NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



23.S 



, bullock of 1000 lbs. weight. The almost in- 

 ■ariable result, for the last six or eight years, 

 ins beeu, either the loss of hay or corn, ami 

 ometimes of both — the cattle having been sold 

 or only a little advance in the spring over the 

 ;ost in the fall. Habits are stubborn things, and 

 it is very like the same practice and the same 

 result will follow for six or eight years to come, 

 till at length the farmers of the valley must 

 yield to the superior skill of those on the moun- 

 tain towns, who raise the cattle, and who are 

 latterly getting into the way of stall feeding 

 them in the winter at much less expense, by 

 substituting roots for corn during the tirst half 

 of tho time they are kept in the stalls ; and al- 

 though they may be obliged to buy some corn 

 from the valley during the latter part of the 

 time, yet on the whole, they get their cattle 

 well fatted in the most economical way. They 

 have, therefore, no inducement to sell their 

 grass fed cattle in the fall of the year at a less 

 price than heretofore, and the consequences will 

 be that the farmers of the valley must either 

 adopt their mode of feeding, or put up with a 

 loss tor years to come as they have done for 

 years past. But why do they persist in feeding 

 with corn during the whole of our long winters 

 when they can raise a thousand bushels of tur- 

 nips on an acre of land ? I answer — It is the 

 force of habit — and so long as they will neglect 

 to raise any kind of roots, either turnips, beers, 

 carrots or potatoes to eke out their corn cribs, 

 so long will they make a lo.sing business of fat- 

 ting cattle. I have had it on my mind, Mr. Ed- 

 itor, to write an article for your useful paper on 

 this subject before now. It has, however, been 

 put ofi, and I doubt whether 1 should have 

 wrote at all, if a fact to corroborate the forego- 

 ing statement had not recently come under my 



own obfiprvation. 



Capt. Billings, of Chesterfield, (one of the 

 mountain towns) sold a pair of cattle the other 

 day to Mr. Theodore Clap, of this town, which 

 had been fatted wholly upon turnips and po- 

 tatoes. They ought to have been fed two 

 months longer with as much corn meal as they 

 could have eaten, but they were in tine order, 

 and Mr. Clap was induced to drive them to Bos- 

 ton. I took their weight at the hay scales when 

 they started — the largest ox weighed 1067 lbs. 

 and if 56 lbs. are deducted for loss in driving to 

 Boston, the real weight there would have been 

 only 1911 lbs. alive — the quarters, hide, and 

 rough tallow weighed 1593 lbs. of which the 

 latter was 23G lbs. — the otTal therefore was 

 but a sixth part. This ox handled well and had 

 a thin neck, but on the whole he was rather a 

 coarse creature, with high bones and loose 

 joints. His mate was what the feeders call a 

 fine ox, and weighed here, alive, 1533 lbs. and 

 one third less in Boston when dressed. A grass 

 fed ox of this description will fetch about 10 per 

 cent, more on the hundred for the stalls, than 

 one of coarse make, but it seems in this case 

 the fine smooth ox had one pound in three of 

 offal and the coarse ox only one pound in six. — 

 If this fact will hold good as a general rule, it 

 is time for the feeders of cattle to make as 

 great a change in their habits of buying as of 

 feeding them. 



The object of this communication, Mr. Editor, 

 i, to urge it upon farmers to test things by ac- 

 tual experiments, and not to take for ormled 

 what they do is best, because it has been prac- 



tised from time immemorial. With that view 'years; — whilst on a subsequent examination of 



1 would recommend the Agricultural Societies 

 to give the following premiums, viz : 



1st. dolls, to the person who shall prove 



by actual experiment, the cheapest and best way 

 nf fatting cattle in the winter, one yoke to be 

 fed with corn meal alone, and another yoke with 

 corn meal only half the time, and with roots the 

 other half. 



'Jd. dolls, to the person who shall prove 



in like manner, the most protitable cattle to put 

 into the stalls — one yoke to be high boned, long 

 legged, smart working cattle ; and one yoke to 

 be tine, short legged, small boned, smooth cat- 

 tle, and in all cases to be weighed when lirst 

 put into the stalls, and at least once a month 

 while fatting. Your friend, T. 



JVorthamplon, Feb. 1823. 



From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 



ON GRASSES. 



To the Recording Secretary. 



Dear Sir — At your suggestion, that there 

 might be some utility in publishing the result 

 of some experiments made the past season upon 

 the evaporation of certain Grasses, &c. in the 

 process of drying or making for safe and useful 

 preservation; therein inclose the same to you 

 for such disposition as you may think proper. 



