262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



FEB. H.m 



ANn HOaTlCULTUKAL KKGI3TER. 



Edited Jjy Joseph Breck. 



Boston, VVeunesuay, Feb. 14, 1844. 



FIFTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT THE 



STATE HOUSE. 



(Continued from page 259.) 



Hon. B. V. French, of Uralntrce, remarked that he 

 had been in the habil of sowing corn for iiis callle in 

 drills. Kc had sowed the Northern, Southern, and 

 sweet corn. He was unable to stale precisely which of 

 the different varieties was the best, but was inclined to 

 think the Southern was most to be preferred. Corn for 

 soiling, should not all be planted at the same time, but 

 at diffeient period.f, that u succession of green and len- 

 der fodder might be furnished for the cattle ; in this 

 way he avoided that o( a rank growth. 



In Great Britain, ilie cultivation of turnips is of great 

 importance, and the introduction of their improved cul- 

 ture, had pioduced a gieat revolution in the agriculture 

 of that country : they formed an important item in the 

 food of their cattle. Ne.\t in importance to the turnip 

 culture, was the discovery of thorough draining and 

 subsoil plowing, lie alluded to the turnip because it 

 was an easy crop : si>me were prejudiced against it on 

 account of the bad flavor it sometimes imparts to the 

 milk: but if fed in the manner which he practiced, he 

 believed there would be no complaint of that nature. 

 lie was in the habit of supplying milk for the market ; 

 lias fed his cons for three months on turnips, and heard 

 no complaint. His cows are first milked in the morn- 

 ing ; the manger is then cleaned out, and one-half bush- 

 el of cut turnips are given to each cow : after this they 

 are fed with salt hay : they are then curried and per- 

 fnctlv cleaned, and if the weather is eiiitable, they are 

 turned out and watered, or if the weather is severe, they 

 ate watered in the barn in a trough before them. At 

 noon, he irave them a pailfull of bran-shorls — then Eng- 

 lish hay ; and in th« evening they were milked again. 

 He fiuds the tops of turnips to his cows, without any 

 bad results. 



Ho ihoughl when we turned our attention more to 

 the suliject of soiling, we should generally adopt that 

 pra<-lire. He said it was surprising to see the great 

 quantity of urine and other excrements the caiile voided 

 when kept up. The soiling system would greatly in- 

 crease iho quantity of manure. 



It is important that caitle should he kindly attended. 

 He had found it to be the best policy to give his cows 

 in charge of one per?on, who feeds, cleans, waters, 

 milks, and keeps a diary of every thing relating to 

 them.' It is necessary in our climate to raise corn fod- 

 der or something of the kind to fei.'d out to the cows 

 when the pastures fail, which is at a lime when far- 

 mers tire eniraged in haying, and the cows were loo 

 often neglecied amid the press of work at that busy sea- 

 son. If the cows are not supplied with green food at 

 this time, they will dry up, and all eflorts to restore 

 them afterwards would fail He ihought tliere was 

 nothing hotter for them for this purpose, than corn fod- 



*Mr French miglil have added that he practiced the 

 most tliorniigh cleanliness in his stable : each cow has 

 a stall by herself, and a man in constant atiendance in 

 feeding, carding, cleaneing and milking. The milk is 

 put away as fn!>l as taken, and Btruined into a large tin 

 can, where all the milk is equalized, as to quahty, anr] 

 then put into small cans for his customers in the ciiv. 

 With such keeping and il,orough cleanlines«, bis mifk 

 conniil fail to jjive satibfaction t« those who like il in its 

 purity. — Eu. 



der. Lucerne he deemed a very important crop fori Hon. Mr Gardner, of Bristol, said he h.id been 



soiling, where there was a free soil. He had seen five ! "■«'"'=')■§"'''""='' "''li tl'« remarks from the chair. 



