104 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. 



Calendar fbr March Page 73 



Pleuro Pneumonia — Army Horses 74 



Cultivation of Nuts— What Ought to be 75 



Farmers' Clubs 75 



Errors in Books and Newspapers 77 



Study your Calling — Cooked and Uncooked Food for Swine.. 77 



Culture of Pears 78 



Happy New Year 80 



Flax Culture, No. 1 81 



Whittemore's Vesetable Cutter 81 



Extracts and Replies 83,91,97 



The Apple Crop 83 



Rotary Farmers' Clubs 84 



Hudson River Highlands— Grape Growing 85 



Winter Feeding of Sheep 86 



Preserving Milk 8weet 86 



Preparation of Produce for Market 87 



Culture of Chiccory — Guano Reports — Error Corrected 88 



Ag. College of Pennsylvania — Orchard Culture. . 89 



American Pomological Society 89 



Hop Crop — Hungarian Soil 90 



Experiments in Feeding Hogs 90 



Glue for Ready Use 91 



Rule for Reducing Chains, &c., to Feet 92 



Sick Pig and Cattle— Yellow Locust 92 



Winter Snow — Save Your Fodder 93 



The Weather— Ventilation in Stables 93 



Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Ag. Society 9o 



Middlesex Agricultural Society — Fitchburg Railroad 94 



Life of Asa G. Sheldon 95 



Yokes — Film on Horse's Eye — Blistered Hands 95 



Diseased Pigs — Charcoal — Hungarian Millet 96 



Wintering Stock 97 



Queries about Top-Dressing — Railroad Fences 98 



Culture of Sweet Potato— Why Salt is Healthful 99 



Legislative Agricultural Meetings ....100 



Maple Sugar — New Canal Project 101 



Plant One Acre More— Profit of Sheep 102 



Increase the Fodder 102 



Remedy for Cattle Gnawing Bones 103 



God Speed the Plough — Spanish Merino Sheep 103 



Cattle Market for Februarj' 104 



A m:ember of the Belgian Central Society of 

 agriculture has recommended to the attention of 

 the society a new variety of the potato, which is 

 remarkable in the triple point of view of flavor, 

 abundance and facility of preservation. It appears 

 to be a variety of what is called chardon in Bel- 

 gium. The stalk grows to the height of twelve 

 inches, and throws out many branches. The blos- 

 som is of a pale violet color, and produces no 

 fruit. A field of one acre of third class quality, 

 lightly manured, produced 22,000 kilogrammes of 

 sound potatoes. The neighboring farmers were 

 astonished, not only at the enormous produce, but 

 at the absence of any unsound potatoes. The crop 

 was dug out on October 12th. 



^ff' The French iron-clad steamship La Nor- 

 mandie — so late Havana advices state — has been 

 sent back to France, as it has been found the crew 

 could not live in the hot climate of the Gulf of 

 Mexico with the defective ventilation of that ship. 

 This circumstance, together with the fact that the 

 vessel was strained on her voyage out, shows that 

 the French have as much trouble with their iron- 

 clads as have the English or Americans with theirs. 

 The critics of the Monitors, therefore, may be con- 

 soled. 



S^^ Mr. Jesse Hinds, of Brandon, Vt., recently 

 sold and delivered to C. D. Sweet, of North Ben- 

 nington, twenty-six two years old, and four year- 

 ling ewes — in all, thirty sheep, for the snug little 

 sum of three thousand dollars. 



CATTLE MARKETS FOB FEBKUAKY. 



The following is a summary of the reports fbr the five weeks 

 ending February 19, 1863: 



NUMBER AT MARKET. * 



Sheep and Shotes and Live 



Cattle. Lambs. Pigs. Fat Hogs. Veals. 



January 22.... 1802 3058 250 3100 20 



«' 29.... 1983 3881 180 1500 20 



February 5..., 1711 2145 170 500 30 



" 12. ...1202 3171 60 364 25 



" 19.... 1504 2764 — 60 50 



Total 8,202 15,019 650 5,624 145 



The following table exhibits the number of cattle and sheep 

 from several States, for the last five weeks, and for the corres- 

 ponding five weeks last year ; also, the total number from Jan- 

 uary Ist to February 19, eight weeks of each year: 



THIS TEAR. LAST TEAR. 



