1854 . 
THE CULTIVATOR 
145 
Wintering Cattle—$300 Saved. 
We trust tlae writer of the following letter, a clergy¬ 
man of Connecticut, will excuse us for giving it to our 
readers; and for expressing the hope also that he will 
frequently favor them with a chapter of his experience 
in rural affairs 
Mb. Tucker —Last year I read with much interest, 
your excellent paper “ The Country Gentleman re¬ 
ceiving it through an agent at Hartford. It was 
worth to me many times the amount of the subscrip¬ 
tion. Please accept my thanks for the ballance. 
Now, though I am a minister, and spend most of 
my time in this calling, yet, being bred a farmer., and 
having in my hands a few acres of choice land—once 
the property of my grandfather who was also a min¬ 
ister, and in whose days it was no disparagement for a 
successor of Paul to imitate his example—I think it 
my duty and privilege rightly to improve my opportu¬ 
nity and my one talent for agriculture and horticul¬ 
ture. But how shall I do this without access to some 
such source of information as that of your paper? 
True, I could do as my father did, and he was a good 
farmer—many think good enough. But this does not 
satisfy me. Dr. Taylor used to say to us Theologs, 
that though he might not be so great a man in meta¬ 
physics as Dr Reid, or any one of his predecessors, 
yet standing on their shoulders, he ought to see further 
across the plain than they. So in every science, we 
ought to be wiser than our fathers. Improvement is 
the watchword of the age. It should be that of. the 
farmer. I am glad to know that it is so with many. 
But I am sorry to see how many—very many there are 
in this state who seem never to have thought of such 
a thing. 
Take one fact, for it is a fact. The value of manure 
wasted in'this state this winter by allowing cattle to 
run at large in the -streets and by the water courses, 
would have made every poor family in the state com¬ 
fortable, in food, clothing and fuel, and leave a large 
snrplus for other charities; to say nothing of the loss 
on poor, lean, shivering cows, the waste of fodder, &c. 
If it will not be considered as improper boasting, I 
will add by way of illustration, that I have made 
twice the manure with 12 head of cattle, that some 
have made with 30 head. And if the incredulous will 
come and look "at my ten cows, inquire of my man how 
they have been fed, and how much milk they have 
given—look at the hay now' in my barn, at the ground 
from which it was cut, and learn how much I have 
sold, I think he will admit that .there is some advan¬ 
tage in housing and taking care of cattle in the win¬ 
ter. I do not hesitate to assert that it has been better 
for me by $300, to have my cows properly housed, fed, 
beded, and cared for generally, than it would have 
been to 'have had them running at large, trampling 
hay under their feet, and dropping" manure about the 
fields and streets. Does any one doubt? My cows are 
worth $10 each more than they would have been— 
$100. I have $100 more value in manure. It has 
not cost as much to keep them by $50, and they have 
yielded at least $50 more value in milk. Indeed I 
think the last might be doubled. 
But I am scribbling out of my line. I have some¬ 
times thought I would say something to your readers. 
But I have little time, and others are doing well in 
this line. 
Please send me the Country Gentleman for this year, 
commencing with January if possible. I want the 
back numbers if you have them, in order to make my 
sets complete. I ought to have written before, but my 
constant occupancy in another calling, must be my 
apology. —«ss»— 
Sowing Plaster, Ashes, Potatoes, &c. 
I saw in a late no. of .your Countiy Gentleman, an 
inquiry about sowing plaster upon wheat in the fall. 
As I have tried that plan to my satisfaction, I am 
willing to add my mite to the great agricultural trea¬ 
sury. I have sown plaster at all seasons on wheat, as 
well as other grain and grass; and I find that when I 
roll the grain in plaster and slaked lime, equal parts, 
after having soaked the wheat in a strong brine for 24 
hours, that it gives the grain a fair start, if sowed 
about the 10th or 15th of September. About the 20th 
of October, I sow one and a half bushels of plaster per 
* acre, whieh gives another start to the roots as well as 
the blade, and will bring the grain to perfection for 
harvest from 10 to 15 days earlier than if the plaster 
is sown in the spring. The spring sowing of plaster on 
winter grain cannot be done to advantage early enough 
on account of the frozen ground and washing off—be¬ 
sides, it keeps it green too long. I think that I get 
one-fourth more grain when I sow the plaster in Octo¬ 
ber than when sown in April or May. I raised 37J 
bushels of screened wheat on one acre last year. I 
have tried it side by side, and any person could see the 
difference in passing the road. 
I have found that my winter grain has generally 
been killed by the ice whenever it has covered the 
grain, and I tried an experiment to remove it. I had 
a quantity of ashes for sowing on grain and meadow, 
and whenever I found any ice I sowed it over with 
these dry ashes on a sunny day, and they soon remov¬ 
ed the ice entirely, without any damage to the crop. 
I have found that a sowing of ashes on wheat was a 
great benefit at any time after the first of May till it 
blossoms. 
I think if all farmers would use more ashes on their 
potatoes, they would have less rot among them, and a 
deal better crop for the table. One part plaster and 
two parts ashes, droppedfSn the potato in the hill, and 
then as many times after as one has it to spare to put 
on, will pay. 
I think it the duty of every farmer to grow his own 
potatoes from the ball seed , and adapt them to his own 
soil. I don’t think he would then have reason to com¬ 
plain of the rot. I have done so since 1847, and I 
have as healthy varieties of potatoes as can be found. 
I enclose in this two seeds of the Albion pumpkin, 
taken from one of three that weighed together 350 lbs., 
from one seed, last year, without any extra effort. 
With care they will produce 8 or 10 hundred pounds per 
seed. D. A. Bulkley. Stone Hill Farm , Williams- 
town, Mass., March 7, 1854. 
