382 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



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UOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVKMNG, JU,\E10, 1835. 



FARMERS' AVORK FOR JUNE. 



Soiling Cattle. — Soiling is a teim applied to ilie 

 practice of cutting herbage crops green for feeding 

 or fattening livestock. We have repeatedly discussed 

 this subject in the course of our editorial labors, and 

 given ihe opinions of our best practical farmers that, in 

 this country, owing to the high price of labor, and the 

 comparative chenpness of laud, soiling to any consider- 

 able extent cannot be carried into efl'ect with that re- 

 gard to economy, which is the polar star, while theory 

 is too often the ignis fatuvs of agriculture. It may not 

 be amiss, however, to attend a little once more to the 

 advantages and disadvantages of this mode of feeding, 

 and having looked again al both sides, we shall be the 

 better able to discern the right side of the question. 



The celebrated Arthur Young observes, that " It is a 

 question which demands the young farmer's v-'ry se- 

 rious attention, whether he should comply with the 

 more common custom of feeding off cerlain crops, or 

 whether he should determine to persue the soiling sys- 

 tem of mowing and giving them green in the stables, 

 stalls, yards, &c. Considering the decisive superiority 

 of the latter mode of consumption, there is not a fact 

 in husbandry which ought to create so much sui prise as 

 the general custom, all over the kingdom, of feeding 

 cows, young cattle, oxen, bullocks, &c. in the field" 

 and the almost general practice of managing the teams 

 in the same way. Enlightened farmers have in many 

 districts adopted this system for horses, but still reject 

 it for cattle ; and it will probably take a century to nn- 

 dcr it as universal as it might be, most profitably. The 

 objections to it are not of any importance, even if stated 

 in the strongest manner; it has been argued that the 

 expense is an object ; and that cattle will not thrive so 

 well, nur will cows give so much milk as if fed in the 

 field. That the expense is something, cannot be denied, 

 but that it amounts to anything considerable, is contrarv 

 to fact. Mr Mure fed 240fattingoxen, in sheds through a 

 whole summer by the mowing of one scythe ; if the at. 

 lendiince upon the beasts be added to this amount, the 

 whole will evidently come to a sum, which when di- 

 vided either p jr head or per acre, will be so low as to 

 do entirely away this objection. These beasts were all 

 sold fat at Smithfield, and did as well as similar beasts 

 had done, when fed abroad in the most favorable sea- 

 sons, and better than in any summer not 'remarkably 

 favorable. I practised it for several years together very 

 carefully for fatting cattle, weighing alive periodically, 

 both while in stalls and when at grass, and I found that 

 in soiling they throve better than when abroad." * • * 

 " Every one knows how tormenting flies are to cattle 

 whenabroad; ride into a field in summer to look at 

 slock, and where do you find them > Not feeding, but 

 standing or resting under trees, in ponds, in riverj, and 

 if there Is no be'ter shelter, in ditches under brambles ; 

 m a word anywhere but feeding in. the open air. What 

 they graze is in the morning and evening ; and in many 

 cases they lose in the heat of the day all they gain at 

 those moments of their comfort. To this supeiiorily 

 we must add that of the main object, which is the dung- 

 hill ; in one case this is accumulated in a degree cvi n su- 

 perior to what is efiected in winter ; in the other it is 

 scattered about the pastures,and nine-tenths of it carried 

 off by the fiieS, or dried almost to 

 in the sun." 



On the other hand Mr Bartliolomow 



JTTNE 10, 1S3£'. 



bandmen," observes, "You read much in our English 

 publications of the excellency of soiling cattle in the 

 house during the whole of the year. I do not approve 

 of this practice, for it is surely an unnatural one, as air 

 and exercise and the selection of their own food must 

 benefit cattle, as other animals are benefitted by them. I 

 can say, from actual experience of the two systems, that 

 CKlUe thrive mvck better in the fields during the period 

 from the middle of May to the middle of November, 

 than they do when confined in a house." 



The fact is, that soiling and pasturing at large may 

 both be practised by most farmers to good advantage. 

 On all farms under correct management a part of the 

 food for some sorts of stock is cut and given to the ani- 

 mals green, in yards, racks or stables, and this consti- 

 tutes what is technically called soiling. Working horses 

 and oxen and milch cows are often fed in that way in 

 part, with less trouble, as well as with more economy 

 than in letting them always run at large in pastures 

 where they are apt to be out of the way when wanted. 

 Some precautions are necessary in feeding animals with 

 green fodder. They should not be indulged with too 

 much food at a time, and it should never be such as has 

 been lying in a heap till it has become hot, because in 

 such case it is not only difficult of digestion but apt to 

 cause inflammatory and putrid disorders. 



Mr Lawrence, an English writer, advi-es farmers to 

 keep a digesting place for cattle ; that is, a piece of 

 short grass where they can find but little to eat, and 

 must consequently use sufficient exercise in getting it. 

 This is good coun.sel, and whenever an animal has been 

 injured by excess in eating, or is suff-ering in conse- 

 quence of having eaten food of a bad quality, let it be put 

 on a scanty allowance in a short pasture. 



a caput mortuuvi 



15udd,an Eng- 

 lish agriculturist of eminence, in a letter to John Hare 

 Powel, Esq., published in " Hints for American Ilus- 



[[•'or the New England Farmer.] 

