172 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



April 



as daylight comes, with an extra egg therein. 

 They are Brahma fowls. 



OUR WINTER. 



The winter with us has been remarkably warm. 

 Not one day of good sledding up to this date, 

 though we have had several falls of snow of two 

 or three inches at a time, followed by big rains. 

 Hard for wood drawers. We use wagons, carts, 

 sleds and sleighs all the same day. Unbanked 

 cellars do not freeze. At this writing it is snowing 

 smartly. 



PRICES OF PRODVCE 



Hay $12 and $\5 per ton ; corn $1.25 and $1.30 ; 

 wheat $i'l.50 and $1.75 ; potatoes 50 cents per bush. ; 

 butter 35 and 45 c nts per pound ; cheese, retail, 20 

 cts. per pound ; eggs 30 cents per dozen ; pork 12 and 

 14, beef 8 and 10 cents by the side ; wood, hard, 

 $6 per cord. Business easy ; trade very cautious. 

 H. N. Savage. 



White River Junction, Vt., Jan. 30, 1870. 



Remarks.— The legislature of the State of New 

 York has expended large sums of money in the 

 investigation, by the most competent men, of the 

 causes of abortion in cows, but thus far without 

 any very satisfactory results. For some myste- 

 rious reason, cows seem to have been of late, 

 in certain localities, at least, predisposed to this dis- 

 ease. Your cows may have been thus predisposed, 

 and hence the consequences of slaughtering ani- 

 mals in the barnyard were different this year from 

 those of previous years when your cows were 

 healthy. It is considered very dangerous to 

 subject cows with calf to the sight and smell of 

 slaughtered animals. Their senseof smell is very 

 acute, and the presence of fresh blood often greatly 

 excites them, and is frequently the immediate 

 cause of abortion. 



THE JOHN MORRILL HORSE. 



Will some reader of the Farmer give me the 



Earticulars in relation to this horse which is or 

 as been owned in the northern part or Vermont. 

 I would like to know his pedigree, color, weight, 

 and general character as a horse. Such informa- 

 tion will greatly oblige a great lover of a good 

 horse. I have often wondered while reading the 

 Farmer that more is not written of this noble 

 animal. Excepting the memoers of one's own 

 family, what is there on earth in which man has 

 so much interest as the horse, — ever ready to do 

 his bidding in sickness or health, in business or 

 pleasure. And yet how often is he poorly fed and 

 poorly cared for by his owner. A Reader. 



Dummerston, Vt., Feb. 4, 1870. 



Remarks, — \Vc cannot furnish the desired in- 

 formation, but hope some correspondent will do 

 so. We may, however, say that the Morrills be- 

 long to a branch of the Vermont Morgans ; being 

 the descendants of Bulrush Morgan, one of the 

 three most celebrated colts of the original Justin 

 Morgan. Among the Morrills, two horses known 

 as Old and Young Morrill were the most cele- 

 brated. According to the pedigree given in Stone- 

 henge, McClure and Harvey on the Horse, Old 

 Morrill had two crosses of Diomed and four of 

 Messenger, and Young Morrill had two lines 

 of descent from Justin Morrill on his dam's side. 

 Young Morrill is sire of Draco, Fearnaught, Dan- 

 ville Boy, Mountain Maid, Hiram Woodruff, &c. 



A SUCCESSFUL FARMER. 



When a man has achieved success in any busi- 

 ness, profession or occupation, we naturally turn 

 to him and inquiie. How was success obtained? 

 What course was pursued, what s stem foll',wed ? 

 A recent visit to the milk farm of Mr. M. N. Bruce 

 of Acton, Mass., furnished ample proof that he 

 had been successful. His farm, of about 200 acres, 

 is situated three-fourths of a mile from the sta- 

 tion, on the Fitchburg railroad, with a pasture of 

 sixty acres about one mile frcim the homestead, 

 where his dry cows and young stock are kept. 



His stock at present consists of twen'y-four 

 milch cows, twenty-two head of young cattle, one 

 yoke "of oxen and two horses. He devocs the 

 whole produce of the farm to milk raisincr, and has 

 made it a specialty since 1845. He now makes 

 about twenty-four cans per day. He feeds at)out 

 twelve tons of grain, besides what he raises upon 

 the farm, and thinks wheat middlings the best 

 feed for the health of his milch cows. He raises 

 five or six calves yearly. He believes grade Ayr- 

 shires the best cows for milk, and has recently 

 purchased of G°o. M. Barrett, of Concord, Mass., 

 a full blood Ayrshire bull. 



In 1852 Mr. Bruce built a new barn 40x100 feet 

 and connected it by a shed and granary, 40 feet in 

 length, to the house, which he has recently com- 

 pletely renovated. He has commodious and con- 

 venient buiidmgs, which, together with the barn 

 cellar, are furnished with water by an aqueduct. 



Mr. Bruce has reclaimed ten acres of swamp 

 meadow on which he cuts a large crop of English 

 hay ; has completely renovated lifty acres of shrub 

 oaks and whortleberries into rich and succulent 

 pasture, and has laid new andrelaid old stone wall 

 to the amount of 500 rods. All these and other 

 improvements he has accomplished since 1840, at 

 which time he purchased the farm which was then 

 very much run out ; the buildings being old and 

 poor, the fences much dilapidated, and the farm 

 then would barely keep six cows. 



The capital which Mr. Bruce had at 21 years of 

 age, was industry, honesty, economy and a strong 

 will. With this capital he grappled with the farm 

 as it then was, and now he is owner of the farm 

 and stock as it now is, with something laid by for 

 contingencies. 



Mr. Bruce attributes his success to making one 

 branch of farming a specialty and to a jadicious 

 application of the capital he started with. 



Littleton, Mass., Jan. 25, 1870. 8. 



A WEEPING CALF. — AL8IKE CLOVER. 



I have a last spring's calf that weeps constantly 

 and has done so for two months. What can be 

 done for it ? 



I wish to procure some alsike clover seed. Who 

 has it for sale ? W. F. Jones. 



Worthington, Mass., Jan. 20, 1870. 



Remarks. — Weeping may proceed from disease, 

 injury, or some foreign substance in the eye; bat 

 from the description given we have no clew to the 

 cause in this case. 



The alsike clover seed is for sale at the agricul- 

 tural seed stores at about fifty cents per pound. 



OUR POTATOES. 



We raised this year the Early Rose, and a nicer, 

 sweeter potato never grew ; Early Goodrich which 

 sold well; Harrison, which also sold well, but 

 which we dislike very much, on account of its 

 strong taste; Davis' Seedling, which yielded well 

 and sold well, but which we also dislike tor the 

 same reason: the Gleason, which is in every 

 respect a splendid potato, great yielder, large size, 

 —no small ones to speak of,— rough skin, shallow 



