236 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEERVARY 1, 18!7. 



IMPORTANT TO FARMERS, 



At a late meeting of the Hartford County Tein- 

 perance Society, the following highly interestinj; 

 facts were stated in the Report. The value of 

 apples is ji!st heginningto be known. The knowl- 

 c<lge of their value is one of the e.xcellent discov- 

 eries of the TeMipr>rance Reformation, and when 

 it shall have been fully circulated and adopted by 

 the farmers of our country, the orchard will be 

 regarded as one of the m.ist profitable as well as 

 convenient appendages of the farm. — Franklin 

 Mercury. 



We copy from the Review and Telegraph. 

 Joel Clark, Esq. ( f East Granby, in 1835, for 

 the first time, instituted an experiment for testing 

 the valu.e of apples as food for horses, and for fat- 

 tening sw ne and beeves. At this time he was I 

 altogether incredulous upon the subject. The re- 

 sult was conclusive proof to his own mind of their 

 being decidedly beneficial. The present year he 

 has pursued the same e.xperiment with precisely 

 the same results. Last year he slaughtered two 

 hogs which weighed a little over 400 lbs. each. — 

 This year lie has slaughtered the same number, a 

 smaller sized animal, one weighing 348, the other 

 328. They were fed in both cases exclusively on 

 raw apples, sour and sweet promiscuously, until 

 a short period before being butchered, and the 

 pork is of the first fpiality. In August last he dis- 

 continued the milking of a cow which he had de- 

 signed for fattening and turned her into the sum- 

 mer pisture with his young stock. On the first 

 of October he removed her to rovven feed and 

 commenced the feeding with apples. The mopt 

 she would have commanded in market at this 

 time, was 13 or 14 dollars. lie kept her 2 weeks, 

 giving her night and morning as many apples as 

 she would eat, which was just about a bushel a 

 day. The thrift was such as to excite the partic- 

 ular notice of himself and hired man, and equal to 

 that of any animal on any kind of food. At the 

 expiration of the 7 weeks, he sold her, and to be 

 still better able to knovv the residts of his experi- 

 ment, he rode four miles to see her slaughtered. 

 A better beef is seldom found than this proved to 

 be. He received $28,30 for her, that is, .f 14,30 

 gain for seven weeks, or a lowing .$2,30 for the 

 pasturing, about 2 shillings a week, he received 

 $12,00 for the fifty bushels of apples or at the 

 rate of 24 cents per bushel. Now these 50 bush- 

 els of apples converted into cider, would yield 6 

 barrels. These in 1835, delivered at the distillery, 

 would have commanded from 42 to 50 cents per 

 barrel, say $3,00 for the whole. In 1836; the same 

 delivered at the distillery would command trom 

 75 to 80 cents, say however, $6 for the whole. — 

 According to the last conqjutation then, there is 

 a gain of $6 in favor of feeding apples. He fed 

 at the same time and in the same manner, a two 

 year old heifer, and with results most favorable 

 .rather than I ess. Though not tlic largest of his 

 herd, she wei ghed on being slaughtered 573 lbs. 

 What farmer who understands at all the article of 

 profit and loss in the use of the products of his 

 farm, and consul ts his pecuniary interests simply, 

 will be surprised to know that this gentleman has 

 ■already cOK.imenci 'id operation for constructing a 

 cellar under his ba in for the purpose of preserv. 

 ing his appJe.s for I'eeding his stock during win- 

 ter. 



His orchards have produced 150 barrels of ci- 

 der and even mo re in a year which be has sold to 

 Jhe distiller for 50 cc uts per barr<jl, because he 



knew of no more profitable manner of disposing 

 of it. Now the quantity of apples necessary to 

 make 150 barrels of cider upon the above estimate 

 would yield according to the results of his exper- 

 iment in feeding this year $300, making a differ- 

 ence of $225, no trifle, surely, in the products of 

 one man's orchard, or if you value the cider at 

 one dollar j«er barrel, the difference is $150, a tax 

 which no prudent farmer ought to pay for the 

 purpose of enticing the distiller of cider brandy. 

 But then to what can the farmer feed out all the 

 products of bis orchard .' He will not wish sure- 

 ly to make so much beef and pork as to consume 

 the whole amount. Let him feedtliemto his hor- 

 ses and cows and young stock, liy all the wri- 

 ters on the subject of raising stock, it is conten- 

 ded that farmers greatly mistake thi'ir interest by 

 stinting their young cattle, or confining them to 

 such fodder during the winter as will biuely sus- 

 tain life. Let the young stock be treated to a 

 moderate quantity of apples every day and kept 

 in good heart and thrift, an<l the farmer will in 

 the end realize his profit. In view of these facts, 

 good economy does not urge the expediency of 

 prostrating apple trees that are thrifty and pro- 

 ductive of good fruit. Some trees there are which 

 are literally cumberers of the ground. Let such 

 be removed. But let all others be protected, and 

 when circumstances will permit, let their fruit be 

 improved by engrafting. 



