362 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



them, in autnmn ; — those materials maybe mix- 

 ed with the (Jung in the winter, and the process 

 of making compost, carried on in the coUlest 

 weather. The liquid manure of stalled cattle 

 &.C. by that mode of management might be im 

 bibed by earth, &c. in the compost ; and the 

 products of fermentation secured and turned to 

 account. By this or similar modes of proceed- 

 ing a farmer may more than double the quanti- 

 ty and greatly enhance the quality of his barn 

 manure. 



lOR THE SF.W ENGI.A.VD FARMER. 



CUCUMBKRS. 

 1 have many times dug a hole in the earth 

 about two feet deep and two in circumference, 

 nearly filled it with straw or old hay, and then 

 covered it over with small stones. Around this 

 hole, and about three inches from the edge, 

 planted cucumbers; and as they grew and be- 

 gan to vine, stuck in bushes, such as are used 

 in sticking peas, all around the cucumbers, .on 

 the out side, about nine inches from the roots. 

 These bushes are stuck in slanting so that the 

 top end would rise about a foot from tlie earth. 

 As the vines advance, put another row around 

 in the same way, beginuing about halfway be- 

 tween the top ends of the first and the place in 

 which the but ends were put into the ground ; 

 and then a third row, and so oq as circumstan- 

 ces require. From one such hill 1 have had 

 gathered at one time near two pails full of cu- 

 cumbers ; and the vines will continue to bear 

 much longer than those planted in the usual 

 way and suffered to run directly upon the 

 ground. The advantages of the hole, straw 

 and stones, are these. The degree of wet is 

 almost entirely under the control of the gar- 

 dener ; and the vines saved from the inconve- 

 nience often experienced from turning water 

 upon them. If it is a dry season, and the soli 

 dry, a pail ftdl or more of water may be turned 

 Into the hole at once. 1'. 



JOB THE NEW EJi'CLAKD FARMER. 



.\ SURi; WAY TO DKfTROY CATERPILLARS. 



Many ways have been devised to destroy ca- 

 terpillars on trees, such as the application of 

 spirits of turpentine, live ashes, burning brim- 

 stone, &c. 1 have tried all these remedies, but 

 never had much success ; they effect a partial, 

 but not a total destruction of them. They may 

 be driven from their nests, torn to pieces, and 

 some of them may be killed ; but those that are 

 not destroyed are sure to collect on another 

 limb and renew their attack upon the defence- 

 less foliage. Tlie most effectual way that ever 

 I have tried, is to blow them " sky high," with 

 a gun or pistol — this will destroy them. The 

 way that I work it is to put tiie powder into 

 the ffiin without any wad, and hold the muzzle 

 within about a foot of the nest in such a posi- 

 tion as to range the whole of it, and then dis- 

 charge it; — this will clear the limb of nest, 

 worms and eggs. This method is not so expen- 

 sive as some may imagine. A pound of powder 

 which may be bought for about two shillings, 

 will destroy 75 or a 100 nests, and the gun or 

 pistol would be more useful in this business, 

 than when in the hands of the fowler, or in 

 those of a Southern duellist. S. 



It is said the moat violent liaemoirhag'<^ may be stop- 

 ped by Hit volatile flour of alkali. 



I From the American Farmer. 



John' S. Skinner, Es^j. 

 j Dear Sir, 



I So much has been written and said, aboit 



1 " Improved Short Horns," that there is little t» 

 I be given by me in their praise, but the results 

 of my immediate observation. I had ample op- 

 portunities abroad, I have most sedulously avail- 

 ed myself of all the means within my reach ?t 

 home, to obtain accurate inlbrmation on the 

 comparative merits of the various breeds cf 

 neat cattle, of which we are possessed. 1 cor- 

 trol more than a thousand acres of alluvioui 

 meadow, as well as many farms, and large bod 

 ies of wild lands, in Pennsylvania, Ne»v York, 

 and Maine. I am thus led to mingle with far 

 mers both in this and in other states, to exam- 

 ine their cattle, and ascertain their properties 

 as well as the products of the soil ; whilst my 

 own farm enables me to prosecute any system »f 

 experiments, which 1 may be led to attempt. — 

 1 have had cattle bred in Kentucky, MarylanJ, 

 Virginia, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ne»T- 

 York, and Pennsylvania. I have traced every 

 importation, of which I had heard. I can dii- 

 tinguish Mr. O'DonnelPs, Patterson's, Goughs'i, 

 and Parknison's importations for Maryland— tht 

 Holstein, Jldemeij, Irish, Dutch. Flanders, Brit- 

 tany, Pole and shor; Horn breeds brought int« 

 Pennsylvania by Mr. Sims, Cunningham, Rosi, 

 Wain, Hamilton, Kettland, Guest, and Haines: 

 the families of various degrees of affinity, to the 

 pure race of "• Short Horns," carried to Nev 

 York by Col. Deveaux, and Mr. Heaton — the 

 Leicestershire, Lancashire, and Hereford cattle, 

 taken to Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, 

 by Mr. Wadsworth, Stewart and Vaughan. Of 

 most of these importations I have had individu- 



milkers, that they are han!y* have elastic plii, 

 hides with thick soft coats, that when drv, th 

 arc easily made fat, that whilst yielding mi 

 they become thin, has been proved to my enti 

 conviction. Might not " Albion" be asked wl 

 thcr he did not forget, that although it is di 

 cult to " blow hot and cold at the same tim« 

 that it is possible to blow hot in June, and c< 

 in January. The tendency towards fat, procee^ 

 I should presume, from the power of the a 

 mal's stomach, and intestines to separate t 

 nutritious, from the excrementitious parts of 

 aliment. Nature wisely destines certain p. 

