1871. 



WEW ENGLAND FARJIER. 



145 



his farm. His cows do not come in early, 

 and be has juicy, early cut hay to feed them 

 from the time of calving until they are turned 

 to tlie pasture. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



A BIG FARMEKS CLUB. 



Brother fiimiers, we cannot do without our Ni:w 

 England Fakmeh for ruariy reasons; but I will 

 mention only two, — its "Market Reports," and 

 its "Extracts and Replies." Notwithstanding our 

 hands are heavy and our pens not accustomed to 

 writing "printer's copy," let us all meet, and not Le 

 bashful, in "Extrcts and Replies," until the Far- 

 mer l)ecomes the organ of a great New England 

 Fanners' Club. Never mind the poor spelling and 

 worse grammar. Let the editors do the tiinshing 

 off, while we do the blocking out. I often see 

 articles I would like to reply to, but not Ijcing a 

 writer, I never have done so. I mean to, hereafter, 

 and nevermind the stamp, although it looks a little 

 like begging notoriety, but it is information we are 

 in pursuit of. 



CHURNING CREAM. 



A week or two ago a member of the Chilj wanted 

 to know the reason his butter would not come. I 

 have seen cream churned so fiist when first put in 

 the churn that the l>utter cnnic, but being a little 

 warm, it was dispersed instead of gathered. In 

 such case, a lump of butter is required to form a 

 nucleus for gathering the new particles. Cream 

 should not lie churned too rashly in gathering, nor 

 in fact at aui' time. 



COLORING BUTTER. 



To color butter, have every fifth cowan Aldemey 

 grade, with plenty of menl. Corn and oats ground 

 together make meal good enough for my cows, as 

 I have wintered a herd of cows on it with a little 

 straw. It was not expensive wintering, either, 

 costing §'10. 50 per head for grain. I could not 

 figure the value of the manure per ton of feed, as 

 closely as some of our oil meal feeders can. My 

 object was to get them through the winter in good 

 condition for milking another season, and I suc- 

 ceeded tip top. 



FILM ON EYE OF OX. 



Having had considerable to do with cattle for a 

 few years Ijack, I have a good many i-cmedies on 

 hand which, having tried,- I know are all right; 

 and will close by giving a cure for a film on an 

 ox's eye, caused by the lash or other injury. Let 

 it alone severely, and I will warrant a cure, and 

 your ox will not become foolish every time you 

 take a chew of tobacco. 



I have written thus much with the mercury 16° 

 below zero, in the shade. If it is worth using, use 

 it ; if not the sheet of paper is worth at the rate of 

 three cents a pound, is n't it ? b. t. 



Addison County, 17., Jan. 20, 1871. 



Remarks. — The new member from Addison will 

 occupj' one of the front seats in the Club-room, 

 though it may look "like begging notoriety" to 

 come forward to his place. Look at famiers' asso- 

 ciations all over the countr}% see who do the talk- 

 ing and managing, and then tell us who are "beg- 

 ging notoriety !" Look at farmers' interests in 

 legislatures and congresses, as contrasted with 

 those of manufacturers, railroad companies, im- 

 porters, &c., and tell who are there "begging noto- 

 riety ;" who there do not "mind the stamps !" 



Until farmers get rid of this chicken fear of 

 "begging notoriet}- ;" until they pluck up courage 

 enough to manage their own clubs and societies, 

 to write their own letters, and, — begging pardon of 

 "B. T.," — of signing them with their own names ; 

 to buy their own books; to make their own 

 speeches; to choose their own officers, and to at- 

 tend to tlieir own interests, — let all complaints 

 about politicians, monopolies, fast men and book 

 fanning "be reserved for a more appropriate occa- 

 sion." The difference between "come, boys," and 

 "go, boys," is understood on the farm; and the 

 same difference will sometime be recognized in 

 matters of "notoriet}'." 



COMPOSTING muck. 



I have had the past autumn quite a large amount 

 of muck dug out, which lies in piles. I wish to 

 know how I cair compost it in the spring, so that it 

 will Ijc profital)le to apply either as a top-dressing 

 on dry, rather gravelly soil, or to ploughed ground, 

 on ^\hich to sow some kind of a crop for fodder, as 

 I find in this locality that raising stock and mak- 

 ing l)utter are more (irotitable than raising com. 



In regard t(j compost, I freiiucnrly see statements 

 comparing compost with stable manures, without 

 giving us the least idea how the compost is made. 

 1 have heard men lecture an hour and use no more 

 argument than they might have done in fifteen min- 

 utes. What we farmers want is jiractical informa- 

 tion. We want to know what will enrich the soil 

 at the least expense, not dissertations on the ques- 

 tion whether we shall grow corn in preference to 

 buying it, or any other special crop, as our location, 

 soil, &c., will determine that. l. 



Winchendon, Mass., Jan., 1871. 



Remarks. — Tlicrc is probably full as much dif- 

 ference in the "muck" of different localities, as 

 there is in the soil of different farms. The soil of 

 the Miami valley in Ohio, has produced large crops 

 of corn annually, without manure, for some sixty 

 years in succession, with no perceptible dhninution 

 in fertility. Will all "soil" do that? Will the 

 "soil" of your farm do it ? Fanners recognize a 

 difference between soils. They do not expect tlie 

 same results from "soils" of hungiy sand, loose 

 gravel, light loam, heavy loam, clay, &c. But 

 somehow there seems to be an impression that 

 muck is muck, anyhow, and that what one man's 

 nmck does eveiy man's muck ought to do. 



Suppose that Mr. A has on his farm a sort of 

 Miami valley muck, — a mass of decomposed vege- 

 table matter, comparatively free from all noxious 

 acids, — and his experiments convince him that 

 "muck" is almost equal to barn yard manure. He 

 publishes a statement to that effect, which induces 

 farmer B to dig and haul a lot of his muck,— black 

 sand, with but little vegetable matter. He fails to 

 receive the promised benefit, becomes discouraged, 

 and says hard things about agricultural papers and 

 agiicultural writers in general, and muck puffers 

 in particular. He tries it in various ways, and ht 

 knows there is no virtue in "muck." Now, may 

 not both flicse men be right inevei-ything except in 

 the use of the word mvck ? They applied that 

 word or name to different things, and naturally 

 enough aiTived at different conclusions. 



