234 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



many other kinds of grasses coming in on the new 

 land, on wliicli with the aid of the cattle I am try- 

 ing to keej) down tlie lui>iics. 1 (ind they eat the 

 young siiuots with great relish, and they have not 

 trouliled nie since they had this ran<ie by eating 

 boards. In the wiiiter 1 teed clover and other hay, 

 iniluding water grasses, wheat, rye and oat straw, 

 and corn stalks. 



Hence I conelnde that if cattle have a variety of 

 feed sniniaer and winter, and the lirowse of wood 

 or sprout land they will not tronble any one by 

 "eating up the barn." M. L. (Joouale. 



South Amherst, Mass., Feb. 21. Ibll. 



Remarks. — The first effort of onr correspondent 

 is so successful, — his statement of facts so clear, 

 and his conclusion so natural, — that we hope he 

 will write out the "many things about fiirming" to 

 which he alludes in a private note. We wish to 

 make our colunms a sort of Farmers' Exchange, or 

 Club, where practical men can talk with their pens 

 in the same every day, practical manner that they 

 do with their lips when neighbor meets neighbor. 



HOUSING CAUTS AND WAGONS. 



My object in stating how long my ox wagon had 

 run,"was to show the utility of housing carts and 

 wagons used on the farm. As ]Mr. Denham has 

 expressed the opinion that my wagon must have 

 been housed most of the time, I will state how it 

 has been used. 



For the first thirty years it was used about one- 

 half of the time when the ground was bare. At that 

 time my cart wheels got w'orn out, and I had 

 a set of "new wheels made for the wagon that were 

 four inches wide, — the first ones l)eiug five inches 

 wide. Then I took the old hind wheels of the 

 wag»n for the cart, and the fore ones to draw tim- 

 ber and logs on, and have used them up to this 

 time in heavier work than I did when they were on 

 the wagon. 



If Mr. Denham's wagons will not wear but fifteen 

 years, they have poorer timber or |)oorer workmen 

 in Plymouth County than we have in Essex, or the 

 land on which they run must l)e ditt'ercnt. I know 

 of none in this vicinity tliat have worn out as soon 

 as his did. 



To have farm carriages last long the farm build- 

 ings must be on dry ground, and the carriages kept 

 on a floor in an open shed protected from the sun 

 and rain but not from the air. It is true that my 

 wagon wheels have not been used every day, but 

 one of the shrewdest old gentlemen in town, Moses 

 Parker, Esq.; told me that t!ie wheels if used every 

 dav, and properly cared for, would last a hundred 

 years. E. Rollins. 



G^-oveland, Mass., March 21, 1871. 



CANADA STEERS. 



The notice in yoni» paper of a fine pair of steers 

 raised by Mr. .Swan, of Worcester, Mass., induces 

 me to give you some account of a pair of steers 

 raised by a Mr. Reed, a neighbor of mine who has 

 a herd "of hiud) grade Short-horns. These steers 

 were dropped July li) and 20, 1.SG8, weighing at 

 their birth, respectively, 103 and 119 pounds. June 

 7, 1870, when less than two years old, they weighed 

 'iStO ponmls; .Sc])tember 8, they weighed 3160 lbs. ; 

 and on the \'M\\ of the present month, 3o.56 pounds, 

 and girthing 7 feet, when only two years and eight 

 months old. A SuusCRiitER. 



Ulverton, P. Q., March 16, 1871. 



ter, I put two or three handfuls of ashes in the 

 manger of each cow occasionally, and let them eat 

 as they please. It seems to have cured them of 

 this habit. P. S. Paine. 



Fast JIardwich, Vt., 1871. 



CATTLE EATING HOARDS. 



Having seen ashes recommended for this trouble, 

 and finding that my cattle had the habit this win- 



SANFORD HO^VARD, ESQ,. 



The death of this gentleman, which occurred at 

 Ijansing, Mich., March 9, was briefly noticed in 

 our columns at that time. Few men were better 

 known by the fanners of the Northern States than 

 Mr. Howard. AVe are indebted to the Lansing 

 Republican for the following facts in relation to his 

 life and lal)ors. 



Mr. Howard was bom in Easton, Mass., in 1805, 

 where his only advantages of early education were 

 those of the common school. He remained on his 

 fiither's farm until 1830 when he married and re- 

 moved to Plallowell, Me., to manage a farm for 

 himself. lii 1837 he removed to Lancsville, Ohio. 

 Leaving Ohio in 1843, he became associated with 

 the Alljany Cultivator. In 1852 he became the ag- 

 ricultural editor of the Boston Cultivator. In 1864 

 he accepted the position of Secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture of Michigan, which has the 

 supervision of the agricultural college at Lansing, 

 at which place he has resided since his removal to 

 Michigan. 



While in Maine he became a leading contributor 

 to the Maine Farmer, and whether in Ohio, New 

 York, Massachusetts, or Michigan his contribu- 

 tions to the leading agricultural papers were nu- 

 merous, and always dignified and able. 



In 18.57 he was employed by the Massachusetts 

 Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, a; d sev- 

 eral wealthy gentlemen of that State, to go to 

 England, Scotland, Ireland, and France, for the 

 purpose of selecting and importing the best speci- 

 mens of cattle and horses of several breeds. The 

 next year he again crossed the Atlantic and pur- 

 chased for H. II. Peters twenty or more Ayrshire 

 cattle, the best that could be selected in that 

 country. He also bought a small herdofDerry 

 cattle in Ireland for A. W. Austin of West Ilox- 

 bury, Mass., a Cleveland stallion for Dr. J. Woods, 

 Richmond, Va., &c. During these trips he had 

 the opportunity of examining the best stock in the 

 old world, and, from this time to the close of his 

 life, became a standard authority on blooded stock. 

 In the winter following his retuni from I'hirope, he 

 edited the first volume of the "American Devon 

 Herd Book." 



During his connection with the State l^oard of 

 Agi-iculture of Michigan he has written and com- 

 piled the Annual Reports of the Board, and many 

 of his papers have been Avidely quoted and highly 

 commended. For several years, and up to the 

 time of his death, he edited the Agricultural De- 

 partment of the Lansing, Mich., Ecpvhlican with 

 signal ability. He has delivered several lectures 

 before agricultural societies, and once lectured to 

 the students of Yale College, upon horses. 



One of the latest important labors of his life was 



