344 



NEW ENGLAM) FAKMER. 



July 



I keep a cow which has given on an average 

 eight quarts of milk per clay, all winter, which is 

 not a great yield to be sure ; but I think she has 

 done well, considering that she has eaten no hay 

 of any account but meadow. I give her some 

 potatoes, shorts, and a little meal. The first of 

 the winter I gave her sweet corn stalks, which, by 

 the way, I think is the best fodder a cow can have, 

 and I have made up my mind to plant this spring 

 less potatoes, and more sweet corn, not only for 

 the stalks, but also for the corn, which I have an 

 idea is much better for hens and for fattening pigs 

 than common corn. I fed out a lot to my pig last 

 fall and I thought it made pork faster than the 

 common corn meal had before or did afterwards. 

 If any of the readers of the Farmer have ever 

 fed it to hens or pigs I would like to hear from 

 them. Chocorua. 



Guilford, Lake Village, N. H., 1870. 



ATTENDING STRICTLY TO FARMING. 



I have been much pleased with the large liberty 

 you give in the Farmer to all men for the ex- 

 pression of their minds, whether they favor muck 

 or no muck ; but the difficulty with some of us, 

 backwoodsmen, seems to be in making ourselves 

 understood. 



I had not a thought in my communication of 

 April 23, of objecting to farmers owning all the 

 bank stock they could pay for, and all the mills 

 they could manage. By no means ! Some of the 

 very best farmers of my own town are those who 

 own all these things and more also, and let any 

 one see their well tilled farms and splendid herds 

 of thoroughbred cattle and sheep and he will not 

 say that they have "lost caste as farmers." 



No, no, Mr. Editor, the bedstead is xiot of my con- 

 struction. I only designed to paint out the incon- 

 sistency of men preaching "stick to the farm," 

 "attend strictly to farming," &c., &c., while they 

 themselves indulge in the luxury of other and 

 more profitable employment. And were I allowed 

 a guess, it would be that John P. Gager, Jr., did 

 not pay for two large farms and accumulate $1000 

 worth of produce before engaging in outside specu- 

 lations, or more properly other business ; but that 

 his farming and millmg went hand in hand and 

 that his "bank stock" was the result of both. 



G. R. Hitchcock. 



Champlain, N. Y., May 20, 1870. 



Remarks. — Farmers are getting so tired of this 

 "inconsistency" that they do not listen very pa- 

 tiently to orators, poets, or "talking farmers" who 

 discourse learnedly about the profit and the no- 

 bility of the farmer's vocation, when it appears 

 that these men have all their lives "attended 

 strictly" to some other business, and design that 

 their sons after them shall do the same. This ex- 

 tolling farming by words, though smooth and 

 eloquent, and condemning it by actions, sharp and 

 powerful; this rowing one way and looking an- 

 other, disgusts many and is putting the theoretical 

 and the practical farmer at arms-length. 



RED WATER, AND HOW CURED. 



I had a valuable cow taken with this disease, 

 some eight or ten days after dropping her calf. 

 Her water was the color of a strong decoction of 

 hemlOLk bark. I went to the New England 

 Farmer tor a remedy, but found t-o many cures 

 and all comi'osed of sucii small amounts of various 

 ingredients that they appeared ti^o small doses to 

 cure a cow. 1 then applied to a neighbor who had 

 had some experience with this disease. He told 



me to take a pint of spirits of nitre, and an equal 

 quantity of water, and give it in three doses, once 

 in six hours. I gave her two doses, and finding 

 that she was much better, thought it best to wait 

 a few hours and note the result. In twenty-four 

 hours she was perfectly well, and remains so. 



Wm. S. Foster. 

 NoHh Tunbridge, Vt., May 3, 1870. 



school district no. 6, brookfield, vt. 



Within the limits of this district there are 15-3 

 persons in all, — old and young, male and female. 

 There are 53 males over 18 years of age — of whom 

 15 will average 71 years of age. There is not an 

 intemperate person in the neighborhood, nor a 

 loafer, unless some of us, old chaps, who can't do 

 much else may be charged with snufiSng and 

 chewing a little, — the result of bad habits and 

 patriotism, as we thereby help pay the national 

 debt, you see. 



But what about the district ? Though not duly 

 appointed to take the census, I have pretty thor- 

 oughly canvassed this neighborhood, and beg 

 leave to make the following report, which includes 

 the year from March 1869, to March 1870. Our 

 territory comprises 2577 acres, or about four 

 square miles. On this little farm there were 

 raised, during the year : — 



Wheat .... 450 bushels Roots 1230 bush 



Corn I960 " Butter .... 9tOO fts 



Oats 2787 " Cheese .... 6325 " 



Indian Wheat 1424 " Pork 17 260 " 



Rve 68 " Beef,(kille(3). 18,068 " 



Barley. ... 30 " Sugar (poor run) 7228 " 



Potatoes . . . 3735 " 

 The cash value of which is estimated . . . .$18,012 

 Horses, oxen, cows, calves, sheep, lamba, pigs, 



poultry, eggs and wool sold, say 5,000 



$21,012 



In addition to which we cut 660 tons of hay. 

 Our stock consisting of 51 horses, 10 yoke of oxen, 

 135 cows, with young stock, swine, &c., was esti- 

 mated on the first of March, 1870, to be worth 

 $17,912. 



Now, one word to those who are scolding about 

 the high prices of beef, pork, butter, &c. Last 

 fall when our stock came to the barn it could 

 probably have been sold for $15,960. Estimating 

 our 660 tons of hay at $15 per ton, it was worth 

 $9900 at the same time. These cattle have eaten 

 up all this hay, and now let us figure out the 

 profits of our winter's work in feeding stock : — 



Value of stock last fall .$16960 



Value of hay consumed 9,900 



$25 860 

 This stock is now valued at 17,912 



Showing a loss of $ 7,943 



for which we have nothing to show but our manure. 

 Now, dear city friends, don't sufier your bowels 

 of compassion to burst for our sakes. Like ells, 

 we are accustomed to being flayed. It is one of 

 the taxes we annually pay to keep our farms in 

 running order. And though the figures look a 

 little discouraging, we take hold of another year's 

 labor with our usual courage. V. Baker. 



Brookfield, Vt., 1870. 



lime and otster shells. 

 I have taken the New England Farmer for 

 about twelve years, and have read no paper for 

 sixty years that I think is of more advantage to 

 the public, and wish for its future prosperity. But 

 1 saw in it a statement by Dr. Nichols, which I 

 consider the greatest blunder that I ever read, and 

 one calculated to mislead those who know no bet- 

 ter. He says lime or carbonate of lime is use- 



