254 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



June 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "WORKING HOGS. 



Mr. Editor : — I saw in your last January num- 

 ber a short article on working hogs. It is gener- 

 ally believed by farmers that hogs are valuable 

 stock to keep on a farm, not only for the flesh, but 

 for the manure they make, and for the labor which 

 they do on the manure heap. Now this is a grand 

 mistake. Hogs can never create any manure ; all 

 that they can do is to leave the surplus of what 

 you give them after taking out the nouinshment 

 of their bodies. As to their working on manure 

 heaps, I should rather they would work on their 

 own land, as there is nothing so injurious to a 

 manure heap as to keejJ digging and stirring it 

 over, and tliis is a work which many farmers want 

 their hogs to do. 



It is painful to see farmers drawing out their 

 summer manure in the fall, and turning it down 

 in heaps on their plowed fields, there to take the 

 peltings of wind and storm through the winter, 

 and then in the spring draw out their winter ma- 

 nure and pile it on top, then dig it over two or 

 three times before they get it into the ground. 

 Did j^ou ever hear of any one offended with the 

 smell in digging over a heap of manure managed 

 in this way ? The reason is plain ; the gases go 

 to the four winds, and its nutritious .quality is 

 wasted. 



My object in these remarks is to show the farm- 

 er the loss he sustains in exposing his manure 

 heap to the action of the air, sun and rain, and the 

 depredations of working hogs. The success of 

 the farmer depends very much on the amount of 

 manure he can procure for his farm, and the easiest 

 way to get it, is to furnish every animal about the 

 barn with a sufficient quantity of soil, muck, or 

 vegetable substance, to absorb all the liquid, so 

 that nothing will ooze out and be lost ; then keep 

 the manure heap as much as possible from the ac- 

 tion of the air and the rays of the sun, tramp it 

 down as hard as you please, the harder the better, 

 and one cord of such manure is worth two coi*ds 

 worked over repeatedly, and exposed to the wind 

 and storm. 



Farmers, try the experiment. Plow in one cord 

 of each, side by side in your field, and you will 

 soon be convinced. H. 



Dernj, N. H., March 20, 1862. 



For the New England Farmer, 



THE TURNIP CROP. 



Although the turnip is raised and used extensive- 

 ly in Europe, as a valuable feed for milch cows and 

 stock in general, yet in this country they are 

 raised and fed very sparingly, as the prejudice 

 against them has arisen from the fact that they 

 impart an unpleasant taste to the milk. I admit 

 that this is the case when first fed in the flill, "for 

 perhaps two weeks," but continue to feed them, 

 and after the exph-ation of two weeks the most 

 particular taste cannot detect any unpleasantness 

 in the flavor of the milk. I have kept two milch 

 cows the past winter, principally upon English 

 turnips; they have consumed but al)nut 1200 

 pounds of hay, each cow having had one bushel of 

 turnips and one-half bushel of carrots per day. 

 The milk has been used in five difi'crcnt families, 

 without any complaint ; the cows keep in good 



flesh and have given a good supply of milk. The 

 tuniip crop I consider one of the most valuable 

 for the stock farmer, as it can be raised at a veiy 

 trifling expense, compared with any other crop. 

 The turnip can be soAved after early vegetables are 

 taken from the land. I had about an acre of land 

 from which I took a good crop of English hay last 

 July, I then plowed and sowed it with English 

 strap-leaved turnip, from which I gathered the 

 same season upM'ards of 200 bushels, using but 

 320 pounds of Mapes' super-phosphate of lime. 

 This season I intend to sow it down with Hunga- 

 rian grass, therefore losing no time, and raising 

 the turnip at a trifling expense. J. s. I. 



Salem, Feb. 12, 1862. 



THE DAM AT NORTH BTT.T.ERICA. 



We give below a little piece of history in rela- 

 tion to this dam, which is probably not generally 

 known. At the hearing before the Legislative 

 committee, in February last, one of the counsel for 

 the Talbots occupied a considerable portion of his 

 argument on the point that no complaint had been 

 made by the early settlers of the town that this 

 dam was a principal cause of the flooding of the 

 meadows. The following facts are incontroverti- 

 ble, and show what sort of agency is resorted to, 

 to continue this unjust and wicked oppression 

 upon an unofiending and long-suffering people. 



There is no one thing that so disgraces the 

 State of Massachusetts as the law upon her stat- 

 ute books, that allows the private property of her 

 citizens to be taken from them without their con- 

 sent ! It is a shame upon her fair fame, and is sus- 

 tained, entirely, by a combination of the maniifac- 

 turing interests, to the great wrong of many of 

 our best citizens, and injury to our agricultural 

 prosperity. Let us see what are some of the 

 facts. 



His Excellency, the Governor, in his last annu- 

 al address to the Legislature, called the attention 

 of that body to the subject of flowing and draining 

 lands in the following words : — "In this connection 

 I desire also to call the attention of the Legisla- 

 ture to a measure of justice and public utility 

 which will restore to cultivation many acres of the 

 richest and most productive lands in the State." 

 This subject of flowing and draining lands received 

 the attention of the General Court early in the 

 last century, and an act was passed in 1702, de- 

 signed to relieve wet lands of their burdens, and 

 to make them valuable to the colonists. The 

 Commonwealth might be benefited by an act of 

 similar import, if the provisions of it could be 

 faithfully carried out. 



The act to which allusion has been made is 

 styled "An Act for appointing Commissioners of 

 Sewers." The preamble to this act is stated in 

 the following language : "Whereas, gi'eat quanti- 

 ties of meadows and low grounds belonging to 

 sundry persons in several towns, are spoiled by 



