1860. 



NEW ENC4LAND FARMER. 



475 



For the New England Farmer. 

 STOCKING COElXr. 

 H O AV TO DO IT QUICKLY. 



1. Have a good corn-cutter. 



2. Lay the corn, (2 or 4 hills in a place,) so 

 that the tops of the second two rows will lie to- 

 wards the tops of the first two, the tops of the 

 fourth two, towards the tops of the third two, and 

 so on. By throwing the left arm over, not under 

 the hill, and bending it down slightly, one blow of 

 the cutter will generally bring down the whole ; 

 and a large field may be levelled at short notice, 

 far quicker than the stalks can be cut. 



3. Take a small pole, about 3 inches through 

 at the large end, 10 feet or so in length, light and 

 dry; if a little curving, so much the better. With 

 a 1 or li^ inch auger bore two holes quite near 

 the large end, so as to insert two legs, standing 

 outward and fonoard, the rounding side of the 

 pole being upward.' Next, bore a horizontal hole 

 about 2^ feet from the large end, into which a 

 broken rake handle or other smooth stick may be 

 run. Here we have a corn-horse all complete and 

 ready for use. When the horizontal stick is in, 

 we have four corners, around which we may set 

 up the corn ; 16 to 32 hills in a stook. Tie firm- 

 ly with wilted suckers or small stalks, or, what is 

 better, rye straw bands. Bend down the tops 

 and tie a small band over them, to shed rain. 



Now, draw out the horizontal stick ; take hold 

 of the horse just behind the legs, draw it along a 

 few feet and run the stick in again, ready for an- 

 other stook. 



The husking may be greatly facilitated by break- 

 ing off' the ears before stripping. By pressing the 

 thumb and fingers firmly against the butt of the 

 ears, and bending over with the other hand, one 

 may acquire the habit of bi'eaking them off, so 

 that many ears will have few, if any husks left. 

 The stooks need not be untied. By a little inge- 

 nuity at contrivance, one may fix a low bench 3 

 feet wide, or so, throw a stook upon it, sit down, 

 with feet under the bench, begin on one side to 

 break off, and make clean work as he goes ; or, 

 he may kneel down to the stooks as they stand, 

 or lie on the floor. If possible, let the corn be 

 fairly glazed before cutting, but if a cold Sep- 

 tember morning, which threatens a hard frost at 

 night, finds a field standing, unglazed, I should 

 prefer cutting and stooking, (with the wilted side 

 inward,) to letting the frost take it. In such case, 

 it will harden off better in the stook than in the 

 field. E. 



Framingham, Aug. 30, 1860. 



HORSiaS. 



We usually feed our horses too much ; that is, 

 the food is disproportioned to the labor they per- 

 form. We speak more particularly of our best 

 horses — fancy animals, that stand in warm stables, 

 blanketed, and taken out only occasionally for 

 exhibition, rather than use. To keep a horse or 

 other animal healthy, the carbon taken into the 

 system in food must b^ proportioned to the oxy- 

 gen taken in by respiration. Thus a man of sed- 

 entary habits, seated day after day in a warm 

 room where there is little oxygen, can live on 

 mush and milk, a little toast, or otlier light food, 

 ■while the same man, in the Arctic regions, would 



swallow whide blubber with impunity. The ex- 

 cess of oxygen in the Arctic atmosphere requires 

 an excess of carbon, otherwise the oxygen would 

 consume the lungs, and produce pulmonary dis- 

 ease. If the food (or carb(m) exceeds its due pro- 

 portion, or is disproportioned to the oxygen, it is 

 unconsumcd, and is stored away in the form of 

 fat, which induces acute diseases and premature 

 death. Now, a fancy horse, that has little exer- 

 cise, standing in a warm stable, blanketed, with 

 little circulation of air, and consequently little 

 oxygen, gorging himself at a full crib from day 

 to day, requires an excess of carbon ; his mus- 

 cles are overloaded with fat — he becomes stupid, 

 and sluggish, and very liable to acute diseases. 

 — Ohio Farmer. 



THE SEASON AND CHOPS. 



We have had, up to this time, Sept. 6th, no 

 frosts to injure vegetation ; in some low places 

 there has been a little, but doing no harm. Fre- 

 quent rains and warm weather have kept plants 

 growing vigorously, so that their foliage is nearly 

 as bright and luxuriant as in July. The "country 

 never looked more attractive," is the remark of 

 all who go out to see it. If the present hot days 

 and warm nights continue a little longer, the corn 

 crop must be safe from frost ; as it now stands, 

 it is so rank and juicy that a slight frost would 

 injure it essentially. It appears to us that corn, 

 generally, is not eared so heavily as in some sea- 

 sons when we have what is called a good crop. It 

 has a great growth of stalk, and many ears are 

 set that cannot be carried through. Notwith- 

 standing, the crop promises well ; the present fine 

 weather is probably increasing it at the rate of 

 several thousand bushels every twenty-four hours 

 in the State of Massachusetts. 



Wheat. — The attention called to this crop dur- 

 ing the winters of 1858 and 1859, through the 

 agency of Farmers' Clubs, has resulted in pro- 

 ducing, we think, twice or three times the usual 

 amount of wheat harvested in any one of many 

 preceding years. The crop is also of excellent 

 quality. AVe are informed that in some towns in 

 Cheshire county, N. H., enough has been raised 

 to supply the wants of the inhabitants. This in- 

 crease of one of the staple articles of food may 

 be fairly credited to the dissemination of books 

 and nev.'spapers devoted to agriculture, and to the 

 discussions that have been held among the peo- 

 ple in relation to farming matters. 



The wheat crop in the Western States has been 

 absolutely immense — indeed, it is inconceivable. 

 Wisconsin will have tioentij-ftco millions of bush- 

 els, after deducting losses in harvesting and clean- 

 ing up ! California, we see it reported, will have 

 thirty-six millions of bushels ! The other West- 

 ern States, with Virginia and Maryland, we have 

 not heard from — but they must swell thf umount 

 to an astonishing aggregate. 



