1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



359 



adapted to sprinkling plants that are infested 

 with insects, to sprinkle floors, grass plats and 

 borders, flower beds, strawberry patches, &c., 

 &c., and in case of fire inside of the building 

 it would be of great service. 



Prices of Farm Produce. — The New 

 York Journal of Commerce gives the follow- 

 ing table of prices of farm products at New 

 York on the first day of May in each year, 

 for the past twelve years : — 



For the New England Farmer, 

 "WORN OUT SOIL. 



Much is said of the worn out and exhausted 

 soil of New England, of our pastures covered 

 with wild juniper, of our scanty crops of grass 

 in the fields, of our short crops of corn, wheat 

 and general field crops ; and the cry comes up 

 on every side that farming in New England will 

 not pay. 



Our fiithers took possession of a soil rich in 

 vegetable humus, formed by the primeval for- 

 ests which had nourished and protected the 

 soil for long ages in the past. The forest 

 gave way to the woodman's ax ; the fire passed 

 over and consumed the wood and all surface 

 vegetation, and the result was the ash was left. 

 This the rains quickly dissolved and washed 

 deep into the soil, or it was taken off in crops 

 and no fertilizing material returned ; leaving, 

 as a consequence, an exhausted soil. 



Our ancestors did not understand the mod- 

 em usages of composting, manufacturing, and 

 saving manures. Neither did they require It, 

 for land was cheap. If one field was exhaust- 

 ed. It only required to move a short distance 

 to another, to go through the same system 

 again. 



Many times, in contemplating the subject, I 

 have almost been struck with wonder that our 

 soil has held out as well as It has, and that as 

 a general thing it produces as much as it does, 

 at the present day. When I have thought of 

 the amount of flesh and bones that have been 

 taken from our fields and pastures with the 

 grain and roots and the little return that has 

 been made, I have been ready to exclaim, our 

 soil was rich, and is rich still ! Man, by his 

 short-sightedness and ignorance cannot exhaust 



it so that nature and judicious cultivation can- 

 not restore it to its primitive fertility. 



My motto is, that each farm and each acre 

 has the material within itself, with tbe aid of 

 air, rain, and sunshine, and man's labor judi- 

 ciously laid out, to produce, in a few years, 

 fair and paying crops, and to continue such 

 production for an indefinite peinod. 



When man Is willing to become the student 

 of nature, and to be governed by nature's sure 

 and perfect laws, then agricnlture will flour- 

 ish. We see that an exhaused field or pasture, 

 if let alone, will quickly set with the young 

 saplings, which soon spread out their branches, 

 and shade and protect the soil. The leaves 

 fall and decay, the earth becomes mellow, the 

 leaves yearly absorb from the atmosphere, and 

 their fertilizing materials are deposited In the 

 soil ; while the roots, by their extension, break 

 up and pulverize the earth to a good depth. 

 After ten years, examine this soil. It is not 

 the hard, thin earth that It was ten years be- 

 fore, but is a mellow, rich mould. Let these 

 trees grow ten years more, and then remove and 

 cultivate the soil as we should, and we shall hear 

 no more of an exhausted soil, and unprofitable 

 crops. H. 



Epping, N. E., 1867. 



Grains. — According to the analysis of Cin- 

 hof of the different quantities of nutritious 

 and succulent properties — starch, gluten and 

 mucilaginous sugar In the various kinds of 

 grain — the following appears to be the relative 

 proportions : — 



In Wheat, per centum, 78 



" Rye, 70 



" Barley, as to quantity and species, . . . 65 to 70 



" Oats, 58 



" Peas, 75J^ 



" Beans, (French,) 85 



" Windsor Beans, . , 68J^ 



" Horse Beans, 73 



Placenta — Retention. — Sometimes cows 

 cause trouble to their owners, occasionally loss 

 also, by the retention of the placenta after 

 calving. It was the custom among Yankee 

 farmers in old times, and Is now among dairy- 

 men in Herkimer Co., as we learn from Mr. 

 Willard, through the Utica Herald, to feed 

 cows a mash of bran and water as-warm as they 

 will take it, as a means of removing the ob- 

 struction. This usually proves effective with- 

 out aid from anything else. Another cure is 

 mentioned, consisting of sharp cider vinegar, 

 heated nearly to the boiling point, and poured 

 upon the bran and fed warm to the cow. 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 

 says that he has had several twin calves of oppo- 

 site sexes, and he has known of several born to 

 other breeders, and that he knows of no instances 

 where the heifers bred or where the bull failed to 

 be a good breeder. 



