1870 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
371 
sustain the vital functions of the animal—it is 
used up for “running expenses.” Every ounce 
beyond this tells on its growth, and the more 
ounces it can he made to take up in a day be¬ 
yond that which the natural wastes of the body 
demand, the more rapid will be its growth and 
development;—for if the food be of the right 
kind, and if the animal be living under suitable 
conditions as to exercise, sunlight, and fresh air, 
development will keep pace with growth. 
By way of illustration, we will assume that a 
horse, five years old, has eaten the equivalent of 
ten tons of hay, and one hundred bushels of 
oats, and that his present weight is about one- 
twentieth part of the weight of his food. This 
weight represents all that has been actually 
saved from a vast amount of food. Of the re¬ 
mainder, all that has been assimilated by the ani¬ 
mal has gone for “ running expenses.” The ten 
hundred and odd pounds are all the profit that 
the mill has made. Obviously, if by supplying 
the material faster we can accumulate the same 
amount of profit in a shorter time, we shall save 
the “ running expenses ” for so long. If it were 
possible to accumulate the whole weight of body 
in three years instead of five years, we should 
save two-fifths of the cost of supporting the 
animal’s life while it is developing to a useful 
condition. That it is possible to do this, the 
wonderful races run by horses two years old suf¬ 
ficiently prove. Such immense results as this 
cannot be hoped for in the case of cold-blooded 
horses, with whom early maturity has not hith¬ 
erto been an especial desideratum; but enough 
can be gained to add greatly to the profit of feed¬ 
ing; and after all, horse raising is only another 
means for converting the produce of the soil in¬ 
to a more salable form. It is within bounds to 
say, (and the statement is sustained by my own 
observation), that common horses may be grown 
as large, as strong, and as enduring at the age 
of three years as they generally are at five. It 
is a common impression that overfed horses are 
overgrown and “ weedy.” This is not necessari¬ 
ly the case if the food is of the right sort, and 
proper attention be given to exercise. 
One means by which this more rapid develop¬ 
ment is to be secured,—the principal means in¬ 
deed—is the feeding of richer food, especially 
oats, barley, peas, or southern corn. With hay 
and grass alone, no matter how good their qual¬ 
ity, the best results would be impossible; but in 
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, these are the 
only food given until the animal is old enough 
to be put to work. When we consider that a 
much less quantity of food is needed when 
grain is given, and much of the time required 
for growth is saved,-we shall see that the great¬ 
est net profit will result from the use of the 
most nutritious food that the animal can con¬ 
sume and remain in vigorous health, and the ad¬ 
ministering of this food in the largest quantity 
that he can make profitable use of. 
Ogden. Farm Papers—No. 10. 
It must be hard for any farmer to write about 
his farm4a such a season as this without giving 
prominence to the subject of the drouth. We 
bought a thirteen-acre field for a calf pasture, 
partly because it adjoined the farm, and partly 
because it had a never-failing brook running 
through it. The never-failing brook is as dry as 
a railroad embankment, and the calves have to 
be driven to a neighbor’s well. Turnip seed 
sown, over a month ago, in the cornfield, has 
not yet had rain enough to wash it into the soil 
and give it a chance to sprout. Clover that 
ought to afford a good bite, looks as clover 
would if planted in a brick-yard. Aftermath 
has grown just long enough to wilt, and there 
stopped. Mangels transplanted last month 
are growing a little, but not as they should. 
Ruta-Baga Turnips ditto. The only things that 
grow are the weeds, (these have we always with 
us,) and corn that w’as planted early enough to 
get well started and to shade the ground. In 
addition to the farm, I am running a large mar¬ 
ket garden and a flower garden. Roses wont 
bloom and vegetables wont grow. Prices are 
high and the demand is good, but this doesn’t 
help matters—it is only an aggravation. Some¬ 
thing must be done! What it shall be is not in 
all cases so clear, but it is a shame to see the re¬ 
ward of one’s labor cut off by any state of the 
weather. In a few cases where heavy manur¬ 
ing has been combined with underdraining 
and subsoil plowing, the land laughs at the 
drouth if it is kept well cultivated at the surface; 
but fast as we are making manure, it will take 
a good while to get over the whole farm with 
the quantity required. Irrigation will solve the 
problem on a part of the garden land, but on the 
farm this would be out of the question for want 
of water. Subsoil plowing will help in all 
cases,—and help materially, but this alone is not 
enough. The only land that I know of that will 
stand drouth without a material checking of 
growth, is that which is, either naturally or nr- 
tificially, well underdrained ; which has been 
deeply stirred; which is not allowed to form a 
hard crust at the surface; which has been pene¬ 
trated to a considerable depth by roots, that 
in their decay have left channels for the descent 
of growing roots; and which is, above all, well 
supplied with decomposing organic matter in a 
condition to attract moisture and to supply nu¬ 
tritious food to the crop. In short,—land that 
has been made as good as it is capable of be¬ 
coming. Such land will grow luxuriant crops 
of any sort, if only they have had time to get 
well started before the dry weather sets in. 
