206 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



May 



agriculture, that it is "a coarse, dry, and almost 

 worthless stalk ;" "a great exhauster of the soil," 

 &c. ; "horses and cattle out West have died from 

 eating it," &c. The word coarse is enough to dis- 

 courage some. I have never got any too coarse 

 for my cows, and even the calves eat up all the 

 butts greedily. "Great exhauster of the soil." I 

 love to have the soil on my farm exhausted, by 

 getting three and four tons of the richest fodder 

 from an acre. It gives me good hope and firm be- 

 lief that it will never show exhaustion, if I but 

 feed that acre with the refuse of what was taken 

 from it. "Beasts have died from eating it," is 

 only a story of the man too indolent rightly to ap- 

 ply the best gifts of God for his own benefit. 

 Beasts have been killed outright from eating corn, 

 here in Massachusetts ! Yet no paper echoes the 

 fact. To do so would not make one hair white or 

 black, since we all know that such things are 

 brought about by mal-administration. 



Some, to whom I have sold seed, with directions 

 not to sow it till the ground is warm, (near the 

 first of June here in New England,) have sowed it 

 in March and April on the cold sod. The result 

 is immediate decay in the soil, or a dwarf exist- 

 ence, which is even worse. From such practice I 

 have often been falsely accused of selling poor 

 seed. 



I am prepared fully to testify to the good qual- 

 ities of Hungarian grass in all its forms, not be- 

 cause I wish to sell seed, as my stock of that is 

 nearly disposed of, but that I Avould like to have 

 farmers more generally help themselves to every 

 prominent good thing. Wm. Richards. 



Richmond, Mass., March 15, 1862. 



EXTBAOTS AND KEPLIES. 

 MUCK AND CORN FODDER. 



I have a large quantity of meadow muck, and 

 wish to use as much as will pay. How much can 

 I add, with profit, to my manure that is made 

 from fourteen cattle, when di'awn from the cellar ? 

 The muck was thrown out last season, and draAvn 

 from the meadow this winter. Would it be advisa- 

 ble to spread and plow in some without being mixed, 

 where I intend to plant ? Is it of much service 

 without manure mixed with it ? 



Much has been said in regard to sowing corn for 

 fodder ; I will add my testimony in its favor. Last 

 spring I planted in rows about three-fourths of an 

 acre ; the rows 1h feet apart — in the rows very 

 thick — and hoed it well ; the corn was white flat, 

 and grew finely. I used what was needful green ; 

 the rest was cut and spread on the ground before 

 the frost came. I let it lay one day, then tied in 

 small bundles and took to the barn, and hung on 

 poles over the floor. I managed to hang two 

 deep in that way, and it cured well, and my cattle 

 will eat it in preference to the best hay. My ad- 

 vice to all who have land that produces but lit- 

 tle grass is, to try it. ClLVRLES C. GRANT. 



Auburn, N. //., 18G2. 



Remarks. — On a sandy loam land, an ox-cart 

 load of muck may be spread to every square rod, 

 with advantage to the land, if the muck is of good 

 quality, and has been thrown out to the light and 

 air eight or ten months. 



You may add one load of such muck to every 



two loads of manure, profitably — but it should be 

 added gradually, as the manure is thrown into the 

 cellar. If it has not been mixed through the win- 

 ter, apply it directly to the land, and plow it in. 



RAISING calves. 



My method of raising calves agi-ees in the main 

 with that of IMr. Bassett, as given in the Farmer 

 for March 1. In some particulars, however, it dif- 

 fers, and, quite naturally, I think it diflers for the 

 better. In common with many other farmers in this 

 vicinity, I begin to give the calf hay tea as soon 

 as he has well learned to drink. This tea is made 

 by pouring boiling water on clover or herds grass, 

 and letting it steep without more boihng. It is 

 very nutritious, digests easily, and in a short time 

 the calf comes to like it quite as well as milk, if 

 not better. I begin to give them about a pint a 

 day mixed with their milk, and as they grow older 

 the proportion of tea to milk is increased. 



It seems to me injudicious to feed whole oats 

 to a calf six weeks old. He cannot chew them 

 sufficiently to make them digestible, and it will be 

 found on examination that they pass through him 

 nearly or quite unchanged. I never give oats to 

 a calf till he has done with milk, nor do I overfeed 

 with oat meal or com meal, unless it be first 

 cooked. Oat meal is preferable to corn ; corn 

 meal is too heavy food for calves, except in very 

 small quantities. Wm. W. Frost. 



Coventry, VL, March 4, 1862. 



ST. JOHN'S WORT. 



The Patent Office folks seem to be laboring un- 

 der a mistake when they say that "Ili/pericitm 

 corymhosum is but little known throughout the 

 countiy." 



On the contrary, it is generally known. I copy 

 from two reUable works. 



Oray says, "in damp places common." 



"In wet meadows and damp woods, New Eng- 

 land to Arkansas." — Wood. 



Does not Darlington refer to II. perforatum ? 

 "A hardy plant, prevailing in pastures and dry 

 soils in Canada and the IJnited States, much to 

 the annoyance of farmers." — Wood. 



"Pastures and meadows. Introduced from Eu- 

 rope, but thoroughly naturalized, and too well 

 known everywhere as a pernicious weed, which it 

 is almost impossible to extirpate." — Q-ray. 



Those Patent Office people are great blunder- 

 ers. N. 



Georgetown, Mass. 



exact STATEMENTS WANTED. 



I notice that several of your coiTespondents, in 

 stating their experiments, do not make them exact- 

 ly right according to my notion ; that is, in put- 

 ting on different kinds of manure. Some would 

 put on a certain quantity of one kind, and so 

 many pounds or bushels of another, and so on, 

 without stating the cost of each. 



Now facts are what farmers want. If ten dol- 

 lars' worth of one kind of manure or fertilizer will 

 produce more value than ten dollars' worth of an- 

 other kind, then it ought to be stated so in dollars 

 and cents, so that it can be of practical use to the 

 farmer. C. D. B. 



Uafjield, 1862. 



