186 



XEW ENGLAND FARTyfER. 



Apkil 



dried for wintor use and stored on a scaffold, 

 Avliirli was afterwards tilled with roweii so that 

 the millet eoidd not be reached till midwinter. 

 AV'lien it was uncovered I gave every animal 

 in the barn a feeding of it, and not one of 

 them seemed pleased. After smelling and 

 ]u)king it over with their nosss awhile, some 

 of tliem began to eat, while the others looked 

 straiglit at me till I left the barn. Since then 

 I have fed it occasionally, a little at a time, 

 and some of the cows seem tolerably well 

 suited, while others will eat but very little. 

 I do not see how any one can estimate it etjual 

 in value to English liay unless the hay is (juite 

 inferior. I presume if cattle were fed on 

 poor bog hay, oat straw or dry corn husks, 

 they would like a change to millet, and if 

 English hay should stand till over ripe, it 

 might not be relished by the cattle as well 

 as early cut and well cured millet. I intend 

 to give it another trial the coming season, not 

 as a soiling crop, but for winter feed for dry 

 cows and yoinig stock. 



The severe drought of last summer killed 

 the roots of grass on thousands of acres of 

 mowing fields. An extra effort should be 

 made this year to raise forage crops, and a 

 due proportion of millet or Hungarian grass 

 ■will undoubtedly come in well as a change 

 from poor hay and straw. 



A. W. Chekveu. 



ShddonviUe, Mass., Feb. 21, 1871. 



For the New England Fm'mer. 

 WASHINGTON" TEBBITORY. 



I used to be much interested in the Nkw 

 England Fakmkk in my native home far up 

 amcftig the hills of New Hampshire, and 

 seated here alone in my cabin to-night, with 

 the wind and wolves making wild nuisic out- 

 side, it occurred to me that perhaps some of 

 your readers might be interested in a' letter 

 from UK!. 



I left New Hampshire in October last, pass- 

 ing througli C'liicago, 111., and over the Rock 

 Island and Pacific; railroad to San Francisco. 



Of the scenery and incidents of the trip I 

 need not s])eak, as the one has often been de- 

 scribed and published, and the other was noth- 

 ing unusual in so long a trip. There is one 

 thing, however, I wish to say that I have never 

 yet seen in any descrijjtion of this great na- 

 tional thoroughfare. 



Ivvery one knows that the road passes over 

 three or four ranges of mountains, necessitat- 

 ing heavy grades, tunnels, tressle work, &c., 

 and the question was often asked East, and is 

 in this part of the country, Is the road safe 

 and smooth ? 



A great deal of the road would compare 

 very well with any other road in the States, 

 and the roiKjIiestpaH is better than an average 

 of the Grand rruid< railroad nmning from 

 Port Sarnia to Prescott. AVe averaged twenty 

 miles an hour from Omaha to Sacramento, 



while from there to San Francisco we made 

 nearly twice that. 



I stayed one night only at that place. And 

 here 1 must pause to remark that I have been 

 in nearly all the large cities in ihe East and 

 North-west of the Union, and have had some 

 little ex]ierience with "hackmen and onmibus 

 drivers," but San Francisco "carries the palm." 

 On landing an hour after dark, it did seem, 

 for a few minutes, as if 



"All the fiends from heaven that fell 

 Had raised the haimcr-cry of hell," 



as Scott has it, shouting, yelling, screammg, 

 swearing and }traying, till Babel would have 

 been silenced and awe-stricken. 



The next day I went on board the splendid 

 side-wheel steamer "Orifiamme," and in the 

 rays of the setting sun saw the Golden Gate 

 slowly settle down and disappear behind the 

 waste of waters. I discovered when about 

 fifty miles out that I was not a sailor ; in this, 

 however, I had the sympathy of other pas- 

 sengers. 



'Jlie fog was so dense at the mouth of the 

 Cohnnbia we had to "lay off" several hours, 

 and when we did get in and tied up at Astoria, 

 we could not see the town. This, however, 

 was very little loss, as there is not much to be 

 seen, I am told, and from appearances I had no 

 reason to doubt it. 



Towards evening the fog lifted a little and 

 we steamed up the river. There were flocks 

 of swans that covered acres, swimming around, 

 Avith countless thousands of wild ducks and 

 geese. 



We got aground at the mouth of the Wil- 

 lammette (accent on the second sellable) and 

 had to wait for the return of the tide, which 

 is here some three feet. On the ma])s Port-' 

 land is placed at the mouth of this river, but 

 it is twelve miles up on the left hand bank, 

 and contains many fine buildings and about 

 ten thousand inhabitants, made up, like all 

 towns on this coa.st, of the "five races of men." 

 Here is "John" and "Ah Sing," with their 

 "Josh house" right alongside of Protestant 

 houses of worship, presenting a singular and 

 painful spectacle to a reflecting mind. 



This valley is very rich in agrieultural pro- 

 ducts of all kinds. Immense lu-rds of cattle 

 and horses used to be raised here, but the 

 country is settling so fast that they are begin- 

 ning to seek pasturage in the wilds of the 

 iuountai»s. I found a friend waiting for me in 

 Portland, and after a few days spent in seeing 

 the town and procuring an "outfit," we took 

 the steamer at five in the morning for the 

 Dalles, once a very lively place, oiu". hundred 

 miles further up the Colund)ia, but now pre- 

 senting rather a deserted appearance. 



The scenery where the Columbia breaks 

 through the Cascade range is very bold and 

 beautiful. Everything is on a magnificent 

 scale. I was asked to guess at the height of 

 a rock standin<r alone and looking like an old- 



