96 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March' 



CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER. 



Thoughts about March Page 65 



Agricultural Movements 66 



Agricultural College of Pennsylvania 67 



Mixing Grain in Seeding — Dangers of Cold Weather 67 



Ventilation in Bee Hives 67 



Let'er from Mr. Brown 68 



Bad Effects of Irrigation 72 



Knowledge ; Its Benefits to the Farmer 73 



The Agricultural Report . 73 



War and Agriculture 74 



Clover Hay for Horses 75 



The School 76 



Extracts and Replies 77, 87 



Stray Hint* from My Kitchen — Diseases in Sheep 78 



New York Fruit Trees — Sore Eyes in Sheep 79 



White Hedge Willow 80 



Reading — The Seasons — Pear Trees from Seed 81 



At Home Again — Mutton and Wool Growing in the TJ. S 82 



Various Modes of Cultivating Corn 83 



Wintering Bees---Straw Hives — Antidote for Poison. 83 



Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 84 



Clothes Wringer — Cutting Feed for Horses 85 



Value of Roots in Fattening Hogs — Sorghum Sugar 85 



Poetry, Music and Health So 



Musk Melon— Early Potatoes 88 



Essex Co. Transactions— Pruning Apple Trees 89 



Culture of Indian Corn— Whitewash 89 



Pleuro-Pneumonia in Cattle .90 



How the Rebellion Works— The Canada Thistle 91 



Associated Dairies— N. Y. State Agricultural Society 92 



Pisciculture in England — Live and Dead Weight of Sheep.... 92 



Model Farm and G irden — Common Schoois 93 



Pasture Lauds of New England — A Yankee Farmer 94 



Ladies' Department 95 



Cattle Markets for February 96 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Initial Letter "M" 65 



White Hedge billow * ,..80 



Green Citron Melon 89 



Common Musk Melon 89 



CATTLE MARKETS FOR FEBRUARY. 



The following is a summary of the reports for the four weeks 

 ending February 10, 1864: 



NUMBER AT MARKET. 

 Caft'c. Sheep. Shotes. Fat Hogs. 



Total 6,761 19.848 200 



The following table exhibits the number of 

 from each State for the last four weeks, and for 

 ing four weeks last year ; also the total number 

 January, ol each year: 



THIS TEAR. 



Cattle. Sheep. 



Maine 582 



New Hampshire 781 



Vermont 1624 



Massachusetts 460 



Rhode Island 47 



Northern New York 277 



Western States 2903 



Canada 87 



1001 

 2942 

 4543 



4072 



1164 



6110 



16 



cattle and sheep 

 the correspond- 

 since the first of 



LAST YEAR. 



Cattle. Sheep. 



1089 443 



1056 1937 



2275 2918 



516 3056 



182 424 



1549 3771 



31 6 



10,848 

 26,017 



9,027 



Total, last four weeks 6,761 



Total, since Jan. 1,(6 weeks,).. 9,375 

 PRICES. 



Jan. 20. Jan. 27. Feb. 3. 



Beef,lst,2d,3dqual 6 £9 6jJ<S9| 6JS9J 



" ex. and premium... 9 Jg9£ 9J&10 9igl0 



Sheep and lambs, 4? lb. . .6J,fl8 6\<$.S 6ifi8 



" " extra — @— SJ@9J 8^9 J 



Shotes, retail 7 @8J 7 ®8£ 7 &8J 



Beef hides, 4P lb 9 ig9£ 9 @9£ 9 <fi9i 



Pelts, sheep & lambs $— <g3 $3 Q3J $3 <fi3 J 



Feb. 10. 



7 (R93 

 lOiglOJ 



6 Q7£ 



8 (§9 



7 @9 

 9i@— 

 $3g4 



as large this year as it was last year for the corresponding four 

 weeks, while the State of Maine has sent up to Brighton only 

 about one-half as many cattle this year as it did last year, dur- 

 ing these four weeks. But this is not all. Maine comes into 

 the market as a buyer — as a buyer of Western cattle, too ! Her 

 drovers, for the two last weeks at least, have loaded both ways 

 — bringing their best cattle to Brighton, and carrying back to 

 Portland for barrelling and canning the lighter grades of the 

 Western The whole supply of cattle has been hardly up to the 

 demand, while the market is largely overstocked with sheep. 

 Consequently while the prices for beef have increased, as is usu- 

 al at this season, those for mutton have declined, as will be seen 

 by our quotations. 



The trade in store hogs at Brighton has dwindled into a mere 

 retail traffic. 



Aside from a few milch cows, and now and then a pair of 

 workiDg oxen, all cattle at market, fat or lean, are slaughtered 

 and sold as beef. 



Sales of Cattle and Sheep. 



