1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



principle, and you will be a speaker before you 

 realize it — I know by experience and observation ; 

 try it, and if you don't find it so, pi-esent your bill 

 to me, and I will cash it, poor as I am. R. N. 

 Randolph, Vt., Jan. 1, 1863. 



Remarks. — Excelleiit. Your Club is probably 

 as valuable to the town as the best district school 

 in it. We shall always he glad to hear from you. 



For the Xeic Enylnnd Farmer. 

 ERROES IN BOOKS AND NE"WSPAPERS. 



If books and agricultural newspapers were more 

 careful in their statements thei'e would not be so 

 frequent sneers among the common jjcople about 

 book farming. They often expose themselves to 

 these contemptuous remarks. Even the Farmer 

 is not always free from mistakes. In your last 

 week's paper, you have an article from the Valleji 

 Farmer, on the sources of plant food, iii which is 

 an absm-d statement of experiment, from which 

 it is said has been shown that about two-thirds of 

 the carbon of plants is derived from the atmos- 

 phere. This is all well, whether true or not ; but 

 it adds that in some cases double or triple that 

 amount. Now consider what portion of carbon 

 comes from the atmosphere in these cases of 

 double or triple the usual quantity — that is, 

 four or six-thirds, besides what is derived from 

 other sources — a third more or double the whole. 

 Scarcely is a paper published without containing 

 just such absurdities from the writers in it. It 

 reminds me of the remark of the late eccentric 

 Dr. Ramsay, in pointing out the errors of authors 

 on anatomy, who preferred writing to working, 

 and compared them to his servant Donald, who 

 upset him into the gutter in Edinburgh, and 

 being questioned, why he did so, replied that he 

 wanted to cut a dash. 



Your correspondent, J. W. Brown, in the same 

 issue enumerates many amusing so-called experi- 

 ments on feeding stock. One of Mr. Montague, 

 to prove raw food preferable for pigs, to cooked. 

 The two fed on eight bushels of raw meal gained, 

 while two others kept half-starved on four bush- 

 els lost. Perhaps Mr. Montague might satisfy 

 himself on the subject by trpng to fat two pigs 

 on raw potatoes, and at the same time give tM'o 

 others the same quantity cooked. The result of 

 such an experiment, fairly made, Avould be worth 

 publishing. RuFUS McIntire. 



Farsonsfield, Dec. 29, 1862. 



ble, should not devote a portion of his time to 

 the study of agriculture, as well as the one who 

 intends to be a merchant to studying book-keep- 

 ing, or the one who intends to be a public speak- 

 er to studying rhetoric. 



It must be remembered that public opinion has 

 greatly changed within the past fifty years, in re- 

 gard to the intelligence of farmers. It is not fifty 

 vears since a Boston paper inquired what right the 

 farmer had to lay his huge ])aws upon the statute 

 book, and thought they were better adapted to 

 the use of the muck-rake and the manure-fork ! 

 But those days are ])assed by, as the increase of 

 agricultural jjublications will' fully show. I think 

 that improvements in agricultural implements and 

 literature must go hand in hand, aiul, if we con- 

 tinue to progress, we shall take the position in 

 society which rightfully belongs to us. My main 

 hope of salvation to the country rests upon the 

 intelligence of the farmers. They never will sub- 

 mit to be slaves, and I hope ere long to see more 

 of them have the control of our public aflfairs. 

 Thomas Haskell. 



West Gloucester, Dec. 12, 1862. 



For the New England Farmer. 



STUDY YOUR CALIiINQ. 



Mr. Editor : — The discussion of the expedi- 

 ency of introducing the study of agriculture into 

 our common schools is an open question in the 

 Farmer at the jjresent time. And as I like to 

 have a word to say upon subjects interesting to 

 farmers, I thought I would give my opinion. I 

 presimie that all intelligent persons will admit 

 that the practice of a calling can be more readily 

 learned, if the theory be well understood. I can 

 see no reason why a boy that intends to be a 

 farmer, after he has fairly mastered reading, wri- 

 ting and arithmetic, which I consider indispensa- 



For the \ew FngUtnd Farmer. 



COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD FOR 

 SWINE. 



Mr Editor : — A short time since you invited 

 young men to write for the Ntio Fnyland Far- 

 mer. I belong to that class, therefore I take my 

 pen to note down a few facts. Much has been 

 written in regard to feeding cooked and uncooked 

 food to swine. Exjjeriments have been tried, and 

 different conclusions arrived at. The decision of 

 your correspondent is in favor of cooking the 

 meal. I think it is an established fact, that one 

 bushel of cooked meal will make as nmch pork 

 as one bushel and one-half of uncooked meal. 

 That is, meal that would be worth only fifty cents 

 per bushel to feed raw, would be worth seventy- 

 five cents if cooked. According to experiments, 

 the ])roduce of one acre ground and cooked, will 

 make as much jjork as the ])roduce of one acre 

 and one-half fed raw. Pigs will take on flesh a 

 little faster to feed them raw meal, for the reason 

 that they eat a larger quantity than they do when 

 it is made into mush. But the largest ])rofit from 

 the least outlay, is what suits the true Yankee. 



Mr. Sidney Mead, of this town, killed, a few 

 days since, two small spring pigs nine months old, 

 which were a good argument in favor of cooking 

 the meal. They weighed as follows : The heavi- 

 est one, 400 pounds, fat included. The lightest 

 one, 35o pounds. I do not admire swine much 

 myself, but those who do called them handsome 

 pigs. Our Saviour made swine very useful, and it 

 would have been far lietter for tiie human race, if 

 hogs had always been used to drown Devils with, 

 instead of breeding disease in the human system. 



In the Patent ()ftice Report for the year 1847 

 is an interesting letter, from Mr. Henry L. Ells- 

 worth, of Indiana, stating the residt of exj)eri- 

 ments he tried, to test the value of cooked and 

 uncooked food for swine. After exjierimenting a 

 long time on four hogs, he came to the following 

 conclusion : — That raw food is, to the cooked 

 food, as 66 to 103, making the gahi by cooking 

 about fifty-five per cent, over uncooked' food j or 



