556 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Deo 



sands of loads of his and his neighbor's No. 1 

 soil, "as rich as mud." There were acres of land 

 nearly dry then, the bottom of a reservoir, and 

 hundreds of loads of decayed leaves were mixed 

 with the soil — much better than his meadow hay 

 mamire, that he boasted about. 



I asked our pump-maker why he didn't haul up 

 some of that rich stuff down there, and show his 

 neighbors some of the crops of '7G — keeping 

 my eye on the bog. 



*'I can't afford to haul muck," was the short 

 answer. 



"Yes, but I saw one man hauling out down be- 

 low here from a very bad place ; don't he make it 

 pay ? His land looks in the best condition of any 

 farm about here, though naturally poorer than 

 yours." 



"Well, yes, he is fixing up some ; but he got 

 his money easier than I did mine. He lectured 

 for his money, sold books, &c." 



"Father," said the son shyly, "you said that 

 muck and stuff Mr. F. put on his hill did make the 

 grass grow wonderfully last summer, and you 

 would try it, if I got time." 



"But you must go back to your potatoes, for we 

 want to carry this pump off to-morrow." 



"Darn the old pump," growled the boy, " 'tain't 

 worth nothing compared with hay, nohow." But 

 he expected something, and looked to me for help, 

 80 I sidled along up to the father, whose ire be- 

 gan to rise, and praised his work and tools, 

 (which, by the way, were the ones his father used 

 — good fifty years ago,) and he forgot "bub," 

 muck, and all but pumps, and their relation to 

 hard coin. Mark me, "bub" v;ill never forget 

 that conversation, and Avhen he gets into some 

 such town as Wpyland, Mass., where are think- 

 ing, progressive men of his own class, who have 

 provided themselves with a good library and li- 

 brary building, &c., then he will learn to get 

 his money easier than by working at a disadvan- 

 tage. 



I had occasion to speak of the muck in this par- 

 ticular reservoir bottom to one of our pump-mak- 

 er's neighbors, a reformer, and very intelligent 

 man. He and his sons were doing a very heavy 

 job, for little or nothing, and boarding them- 

 selves. He didn't believe in muck ; said he 

 wouldn't give $100 for all the muck in the bot- 

 tom, delivered. 



He does believe in manure. In haying-time 

 he scrubs around the pastures and roads, wherev- 

 er he can buy or beg a chance, and feeds every- 

 thing out on the farm ; takes cattle to winter, &c., 

 because he wants the manure. But he don't be- 

 lieve in muck, O, no ! or in using sulphate of 

 lime and plaster on his stable floors — never'U pay 

 him. His father didn't do it. So he has a vile, 

 filthy, hot-bed of disease under his stable, and in 

 it, too. 



Now, my young friends, we have heard these 

 men's stories of profit and loss, and I might cite 

 hundreds and thousands of cases like these, all 

 over New England. In some sections, I have 

 found farmers making shingles, in others getting 

 out railroad sleepers, railroad wood, &c., amount- 

 ing to about the same profit as pump-making 

 and walling from home, by farmers. In nearly 

 every instance there were large deposits of valu- 

 able vegetable mould, muck, saw-dust, &c., (in 

 another article I will speak of saw-dust, my expe- 



rience with it, (S:c.,) in their immediate vicinity, 

 but they thought it worthless. 



You may think, as some of them said, that they 

 were obliged to do these things to get ready 

 money. I don't recollect an instance where I 

 thought so. Nearly every farm was overstocked 

 for the winter — farmers having more pasture 

 than tillage land — for want of muck, and there- 

 fore several young cattle, nice and fat, that would 

 be worth less next spring than now, and weigh 

 less, if ail were kept, that better be sold at a dis- 

 count at once, than kept. On many farms two- 

 thirds of the cattle would weigh more next spring 

 than all will if kept — and make just as much ma- 

 nure, this winter. 



The facts are these ; and if any one wishes to 

 commence an argument in your paper to disprove 

 them, he would do the public more good than so 

 much thrashing of my faithful but uneducated 

 canine friend has. It will take three tons of such 

 hay as these hard-working farmers use to make a 

 cord of manure : 



Theee Tons Weed and Meadow Hat. De. 



To cutting and hauling $9,00 



To feeding out 3,00 



To cutting brush to pay for it 3,C0 



$15,00 

 Ck. 



By 1 cord third quality manure $2,00 



By advantage to stock 9^00 



$11,00 

 To Layino Wall. Dr. 



To 10 days' work $9,00 



To 5 days making pump 4,00 



$13,00 

 Board at 25 cents per day $3,75 



Balance for 15 days' work $10,75 



Muck. Dr. 



To 15 days' drawing $10,75 



Cb. 

 By 15 cords second quality manure $41,25 



Will it pay ? The muck is worth almost as 

 much more to put behind cattle and mix with 

 stable manure to absorb the liquids, and keep it 

 cool — making at least $75,00. 



Wayland, Oct. 12, 1861. 



WHY CATTLE CHEW BONES. 



S. Edwards Todd writes frequently for the 

 Country Gejitleman, is a good writer, and commu- 

 nicates many valuable facts. In a late number of 

 that excellent paper, he assigns as a reason why 

 "cattle try to eat bones," that they lack salt. In 

 this we think he is mistaken. In this section, 

 our people are very attentive to their cattle in 

 this particular, giving them salt two or three 

 times a week, as much as they will eat, — and yet 

 it is no uncommon thing to see cows, especially, 

 chewing bones, with apparently great relish. 



There is a want, we think, beyond this, that is 

 unsupplied by the feed in our pastures, which 

 have been cropt for many successive years, with 

 little or nothing returned to them, to supply the 

 bone-making materials. We have never yet seen 

 an animal chewing a bone that had access to a 

 plenty of fresh erass of several varieties. It is 



