Si8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AND HOariCDLTURAL RKGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, Apsii. 10, 1839. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETLNG. 

 The tvvelfili Agricullural Meeting, and tlie las( for 

 the season, was holden on Tuesday evening, 2d inst.; 

 and was fully attended, the interest in these meetings 

 having lieen kept up until the last ; and a strong wish 

 expressed that they might be renewed another season. 

 We have neglected to give a full report of the two for- 

 mer meetings : and we ran now do no more than to 

 gather up the fragments which remain, that nothing be 

 lost. 



At the tenth meeting the subjects of discussion were 

 the cultivation of fruit trees, and the application of fruit 

 to the feeding of stork. Two or three gentlemen de- 

 tailed fully their experience; and of this we shall at- 

 tempt ti' record only the most material facts. 



Mr Stone, of VVaiortown, well known as an experi- 

 enced and successful cultivator of fruit, went largely 

 into the subject; and was examined and cross-examin- 

 ed yfilh no small measure of legal acumen by several 

 gentlemen present ; and as closely as almost any witness 

 ' that was ever brought upon the stand. He showed him- 

 self fully possessed on the subject, and communicated 

 much valuable instruction. 



Mr Stone spoke of liaving been for years accustomed 

 to feed apples to his stock. He had sometimes made 

 from one hundred to one hundred and fifty b.irrels of 

 cider in a year; but having been disappointed in the 

 market for his cider, he had given of late his apples to 

 his stock. He had often fed out in a season from 1000 

 to 1200 bushels. The apples which he has bepVi accus- 

 tomed to give his cattle consisted principally of sour 

 russetings, Baldwin, and nonesuch. They were the re- 

 fuse after those, which were fit for the market, had been 

 selected. His orchards consist mainlv of engrafted 

 fruit, with some common cider apples. 



The apples are given raw. When the cold weather 

 comes on they are put in the barn or the mill-house and 

 sufficiently covered with salt hay to protect them from 

 the frost. To his cows he usually gives one bushel per 

 day; to his horses one peck at night ; to his oxen as 

 many as they i>re disposed to oat. in this way he con- 

 eiders his apples of equal value fur feed as potatoes 

 for bushel. The effect was that the cows under 



A tKIL 10, 1839. 



bushe 



this feed increased their yield of milk ; ahd he made 

 from them more butter from November to January than 

 at any other season ; and they held out their milk well. 

 His cattle never appeared belter than on this ferd ; and 

 they continued to improve as the season advanced. His 

 cows became fat, and they had nothing but apples and 

 hay; usually they had one feed of rowon per day; and 

 for the rest of the time salt meadow or common swale 

 liay. In one case ho fatted a yoko of oxen upon this 

 feed exclusively ; and Jie thinks never with more suc- 

 cess. In one instance he kept a coyv in this way and 

 sold her in February for seven and a half dollars per 

 hundred lbs. He has found them equally beneficial 

 to swine, which he has very successfully fatted upon 

 sour apples with a small amount of slop or swill. 



Mr Brigham, of Westlioro', gave next his experience 

 of the value of apples as feed for stock. Four years 

 since he came in possession of an orchard, the fruit of 

 which was fit only for making cider. He was then 



For the first week his swine lost flesh ; after that lime 

 they continued to g.iin flesh and in four months doubled 

 their weight. He has not been able however to fatten 

 his swifie upon Ihem ; but he has never fed them to hie 

 swine raw. He takes pains to assort his apples and 

 feeds upon them until the first February. His stock 

 will not eat them raw after having been aceuslomed to 

 them cooked. Willi a small proportion of meal added 

 he has found ihein highly useful He has fed his cows 

 successfully with apples. He tried first one cow, which 

 he fed twice a day with sour apples. In three weeks 

 after lie added another cow and 'then another. The 

 milk and cream were much increased and the butter 

 improved. He has fed apples fur two months and a 

 half to a dairy Slock of sixteen cows; and greatly to 

 advant ige in respect to the cream and milk. He usually 

 gives out from 500 to 700 buslieU ; and his allowance to 

 his cows is half a bushel per day each. He docs not esti- 

 mate them as highly as potatoes. He thinks he can give 

 with safety to a cow as many apples as she will eat • 

 but it is not so with poialoes. Sour apples, he thinks, 

 should undergo a fermentation before they are used. 

 He thinks all feed for swine should be fermented ; but 

 he deems potatoes of double ihe value of apples for 

 swine; fjr milch cows he deems apples of equal value 

 as potatoes. He has never been accustortied to salt his 

 apples for his swine, which some farmers deem im- 

 portant. 



Other gentlemen stated their experience of the value 

 o( apples as feed for stock. This^ is a modern, and it 

 must be admitted a very important discovery. 



The opinions and experience of these two observing 

 and p/actical farmeis are certainly of great importance. 

 We h.ive many similar facts tending as strongly to the 

 same point from various pans of the statej and they all 

 go to show the advantages which are to accrue from cul- 

 tivatin;r more extensively, than ever yet has been done, 

 this most agreeable, nutritious and valuable fruit. There 

 are, on almost every farm, places difficult of or ineligi- 

 ble for cultivation, which might as well as not, without 

 prejudice or inconvenience be appropriated to ihe culti- 

 vation of these fruits ; and ii, when produced, they are 

 even half as useful as potatoes, the ease with which 

 they are produced and the abundance in which they 

 grow, recommend thdn most strongly lo the cultivation 

 of the fanners. H. C. 



