1863. 



NEW EXGLAXD FARMER. 



121 



For t/ie New England Farmer. 

 THE HOLBROOK PLOUGH. 



Mr. Editor: — Have you used this plough with 

 the double mould board ? It has been claimed 

 that it is an improvement upon the Michigan 

 plough, inasmuch as the forward board will lay 

 the sod grass side down, flat in the trench, while 

 the Michigan lays it rather in a roll than flat. 



There has been an objection brought against 

 the Holbrook plough, as being very hard to hold. 

 How is this ? Does this objection apply to the 

 double plough ? 



There seems to be but little said about this 

 plough of late, nor have I seen it mentioned in 

 the lists of ploughs entered for trial. Will its 

 merits not warrant a trial with others competing 

 for the meed of doing the best work and being 

 the best plough, or is it withheld at present for 

 some improvements upon it ? 



These inquiries are made to draw out impor- 

 tant information to all who have not seen said 

 plough used, and are in want of the best plough 

 to aid in renovating their worn-out fields ; and in 

 my own case, to learn if it would not be well adapt- 

 ed to turning under couch grass (Triticnm rcpciif,) 

 so effectually as to smother it at least one year, 

 so that the land would be respectable for hoed 

 crops, in addition to deep ploughing and thorough 

 pulverising the soil to improve its productiveness, 

 where it is free of stones, or in short alluvial bot- 

 toms. 



The idea of having a plough so constructed as 

 to be a plough of all work, seems to be a good 

 and feasible one, saving expense to the farmer 

 and being more convenient than having one for 

 sod, one for stubble, one for cross ploughing, and 

 so on to half a dozen more or less. 



Elm Tree Farm, Me. O. W. True. 



Rejurks. — "We have used the Holbrook 



plough, or, as it is usually called. The Universal 

 Plough, and were greatly pleased with its perform- 

 ance. It did excellent work wherever we saw it 

 in use, and we have heard no objection to it on 

 account of its being hard to hold. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE SEASON— SAJQT MARSHES— SIDE- 

 HILL PLOUGH. 



In open winters like the present, there is much 

 difficulty in getting salt hay off the marshes. 

 Most farmers need the hay, and expect to get it 

 the last of December or first of January, but up 

 to this week only a small part has been got off the 

 Hampton Falls marshes. It is drawn to the up- 

 land mostly on sleds, and then loaded on carts 

 and wagons. Sometimes sleds are put underneath 

 the cart and the hay drawn off in that way. But 

 it makes a deal of work, and the busy scenes wit- 

 nessed at the places of reloading are the only re- 

 deeming features in the case. These marshes are 

 extensive and valuable. Thirty and forty dollars, 

 sometimes more perhaps, is paid per acre. Mr. 

 W. A. Hopkins, an Englishman, has been ditch- 

 ing on many pieces in these marshes within the 

 last ten years to their great improvement, making 

 them harder, and increasing the burden a quarter 

 or third part. The plain marshes, or those cov- 

 ered by high tides only, naturally produce from 

 one to two tons ner acre. The low flats, some- 



times called, which are covered with water at 

 every tide, bear a tall grass called thatch, and are 

 much more productive. Three to five tons, and 

 perhaps, sometimes more, are cut per acre. Mr. 

 Daniel Merrill, of Salisbury, Mass., it is said has 

 five acres in one piece which cut twenty-five tons, 

 and makes good fodder for cattle. 



I have used the past three seasons, a Ride-hill 

 plough. I find no trouble in turning the sod on 

 level land, or even in turning it up hill. Think 

 there is much saved in travel, beside the dead 

 furrows and the ridges. When it is jjracticable, I 

 can plough much faster by turning the sod down 

 hill. I think the land-side of my plough too short 

 and narrow ; have never seen anything different, 

 though I should hke to very much, as, in my opin- 

 ion, it can and will be made the most desirable 

 plough. 1 use the long handled shovel and do 

 not mean to be frightened out of it, by any cry of 

 "Paddy," or any thing else. Jos. W. Brown. 



Kensington, Feb., 1863. 



For the Neto England Farmer. 

 LOW PRICE OP MILK. 



Mr. Editor: — Like everything else, the cost 

 of hay, meal, and otlier articles of cattle food, are 

 from fifty to one hundred per cent, higher than 

 they were a year ago. Butter and cheese have 

 risen in almost an equal ratio, but milk remains 

 the same, and those who furnish it for the market 

 are receiving an entirely inadequate price, and do- 

 ing a losing business. How can this be prevent- 

 ed ? Let the farmers at once determine to make 

 butter and cheese, if they cannot receive a proper 

 price for their milk. Let there be in every town 

 certain dairies where milk will be taken and turned 

 into butter at an agreed price. Let the farmers' 

 clubs interest themselves in this matter, and the 

 thing is done. 



Those competent to judge, say, that, were it 

 not for the vast amount of adulteration, the supply 

 of milk is entirely inadequate to the wants of the 

 metropolis. 



If farmers should agree together to add a cent 

 a quart to the old prices, when they renew their 

 contracts with the railroad men in the spring, they 

 could, and ought to obtain it, and if they should 

 not, it is better to turn their milk into butter, than 

 to sell it at the present prices. The milkmen 

 would soon be brought to their terms. 



A Middlesex F.\rmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A CEMENT AQUEDUCT. 



Mr. Editor : — It affords me pleasure to reply 

 to the communication in your paper of last week 

 from Mr. Stanford, of Irasburg, for, by so doing, 

 I shall do him a favor, and bring to the notice of 

 your readers a really good thing in the shape of 

 an aqueduct. 



I have a number of tenements which were sup- 

 plied with water, until last September, by a one 

 inch lead pipe of more than two hundred rods in 

 length, under a pressure of water of about eighty 

 feet. The pressure was so great as frequently to 

 burst the pipe, in consequence of which I was 

 induced to try the cement aqueduct made by Mr. 

 J. D. Strong, of this town, (Hartford, Vt,.) under 

 a patent of Mr. Livcrmore, of Rutlnnd. 1 con- 

 tracted with Mr. Strong to dig up my lead pipe, 



