1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



563 



many familiar places, and a few old friends. The 

 rapids on Genesee river, the falls, both upper and 

 lower, and two or three streets seemed quite nat- 

 ural. There have been striking improvements, not 

 only in the city, but in the surrounding country. 

 I spent two Mceks in Monroe county, and was 

 delighted with what I saw among the farmers. 

 They were beginning to harvest their wheat, which 

 was of good growth, and excellent quality. Oats 

 ■were very heavy, corn promising, and the pros- 

 pect of fruit of every kind had never been better. 

 Hero, for the first time in my life, I watched the 

 operation of the mowing and raking machine. 

 What an improvement on the old-fashioned meth- 

 od of cutting grass and securing hay ! I find a 

 great advance, as it seems to me, in the work of 

 farming, while there is still room for progress in 

 this noble employment. With crops so abun- 

 dant, and means of securing them of so improved 

 a character, I see not why the farmers of your 

 whole country may not flourish, become comfor- 

 table, affluent, not to say wealthy. 



The Lord bless the labor of all who till the 

 ground, for our sakes, no less than for their own. 

 Yours affectionately, I. S. Green. 



P. S. — In my next, I hope to speak of my trav- 

 els onward — my visit to Ohio, the oil wells, &c., 

 &c. Hope to write you soon, perhaps from Ver- 

 mont. 



Whitesboro', Oneida Co., K. Y., Oct. 20, 1860. 



FATTENING HOGS— FERMENTATION 

 OF FOOD. 



Now is the time to give attention to the im- 

 portant matter of fattening swine, that is, criti- 

 cal attention, — so as to learn the comparative 

 value between cooked and uncooked food, and be- 

 tween food that is fermented and food in which 

 that process has, in no degree, not taken place. 

 The following we find in the Rural New-Yorker : 



Among the many of your contributors, I would 

 ask for information concerning fattening hogs. I 

 have farmed it for thirty years, and when I com- 

 menced, I adopted the plan of keeping swill bar- 

 rels and saving all the surplus water of the kitch- 

 en, with the milk and whey, and mixing some 

 kind of meal or middlings with it, then let it go 

 through the process of fermentation, after which 

 I fed it to the hogs. I supposed I was doing 

 things about right, until last week, when travelling 

 on the cars, I got into conversation with an in- 

 telligent appearing gentleman, who said this pro- 

 cess was all wrong — that the fermentation des- 

 troyed the most of the fattening properties of the 

 grain. He also said that making meal into pud- 

 ding would not fatten as fast as dry meal. Now, 

 I would inquire of your readers whether these 

 things are so. 



Rain Water not Absorbed by Leaves. — 

 It has always been thought that the rain water 

 which falls upon the leaves and stems of vegeta- 

 bles is gradually absorbed, and nourishes the 

 plant. It appears, however, that this opinion is 

 merely instinctive, and when tested by careful ex- 

 periment, it proves unfoundid, as is shown by a 

 small paper lately published by M. Duchartre. 

 For four years this author has endeavored to dis- 



cover, by direct experiment, whether or no such 

 absorption takes place. The plants submitted to 

 these experiments were in pots, their stems and 

 leaves being exposed to the rain, whilst the roots 

 were prevented from absorbing any moisture, be- 

 ing hermetically closed up in the pot. All the 

 plants submitted to this kind of investigation, 

 gave similar results ; after remaining exposed to 

 to the rain, sometimes for eighteen consecutive 

 hours, they showed no increase in weight ; indeed, 

 in some cases, they appeared to have experienced 

 a slight diminution. — London Pliotographic News. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



EGYPTIAN CORN. 



Mr. Editor : — As "misery likes company," allow 

 me to say that I, too, purchased the "mummy corn." 

 My first impulse was to keep mum about it ; but I 

 deem it my duty to say that of the eighty-six kernels 

 received from Mr. Crandail, only twenty grew at all, 

 and this was more than one would expect from the 

 appearance of the seed. Most of it must have been 

 shelled from the top of an unripe or frost-bitten ear. 

 It was planted June 2d, in good rich soil, and as well 

 cared for as any need be. Behold the harvest ! One 

 ear some four inches in length, corn of two colors, 

 with other unmistakable evidences of its havingmixed 

 wirh other varieties of corn. Many of the kernels v/ere 

 imperfect ; this, with a few apologies for cars, is the 

 amount of the crop. The stalks are still standing a 

 monument of my folly and Crandall's honesty. Were 

 they nearer my dwelling, I should expect to hear the 

 wind screeching through their leaves, "Crandail corn, 

 — came from Egypt, — may he ever have to eat it." 



Let him lie fed on this corn for the rest of his life, 

 say I, and his Ijody will i)ecome embalmed while he 

 lives ; as will his memory, by this disagi-eeable ex- 

 ploit. Pass him round. H. E. H. Wood. 



Putneij, Vt., Oct. 27, 1860. 



Mr. Editor : — In reply to a request in your paper 

 of the 13th ult. about the Egyptian cora, the seed of 

 which was sent to me by M. E. Crandail, of Illinois, I 

 beg to say that equally with your correspondent from 

 Palmer, I and one of my neighl)ors have been hum- 

 bugged. Wc planted it under the same fovorable cir- 

 cumstances as to soil and culture, and the crop is an 

 utter nullity — an acre of it would not produce a bush- 

 el of sound corn, even if the season had been two 

 months longer. It is a tropical corn, similar to the 

 Guinea corn of the West Indies, and good for nothing 

 in any part of the corn-growing section of the Union. 



Now, this Mr. Crandail either knew this fact, or he 

 knew it not. If the tirst, he has raised money under 

 false pretences, and if the latter, he has been an agent 

 in the hands of some base speculator. In either case, 

 he is equally reprehensible. Farmers are the most 

 honest part of any population, and from that veiy 

 cause most easily imposed upon. The shopkeeper who 

 cheats, expects naturally to be cheated in retura, and 

 is accordingly always on his guard. But tanners are 

 usually honest themselves, at least, so far as concerns 

 the trifles upon which I am now discoursing, but they 

 are often too slow in guarding against the "arts of the 

 designing. I would advise all fiirmers, when in fu- 

 ture they read such an advertisement as that of Mr. 

 Crandail, to send if they choose for the article adver- 

 tised ; but never to inclose any moncj\ The impostor 

 will thus be soon disclosed if'he is an impostor, while 

 the honest man will, if his articles are indeed valuable, 

 become apparent by personal knowledge in the prop- 

 er time. A Subscriber. 



Kensington, N. H., Oct. 26, 1860. 



ASPARAGUS. 



I lately saw in your paper an inquiry respecting set- 

 ting asparagus beds in the fall. I can speak from ex- 

 perience on this point. Last Octol)er I set about one 

 and one-half square rods of ground to asparagus, and 

 soon after, on the first of November, covered the 

 plants carefully over with leaves, and put brash on the 