The great object of research seems to be, 

 what is that admirable process of nature, (as 

 yet too little understood,) by which vegetable 

 life is sustained and promoted ? And how can 

 this be traced or pursued so as to allow to human 

 skill and ingenuity the nearest approach to the 

 wonderful perfection of the great design? That 

 this may be usefully done — that it is indeed partly 

 accomplished, and that we are in full progres- 

 sion to this effect, cannot be doubted. Tlie 

 discoveries and improvements in those scien- 

 ces, particularly in Europe, which have a ref- 

 erence to the theory of agriculture, have of 

 late shed such a light upon the subject, and 

 these have been so followed up by practice and 

 confirmed by experience, that the result is in- 

 deed most auspicious, and marks the present 

 age as an era of improvement. 



But the process of nature is indeed subtle 

 and mysterious, and can only be unfolded to the 

 most earnest and diligent inquirer. 



An accurate knowledge of the elements 

 which compose vegetable life, and different de- 

 grees in which they prevail in its formation, 

 cannot be useless, in looking back for its origin 

 and first principles. The tendency of most mo- 

 dern discoveries in relation to vegetation has 

 been to shew the great prevalence of water in 

 its coiuposition. This has not only been made 

 to appear by the analysis of plants, but it has 

 to the astonishment of those who prosecuted 

 these researches, appeared, that an acre of 

 ground gave, according to its huunditv, from 2 

 to 4000 gallons of water to the atmosphere in 

 a day by evaporation only. The operation of 

 this element has appeared so extensive that it 

 has led to the most delicate exjier meiits, and in- 

 duced some even to suppose it the sole source 

 of vegetation. 



A curious instance has been frequently pub- 

 lished, of a wiiiow inserted in a leaden vessel 

 with a given quantity of earth, and supplied 

 constantly with water ; the willow thrived and 

 acquired great growth and weight in a few 



the soil, it appeared no sensible diminution had 

 taken place. 



It is observed by an ingenious writer,* to 

 whom agricultural science is much indebted, 

 " That although the mode in which manures 

 operate on soils is not so obvious to the senses 

 as to be fully understood, there are three ways 

 in which water promotes their improvemeiil. 

 It preserves a favorable degree of temperature ; 

 feeds by conveying nourishing substances ; and 

 so as a pure element, it is beneficial." To 

 prove that water enters largely into the compo- 

 sition of vegetables, and is thus advantageous, 

 the same writer observes : — " That plants cut 

 green, and afterwards dried, lusc by e.xsicca- 

 tion 66 to 70 parts out of lud." 



The loss of weight by drying will be fount! 

 in this country to vary very essentially from 

 what takes place in Scotland, especially as it 

 respects different plants. But our hav is of ne- 

 cessity made lighter by the heat ot" our sum- 

 mer, as well as for the purpose of its being 

 stowed in large bodies and tight barns. 



It should be premised, that the time of cut- 

 ting the several grasses, kc. in the following 

 statement was the same as is usually practised 

 by husbandmen in our State. 



Of 100 lbs. of vegetables cured in 182C, the 

 product was as follows, viz. 

 100 lbs. of Green white clover, gave of hay 17 1-2 lbs. 



100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 



of Red do. 

 of Herds' Grass, 

 of Fresh Meadow, 

 of Salt Gra!s, 



gave 

 gave 



gave 

 gave 



27 1-2 

 40 

 38 

 39 



of Mixed, 2d crop on Eug. Rowan, 18 3-4 " 

 of Corn Stalks, gave 23 " 



of do. cut in milk with the ear, 25 " 



It is to be observed, that the weight will 

 vary from ripeness, and many other causes, 

 such as wetness of season, shade, thickness of 

 growth, &c. 1 am, Sir. with respect, vouis, 



' JOHN WElLk?. 

 Dorchester, Oct. 1822. 



* Sir John Sinclair. 



To prevent polished Hardieare and Cutlery from 

 taking Rust. 

 Case-knives, snuffers, watch-chains, and other 

 small articles made of steel, may be preserved 

 from rust, by being carefully wiped after use, 

 and then wrapped in coarse brown paper, the 

 virtue of which is such, that all hardware goods 

 from Sheffield, Birmingham, &c. are always 

 wrapped in the same. 



To clear Iron, from Rxist. 

 Pound some glass to fine powder, and having 

 nailed >ome strong linen or woollen cloth upon 

 a boaril, lay upon it a strong coat of gum water, 

 and silt thereon some of your powdered glass, 

 and le( it dry ; repeat this operation three times, 

 and when the last covering of powdered glass 

 is dry, you may easily rub oil' the rust from 

 iron utensils, with the cloth thus prepared. 



Some profane people would say, if was a re- 

 flection upon creation, that of all living things, 

 only tivo could be named which would teniaiu 

 true to us while in a stale of poverty, viz: a 

 dog, ai'd a constable — as the former is never 

 known to desert a human bring even in the 

 lowest state of degradation and misery, so the 

 laiter with equal pertinacity $dcks to a man in 

 ad'jersity — Metrupolitan. 



