1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



119 



them. Not only this, but many others are now 

 meeting with equal success in similar cultivation, 

 and the sale of these patent fruit baskets is al- 

 ready quite extensive. 



AN HOUR WITH THE MIIiCH COWS. 



We recently had the pleasure of visiting the 

 barn of Mr. Abiel II. Wheeler, of Concord, in 

 this State, of looking at his herd of milch cows, 

 and learning from him some of his ideas as to the 

 best stock for milking purposes, and the manner 

 in wliich he feeds and shelters them, in order to 

 secure the largest possible product of good milk. 



His barn is 85X41 feet, nearly all the north- 

 west side being used as bay room for hay, and his 

 stock consists of twenty cows, two horses, two 

 bulls and several swine. The bulls arc pure Ayr- 

 shires, are matched, hardy and docile, and are 

 usually in the yoke whenever there is heavy work 

 to be done. He has pure Ayrshire cows, and 

 thinks this stock, for milking purposes, as good as 

 any of the favorite breeds among us. He cuts 

 about 60 tons of hay annually, and on a portion 

 of his land at the rate of five tons per acre. The 

 cattle are all confined in stancheons, in one lean- 

 to, and are bedded with fine, pine shavings from a 

 neighboring pail factory, or with pine leaves gath- 

 ered from the forest. The cows were all scrupu- 

 lously clean, no droppings or dust being allowed 

 to accumulate upon them — of course the floors 

 under them were clean and sweet. 



His mode of feeding is as follows. All the va- 

 rious kinds of fodder, excepting corn fodder, are 

 cut, and the straw and different qualities of hay 

 are mixed, and fed dry. The cattle eat this so 

 readily that he says not a bushel of orts has been 

 left from it during the winter. Each cow also re- 

 ceives in grain of some kind what is equal to three 

 quarts of corn meal per day, v,-hich is fed by itself. 

 The corn fodder is fed to them uncut, from which 

 they take what they please, and the remainder is 

 worked up with other coarse litter for manure. 

 Under this feed the cows keep in good condition, 

 and yield a liberal flow of milk. He thinks this a 

 profitable mode of using the fodder. The cattle 

 are tied up at night through the year, and are al- 

 ways supplied with abundant manure-making ma- 

 terials. The barn-yard is dishing, and amply cov- 

 ered with litter and muck to absorb all the li- 

 quids that fall upon it. 



His barn-cellar is of equal extent with the barn 

 itself — the north side being filled with the various 

 vehicles of the farm, and the other side with the 

 droppings, where a stout hand was overhauling, 

 pulverizing and mixing them with muck, sand, 

 pine leaves, or such other materials as he had 

 stored up for winter use. 



Mr. AViiEELEK has one acre and one-fourth in 

 asparagus. Tliis is cultivated with care, and has 



brought him in cash the sum of $500 in a single 

 year. The asparagus tops are deposited in the 

 barn-yard, in the spring. He top-dresses his grass 

 lands liberally in the fall and keeps them well 

 seeded, which may account for the product of Jive 

 tons per acre which he has cut. 



Near the buildings he has a fine orchard of 300 

 or 400 young apple trees, and about 50 ])ear trees, 

 which greatly improve the appearance of the farm, 

 and which promise to be a source of future profit. 

 Every thing about his buildings — so far as a win- 

 ter view could go — appeared convenient and tidy. 

 The stock was warm and contented, the buildings 

 themselves in good repair, the wood-houses filled 

 with dry wood, and both wood and water so "han- 

 dy" as to have a strong tendency to keep all the 

 family in a complacent frame of mind. 



Mr. Wheeler is one of the best plov/nien 

 probably in the States, and few, if any, have car- 

 ried away more prizes from the field of competi- 

 tion than he has. He not only superintends, but 

 takes a leading part in all the labor of the farm, 

 and during the winter has the entire charge of the 

 stock. Indeed, if we saw anything in wliich we 

 thought he should make a change, it is that he 

 should labor less. He is at present the President 

 of the Concord Farmers^ Club, where he presides 

 with great punctuality and promptness, and evin- 

 ces the same enthusiasm that he does in all that 

 he imdertakes. 



]\Ir. W. has a son in the army, now a prisoner 

 at New Orleans. He was taken at Bull Ilun, 

 wliile remaining by the side of a sick associate. 



For the Ncjc England Fanner. 

 DISSEMZBTATION OP FOtTL SEEDS. 



Mr. Editor : — Can there not be some remedy 

 devised to prevent the vending of foul seeds with 

 the seed we wish to purchase, and also to compel 

 negligent, slovenly farmers, to extirpate all nox- 

 ious weeds and plants that are liable to be carried 

 by the wind and birds to the premises of adjoining 

 neighbors ? 



1 am of the opinion, that most of our hay seeds 

 contain more or less foul seed, and that many a 

 careful former finds himself taxed with many a 

 weary day's work in consequence. I think this is 

 a grov.'ing evil, from the fact that I see many more 

 noxious, worthless plants than formerly, in all the 

 region I am acquainted with. I know of many 

 farms that are so overrun with wild carrot as to 

 diminish the rents fifty per cent., and in some 

 cases even more. These are, or were, valuable 

 lands on the south-east end of Rhode Island. 

 From the opposite side of the bay, many of these 

 farms, when the carrot is in bloom, arc as white as 

 if covered with snow. Plowing don't destroy it, 

 and mowing seems to spread it, as the root sends 

 out immediately numerous shoots to take the place 

 of those cut off. It is a kind of hydra monster. 

 Nothing but plucking it out by the roots will ex- 

 tirpate it. It is now quite common all through 



