132 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 1(5, 1827. 



[From Flini's Western Monllily Review.] 



REED CANK. 



Every one has seen llie larger reed cane, i.n the 

 form in which it is used for ani^linj; rods. It grows 

 on the lower courses of the Mississippi, Arkansas, 

 Red River, and their waters, from fifteun to thirty 

 feet in height. We have seen some in these fer- 

 tile bottoms, that vvonld almost vie in size with 

 the bamboo. Tlie leaves are abundant, of a beau- 

 tiful green, long, dagger shaped, and not unlike 

 those of Egyptian millet, but narrower. It is 

 marked off in equidistant joint:;, tubular, perfectly 

 straight, and gro.ss so thick, as to be almost a 

 compact mass. To us it is the richest looking 

 vegetation, especially in winter, through whicli it 

 retains a perfect verdure, that wc haveever seen. 

 The smallest sparrow would find it difficult to fly 

 among it; and to see its ten thousand stems rising 

 apparently contiguous to each other, and to look 

 at the impervious roof of verdure, which it forms 

 on its top, it has the aspect of being a solid layer 

 of verdure. A man could not make three miles in 

 a day, through a solid and unbroken cane brake. 

 It is the chosen lair of bears and panthers, v;hioh 

 break it down, and make their may into it, as a 

 shelter from thi? elements and man. Thousands 

 of the more delii-ate birds take refuge in these 

 verdant asylums from the storms of winter. Its 

 presence indicates a rich and dry soil, above inun- 

 dation. The ground is never in better prepara- 

 tion for maze, than immediately after this prodi 

 gious mass of vegetation is first cut down, and 

 burned. When the cane has been cut, and is so 

 dried, as that it will burn, it is an amusement of 

 high holiday for the negroes to fire a cane brake 

 30 prepared. The rarefied air in the hollow com- 

 partments of the canes burst them with a report, 

 not much, inferior to that of a musket, and when 

 the field is e.'itensively fired, a noise ensues like 

 tJiat of a conflicting army, in which innumerable 

 inu.skets are continually firing. 



There are different estiiuates of the duration of 

 this beautiful vegetable, but it is generally sup- 

 posed to have a life of five years ; at the end of 

 which period, if it has grown undisturbed, it pro- 

 duces a most abundant crop of seeds in heads very 

 tike those of broom-corn. The seeds are fariiiac- 

 ^u.s ; appear and taste like wheat kernels, and 

 c%e said to be not much inferior to thtt grain for 

 ^read, for which purpose the Indians, ^.nd in some 

 cases the first settles, have substituted it. No 

 f'egetation so iragfo.ssively shows the e-xuberant 

 prodigality of nature, as a thick cane brake. No 

 other affords so rich and perennial a range for 

 /cattle, sheep, and horses. The butter that is 

 made from the cane pastures ot this region, is of 

 the finest quality and flavor. The seed easily ve- 

 getates in any rich soil. It rises from the ground 

 4tke the rankest asparagus, with a large and suc- 

 culent stem. It gruws six feet high, before the 

 body loses this succulency and tenderness, in 

 hardening into wood. No vegetable or grass in 

 the world, probably furnishes so rich and abun- 

 dant a fodder of so rapid a growth. The quantity 

 of seed, that could be obtained from an extensive 

 cane brake in seed, would exceed any possible 

 amount, that would be required in agriculture. It 

 could not indeed arrive at seeding maturity in the 

 northern latitudes. But the interchanges of all 

 things of use in our country are so rapid and cer- 

 tain at present, that the seed could be obtained,! 

 dteBply, and with ease, annually f:om Vhe south. ! 



When we have seen the stems of this rich fodder, 

 rising almost in a compact mat to the height of 

 four feet in a few weeks, after the old cane had 

 been burned av/ay, when we have calculated, what 

 an amount of it might be raised on a single acre, 

 it has a thousand times occurred to us, to wish 

 that the cultivation might be tried, as a fodder, at 

 the north. In our view it were well worthy an 

 experiment, to sow it annually in regions of a lat- 

 itude too northern, for it to survive the winter. — 

 Kentucky was once, as is well knov^^n, almost a 

 solid cane brake. There can be no doubt, that it 

 would grow as rapidly in Now York or Massachu- 

 setts, in the intervals between the frosts, as it 

 does in Louisiana. 



From the Miildlelown, (Con.) American Sentinel. 



APPLE PU!\nCE. 



On taking notice of large heaps of apple pumice, 

 near some cider-mill.s in the vicinity of Middle. 

 town, 1 am induced to mention, that it is good for 

 cattle, sheep and swine, and ought not to be wast- 

 ed, for it is good for nothing for manure : I tried 

 it more than ^0 years ago, by carting away a large 

 heap of it, which had lain accumulating many 

 years, and was satisfied that it did not pay me for 

 my trouble ; I could not say it helped the crop, al- 

 though It was put on sandy land, and the land in- 

 clined afterward to bo mopy, and bore less grass. 

