116 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



in consequence of the favorableness or iinfavor- ' 

 ableness of the season, the kind of soil they are 

 upon, and the skill with which they are managed, j 



FEED FOR nCRSES. 



1. How many pounds of hay are required for a 

 horse of 1000 pounds, the hay cut and mixed 

 with two quarts of meal ? 



2. Can you tell me what those who send horses 

 into the country, to get them kej)! through the 

 winter, have to pay per week ? What is it worth 

 per week on good hay and two quarts of meal a 

 day ? J. 



Remarks. — 1. No definite answer can be giv- 

 en to the question ; it depends partly upon the 

 work that a horse is doing, and partly upon 

 the animal himself, as some horses of the same 

 weight and performing the same amount of labor 

 as others, require much more food. It is so with 

 men. You can satisfy yourself with the experi- 

 ment of two or three weeks by weighing the hay 

 you feed out each day. We kept a horse well 

 that weighed 1100 pounds upon sixteen pounds 

 of hay per day, cut and mixed with two quarts of 

 corn meal — half in the morning and the other 

 half at night, and at noon four quarts of carrots. 

 Upon this feed he worked every day, and kept in 

 good condition. 



2. There are persons in the country who make 

 it a business to winter horses for city people, and 

 traverse the entire city in the autumn to obtain 

 them. The general rule in fixing a price is, when 

 hay is worth $10 per ton to charge $1 per week ; 

 ■when $15, charge $1,50, and when $20, charge 

 $2 per week. 



TIME OF CUTTING TIMBER. 



The seventy years' experience of Mr. Baker, of 

 Dedhani, in cutting timber, is worthy of great re- 

 gard, as is everything coming from a source so 

 venerable. But when he undertakes to trace the 

 endurance of the timber to the position or age of 

 the moon, at the time of its being cut, he goes 

 beyond the record. There is no good reason 

 whatever to believe that the moon has any influ- 

 ence on vegetable growth or vegetable endurance. 

 I have often heard these things charged ; but af- 

 ter more than fifty years' observation, I have nev- 

 er witnessed any connection between the two. I 

 think it is one of those traditions that should be 

 laid aside. I remember to have heard a man of 

 as much wisdom as I ever knew, and eighty years' 

 experience, say, in relation to the cutting of 

 bushes, that the moon had no more to do with it 

 than the '-Man in the Moon." With this opin- 

 ion I fully concur. Essex. 



December 31, 18G0. 



WniTE BIRCH AND WHITE PINE SEED. 



Please inform me through your paper where I 

 can ]n-ocurc tlie white birch and white pine seed, 

 and how much it takes to sow an acre. 



A Constant Subscriber. 



Derry, N. II., Jan., 1861. 



TOP-DRESSING. 



1. Is guano adapted to a deep clay soil, once 

 meadow, but upon which English grass has come 

 in and choked out the meadow — a soil that is too 

 heavy to plow and not easily drained ? 2. Would 

 ashes be better than guano ? 3. How would lime 

 and plaster do for such a soil ? 4. Would the ef- 

 fects of guano be seen the coming summer if put 

 on as soon as the snow is oft'? 5. What is guano 

 per pound ? j. 



Frances-town, N. B., 1861. 



Remarks. — Guano is well adapted to just such 

 soil as you describe. Apply it during a gentle 

 rain in April. 2. AVe should prefer the same 

 money's worth of ashes. 3. Guano or ashes 

 would be preferable to lime or plaster on such 

 land. 4. The effects of the guano would undoubt- 

 edly be seen the first summer after its application, 

 if it were applied immediately before, or in the 

 midst of a rain. 5. Peruvian guano sells at about 

 three cents per pound, — the American at a little 

 more than two cents. 



IS LABOR DEGRADING ? 



Among certain people the idea seems to prevail 

 that labor is degrading ; that is, such labor as a 

 farmer is obliged to perform. Digging the pota- 

 toes he eats, would, in the estimation of some, 

 degrade a man more than the forging of a note. 

 I have at present in my mind one case of a young 

 man of good ability and Avho was also once of 

 moral excellence, who left Dartmouth with this 

 idea, expressed in his own words — "I cannot beg, 

 and to dig I am ashamed." Not long after he 

 left, his funds were gone, and to replenish his 

 purse he resorted to forgery, and the result was, 

 that his home for two or three years was in the 

 Massachusetts State Prison. Nor is this a solita- 

 ry case, but one of many. The question that has 

 often presented itself to my mind is this : Would 

 not the public good be much better promoted by 

 dispelling the idea that labor degrades, than by 

 adding agricultural departments to the colleges 

 now in existence, or the founding of new colleges ? 



Will some one give their ideas on the subject ? 

 A Young Farmer. 



Hanover, N. II., Jan. 3, 1861. 



PROFIT OF sheep. 



There has been considerable said in your paper 

 concerning sheep, and the great profits which are 

 derived from them. As I am about going in for 

 a good flock of them, there is one thing which 

 has bid me stop and consider. How can I keep 

 my farm up in a good state of cultivation ? Are 

 sheep as good for the farm as other stock ? This 

 should be looked at as much, and more, than the 

 profit of a day or a year. Will you or some one 

 answer ? N. MATTHEWS. 



Ilenniker, N. II, Jan. 1, 1861. 



Remarks. — By reference to the columns of the 

 Monthly Farmer for the year ISGO, you will find 

 this very point treated at considerable length. 



There is no doubt on our mind but the fertili- 

 ty of the farm can be better kept up with sheep 



