186L 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



109 



aioake, and apparently interested in the topics 

 presented. I had no written lecture, but spoke 

 to them, 



1. Upon some of the modes by which men seek 

 happiness. 



2. The advantages and healthful influences of 

 out-door avocations, briefly contrasting mechani- 

 cal and agricultural employments. And, 



3. The soothing and delightful impressions re- 

 alized in the care and cultivation of a garden : 

 the contemplation of gi-owing flowers and plants : 

 the observation of animated life which usually 

 surrounds them, and the contrast between young 

 persons brought up in attractive rural homes, 

 surrounded by trees, shrubbery, flowers, and 

 pleasant landscapes, and those deprived of these 

 sweet influences. I endeavored to show the ef- 

 fect of these upon the Manners, Taste and Mcjnory, 

 helping out my own deficiencies here and there by 

 a quotation from Milton, Pope, Burns, or any one 

 else whom I could summon, who had loved a 

 garden. 



In an easy chair, and before a bright wood fire 

 in the family parlor, after the lecture, I discovered 

 why the Doctor's thoughts should turn to myself to 

 speak to his patients — he is not only a disciple of 

 Ceres and Pomona, but has a critic's eye for the 

 good points of a cow, or an ox, and kindles with 

 emotion when speaking of the horse. So I had 

 found a kindred spirit, and the evening waned 

 into night before "half th^tale was o'er." 



This morning, I have taken a brief run through 

 the barns, and have satisfied myself that the ad- 

 ministration of the affairs of the farm is as judi- 

 cious as is that of the family. Twenty finer cows, 

 nearly all pure Short-horns, I have never seen 

 together in Massachusetts. The oxen, horses 

 and swine all bore evidence of skill in selection, 

 or rearing. The farm contains about one hun- 

 dred and ten acres, and its products harvested 

 last year amounted to six thousand dollars, at 

 fair market prices ! 



My visit has been one of great interest, and in- 

 creases my desire to see the stock, farm and 

 buildings more minutely during a growing season. 

 Very truly yours, SiMON Browx. 



Messrs. Nodess, Eaton & Tolman. 



Cattle Running at L.\iige. — The President 

 of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, in reply 

 to the argument that the "road is the poor man's 

 pasture," says : 



My attention and that of others has been di- 

 rected to ascertaining the actual ownership of 

 the cattle found running in the highways, and the 

 result has been the conviction that less than five 

 per cent, of the cattle found at large are owned 

 by poor and landless persons. In almost every 

 instance, in the rural districts over which my ac- 



quaintance extends, the cattle found on the road 

 are the property of neighboring landholders, and 

 in country villages, merchants, lawyers, doctors, 

 tavern-keepers, master-mechanics, and other per- 

 sons in comfortable circumstances, are pasturing 

 the roads, and commons ; while the really needy 

 families, for whom our sympathies ought to be 

 enlisted, are buying milk by the pint. 



For the New England Farmer. 



■WHICH TO PLANT, LARGE OB, 

 SMALL CORN? 



Mr. Editor : — As the season will soon be at 

 hand when farmers will begin to look up their 

 seeds, and looking upon the corn crop as being 

 one of the main crops for the farmer, I thought I 

 would give you an experiment tried by me some 

 time since. In October, 18,58, I harvested a fine 

 field of corn, consisting of 8, 10 and 12 rowed, 

 mixed indiscriminately. All of the long eared 

 variety measured from 10 to 12 inches, each. I 

 put it into one large bin, where it remained until 

 May, 1859 ; it was then dry and good. I then 

 threw into piles a lot of each kind, 8, 10 and 12 

 rowed, and, without any selection, I took 10 ears 

 from each pile, and weighed the same, with the 

 following result : 



10 ears, 8 rowed, 3 lbs., 10 oz., cobs, 10 oz. 



10 '■ 10 " 4 '■ 1 " " 1.3 " Gain of corn 4 oz. 



10 " 12 " 4 " 7 " " 13 " " " 10 " 



The 8 rowed was the largest and best looking 

 kernels. Now, supposing there are 5 good ears, 

 on a hill, and 4840 hills, 3 feet apart, on an acre, 

 at 50 lb. shelled corn to the bushel, there is a 

 gain of 12 and 5-50th bushels on the 10 rowed, 

 and 30 and 12^-50th bushels on the 12 rowed, 

 over the 8 rowed variety. 



As a general thing, we have a good corn season, 

 but I find that many of the farmers, for fear they 

 will not get good corn, plant a short eared 8 rowed 

 Canada variety. I plant the longest and largest 

 I can get, and for 10 years have never failed of get- 

 ting a crop, and I believe others can do the sam.e. 

 provided they are up and doing, as they should 

 be. I am of the opinion that those who do plant, 

 this short eared variety do not get two-thirds the 

 corn I do, when I use the larger variety. 



I throw out these suggestions, and trust other? 

 will make a trial the coming season, and if it 

 is a fact that we can get 30 bushels more corn 

 to the acre by using the 12 instead of the 8 rowed 

 variety, although perhaps a little longer in ma- 

 turing, yet it will pay. Massapoag. 



iSiorth Brookfidd, Jan. 8, 18G1. 



Macadamized Roads, better than any to be 

 found in Europe, says the Mouiteur de VArmee, 

 are universal in China, and arc stated to have ex- 

 isted in that country for centuries. The Chinese 

 roads are so constructed that water runs off them 

 immediately, so that they are perfectly dry half an 

 hour after the heaviest rain. Macadam, who has 

 had the credit of inventing the system of road- 

 making introduced by him into England, is de- 

 clared by the Mouiteur de V Armee to have ob- 

 tained the idea from a friend of his who had 

 passed several years in China. 



