180 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



April 



weighed over 4,100 pounds and the lightest 3,300. 

 They are each six years old, were raised in La 

 Grange, Dutchess County, and were sold for 

 ^3,200. Their hides are to be stuffed and placed 

 in Central Park. 



— A correspondent of the New England Far- 

 mer has made skim-milk cheese in the fall when 

 milk can be kept sweet several days, by putting 

 the juice of grated carrots into the milk after 

 skimming, as is done to color butter, and then 

 treat the milk in the ordinary way of making 

 cheese. After forty years' experience he pro- 

 nonnces such cheese nice. 



—Mr. Hollis Daggett, of Monroe Co., N. Y., 

 says many of the bees in his section are starving 

 — that not over one-tenth of them will survive the 

 winter without feeding, and adds that they can be 

 easily and cheaply saved— especially if in mova- 

 ble comb-hives— by feeding them the syrup of 

 coffee sugar. He is feeding his bees in this way, 

 taking out the combs and filling them. When the 

 syrup is put in the comb i*; should be as warm as 

 milk when first drawn from the udder. 



— The Massachusetts Agricultural College has 

 property amounting to .^196,500, of which Ihe live 

 stock is valued at $6880, tools and vehicles $2240, 

 produce $4345. The balance of accounts between 

 the farm and its expense is $2567. There were 

 119 students in 1869. The trustees estimate that 

 the buildings needed to accommodate the faculty 

 and the next class will cost between $100 000 and 

 $200,000, according to the number provided for. 



— Mr. J. E. Porter of central Illinois has for 

 several years mixed one third oats with his seed 

 wheat, and according to the Western Rural gets 

 much better crops than when wheat is sown alone. 

 Last year wheat alone was nearly a failure, while 

 that with oats produced fair crops. Mr. P. raised 

 fifteen bushels of wheat and thirty of oats per 

 acre. The two grains are harvested together, and 

 are readily separated by any of the new fanning 

 mills. 



—Many cultivators ascribe much of the popu- 

 larity of the Rose and other new varieties of pota- 

 toes, to the care with which they have been culti- 

 vated and the light seeding, generally single eyes, 

 which their high price has induced. A correspon- 

 dent of the Country Gentleman says that he has 

 succeeded during the past three years in bringing 

 some of the old varieties to the size and produc- 

 tiveness of the new ones, by the same cultivation 

 which has been given to them. 



— The Lexington, Ky., Home Journal says that 

 several Southern planters went to Illinois and 

 Indiana last season for laborers to harvest their 

 crops, and succeeded beyond their expectation. 

 As the cotton and sugar crops are not usually 

 gathered and saved betbre December, and very 

 frequently not until February, and consequently 

 after the grain and grass crops of the north are 

 secured, they obtained reliable men for these com- 



paratively leisure months, who went to work 

 cheerfully and saved the southern crops in excel- 

 lent style. After a profitable late fall and winter 

 engagement, these men return home in season for 

 spring's work. It is thought larger numbers will 

 be engaged next year. 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 

 says, to be completely prosperous, stock-raising 

 must be in a locality where good pastures and 

 mowings can be kept permanently in grass ; and 

 on genuine natural grass land it will not answer 

 under any circumstances to use the plough, as it 

 takes many years of good management to bring 

 the grass back to the established state. The very 

 best grass land in the Southwest, the same as in 

 England, never was seeded at all ; and when the 

 plough is put into such a turf it is synonymous 

 with killing the goose which laid the golden eggs. 



For the Kew England Farmer, 

 SHALL "WE KAISB OUK COHIJ"? 



The discussion upon corn at the recent Far- 

 mers' Convention at Manchester, N. H. was 

 earnest and practical. The successful grow- 

 ers regarded it as a profitable crop ; regratted 

 that the State should be obliged to buy so 

 much, and warmly urged their brother farmers 

 to raise their own corn. 



There are some, it appears, who consider 

 this counsel as old fogyish, and not in keeping 

 with the times, and that it is better to buy 

 corn, even if there is a net profit of 50 to 100 

 per cent, in raising it. Whether the growing 

 of corn in New Hampshire is an antiquated 

 notion or not, there are certainly sound argu- 

 ments in favor tf its cultivation, and the crop 

 ought not to be condemned because of its an- 

 tiquity. 



Jt will be generally admitted that farmers 

 require a large amount of some kind of grain 

 to make their beef, pork, mutton, poultry, 

 butter, «&c., and for their working animals, 

 and that corn is the best for all these pur- 

 poses. The only question which admits of 

 discussion is. Where shall we get it? From 

 the West and South say the advocates of buy- 

 ing. At one time it was brought from these 

 sections at marvellous low rates. If it could 

 always be had from either section cheaper 

 than we can raise it, all must admit buying 

 is the best policy. But extensive home mar- 

 kets are arising at the South and West, and 

 experience is teaching them that it is for their 

 interest to raise less grain and expend more of 

 what they do raise upon their farms and have 

 beef, pork, mutton, wool and cheese and but- 

 ter to sell. 



The railroads and middle men are becoming 

 very exacting in their demands — far more so 

 than when they had lands to sell and sought 

 patronage. The price has steadily a Ivanced 

 until thi;re is now a wide margin for profit in 

 raising it here, — our best cultivators claiming 

 that it can be produced on our rough farms 



