562 



NEW ENGLAND FARIStER. 



Oct. 



may accomplish it on lands which have not yet 

 been much worked. 



In accordance with a practice which has 

 prevailed to a large extent over New Eng- 

 land, he formerly broke up grass lands, ma- 

 nured, planted with corn and potatoes, and 

 then seeded to grass with some kind of grain. 

 Contrary to the commonly received opinion, 

 he thought this course exhansted the soil, and 

 was not a good preparation for the grass crop. 

 With these views, he ploughs in August, 

 manures, pulverizes finely, uses leached ashes, 

 sometimes a hundred bushels to the acre, sows 

 the seed liberally and then rolls the land. 



After all, so much depends upon the nature 

 of the soil, that a practice which has proved 

 highly successful on one farm might not be at 

 all applicable on a farm immediately adjoin- 

 ing. Mr. Brown's farm is natural grass land ; 

 a moist, heavy loam, commonly called a 

 granite soil. Such a soil is undoubtedly better 

 adapted to grass than a sandy loam ; and in 

 a reiiion where hay is in demand, may be de- 

 * voted to grass more advantageously than if 

 employed with most other crops. 



On the other hand, we are inclined to think 

 that on lighte'r loams a proper rotation of 

 crops, well manured and tended, would aiFord 

 more profit than by turning over the sod and 

 reseeding at once with grass. 



Two or three other things come to the aid 

 of Mr. Brown which most of us do not enjoy. 

 He inherited a tract of excellent land ; some 

 of it in good order ; other portions had never 

 been reclaimed. The buildings were in fair 

 condition, and along with these a sufficient 

 money capital, we understand, to manage the 

 estate as he pleased. All these he has econo- 

 mized, and adding to them industry and skill, 

 has probably increased the value of both. 



Then he has sixty acres of salt marsh. This 

 needs no re-seeding, ploughing or fencing. 

 Taxes upon it are light, and the only cost of 

 its products are the cutting, making and haul- 

 ing. 



What tliis hay is worth in the barn per ton 

 we do not know. Perhaps half the value of 

 the best upland hay. Some of the marshes 

 produce a ton to the acre ; but if only one-half 

 that, there are thirty tons, — equal to the whole 

 crop harvested on a great many of the New 

 England farms! 



These are adv.antages which most of us have 



not realized, but advantages of which he has 

 made good use, husbanding them with ability 

 and skill, and proving what the soil is capable 

 of producing when generously managed. 



With his fine farm, amiable family, pleasant 

 garden and other attractive surroundings, his 

 is a true home and the "gateway to heaven." 



Broken Hohx. — In reply to an inquiry by a 

 correspondent who had replaced the shell of the 

 hom of a heifer which had been knocked off, 

 whether it would re-fasten and do well, Dr. Home, 

 of the Wesfer7i Farmer, replies that it will not, 

 any more than would a finger or toe nail. He says 

 that he lias treated several cases of the kind and 

 that his method of treatment, is to procure from ten 

 to fifteen feet of clean cotton cloth, not new cloth ; 

 let it be torn in strips of one and one-fourth inches 

 wide, the strips carefully sewed together at the 

 ends. Make a bowl of good i ommon starch, as 

 for shirt bosoms ; besmear well the bandage ; roll 

 it up, and wrap the pith of the horn, from base 

 to beyond the tip. After it is well dried, cover 

 with a coat of tar, or pitch. Protect fi-om further 

 injury and leave the rest to nature, and the hom 

 will be reproduced. 



High Price of Hay. — We can recall several 

 instances in which there was a general alarm aViout 

 a scarcity of fodder in hay time, which was fol- 

 lowed later in the season by an abundance and 

 much lower prices; but we do not now remember 

 a single instance in which unusual high prices 

 thus early in the season were sustained throughout 

 the year. These results are undoubtedly the effect 

 of causes. In an apparent scarcity of fodder far- 

 mers save much that would not be saved in appar- 

 ent plenty ; they reduce their stock ; perhaps small 

 crops are more nutritive in proportion to bulk 

 than large ones; perhaps, too, there is less differ- 

 ence than to our excited senses there appears to 

 be; an unfavorable spring and summer may be 

 followed by a favorable fall and winter, &c. There- 

 fore, it would not surprise us if hay should prove 

 to be more plenty later in the season than it ap- 

 pears to be now; nor that it should be cheaper in 

 the winter than in the summer. 



Patent Right Swindlers. — A correspondent 

 of the Mirror and Farmer says that some of these 

 swindlers have recently Aisited Ascutneyville, Vt., 

 and "taken in" some of the people thei-e. A 

 wealthy farmer was induced to give them his note 

 for !ft70. But on sober, second thought he mis- 

 trusted it was a swindle, and immediately followed 

 them, demanding his note and thi-ee dollars for his 

 trouble. This they concluded to do. Ho then told 

 them they might leave town if they would give 

 him ten dollars more. They forked over the 

 nioncv and left. 