Even this land will not grow stout grass with¬ 
out some rain, but it will always do the best 
that can be done; and every wise farmer will 
come as near to putting his whole farm into this 
condition as his circumstances will allow. And 
he will make himself rich by the operation, if 
he does the work of improvement judiciously; 
not othe.rwise, for it is as easy to squander money 
in improving land as in anything I know of. 
The extent to which it will pay to fight drouth 
by artificial means, depends entirely on circum¬ 
stances. I have about an acre and a half of 
celery that was set out in the very dryest 
weather, and the whole of it had to be watered 
daily, for a long time,—water being hauled in 
barrels in a mule cart an average distance of a 
quarter of a mile. Had the drouth not been 
extended, this would not have paid; for the 
market gardeners about New York would have 
had a full supply, and prices would have ranged 
very low. As it was wide-spread, only those who 
resorted to artificial watering have any celery 
left alive, and the chances are that this select 
few will be well repaid for their outlay. I am 
now about sinking a well in the center of a two- 
acre plot, from which I can, by the aid of a 
windmill and water-pipes, water the whole 
piece at any time, so that drouth shall not a- 
gain be heard of on that tract,—and so that ten¬ 
der lettuce and full grown rose-buds may be had 
in midsummer. If the result is what I expect, 
this will pay. Neither operation would pay in 
simple farming; but there are hundreds of farms 
in every State on which a constant brook or 
spring might be made to do good service in dry 
weather almost without cost-, 
All that is necessary is to arrange some 
means by which the water may, at pleasure, be 
turned into a level ditch along the top of the 
slope to be watered. When the ditch is full, the 
water jnay be drawn off at intervals by cutting 
temporary openings with a spade, letting the 
water run until it has sufficiently saturated all 
the land within the reach of its flow, then clos¬ 
ing these openings, and making others further 
on. When the irrigation is finished, the water 
should be drawn off from the ditch and allowed 
to run away to its natural channel, lest it make 
the adjacent land too wet,—which is as bad as 
too dry. If the slope is a long one it may be 
advisable to have a second or a third ditch fur¬ 
ther down, to catch the flow from the first, and 
take a fresh start in its distribution. 
Any water toill do. What we want, first of all, 
is a goodly supply of the universal solvent,— 
something to enable the plants to take up their 
food from the soil. Still, the water of a muddy 
brook ia better than that of a clear one, and if 
it Inis washed the barn-yards and privies of a 
dozen farms lying up the stream, it will be all 
the better. Let the water be enriched with im¬ 
purities if possible,—but above all, let there be 
water, and he copiously supplied. One caution 
is necessary: when the sun shines don’t let on 
the water between 8 A. M. and 4 P. 31., except 
on land that is fully shaded by its crop. It is 
best to irrigate only in calm weather, as the 
evaporation (and consequent cooling) is much 
more rapid when the wind blows. 
How far it will pay to divert streams from 
their natural courses, for purposes of irrigation, 
and the sort of crops that will best pay for the 
outlay, must be decided according to the cir¬ 
cumstances of each case. If we are to have 
many such seasons as this, it will pay wherever 
an abundant supply of water can be had at a 
first cost of the value of five tons of hay for 
each acre. 
Numerous as they arc, the men, who can pro¬ 
cure irrigation water at any cost, are in a very 
small minority. The rest of us must resort to 
the universal aids of thorough cultivation and 
heavy manuring,—that is, to the highest kind of 
high farming. The more we can depend on 
soiling for the summer feeding of our stock, the 
easier our task will become. 
I am surprised to find that so few farmers 
know the advantage of transplanting in the 
culture of ruta-bagas and mangel wurzel. It 
is comparatively easy to grow the ruta-baga by 
sowing the seed in the rows in which the plants 
are to stand, for it is a strong grower, and not 
very difficult to “tend” while young; but it is 
still easier (and better) to raise the plants in a 
seed-bed, and set them out in the field when 
they are large enough to bear removal. Mangel 
wurzel, on the other hand, is a troublesome 
crop to raise by direct sowing, and a very easy 
one to raise by transplanting. When young, it 
is small and tender, and if the land is at all hard 
or poor, it will scarcely grow so fast as the 
weeds; while in thinning out the crop great care 
must be taken to leave the best plants, and to 
leave them uninjured and at suitable intervals. 
I used to raise mangels in this way: The land 
was put in as good order as possible, as regarded 
both richness and fine cultivation. About the 
middle of May the seed yms sown in drills (by a 
machine) 27 to 30. inches apart. At this season 
every thing grows well, and it was an even thing 
betw'een the crop and the weeds. By the first 
of June we had to go down on hands and knees 
