253 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



The doses prescribed arc intended for cows, 

 which have nearly or allogolher acquired tlieir 

 groivth. Oxen or ballocks having stronger 

 constitutions than cow5, will be men' subject to 

 innammatory diseases, especially when exposed 

 to labor. The remedies heretofore recommend- 

 ed, must therefore be increased in q\)antity when 

 applied to full grown males. Dr. Skoliett says 

 that the bullock must be hied and purged, &c. 

 a third more than the row, which will be a 

 proper general rule to be observed in all his 

 di.=eascs. This rnle, however, must be moditi- 

 ed, like every other general rule, according to 

 the circumstances of the case, and the judgment 

 of the practitioner. 



Calves are subject to many of the diseases of 

 cows, and in most cases their treatment must be 

 the same, except that the means employed, 

 such as bleedmg, purging, &c. should be dimin- 

 ished about one third of what has buen directed 

 for the cow ; making discretionary allowance 



for the difference of age, 

 the animals. 



size, and condition of 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — I have been a reader of your 

 paper ever since its commencement, and 1 now 

 begin to think it is high time forme to make a 

 communication to you, which I believe will be 

 benelicial to ray agricultural brethren, and if 

 you are of the same opinion, you will please to 

 publish it, or such part of it, as you see cause. 



The subject which I i)ropose, is that of the 

 more extensive cultivation of Oats. Various 

 are the kinds of oats.. The Barley or Scotch 

 oats, so called, 1 have cultivated, but not with 

 very great success ; their weight is generally 

 about 12 lbs. per bushel. — I have seldom been 

 able to raise more than from 20 lo 25 bushels 

 per acre. The black oafs I have cultivated; 

 their weight is about 3G lbs. per bushel, and 

 produce about as many bushels per acre as the 

 barley or Scotch oats. The greatest objection 

 I have to the barley or Scotch oats, is, that 

 they must be harvested suddenly after they 

 are fit, in order to prevent waste. The com- 

 mon oats which are raised, I consider prefera- 

 ble. My average crop of late years has been 

 iVora 40 to 50 bushels per acre, and in one in- 

 stance G'} bushels per acre. 



I make oats principally, and generally speak- 

 ing, my first crop in the line of a rotation of 

 crops. I break up the piece intended for this 

 crop in the fall, if possible, and in the spring 

 cross plough and liarrow tlioroughly liefore I 

 'sow my grain ; then harrow again until the 

 turf is well pulverized; then sow ten bushels 

 of clover seed chaff per acre, and roll it in. As 

 soon as the grain is harvested, and the young 

 clover has received its growth, I plough it in. 

 This clover with the stubble, is about equal to 

 a common dressing of compost manure. In the 

 fall plough, in tiie spring I cross plough, after 

 taking from my compost heap thirty loads per 

 acre, which are carefully spread. The lot then 

 being well harrowed and furrowed is ready for 

 planting, cither with corn, potatoes, or turnips. 

 This is my second crop. For my third crop 1 

 again sow wheat, peas, tiax, oats, &c. and stock 

 the lot down with herds grass and red top, 

 which I believe make the best of hay. 1 let 

 the lot remain in grass three years. Thus you 

 will observe I till three years, and mow or pas- 



ture three years. My first and third crop is 

 principally oats. 



I have frequently been told that oats and corn 

 were very impoverishing crops; but I find no 

 difficulty in enriching my land as above stated. 

 Ten years ago my average crop of corn was 

 from 30 to 40 bushels per acre. But in pass- 

 ■ng over a lot the second time which was man- 

 aged as above in the summer of 1821, 1 had the 

 satisfaction of harvesting 96 bushels of corn per 

 acre, and received the Society's premium. My 

 other crops liave advanced in about the same 

 proportion. 



The inquiry will naturally be made, what I 

 do with my oats? Well, sir, after I have re- 

 served for my stock and for seed, I take the re 

 mainder to my mill and manufacture them into 

 tlour and meal. It will be understood that the 

 oats are kiln dried, then hulle<l about as clean 

 as rice, then ground, and bolted or sifted, as the 

 case may be. That which I bolt is calculated 

 to be mixed with wheat flour for bread; in 

 which case the oat (lour being kiln dried, must 

 be scalded before it is mixed with the wheal 

 flour, otherwise the bread will be too dry. 

 Good oat tlour, prepared as above, mixed with 

 wheat flour, half and half, will make as light 

 and pleasant bread as common country wheat 

 Hour, and it will trouble good judges of bread 

 to tell it from clear flour bread. Again, it is 

 excellent to make butter-cake, by the Yankees 

 called slapjacks. The oat meal is calculated 

 for puddings, and is a substitute for rye meal to 

 mix with corn meal for bread, or with rye meal 

 for bread. In either case the oat meal must be 

 scalded before it is mixed. 



Thus, after supplying my family, the remain- 

 der is for market. The oat tlour I have gen- 

 erally sold in Boston and New York to the drug- 

 gists. The meal is also purchased by the drug- 

 gists. 1 have generally sold them oai floar lor 

 from four to five dollars per hundred, and the 

 meal Irom three fifty to four fifty, which is, by 

 them, retailed as medicine, from twelve to 

 twenty cents per pound. 



