120 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



a lore for such labors, and, at the same time 

 we prepare them to be useful at once to the 

 farmers with whom we so much desire to place 

 them. 



In common with others, we have been se- 

 verely troubled during a part of the past year 

 by the prevailing disease of cholera among our 

 swine, brought in by animals purcha'^cd at 

 Brighton, causing the death of upwards of six- 

 ty hogs and pigs, and compelling us, in order 

 to avoid the infection, to remove our piggery 

 to a new location ; thus requiring an outlay of 

 about a thousand dollars for removal and ne- 

 cessary repairs, besides the loss of stock, which 

 cannot be estimated at less than one thousand 

 dollars more. 



DO "WB MCW TOO MUCH LAND ? 



So far as our observation in the dairy dis- 

 tricts of this country goes, we must say that 

 altogether too much land is devoted to the pro- 

 duction of hay. It would be better to mow 

 less, and let that part of the farm which is to be 

 mowed be so managed that full crops may be 

 obtained, while the balance of the ground mav 

 be put to pasture or grain crop';. Woidd it 

 not be better to put thirty acres, for instance, 

 in condition to produce seventy tons of hay an- 

 nually than to mow over and take care of 

 seventy acres — one ton per acre is about our 

 average — to get that product ? At a meeting 

 of the Farmers' Club, at Little Falls. N. Y., a 

 year or two ago, Mr. Lewis, of Frankfort, 

 Btated that he grew enough hay on twenty-five 

 acres for the winter keep of fifty head of cattle. 

 The twenty-five acres were annuallv treated 

 with the liquid manure from his stock. It was 

 absorbed in sawdust, and thus easily distribut- 

 ed. When in England, the past season, among 

 the dairy farms, we foimd this question studied 

 and reduced to a better system than with us. 

 It is a matter of some importance there to 

 know how to keep a liberal amotmt of stock on 

 a small space. By increasing your stock, yon 

 not only add to the receipts, or income, but 

 add also to the fertility of your soil from the 

 increased quantity of manures. They believe, 

 therefore, in extending the area of pasture 

 lands, converting the green food into milk, 

 butter and beef, while the hay lands are reduc- 

 ed to the smallest compass possible. ' Wherev- 

 er they can irrigate a mea<low it is done, and 

 large vields result. Some adopt the system of 

 alternate cropping and mowing, in order to 

 keep up permanent meadows, and this, of 

 course, in addition to top-dressings. But they 

 have another system not common in this conn- 

 try, and that is, the production of hay on ara- 

 ble lands, in regular rotation of crops, imder 

 the three, four or five course shift. For in- 

 stance, the rotation may be wheat, turnips, 

 barley, grass. The last may be mowed one or 

 two years, according to the shift adopted, when 

 the land is broken up and put to wheat. Now, 

 under this system, the land when put down to 



grass is seeded heavily, oflen with from IJ to 

 2 bushels of the lighter seeds and 12 to 15 lbs. 

 of the clovers. The result is an immense yield 

 the first year — as much as 2i tons and more 

 per acre. I went upon meadows of this des- 

 cription where the yield of hay must have been 

 at least 2A tons, and I estimated it at 3 tons 

 per acre. Then, in winter, they chop the 

 coarse fodder or straw, and feed it with oil 

 cake, and in this way get along with much less 

 meadow land than do our farmers, beside 

 keeping more stock, and making more am 

 better manure. — A". A. Willard, in Country 

 Gentleman. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HYMN" OF THE PARMER. 



BY THE PEASANT BARD. 



Wlien Adam took the fruit 



From gentle Eva's hand, 

 Then honest Labor first took root 



Deep in the virgin land. 



For then was earth accurst 



Tliat man should toil for bread ; 



But God for good o'er ruled the worBt, 

 And man was blest, instead. 



Blest in the teeming soil 



His lalior did retrieve; 

 Blest in his vigor-giving toil; 



Blest in beguiling Eve. 



Welcome to Labor, then. 

 That crowns v/ith health our lives I 



Hail, Adam, first of Husbandmen I 

 Eve, first of Farmer's Wives I 



But unto God, alone. 

 Our homage due be given ; 



Who deigns, as children, us to own, 

 And breaks us bread from Heaven. 

 Gill, Mass., 1866. 



Experiments with Manures. — E. R. Tow- 

 ley of West Berkshire, Vt., gives in the Ver- 

 mont Farmer the following result of experi- 

 ments with different kinds of manure on com. 

 the past season. 



The land and cultivation was the same. The 

 ground was an inverted greensM'ard, heavily 

 manured on the surface, and the fertilizers put 

 in the hill. The following was the result when 

 the corn was husked — each plot containing two 

 rows through the fields. 



Plot 1, No manure, 2\ baskets of ears ol' 

 corn. 



Plot 2, A compost consisting of hen manure, 

 ashes, plaster, and earth, 2^ baskets. 



Plot ;!, Lodi Manufacturing Co.'s Poudrette, 

 Di baskets. 



Plot 4, Rotten barn-yard manure 4 A baskets. 



Plot f). Hog manure 5 baskets. 



I'jot 6, I5radley's X. L. Superphosphate of 

 lime, /) baskets. 



The degree of soundness was in proportion 

 to the yield, the last being the best. 



