TOL.. xvm. NO. as 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



2IT 



For the New Eaglanrf Katmer. 



INDIAN CORN. 



Being somewhat of an old man, and having been 

 BDgaged in farming nearly all my life, I purpose, 

 lal liave time, and fee! inclined, to occasionally in 

 the course of the present winter, (in such language 

 IS my mother learned me, having not tnucli educa- 

 liim, the early part of my life having pasecd in the 

 time of the revolutionary war, when schools were 

 few and far between, and what there were, none of 

 the best,) offer you some remarks on that important 

 subject. And first on Indian Corn. 



Some years ago, a writer in the New England 

 Fanner stated, that the roots of corn had been found, 

 several, if my recqllection is right, three or four 

 feet below the surface. This assertion, according 

 to my observations for fifty years, is incorrect. The 

 roots' found *o deep in the soil must have been the 

 roots of some other plant, for I believe that no ob- 

 serving, practical farmer will admit, or believe, that 

 the roots of corn ever penetrate below where the 

 soil has been loosened by the plough. So far from 

 the roots of corn penetrating deep into the soil, the 

 reverse is the fact, and a careful examiner will find 

 all the principal roots near the surface, hence the 

 reason tliat corn is an exhaustlug crop. 



A writer in the Yankee Farmer of the 13th of 

 April last, over the signature of " Philo," and da 

 ted at Portland, has attacked a report of the Agri- 

 cultural Committee of Massachusetts, for recom- 

 mending the spreading of compost manure and har- 

 rowing it in, and has said something about "year- 

 ling farmers," and burying manure deep, and how 

 old°error£ and habits adliere to people. Now [ sus- 

 pect that Philo is not so much as a yearling farmer 

 — certainly not a very observing one. Philo says 

 that psr!:.ips-li8 luay get a better crop the first year, 

 that is, by not ploughing the manure in ; "but this is 

 not the true theory of farming, to get one crop and 

 exhaust the land with that." I understand that 

 Philo means •. : - ly, that it is an old practice to 

 spread the n.;mire and not plough it in, but to 

 harrow it in. The old practice was, to plough in 

 manure, and it r.uat be ploughed in as soon as it | 

 was spread, because it would dry and injure it — (I I 

 mean green manure.) '1 his practice was found by 

 experiment to be a wrong one, because covering 

 manure so deep, wlien in a cold state, it did not 

 come to that state to benefit the corn so soon as 

 when loft on or nearer the surface. If I were to 

 plough in my green manure, I should choose to 

 have^'it spread and lay at least two fair days in the 

 sun, bef.ro ploughing: it will thus get into a state 

 to benefit the crop much sooner than when plough- 

 ed in cold. 



Within a few years much has been said, and 

 some published, in favor of ploughing in manure, 

 which looks too much like theory. We, or rather I, 

 hear ni'thing of experiment. Now one grain of 

 experience fs worth a pound of theory. .My prac- 

 tice ha.< been, generally, for forty years, to spread 

 mv manure and harrow it in, and I get better crops- 

 ot'corn, and my next succeeding crops, are better 

 than whpn the manure was ploughed in, and my 

 land has been improving in proportion to the quan- 

 tity of manure applied, and is now worth double 

 for grass that it was forty years ago. Many years 

 ago, I knew a farmer who, when he was going to 

 pfough grass land, for a crop of corn, first spread 

 his manure on the grass and turned it under tlio 

 furrow, and I never knew him to raise a large crop 

 of corn. I have known some good farmers, who 



have tried spreading compost and harrowing it m 

 and found it nmch superior to any otlirr way of ap- 

 plying manure for a crop of corn. The last sQa- 

 so'n I planted a field of green sward, a part of winch 

 was ploughed in the fall— another part in the spring 

 —it was^harrowed lengthwise of the furrows, ma- 

 nure spread on, and tlien harrowed again. As ex- 

 periment, and to test the new mode, the manure 

 was spread on to about six rows before ploughing, 

 and turned under the sod. The result was, on tiiat 

 ploughed in the fall, the corn was the besf; that 

 ploughed in the spring and tlie manure spread after 

 ploughing, next best ; and where the manure was 

 spread on the grass and ploughed in, about half 

 equal to the others, and also later. 



You may probably hear from me again on this 

 subject, before long. A FARMER. 



Dec. 16, 18.39. 



,-,etely discharged. The same plan must bo pur- 

 sued with the remaining quarters of the udder. It 

 must not be supposed that this method will be dis- 

 tressing to the animal ; on the contrary, her quiet- 

 ness during the process, is a satisfactory indication 

 that it occasions no pain, but rather an agreeable 

 sensation. This plan, though efl'eclual in keeping 

 up the cow to her full quantity of milk, will not, 

 o-enerally speaking, take more additional time than 

 a minute over the old mode of milking, and persever- 

 ing in this plan, all tlie milk will be obtained, the 

 ricliest, as well as the thinnest of course." 