Genius vs. Labor. — "Of what use is all your 

 studying and your books ?" said an honest farmer 

 to an ingenious artist. " 'I'hey don't make the 

 corn grow, nor produce vegetables for the market. 

 My Sam does more good with his plough in one 

 month, than you can do with your books and pa- 

 jjcrs in one year." 



" What plough does your son use ?" said the 

 artist quietly. 



" Why he uses 's plough to be sure. I 



can do nothing with any other. By using this 

 plough, we save half the labor, at.d raise three 

 times as much as we did with the old wooden 

 concern." 



The artist quietly turned over one of his sheets 

 and showed the farmer a drawing of the lauded 

 plough, saying, " I am the inventor of your favor- 

 ite plough, and iny name is ." 



The astonished farmer shook the artist heartily 

 by the hand, and invited him to call at the farm- 

 house and make it his home as he liked. 



MoRus Mdlticaclis. — This mulberry, it is 

 now well ascertained, is a hybrid variety, and not 

 a true species — the seed will not pro<luce its like. 

 We have been informed by a gentleman who pur- 

 chased a plant, three or four years since, of some 

 nursery-men of our vicinity, that with considera- 

 ble care he raised quite a number of seeds. The 

 plant was taken up upon the appearance of severe 

 weather, and placed in a cellar where the frost 

 did not penetrate — the roots were slightly cov- 

 ered with earth. Pursuing this course two suc- 

 ceeding winters, it attained the size of a large 

 shrub with numerous ramifying branches — the 

 third season it produced seeds. No other species 

 or variety grew in the vicinity of the plant, jmd 

 the blossoms consequently could not have been 

 fertilized but by its own pollen. These seeds 

 sown, and the result was a number of seedling 

 plants, with foliage of all sizes and textures, from 

 the common white to that of the parent. 



PHILiADELPllIA jilLK REPORT, 



A friend has favored us with a pamphlet con- 

 taining a Report of the PUilwIelphia Silk Manufac- 

 turing Company. This details the procedings at 

 a meeting of the friends of the manufacture and 

 culture of silk, held on the 15t!i day of November 

 1S36. Our limits will not permit ns to give the 

 entire contents of the panqihlet, and we must 

 confine ourselves to the following extracts. — Ed- 

 itor of the Manual. 



The Commitlee has, as extensively as the 

 tiitie and opportunities have permitted, examined 

 the subject confided to them. That it would be a 

 great national benefit, if Silk should become an ' 

 article of general production in the United States, 

 and that if it can be profitably manufactured in 

 our country, it will give employment to a great 

 number of persons, are truths universally adujitted. 

 The culture of Silk by raising the Mulberry Tree, 

 and feeding the worms, which produce that beau- 

 tiful article of luxury and ccmifort, will not seri- 

 ously interfere with the general business of the 

 agriculturist; or require such a portion of the 

 farm labor as will, to any material extent, dimin- 

 ish its usual productions. The Mulberry Tree 

 flourishes best in cultivated fields ; and one of the 

 most approved methods of obtaining the leaves 

 for the food of the feilk worm, is from mulberry 

 hedges, which may be made, and securely used 

 ."or the divisions of a farm into fields, instead of 

 the usual fences, much more costly, and always 

 exposed to injury and decay. 



The periods of the year in which the Silk worm 

 is fed, and when only the attention of the farmer 

 and his family is required for their care and nran- 

 agement, are those in which the usual labors of 

 a farm are, for a great portion of those periods, 

 not very great ; and a large amount of the atten- 

 tion and industry which are required by the Silk 

 worm when feeding, and making the cocoon, arc 

 most properly furnished by females and by chil- 

 dren from 12 to 16 years. In the winter season, 

 the family fireside of the farmer, now compari- 

 tively without employment, may be engaged in 

 reeling the Silk from the cocoons ; a most agree- 

 able and profitable occupation for that part of the 

 year. 



Within the last two or three years the planting 

 aird raising of Mulberry Trees, and the produc- 

 tion of cocoons, have become objects of much in- 

 terest in almost every state in the Union. In 

 Ponnsylvania ther-e are now hundreds of acres 

 planted with Mulberry Trees, from which cocoons 

 will be obtained iir the coming year-. — These plan- 

 tations will be increased, when it shall be known 

 that a certain market exists lor the cocoons, and 

 for reeled Silk at a fair price. Small lots ai-e of- 

 fered daily; anil the (Committee eirtertaiii the be- 

 lief that in 1837, one fourth of the supply for a 

 manufactory of a tnndeiate extent, can be obtain- 

 ed fi-om American cocoons In three or four 



years, a manufactory with machinery ami build- 

 ings, requiring a capital of .$100,000, ■fiiay be sup- 

 plied with American Silk. The favorable situa- 

 tion of Philadelphia, communicating by her inter- 

 nal improvements with vast fertile regions of the 

 west and southwest, increases the confidence of" 

 the Committee in these anticipations. The cli- 

 mato of Pennsylvania, and of much of the coun- 

 tries to the west and south of our state, are as well 

 adapted to the culture of Silk, as any in the 

 world. 



The quality of Silk obtained from cocoons of 



