208 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



over once before using. Or compost the muck 

 •with lime, dissolving, if you please, a bushel of 

 salt in water enough to dry slake about five bush- 

 els of lime, and then using one to two bushels of 

 lime to a cart load of muck. These are excellent 

 composts for top dressing grass land, for fruit 

 trees and shrubs. You can find the process of 

 making these two composts, and indeed all the 

 others above named, more fully detailed in back 

 volumes of the Farmer, 



In another communication I will endeavor to 

 answer your other inquiries. F, HoLBROOK. 



Brattleburo\ Vt., Feh.'li, 1861. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 HOW TO MAKE MILK CHEAPER. 



Mr. Editor : — The only way to gain a prac- 

 tical knowledge of a science or profession is by 

 personal experiment and application, or by avail- 

 ing ourselves of the experience of others. To no 

 profession does this apply with more force than 

 to that of farming ; and the only way to perfect 

 the science is to avail ourselves of the experience 

 of others, carry forward the experiments began by 

 them, and communicate the results to the public, 

 that they may be benefited by our labors, and 

 "learn the evil to be shunned, the good to be 

 pursued." He who acts on this principle adds to 

 the sum total of knowledge relating to the subject 

 acted upon. Hence the value and importance 

 of book farming. Farmers, as a class, are very 

 loth to deviate from the beaten track of their fath- 

 ers, and adopt any new method or notion. They 

 require "line upon line" to awaken their ambition 

 and to stir up their dormant energies. 



Acting according to the principles stated above, 

 I wish to add my mite to the sum of agri- 

 cultural knowledge on a subject of great impor- 

 tance to a large class of your readers, viz : — 

 3JUk Raising and CuUivaiion of Roots, I have 

 been trying for several years to obviate the neces- 

 sity of expending so much money for feed for 

 cows during the winter, as our profits are greatly 

 diminished by such outlays, and think I have found 

 a substitute which can be raised very cheaply, 

 and will create a large flow of milk of good qual- 

 ity. I refer to to the Mangold Wurtzel. I be- 

 lieve them to be the best and most profitable crop 

 that can be raised on a milk farm. My method 

 of raising them is as follows : 1 select a piece of 

 good, strong land, rather moist than dry, and free 

 from stones, that had been planted the previous 

 year ; and as early as i)ossible in the spring, cart 

 on 30 ox loads of good manure per acre ; spread 

 and plow it in immediately and let it lay till the 

 last of May ; then plow, harrow and brush it to 

 break the lumps ; mark off into rows and hills, 

 18 inches by 12 inches ; let a boy drop one 

 seed in a hill ; follow with a hoe and cover up, 

 and with a one horse roller roll all smooth. It 

 is of great importance to have them planted in 

 hills at regular intervals to facilitate the operation 

 of weeding and as it is impossible to sow the 

 seed with regularity with any machine I have ever 

 seen, we must resort to planting by hand, which 

 in the end is the most economical. A man and 

 boy will plant one-half acre per day. My mark- 

 ing machine is as follows : Make two wheels 20 

 inches in diameter, of plank ; to the rims affix 



cones, 12 inches apart, 2 inches long, and 2 inches 

 in diameter at the base ; attach the wheels to an 

 axle 18 inches long, add a spear or handle, audit 

 is complete. As soon as the beets are out of the 

 ground, run a wheel hoe with a sharp knife 15 

 inches long between the rows, then let them stand 

 a week or ten days, then repeat the operation, 

 and with a hand hoe cut between the hills, and 

 the work is done. This must be repeated as the 

 weeds show themselves, and be careful and not 

 let the weeds get the start, as it will require ex- 

 tra labor and patience to subdue them. As from 

 2 to 4 plants will come from one burr, I prefer to 

 let them all grow, as I am satisfied from observa- 

 tion that I get more bushels than when I thin out 

 to one plant. Harvest before the hard frosts. 

 From 15 to 25 tons per acre is the usual yield. 

 Brother milk-raisers, try them. You will not re- 

 gret it. M. H. 

 Bolton, March, 1861. 



Remarks. — We believe our correspondent is 

 correct in his views of making milk much cheaper 

 than we have done it, by producing and feeding 

 roots. Many persons complain that beet and 

 mangold seeds do not come up well. We think 

 it is because they are sown too deep. They are 

 large, and soon become moist, and in that con- 

 dition if they do not feel the solar heat, they 

 soon rot. If the "cones" or pegs of his "marking 

 wheel" make holes two inches deep, we should 

 think the seed would get too low. 



Drink Pure Fresh Water. — Set a pitcher 

 of water in a room, and in a few hours it will 

 have absorbed nearly all the respired and per- 

 spired gases in the room, the air of which will 

 have become purer, but the water utterly filthy. 

 The colder the water is, the greater its capacity 

 to contain these gases. At ordinary tempera- 

 ture, a pint of water will contain a pint of car- 

 bonic acid gas, and several pints of ammonia. 

 This capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the 

 water to the temperature of ice. Hence water, 

 kept in the room awhile, is always unfit for use. 

 For the same reason, the water in a pump stock 

 should all be pumped out in the morning before 

 any is used. Impure water is more injurious to 

 the health than impure air. 



To Correspondents. — We have before us 

 several articles containing many excellent ideas 

 which we should be glad to publish, if they were 

 not woven in with so many subjects that are not 

 of a kindred nature. The articles are also very 

 long. We cannot publish one long article with- 

 out excluding those of two or three other corres- 

 pondents, who become disappointed and dissat- 

 isfied by not having a timely hearing. While we 

 feel indebted to correspondents for their favors, 

 we beg to remind them that when they discuss a 

 matter, it should be upon one single topic, and 

 not mingle two or three or more together — and 

 that no article should exceed a column and a 

 half. 



