1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



607 



cases nearly every member of a family has been 

 prostrated with typhus fever in its worst form, 

 where the cause has been supposed to arise 

 from such pollution about the house. 



So, decaying vegetables in the cellar, — tur- 

 nips, cabbages, &c., may prove like "death 

 in the pot." Their odor sometimes pervades 

 the whole house, and is as disagreeable as it is 

 pervading. 



Our caution to all is, if vegetables must be 

 in the cellar, to keep them in as low a temper- 

 ature as possible and prevent freezing. Then 

 give the cellar all the ventilation that can be 

 had, and as frequently as the air can be safely 

 admitted. At the earliest moment in the 

 spring remove all vegetable matter, and 

 cleanse the cellar as scrupulously as the good 

 wife does her pantry. 



Wherever there is a barn cellar, the cost 

 would not be large to prepare room in one 

 corner of it purposely for roots. This would 

 probably be the cheapest course in the end. 



PAKM IMPROVEMENT IN MASSACHU- 

 SE3TTS. 



The New Bedford Standard gives an interesting 

 account of the improvements made by Mr. Ahner 

 H. Davis, of New York, on a farm in Dartmouth, 

 about two miles from New Bedford, containing 

 seventy-four acres, of which fifteen are wood land. 



The estate has been in the hands of the present 

 owner a little more than three years. An infer- 

 ence as to the character of the land and the extent 

 of the improvements made, may be drawn from the 

 fact that carts, wagons, stone drags, derricks, &c., 

 to the value of $4000, have been constructed espe- 

 cially for this farm, and that the number of men 

 employed last year averaged over twenty, at one 

 time rimning up to seventj'-five ; and this year the 

 average number has been about fifteen, — the labor 

 of digging rocks having been mostly accomplished 

 in 1870. In fact, the writer says, one of the rockiest 

 tracts in Dartmouth has been transformed into a 

 beautiful farm, which promises to repay abund- 

 antly the labor and expense incurred in improve- 

 ments. 



Large tracts have been cleared of rocks and un- 

 derdrained, by disposing of loose stones below 

 ground, in trenches six feet wide, and many of 

 them five feet deep. These being covered with soil, 

 the rocks are out of the way and perfect drainage 

 secured, at the same time without loss of land in 

 open ditches. But this does not get rid of all the 

 rocks, large quantities being disposed of in heavy 

 substantial walls. 



A brook meadow of ten acres has been cleared, 

 and the brook walled on each side up to grade, and 

 a walled pond is to be constructed forty feet in di- 



ameter. Another rocky swamp of ten acres cov- 

 ered with wood, has been cleared, underdrained 

 and will be ready for planting next spring. 



The soil of the farm is very strong. Twenty- 

 three rods of land, in one of the lots which has 

 been for many years under cultivation, yielded this 

 year ninety bushels of potatoes, very handsome 

 and smooth ones, of the Early Rose and Early 

 Goodrich varieties. No manure is used except that 

 coming from the bam. 



On one tract of three acres of reclaimed land 

 which bore little besides rushes, Mr. Davis has 

 raised this year 100 tons of green corn fodder, from 

 Southern com in drills three and a half feet apart 

 averaging eight and a half feet high. Other por- 

 tions are planted with com in hills, beets and tur- 

 nips, which grew finely and very large. 



The crop of pears this year is large, on about a 

 hundred trees, but Mr. Davis says it is nothing to 

 what it was last year. Apples are very slim this 

 year. A plot has been appropriated to blackber- 

 ries, and the bushes are looking finely. 



As to buildings, a very fine large bam with tool 

 house, piggery, carriage house, hen house, &c., with 

 all the modem improvements, have also been built. 



The farm improvements have been made under 

 the dkection of John S. Davis, a brother of the 

 owner. 



CORN FODDER PER ACRE. 



Some one having asked in the Maine Farmer, 

 "Can any one tell, by his own experience, how 

 much com fodder can be raised per acre ?" Mr. H. 

 S. Trevett, of Trenton, says that he carefully 

 weighed the growth on a patch 56x26 feet, and 

 found it 1432 lbs., equal to 344-5 tons per acre. The 

 corn was planted in drills two feet apart, fifteen 

 kernels to the foot. Time from planting to cutting 

 62 days. 



Isaac Bumham, of Bluehill, weighed the com on 

 one square rod, and found it to equal 22 tons and 192 

 lbs., per acre. Planted on gravelly loam in drills 

 18 inches apart. 



Mr. Z. A. Gilbert, by a like process, fouud the 

 yield to equal 34 tons and 1229 pounds per acre. 

 He planted half an acre. The land was a good soil 

 moist but deep, was worked deep, and thoroughly 

 pulverized. Eight common ox cart loads of man- 

 ure was distributed in drills. 



Mr. Gilbert says, The quantity cut and weio-hed 

 was carefully bound, well dried outdoors, and1;hen 

 stood up against the west gable window of a large 

 barn, aud there remained till January. It then ap- 

 peared to be well dried, was bright and fragrant. 

 It was then weighed and the amount of dry fodder 

 to the acre was found to be 12 tons, 1280 lbs. The 

 shrinkage was something over 60 per cent. I 

 should have remarked that the corn was not cut 

 aud weighed in its most succulent or greenest state 

 but was allowed to stand till it had arrived at a 

 greater state of maturity, the spindles haviuf^ made 

 their appearance in the greater part of the stalks. 



A considerable quantity of the crop was cured 

 and housed for winter use. The cattle ate it with a 

 relish. Com fodder cut green and well cured 

 bright and sweet, is considered by feeders to be 