 tions of nutritious matter at proper times, : 

 the secretion of milk— that milk is an unctuo 

 and very nutritious fluid, cannot be questioned 

 much therefore of nutrition is withdrawn 

 the milk from the formation of fat— but does 

 follow, that such portions as have made butt 

 or produced fat in the calj\ when no longer 

 reeled towards the secretion of milk, must i 

 cessarily lose all their properties, and pass 

 in urine or in dung? Do we not invariable fi 

 that all coivs when dry become more read 

 fat than when they give milk? Is it not to 

 inferred that the matter which would have pf 

 cd ofl in milk, may be made to produce fat 

 Does not our experience show in all families 

 wild cattle, where the perverseness of man 

 not interfered with the dis|)Ositions of natu 

 that when kept quiet, and well fed, they exhi 

 great tendency towards secretions of fat. In 

 cattle even of Asia and China, in the Kyloes 

 .•Scotland, in the wild breeds of Louisiana, : 

 in the little mountain cows of America, si 

 disposition is generally shown. 



The mistaken ingenuity of the breeders 

 Holland, whence all the deepest milkers, w 



als, and of all, have carefully examined some of ''ler Holderness, "Old Short Horns," Hoist* 



the progeny, either here, or at a distance 



I have possessed an hundred and fifty gows. 

 calves, bullocks, and bulls within three years. 

 1 am a member of the society of learned far 

 mers, I have attended cattle shows without num- 

 ber, I have read " Albion," " the Memoirs," 

 and I reside near farms of " large dairies devi- 

 led :" thus without boasting of my brilliant ac- 

 complishments, or elaborate acquirements, in a I 

 that relates to the tail of a sheep, the buttock if 

 a bull, or the bag of a cow, I may venture o 

 state what 1 and my cattle have done. 



For some animals of the breeds, which I de- 

 signate, I had given great prices ; yet the best 

 of them all, I sold for but sixty dollars a heal, 

 about the time 1 gave nearly five hundred do- 

 lars for two imported " Improved Short Hnrri'' 

 cozss — and from Mr. Williams of Massachusets 

 procured eighteen or twenty yearlings, ani 

 calves by his extraordinary Bull Denton. 1 hav; 

 since obtained three imported heifers ; for on; 

 of them by North Star from a cow by Comet 

 I paid in Fngland five hundred dollars. Amons 

 my stock a Chinese and Devon heifer, a year 

 ling and cow from an imported Devon, by ai 

 English bull, also heifers and cows bred upor 

 our meadows and mountains have been placed 

 to decide the questions, which have caused a- 



-k! 



iCr whiitpver they may be termed In Ameri 

 nre in some measure derived, carried them i 

 an absurd " cross," affording excessive sec 

 tions of bad milk ; thus not only prematurely 

 hausfing the animal by which they are giv 

 but at all times requiring great quantities 

 food for her support. That disease, peculjiii. 

 tendency towards fatness or leanness, or copi 

 supplies of thin, or lesser quantities of rich mi 

 or even the determination of a particular col 

 towards any definite part of the body, as wfc 

 at the end of a Devon's tail, may be'establisi 

 by^ perseverance, and art, every man convers 

 with the subject, will readily believe. Beca 

 a Dutchman chooses to wear out his cow. 

 have a race of animals, which will not read 

 become fat, even when dry ; and the cupid 

 of the venders of milk in the neighborhood 

 large towns in England, or .America, has 

 them to propagate this unthrifty breed of cat 

 is it to be inferred, that the efforts of Collin 

 and his coadjutors, could not obtain by cross 

 a family, which are fitted at different times _ 

 the production of milk, and secretion of fat. 



Yours, &c. CURWEN 



Philadelphia County, April J8M, 1823 



If! 



Ilhl 



k 



h 

 kl 



* The hardhiess of this breed of cattle, was forci 



fro 



mong breeders so much dispute. All my expe-ievinced, on the estate of a scientific and eloquent a tm 

 rience has shown, that the extent of excellence 'cultiirist, who in his contempt of the old fashioned m 

 in the animal, whether in points, properties, shape, of delving, and ploughing the earth, unluckily left 

 disposition, earlu maturity, or tendency to ^fcretei*^""^ '«''"\'l"t fodder and his fields bare of grass, to 

 r .' a- J i_ -11 ■ 1 . J u .1 J 'rrcat mortification of himself m the last spring, w 



fat, orajord rich milk is determined by the de- «^ ^.^^^„^^ ,.^„„, ^^-^ ^,„^^i^ ^„j di,j.„^ered that 



gree of athnity to the pure race of /mpro-oed ^.(-hemus had all failed, and his cattle had starved, 

 Short Horn — ■ — • 



That my Durham cows are deep cept those of pure " Improved short Horn" blood. 



lie 



iiii; 

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