108 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO 



AGRICULTURE & DOMESTIC ECONOMY 



fROFITABLt; ANU RESPECTAnLE EMPLOVMENT FOR 

 VOUNG MEN. 

 Extracted ftom an " Address of the General Committee 

 of the Board of Agriculture, for the State of .\ew- 

 Vork, to the Officers and Members of the County 

 i^ocifties." 



" To those resolute young men, who, Iiaving 

 discovered that there is no longer room for 

 thorn in the professions and in commerce, ;ind 

 are not afraid to looij to the ample hosnm of 

 nature for their support, the committee would 

 advise, that, having completed their education 

 (for education is a great protection and solace 

 in the indolent hours of the country) they place 

 themselves with some opulent farmer, for three 

 years, to learn the practical and fundamental 

 principles of his art. These they can learn at 

 his expense, and can repay him for his care by 

 their industry and fidelity. At the expiration 

 of that period they can, if they have a moder- 

 ate capital to begin with, establish themselves 

 with great prospect of success. Some capital, 

 however, is necessary ; to own a bare farm and 

 nothing but that, is only an embarrassment of a 

 dilTnrent kind ; a moderate capital is essential 

 to put it in operation and make it productive. 

 It is the want of that capital which has caused 

 agriculture, as an art, to be so long stationary 

 in this country. The accession of every intel- 

 Jigcnt family and person to the country is a sub- 

 stantial acquisition. By multiplying and spread- 

 ing intelligent persons over the face of the 

 state, the condition and hni)pine3s of society 

 »vill be rapidly improved ; and experience will 

 teach them, what it has already taught to oth- 

 ers, that it is not only possible to be truly con- 

 tented in the country, but to have no wish for 

 change." 



TO PREVENT BEES FROM BEING DESTROYED BV THE 

 WORM. 



Set each corner of the hive on a piece of 

 wood about an inch square and a quarter of an 

 inch in thickness. This elevates the hive a 

 little and prevents the deposits of the eggs 

 which produce the worm, and which are al- 

 ways placed where the edges of the hive come 

 in contact with the bench. — Ainer. Fanner. 



TO PRESERVE CATTLE FROM DISEASE IN THE WINTER. 



When cattle are kept out in the winter, it is 

 recommended ai a useful practice to rub some 

 tar at the root of the horn, which prevents the 

 wet from getting between the root and the skin, 

 and it is snid contributes to preserve the health 

 of the animal, and to kee]> it free from various 

 diseases to which it may otiierwisc be liable. 



ibid. 



AGRICULTURE, CO.MMCRCE AND MANUFACTURES DEPEN- 

 DENT ON ELACH OTHER FOR PROSPEF.ITV. 

 Extracts from Mr. Law's Address to Prince George's 

 Agricultural i^ociity iu Maryland. 

 " That consumers for our agricultural pro- 

 ducts should increase with augmenting food, 

 &c. you will acknowledge is most desirable, and 

 that the consumers should be rather at home 

 than abroad, as tliey must be adding to the 

 wealth of the nation by their products of indus- 

 try, given in exchange for the products of the 

 soil, will, 1 trust, be granted ; for double indus- 

 try is thereby obtained, and our country is ren- 



dered independent of foreign nations lor clotii- 

 ing, furniture, iron mongery, crockery ware, 

 glass, &.C. 



" An apprehension I am aware is prevalent, 

 that foreign commerce will be diminished by 

 manufacturing for ourselves ; but much delib- 

 eration makes me conclude that it will increase, 

 as well as the coasting trade. The only truly 

 desirable commerce consists of the exchange of 

 our indig-enous products in a raw or manufac- 

 tured state for the products of foreign climes, 

 and it is evident that we shall bring back more 

 silk, coffee, sugar, tea, spices, wine, &c. as in- 

 creased industry enables us to export more. 



" It is proved by Mr. Colquhoun, that poor 

 rates are heavier in a country merely agricul- 

 tural, than in one whose inhabitants are merely 

 manufactural. The reason is obvious. When 

 the head of a family is sick or dies, who is a 

 cultivator, his wife and children become pau- 

 pers ; but if he be a manuAiciurer, his wife and 

 children can be employed in factories. Hu- 

 manity and patriotism therefore dictate, that a 

 nation ought not to be merely agricultural. 



" In sea-port towns manufacturers are parti- 

 cularly desirable, as they support the wives and 

 children of absent sailors. Poverty causes crimes 

 and vices, and 1 have observed that there were 

 fewer vagabondising boys, and fewer wretches 

 in jails and poor houses, in manufacturing sea 

 ports. The moralist and statesman must there- 

 fore be advocates for this last state of society."' 



