142 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



March 



which may be occupied by a horse power or 

 other machinery. At H is a similar compart- 

 ment with bins for grain, furnished with 

 spouts for conducting it to the floor below. 

 At E is a Fairbanks' scale, and at F a trap- 

 door opening into the root-room. 

 Plan of Second Floor. 



No provision has been made for teams or 

 farm implements, because these are kept else- 

 where. Apparatus for steaming food will 

 doubtless be procured before another winter, 

 suflicient at least for experimental purposes. 

 If sand or fine loam be used for bedding, it 

 may be stored in the cellar. The upper 

 story of the barn is well lighted, and ventil- 

 ated both by windows and in the roof through 

 the cupola. 



Pastures for Cows. — At a meeting of the 

 Little Falls Farmers' Club, Mr. Willard said 

 his observation led him to believe that it was 

 better to have one large pasture than to alter- 

 nate from one to another. 



For the New England Farmer, 



THE CUIiTUKE OF SMALL FRUITS. 



An Essay read before the Concord, Mass., Farmera' 

 Club, January 6, 1870. By Capt. John B. Moore. 



It is generally understood by the intelli- 

 gent portion of our community that the use of 

 well-ripened fruit at all seasons of the year, is 

 necessary, and really essential for our health 

 and comfort. That in the long-continued 

 terms of heat which we are subjected to 

 almost every summer, when we become debili- 

 tated to some extent, small fruits, the straw- 

 berry, raspberry, currant and blackberrj', are 

 particularly agreeable, not only as an article 

 of food, but as a che^jp luxury ; cheap, be- 

 cause they promote health, and because they 

 can be so readily served upon our tables. 

 They are also a cooling and invigorating arti- 

 cle of diet for the invalid, and a preventive 

 of sickness in many instances. 



Another reason why we should grow them 

 is this : that by so doing, we should have 

 them fresh, and in their full perfection from 

 the vines or bushes, and it would be our own 

 fault if they were not perfectly ripe. Now a 

 fresh and perfectly ripened fruit is quite a 

 difierent thing from the kind generally for 

 sale in our markets, and is a much superior 

 article. 



Another reason why farmers should grow 

 them is this : they can be made, and are, a 

 profitable crop. They are light freight, as 

 compared with many of our farm products. 

 One acre of strawberries, producing four 

 thousand quarts of fruit, with the crates and 

 baskets to hold them, will weigh about seven 

 thousand five hundred pounds. One acre of 

 potatoes, producing one hundred and fifty 

 bushels, with the barrels to hold them, will 

 weigh about 10,500 pounds. The acre of 

 strawberries, at twenty-three cents a quart, 

 would amount to $920.00 ; the acre of pota- 

 toes, at $2.00 a barrel, to $120.00. It would, 

 therefore, take the product of seven and 

 eleven-twelfths acres of potatoes, at the above 

 prices, to amount to as much as one acre of 

 strawberries. Hence the weight to be trans- 

 ported to market, for the same amount of 

 money received, would be 83,120 pounds of 

 potatoes and 7.500 pounds of strawberries, 

 a difference of 75,620 pounds. The co;t of 

 teaming this difference at $5.00 a ton, would 

 be $187.02 against the potatoes ; not a small 

 item for a farmer to save in transportation 

 alone. I' cannot impress too strongly upon the 

 minds of the members of this Club, the im- 

 portance of selecting crops to grow for market 

 of comparatively light weight, and for this pur- 

 pose I have compared the weight to be trans- 

 ported of the strawberry with the potato crop, 

 not to discourage the growing of potatoes, for 

 I consider them a valuable and advantageous 

 crop in many instances, even as far as we are 

 from market, but to show the difference in 

 weight of the two crops. These same remarks 



