104 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



ent depths at which the seed is buried in 

 the ground. This varies all the way from 

 nothing at all to four inches. Consequently 

 the plants come up at dilFerent times, and the 

 straw grows to dillerent heights. This can- 

 not probably be obviated entirely under any 

 system of cultivation, but I think the seed is 

 put into the ground at more equal depths by 

 drilling than by any other mode. 



But for the purpose of giving an idea of 

 the present mode of cultivation, I will copy a 

 part of a letter 1 received last spring from a 

 friend in England. He says : — 



"I plough my land five or six inches deep 

 for wheat, then roll it with an iron roller to 

 make it solid, harrow well, and drill with a 

 seven-coulter drill, which I prefer to a presser- 

 roller. We cultivate about here under the 

 fourth and fifth course system. First, I sum- 

 mer fallow, and in June sow with turnips, 

 Swedes generally ; feed some off with sheep, 

 and pull others to feed at home. This crop 

 gets well manured. Second, the following 

 spring, drill with barley, and seed down with 

 clover. Third, summer-feed this with sheep 

 and cattle. Fourth, plough and drill with 

 wheat in October. After wheat sow with oats, 

 which are generally sown broadcast. I drill 

 1^ bushels of wheat, 2h. of barley, and 4 or 

 Ah of oats to the acre." 



You will see by the above that farmers in 

 England seed heavy. The soil is good, in- 

 clined to gravel. They get on an average 

 from thirty-six to forty bushels of wheat per 

 acre. You will see by the mode of manage- 

 ment they keep the land in good condition, 

 and get wheat as well as straw. I think that 

 this mode of farming might be adopted in 

 this country to advantage where drills can be 

 used. 



On clay or moist land a somewhat similar 

 course of rotation is adopted. On their sum- 

 mer fallows and clover leas, from two and a 

 half to three cauldrons of lime per acre are 

 applied. On such land they seed down with 

 wheat, which is hand-hoed in the spring ; the 

 grass seed being sown and the land rolled 

 when the wheat is two or three inches high. 



From your editorial remarks on the amount 

 of straw raised, I infer that you place a lower 

 estimate on it than I do. The straw from an 

 acre seeded with a peck or less of seed must 

 be small, — very much smaller th m where six 

 or eight pecks were used. I must believe 

 that if the farmers of this country would adopt 

 a judicious course of rotation, raise more roots, 

 viore grain and more straw and feed them to 

 their stock, it would be better for them and 

 for their land. I think, too, that barley might 

 be substituted in a measure for corn to advan- 

 tage and profit. Barley is grown with less 

 labor, and the land put in grass a year sooner. 



Although I have made a long article I do 

 not like to close without an allusion to the 



English Mode of Making Manure. 



Their tarns and sheds are generally ar- 

 ranged so as to form a hollow square, which 

 they call a fold-yard. In these yards their 

 joung stock and other cattle are fed on straw 

 during the winter, from racks built for that 

 purpose. What straw is not eaten by the cat- 

 tle goes under foot and receives the dung and 

 urine until it becomes (wo or three feet thick ; 

 the manure that is made in the stables by 

 horses, cows and fat stock, is likewise thrown 

 into this yard. During the winter and spring 

 this manure is drawn upon the turnip fields. 

 The dry and fresh straw on the top of the 

 manure in the yard is raked or forked off, as 

 the manure is loaded, and then is thrown back 

 upon the bottom of the yard, to start another 

 bed of manure. After it is deposited in the 

 field it is turned over, taking care to work the 

 outside into the middle. Such manure is more 

 valuable in my estimation than that from sta- 

 bles here. In such yards cattle pass the Eng- 

 lish winters very comfortably ; but the weather 

 there is more uniform and less severe than 

 here. 



I have thus given you some of my recollec- 

 tions of farming in the old country. Some- 

 times I think farmers in this country would do 

 well to adopt some of the practices which have 

 been found to work well there, but our cir- 

 cumstances are dilTerent in many respects, and 

 I am perfectly willing that others should do 

 as they like. E. Heeb. 



Jeffersonvllle, Vt., Dec, 1869. 



l''or the j\ew England Farmer, 

 VALUE or GHEEN COIIK--STALKS. 

 Green Ccrn-stalks, the Poorest and Meanest 



Fodder ever given to a Cow.— Report of Dr. 



Lorinff's Piitfficld Speech. 

 Such a sweeping condemnation of an article 

 so generally used, coming from one so deserv- 

 edly popular as a teacher upon agricultural 

 topics, will naturally arrest attention and in- 

 cite investigation. If corn stalks are worth- 

 less for fodder, the thousands who annually 

 raise them ought to know it, but if they really 

 have an intrinsic value it may be well for those 

 who advocate their use to show their reasons. 

 For one, I believe, the main objections urged 

 against this fodder ai^oe entirely from the man- 

 ner of cultivating and using it. In order to 

 derive the greatest benefit from this crop, it is 

 necessary to understand the office and nature 

 of the stalk and its value at different stages 

 of its growth. In its early growth the stalk is 

 composed mostly of soft, cellular tissue, and 

 the juice is watery and insipid. As the stalk 

 approaches maturity, the juice thickens and is 

 richer in saccharine matter, and when stalk 

 and leaves are fully developed and the ear is 

 forming, the juice is the richest, and the stalk 

 has its greatest value. The development of 

 the ear withdraws the juices from the stalk and 

 leaves, and when it is fully ripened they pos- 



