862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



211 



with a few little potatoes ; and with this feed I get 

 as much growth in the winter as, with a good pas- 

 ture, I get in the summer. On pleasant days, 

 when there is no ice to injure them, they should 

 always have their liberty to exercise out of doors. 

 It is as cruel to confine a high-spirited colt con- 

 stantly by his halter, as to confine a high-spirited, 

 ambitious child to the house. 



Farmers, raise good colts, from the best of 

 stock ; keep them constantly growing, without 

 pampering; give them judicious training when 

 young ; allow them every favorable opportunity 

 lor free exercise, and we shall have what every 

 sensible man or woman admires, good horses. 



J. F. French. 



North Hampton, March, 1862. 



Remarks. — Excellent. No suggestions with re- 

 gard to colts can be more judicious. The highest 

 spirited colt we ever saw, we broke in accordance 

 with the suggestions given by Mr. French. We 

 began by putting on the bridle, only, and contin- 

 ued through an entire month to add various parts 

 of the harness, until he was perfectly accustomed 

 to every part of it. He was allowed to stand with 

 the harness on from morning until noon, when it 

 was taken off", the colt watered and fed, and after 

 dinner a part or the whole harness put on again. 

 At the end of this time we put him to a light 

 wagon, alone, and drove him a mile, and had no 

 trouble with liim afterward. 



FOWL MANTTRE. 



No manure obtained by the farmer is as valua- 

 ble as the manure from the poultry house. Of 

 this there is no question, and yet we can hardly 

 answer the question, "In what way is it best to use 

 it ?" This manure is made only in small quanti- 

 ties, and it may be that, as a general thing, much 

 of it is wasted. It may be thrown with other ma- 

 nure, muck and refuse on the compost heap, but 

 our plan is to save for special purposes, and we 

 generally use it in the vegetable garden, where it 

 is not only valuable, but exceedingly convenient. 

 When dry, it may be sown with onion or other 

 seeds in the drills, at planting-time, and four or 

 five quarts put into a barrel of rain water makes a 

 most superb liquid manure for any beds of young 

 plants that need stimulating. In this form we use 

 it for our melons and cucumbers, as soon as they 

 appear above ground, to put them out of the way 

 of the "bugs," and on beds of cabbage, cauliflower 

 plants, &c., for the same purpose. Celery plants, 

 after being set out in the trenches, may be hurried 

 up amazingly by being watered two or three times 

 a week with this liquid food. If magnificent sweet 

 corn is wanted, half a pint of the dry hen dung, 

 finely scattered in each hill, will give it, and no 

 mistake. If you have been able to grow only 

 hard, hot, wormy radishes, next spring sow the 

 seed in very shallow drills, (not too early) in a 

 warm, sheltered place, then cover the bed with a 

 thin dressing of coal ashes, and water with the 

 liquid hen manure each alternate night, and if the 

 season is as favorable as ordinary, you will have 

 no cause to repent the trial. A little charcoal dust 

 is better than coal ashes. — Rural New-Yorker. 



LEGISLATIVE AGRrCULTITBAL SOCIETY. 



Reported for the Farmer by D. W. Lothrop. 



The eleventh meeting of the series was held on 

 Monday evening last, the subject for discussion 

 being Farm Implements. 



Hon. Wm. B. Calhoun, of Springfield, was 

 invited to preside ; but he observed that while the 

 subject was important, he was not prepared to 

 say much upon it. Machinery is producing a rev- 

 olution in agriculture, and our mechanics had been 

 very active, both in hands and in mind, resulting 

 in beneficial eflfects in all the departments of labor. 

 He would venture to call upon Mr. Howard, as he 

 had consented to speak upon this topic. 



Mr. Howard, of the Boston Cultivator, re- 

 sponded, and believed with the Chairman, that a 

 revolution in farm husbandry was noM' going on, 

 in this country certainly, and that the ingenuity of 

 American mechanics was jiroverbial. They take 

 the lead, he thought, of the world. In some of 

 the inventions and improvements in farm imple- 

 ments we owe to America the undivided honor. 

 Some of these are important in the economy of 

 feeding the population of the world. He referred 

 to the Crimean War, and spoke of the scarcity of 

 grain in Europe at that time, and the importance 

 of our sowing and reaping machines in furnishing 

 a plentiful supply. At a later period, also, France 

 and England were deficient in crops of grain, yet 

 we had enough and to spare. 



The Heaping Machine, Mr. Howard observed, 

 was not in its incipiency American — it originating 

 in England, but failing there of being perfect, the 

 genius of this country completed it. In 1851, Mr. 

 McCormick took Ms machine to England, where 

 it was tested under some disadvantages, on the 

 farm of Mr. Mechi ; yet it sustained itself, and not 

 only cut down the wheat, but also English preju- 

 dices to American machines. Yet in England it 

 has been somewhat modified to fit it to their 

 heavier crops. The Mowing Machine is an Amer- 

 ican invention. Allen's (with certain modifica- 

 tions) received the first premium of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, in 1860, and the preference 

 was generally for American machines. The last 

 year, also, we took the fii'st premium in mowing 

 machines. 



There are many other implements in which 

 America shines. To the American axe there is 

 nothing superior, and we may regard it as the em- 

 blem of the civilization of the western hemisphere. 

 Our mechanics, too, take the lead in manure and 

 hay forks. The old ones were very thick and 

 clumsy ; Partridge's are light and superior. In 

 this matter the English are improving. Our im- 

 provement in shovels has also been great : once 

 we had only those whose handle was driven into a 

 socket. Oliver Ames stands out prominently as 

 the inventor of the American shovel, and so of the 