 SILK COMPANIES. 



The Editor of the Cultivator, I think, wrongly esti- 

 mates the eStcts of associations for carrying on the silk 

 business. He says, " We are afraid that laige establish- 

 ments with corporate powers, will tend rather to retard 

 than to encourage this branch of rural labor, except in 

 their immediate neighborhood, where it can be made 

 subservient to their cupidity." 



These remarks might be applicable to some branches 

 of business, but are danger.ius and discouragino- 

 to the success of the silk manufacture in tiis country, 

 1 believe that "associated capitalists" cannot invest 

 their money to bettei account, for the benefit of the 

 community than to erect manufactories of silk, and es- 

 tablish plantations of inulberiy trees in order to supply 

 those manufactories. The brandies of domestic indus- 

 try, which are preparatory and indispensable to the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of the concerns of large silk 

 manufactories, will give support to thousands of chil- 

 drin, infirm persons, &-c., who would otherwise be 

 without employment. The field is large enough for 

 individuals to labor in without interfeiing with, or beino- 

 incommoded by those who work in companies. There 

 cannot, for a century, be such competition as to reduce 

 the price or lessen tiie demand for silk. On the contra- 

 ry large establishments will encourage and reward 

 those who do no more than furnish mulberry leaves 

 for silk worms or cocoons fit for reeling, Ac, which.may 

 be done in the family of every farmer. In our humble 

 opinion Congress ciinnot apply money to better purpose 

 than by granting a bounty upon every 100 pounds of 

 silk reeled in the United States. 1 am particularly op- 

 posed to such companies as would have a tendency to 

 introduce monopolies, or discourage or destroy individ- 

 ual industry or enterprise, but say " go ah -ad" to those 



men of wealth and enterprise, who unite their talents 

 and influence, and raise a joint fund for the purpose of 

 creating such a great staple commodity as may be done 

 hy establishing, and rendering common in the United 

 States, the silk business in all its branches. 



PoBLic Good, 

 By the Editor. 

 We are and hope always shall be on the side of 

 "Public Good." There is a great advantage in the 

 iinion aswell asin the division of labor, and both of 

 these may be best introduced in large manufactories, 

 where money and mind can be brought to bear on the 

 same objects. The following remarks of Dr Johnson 

 are good authority as well as good sense. 



" Boyle has observed, that the excellency of manu- 

 factures, and the facility of labor would be much pro- 

 moted if the various expedients and contrivances 

 which lie concealed in private hcinds, were by recipro- 

 cal communications made generally known ; for there 

 are few operations that are not performed by one or 

 other with some peculiar advantages, which though 

 singly of little importance, would by conjunction and 

 concurrence open new inlets to knowledge, and give 

 new powers to diligence." 



These "expedients and contrivances" for giving 

 " new powers to diligence," would surely be more apt to 

 be developed as well as more easily made generally 

 known, and the inventors would have a better chance to 

 be rewarded fir iheir ingenuity in large manufactories, 

 than where solitary workmen were laboring in seclu- 

 sion. Some of the labors preparatory to the manufac- 

 ture of silk require little capital and less skill ; such as 

 propagating the mulberry, gathering the leaves, raising 

 and feeding the worms, &c. These can be performed in 

 every family, and by every individual who hag hands, 

 eyes, and is capable of moderate locomotion. The high- 

 er branches of the art require accomplished artizansand 

 that union of capital and intellect which is most likely 

 to be found in associated companies. But, without 

 such companies the individuals adverted to would find 

 less encouragement, because they could not produce 

 the perfected articles of the first class, or at least could 

 not afford them at the common market price. 



We do not see how any objection can be raised 

 against silk societies, which will not as well apply to 

 agricultural societies, or any other societies in which 

 improvement is the object. The cotton planter might 

 as rationally oppose cotton factories, as the farmer ob- 

 ject to silk factories, for which he does or may furnish 

 materials to be wrought upon. In both cases to use a 

 homely but expressive phrase, the opponents to facto- 

 lies " quarrel zoith their own bread and butter." 



.MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TLOWEKS EXHIBITED. 



SaturJay, June fi, 1835. 



William Carter, Botanic garden Cambridge. — 

 Paionias Moutan, officinalis, corallina, mutabilis ; Sy- 

 ringa chinensis, and other varieties; Papaver orientale, 

 and bracicatum ; Iris germanica, and other varieties • 

 Rosa feroi. Double Scotch, and other varieties &c. 



Mr Joseph .Morton, Milton.— Double flowerin<r 

 Cherry. 



Messrs Hovey.— Petunia phcenicea ; and 20 varieties 

 of Geraniums. 



John A. Kenrick, Newton. — Pieonia paradoxa, 

 arietina, whitleji, moutan, banksii, and pqpaverac- 

 cea; Aznlia nudiflora ; and three other varieties. Haw- 

 thorn double white, and Scarlet flowering, 



Thomas Mason, Charlestown Vineyaid. — Double 

 flowering Oleander ; Tea and other varieties of Hoses; 



