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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCTOBER 15, 1S34. 



NjaW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEONESUA Y EVENING, OCT. 15, 1834. 



Communication. 

 Mu. Editor,— I wish the reply to the following ques- 



t'ons: 



1st. How are shrub oaks at least expense to be extir- 

 pated ? 



2d How are the running blackberry vines most ea- 

 sily got rid of, when in a thin soil they cover the sirrfuce 

 and prevent by their shade, Ac. &c. the introduction of 

 the seeds of the Pine or other Forest Trees, as^well as all 

 useful productions. i '■**■ 



GRINDING CORN ON THE COB. 



The third volume of the Memoirs of the Philadelpliia 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture, contains an article 

 On the utilitij of grinding Maize (Indian Corn) on the 

 Cob as food fur cuttle, vilh a description ofamiUfor that 

 purpose, by James Mease, M. D.from Schick thefollowmg 

 are extracts ; 



The practice of grinding Indian corn in the cob, to 

 powder, for the purpose of horse food, is now common 

 with our German farming fellow citizens. Tliese in- 

 dustrious men are ever attentive to the health and gen- 

 eral welfare of their farm stock, and readily adopt any 

 measure calculated to promote either object ; and astliey 

 are convinced of the nourishing qualities of the cob, and 

 the economy of the practice of using it as an article of 

 food, they have encouraged the general erection of tlie 

 necJssary apparatus, in the Hour mills, in tlieir different 

 settlements. 



The first apparatus used for the purpose of grinding 

 corn in the cob, was a screw which was originally in- 

 vented by Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, and now in 

 general use to break gypsum. Mr. Evans first reduced 

 it to practice, in the year 1790, but no measures having 

 been taken to give publicity to it, the knowledge ot it 

 was diffused very gradually through the country, and it 

 even appears that private offers for the gratuitous use 

 of it were ineffectual (until after some years) in causing 

 a trial of what is now deemed an economical practice ol 

 the first consequence. 



Indian corn is of itself too nourishing and too heating 

 as a constant article of food for horses, and if fed alone, 

 a sufficient quantity cannot be given to produce the stim- 

 ulus of distention, (which is as necessary to a working 

 horse, or even to a man as nourishment,) without great 

 expense, and at the same time endangering the health of 

 the animal. Corn meal is therefore mixed with a quan- 

 tity of cut straw, and coarsely ground rye or shorts and 

 in this state constitutes the daily food of that fine body 

 of drau.rht horses that do so much credit to our draymen 

 and carters of Philadelphia, and the industrious farmers 

 of tlic Stale at large. 



The powder of the corn cob, however, does not act 

 entirely by distention, it also contains much nutri- 

 ment, aiid'l have heard of a poor woman in Maryland, 

 who 'prepared during the winter a very grateful mess 

 for her cow, by boiling the bruised cobs with which she 

 was furnislied by her wealthy neighbors ; with this li- 

 quor mixed with what other vegetable matter she could 

 procure, and a few corn blades, she supported her cow 

 well through the winter and spring, until the return ol' 



grass. 



In the New England Farmer, vol. iv, p. 12G, was pub- 

 lished an " Extract of a letter from the Rev. 11. C. Per- 

 ley, of New Rowley, Mass. to the editor, stating the ad- 

 vanta.'es accruing from corn and cobs ground together 

 at tlie°rate of about one peck of corn to a bushel of cobs. 

 " Meal made of this composition, I scalded, and made 

 about as thick as common hasty pudding; or mixed 

 about one peck of ihe meal with three pecks of boiled 



poUtoes, thickened to the consistency of pudding ; with 

 tills kind of food, and what wash was made in the fami- 

 ly, I constantly fed my swine: there -were none in the 

 neighborhood grew so fast, and were fit to kill so early 

 in autumn. The neighbors were surprised that my hogs 

 looked so white and grew so well, being fed as they 

 were with cob-meal, potatoes and the wash of four cows. 

 Some ridiculed the notion ; others disputed and disbe- 

 lieved the account, but finally, all were obliged to be- 

 lieve the fact, though loth to try the experiment." * * * 

 " I have also made further discovery of the use of cob 

 meal for other purposes besides feedii^ swine and cat- 



'■ I had one batch ol coarse brown bread made of it, 

 -ground about half and half; sifted as usual, and the ap- 

 plication of tlie usual quantity of rye meal. The bread 

 was as high' colored, as light, as sweet and as moist as 

 that made of pure Indian and rye meal, though I think it 

 will dry rather sooner." 



A writer for the New England Farmer, vol. 10, p. :202, 

 states as follows : 



I fattened 4 hogs, killed in December last, which to- 

 D-ether weiglied more than 1000 lbs. and were uncom- 

 monly fine poik. They weie fed entirely upon cob 

 meal, excepting 2 or 3 weeks, when they were kept up- 

 on oats and corn meal, but they did not eat the latter 

 with a better relish nor fatten faster upon it than upon 

 cob meal ; and that not scalded or boiled by which it 

 would have been greatly improved ; this agrees with the 

 experience of my neighbors. 



With respect to my horses, I give them no other 

 provender than cob meal mixed with straw and salt hay 

 cut fine, and this keeps them in very good order. 



