1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAE^IER. 



181 



for about 72 cents per bu;hel. This leaves a 

 balance in favor of the home producer, for a 

 net profit equal to what the Western farmer 

 receives, on an average, for his delivered at 

 the nearest market. If the present schemes 

 of railroad consolidation are carried out, or if 

 a few men can buy up and control loncj lines 

 of road, the prospects of having lower freights 

 or smaller commissions are not encouraging, 

 and it is pretty certain that for some time to 

 come New England farmers can fill their corn 

 bins cheaper from their own acres than from 

 the valley of the Mississippi. As long as we 

 can realize as great and even greater net 

 profit, per acre, is it not sufficient reason for 

 raising more ? 



Again, the advocates of buying say that the 

 cultivation of corn requires a good deal of at- 

 tention and labor ; the hoeing interferes with 

 haying, &c. ; therefore we had better raise 

 more hay and sell a part cf that or some other 

 product and get money to buy corn. This 

 may be a gov d policy for market gardeners 

 and grass farmers to pursue. But every well 

 appointed farm is supposed to have the requi- 

 site machinery, tools and help to raise some 

 hoed crops, and it requires no very great abil- 

 ity to carry the hoeing through in time, with- 

 out inlerf'ering with haying. Recent, inven- 

 tions enable us at the least to lessen the cost 

 of planting and cultivating, and improved 

 methods of cutting, curing and feeding the 

 fodder it makes, has given an increased value 

 to the stalks. 



Well cured corn fodder is worth more than 

 meadow hay. Where both the ears and stalks 

 are consumed upon the farm, the stalks can be 

 cut earlier and at the bottom, which greatly 

 improves the fodder. Where neat stock is 

 kept, the advantage of having the fodder 

 ought to decide in favor of raising our own 

 corn. Well filled bins of a home growth in- 

 dicate that the stock will fare better than if 

 their owners depended upon buying. As to 

 the plan of selling hay and then buying corn 

 with the proceeds, it may be advisable under 

 some circumstances ; still, by raising a few 

 acres of corn and making a judicious use of 

 the fodder, there would be more hay to be 

 sold and no corn to be bought. 



The potato is the only hoed crop that can 

 compete with corn for supremacy in value in 

 the New England States. In Maine and Ver- 

 mont the potato leads by a large balance in its 

 favor; in New Hampshire it is just ahead, 

 while in Massachusetts, Connecticut atrd 

 Rhode Island, corn ranks highest. Since 

 18G2 the price of potatoes has been high and 

 their culture has rapidly increased. But ju^t 

 now prices have a downward ti'ndency, and 

 will undoubtedly rule lower during the next 

 decade. The Northwest has found that pota- 

 toes can be grown there at a profit, and is 

 competing with us in the New Oilcans and 

 other Southern markets, and shoidd the duties 

 be taken oil" from the products of the British 



Provinces, the profits of this crop would be 

 still further reduced. Allowing, however, 

 that an acre of potatoes gives more money 

 than an acre of corn, is it advisable to grow 

 them largely on the same farm? Even under 

 skilful management, it is an exhausting crop. 

 It draws largely upon the organic elements of 

 the soil, beside the potash and soda, and re- 

 turns nothing to it, and where the extrava- 

 gantly wasteful system of burning is pursued 

 to get new land for it, the uUimale effects of 

 severe cropping areivery irjurious. In those 

 localities in New Hampshire where it has been 

 extensively raised for starch factories and the 

 Boston market, this exhausting effect is al- 

 ready apparent. From first to last, both in 

 raising and marketing, it is a heavy, laborious 

 crop, and is attended with many risks. If the 

 tubers fail to grow well, or if they rot, all is 

 lost. 



AVith corn, if the ears fail to ripen or fill 

 out, the fodder is some remuneration. A 

 large amount is returned to the soil through 

 the fodder, stubble and roots, and since the 

 phosphates can now be so readily restored to 

 ttre soil, selling corn from a farm is not likely 

 to prove as detrimental as raising potatoes. 

 The freedom of corn from diseases, the almost 

 certainty of a fair crop and the fact that both 

 the grain and fodder can be kept, if not 

 wanted irameiiiately, give it preference to the 

 potato. Corn, in these resptcts, is superior 

 to all other hoed and root crops. It is surer 

 and more remunerative than the other cereals, 

 and deserves always to rank next to hay, even 

 in New England. Perhaps, thougo, we should 

 except the northern parts of Maine, New 

 Hampshire and Vermont, which are better 

 adapted to the potato. 



Were there a tew more public spirited men, 

 like secretary Lyman of New Hampshire, in 

 each State, a new zeal would be awakened in 

 this truly valuable cereal, and our farmers 

 would see that it is for their interest to raise 

 more and buy less co^-n. N. s. T. 



Lawrence, 3Iass., Feb. 3. 1870. 



For the jXew England Farmer, 

 CHEESE-M AKIJM Q. 



The cheese that took the first premium at 

 the Orleans County, Vt., fair in 18G9. was 

 over a year old and was made by Mrs. G. B. 

 Brewster of Iiasburg, who describes her 

 method as follows : — 



We have twenty-three cows, and make but- 

 ter until the hot weather of July, then we 

 make one cheese each day. 



The night's milk is strained into a large tin 

 tub and ice put into it to cool it and it is stirred 

 until the ice is all melted, then it stands till 

 morning, when it is skimmed and about a fifth 

 part of the milk is taken out and so much 

 warmed that when it is pound back it will 

 make the whole as warm as new milk. Then 

 the cream that was taken off is put into a cloth 



