Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

to begin with in the early season, before the grass is sufficient to turn out on; then after harvest, during the dry weather, when the pasturage, becomes short, Hungarian grass, to be followed with corn sowed in drills for fodder, which cut morning and evening, and fed to the stock whilst milking, fills them twice a day and, with the pas

and any horticulturist or florist visiting Washington can readily discover that the Botanical Garden is an interesting and useful institution. The Experimental Grounds are likewise interesting and worthy of a more extended notice than I can now give them. Here I saw over one hundred varieties of wheat growing-from 2 to 31 inches high, the latter a Russian variety,ture, makes them all that is required. During the also including `Alsike, Chinese, and many others -curious and interesting. The grounds also embrace plots comprising different varieties of peas, roots, cucumbers, and other vegetables, sorghum, &c., many of them rare, and likely to prove of value to the farmers and gardeners of the country.

Philadelphia Butter Dairy.

A Philadelphia merchant who keeps a large butter dairy in the noble land of Chester, relates his views on the same to friend Morris of the Practical Farmer.

Early in the season when the cows are first turned to pasture the grass is watery, and tends to make the cows scour very much; and although it will in that state increase the flow of milk and

also the quantity of butter, yet it will be at the expense of the condition of the cow, reducing her in flesh, and telling upon her the whole season. At this time I consider it important that the cow should be fed with ship stuff or bran and cob meal, mixed night and morning. This not only assists in preventing scouring, but by keeping up the condition of the stock, increases the quantity of the butter to a very considerable extent. My opinion is, that meal fed at this time pays better, certainly as well as at any other time during the season, not excepting in mid

winter.

I am well satisfied that the condition of the cow, in order to obtain from her a full yield, or one that will be profitable, must at all times be looked to. She must be well wintered and fed, so that when she comes out of the barn yard in the spring after having calved, she is in good flesh showing her keep and care taken of her, and not like what is too much the custom of the country, viz: dry cows, wintered on straw, and no shelter except it be the lea side of the barn-yard, until the calf is dropped, when it is too late for the poor in flesh cow to yield her full capacity.

A cow should at all times, when milking be❘ fully supplied with meal; not stimulated to excess, however, for that would certainly produce reaction afterwards; but she must have a full and plentiful supply at all times of good food and water. For that purpose I have grown early rye

last season, whilst it was necessary to soil with Hungarian grass and corn for fodder, we have also fed two quarts of ship stuff each night and morning, as we feel satisfied that, although the Hungarian grass and green corn will keep up the yield of milk, yet they will not alone make as much butter as a full supply of pasture or the natural grasses.

I look upon a cow as similar to a steam boiler; no matter how good they may be, unless the boiler is well supplied with water and good fuel, also well attended the supply of steam will be short, or it will be in proportion to the fuel and attention. So also with the cow: no matter how good she may be, if she is not well and plentifully fed and cared for, her product will be shortened.

[ocr errors]

Another important matter with cows is that they should be protected from storms and bad weather. They should be fed and kept under shelter when the nights are wet and inclement; this more particularly in the early season, when the cow is fresh and full of milk: one exposure to a cold wet night has frequently reduced the milk one-half. Also in the fall when the nights become frosty, never let them remain out; be particular to stable them: and in the morning never turn them out on the pasture until the frost is melted off by the sun, as nothing, perhaps, dries a cow or reduces her milk more than eating grass with the frost on it. To many of these requirements the generality of farmers pay no attention whatever. In the early season, as soon as there is any pasture whatever, the cow is turned out of the barn-yard, to eat what she she may find, and to remain day and night until the winter comes; there is also nothing grown or fed to eke out the scanty supply of pasturage that almost invariably occurs at some time in each season.

My cows are principally pure and grade Alderneys, with a few good grade or common cows.

I have never kept any but a pure Jersey bull. In another year I do not expect to have any but pure blood and grade Alderneys, as, from actual trial and experience, let what will be said to the contrary by others, I am well satisfied the Alderney and its crosses are the most profitable stock for the butter dairy.

The American Farmer.

Baltimore, August 1, 1867.

pleasure in giving a place to, at our Agricultural College.

Attention is called to the advertisement of the Agricultural College. With the advantages of a thoroughly liberal course of instruc

TERMS OF THE AMERICAN FARMER. tion, as well as of that pertaining to its specialty,

[blocks in formation]

its pleasant and convenient location, and its very comfortable accommodations, this Institution offers peculiar attractions to students.

Manure.

