484 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



chances of saving the smaller number. The re- 

 duction will be effected by slaughtering 10,000, 

 making the most of their pelts and tallow, and 

 salting down the hind-quarters. 



-^From what Horace Greeley "knows of farm- 

 ing" he assumes that the Pine Barrens of New 

 Jersey may be ploughed up and by the applica- 

 tion of marl, swamp muck, oyster shell lime, and 

 bone flour, he made to produce "fully sixty bush- 

 els of corn, thirty of wheat and not less than three 

 tons of hay per acre." Can any body wonder 

 that "book farming" is unpopular ? 



— To preserve a bouquet, a correspondent of the 

 Western Rural says : Sprinkle it lightly with fresh 

 water, and put it in a vase containing soap suds. 

 Each morning tase the bouquet out of* the suds, 

 and lay it sideways in clean water ; keep it there 

 a minute or two, then take it out and sprinkle the 

 flowers lightly by the hand with water. Replace 

 it in the suds, and it will bloom as freshly as 

 when first gathered. Change the suds every three 

 or four days. This method will keep a bouquet 

 bright and beautiful for at least a month. 



— About the loth of June a cow belonging to 

 Mr. Wm. Burnell of SwantoQ, Vt., gave birth to a 

 calf, which in the course of a few days was killed 

 and the milk of the cow saved. It was noticed 

 that the milk was very thin and appeared to have 

 no more richness than ordinary skimmed milk. 

 And yet the cow appeared well, and the cause was 

 quite a mystery. A month afterward, however, 

 the cow had another calf, and since then her milk 

 has been perfectly good. 



— To illustrate the remark that there is more 

 gain in time than in cheapness by the use of a 

 good deal of our farm machinery, a correspondent 

 of the Hearth and Home says "a neighbor of mine 

 two years ago kept an accurate account of the ex- 

 pense of threshing his crop of wheat. He hired a 

 six or eight-horse thresher and its attendant horses 

 and gang of men. He put in his own men and 

 teams and hired extra help, as most farmers must 

 do at such a time. He fed the lot — horses and 

 men — and his wheat cost him, for threshing alone, 

 twenty-five cents per bushel." 



— The improvement in the crops of Great Bri- 

 tain during the last half century has often been 

 ascribed to the improved modes suggested by sci- 

 entific and progressive agriculture, but a late num- 

 ber of the Iiisk Farmers' Gazette seems to give 

 the credit to the importation of foreign, and the 

 manufacture of home-made fertilizers. It thinks 

 it questionable whether the annual increase of all 

 the cotton, linen, woolen, and hardware together 

 will balance the increase of produce arising from 

 the yearly application of imported and artificial 

 manure to British soil. 



— In reply to a correspondent who expressed a 

 desire for a book containing a full account, with 

 illustrations, of all insects, the St. Louis Entomol- 

 ogist goes into a calculation as to the size of such 



a work. He assumes there are about 500,000 dis- 

 tinct species in the world. Allowing the descrip- 

 tion and cuts of each species to occupy a page and 

 a quarter, he demonstrates by figures that 1000 

 octavo volumes of 625 pages each would be re- 

 I quired for the work, making a row of books over 

 160 feet long, or enough to fill seven book cases 

 six feet high and four feet wide. 



EXTBACTS AND REPLIES. 



FARMING "WITH SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. 



In reply to T. E. P., of Newburyport, Mass., 

 who asks for experience in regard to going on to a 

 farm with ifSoOO capital, and who wants to know 

 whether he could get a living, allowing he should 

 attend to his business, I will give my experience 

 with about that amount of eapital. 



Thirteen years ago last spring, I bought a farm 

 of two hundred acres for $7000. I paid $600 

 down, then borrowed #600 to buy stock and tools. 

 I had fourteen years' pay-day. Besides meet- 

 ing all payments when due, I have bought fifty 

 acres more land for $1400, paid down. I am now 

 in debt about $700, and have a farm worth $11,- 

 000, with stock and tools worth about $2000. 

 Thus, with a good helpmeet, I have got a livmg by 

 attending to my business — farming. a. f. 



Bristol, Vt., Aug., 1870. 



Remarks^— For brevity and eoneiseness of state- 

 ment this communication is a model. In the ex- 

 pression, "my business — farming," is probably 

 wrapped up one of the secrets of his success. 

 Both he and his helpmeet understood their busi- 

 ness ; had learned their trade ; were skilled work- 

 men. We understood the inquiry of our New- 

 buryport friend to be made in the interest of 

 "raw hands," — of those tired of village or city life 

 and employments, and who had been attracted to 

 rural pursuits by the poetry rather than the prose 

 of farming. 



We must take this occasion to invite "A. F.," 

 as he has now broken the crust, and shown capa- 

 bilities as a writer as well as a farmer, to dress up 

 other facts of his experience for the benefit of the 

 many who are beginning life under circumstances 

 similar to his own. 



singular cases with cows. 



In the Farmer of June 18, we published a state- 

 ment by T. B. Hart, Esq., of West Cornwall, 

 Conn., in relation to a cow which manifested all 

 the usual appearances of one just ready to "come 

 in," when she refused her feed, her bag fell away, 

 all the appearances alluded to disappeared, and 

 the animal became poor and feeble. 



We have since' received a communication from 

 "B. D. W. "•detailing a similar case that occurred 

 in North Thetford, Vt., some years ago. In that 

 case the cow was expected to calve in March, in 

 which month her appearances were all favorable, 

 and she was closely watched. About twenty days 

 after her time, her bag began to diminish, and in 

 the spring she was turned to the pasture, appa- 

 rently in good health and condition, to fatten. In 

 December she was slaughtered, when the bones of 



