1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



13 



lands are much benefited by occasional shade trees 

 scattered over them, — and we believe it is often 

 admitted that such pastures afford more and bet- 

 ter grass than those entirely bare of trees. That 

 though the trees sap the soil, their other benefi- 

 cial action upon it is more than balanced by the 

 drafts they make upon the air itself. Fourcroy, 

 another authority says : "In clearing up new lands, 

 the trees on the summits of hills should be left 

 standing. They attract the vapor that floats in 

 the atmosphere, and the rains, and serve as con- 

 ductors of that element to moisten the ground. 

 By their shade they retain the verdure and the 

 feed." This is exactly to the point. But there 

 is a limit — they must not be too numerous. 



Another advantage of grain is, that it checks the 

 currents of wind, and thus prevents evaporation in 

 a considerable degree. This point needs no ar- 

 gument, as all admit that hay dries much faster 

 in a bright day when there is a wind than when it 

 is still ; the wind rapidly carries away the natural 

 evaporation of the soil, which is continually suc- 

 ceeded by new moisture and carried off by fresh 

 currents, and thus rapidly dries the ground. The 

 grain tends to keep these currents from the young 

 grass, and consequently a large portion of the 

 evaporated moisture is kept among them. "The 

 sun robs the soil of its moisture, and the wind 

 robs it of its heat, two elements that have an im- 

 portant bearing on the resulting crops. ... A 

 single row of trees has a wonderful effect in check- 

 ing the force of the wind, and a belt two rods in 

 width will entirely check it and it will go over." 

 There are some excellent examples of this kind in 

 this country. 



The difference of opinion entertained by farm- 

 ers on this point seems to arise from the fact that 

 no ci-edit is given to plants for the absorjition by 

 them of water from the atmosphere. If they did 

 not receive and impart it, how long would it be, 

 £n the absence of rain, before the soil would be- 

 come utterly unfit to sustain a plant ? Lindley 

 says : "If the branch of a plant is placed in a bot- 

 tle of water, and the neck of the bottle is luted 

 [or made tight] to the branch, so that no evapo- 

 ration can take place, nevertheless the water will 

 disappear ; and this can only happen from its hav- 

 ing been abstracted by the branch." This is just 

 the action which we ascribe to the leaves of the 

 grain plants as they stand among the grass. 



He further says : "Since a plant does not per- 

 spire at night, and since its absorbing points, the 

 roots, remain during that period in contact with 

 the same humid medium [that is, the soil,] as dur- 

 ing the day, they will attract fluid tuto the system 

 of the plant during the night, and consequently 

 the weight of the plant will be increased. In like 

 manner, if plants in the shade are abundantly sup- 

 plied with moisture at the roots, they icill also gain 



more than they can lose ; and as this will be a con- 

 stant action, the result must necessarily be to ren- 

 dei- all their parts soft and watery." The grain 

 plants, while the grass is young, — keep the grass 

 both shaded and moist, and the result follows 

 which Prof. Lindley has described. 



The above shows the means of keeping the 

 ground moist, and the importance of such a con- 

 dition of the soil must be clear to all. "As a gen- 

 eral rule, therefore, we are authorized to conclude 

 that the ground should be abundantly supplied 

 with moisture when plants first begin to groic, 

 and that the quantity should be diminished as the 

 organization of a plant becomes completed." [Lind- 

 ley, again.] Sir Humphrey Davy, Dr. Ingen- 

 iiouz, Senobier, and others, all confirm the opin- 

 ion which we advance. 



ANIMALS FOB, STALL-FEEDING. 

 In his last weekly report of the New York cat- 

 tle market, Solon Robinson gives the following 

 advjce, on the subject of choosing animals for fat- 

 tening, as the result of his observation and long 

 experience among cattle : — 



•'We would never select an animal, particularly 

 of the bovine race, to fatten, which had a long, 

 narrow, contracted skull, particularly if the horns 

 were puny, or abruptly bent, because such an ani- 

 mal is apt to be wild, and to have a weak consti- 

 tution, and will not fatten like one with a broad 

 face, with a full, capacious skull, with strong, 

 evenly bent horns, with a neck thick at the face, 

 and a wide throat ; for such an animal has a strong 

 nervous system, and always a good appetite, and 

 not being wild will take on fat rapidly, and by its 

 naturally quiet habits will retain it easily. An 

 animal to fatten well must have a capacious chest. 

 To bear transportation, it must have a strong con- 

 stitution, and this is indicated by its strongly built 

 form — its good back, loins and legs. Recollect 

 that some men never grow fat. Some bullocks 

 are just so ; their nervous temperament wont al- 

 low them to take on fat half as fast as some oth- 

 ers. Hence the phrase "aptitude to fatten." This 

 should be studied, and then people would try to 

 select such as have that aptitude, the first index 

 of which will be seen in the head. If that is not 

 good don't buy the animal, no matter how cheap 

 it may appear. A slender-headed cow, with slim 

 neck and puny horns may be a good milker, but . 

 you may be sure of a hard job when you try to 

 fatten her for beef. The whole Alderney breed is 

 proof of this. When other characteristics, at first 

 view, appear favorable, look in the eyes. If they 

 are small, deep-sunken, or dull, or staring, dark, ' 

 and fiery, let that animal pass, and take one with 

 large, open, mild eyes, with plenty of loose skin 

 hanging from the chin, with a large muzzle, and 

 open nostrils. Avoid slim heads and handsome 

 noses, that is if you esteem slim ones handsome. 

 Look well to the mouth, that it has strength and 

 capacity to take its food. Be sure, too, to get "a 

 good handler ;" that is, one with a soft, velvety 

 skin. Think of this and try experiments, and see 

 how much easier one animal fattens than another." 