On the whole I have a favorable opinion of cob meal 

 for the above purposes. It has been represented by some 

 as excellent for puddings, but such puddings make too 

 meagre a diet for 



ty of the season." The same writer says " Garden car- 

 rots are propagated at two or three different seasons. 

 The first season for sowing the seed [in England] is 

 soon after Christmas." 



CORN. 



As the season is now npproacliing when far- 

 mers will coiuinence gathering their corn crops, 

 I deem it my duty, (as a farmer) to inform them, 

 through the medium of yonr paper, how to secure 

 their corn from the ravages of the weevil, wliicli 

 often during the summer and fall seasons, entirely 

 destroys whole houses of corn. As the remedy is 

 so siiiiplu and cheap, I am in hopes no farmer 

 will leave it untried. It is simply this. When 

 hauling ill a crop of corn, have a mixture of sail 

 and waler ]u-epared (say one pint of salt to a gal- 

 lon of water,) and as each load is thrown into the 

 house, sprinkle it thoroughly with salt and water, 

 and it will entirely prevent the insect from breed- 

 ing in the corn, and likewise cause the husks to 

 he^more palateable for stock of any kind. As I 

 know this from experience, I feel no donbt in rec- 

 ommending it to otliers.— A Farmer.— ioumaiia 

 Register. 



Mr. Ogden in the New York Farmer, observes : " I 

 have been for some time using corn and cobs ground to- 

 gether for my cattle, with good effect. It is an impres- 

 sion among farmers that there are some injurious effects 

 arising from its use. I will state how they may be 

 avoided. . In the fiist place, the corn should be perfectly 

 lipe. In the second place, a large quantity should not 

 be ground at a time. It should be kept perfectly diy. 

 In the third, when this food is used constantly, potatoes 

 or carrots should be given two or three times a week. 

 With these precautions, the cob and corn ground togeth- 

 er will be a wholesome and cheap food for cattle. I 

 .rive my horses eight quarts per day, and notwithstand- 

 Fn-v they labor hard, they gain in ilesh and perform wel 



I grind my corn and cobs in the bone null, which will 

 turn-out many bushels in the course of an hour." 



ITEMS. 



The dift'erence between rising at five and seven 

 o'clock in the morning for the space of forty years, 

 supposing a man to go to bed at the same hour at 

 night, is nearly equivalent to the addition of ten 

 years to a man's life. — Doddridge. 



A fellow in New Haven, attempting to rob a 

 grape vine, instead of a bunch of the iVnit carried 

 urt' a charge of grape shot. A receptimi more 

 miueralogical and less botanical than lie bad anti- 

 cipated. — M'eiv Bedford O.az. 



Conundrums. What tune is most likely to cap- 

 tivate a young lady ? A for-(une, to be sure. 

 What is a lady's most interesting age ? Her mar- 

 \.age. — Fitchburg Gazette. 



PALL SOWING GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



Those vegetables which will bear a considerable de 

 o-ree of ftosl may, generally, we believe with safety be 

 sown in .autumn. And even the more tender sorts, pro- 

 vided they are sown so late that they will not vegetate 

 till spring may. perhaps, succeed with fall sowing, and 

 come forward somewhat earlier in the spring than they 

 would if the sowing was omitted till the usual tune. 

 With market gardeners it is an object of considerable 

 consequence to produce early vegetables, and with far- 

 M.ers it may be of some importance to make a part of 

 their gardens in autumn, when they have, generally, 

 more leisure than in spring. Miller's Gardener's Dic- 

 tionary directs in cultivating parsneps to " sow the seed 

 in autumn soon after it is ripe ; by which means tlie 

 plants will come up early the following spring and get 

 stromr before the weeds will grow to injure them. The 

 young plants never materially suffer through the severi- 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. *f 



Jl Cucumber, raised by Mr. Simeon H. Mason of East 

 Medway this season measures 14 inches in length, 13 

 inches round and weighs 4 lbs. 10 ounces; the deposite 

 has been removed to this office. 



Mammoth Cucumber. Josiah M. Nichols of this town, 

 raised, this year, a cucumber, now in our office, which 

 measures in length, from the stein to the end, 1<I 3-4 in- 

 ches, and 14 3-4 in circumference, and weighed, when 

 partly dried, G lbs. 10 ozs.—Lijnn Record. 



Accounts from Louisiana and Mississippi state that 

 the smrar crop is uncommonly promising this year, but. 

 tliat cotton has been somewhat injured by heavy rains. 



Dr Geo. C. Shattnck has given five hundred dollar! 

 towards completing the Bunker Hill Monument. 



The New, Jersey Railroad is now open for public usi 

 l,etween Newark and Jersey city, and great facilities o 

 communication are afforded by the frequency and rapid 

 ity with which the cars traverse the hue between th 

 above places. Large numbers are daily passing to an> 



fro. 



The Phrcnohgirid Caiujioign in tliis city was opene 

 by Rev. J. Pierpont, in a lecture stating the le.adin 

 principles of Phrenologists-that every kind, of emotie 

 (as Lovin.T. Hoping, Poetry or Imagination, &c.), hi 

 each its pc°culiar organ in the brain, and that the capac 

 ty for any emotion is in proportion to the size of tl 

 oro-an or part of the brain in wluch the faculty residt 

 Mr P. s;iid that Dr. Spurzlieim had suggested that, , 



