1871. 



}sT:W ENGLAND FAEIVIER. 



541 



He digs and heaps up a lot of mould from 

 similar soil on the roadside of the wall, and 

 spreads, after a year's rotting, after haying. 



Wlien Massachusetts farmers can alFord to 

 buy corn meal for a fertilizer dircdhi applied, 

 it is quite evident that the man who raises 

 some other crop will make the most money. 

 Hay will be about as high, and may be higher 

 by the pound than corn, next winter, unless 

 a vast change takes place ; and' unless some 

 special crops are grown, I can hardly see how 



If necessary, a pipe to draw off surplus 

 water can be had at the bottom. My neigh- 

 bor's idea was, that the reason feathers, saw- 

 dust, felt, &c., are slow conductors, is be- 

 cause they hold dead air in their own mass, 

 and that the dead air without them would be 

 equally as good. He thought the denser any- 

 thing may be the more rapid its power of con- 

 ducting heat, — iron being a dense body and a 

 rapid conductor. But if partly correct, the 

 idea can hardly be wholly so if zinc is a slow 



a farmer can do better than to collect all the | conductor. Let every farmer collect all his 



top-dressmg material possible, now, in the 

 coming fall, and in winter, keeping a huge 

 stock of it under cover, dry-housed, to be 

 liberally u;-ed during that season ; and apply- 

 ing to iiis fields whenever he can, and es])e- 

 cially in winter. He will thus save valuable 

 time in the busier season for other purposes. 



Refrigerator and Steaming Box. 



bedding, without using any article which may 

 be fed out. Leaves, pine needles, brakes, 

 &c., will answer the purpose. Any kind of 

 coarse straw can be scalded or steamed, grain 

 added and fed. By far the cheapest articles 

 of nutrition in animal feed are to be had in 

 corn or some other meal or grain feed. But 

 something of the hay kind is necessary for 

 animal feed, in addition, just as coarse watery 



In the same issue of your paper there is a | feed, like fruits and vegetables, are necessary 



description of a home-made refrigerator, such 

 a one as I had just completed for another 

 purpose, except that the space between the 

 two boxes was three, instead of only two 

 inches. The Journal of Agricidfare, (St. 

 Louis,) contained an article some time ago, in 



for a part of our food, instead of all bread, 

 meat or other food of a more concentrated 

 nature. 



And there is much coarse, hard, indigestible 

 material which can be combined with grain, 



such a manner as to give a given w^eight of 



which the writer described a box for steaming mixed feed, of equal value to English hay, 



at a much lower price. See the comparative 

 value of dillerent kinds of feed in the latter 

 part of the "Old Farmer's Almanac," 1871. 

 Franklin, Mass., IS 71. f. 



hay. He first got his idea from the "Poor 



Man's Cook Stove," a Norway invention to 



save fuel. A box was very heavily lined with 



felt, which is a slow conductor of heat. Then 



meat, vegetables, or anything to be cooked, 



can be heated to tho right point and placed 



in the box where it will continue to cook as 



long as desired. The writer, on the same 



principle, constructed his box like the refrig- _ . 



erator — i.e. two boxes, one within the other, ] Hsiied on American gardening, that of AV'il- 



and a space between. The space in this case i liam Cobbett, although written over fifty years 



was filled with chopped straw and sawdust, as j since, is one of the most instructive works 



I had intended to fill it in my box. But a j that can be placed in the hands of a beginner. 



neighbor told me he thought it would be better I Altliough ignoring some important points of the 



to eiitirtdy shut up the space and trust to dead : ^jience, he seems by intuition to have a happy 



air. This I have done, but think I will add j method of teaching jtractieal gardening. His 



the improvement of the refrigerator- man, by ! style is plain, clear and striglitforward. The 



For the New Knaland Farmer. 

 THE GAEDEN ITf SEPTEMBER. 

 Among the many works that have been pub- 



lining with old zinc. Of course the box if a 

 poor conductor of heat, will either shut it out 

 or in ; the temperature being kept as nearly 

 as possible to that desired for a considerable 

 time. The hay being cut, hot water is applied, 

 the box closed, and cooking goes on. Or, by 

 using ice, the same box becomes a refrigera- 

 tor at once. 



Another winter will show how it will work ; 

 but it is to be hoped that the present scarcity 

 of hay will lead many farmers (there should 

 be no exception,) to adopt some plan for 

 steaming. 



To i-egulate the size it was first built amply 

 large. Around the inside, splines are screwed, 

 which can be raised or lowered, and the lid 

 sits down on these splines in the box, high or 

 loic, according to the amount of hay to be 

 cooked. Another lid on top of the box gives 

 the double cover. 



history of this notable Englishman is a some- 

 what "remarkable and eventful one, and can- 

 not but be interesting and instructive to all 

 young men who, not content to remain mere 

 plodders, would rise in life. The sonof a 

 small farmer, his first occupation was driving 

 small birds from the turnip-seed, and -the rook 

 from the pease ; trudging the fields with his 

 wooden bottle, and his satchel swung over his 

 shoulders, scarcely able to climb the gates and 

 stiles, or to reach home at the close of day. 

 lie comes to America, settles on Long Island, 

 returns to England, and is elected to Parlia- 

 ment, where he missed his calling, not being 

 calculated to figure well in that capacity. His 

 two works, "The American Gardener" and 

 "Cottage Economy," contain much of ster- 

 linf' merit, which will never be outlived. Cob- 

 bett's love of rural life, his habits of industry 

 and perseverance are to be recommended as 