 It was according to my father's custom, and the 

 practice of steady habits, to keep milch cows away 

 from pumice, but wishing to prove all things, I 

 kept a cow principally upon it more than 3 months 

 in the year 1786, feeding her sparingly at first, for 

 afew day.s, and then letting her lie at a heap 

 which v;a3 replenishe<l with fresh pumice every 

 few days, and v.'here there was little else to eat, 

 and we thought she did as well as the other cows 

 which lay in good rowen feed, and it did not dry 

 up her milk, as (armcrs generally suppose it will. 

 If a cow eats her fill of apples, it checks hor milk, 

 and so it will if she eats her fill of grain, and over- 

 eating grain sometimes causes death, yet cows 

 might do well on apples after being accustomed to 

 e>it lliem, even by lying in an orchard and eating 

 as many as they wish ; if cows are allowed to take 

 their fill of pumice at first, it may check their milk, 

 and make them stagger ; it is the distention of the 

 stomach, rather than the injurious effects of the 

 apple or pumice, that checks the milk. I have ne- 

 ver wasted any pumice since my experiment, when 

 I have owned a cider-mill, but in the year 1794 

 I sold my place and bought another farm, and had 

 no cider-mill for many years, but the trouble of 

 going a mile to make cider, loss of the pumice, 

 and paying for the use of the mill, induced me to 

 build one near my house where two men could ea- 

 sily roll a hogshead of cider from the mill into the 

 cellar. 



No pumice has been suffered to lie near the 

 mill since it was built; we place a cart close to the 

 press, and throw in the pumice and carry it away 

 and spread it for cattle to eat, throwing a little to 

 the hogs, (which is but very little more labor than 

 to carry it by hand two rods, and throw it in a 

 heap,) and the cattle will eat the pumice, and the 

 apple seeds which scatter are picked up by the 

 fowls. 



I like this practice better than to have a heap 

 of stinking pumice near the mill, which is not 

 worth carrying away. If you hare more pumice 

 than your cattle will eat, you can dry it, house it, 



and feed it out in winter, it will be saving hay. I 

 have told many farmers of my practice, svho feed 

 out pumice in the same way; ami if I have publish 

 ed something like it before, the reader will excuse 

 j me for having it printed again, when wc are sen- 

 I sible that many people read very superficiallv, and 

 1 most people are apt to think their own method is 

 the best, and it becomes necessary to give precept 

 j upon precept; but I have no motive but public 

 \ utility. 



I I have also published how to make cider, but 

 I people like their own mode best, although Newark 

 ! cider sells in New York for 4 or 5 times as much 

 j as that which is made in New England; and I 

 think it is wrong to have the Yankees so much 

 outdone :^ but making cider is nearly done with 

 for this year. I hope that some more of our far- 

 I mers uill, at least, feed out a little pumice for a 

 j trial, against next year. A FARMER. 



Froin Loiidon^s Enajcloppdia of AgricnUure. 

 \ — 



SHEEP IN SPAIN. 



The sheep of Spain have long been celebrated. 

 Pliny relates, that in his time Spanish clothes were 

 of an excellent texture, and much used in Rome. 

 For many centuries the wool has been transport- 

 ed to Flanders, for the supply of the Flemish man- 

 ufactories, and afterwards to England, when the 

 same manufacture was introduced there. By far 

 the greater part of Spanish sheep are migratory, 

 and belong to what is called the mesta or Merino 

 corporation ; but there arc also stationary flocks 

 belonging to private individuals in Andalusia, 

 whose wool is of equal fineness and value. The 

 carcase of the sheep in Spain is held in no estima- 

 tion, and only used by the shepherds and poor. 



The flocks which form the me^ta usually consist 

 of about 10,000 sheep. Each flock is under the 

 care of a directing officer, fifty shepherds and fif- 

 ty dogs. The whole flock composing the mesta. 

 consist of about five millions of sheep, and employ 

 about 45 or .50,000 persons and nearly as many 

 dogs. The flocks are put in motion the latter end 

 of April, or beginning of May, leaving the plains 

 of Estramadura, Andalusia, Leon, Old and New- 

 Castile, where they usually winter ; they repair to 

 [ the mountains of the two latter provinces, and 

 i those of Biscay, Navarre, and Arragon. The 

 I sheep, while feeding on the mountains, have occa- 

 sionally administered to them small quantities of 

 salt. It is laid upon flat stones, to v;hich the 

 flocks are driven, and permitted to eat what quan- 

 tity they please. 



In September the sheep are ochred, their backs 

 and loins being rubbed with red ochre, or ruddle 

 dissolved in water. This practice is founded upon 

 an ancient custom, the reason of which is not 

 clearly ascertained. Some suppose, that the ochre 

 uniting with the oleaginous matter of the fleece, 

 forms a kind of varnish, which defends the animal 

 from the inclemency of the weather. Others think 

 the ponderosity of this earth jjrevents the wool 

 growing too thick and long in the staple. But the 

 Biore eligible opinion is, that the earth absorbs the 

 superabundant perspiration, which would other- 

 wise render the wool both harsh and coarse. 



Towards the end of September the flocks re- 

 commence their march. Descending from the 

 mountains, they travel towards the warmer parts 

 of the country, and again repair to the plains of 

 Leon, Estramadura, and Andalusia. The sheep 

 are generally conducted to the same pasturas they 



