1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



541 



inches in length, and nine and a half in alar ex- 

 tent. Color crimson, deepest on the head and 

 chin ; back streaked M'ith dusk}' ; wings and tail 

 dusky tinged with red. The female and young, 

 until the third year, are olive brown streaked with 

 dusky. The young males sing while in this pale 

 brown dress, from which some have inferred that 

 the females sing as well as the males. The brown 

 colored birds are much the most numerous at all 

 seasons, and I think undoubtedly breed in their 

 immature plumage. j. a, X. 



Cambridge, Mass., Oct., 1862. 



PUMPKINS AND APPLES FOK CATTLE. 



There has much been said in regard to the value 

 of pumpkins as food for stock. Some write in 

 their favor while others do not see any value in 

 them ; some saying the seeds must be taken out 

 or they are an injury to cattle ; others do not dis- 

 cover any harm in feeding them with the seeds. I 

 have been amused to hear farmers who have de- 

 voted years to their calling, say that pumjikins 

 dry up their cows ; also, that apples do the same 

 if given to them ; and that they are not worth 

 gathering for that purpose. 



For the ])urpose of ascertaining the value of 

 pumpkins for feeding purposes, I had one yoke of 

 oxen (7 years old,) weighed about the 1st of Oc- 

 tober ; also a pair of stags 3 years old, (that had 

 just been castrated,) and a yearling steer, fed with 

 them, as they were taken from the field, (that is 

 ripe or green as they might be,) but as the fall 

 was fine they were mostly ripe ones, and were 

 nearly all gathered and housed before any frost, 

 which I think should always be done to get the 

 value of them. The oxen were unruly, and were 

 fed about two bushels each per day, and then run 

 loose in a large stable, and eat from a mow of 

 wheat, that was partitioned off" from one side of 

 the stable and filled when I threshed my wheat, 

 and so fixed that they would get what they would 

 eat without wasting. The stags were also kept 

 in the stable, but fed hay and cornstalks, with 1.^ 

 bushels per day, and the steer had half a bushel 

 per day and run in the pasture, except he was 

 brought to the stable for his feed. 



The result : The oxen gained 300 pounds, one 

 stag 100 pounds, the other 120 pounds, and the 

 steer about 100 pounds, which 1 think was as 

 cheaply done as could be with meal or any other 

 feed, 'fhe stags I have no doubt would have done 

 much better, but they were not well when the ex- 

 periment commenced, as they were ])ut in the sta- 

 ble and commenced their feeding immediately af- 

 ter castration ; they were fed without any regard 

 to seeds, some being taken out of the best ones 

 for seed, the rest fed as they were. Having plen- 

 ty of pumpkins, some were given to two farrow 

 cows, and they nearly doubled their milk in the 

 months of November and December, till they were 

 all fed out. 



This year apples were too scarce to feed, but 

 I think from some experiments I have made, that 

 they tii'e at least equal to carrots in weight for 

 feeding to neat stock, and especially to milch cows, 

 they always gaining both in milk and flesh with 

 me, when fed on them. Apples and pumpkins 

 should not be suffered to freeze, as that injures 

 their feeding properties very much. — JoNA. Tal- 

 COTT, in Country Gentleman. 



For the New Eglnand Farmer. 

 MANURE, MUCK, DRAINING, &c. 



Not many years has it been my lot to live, but 

 in those few years I have given son:e attention to 

 agriculture. 1 find that the first thing in farming 

 is to have a good supply of manure. Now, the 

 question comes up, how shall the supply be ob- 

 tained ? One answers, haul muck into the yard, 

 and yard the cattle upon it. My experience with 

 muck is this, — as an absorbent and to ])rotect the 

 dropjjings of stock from the sun's rays by mixture 

 with it, it is first-rate ; but for a farmer to cart 

 more than that quantity, is useless. Great value 

 is placed on land inclined to muck, by many, and 

 they clear it up at great expense, but I have yet 

 * to learn of its superiority over other good soils. 

 It looks to me that a soil washed from neighbor- 

 ing hills submitted to a leach of time unrecorded, 

 is not equal to the virgin soil, which has in a 

 measure been protected from the storms of time 

 by the forest, and enriched by the productions of 

 that forest. 



On every fiirm there is vegetation, if properly 

 cared for, winch is the farmer's mine. It can be 

 con\ erted into a stimulant for the ]n-oduction of 

 other crops. When we see a tiller of the soil who 

 looks well to his manure heaps, we may be sure 

 that his cellars, barns and granaries are well filled ; 

 that his buildings are properly cared for, that his 

 stock is in a thriving condition, and that his purse 

 is not empty. 



Judge French, who has done more with his pen 

 than any other man in New England to incite 

 farmers to the benefits of underdraining, errs, in 

 my opinion, relative to the superiority of tile over 

 stone for under drains. I think that tile are more 

 liable to be choked than stone. I have seen the 

 latter, which have been used for years, seemingly 

 as free as the day when laid ; but I may eiT. 

 Farmers on almost all farms have stone which 

 would be a benefit to remove, and of course, if in 

 the process of removal they are transferred to the 

 place to be drained, without much extra cost, then 

 he has the material to build without buying. To 

 procure tile within himself he must go to the ex- 

 pense of manufacturing, which only a few farmers 

 have the convenience to do. I have yet to learn 

 that there are many cases where one can lay tile 

 drains cheaper than stone, if the farmer has stone 

 upon his estate. s. P. N. 



Ca2)e Elizabeth, Oct., 1862. 



God Governs Barns. — A wealthy capitalist, 

 who had made the most of his own fortune, and 

 what was harder, taken care of it, gives the follow- 

 ing as the secret of his success : "Honor the I.-crd 

 with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all 

 thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with 

 plenty, and thy presses burst forth with new 

 wine." The philosophy of the matter is simply 

 this, God governs barns. We arc willing to allow 

 that he governs nations, and guides parliaments, 

 and directs battle-fields. But Solomon, more- 

 over, knew that he presides over wheat-fields, sta- 

 bles, and wine-presses. We acknowledge that 

 God is to be worshipped in churches with prayers 

 and psalms ; but Solomon will have it that he is 

 to be praised also with thrashing implements and 

 gi-ain wagons. Reader, do you act as if you 

 agree with him ? 



