126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



OCTOBER 26, IS'T,, 



srnw nsr^iL^sfiS' jtAiassiima 



BOSTON. WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCT. 26, 1836. 



The following communication (or the Ne\" England 

 Farmer, by Mr William S. Holmes, of Boston, we 

 underst:ind was received by him from a friend in Cape 

 Breton. 



Receipt for Raising the Chinese Oats. — Wlien 

 the land is prepared for sowing, sow twelve quarts to 

 ihe acre. They are slow at first in vegetation, but will 

 produce from twenty five to thirty spires from one seed 

 if the ground is good, and th*?re is room for the shoots to 

 spread. W hen fit lor reaping, ihe top turns yellow, and 

 the stalk is green, which makes good fodder for horses 

 and horned cattle, and may be cut at the rate of thiee to 

 four tons to the aero. The average weight of these oats 

 is fifty four pounds to the bushel. 



Receipt for Cooking the China ok Skinless Oats. 

 — Let them be washed in water ; and afterwards put 



Judge Porter, formerly President of the Pennsylvania 

 Agricultural Society, observed that ** One bushel of 

 chaffed hay at a mess, given in a trough, three times in 

 twenty four hours is sufficient fur a horse, ox or cow. A 

 bushel of chaffed hay, lightly pressed, weighs five to 

 five and a half pounds, (including the w.iste) as com- 

 monly expended in tiie usual manner of feeding in racks; 

 to which troughs, properly constructed are far prefera- 

 ble. 



Feeding your stock by weight and measure of food, 

 will not only save your provender, by its orderly distri 

 butitin, but fr(!qufcnlly save the lives of animals, too oflen 

 starved by niggardliness, or gorged and injured by pro- 

 fusion. If it be true, as it is, that " the master's eye 

 prevents the horse from being pampered, bloated, foun- 

 dered, and finally wind broken and blind." 



When there is a white frost on the grass, says the Gen- 

 esee Farmer, keep your cattle in the yard, and give them 

 a little dry fodder. When the frost is melted off, turn 

 them out and they will do well. 



W^en young animals are pinched for food at an early 

 part of their giowth, or fed with such as is not of a suf- 



ihem in a kellle to boil, strain off the water, and add as 



, (. , , II I I .1 .1 .1. ficiently good quality, they never thrive so well nor 



much fresh water as will boil them, so as to have them I . -^ ° i J < j 



so good stock afterwards. 



open or ex[ anded like rice in boiling, say four hours. 

 It makes an excellent repast to eat with a little butter 

 and sugar. 



By the Edi'or of the JYcio England Farmer. — Mr J. 

 Brown of New York, favored us with some notices of 

 the Skinless Oats, which were published in the N. E. 

 Farmer, vol. xii. p. 4!7. The article referred to contains 

 a que ition from a London periodical, by which it ap- 

 pears that at a meeting in England of the Warwickshire 

 Agricultural Society, a specimen of the .^venutcti Farina, 

 or Skinless O.it, was produced by the Kev. Mr Knott, 

 which had been plucked that morning out of a piece of 

 ground belonging to that gentleman at Warmleigluou. 

 The seed was oiiginally imported from Shantag, a re. 

 rnote district in China, and was quite unknown lu Euro- 

 peans till about the year 183L The advantages which 

 this extraordinary and very valuable grain possesses 

 over all other kinds of oats are numerous. When 

 threshed from the sheaf it is exactly like out meal, and is 

 fit for immediate use for culinary purposes, and everv 

 other sort for whicii oatmeal is consumed, tlie grain be- 

 ing perfectly free from every particle of lind and husk. 

 The flavor is delicious, and it contains much more fari 

 naceous matter. There is of course a considerable sav- 

 ing of oats and the expense of kiln drying, &.c. and<me 

 peck contains more nutricious food fiM-a horse than three 

 pecks of common oats. The produce is astonishing, the 

 average being twenty six barrels of 14 stone to the 

 Irish acre, the exact quantity grown by Mr Drenzy on 

 one acre. It was not sown till the 4tU of May, and was 

 reaped early in the following August. It is remarkably 

 hardy and well adapted to. the climate of England." 



by different animals, but these arise far oftener from 

 constitiition, or from some unknown cause, than from 

 difference of size. Experience does however, prove 

 beyond the possibility of doubt, that the larger cattle, 

 the hieed and other circumstances being the same, 

 yield the greatest quantity of milk." 



FARMERS' WORK. 



Make the most of your food for Cattle. — If 

 the husks imd bottom of your Indian Corn, when stowed 

 away for winter, are sprinkled with a strong solution of 

 salt in water, taking care not to use such a quantity of 

 the liquid as to cause mould, and when dealt out are 

 cut fine with a straw cutter, they will make excellent 

 fodder, and be much more valuable than if given to 

 your cattle without preparation. Not only the husks, 

 etalks, and bottoms ol Indian corn will be rendered of 

 much greater use by cutting, but hay will be worth 

 KO much more for cutting or chaffing as to make it 

 well worth the while to be at the trouble and expense of 

 the operation. 



aUe so good stock afterwards. It is observed 

 Young's Farmer's Calendar, that "in the winter the 

 yearlings should be fed with hay and roots, either tur- 

 nips carrots, potatoes, mangel wnrlzel,or ruta baga,and 

 they should be thoroughly fed, and kept perfectly clean 

 by means of litter At this age it is matter of great 

 consc qiience to k.-ep such young cattle as well as possi- 

 ble ; for the contrary practice will stop their growth, 

 which cannot be recovered by the best summer food. — 

 It is not right to keep yearling calves and two years' 

 old t"gether, because, in general, the younger cattle are 

 the bitter they should be fed." 



