94 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



broad leaves for atmospheric influences to act 

 upon and perfect it before September frosts oc- 

 cur. A liberal broadcast manuring is not suffi- 

 cient for this, and so we want something that is 

 cheap and portable, that every farmer may have 

 it to drop into the hill before covering the corn, 

 to impart warmth to the seed, and quicken it into 

 vigorous action. 



One way to accomplish this end is this. Col- 

 lect all the night-soil that can be procured 

 through the summer from time to time, and mix 

 it with fine, old meadow muck and sprinklings of 

 plaster ; occasionally pour sink water over it, 

 making it so moist as to become of a pasty con- 

 sistency, and then work it thoroughly with the 

 back of the hoe, as mortar is worked, so that the 

 night-soil and the muck shall be completely in- 

 corporated. Do this three or four times in the 

 course of the summer and autumn, always leaving 

 the heap well covered with loam. If muck cannot 

 be had, use alluvial soil, or the finest loam and 

 sprinklings of plaster. Before freezing weather 

 gather the heap into barrels and place it away 

 from the frost. A handful of this compost in the 

 hill will make you laugh, if it does not the corn. 



Another way. — Place the roosts for the fowls in 

 such a position that all their droppings can be 

 conveniently reached, and each morning, or three 

 times a week, cover them with fine muck, loam, 

 sand, or plaster. Keep the whole dry, and use 

 half a pint to a hill. If you have this, you need 

 not sigh for guano. 



Still another. — Take an old cask, such as a 

 molasses hogshead, mix a bushel of plaster with 

 old muck enough to fill it, and saturate the whole 

 with urine from the barn cellar or from any other 

 source. Continue to pour on the urine freely 

 from day to day, until the escape of ammonia is 

 detected, and then discontinue it. The contents 

 of the hogshead may then be taken out and the 

 operation repeated to any extent desired. In 

 this operation the sulphuric acid in the plaster 

 will combine with and fix the ammonia escaping 

 from the urine, and the mass will be a portable, 

 active and highly fertilizing agent — one that every 

 farmer may have. 



8. As all farmers are liable to sometimes lose 

 an animal either by age or accident, how can they 

 make a dead carcass most available and profita- 

 ble for manure ? 



Wliat to do with a "dead carcass." — A dead 

 horse may be made more valuable than most far- 

 mers are aware of. A man has about one pound 

 of ammonia, it is stated, for every fifty pounds of 

 his weight. If the same rate holds good with the 

 horse, one weighing ten hundred would yield 

 twenty pounds of ammonia. We have been 

 taught that this substance is one of the most val- 



uable fertilizers that the farmer has, so that if 

 this particular part were all, the dead horse or ox 

 would be valuable. If the dead animal were cut 

 into pieces, sprinkled freely with plaster or char- 

 coal dust, and the whole mass covered plentifully 

 with meadow mud, at the expiration of a year it 

 might be in condition to be overhauled and in- 

 corporated with the muck. The bones should be 

 collected and placed with other bones to be con- 

 verted into phosphate of lime when enough of 

 them are obtained to make the job a profitable 

 one. 



9. What crop is best to help out winter fod- 

 der — corn, millet, or roots .'* 



10. Will it pay for farmers to cultivate roots 

 for stock in winter, and if so, what kind of roots 

 will pay best ? 



Crop to help out winter fodder. — There is noth- 

 ing more sure, or scarcely anything better, than 

 oats, cut just as the seed is forming, and cured 

 mainly in the cock, under caps. Millet is a good 

 crop, and it may be sown later than oats. We 

 commend the culture of roots, to some extent, on 

 every farm. Most of the work may be done by 

 horse povver, and the crop may then be obtained 

 at a cheap and profitable rate. Stock greatly 

 needs some succulent food to go with the dry fod- 

 der which comprises the principal part of their 

 winter food. By a little inquiry every farmer may 

 ascertain how to raise Swedes, caiTots and man- 

 golds as a profitable winter feeding. This para- 

 graph replies to your 9th and 10th questions. 



11. Will it pay for a small farmer to own a 

 mowing machine ; say on a farm of twenty-five 

 acres to be mowed ? 



Mowing Machines. — Yes. A good machine 

 will pay for itself in a few years. 



12. What kind of mowing machine is best for 

 a light, smooth farm ? 



What mowing machine is best ? There is no 

 mowing machine out of the dozen we have tried 

 that stands out so pre-eminently above all others 

 as to justify us in saying that it is the best. The 

 Ketchum, Wood, Manny, New England, and we 

 do not doubt, some others, may be used with 

 decided economy on smooth farms. 



Now, brother DiMON, having answered your 

 questions candidly, and as fully as space will per- 

 mit, will you, if the answers do not commend 

 themselves to your views, express them yourself, 

 and send them to us for publication. 



Electricity. — A writer for the Rural Ameri- 

 can says that some of.his scientific neighbors have 

 suggested that there may be some connection be- 

 tween the abundant crops of this year, and the 

 abundant electricity manifested in our frequent 

 thunder storms. 



