532 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



water jaishcs from the hill-siJe which fonns a 

 shiKgish strcitiii that flows throuirh sand and mud. 

 Here tliev can drink, or if they chooj^o they can 

 sip from a small pond where frof,'s peep, turtles 

 crawl, and serpents charm, or they can wait till 

 thcv come to the yard and (lucneh their thirst from 

 a tronirh filled with water drawn from a well 

 eighteen feet deep. In the pasture there are stumps 

 on which they can rub their noses, necks and fore- 

 heads, and keep their eye-winkers mid- forelocks in 

 order. 



HEALTH OF ANIMALS. 



With such a variety of food and drink, of sun- 

 shine and shade, of dry soil and wet, of tame and 

 wild grasses, I have never had an animal sicken 

 and die under my management. A few years ago 

 having a cow somehow ailing, I called in an old 

 man who pretended to he a cattle doett)r. On cx- 

 aminaticm he said she hM got the horn ail and she 

 must have some tobacco steeped and give lier the 

 juice. He gave her what he called a dose, I should 

 think nearly a pint. The cow staggered, dropped 

 and died iii a1)out ten minutes. So much for my 

 experience with tobacco, which thoroughly satis- 

 tied me of its power! If the cow had been let 

 alone, I think she would have got well. 



GENTLE TREATMENT OF STOCK— HAY IN Sl'MMER. 



Mr cattle like my company." When in the pas- 

 ture 'they will follow me until I leave the lot; and, 

 as a general thing they come up to the liarnyard 

 everv nicht about sunset, and in their way call for 

 a lock of hay. Though I give them all they want, 

 they tal5,e but a few mouthfuls, which satisties 

 them, and I am confident it docs them a great deal 

 of good. It keeps their bowels regular, and they 

 thrive well and arc happy. They do much better 

 than they did when I changed pastures once a 

 week, for now they have the change of feed every 

 day instead of once a week. 



Cattle need kindness, and they pay well for it. 

 I can handle my steers and others as I please. 

 Thev will come up to me when I am milking and 

 invite me to play with them. I am obliged to 

 scold sometimes" to keep them away, but they 

 know nothing about being whipped. 



SOILING. 



The time I think is not far distant when soiling 

 cattle will be the most profitable where most of the 

 farm can be cultivated. Provide a small lot for 

 them to run in ; feed green fodder ; save all the 

 manure, and our farms will grow richer; better 

 and larger crops will be raised, and more attention 

 will be given to looking after the cattle in the 

 summer months. M. L. Goouell. 



South Amherst, Mass., Juhj, 1S71. 



THE BTFIELD TO'WN FARM CROP OF CORN. 



I regret to have annoyed your correspondent, 

 Mr. J.'L. Hubbard, by crediting hvm (as it hapi)ens 

 r)v mistake,) for the great corn croii on the Bylicld 

 Town Farm at one of the Cattle Shows in Salem, 

 Mass., between the vears ISIH and 1S.;0. If he will 

 take the trouble to examine the reports of the 

 Fairs of Essex County for the years mentioned, he 

 will find in one of "them that I am credited with 

 having raised ninety-two bushels of corn iicr acre, 

 and the Bvfield Alms-house farm one hundred and 

 sixteen bushels, to which was awarded the first 

 premium. 



If Mr. Hu1)bard wishes to do as well, he can 

 plough in a heavy dressing of manure, then put a 

 shovelful of old compost in the hill, on good soil 

 that will give him two and a half tons of hay to 

 the acre. H. Poor. 



Lony Island, N. Y., July 18, 1871. 



Remarks.— At the risk of getting onr head 

 punched by one or both of the parties to this big- 



erop controversy, we venture to step in and say 

 that we have been examining the records refeiTcd 

 to, and find that, in 1849, Mr. Joshua Foss of By- 

 lield, Mass., — we saw nothing said of the Alms- 

 house — claimed to have raised on one acre of land 

 '20-5 bushels of ears of com ; equal to 102.J bushels 

 of shelled corn. It was a medium sized eight 

 rowed variety ; the rows were three feet apart, hills 

 two and a half feet asunder, with three stalks in a 

 hill. 



At the same time Mr. Henry Poor made a state- 

 ment of a crop of ninety-three bushels of shelled 

 com to an acre — land measured, and amount of 

 yield dctei-mincd by shelling two bushels of ears. 

 His was a large variety, and he inquired what he 

 should do with the buts of stalks which were so 

 large that he had been advised to sell them as 

 cord wood. 



Our correspondent J. H., of Shrewsbury, Mass., 

 who has experimented carefully as to the yield per 

 acre, and finds seventy-five bushels a great crop, 

 says that 200 ears of the large varieties will make 

 a bushel when shelled, but of the smaller varieties 

 300 or more ears are required. Assuming that of 

 the Medium variety raised by Mr. Foss, 2o0 ears 

 were equal to a bushel of shelled com, it appears 

 by our figures that each hiil of three stalks must 

 have produced -IJ ears, or three good ears for each 

 two stalks. Did they do it ? 



GARDEN AND ORCHARD. — THE DIFFERENCE. 

 Jones has a noble kitchen garden, • 



And tends it too, as well: 

 It full supijlies his wants, and then 



Has nnicLi to spare, or sell. 

 SmWi "never was much of a hand 



To bother with such truck ; 

 And tlien he can't find a spot of land 



Bui's weeds — has no luck." 



t/c»!cs' orchard is a pleasant place. 



With thrifty, hanUt-ome trees, 

 With large and lucious fruits that grace 



The bough, and kiss the breeze. 

 Siiiith^s is a tight to see — and seen 



Leaves sadness on the heart ; 

 A straggly, unkempt, unsightly screen, 



Will] which we're glad to part. 

 Maine, 1871. J. w. l. 



SOILS FOR MUCK. 



I am a constant reader of your paper, and have 

 been much interested in the dilferent communi- 

 cations on muck. From all I have seen and read 

 about it, 1 have come to the ctmclusion that it is not 

 so much in the muck as in the soil to which it is 

 applied. If you have a piece of dry, sandy land, 

 muck of any kind will be a great benefit to it, — 

 the more inuck the better. But on land that is 

 swampy or wet and heavy it will be of little if any 

 use. Such a soil should have sand carted on to it 

 and ploughed in, and by mixing the two different 

 soils together a great improvement will be effected. 

 I am acquainted with a piece of land in a village 

 that is nothing but muck and bog. A good part of 

 it is cultivated. In the first place sand is rarted 

 on and mingled with the surface soil. Here they 

 have as good gardens as there are in the village. 

 Hence lam satisfied that muck should be used on 

 light, sandy soils, especially if it is ajiplied in a 

 crude state. A correspondent in a late number of 

 the Fakmi:u spoke of using it with good results on 

 a gravelly knoll. This also goes to corroborate the 