The following is from our report of sales, February 10: 



Bela Hastings sold 10 good oxen to C. Richardson, 8 at about 

 9c 4f tb, and one pair of extra oxen fed by Sylvanus Owen, of 

 St. Johnsbur.v, Vt. , sold by dollars at 9%c, on estimate of seller, 

 and at about 10c #■ lb, on the estimate of buyer. Noticed four 

 other oxen soil by Mr, Hastings to J. F. Taylor, laid to dress 

 1100 lbs, for OJfc 4? tb. 



C. T. Houghton sold his best pair of oxen at 9}£c, 2 other 

 pairs at 9c 4f lb. and 13 smaller cattle on drift, to cost about 8c 



J. Lyman sold 4 oxen laid at 1100 lbs. each, for 9!£c 4?" ft. 



D. Rice sold 4 New York oxen at 9c 4? lb. and one, laid to 

 dress 700 lbs. for $46, or 6J.^c i? lb. 



G. W. Barker sold 4 oxen at 9e, 5 fat cows at 8)^0, 3 young 

 cattle at 8c, and was selling 8 others at less than 8c W ft>. 



N. G. Batchelder sdd four pairs cf well fed, extra Vermon 

 oxen to J. F. Taylor for 10>£c 4? lb. One pair weighed 3955 

 and another pair 3560. 



Westfield Premiums.— Hezekiah Taylor sold to N. & S. 

 Jackson 12 extra good oxen, fed by himself in Westfield, Mass., 

 10 of which he estimated to weigh 4400 lbs. at home. The whole 

 12 he laid to dress 1" 00 4? bullock, and the buyers said they 

 would gladly compound at 1400 lbs. each. At these weights, 

 and with some 10 !£c 4f tb., a dozen such oxen sell for moniy 

 enough to buy a comfortable farm, with all the pri/ileges and 

 appurtenances thereunto belonging. 



A. N. Monroe sold 26 Western steers, average live weight 

 1286 lbs, for 8c, 38 sk ; of a better lot as follows: 3 average 

 live weight 1113 lbs. at 10c, 30 sk ; 6 averaging 1331 tbs. at 

 same price ; 11 weighing 1367 tbs. at lO^c dressed weight; 25 

 of 1384 lbs. for 10c, 23 sk. Mr. Monroe also sold 20 thin West- 

 ern cows, 19 of an average live weight of 819 lbs. for 5c, 40 sk, 

 and one weighing 785 lbs. for 5%c, 40 sk ; 14 of 1640 lbs. each, 

 at 10c, 35 sk ; 7 of 12-0 lbs, at 9,' 4 'c, X sk ; of some 1100 tb.- 

 steers, as follows: 4 at 8c, 35 sk ; 7 at 7^c, 36 sk ; 21 at 1}£c, 

 40 sk. 



C. H. Potter delivered a carload of 70 fine well fed sheep, 

 which averaged 119 lbs. on a previous contract at 9c 4P B> ; J. 

 Lyman reports sales of lots at 6c, 6J£c, 7c and 7,'aC 4? tb ; Wil- 

 cox & Long sold 86 New York sheep, 98 lbs. each, at T'ic ; D. 

 Rice sold 85 sheep, 90 lbs. each, for 7'£c 4? lb ; Geo. W. Jones 

 sold 50 fat River fed sheep, 110 lbs, each, for 8J£c ; F. Bartlett 

 sold 40 other "River-feds" for 6'Xc 4?" lb ; Geo. Rust sold 88 

 sherp, gross live weight 6910 lbs, or about 7S^ lbs. 4? head, for 

 6c 4? tb, and 93 others, gross live weight 83SO lbs, or 88>£ lbs. 

 lbs. 4? head for 7c 4? tb ; De Wolf & Prouty void 3 lo's at 7c, 

 Tiic and 8c 4f lb ; A. Peck sold 93 sheep, av raging 85 lbs. at 

 7%c ; I. B. Sargeant sold to Henry Goodnow lt6 sheep at $5,75 

 4? head, after seeing how sheep lost weight between the farm 

 and the market scales, and after hearing the price 4P lb. which 

 the batchers offered. P. F. Aldrich sold 19 cossets winch aver- 

 aged 120 tbs. each, for 7%c ty tb, 9 of them to G. F. Swift, and 

 10 to Mr. Shaw ; J. W. Warner sold 94 sheep from the rich and 

 fertile intervales of the Connecticut valley, which weighed on 

 the scales at Cambridge, 6320 lbs, or nearly 67, 1 4 tbs. 4? head, 

 for5,'.rc4?lb. 



Remarks. — From the foregoing statements it appears that the 

 number of both cattle and. sheep from the West is almost twice 



Window Gardening in Denmark.— Graves' 

 recent "Cruise in the Baltic," tells us: "In Copen- 

 hagen every window is filled with pretty flower- 

 pots, in which roses, pinks and fuchsias seem to 

 thrive to perfection. These beautiful plants give 

 a neat effect to the fronts of the houses, and tell 

 the passing stranger of the deeply-rooted love of 

 flowers, which forms part of the national charac- 

 ter of the Danes, as well as of the Swedes." 