When a farmer is apprehensive that he has too much 

 stock for his fodder, it is best not to stint them in their 

 allowance as much in the fore pirt, as in the latter part 

 of winter; for cattle are more liable to he pinched with 

 cold in December and January, than afterwards, when 

 they become habituated to rigorous weather. Advan- 

 tage may also be made of browsing more in the latter 

 than the fore part ol winter, as the buds begin to swell, 

 and the twigs have more sap in them than in the early 

 part of the season. 



If the farmer pi eposes to feed his cattle with potatoes 

 or other roots, it will be best to give them but a small 

 quantity at firs!, increasing by degrees as they become 

 accustomed lb that sort of food. It will be better to 

 give them a little every day than a large quantity onco 

 in three or four days or a week. 



Some kinds of catile are said to be greater feeders 

 than other breeds, and it is affirmed that the difference 

 of size makes less difference with regard to quantity of 

 food consumed by cattle than has been generally sui 

 posed. A celebrated Treatise on British Cattle, of 

 which we gave some notices, [>age 110 of the present 

 volume of the New EnglandjFarmer,containsJthe follow- 

 ing remarks on this subject. 



"That there is a great difference in the quantity of 

 food consumed by different breeds of cattle, cannot be 

 doubted; and that the shoit horns occupy the highest 

 rank among the consumers of food is evident enough; 

 but we never could be persuaded that the difference of 

 size in the breed made any material *lifference in the 

 appetite or the food consumed. When they stftnd 

 side by side in the stall or cow house and experience 

 has taught us the proper average quantity of food, the 

 litile one eats her share, and the larger one seldom 

 eats more, even when it is put before her. There 

 are occasional differences in the consumption of food 



MASSACHUSETTS lIORTICUl.TUR.\t. .SOCIETY. 



S.-lturday, Oct. 22, 1836. 



From R. Manning — St Ghislain, Saunder Beurrc, Belle 

 Lucrative and C.ipsheaf Pears ; fine specimens. Also — 

 Italian Prunes, very fine. 



From E. Vose — Belle Lucrative, Seckel, Lewis, Brocas 

 Bergamot, Healhcot, and Urbaniste Pea.-s. 



From S. Downer — Urbaniste, Seckel, Duchess de -\n- 

 gouleme. Passe Colni- r. Autumn Beurre, Beurre Diel, 

 Fulton and Cumberland Pears, the latter a very beautiful 

 looking fruit. Also, Simw Apples. 



From S. Pond — Fulton, Julien (Coxe,) Johnonnot 

 Pears and a kind the name unknown. 



Porter Apples from G. Parsons, Esq. 



From I. Clapp — Plate's Bergamot Pears and two kinds 

 of Apples. 



From J. Eustis, of South Reading, Yink Russet Ap- 

 ples, Burnet Pears from Dr Joel Burnet of Southboro', a 

 native, very fine, large, but not so large as former years, 

 owing to the unfavorable season. 



For the Committee. 



S. POND, 



ITEMS. 

 Mammoth Potato — Mr James Tisdale cf Taunton 

 lecently dug from his grtrden, a potato ■ .ighing two 

 pounds six ounces. 



Appalling. — A coroner's inquest was held at Phil- 

 adelphia, a few days since, upon the bodies of a woman 

 aged forty, and her daughter aged seventeen, who were 

 found dead in a miserable old house, and a verdict re- 

 turned of-' death from causes unknown." Ciicumstan- 

 ces have since transpired whicli leave no doubt that the 

 poor creatures died of starvation ! 



The Governor of this State, has appointed Thursday, 

 the 1st of December, lobe observed as a day of praise 

 and Thanksgiving. 



The City governmcnl have determined to send seventy 

 /our Representatives from this city to the next General 

 Court. 



Snow fell in Auburn, N. Y on the night of the 13th 

 inst. to the depth it is slated, of at least twenty four or 

 twenty six inches. On the succeeding day in the open 

 level field, it remained to the depth of thirteen or four- 

 teen inches. It has snowed in that place for three 

 Wednesdays in succession the firesent seaswn , and the 

 orchards and ornamental trees have been greatly injured. 



The Cumberland coai mines in the State of Rhode 

 Isliind, have been excavated to the depih of thirty feet. 

 The coal is abundant, softer than the Rhode Island an- 

 thracite, and burns with more flame. It is sold at ihe 

 quarry for six dollars a ton. 



American Silk. — Mrs Kimball, of Hopkinton, ap- 

 peared at the Fair of the Merrimac County, N. H. Ag- 

 ricultural Society, in Concord, on Wednesday, clad in 

 rich and durable Silk of her own manufacture. She 

 procured the mulberry trees, raised the worms, reeled, 

 twisted, colored, and wove the silk with her own hands. 



No less than eleven thousand men are at this moment 

 employed on the London and Birmingham Rail Road. 



