44 



I^EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



irE"W JOINT OR BRANCHINQ CORN. 



All careful farmers are aware of 

 the fact that ihe number of ears, 

 early maturity and general pro- 

 ductiveness of corn can be increased 

 to some extent by judicious selection 

 of seed. Whether such improvement 

 has as yet reached its limit, is a 

 question which few farmers probably 

 are prepared to answer in the affirma- 

 tive. 



The above cut represents what is 

 claimed to be the results of experi- 

 ments in selection and propagation 

 conducted with greater care and 

 perseverance than most farmers have 

 patience to carry out, by E. O. Jud- 

 son of Cuba, N. Y. He has been 

 equally successful with the yellow, 

 sweet and pop varieties. We have 

 seen a single stalk of his field or 

 yellow corn with eight ears, which to- 

 gether measured sixty-one inches. 

 Samples of the stalks with the ears 

 on them as they grew can be seen at 

 the seed store of Wbiftemore, Bel- 

 cher & Co., 34 Merchants Row, 

 Boston, who have the seed for sale. 

 Here specimens can be seen and all 

 the information we possess obtained. 



COARSE -WOOluS IN LARGE FLOCKS. 

 In reply to a request for his experience with 

 long wool sheep, Mr. Ira S. Haseltine, of 

 Richland Centre, Wisconsin, and a breeder of 

 high standing, writes as follows to Hon. H. 

 S Randall, as published in the Rural New 

 Forker : — 



About five years ago I sold my flock of 

 about 2000 Spanish Merinos, (which I bad 

 bandit^d successfully for several years,) and 

 purchased about five hundred Cotswolds, Lti- 

 i;esters and Lincolos, in Canada, and took 

 them to my place in Richland county, Wis- 

 con-in. 1 have kept them in diflferent-sized 

 (flocks at different times, according to size of 

 pasture in summer and convenience of feed- 

 ing in winter. I find they will not do well on 

 wild prairie grass, or timbered land pasture, 

 like the Spaniah Merinos. They do well on 

 good English grass pasture in summer, and 

 shock corn with timothy hay in winter. 



I kept three hundred in one flock during 

 one winter; I fed them shock corn and timo- 

 thy hay ; they wintered very well. They had 



an open shed for shelter. I am satisfied that 

 the Spanish Merinos will do much better in 

 large flocks than the long-wooled sheep of any 

 kind, either during summer or winter. I now 

 keep about 1000 sheep of the different kinds, 

 and breed them separately. I like the long 

 wools best for raising lambs, as they are much 

 better milkers ; I also like them much better 

 for mutton. I like the Spanish Merino best 

 for subduing wild pasture, and for rough usage 

 in large flocks. 



Cashmere Qoata. 

 I also keep a flock of about one hundred 

 Cafchmere goats, which are njore hardy and 

 better breeders than any other wool bearing 

 animal. They live upon browse both summer 

 and winter, and cost- me no hay or grain to 

 keep them whilst they are permitted to run in 

 the woods. I have kept them for five years, 

 and am much pleased with them. They are 

 valuable for their wool, their milk, their meat, 

 and their skins for robes. Their milk is par- 

 ticularly valuable for consumptive persons 

 and children while teething. 



— A farmer in Iowa has harvested his barley on 

 the ninetieth day after sowing. 



