240 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



IklAY 



If manure is mostly made on the farm, and 

 is either under Awds or in the cellar, rainy 

 days can be profitably used in turuinj; it over 

 and fiiiinji it ready for use. I have often with 

 an iron bar put holes down in the manure 

 where hogs were kept, and dropped in a little 

 corn. Tlie hogs soon learn the triek of root- 

 ing it out, and will often go over the whole 

 mass thoroughly, thus saving much labor in 

 preparing it for future use. k. o. 



March 25, 1871. 



Computing Dressed Weight. — The rule 

 for computing the dressed weight, by meas- 

 urement, of cattle, hogs, and slieej), is this : — 

 Ascertain the girth in inches back of the 

 shoulders, and the length in inches from the 

 straight or scpiare of the buttocks to a point 

 even witii the shoulder blade. Multiply the 

 girth by the length', and divide the product by 

 144: for the superficial feet, and then multiply 

 the superficial feet by one of the following 

 numbers for animals of different girths, and 

 the product will.be the number of pounds of 

 beef, pork, or mutton in the four quarters of 

 the animal. 



For cattle of a girth from 5 to 7 feet, al- 

 low 23 pounds to the superficial foot ; of a 

 girth of from 7 to 9 feet, allow 31 poiuids ; of 

 a girth of 3 to o feet, 16 pounds. 



For sheep, hogs or pigs, calves, etc., meas- 

 uring less than 3 feet girth, allow 11 pounds 

 to the superficial foot. 



Here is an example which will illustrate the 

 rule : — A hog girths 3 feet 3 inches, and its 

 length (as above) is 2 feet 8 inches — 39 inch- 

 es girth, multiplied by the length 32 inches, 

 gives 1,248 inches. To obtain the superficial 

 feet, divide by 144, giving 8 2-3, which mul- 

 tiplied' by 16 (tlie number of pounds allowed 

 to the superficial foot for animals of this size), 

 gives as the weight, 138 2-3 pounds. — West- 

 ern Rural. 



Sprouting Potatoes. — Sprouting white 

 potatoes will advance the crop two weeks. 

 They should be cut so that about two eyes 

 are allowed to each piece, and these should be 

 planted in hot-beds with very thin covering of 

 soil ; or it is better to plant in boxes and set 

 these in a hot bed, so that after they are pro- 

 perly sprouted they can be at once carried to 

 the place of planting. If the nigiits should be 

 anyway cold, protect with thin covering of 

 straw when the plants make their appearance 

 above ground. Some persons who want a 

 large (juantity sprouted, cut the potatoes as 

 desired, and spread them on boards, boxes or 

 crates, in a dark place, and when sprouted, 

 say from an incli to an inch and a half, expose 

 them to the light, moistening two or three 

 times a week witii tepid water. They should 

 be planted out so that there is not more than 

 two inches of soil over the top of the sprouts. 

 — Qermantown Telegraph . 



"JONES." 



The following littlL- story, with its moral, though 

 written for the Macon, Georgia, Telegi-uph, is quite too 

 good to be enjoyed by the farmers of the South alone. 



I know a man, and he lived in .Tones, — 

 Which Jones is a county of red hills and Btones, — 

 And he lived pretty much by getting of loans, 

 xVnd liis mules were nothing but skin and bones, 

 And his hogs were flat as his corn-bread pones. 

 And he had 'bout a thousand acres of laud. 



This man — and his name it was also Jones — 

 He swore that he'd leave them old red hills and stoues, 

 For he couldn't make nothin' but ycllo\vi.-h cotton, 

 And little of that, and his fences were rotten, 

 And what little corn he had, that w as boughten, 

 And he couldn't get a living from the laud. 



And the longer he swore the madder he got. 

 And he rose and he walked to the stable lot. 

 And he hollooed to Tom to come there and hitch, 

 For to emigrate somewhere where land was rich. 

 And to quit raising cock-burs, thistles and eich, 

 And wasting their time on barren land. 



So him and Tom they hitched up the mules, 

 Protesting that folks wi re mighty big fools 

 That 'ud st^y in Georgia their lifetime out. 

 Jest scratching a living, when all of them mought 

 Get places in Texas where cotton would sprout 

 By the time you could plant it in the land. 



And he drove by a house where a man named Brown 

 Was living, not far from the edge of the town, 

 And he bantered Brown for to buy his place, 

 And said that seeing as money was skace, 

 And seeing as sheritl's were hard to face, 

 Two dollars an acre would get the land. 



They closed f^t a dollar and tifty cents. 



And Jones he bought him a wagon and tents, 



And loaded his corn, and his women, and truck, 



And moved to Texas, which it took 



His entire pile, with the best of luck. 



To get there and get him a little land. 



But Brown moved out on the old Jones' farm, 

 And he rolled up his breeches and bared his arm. 

 And he picked all the rocks from off'n the grouud, 

 And he rooted it up and ploughed it down, 

 And sowed his corn and wheat in the laud. 



Five years glid by, and Brown, one day, 

 (Who had got so fat that he wouldn't weigh,) 

 Was a sitting down, sorter lazily. 

 To the buUiest dinner you ever see, 

 When one of the children jumped on his knee 



And says, "yan's Jones, which you bought his 

 land." 



And there was Jones, standing out at the fence. 

 And he hadn't no wagon, nor mules, nor tents. 

 For he had left Texas afoot and con)e 

 To Georgia to see if he couldn't get some 

 Employment, and he was looking as hum- 

 Ble as if he had never owned any land. 



But Brown he asked him in, and he sot 

 Him down to his victuals smoking hot. 

 And when he had tilled himself and the floor 

 Brown looked at him sharp and rose and swore 

 That "whether men's land was rich or poor, 



There was more in the man than there was in the 

 land.'' s. L. 



— To encourage tlie growtli of forest trees at the 

 West, Mr. N. S. French, of Carroll County, III., 

 states in the Prairie Farmer that he has this win- 

 ter cut doHii a Cottonwood tree twenty-nine years 

 old that measured thirty-seven incites in diameter 

 at the stump, and furnished two logs of about 300 

 feet, log measure, and nearly or quite a cord of 

 wood. It grew in his barn yard. 