Cattle. Sheep. Cattle. Sheep. 



Maine 1245 443 487 422 



New Hampshire 1182 2396 511 1270 



Vermont 2706 3260 1589 3447 



Massachusetts 716 3956 502 2498 



Northern New York 208 647 j jgg j^g 



Canada 31 6 | 



Western States 2114 4311 2696 6069 



Total, last five weeks, 8,202 15,019 5,981 13,809 



Total, since Jan. 1,(8 w'ks,) 12,121 22,812 10,330 33,165 



• Remarks. — The market of the first of the foregoing five weeka 

 may be characterised as buoyant ; the next two as dull, some 

 cattle being held over each week, but with no great change in 

 prices ; and the last two weeks as quite brisk, — all the sheep 

 and most of the cattle being sold Tuesday. The prices of live 

 stock appear to be gradually advancing, more in consequence of 

 the rise of hides, pelts and tallow, than of the rise in meat, which 

 however, is considerable. 



PRICES. 

 Jan.%1. Jan.1°i. Feh.b. i^e6.12. Feb.\9 

 Beef,lst,2d&3dqual..5 (g7 5 ig7 5 @7 5^@7i b\®1\ 



" a few extra Il&lh 7ift7i 7Jg7J 7Jg8 7VS8 



Sheep and lambs, ^ !b..5 s6i 5 @6.i 5|a6J 5^-27 5|(@7J 

 Swine, stores, wh'sale.4ig5 43^5 4ig5 4 @ 4 @ 

 » '< retail.... 5 %f,\ 5 ©6^ 5 (§6^ 4 (g6 4 @6 



Hides, #"» 7Jg8 7iS8 7ig8 7iig8 8 §8^ 



Pelts, each, $2 @ $2 (g2i$2 52^$2^g3 $2^33 



Tallow, 4?lb 8@ 8® 8® ©8^ 8^g9 



Fat Cattle. — The cattle mentioned below were at market 

 February 19th. 



Mr. J. C. Batchelder sold to J. B. Thomas, of Danvers, 9 cat- 

 tle from the town of Stowe, Vt. ; 1 pair cherry red oxen, of the 

 Hereford breed, weighed 4700 lbs., the two varying only 14 lbs., 

 and so much alike as to be distinguished with difficulty, were fed 

 by H. Thomas ; another pair of mottle-faced, red oxen, twins, 

 weighing 4230 fts., were fed by F. Wade ; the third pair, raised 

 by Mr. Wilkins, weighed 4000 lbs. ; the fourth pair, weighing 

 3600 lbs., were fed by Mr. Bennett, and a rich cow, fed by H. 

 Thomas, estimated to dress 900 lbs., made up this car-load of 

 splendid beef, which were sold by dollars at the rate of 8c ^ lb. 



William Scollans bought in Albany a carload of cattle, — 

 eight oxen and one cow, — which the oldest market-men admit- 

 ted were the largest and fattest bunch that had ever been otTered 

 for sale in Brigliton. 



One pair of red oxen, of the Hereford breed, were fed by A. 

 M. Clark, Auburn, N. Y., and were sold by him in Albany to 

 Mr. Scollans. The home weight of these well mated bullocks 

 was 6390 lbs. But so well proportioned were they, that at first 

 sight their great size was not fully realized. A Maine drover, 

 who stood six feet and four inches in his boots, measured his 

 height with these oxen, and boasted that he was the only man 

 in the crowd who could look over them, and said they were full 

 six feet high. He also put his chain upon one of them, by which, 

 with the aid of a carpenter's rule, he made a circuit of some 

 nine feet and four or five inches, equal, he said, to good ten feet, 

 at home. 



The other six we understood were fed in the same neighbor- 

 hood. One pair roan Durhams, weighed 5190 lbs. ; one pair 

 white Durhams, weighed 5130 lbs., and a pair of spotted na- 

 tives, weighed 4720. Large as they were, the whole were full 

 as remarkable for fatness as for size. Such ribs and flanks, 

 such backs and rumps, — such oxen, altogether, are seldom 

 seen. 