We shall give further reports of the proceedings i 

 Ihe last Agricultural meeting, but abstain at this tin 

 from deficiency of room. Dr Keep has promised 

 give us his interesting and instructive remarks on : 

 careous manures, in detail and in full. 



The Commissioner of Agiicultural Survey has rect 

 ed. through the politeness ofGen. Dearborn, a gentlema 

 disinterestedly and enthusiastically devoted to evei 

 work of public improvement, and to whom the horticu 

 tural and agricultural community arc n.ost la'rgely ii 

 debied,ihesilk.worm eggs procured through Mr Mej 

 and received by Capt Hunt. They are particularly mer 

 tioned m the N. E. Farmer of .March 27th. They ar 

 but few in number, but he will take pains to distribut 

 tliem in a wa, lo accomplish the public-spirited view 

 of the genllemen who procured them. H. C. 



EXPLANATION. 



.Some of our friends have inquired in regard to a re 

 mark in our last paper, respecting the culiivaiion 

 corn at the West, how one man could be expected I. 

 manage a lot of forty acres .' We give the account a: 

 received on responsible authority, and not on persona 

 observation. On ilie new lands at the West, they an 

 not troubled with weeds, and no manure is applied 

 The sward is completely inverted, and the corn planted 

 After thatmo hilling is ever done, and all that is aime 

 at is, to keep the ground loose. A man and horse de 

 voted to this object, would find no difiiculty in goinf 

 over such a lot of land many times in the course of the 

 season with a cultivator, so as to maintain the soil ir 

 fine tilth. Nothing like this can be expected to be done 

 with us; but an experiment upon a small scale, is ex- 

 ceedingly desirable. 



The second Report on the Agriculture of Massachu- 

 setts, has been published by order of the government. 

 ■Some few extra copies, printed at the expense of Messrs 

 Joseph Breck & Co., and Weeks, Jordaif k Co., may 

 he found for sale at their respective stores. 



We have received from John Benson, Esq. a few Dil- 

 lingham potatoes as a sample. They are the product 

 ofan eastern region, but we are notable to say wlielher 

 from our own territory or Nova Scotia, or the territory 

 which belongs neither to the one nor the oilier. There 

 is no dispute however, about the quality ol the potatoes, 

 come fiiim where they may. They are of the very first 

 rate, and farmers would do well to try some of them for 

 seed ; though it is pretty well established if we would 

 raise as good potatoes as are raised at the east, we must 

 have the eastern latitude and the eastern soil. Potatoi; 

 in order to be of the first quality, require a cool and moist 

 climate and a new soil. An article of such universal 

 use, an indispensable on the tables of the poor and the 

 rich, and furnishing as large an amount of human and 

 bruto food as can be grown upon an acre, cannot receive 

 too much attention in its improvement and cultivation. 

 The Ilohan potato is likely to maintain its charac- 

 ter as by far the most productive potato ever known; 

 and from its superior quality, as we have tested, in soils 

 faithlessjin respect to the value of applos for feeding not remarkably favorable lo excellence of quality, there 

 stock. He purchased six shoats and kept them four is reason to hope that, planted in some locations, it will 

 months upon sour apples. These apples were boiled, prove of the very best description. H. C. 



Chinese Method of Sowing Mulberry See 

 The subjoined we received from an authentic source as 

 the method practised in China for starling and sowing 

 the Mulberry Seed. At this time it will have a peculiar 

 interest |j q 



Directions for the Mulberry Seed by .^/i-ha.— Fill 

 cotton bag with the seed, wet it with cold water, (not 

 soaked,) and lei it remain slightly wet; it will then 

 sprnul. Sprinkle the earth and proceed to sow it on the 

 surface, covering it with a little dried tender grass. 

 Should be two or three feet high before being trans- 

 planted. 



Profitable f'iGS— Pigs are as grateful as any other 

 class of animals, for they give liber.illy in proportion as 

 theyrecejM. Mr J C. Loomis.of Whaiely, sljughteied 

 a sow in November last, which after having nineteen 

 pigs in Ihe course of five months, weighed lour hundred 

 eighteen pounds when dressed. One of her pins not 

 ten mouths old, was recently slaughtered, uliich weigh- 

 ed three hundred and seventy pounds. 



Mr Chapin, of Chicopee, sold his big ox which weighs 

 2800 pounds, lo Mr Hjratio Sargent, of Spiingfield, for 

 three hundred dollars. 



Errata.— We rejret very much the occurrence of llic subjoined 

 erroM ni the address of llie Hon. Mr l-illey, iu the last larmer. 

 In page 3115, middle colunia, line 13th from bnltom, for centering 

 read entering— line 53d frein bnttoni,-.or Hariugat read Uarneual. In 

 page aoe, first column, line 13lh Irum tup, dele . —line 52d, after 

 tenderly insert paternal. Middle column, lino :i.5tb, lor soolastic 

 and folly, read and scUnlaslic folly. 