The word manure, the etymologists tell us, in its original signification, means "to work with the hands." He who dug his ground with spade or hoe manured it. Now, he only manures who dresses it with dung, or other fertilizers. It would be a matter of some interest to trace the steps by which this change has come about. It would seem that the use of fertilizers was so highly esteemed by our ancestors that when one should use them properly, he was thought to have done everything that good tillage required; or rather, perhaps, that he who would incur the labor and expense of gathering and scattering fertilizers was sure to do all else that was requisite; this being done was an assurance that the ground was indeed manured (worked.)

The philosophy of this last idea is apparent. If a man lays out five hundred dollars in liming a fifty acre field, he will probably work that field better than if he puts nothing at all upon

SUBSCRIPTIONS.-Our thanks are due to friends who have so promptly complied with our terms by their remittances during the past month. From the large number of letters received, it is gratifying to be able to say, that we have not a word except of kindness and encouragement. We are well assured that the Farmer is appreciated, and is doing its work efficiently. It has not been our policy by strained efforts to get a subscription list of reluctant contributors, But to have our Journal stand upon its merits, what-it. The fact that he is willing to spend so much ever they may be. The class of men whose names are on our books, are, we have reason to think, of the very best which the Agricultural community of the Middle and Southern States contains, and they have subscribed for the Farmer only because they want it.

[ocr errors]

F. G. F., Raleigh, North Carolina, speaking of fruit cultivation in North Carolina, and valuable native varieties, says: "Would you like to see some of our fine seedlings? "Thevis,' the 'Sally Grey,' 'Wyndham's Red,' and Cat Head' apples; 'June Pear,' 'Foster's Prolific' Plum, a native seedling; 'Scuppernong' and 'Weller's Halifax' Grapes, all No. 1. If so, I will try and and send some of each in their seasons if I can do so cheaply. If you like the fruit, I will send some small trees in the fall, if acceptable."

We have to say in reply, that we should be glad to have specimens of these fruits for trial, but our usual experience in getting such is, that they spoil before reaching us. The trees recommended by our correspondent, we should take

money shows that his mind is in the right frame for something further. The expenditure begets an interest which creates the desire to realize the utmost from his investment, urges him to have his plowing done in the best manner; to harrow, to roll, to open surface drains at least, for surplus water, and suggests many little attentions which would otherwise have been overlooked. We do not doubt that the observation of many will bear us out in saying, that wherever lime, guano, or other costly fertilizers bave been introduced, the improvement has been greater than what was due to the manure.

Possibly the mechanical effect of the use of dung, straw, &c., had something to do with the change in the meaning of the word. In the stubborn clays so prevalent in old England, the effect of such substances in ameliorating and reducing the soil, must have been early apparent, and led to the conviction that only to dress with these was to "manure" or give them their proper working.

But the chemical effect produced by the action of fertilizers may have had a still more effectual

control. Lime has been long known and used, as an improver of the soil. Yet no one supposes that its value is due to its supply of an ingredient of the food of plants. There is not perhaps one acre in ten thousand that does not contain lime enough for this purpose. Its greatest effect as a fertilizer has been observed on what are known as lime stone lands, and is due, without doubt, to its chemical action-to its effecting in a short time that change in the condition of the several mineral constituents of the soil which is brought about in longer time by the laborious operation of ploughing. The technical term "weathering" represents the process by which these changes are produced; that is by exposure of the surface to the action of the weather, frost being here a very active agent.

Texture of Soils.

The quality of soils is very various, particularly as to texture and consistency, and no quality has more influence upon the well-being of plants than this. All the operations of spading, digging, ploughing, trenching and draining have for their object the production and preservation of that condition which will allow all excess of water to pass freely away, and admit as freely, fresh supplies of atmospheric air. While humidity is necessary, and too loose a texture makes too dry a soil, excess of moisture is a great evil, and must be corrected by whatever means is applicable. When the soil is saturated with water the access of the genial air and the gaseous properties is excluded. The soil is kept too low in temperature by constant evaporation at the surface, and by exclusion of the sun's rays; plants are deprived of the supplies of food which new supplies of air would constantly afford; and the delicate fibres are imprisoned and choked, and drowned out in greater or less degree, in proportion to the extent of the evil.

When air and rain can permeate freely, a constant supply of both gaseous and aqueous nourishment is afforded, independently altogether of the richness of the soil, whether natural or artificial. On the other hand, if the soil be com

All our ordinary manures, those especially which we consider most valuable, act very probably in the same way. They supply directly the food of plants, but they act mechanically in opening soils of close texture to the influence of the elements, and chemically, by ammonia and carbonic acid, in cooking, so to speak, the raw ingredients of the soil, and presenting them as fit food for growing plants. This is the very effect produced by weathering, and weathering is made most effectual by constant digging and ploughing, so that new surfaces may be continually pre-pact, or baked hard by drought, in consequence sented to the influence of air and rain, which operate by means of oxygen, carbonic acid and ammonia. The effect of manual labor and fertilizers being so nearly identical in this respect, and the latter acting with so much more promptness, it may well be said, that he only manures in the original sense of the word who makes a proper use of fertilizers.

