i8g: 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



527 



consumers were to live cheaply, and get fat off the 

 farmer. These big statements were all read from 

 the daily papers by the sturdy and quiet farmer, 

 while we looked on in vain to see it. 



Mr. Samuel B. Hamblin, of Acushnet, Mass., 

 raised this season, from one acre and ninety-four 

 rods, fifty bushels of as handsome wheat as can be 

 shown in the State. 



— A late number of the Storkton, Cal., Indepen- 

 dent, illustrates the extent of the grain trade at 

 Stockton, l)y siiying that two lirms alone paid but 

 last Saturday, eleven thousand dollars for wheat. 

 And as evidence of the agricultural prosperity of 

 the San Joaquin valley, the same paper adds that 

 the greater number of mortgages resting on farms 

 in 1866, have been cancelled. 



— M. Geyelin, manager of the French "National 

 Poultry Company," says that turkey cocks are 

 employed largely to hatch and rear chickens, as 

 they can incubate a much larger number of eggs 

 than hens. The way in which they are induced 

 to take to the hen's eggs is as follows: "A glass 

 or two of strong wine is poured down a turkey's 

 throat, and whilst in a state of inebriation the 

 feathers are plucked off his breast, and he is placed 

 on a large sitting of eggs. On coming to his senses 

 next morning, he feels that a sudden change has 

 come over him, and as the denuded and irritated 

 part of his body is kept warm and soothed by 

 crouching down on the smooth eggs, he wisely ac- 

 cepts his new position, and discharges the duties 

 of a mother to the family thus foisted upon him 

 with tenderness and vigilance." 



STRA\^r AND ROOT CUTTEHS. 



Reader, have you supplied yourself with 

 one of these implements ? If not, do so with- 

 out delay. There is annually much refuse 

 matter accumulated about the barns and sta- 

 bles which a good straw cutter will enable you 

 to work up to advantage, and with the assist- 

 ance of a root cutter — provided you have a 

 supply of roots of any kind — to convert much 

 fodder of an indifferent quality into a means 

 of sustenance for your stock. We think it 

 would be economy to borrow the money to 

 purchase one, rather than be without it, though 

 we trust that would not be necessary with our 

 readers. 



If you once make careful trial of cutting the 

 fodder for a stock of cattle, horses included, 

 you will realize how much corn fodder, straw 

 and hay of an indifferent quality you will be 

 able to work up, and at the same time become 

 convinced that your stock has grown faster, or 

 made more fat and flesh, than under the old 

 practice of feeding out entirely long hay. 



If no grain, whatever, is fed to cattle, the 

 cutting may not be so important ; we do not 

 know, never having tried it. Where a por- 

 tion of the feed is grain — which is commonly 

 the case in all places where hay finds a ready 

 market — cutting the hay will prove of essen- 

 tial advantage. 



We fed six or seven cows and five horses 

 last winter on com fodder, English hay, 

 meadow hay and barley straw. It was all cut 

 and thoroughly mixed, and sprinkled with cold 

 water and a little salt as the mixing proceed- 

 ed, then thrown into a heap. At the end of 

 two days, one end of the heap was broken 

 down and meal mixed with it. That for the 

 horses being equal to about three quarts of 

 corn meal per day ; and that for the cows, 

 equal to one quart of corn meal per day. All 

 the stock did well, and it seemed to us at a 

 considerable less cost than in the old way of 

 feeding. The experiment was not an exact 

 one, but confirmed several others of a similar 

 nature, made some years before. 



The season for feeding stock in the barn is 

 at hand, and we know of no one item of econ- 

 omy with the farmer more important than the 

 use of the hay cutter. 



If roots are used instead of grain, they fla- 

 vor the mass of dry fodder, so that cattle eat 

 the whole eagerly. We knew one farmer to 

 feed 30 or 40 cows through an entire winter 

 on ivheat straw, cut, and flat turnips, also cut. 

 The cows were in sufficient flesh, and were 

 producing a fair average of milk. 



Improvement of Horses. — At the late 

 fair of the Vermont State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, an association was formed for the im- 

 provement of horses, which, though indepen- 

 dent in its organization, is to act as auxilary 

 to the State Society. Officers were elected 

 as follows : — 



President.— Hon. T. "W. Park of Bennington. 



Tice Presidents. — Frederick Billings of Wood- 

 stock ; Richard Bradley of Brattleboro' ; A. W. 

 Gribwold of Morrisville ; H. G. Root of Benning- 

 ton. 



Secretary. — Geo. A. MeiTill of Rutland. 



Treasurer. — Henry C. Horton of Vergennes. 



Directors. — L. S. Drew of Burlington ; E. S. 

 StowcU of Cornwall; Geo. W. Hendee of Morris- 

 ville; Frank Goodhue of Bratlkboro; N. T. 

 Shoafe of Derby Line ; Thomas Sanders of Brook- 

 field ; George C. Hall of Brattleboro' ; L. T. Tucker 

 ofRoyalton; Charles Clarke of Rutland; H. B. 

 Kent of Dorset; Frederick E. Smith of Montpe- 

 lier ; C. Brainard, Jr., of St. Albans ; E. A. Park 

 of St. Johnsbury. 