., « ^ J * , [ rnujie he was sure the ixentleiuan was a farmer in ilie 



crops cut in one year ; the first crop was readv to be ... . ,- m /-- i j .u . ■ .i j' 



r^ ■> ' -it not in practice. IMr Gnrdncr said that in the d;s( 



cut early in the spring, when the early grass was jusl a|o„e which had taken place in the Senate l.is! y 

 starling in the pastures. It is well calculated lor our , whenever the subject of agriculture was ilie Ih.mie. 

 climnte, as ,1 bears the drought well : it throws its roots I "f surprised at the amount and n-cur.icy of ihe ; 

 ^ ciilluial knowledge Mr Ciuincy ejihibUed ; but thu 



deep int> tlie soil : lie once examined in the monlli of g^^ (y^ (i,is [,a,j ^^w been explained. 



Oolober, (lie roots of plants sowed in May, and found , He said feedinjr ratlle with green fodder had 



, been much in vopiie in his vicinity, but it was jft'ti 



into favor among farmers. The Hon. Mr iiurgess nm 

 use of it. He ihouglu the Hon gentleman from T 

 folk fed his cows very luxuriously : ihey must 

 sumptuously everv day. 



Mr Quincy remarked, that what had been said dui 

 tl)e discussion in reference to making anirnaln doc 

 reminded him ol what he had read in Mr Catlin's ti 



; time, would return with him perfectly subdued, bt 

 , no longer cross or refractory. What his process v 

 ' no one knew, for he kepi it lo himself, and llie sc 



lied with him. Like animal magnetism, he belie 

 ' there was something in this breathing, bnt wli.il il ■ 



he did not know, and asked if any one present iiad c 

 I tried this method of breaking; animals. 



Col Jaques said he had seen similar accounts of s 



they had penetrated to the depth of 30 inches. 



Raising of roots he thought of great importance to all ' 

 fanners, for niihh cows. He feeds out turnips to his 

 catliH from the rime of harvesting until the present pe- 

 riod of the year, ;.nd carrots and beets until spring He ' 

 lurng out his cows to pasture the first of June, and in 



about 30 days the pastures begin to fail, and he then I els among the Jndi;ins of the West, whose (dim to Ir 



looks out iur other feed. ' ^'■'''<^ young buffaloes was, to breathe forcibly into tl 



,, , , r 111 1 ■ , /• J- i nostrils, which always had the desired effect : 



He iiad found by keeping Jus cows tip and feedinjj .., . ,u „ ^ m ,i ' i j;„„ i.i. „ j„„ ij„ 



J r o t B would then lollow the Indians like a dog. lie 



them so high, there was some difficulty in making them [ ,jot account for this phenomenon— whether it was n 

 breed, and jisked information of otliers, if tiiey had ex. nif-rism, animal miignetism, or what, lie could not ■ 

 .,1.11 1 He had also rend in a Review, of an individual ^ 



perienced the same trouble. i . r i ■ ■ i i .■ 



' was noted tor having great power in breaking reira 



The President, Hon. Josiah auincy, Jr., was sorry to j ,.y a„i,jjals, and who was known by the niime of 

 confess that lie has had but little experience in the sub- \ " horse whisperer." His method was to go alone 

 iect under discussion, but he was reminded of his home ■ t)'^ ^^^^^^ ^^''P^e the animal was kept, and after a si 



- _ ! I 1 nm i.miil/l mtfim ti.ttli Kim narluftlir cllltHi,.>H lif 



in younger days, and of this he had many pleasing remi- 

 niscences and of his father's proceedings in agricultural 

 matters. He had witnessed some of the operations on ! i 

 his father's farm at Quincy, where his father had made i 

 many expeiiments in soiling cattle. He believed he i 

 was the first to introduce the soiling system into this | 



country; that he had kept the whole slock of cows,! practices, "and had faith in the viriue of some of ihi. 

 which'formerly had required 90 acres when they run at I "<^ believed animals knew more than we were ac. 

