4ti4 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



pecting to find a perfect pattern of neatness 

 and order. But the first thing that met my 

 eye was an old wall in front of the house near- 

 ly covered with wild brush, briers, weeds an<l 

 everything that looked repulsive to the sight. 

 This was about a fair specimen of his farm, 

 with the exception of a very few acres. He 

 wrote a statement in regard to a cow he had ; 

 giving the number of persons in the family 

 provided with butter and milk, the number of 

 pounds of butter sold per week, besides sell- 

 ing two quarts per day — making an extraordi- 

 nary production for one cow, — when the facts 

 of the case were, that the family never used 

 any butter, and the milk sold was skim milk ! 

 Consequently those who were acquainted with 

 the facts, had no confidence in his articles, and 

 many condemned all newspaper articles as be- 

 ing of the same class. But there are many 

 worthy exceptions. There are those who give 

 us facts, and facts alone. 



Few, however, like to make a record of the 

 failure of any experiment, whether in field 

 crops or stock raising, although these are of- 

 ten far more instructive than successes which 

 farmers are so willing to detail. It is not 

 enough to know what to do. What not to do, 

 should also be understood ; and to be under- 

 stood, it should be taught by precept and ex- 

 ample. How many pronii>ing colts, calves 

 and lambs have been injured by improper 

 feeding, or by injudicious management. And 

 yet those who have learned wisdom in this 

 dear school, are very reluctant to make a clean 

 confession. I could cite instances and call 

 names in illustration of these remarks, if prop- 

 er to do so. 



Still there is evident progress in agriculture, 

 especially in the improvement of stock. Hav- 

 ing had the pleasure of seeing with my own 

 eyes many of the finest herds of horses, cattle 

 and sheep, both in New England and the 

 Provinces, I am certain there has been a very 

 great change for the better, during the last 

 twenty years, in stock and stock raising. This 

 must be apparent to all who have been in the 

 habit of attending our agricultural Fairs dur- 

 ing that pel iod. Should any one object to the 

 evidence afibrdcd of such improvement by the 

 .exhibitions at these Fairs, let them, as they 

 may have opportunity, call on Mr. C'henery, 

 of JlJehuunt., Mr. H. G. White, of South Fraiii- 

 inghain, Mr. Lincoln, of Worcester, or on 

 any caicfid modern breeder in the vicinity of 

 Barre, Mass. ; on I'eter .Jones of Amherst. 

 N. IL, or on Dr. Henry Loynton, of VVooil- 

 stock, Vt.. and on hundreds of others in vari- 

 ous p;irts of New Eniiiand, all of whom will 

 take ])U'asuic in showing their fine horses, cat- 

 tle, sliccp. hogs, &c., and then say, if he will, 

 that tliere has been no iuipiovement, no change 

 for the better, ** 



Ma^-ion, N. U., Aug., 1867. 



Rkmaiiks. — If our correspondent's doubting 

 friend should object to those breeders, as well 



as to cattle shows, as interested witnesses of 

 stock improvement, let him attend that disin- 

 terested umpire, the Brighton market, some 

 Aveek when the best farmers in Maine send up 

 their perfectly matched working oxen, or their 

 mammoth fat bullocks, or when the Meeches, 

 and other farmers, of the Champlain valley 

 send their Durham steers, which, as to form 

 and quality, rival the stock of Kentucky and 

 Illinois, and do this in company with some one 

 who remembers the quality of stock which 

 came from these sections twenty years ago. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FAKMING- IN WEST VIRGINIA. 



Messrs. Editors : — You requested me to 

 give jou the mode of farming and rotation of 

 crops in my neighborhood, which I will do, as 

 near as I can, to do justice to all parties. Cat- 

 tle and corn are the principal articles raised. 



•Cattle. — It does not cost much to raise 

 cattle up to three years old, as they are turned 

 out into the ridges to graze in the summer, and 

 are not brought up until late in the fall. They 

 are wintered upon rough feed. When three 

 years old they are sold to the speculators. 



Corn. — The farmers (or those who call them- 

 selves such) plow their ground in the spring, 

 most of them shallow, and harrow its lightly ; 

 then they take a shovel-plow and lay it off, from 

 three and a half to four feet each way, and 

 from three to four inches deep, and plant in 

 those crosses. After the corn comes up big 

 enough to plow, they take a shovel-plow, run 

 it as close to the coi n as they can without cov- 

 ering much of it, with some boys or girls, or 

 both, if they have them, to follow the plow, to 

 uncover what happens to get covered up, to 

 chop out what briers the shovel-plow does not 

 cut up. Next, in about ten days, they cross it 

 in the same manner. The third and last time 

 time they generally plow the same way as they 

 (lid the first time, but put three furrows be- 

 tween the rows of corn ; too often leaving their 

 shovel-plows, and the big plow, too, where 

 they finished, until wanted for the next crop. 

 When the corn is ripe enough to harvest, they 

 cut it up into shocks of sixteen hills square, 

 IMost of the fanners let it stand in the shocks 

 until winter, before they husk it. The corn 

 generally averages from twenty to thirty bush- 

 els [)er acre ; that is, without any plaster or 

 manure of any kind. There is no system of 

 rotation of crops here. Often a piece of 

 gioun<l is farmed in corn for two or three crops 

 in succession, before they sow it into wheat. 



WiiiCAT. — Soon after cutting the corn, wheat 

 is sown. Many take a sliovel-i)lovv and at once 

 plow in the wheat ; others break up the land 

 with a big plow, after they (!ut up their corn, 

 then sow tiicir wheat, and take a shovel-plow 

 and plow it in. They generally get from five 