It is by attention to minute thin^, that most of 

 the profits of the farmer are realized, and we are 

 confident tliat by attention to this point, non-essen- 

 tial as it i.iay at first appear, the dairyman would 

 find that an important addition would be made to 

 the sum total of his annual profit.— Genesee Far- 

 mcr. 



MILKING. 



That a material loss is sustained by the dairy- 

 man, from the manner in which the process of 

 milking is usually performed, can scarcely be ques- 

 tioned°by one who has paid attention to the man- 

 ner in which milk is produced, and the nature of 

 that fluid. In milk, the most valuable part is the 

 liohtest, as we see from the cream rising to the 

 surface of the vessel ; and it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the same relative position is maintained 

 in the udder as in the pan or pail, that is, the 

 cream or richest part is in the highest part of the 

 lacteal vessels, and of course is the last to be ex- 

 tracted in milking. When therefore, this operation 

 is. carelessly or imperfectly performed, dr in other 

 words, the cow is "milked clean," the best part is 

 left in the udder, and lost to the dairy. It may be 

 said, however, that what is left at one time, is ob- 

 taifiea at the next milking, and is not , therefore, 

 lost ; but it must be remembered, that the process 

 of absorption is constantly going on, and that by 

 leaving the richest part for this action of the ves- 

 sels it° is irrecoverably lost ; and besides the more 

 completely the vessels are emptied, the greater the 

 action will be. All dairymen are aware of the 

 fact, that to dry a cow, nothing more is necessary 

 than to only drain her udder at each successive 

 milking. Tlie secretion of the milk will cease, 

 and the absorbents become active in proportion as 

 the milk left incites them, until none will be left ; 

 and this result, in a greater or, less degree, always 

 ensues where the milk is not fully extracted. 

 This also explains why a cow milked three times a 

 day, will give more milk in the twentyfour hours, 

 than when milked only twice. 



In a large dairy, " dripling" or stripling the 

 cows after they have been milked in the usual 

 manner, is practiced, and with evident profit, as 

 the milk thus obtained is very nearly pure cream. 

 A writer in the Farmer's Magazine thus describes 

 the manner in which this last draining of the udder 

 should be performed: 



"The milker should be instructed to milk as fas-L 

 as his strength will allow ; and the idle or slow 

 milker I would at once discard from this branch of 

 the dairy. When he has obtained all the milk he 

 can by the common method, he should be required 

 to press moderately with his left hand the upper, 

 and every pait of the udder, so as 'o force down- 

 wards all the milk that may be remaining in the 

 smaller or higher milk carrying tubes ; and as it is 

 pressed into the receptacle and teat he should milk 

 it out with his right hand, until the whole is com- 



WATERING CATTLE IN WINTER. 



Perhaps it would excite the surprise of many of 

 our readers, should we assert that cattle generally 

 sutfer more from thirst in winter than during the 

 heat of summer. Yet there is strong reason to be- 

 lieve that this is to a great extent the case. Cattle 

 whose winter food consists entirely of hay, straw, 

 and other dry materials, need a plentiful and fre- 

 quent supply of pure fresh water. This many do 

 not obtain, as nearly all running streams are ^cov- 

 ered with ice, and cattle are obliged to wander a 

 considerable distance from the yard to the water- 

 ing place, through deep snows or over a slippery 

 pa°th, exposed to the annoyance of dogs, or to be 

 gored by other cattle, and rather than endure this, 

 they often suffer much from a want ' of water. It 

 lias been ascertained that a bullock who has water 

 at command, will drink it eight tunes a day. It 

 should always, therefore, be of easy access to cat- 

 tle at all times ; and not on a distant part of the 

 farm, or in the open road, so that in order that your 

 cattle may help themselves to it, you arc obliged to 

 leave your gate open, or barn-yard bars down, and 

 thus your yard is thronged with vagrant colts and 

 other ill-bred animals, who take pos-.-ession of what- 

 ever fodder they can lay their mouths upon, and 

 pay no regard to the rights of mevm and tvum. Dr 

 Anderson says that ho knew a man who became 

 very rich by being great in Ultle matters, that is, at- 

 tending carefully to things which other men con- 

 sider o"f too little consecpience to claim their notice ; 

 and this man always made it a point to see that his 

 cattle, particularly his milch cows, should have a 

 constant supply of pure water.— F«r.'/ic)-s' Cubinet 



Soiling CViH/e.— Soiling is the feeding of cattle 

 either in the barn or yard, through the summer, 

 with new mown grass or roots. The following are 

 some of its advantages over pasturing— 1. A spot 

 of .Tvound which, when pastured upon will yield suf- 

 ficient food for only two head, will maintain five 

 head of cattle in one stable, if the vegetables be giv- 

 en in proper order -2. The stall feeding yields at 

 lea^lthree times the quantity of manure from the . 

 same number oi cattle.-3. The cattle used to stall 

 feeding will yield a much greater quantity of milk, 

 and fatten faster than wiien tliey go to the held.— 

 4 Thpy are less subject to accident— do not sufier 

 so much from heat, flies and insects-on the con- 

 trary if every thing be properly managed, they will 

 rem'ainina state of constant health and vigor.- 

 Von Thaer. 



