266 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



June 



regarded as authority, in this country, as to 

 the best method of raising, feeding and fatten- 

 ing cattle and sheep for market. His long 

 life, good judgment, and success in that pro 

 fession to which he has devoted bis best tal- 

 ents for more than half a century, has resulted 

 in acquiring a very large amount of practical 

 information, much of which has been given to 

 the public through the agricultural press. 

 But if we demur occasionally to his opinion, 

 it is only assuming a prerogative to which we 

 have a right, especially if we have sufficient 

 evidence to sustain our objection. If we 

 adopt the opinions of others as conclusive w'th- 

 out examining the evidence that we can bring 

 to bear upon the subject matter, we are not 

 discharging our duty to our fellowmen nor to 

 the age in which we live. Progress and 

 change are the order of the day, and farming 

 at the present time, especially in New Eng- 

 land, requires perhaps more thought, energy, 

 industry and perseverance than any other pro- 

 fession. The great West is pouring io upon 

 us her cereals, her pork and her beef at much 

 lower prices than we can produce them ; South 

 America, Australia and other foreign coun- 

 tries, and some of our Southern sister States 

 have flooded our market with wool, and so 

 depressed prices that for the last four years 

 we have received about twenty-seven cents in 

 gold, for what brought us forty during the 

 last twenty years preceding the war. With 

 these facts staring us in the face, with high 

 taxes and high prices of labor, it stan-ds us in 

 band to look about and make tte inquiry what 

 shall we do to save ourselves ? Availability 

 is the lever by which the politician secures his 

 purposes. Let us try it, and avail ourselves 

 of the circumstances of our situation. 



Let us improve every opportunity to en- 

 large our compost heap, which is the great ful- 

 crum for the lever of availability to pry over 

 successfully. Let us avail ourselves of every 

 profitable means to enrich our lands and to 

 fit them for the production of early roots and 

 vegetables, and such other crops as will not 

 come in competition with those from the West, 

 the South and elsewhere. Our cities and vil 

 lages furnifh us the only channels through 

 which remunerative profits for our products 

 can be realized — early beef, early mutton, 

 early veal, early lambs, early pork, early poul- 

 try, early potatoes ; early roots, such as beets, 

 carrots, turnips, onions, squashes, pumpkins, 

 cucumbers, &c. To produce these, let us 

 improve every rod of land, clean up every 

 corner. After the first cutting of grass on the 

 dry knolls, turn over the sod and sow with 

 turnips, sifting the scrapings from your barn- 

 yard into the drills. The subsequent labor is 

 sowing and trimming, as hoeing is seldom 

 necessary on sward ground. Thus planted 

 the first of July, turnips may be raised at an 

 expense of five cents per bushel and they are 

 less spongy and keep late into the next season. 

 Such roots are now worth from one and a half 



to two and a half dollars per barrel in our 

 city markets. 



But some will say I live too far off from 

 market to sell turnips. Then feed them to 

 your cattle and sheep. They operate wonder- 

 fully to give appetite and extend the stomach 

 when feeding corn fodder. Observe the won- 

 derful change that has taken place in the form 

 and size of our cattle and sheep during 

 the last half century. How has it been 

 brought about? By commencing with our 

 calves and lambs, and giving them better feed, 

 with roots, &c., by which their stomachs are 

 properly distended, and a noble form secured. 



The raising of roots need not interfere with 

 our common farm operations. Sow English 

 turnips after the last hoeing of corn, and scratch 

 in the seed with a light hand harrow with 

 spikes for teeth. It is fun for children to 

 draw them. On good corn ground you will 

 get from two to five hundred bushels per 

 acre, costing less than four cents a bushel. 

 Hogs can be kept in good condition during 

 the winter on Ruta Baga turnips boiled. 

 Leached ashes, lime, superphosphate, as well 

 as many other fertilizers, are excellent for 

 turnips. There is no crop, in my opinion, so 

 easily and cheaply raised as the root crop. 

 After having made it a study for quite a num- 

 ber of years to ascertain the best and cheap- 

 est method of feeding stock,! have come to 

 the conclusion that the table of R. S. Fay, of 

 Massachusetts, is about as near correct as 

 any I have met with, though many of the Eng- 

 lish and German authors have more tully 

 illustrated in what manner the nutritive parts 

 of certain ordinary vegetable products enter 

 into the composition of different animal pro- 

 ducts. 

 Thus 100 pounds of hay equal to — 



374 lbs Wheat Straw. 



442 



195 



lf3 



339 



t04 



3u8 



276 lbs Carrot. 



Rye Straw. 50 " Indian com. 



Oat Straw. 54 " Barley. 



Bean t-traw, 45 " Wheat. 



Mangold Wurzel. 45 " Peas. 



Con mon Turnip. 46" Beans, 

 Swedes Turnip. 



Potatoes are not mentioned in this table, 

 but they are more valuable, in my opinion, 

 than any root raised for feeding purposes. 

 Now, for instance, if 308 pounds of Swedes 

 turnips are equal to 50 pounds of corn, the 

 point is which can we raise the easiest, four 

 hundred bushels of Swedes or one hundred 

 bushels of corn. -* D. P. Stowell. 



Canton, Me., 1870. 



For the New Evgland Farmer, 



commebciaij fbrtilizebs and 

 home-made manures 



DISCDSSION BY THE RANDOLPH, VT., FARMERS' CLUB. 



W. W. Walbridge. — Fertilizers are simply 

 plant food. When, where and how shall we 

 obtain this plant food, are questions of great 

 importance. A supply of material is at hand 

 in our muck swamps and in our wood lots, 

 where an accumulation of leaves and mulch 



