568 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



the dog, Tvhose ravages can be greatly checked 

 by enforcing the laws of our State. 



If we can remove the foregoing objections, I 

 know of no way so easy, cheap, and withal so 

 profitable, as to stock our rocky and bushy pas- 

 tures with sheep. I believe it to be a well authen- 

 ticated fact, that sheep will eat many more kinds 

 of plants than either the horse or cow, and sev- 

 eral varieties the sheep will utterly destroy, that 

 horse nor cow will touch. 



There are several other methods of renovating 

 pastures, such as sowing on plaster, salt and 

 lime, cither of which are good fertilizers on cer- 

 tain soils. Salt I think the best for killing brush, 

 and, if used freely, will kill nearly all kinds, ex- 

 cept the cherry, or stone fruit trees ; but I have 

 not experimented enough with either to give any 

 specific directions, although I think them worthy 

 of trial in a small way. 



I have, however, used salt for killing elm trees 

 and small bunches of brush inmymowlands, with 

 good success, never having but one elm start, 

 and that soon died. My way is, to cut the tree 

 60 as to leave a hollow in the stump, put in from 

 a pint to a quart of salt in each hollow, and the 

 work is done. I will refer for a moment to that 

 class of lands, generally known by the name of 

 pine, or sandy plains they are used as pastures, 

 frequently from one-fourth to three-fourths of 

 the time, and often more, and when used as such 

 they may well bo called worn out pastures ; many 

 of them have been made so by continuous crop- 

 ping with rye, without manure. These lands 

 may be greatly improved by the application of 

 meadow mud, or the turning in of green crops. 



For the New England Farmer. 



soiLiisrQ cows. 



Mr. Editor :— In the summer of 1860 I at- 

 tempted to ascertain the amount of extra labor 

 it would take on a common farm to soil, or stall- 

 feed, a small herd of cows ; but finding it difficult 

 to separate that labor, every day, from the ordi- 

 nary labor of the farm, I was obliged to content 

 myself with noting the time occupied on a few 

 days at different season, and under differing cir- 

 cumstances, as to the luxuriance of the feed to be 

 cut, and so estimate the average time. I kept 

 eight cows through the summer. In June and 

 July, two and a half hours a day were sufficient 

 for getting the feed to the barn, giving it out to 

 the cows, watering them, and managing the com- 

 post heap. In August, three hours a day ; and in 

 September, owing to the partial failure of some 

 crops sown for use at that time, it took about four 

 hours. The crops which failed to do as well as 

 was expected, were oats and millet. My favorite 

 crop for the summer feed of milch cows, after 

 several years' experience, and trying a variety, is 

 clover. Like all other plants, this is liable to oc- 

 casional failure ; but if it shows well in the spring, 

 is on good soil, and has been well manured, there 

 is, in my experience, hardly any crop that yields 

 80 large a return for the labor bestowed. On the 

 9th of June, 1800, when the clover had just be- 

 gun to blossom, the produce of seven and a half 

 rods weighed 1415 pounds. This is at the rate of 

 30,180 pounds, or a little more than 15 tons to 

 the acre, at the first cutting. My eight cows, (of 



about average size,) ate 1200 pounds of that clo- 

 ver in one day. An acre like this would therefore 

 feed one cow 201 days at one cutting. I did not 

 weigh the second cutting, but think the amount 

 taken off, was at least, two-thirds as large as the 

 first, or 20,000 pounds, and the third not less 

 than 15,000 pounds ; a total for the whole season 

 of about 05,000 pounds, or 32i tons of green fod- 

 der, of the best quality, from one acre ; equal to 

 the feed of one cow for 433 days, allowing, as 

 above, 150 pounds a day. 



To ascertain the amount of hay in this fodder, 

 I dried 100 pounds, which then weighed but 17 

 pounds, showing that it contained, green, 83 per 

 cent, of water, above what remains in what we 

 call dry hay. So each cow ate daily equal to 25^ 

 pounds of hay, mixed with 124^ pounds of water. 



Those who have committed blunders are per- 

 mitted, I believe, to caution others against fall- 

 ing into the same wrong courses. My faith in 

 clover, as expressed above, was so strong at the 

 beginning of the season just past, that, trusting 

 in the fine promise of my fields in the early 

 spring, I neglected to prepare for a sufficiency of 

 other crops to keep up a convenient supply of 

 green fodder for the whole season. The first cut- 

 ting of clover was good, and the weather such, in 

 the early part of June, as to give good promise 

 for the future ; and thinking I had an abundant 

 supply, I cut and haj'ed some that was beginning 

 to fall down about the middle of June. But im- 

 mediately after there came on a spell of very 

 warm and dry weather, that so scorched the sur- 

 face of the ground as to prevent the starting of 

 the expected second growth, or at least so checked 

 it that there was but a very light crop, and con- 

 sequently I came sadly short of feed, and was 

 obliged to use much grass that was intended for 

 hay, and use it, too, when it had become too ripe 

 to serve the purpose well, the cows looking dis- 

 contented when it was placed before them. The 

 season's experience has convinced me strongly 

 that it is unsafe to indulge a sanguine faith in a 

 close calculation. It is best to make a liberal al- 

 lowance against the uncertainties of the weather, 

 for the surplus is always available for hay. 



Concord, October 31, 1801. M. P. 



THE FOOT OF A HORSE. 



The human hand has often been taken to illus- 

 trate Divine wisdom — and very well. But have 

 you examined your horse's foot ? Its parts are 

 somewhat complicated, yet their design is simple 

 and obvious. The hoof is not, as it appears to 

 the careless eye, a mere lump of insensible bone, 

 fastened to the leg by a joint. It is made up of 

 a series of thin layers, or leaves of horn, about 

 five hundred in number, nicely fitted to each oth- 

 er and forming a lining to the foot itself. Then 

 there are many more layers belonging to what is 

 called the coffin bone, and fitted into this. These 

 are elastic. Take a quire of paper, and insert 

 the leaves one by one, into those of another quire, 

 and you will get some idea of the arrangements 

 of the several layers. Now, the weight of the 

 horse rests on as many elastic springs as there 

 are layers in his fore feet — about four thousand ; 

 and all this contrived, not only for the easy coi>- 

 veyance of the horse's own body, but whatever 

 burden may be laid upon him. 



