38 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AUGUST 13, 1834. 



iN K VV K N G L A N 1> F A K M E 1< . 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUG. 13, IS34. 



GAJIIA GRASS. 



Roxhunj, .'his:- 10, 1834. 



Mr. Fes9k>dex — You re'iciest those who le- 

 rpived steils of llie Giiiiia gniss to state the lesull 

 of their experiiiiKfit. 



Mr. G. C. Barrett sent me 8 seeils of the Gaiiia 

 prass. I sowed it in |)ots on the 2'i'th of March, 

 1834. It was placed in my hot house, and in the 

 hottest part of it. It n|)|ieiired aliove jrronnd about 

 tlie 'iOili of June, near ninety days after sowing. 

 1 did not expect it earlier. It has a thick .silicious 

 coat — is sown in the tall in the southern States, or 

 is forced to <.'erniinate liy ariilicial means. It is in 

 fine health, hut it would take 24 months at its 

 present rate of jrrowth to f;ive one ton to the acre. 

 1 am afraid that it will give a crop of moonshine. 

 Yours, J. Lowell. 



PARMER'S WORK. 



Fatting Swine. If your ol)ject is to fatten your' 

 hogs cheaply, you will allow them sufficient time 

 for tlie process, and make them thoroughly fat 

 liefore you kill tlirin. It is liest to begin to fatten 

 them the latter part of August, or commencement 

 of September, so that they may be fit for the 

 butcher befcue the weather becomes very cold, as 

 it is hardly possible to make iheni thrive in cold 

 weather. 



A farmer staling the result of some experiments 

 in Hath .Society papers, vol. vi, p. 382, observes, 

 " I invariably ii)Uiid that the quantities of food 

 consumed (by fatiiug hogs) increased every week 

 till the animal became three parts fat ; after this 

 period they eat but little, and almost all they eat 

 turned to fat. It is therefore good ])oIicy to make 

 them completely fat, and that only can be done by 

 allowing them time." 



It is said that hogs thrive l>est when there are 

 lint three or four in the same apartment of a pen. 

 They are fond of society, though no better than 

 H " swinish mnllilude" when congregated in large 

 nssemblies, as they know no law but their own 

 wills, and acknowledge no right but the right of 

 the strongest, they sometimes condemn a weaker 

 brother without juilge or jury, and proceed to ex- 

 ecute him without mercy. When therefore it is 

 wished to fatten a considerable number they should 

 have several apartmenls separated by partitions and 

 there may be a general feeding trnugh, to which 

 each division of animals may have separate ac- 

 cess. 



" There is no greater mistake than that of ^org- 

 ing swine when first penned for fattening. They 

 xlionid on the contrary be moderately and fre- 

 quently fed, so that they be kept full, but do not 

 loathe or reject their food ; and in the end con- 

 tract fevers and dangerous maladies, originating in 

 a hot and corrupted mass of blood. In airy and 

 rootny, yet moderately warm pens, paved and 

 boarded, they are healthy and thriving. They 

 show a disposition to be deaidy however other- 

 wise is supposed, and always leave their excre- 

 mentitious mattc^r in a part of the pen distinct frou] 

 that in which they lie down. No animal will 

 tlirive unless it be kept clean." 



Much has been said relative to the value of 

 avfeet apples as food for swine. Sour apples, 

 however, according to a writer for the New Eng- 

 land farmer who signs VV. II. S. (see vol. xii, p. 

 203) were not made is vain. When mellow they 



are excellent food lor hogs, and probably lor all I 

 other stock. Let farmers who doubt this decide 

 by experiments. For myself 1 have no iloubt. 1 



" To feed apples to hogs make them into pomace j 

 hy cntiiug them with a shovel, or by mashing 

 them. Then put in some meal or bran, and let 

 them stand till they get the saccharine fermenta- 

 lion, then as you feed put in your sour milk or 

 whey, liogs fed with this food will fatten very 

 fast, and do not seem to clog us on richer food. 



" Feruientalion takes place very somi in warm 

 weather. The quantity of meal used should vary 

 according to circumstances." 



If'orms in the head of Sheep. Some parts of the 

 country are infested by a kind of fiy, which natural- 

 ists call oestrus ovis, of the same genus with that 

 which deposits eggs in the hair of horses, and 

 causes botts. This fiy attacks sheep from about 

 the middle of August to the middle of Septendier, 

 deposits its eggs in the nostrils of the animals, and 

 causes those worms in the head which so Ircijuent- 

 ly destroy sheep. The Mechanic's Gazette re- 

 commends as a preventive, covering the nostrils 

 with a list of gauzy substance through which the 

 animal can breathe, and keeping it in its place by 

 something adhesive. Another jueventive whicli 

 shee|) owners have assured us is etiectual is, to 

 keep the noses of the sheep constanily sitdrched 

 with tar from about the middle of August to the 

 latter end of September. 



Mr. Alexander Keed, of Washington, I'enn. in 

 an article on the management of sheep, |)ublished 

 in the N. E. Farmer, vol. iii, p. 60, observed that 

 " smearing sheep's noses with tar is considered as a 

 protection against this enemy. What experience 1 

 have had is rather calculated to strengthen this 

 opinion. I have always ujade free tise of tar 

 among my sheep, ajid 1 do not know that 1 ever 

 lost one by worms in the head." 



