214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 





««* 



their summer months with you, even if they do 

 take some of your currants and cherries. Say, as 

 a sensible old neighbor of mine who lives close by 

 a river surrounded by a great variety of beautiful 

 trees, and who has several fine cherry trees close 

 by his windows, once said to me, "That he was 

 willing the birds should have half of them." One 

 reason, he said, why he admired trees so much 

 was, because he could have the birds with them. 

 No wonder that he enjoys a cheerful old age. He 

 is about fourscore — has worked hard all his days, 

 accumulated a large property, and is quite active 

 still. Only last night, as I went to his mill with 

 a grist, after dusk, he was sitting by the river, 

 catching fish, with his grandson by his side to pick 

 them up. 



Remember, boys, that your Heavenly Father is 

 mindful of the sparrows, and provides for them 

 their food ; but he is still more mindful of you, 

 and says "You are of more value than many spar- 

 rows." J. F. French. 



Northampton, May, 1864. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES. 



Your correspondent turns up here, intending 

 to take a tramp through this province on foot, 

 with carpet-bag in hand. One is surprised at first 

 setting foot on shore, to find such excellent land ; 

 but it wants farmers. The tillage land is plowed 

 about five inches in depth, laid up in beds of about 

 twelve feet, whether moist or not. The first that 

 attracts my attention, that is unusual in the States, 

 is the oat mill, with its large heap of hulls thrown 

 away. Oat meal, by the way, is a great article of 

 food, with all classes, and enters into general use 

 more than wheat, which is not much cultivated. 

 A little farther on, I came to a freestone quarry, 

 which is removed with less care than the lime- 

 stone is with you, but of late not much is done in 

 it. The inhabitants are mostly descendants of 

 the Scotch and Irish, but, rarely, one meets with 

 the Acadian, whose tendency is to their primitive 

 manner of life, with dress of the Normandic style. 

 You will find, roving, the Nova Scotia red man, 

 a degenerate race, who, in many cases, intermarry 

 with the negro. Along the roadside are coal 

 mines, opened for family use. 



After leaving Pictou, is a tract of wood, which 

 has been burned over within 10 years, and extends 

 nearly to Truro. At Truro, the terminus of the 

 Halifax Railroad, is a good farming country, which 

 seems to be well improved with large barns, to 

 hold the grain crops. From Windsor to Horton, 

 a distance of twelve miles, there are many traces 

 of the original French settlers. As in Canada, 

 this is shown by the long line of poplars ; so in 

 Nova Scotia, they are to be traced by the abun- 

 dance of orchards. From Windsor, all around 

 the shore to Annapolis, we find these orchards, at 

 different points, and the high reputation for fruit 

 which Nova Scotia, has obtained, is to be attrib- 

 uted chiefly to the original French settlers. I 

 must add that I never have seen apples at this 

 time of the year which retained their flavor like 

 these, and if I were raising fruit I would be at 

 the expense of procuring scions to propagate from. 

 These apples would bring, in Boston market, two 

 dollars per barrel more than russets. 



The new idea of using fresh cow manure was 

 shown up to be one of the best dressings for cab- 



bages, &c, more than one year since, by myself, 

 and I was induced to use it by one who made no 

 pretension to farming, but whom I noticed raised 

 fine cabbages when others failed. Before I finish 

 this letter, I will say that if one wishes to live 

 cheap, and pay low taxes and low duties, to support 

 government, let him try the Provinces. Beef- 

 steak, 8 cts. per lb., veal, 6 cts., sugar, 9 cts., tea, 

 50 cts. Cloth for which we pay $2.25, there, is 

 $1. A farm which would be taxed $10 here, 

 would be $40 in the United States ; a pair of 

 boots, with you, worth $5 ; here, $3. 



S. F. Mayberry. 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 1, 1864. 



GAME AND BRAHMA FOWLS COM- 

 PARED. 



Sir : — I am quite delighted with your paper, 

 more especially as I am a lover of poultry. Ev- 

 ery one has his own fancy for fowls, and I see in 

 your issue of March 1st that "Game Cock" thinks 

 there is no variety like game fowls. I wish to 

 compare my Brahmas with the games. "Game 

 Cock" keeps 23 hens and 2 cocks, at a cost of 20 

 cents per week ; I keep 12 hens and 1 cock, which 

 cost me 20 cents per week ; and which, I think, is 

 very little. I feed upon corn, buckwheat, and 

 sometimes barley ; I prefer corn. My hens get a 

 regular allowance 3 times a day, wiih plenty of 

 good clean water, and their house is cleaned and 

 swept every morning. Our notes compare as fol- 

 lows : 



Game (23 hens.) — January, 26 ; February, 14 ; 

 March, 237 ; April, 255 ; May, 237 ; June, 191 ; 

 July, 272 ; August, 267 ; September, 208 ; Octo- 

 ber, 210 ; November, 84 ; December, 28 ; total, 

 2,029 — 169 dozen, or 88 eggs to each hen. 



Brahma (12 hens.) — January, 86 ; February, 

 159 ; March, 226 ; April, 201 ; May, 204 ; June, 

 136 ; July, 124 ; August, 102 ; September, 97 ; 

 October, 70 ; November, 23 ; December, 51 ; to- 

 tal, 1,482—123 dozen, or 123 to each hen. 



Now, Mr. Editor, you will see that I got 123 eggs 

 from every hen, while "Game Cock" got 88. I 

 also raised 70 chickens ; of course, it cost a little 

 more when feeding so many chickens. I reckon 

 the cost of keeping fowls at a little less than one 

 penny per week each fowl. 



John Veitch, in Canada Farmer. 



Brockville, April 2, 1864. 



Pea Cheese. — There is a very close resem- 

 blance between several animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances. Thus animal milk contains a large quan- 

 tity of caseine, which is the principal substance in 

 cheese ; and peas also contain a iarge amount of 

 the same substance. The Chinese who have ex- 

 hibited such an aptitude for domestic economics, 

 that they even make soup of bird's nests, have 

 also found out that cheese can be made of peas. 

 For this purpose peas are boiled into a thin paste, 

 then passed through a seive, and an acid added to 

 the pea solution, which becomes curdled like sweet 

 milk by the action of the common rennet upon 

 the latter. The solid part is then salted, pressed 

 into, cheese molds, and it gradually acquires the 

 taste and smell of cheese. It is sold in the streets 

 of Canton under the name of "Taofoo," and when 

 fresh it is a favorite article of Chinese food. 



Whenever we utter a true word, instantly we 

 feel 'tis God's, not ours. 



