1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



259 



For the New England Farmer. 



SA^WDUST AS AOr ABSORBENT— TO 

 MEASURE A TON OF HAY. 



Mr. Editou : — As I have used considerable 

 sawdust for the last year, and with very good suc- 

 cess, I do not hesitate to say that it is the very 

 best thing to use for bedding under cattle and 

 horses. It is very absorbent, and will take in a 

 large quantity of water. Put it inulcr the cattle 

 and it will soak up the liquid, and keep them nice 

 and dry. It is also a good fixer of ammonia. Every 

 one knoAvs, who is familiar with the horse stable, 

 that on entering it he finds a very bad odor aris- 

 ing. If you Avould use a half-bushel of sawdust a 

 day, for each horse, on the sta!)le floor, it would 

 prevent it entirely, and add greatly to the manure- 

 heap. 



TO MEASURE A TON OF HAY. 



In the Farmer of November 30th, in an article 

 on weights and measures, it is said that one hun- 

 dred cubic feet of hay, in a solid mow or stack, 

 will weigh a ton. I think this is a mistake, and it 

 is very important that every farmer should know 

 how to reckon up his hay, after he gets through 

 haying. A mow of hay that is well stowed, will 

 weigh out a ton to every five hundred cubic feet, 

 or if it is of a very fine quality, from four to five 

 hundred feet will make a ton. Five hundred cu- 

 bic feet is as small a number as we can often reck- 

 on a ton of hay in. A ton of pressed hay will 

 measure over two hundred feet. a. l. w. 



Hojje, Me., April, 1862. 



Remarks. — Thank you, sir. We do not find 

 the article to which you refer, but if it stated 100 

 cubic feet for a ton, it was a mistake. We have 

 often given these estimates. In the monthly Far- 

 mer for January, 1860, we give the estimates of 

 several persons. One says, that "the top of a 

 mow, say about one-third, would require 800 cu- 

 bic feet to the ton ; the middle 700 feet, and the 

 bottom 600 feet." Another, that at the bottom of 

 a mow 400 feet will make a ton, and that a whole 

 barn full weighed out, averaged a little less than 

 500 feet to the ton. Another of our coiTespond- 

 ents states that farmers in his region estimate that 

 from 400 to 500 cubic feet to the ton, according to 

 the position in which it lies, is sufficient. 



BURSTING- OF AN ICEBERG. 



A few years ago, a French man-of-war Avas ly- 

 ing at anchor in Temple Bay ; the younger officers 

 resolved on amusing themselves with an iceberg, 

 a mile or more distant in the Straits. They made 

 sumptuous preparations for a picnic upon the very 

 top of it, the mysteries of which they were curious 

 to see. All warnings of the brown and simple 

 fishermen, in the ears of the smartly-dressed gen- 

 tlemen who had seen the world, were quite idle. 

 It was a bright summer morning, and the jolly 

 boat, with a showy flag, went off to the berg. By 

 twelve o'clock, the colors were flying from the ice 

 turrets, and the wild midshipmen Avere shouting 

 from its walls. For two hours or so, ihey hacked 

 and clambered upon the crystal palace, frolicked 

 and feasted, drank wine to the king and ladies, 



and laughed at the thought of peril where all was 

 fixed and solid. As if in amazement at such rash- 

 ness, the grim Alp of the sea made neither sound 

 nor motion. A profound stillness watched on his 

 shining pinnacles, and hearkened in the blue 

 shadows of the caves. When, like thoughtless 

 children, they had played themselves weary, the 

 old alabaster of Greenland mercifully suffered 

 them to gather up their toys and go down to their 

 cockle of a boat and flee away. As if the time 

 and distance •were measured, he waited until they 

 could see it and live, when, as if his heart had 

 been a volcanic fire, he burst with awful thunders, 

 and filled the surrounding waters with his ruins. 

 A more astonished little party seldom come home 

 to tell the story of their panic. It was their fii'st, 

 and theii- last day of amusement with an iceberg. 



For the Netp England Farmer. 

 HOP CULTURE. 



In reply to Mr. Stanford's inquiry in regard to 

 raising hops, I Avould advise him to continue the 

 cultivation of his yard, as I think they will com- 

 mand a remunerative price, from the fact that 

 hops have been very low for a few years past, and 

 consequently, many yards have been plowed up or 

 neglected, so that the supply will not be as large 

 for a few yeai's to come as in yeai*s past. Having 

 lived in Otsego county, the great hop-yard of New 

 York, and worked in the hop-yards considerably, 

 I will state their mode of cultivation. 



The first year, they are cultivated like corn, 

 no poles being set, and in the fall a shovelful of 

 coarse manure is thrown on each hill, to keep them 

 from freezing, and also to keep the land in good 

 condition. The next spring the poles are set, two 

 in each hill, as soon as they begin to show them- 

 selves out of the ground. The poles should be 

 set very firm, to resist the winds, which exert a 

 tremendous power on them when loaded with 

 vines. Poles are generally cut eighteen to tw-enty 

 feet long, which admits of their being sharpened 

 two or three times if they rot off, as they always 

 do in a few years. The land must be cultivated 

 the same as for corn, keeping the weeds down, 

 and hilling the hops up about the fii-st of July, the 

 same as corn. As soon as the hops are from two 

 to four feet high, they must be tied to the poles 

 with woolen yarn, putting two vines to the poles 

 and cutting off all others close to the ground. 

 Nothing more is necessary until picking time, ex- 

 cept to keep watch and fasten up vines that hap- 

 pen to fall down, and re-set the poles if any should 

 happen to blow over. The picking is usually done 

 by women and boys at about two cents per bushel. 

 Boxes made of thin, light wood, and holding from 

 twenty to thirty bushels are used to pick them in ; 

 foui- picking in a box, and having one man to pull 

 the poles, cut off the vines, and lay them on the 

 box. Large sacks are used to carry them to the 

 kiln where they are dried before they are market- 

 able. 



The size of the kiln must depend on the size of 

 the yard. A yard of two acres would require a 

 kiln about fourteen by sixteen feet, and twelve 

 foot posts ; the lower room seven feet between 

 joints, and lathed and plastered, so as to be perfect- 

 ly tight, except overhead, where there should be 

 floor timbers eighteen inches apart, and a floor of 