In order to make butter in cold weather, it 

 is recommended to pour as much boiling water 

 into the cream as will bring it to the tempera- 

 ture of milk just from the cow. Cream so man- 

 aged, says a writer in the American Farmer, 

 will require very little churning, and no other 

 disadvantage accrues, except that the butter 

 will be white for a day or two. 



WASHING RENDERED EASY. 



For the use of private families, where linen 

 is dirtied by perspiration or grease, it will be 

 of great service towards rendering it white to 

 steep it for some time in a clear liquor, made 

 by mixmg one quart of quick lime in ten gal- 

 lons of water, letting the mixture stand 21 

 hours, and then using the clear water, drawn 

 from the lime. After the linen has been steep- 

 ed in this liquor, it should be washed as usual, 

 but will require much less soap to be used. 



Rees Cyclopedia, art. Bleaclmig. 



WARM WATER FOR COWS. 



It has been said that cows will give the more 

 milk in cold weather in consequence of having 

 the water which they drink made a little warm. 



MODE OF PRESERVING POTATOES AND FRUIT. 



Put the potatoes into barrels, and fill up the 

 numerous crevices with tine sand, which will 

 exclude the air, and preserve them from injury. 

 This method may likewise be applied to apples, 

 pears, &.C. If they should be penetrated with 

 frost, they will sustain no injury if the frostv 

 particles are extracted by putting them in cofd 

 water. — English Magazine. 



Boiling corn for hogs is recommended, and 

 there can be no doubt but it will aflbrd more 

 nourishment when cooked, than when raw. It 

 is thought to be best to boil it on the cob, 

 which will add to the nourishment afforded by 



the gram. Steaming would doubtless answer 

 the same purpose. — Plough Boy. 



SPOILED POTATOES. 



When it happens that a parcel of potatoes 

 are so t';ir destroyed as to be unfit for food of 

 either man or beast, even after thev are reduc- 

 ed to the consistence of soft soap," by frost or 

 wet. there are two ways by which they can be 

 rendered uset'ul, either in the manufacture of 

 nitre, or converted into a rich manure. 



To make nitre, beat up the spoiled potatoes 

 with dry quick lime, mixed with ashes from 

 the hearth. Let the mixture be turned over, 

 sprinkled with water, and exposed to the atmos- 

 ))heric air, for the further absorption of azote. 

 The formation of nitre may be ascertained by 

 washing a little of the mixture in water, and 

 moistening therewith a slip of brown paper, 

 which will become match paper wlien dry, and 

 burn with a force proportionate to the strength 

 of nitre. When sufficiently strons: the whole 

 mass can be washed, the liquid boiled down for 

 chrystalization, and the sediments throun to the 

 dung-hill ; or the brine can be used with com- 

 mon salt for the preservation of meat, for pick- 

 ling wheat, or any other purpose to which sa- 

 line preparations are generally applied ; or will 

 be founcl particularly useful for washing dirty 

 clothes. — Minerva. 



WEEPING WILLOW. 



A writer in the American Farmer has the 

 following observations : — " From a remark I 

 met \vith many years ago, that ' in Priestley's 

 opinion, the Willow was the greatest absorbent 

 and corrector of bad air,' I have planted them 

 all round that part of my rice field, which is 

 nearest my dwelling and negro settlements. — 

 My people are very healthy, and although I 

 move from hence to Smithville, ten miles down 

 the river, six weeks or two months later than 

 my South Carolina friends do from their rice 

 plantations, and later than any one in the neigh- 

 borhood of Wilmington, who has a summer res- 

 idence — and although 1 visit it almost weekly 

 through the fall, I experience no inconvenience. 

 In my 66th year, I do not recollect having kept 

 my bed a whole day in my life." 



PAINTING WALLS TO MATUP.E FRUIT. 



Mr. Daws, of Slough, near Windsor, (Eng.) 

 has made the experiment of painting one half 

 of a wall black that was covered with a vine, 

 and leaving the other half in its common state. 

 That part of the vine which covered the black 

 wall, ripened the grapes earlier, and yielded 

 about three times the weight of fruit that the 

 other produced. — Pomarium Briltanicmn. 



CATTLE STALLS. 



Extract from Hon. Timothy Pickering's Address to the 



Essex Agricultural Society. 



The common cattle stalls of our country are 

 so ill contrived and so straitened in their di- 

 mensions, that the cattle are constrained to lie 

 down, in part, in their own dung. This dries 

 and forms a thick coat on their hind quarters, 

 from which they are not relieved till they shed 

 their hair in the spring. They are thus ren- 

 dered uncomfonable. To be uncomfortable is 

 to sutTer some degree of pain ; and no one will 

 suppose that animals in pain can thrive, or pre- 

 serve their plight, with the same food, equally 

 with others perfectly at ease. Even hogs, tho' 