It has been reconunended to mix a little fine 

 salt with tar, and place it under cover, where 

 sheep can have access to it, and they will keep 

 their noses sufficiently coated with tar, to prevent 

 the insects from attacking them. 



It consists of a Calender of Far nier'' a and Garden- 

 er's work for each month in the year, and has ill 

 addition a variety of judicious recipes and neat en- 

 gravings, together willi almost a humlred maxims, 

 one of which " look ahead, before you go ahead," 

 is worth the price of the Tablet. A young friend 

 of ours decorated tin; matter in modern style, and 

 added those valuable rulisof Dr. Franklin, com- 

 prised in "the art of making money plenty in eve- 

 ry man's pocket," done in Hieroglyphics, in a very 

 taking way. 



They are for sale hy Mr. George C. Barrett, 

 New England Farmer office, No. 52 Norlh Market 

 street, Boston. They can be sent hy mail for one 

 or two cents to any town in New England. Call 

 jiid see. 



SOMETHIJXG KEW AKD VSEFl'I.. 



By virtue of a figure in rhetoric called egotism, 

 much used by monarchs and monarchists, (loets 

 and politicians, statesmen and showmen, stump 

 orators and orators who have gotten against a 

 slump, we take the liberty to annunciate to the 

 cultivated coimiiunity, as well as the community 

 of cidlivators, that we have just completed an e|u- 

 tome of economy, an incentive to industry, a man- 

 ual of morals, a persuasion to prudence, a touch- 

 stone of temperance, &c. &c. &c. all which we 

 shall be happy to hand to our friends in a handy 

 hand-bill, which though larger than your hand is 

 less than a hand-cart; and if jilucod over your 

 uumtel, and not displaced by your meddlers will 

 always be found in its place, a modest monitor, 

 giving the best possible advice relative to the duties 

 of the faiiner and his family, without fee, fear or 

 favor. But alliteration apart and puns not jjerpe- 

 trated, 



The work alluded to is called " the farmer's 

 ROAD TO WEALTH," aiul we will guarantee that not 

 one of the copies shall be put up in a house, and its 

 directions followed by the household for two suc- 

 cessive months, without its being instrumental in 

 saving three times the amount of its cost, which 

 is 25 cents, as well as causing three limes as much 

 more to he earned in the same period. 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



IVool The decline in the prices of wool, is shown in 

 the following stKtement from the Boston Courier, ob- 

 tained by Mr. T. E. White, the editor of the review of 

 the prices current in that paper, from one of the largest 

 wool-dealing houses in Boston. The statement is made 

 in consequence of complaints that the quotations of prices 

 of that article were incorrect, and made so from poUti- 

 cal motives. — LoirrlJ Journal. 



Sales nf Wool made by a house in the city, largely en- 

 gaged in the wool trade, since May 1, lti34, amounting 

 to over 300.000 pounds. 



3,000 pounds Saxony fleeces, at 70 cents per pound ; 

 for the same lot of wool llO cents was refused last au- 

 tumn. 



44,000 pounds mixed Saxony, ."57 1-2 a CO cents; th* 

 same description brought last season, 70 a 75 cents per 

 pound. 



50,000 pounds three quarters to Full Blood, 51 a 52 

 cents per pound ; the same description brought last sea- 

 son, (ji 1-2 a G5 cents pet pound. 



70,000 pounds three quarters to Full Blood, at 50 

 cents ; the same description brought last season 60 a 

 62 1-2 cents per pound. 



15,000 pounds three quarters to Full Blood at .50 cents ; 

 the same description brought last season, 60 a 62 cent* 

 per pound. 



30,000 pounds common and low grade, 35 a 38 cents ; 

 the same description brought last season, 47 a 50 cents. 

 28,000 pounds half blood. 41 1-2 cents. This identical 

 lot cost in this market last full 51 cents per pound. 



Of Pulled Wool, 26,C00 pounds superfine, part south- 

 ern wool at 47 a 50 cents ; the same description sold last 

 season at 55 a 60 cents. 



45,000 pounds No. 1 do. at 40 a 45 cents per pound ; 

 the same description sold last season- at 47 a 52 1-2 cents. 

 It should be observed and remembered that the prices 

 in this statement are the prices which the wool-dealer 

 gets from the manufacturer. When he adjusts his ae- 

 count with the owner of the wool, there is a charge for 

 storage, a charge for guarantee, a commission and the 

 interest on a credit of six or eight months, which alto- 

 gether reduce the price to the owner of the wool at least 

 ten per cent. 



We shall not take upon ourselves the responsibility of 

 odrUing the farmers and wool-growers to sell their stock 

 or withhold it. They will, if they partake of the ordinary 

 attributes of hmnan nature, get as much as they can for 

 their wool ; and the manufacturers acting from similar 

 motives, will purchase as low as they can. Our pricn- 

 current is not under the control of either party. If both 

 can be benifitted by the facts it contains, and the remsirkB 

 of an intelligent merchant, our object will be attained. 

 If unprincipled politicians, or cross-grained and ill-natur- 

 ed editors choose to make use of it to create panics, »o 