 ■^ ^ ' ,. ', lonied to allow they did ; and they can readily dis i 



large, on Id only, when shut up and fed on green fodder, j ^^1^1, ,|,g ,„„„ ^.^^^ |,„g no fear of them from I'lim v< 

 But the system could nol be adopted on all farms. He j has. 



lhou<rhi the soiling plan would ullimaielv prevail on \ Some years ago, he obtained an entire horse or M 

 lands that were suitable lor it near the city.' ; ^'"'" f""" ^ew Hampsl|ire, that had been very cross 1, 



• ' refractory, and wiih difhcultv managed. He was pul 



Mr Quincy said there were no less than 7 miles of in- : |,is5,able, and he approached hiin by pressing himii 

 terior fence on the same farm while his grandfather own- ! against the side of the lior.se, and passing his uim o 

 ed it, but now there is none ; the cattle are not suffered 

 to run on any part of it. That as there are no rocks of 

 any consequence on il, the expense of keeping up seven 

 miles of in'erior fence of posts and rails, would be , 

 greater than the expense of cutting grass and green fud- j 

 der for the stoclt- 



As to the celebrated Oakes cow which had been allu- 

 ded to, Mr Quincy said he was himself brought up upon 

 the milk of that celebrali'd animal. No one knew her | 

 origin : she v.as like Mclchisadek, without father or | 

 mother, so far as he knew. SI.e came from Danvers, 

 and was purchased of parson Oakes of that place : she 

 was a beautiful animal, and he was glad she fell into so 

 good hands as Col. Jaques'. I 



Mr Q. said his father's plan was to grow a con- 

 stant succession of crops, so that the cows should be 

 supjilied with green feed through the season. His 



neighbors used to remark that the old gentleman could : hut he found that they gained more fat and tallow wh 

 farm well as long as he could draw on the banks : hut kept through the whole summer in one paslnn , ibl 

 , J J I 1. .1 .1 • c. ui 1 I when ihey were shifted. Even in autumn he said th 



lipy seemed to doubt whether this was a profitable moic. 1 j 1 r . i„ a ...,.„„.„«»<.,., iu 



J _ 'I would lay on more (at in a good summer pasture Ih 



Yet he said the accounts always apfieared 10 balance what is called fall feed or rovven." 

 well at the end of the year — quite as well as bank ac- Mr Buckminster, of the I'loughman, stated that ti 

 PQu^lj was agreeable to his own experience. As 10 reari 



I calves, he thought it best to let them surk the moll- 

 It was a remark of his father, that the business of the Jor a <mc. He was certain that the milk which ^ 

 farmer was the happiest occupation in which a man comes from the mother, was the very best for the you 



could be engaged ; and Mr Quincy hoped that at some i '=".'';• '' S'^*-^ 'l'"' '""V'"'"^ """ .'''V';'"," ."S'''''' '/' 

 , , ,,, ,, ,,- I inilk has much lime in It, and is calculated beiier thi 



future day, he should be able lo relate his cx;»cnencc L^^ ^jher substance to give bone to the youngling. I 

 instead nf his reminiscences. 



his neck, bringing his head under his arm, and sc 

 his face, with soothing language. The horse s(»on ct 

 menced feeding ; — it is now some years since, and fr 

 tliat time to the present, the animal has shown no vici' 

 disposition. 



JVIr Quincy here related an anecdote, of which he v 

 reminded by what had been said of tnming wild hors 

 An Irishman sold a horse which lie warranted lo be 

 "honest one." After the disposal, the horse hav; 

 been found quite wild, he was asked why he had cal 

 iiiin an honest horse ^ to which he replied, tliat win 

 ever he attempted lo mount him, the horse gave strn 

 j indications that he would throw him, and lie was in 

 riablv found to be ns good (is his promise ! 



" Mr Monson said he had been in the practice of i 

 tening callle for a longtime. Many farmers have 

 idea that if cattle are often removed to new pastur 

 thev will fatten better ihan when liept steadily in c 

 lot. He had tried the plan to hi.*s satisfaction, and 

 was well satisfied tkat it is not a good -plan lo shit! cat 

 from pasture to pasture. He had practiced shifii 

 them once in two (»r three weeks through ijie summi 



Mr Newhall remarked, that he thought it important 

 to keep cattl-j warm in winter ; that by so doing, with 

 proper care in other respects, Jie was able to obtain the 

 same quantity of milk during the gevere cold weather 

 as before: liis barn was so warm that ice was of rare 

 occurrence in it. 



[jj^We are obliged to defer Mr Merriam's remarks 

 the last agricultural meeting, a report of which he h 

 obligingly furnished us. 



Q^'The crowded state of our columns excludes t| 

 continuation of Or. Dana's Essay, and otiier matters. 



