142 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



form Irtters as they are usually writtcu. They 

 euibrace a wide range of topies, and it would 

 require a Faculty of Professors to give the 

 neeessary answers to all ; but with a good 

 share of patience and diligent research, the 

 work can l)edone in a pretty satisfactory man- 

 ner, eitiier by the editor answering directly, or 

 by correspondents replying to each other. A 

 nniltitude of facts are thus given in a con- 

 densed form, and a sort of a debating society 

 (•an bf carricil on in this de])artnieiit ; and of- 

 ten the reader can dei'ive more information in 

 a single evening from two or tlu'ee papers than 

 from sjx'uding five times the time antl labor in 

 personally attending meetings. 



4. The typographical appearance of a paper 

 is always to be considered. Some of the 

 largest and widely circulated weekly papers in 

 the United States boast of their cheapness ; 

 and they arc cheap if poor paper and worse 

 printing are evidences. Farmers genej'ally 

 read in the evening, after a long day of hard 

 labor, an<l with lights not the best. The body 

 being tired, the eyes partake of its exhaus- 

 tion ; and under these circumstaiu'es, reading 

 with the best of print is sufHciently trying. 

 These wretchedly printed sheets for constant 

 reading are dear at any price. 



Suc^i are some of the more striking charac- 

 teristics of a first-class paper. Those purely 

 agricultural are chiefly for adult minds, and 

 their mission being to impart information, to 

 discuss seriously grave subjects, can well afford 

 to keep aloof from all catch-penny attractions. 



The advantages arising from a division of 

 labor and thought are seen in newspaper and 

 ])enodical literature, as well as in other things. 

 The idea that all of this kind of reading a 

 faniily needs can be furnished in a single pa- 

 per is fast becoming obsolete. There are pa- 

 pers exi)ressly for children ; papers that make 

 a specialty of illustrations ; papers devoted to 

 ])olitics, n'ligicn and fiction, and to every 

 branch of litei-ature, science, art and trade, 

 that can possibly support a journal, and why 

 will not farmers give preference to such as are 

 devoted strictly to their occupation? 



And now, kind reader, what think you of 

 the Fakmkk ? Does it come up to the re(juire- 

 ments of a first-class journal ? Are not its 

 editors eminently practical men, and its corres- 

 pondents, if not always graceful with the pen, 

 men of ex])erience and toil ? Are not its ex- 

 ])Ositions of science clear? Its advice judi- 

 cious? Its news free from the sensational? 

 Its market reports minute and reliable ? Is it 

 slow to detect error, timid in exposing fraud ? 

 Has it not always endeavored to iiu-ulcate 

 progress, and tlie spirit of contentment in this 

 restless, feverish land of ours ? Judge for 

 vonrselves. If it meets your approbation give 

 it your cordial support and help increase its 

 usefidness by increasing its circulation and its 

 contribution^!. N. 8. T. 



Lawrence, Mass., Jan., 1S71. 



For the Xfrn Kn(jhind Farmer. 

 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 

 Neat Stock Piotitiible — Horses Expensive — Grass Grow- 

 ing Preferable to (irain Raising — Saving and Com- 

 positiiiif Manure — Muclv, Plaster, Ashes, Lime and 

 Salt — Raising Corn — Top Dressing — Sandy Acres. 



There is no department in your valuable 

 ])aper that I read with so much sati.-faction as 

 1 do the communications of men of experience, 

 who tell us how they manage their farms, 

 make and apply the Urgest amount of manure 

 to their land, grow satisfactory crops, and are 

 yearly bringing up their fields to a better state 

 of tilth and rendering them more productive. 

 1 have thought perhaps it might be acceptable 

 to some of the reatlers of the Fakmer if I 

 wrote out for them some of my own experi- 

 ence, with a few of my own thoughts on the 

 subject of farm culture. 



1 think it is best for me to keep all the stock 

 my farm will sustain in a growing, tliriving 

 condition, and no more. Neat stock I con- 

 sider the most profitable, such as oxen, cows 

 and young stock. 1 put my cows to the best 

 bulls in my neighborhood, and rely upon this 

 means to improve and to replenish my stock, 

 and to keep its numbers full. 



A horse is a very useful animal, but expen- 

 sive to keep, and unless there is reguar work 

 for him to do to earn a living I think he had 

 better be dispensed with, so far as profit is 

 concerned. Hogs I have discarded. I think 

 them unprofitable, and very filthy creatures. 

 I can make as much manure with my calves, 

 during the summer till they are a year old, as 

 I can during that time with the same number 

 of hogs, commencing with them when they are 

 sucking pigs. 



I save ail the manure my cattle make that 

 I can, — most of it under cover, — using ab- 

 sorbents to take up the licjuid part. I think 

 it pays to gather other materials besides what 

 naturally accumulate around the barn, to mix 

 and compost with the droj)pings of the cattle. 

 I have a muck swamp that I draw largely 

 upon for this pur[)Ose. It is composed mostly 

 of vegetable matter, and is a great absorbent. 

 Green manure is of a hot fiery nature, full of 

 rich, light volatile gases, and it seems to be 

 the very article to mix with the mui'k. They 

 j readily combine together, and make a first 

 ] rate manure, such as my lean, hungry, sandy 

 1 loam plough-lands need to render them pro- 

 ductive. Indeed, I have become so well satis- 

 1 fied of the rich nature of this muck, that I have 

 j reserved one side of this muck bed about one 

 and a half acres, that 1 have ])ared off and 

 thoroughly drained for a mowing field. It 

 ])roduces yearly a large burden of line English 

 liay. It has been toj)-dressed with a compost 

 composed of cattle manure and sarid loam. 



I have experimented with and used in a 

 1 small way plaster, ashes, lime and salt, and 

 I tiiink favorably of them all, on some kinds of 

 I land ; but in order to realize the greatest 