The meal is frequently bought by foreign- 

 ers, by the barrel or hundred, for family use. 

 The sale of oat meal is at present rather limi- 

 ted ; the reason is that but very few people in 

 this country, save foreigners, are acquainted 

 with the use of it, except for medicine. For- 

 eigners generally prefer oat meal to flour. I 

 really hope both for our health, and the inter- 

 est of agriculture, that the time is not far dis- 

 tant, when oat flour and meal will be used in 

 every family tor food. 



Much may he said as to the value of this ar- 

 ticle as medicine, as well as for food. It has 

 been a common article for food in Scotland and 

 Ireland for many years. Seldom, if ever, an 

 English, Scotch, or Irish vessel sailed without 

 a supply of oat meal ; and I may say it would 

 be well for every commander of an American 

 vessel, in making up his order for ship stores, 

 to include a sufficient quantity of oat meal or 

 flour tor his voyage. 



As I am one of the homespun family, and 

 wish for information, 1 hope these few remarks 

 will draw something from more able writers. 



I will, when 1 have leisure, inform the pub- 

 lic, through your paper, more particularly, as 

 to the process of hulling oats and preparing the 

 flour and meal, as well as to the construction 

 of the mill and kiln. HENRY STEVENS. 

 Barnet, VtrmotU, Feb. 1823. 



FOR TRE SF.W ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — Having leisure by rcJson oi 

 and infirmity to read papers and books, and 

 ing you wish for communications trom ex 

 enced farmers, I am induced to write. If wl 

 I communicate is of any use you are welcoi 

 to it, if not, make waste paper of it. 

 ENGLISH TURNIPS. 



About the year 1788, or 1789, reading ti 

 F.iiglish mode of ploughing for wheat fallow 

 the morning early, so as to plough in the de 

 1 concluded to raise turnips in that mode, 

 ploughed a yard seven or eight times, in wh 

 1 had raised turnips the year before. The I; 

 was very poor, and had borne a worse crop 

 sowed it the 24th of July without any mam 

 of any kind, or enriching the soil in any m 

 but by simply ploughing in the dews. The y 

 was about three rods square. I had a vi 

 large crop. I continued ploughing and sow 

 that piece for seven years without manure, 

 ter in the season every year than in the y 

 preceding, till last year, when I sowed on 

 2Uth of August, and had an excellent crop 

 sweet flavored turnips. I generally plough ' 

 yearly, from eight to twelve times before S' 

 ing. 1 have raised turnips on a larger sc 

 since, and find them an excellent food tor cat 

 Yours, &:c. WALLIS LITTLI 



Toii'nsejit/, March 4, 1823. 



REMARKS UV THE EDITOR. 



(f:5=Mr. Little does not inform us tchal sort of io 

 raised his turnips on. A heavy loam, or a soil on w 

 clay is Ibnnd in any considei'able quantity, can b: 

 be ploughed too much. But we have some dc 

 whether a sandy soil is benefited by very freq 

 jiloiighing. A practical as well as scientific fa 

 told the F.ditor that he had attempted to impro 

 worn out field, with a sandy soil, by frequent pic 

 ing-s when the dew was on, but did not succeed, 

 scorcliing rays of the sun appeared to rob the soil 

 fertilizing particles, and as he expressed it, the 

 he plougfied his land the poorer it grew. The sj 

 of Tull, an old English writer of celebrity, who th< 

 that frequent ploughing might, in all cases, serve 

 substitute for manure, has betn found not to am 

 Sir John Sinclair has the following observations oi 

 subject : 



" The management of sandy land, according t( 

 system adopted by the celebrated Duckett, has 

 strongly recommended by an eminent author, a 

 founded on three principles: 1. Ploughing very c 

 a due degree of moisture was thus preserved i 

 light land, by means of which his crops were floi 

 ing in seasons of drought, which destroyed those i 

 neighbors : '.;. Ploughing seldom, but efTcctually, 

 trench plough, or what he called a skim-coulter ph 

 with which he buried the weeds that grew on Ihi 

 face; he has been known to put in seven crops 

 only four ploughings : and 3. Occasionally rais. 

 crop of turnips the saune season after a crop cf w 

 or of pulse."* 



It should seem to be the modern practice of husi 

 men in Great Britain, when tliey cultivate sandy 

 to give one deep ploughing in \2 or 18 months, 

 shallow tillage afterwards, with what are called 

 fiers, scufflers, &c. instruments which stir the si, 

 to a small depth only.t We know that our culthb 

 are not apt to make too much use of the plough | 

 we submit it to consideration whether some soil 

 not be ploughed more than will prove beacfic. 

 them ? We hope Mr. Little will oblige us with 

 thing farther upon this subject, and inform us 

 kind of soil composed his turnip yard, which be 

 rich without manure, by ploughing only. 



ll 



* Code of Agriculture, p. 15. 



■t Ibid, 



FOR THE NF.W ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — I have known many farj 

 lose cattle, sheep and hogs, by their 



