farmers, and we are proud to have him en- 

 rolled on the list of Middlesex husbandmen. He is the 

 first writer who ever dared, to our knowledge, to de- 

 clare, in public, that we sometimes plough too often, 

 throwing up again to the winds what ought to be kept 

 below until entirely rotted and converted into a new 

 vegetable gi'owth. 



From him we have caught as many useful ideas on 

 farming as from any one individual who has written so 

 little on the subject. 



