1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FABMER. 



431 



but there they might increase too fast for their 

 own advantage, and the profitable sale of their 

 crops. So there is some danger in this line of 

 argument. Now I go for a free egress and ingress 

 in regard to agriculture ; and I am inclined to be- 

 lieve that it will well regulate itself in all its im- 

 portant relations, and that no one need feel 

 alarmed that competent hands will not be found 

 to till the earth. But you perceive this subject 

 is endless. 



T. — Well, your plan, so far as study is con- 

 cerned, ought to be designated, "Farming made 

 Easy !" 



W. — Thank you for the honor. So important 

 a calling in the progress of civilization ought to 

 be made easy, not complicated ; and blessed is 

 the man who confines agriculture to the fewest 

 simple rules, so that the honest, industrious young 

 man, with comparatively small means, who in- 

 tends to pursue it, may not be obliged to labor 

 through a term of two or three years of misty and 

 fallible science before he can engage respectably 

 and profitably in that universal labor calculated 

 to insure his happiness and feed increasing mil- 

 lions. 



Oak Cliff, on the Mystic, July, 1860. 



HOBNLESS CATTLE. 



A correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker 

 closes a strong commendation of Polled Breeds 

 with the following pai'agraph. 



Some few acquaintances have suff'ered utility to 

 'take the place of horns amongst the cattle, and 

 are rejoicing at the progress in their change of 

 fancy, as they can see beauties in good cattle 

 without horns. One yard confines together with- 

 in an area of less than 50 by 80 feet, well sheltered 

 and watered, seven hornless cows and heifers, and 

 sixty valuable Cotswolds, that would not be suf- 

 fei'ed for a moment to be in like condition if the 

 cattle had horns. They are harmless, social and 

 peaceable, as if all were sheep, and the owner fre- 

 quently passes amongst them in the dark without 

 fear of running upon even a "short horn," and 

 feels quite sure none of them will die in the spring 

 with the "Horn-ail." His feed boxes are so con- 

 structed, that a cow or sheep cannot get the oth- 

 ers' fodder, although within the same inclosurc. 

 His judgment and fancy have become so bewil- 

 dered by their smooth, innocent, harmless-looking 

 heads, that he thinks there is not so much beauty 

 and value in any other seven cattle, of the same 

 age, belonging to any other yard in town. But 

 enough. I Avait to learn if any body can say suf- 

 ficient against well-bred "Moolys" to subject 

 them to any real disrepute whatever. 



Wool Trade in Michigan. — It is stated in 

 the Detroit papers that the clip of wool for this 

 year will exceed that of last year by about a quar- 

 ter of a million of pounds. Last year's clip was 

 estimated at 3,000,000 pounds, and allowing the 

 clip to be this year three and a quarter millions of 

 pounds, the income of the State will be about a 

 million and a half of dollars. The gain to the 

 State bj' the increased production and the in- 

 crease of price is estimated at one hundred and 

 ninety million dollars. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WINTER WHEAT. 



Mr. Editor : — It would be very interesting to 

 know the general success of those farmers of New 

 England who have been raising winter wheat the 

 past season. Abundant crops must have been se- 

 cured, judging from the season which has been so 

 favorable to all cereals in your region. The suc- 

 cess of one farmer should certainly stimulate an- 

 other, and I know of no better mode of communi- 

 cating it than through the medium of your valua- 

 ble paper. To those who doubt, it may induce 

 them to begin, and to those who may be indifier- 

 ent, it might prove a spur to their negligence, for 

 they all believe, or ought to, that it should be one 

 of the most important farm crops of the New 

 England husbandman. No farmer among you 

 should allow himself to buy a barrel of Western 

 flour. He can raise wheat for one dollar a bush- 

 el, or as cheap as he can raise a bushel of rye. 

 Four bushels of Svheat is equal to a barrel of flour 

 for his family, and should there not be mills to 

 bolt so close, wheat meal is far more healthy for 

 his family. Perhaps some of your dyspeptic read- 

 ers can answer. 



Take that piece of mowing field that needs to 

 be turned over, salt your wheat in pickle twelve 

 hours, roll it in ashes or lime, and get it in the 

 last week in August or first week in September, 

 as deep as you can, to insure a good root, which 

 makes it doubly secure against winter kill, and 

 the farmer will be as sure of this crop as he is of 

 his winter rye. These refreshing rains are pre- 

 paring an excellent fallow or second crop for 

 plowing in. Again, Mr. Editor, I want your far- 

 mers to tell us what they are doing with winter 

 wheat. H. Poor. 



Brooklyn, L. I., Aug., 1860. 



Rehl^rks. — It aff'ords us sincere pleasure to 

 state to our zealous correspondent that his re- 

 peated promptings, or something else, have result- 

 ed in numerous fields of as fine looking wheat 

 as we ever saw, in various parts of New England. 

 It is now, August 9, being harvested without any 

 sign of midge, mildew, or anything else to lessen 

 its value. 



The Sound of Growing Corn, — Did you ever 

 hear corn grow ? You have probably heard the 

 remark, "our corn grows so fast that you can hear 

 it," That is supposed, by people who don't know, 

 to be a figure of speech only ; but the remark 

 cut here is a literal fact. Go into one of these 

 "bottom" corn-fields forty or fifty rods on a warm 

 July daj', or August night, Avhen a bright moon 

 is up (for vegetation grows faster in moonlight 

 than in darkness,) and a few hours after a heavy 

 shower that has fairly wet the earth, and waked 

 up the drowsy corn to its influences, and as the 

 main stalk stretches and swells in its new 

 strength up through the contracted lips of the up- 

 per blades, they crack and burst around you like 

 the stifled reports of ten thousand rifles ! That 

 corn field will be some inches higher at sunrise 

 the next moi-ning than at the last sundown. There 

 is no mistake about it. We have heard corn grow, 

 many a time, and so every farmer along in the 

 Sciota valley will tell you. — Corres. N. Y. World. 