Catalogues.

Catalogue of Pure Bred Webb South-Down Sheep. This is a catalogue of the flock of Southdowns of the late James C. Taylor, of N. J., imported and bred by him. For catalogue, address Wm. G. C. Taylor, Holmdel, New Jersey.

We have also Catalogue and Price List of J. C. Cox & Co., Breeders of Thoroughbred Stock, Domestic and Ornamental Fowls, &c. P. O. Osborne, Greene county, Ohio.

From George A. Deitz, Importer and Grower of Seed Wheat and Grass Seed, Chambersburg, Pa., we have his circular, descriptive of varieties of wheat offered for sale in small or large parcels. Mr. D. presents to those who wish to change their seed, a favorable opportunity of doing so. [See advertisement.]

of its natural condition, or of its having been previously worked and stirred when too wet, no plant can flourish.

Sandy soils are never liable to these conditions, unless when they have a clay stratum lying underneath, very near the surface. All the water they absorb sinks deep into the subsoil, and far below the roots of corn or any agricultural plant on the surface. Such a soil needs neither draining nor subsoil ploughing. Neither does it ever require to be exposed to the frosts of winter, or any kind of treatment by implements, for its physical amelioration. It is almost always in such an open, friable state, that it may be ploughed and sown at any season. The cultivation is easy, and executed at moderate expense, and with moderate care and judgment in their management their fertility is easily maintained. For these reasons we have several times urged that lands of this character are not sufficiently appreciated, for we find them in many parts of the country thrown out of cultivation and lying

waste.

In such descriptions of land, however, it often happens that beds of clay lie alternately with those of sand, at different depths, beneath the surface. These beds not unfrequently crop out, or approach so near the surface that the water

does not get readily away, and even a sandy surface soil is kept too wet for the good of growing plants. In such a case, draining is the proper remedy.

It is well, however, to know that this remedy may often be applied at much less cost than if it were necessary to seek an outlet in some low ground at a considerable distance from the land to be drained. If there be wet and dry places in the same field, we may be assured that a bed of clay or other impervious earth lies beneath the wet, and a porous subsoil beneath the dry places. A drain of sufficient depth opened and filled nearly to the surface with stones or loose gravel from the wet to the dry places, will render the whole dry. A very short drain will sometimes effect this quite as well as one made at four times the cost to convey the water to a stream or a ravine.

Book Table.

We have from the publishers, A. Williams & Co., Boston, CHEMISTHY OF THE FARM AND THE SEA, by Jas. R. Nichols, M. D., editor of "Boston Journal of Chemistry and Pharmacy." In 1 vol. 12mo., elegantly bound in cloth. Price $1.25.

The aim of this little work is "to present scientific facts and principles in a familiar way, so as to interest and instruct those not specially acquainted with matters of science." The topics treated in these essays are Chem. of the Farmof the Sea-of a Bowl of Milk-of the Dwelling -of a Kernel of Corn-of the Sun, &c. It is an attractive little volume, which we have not yet, however, sufficiently looked into, to do it full justice.

Also from the same publishers we have GEYELIN POULTRY BREEDING IN A COMMERCIAL POINT OF VIEW, with an introduction by Charles L. Flint, Secretary Mass. State Board of Agriculture. 1 vol. 12mo., with 27 illustrations. Price $1.25. As carried out by the National Poultry Company, limited, Bromley, Kent; Natural and Artificial Hatchery, Rearing and Fattening on entirely new and scientific principles, with all the necessary Plans, Elevations, Sections and details, and a notice of the poultry establishments in France by Geo. Kennedy, C. E.

The author says in his preface, "I have confined myself exclusively to giving publicity to such facts as I have proved by actual experience: and I firmly believe that this treatise on poultry breeding, in a purely commercial point of view, is the only one ever published, in this or any other country, from which the public can learn how to

enter upon a highly profitable and pleasing undertaking, and this without having to pay the usual heavy penalties of experimenting."

THE SOUTHERN REVIEW.-The July number of this Quarterly is received. The contents areIreland and her Miseries. The Atlantic Cable. John Stuart Mill and Dr. Lieber on Liberty. The Maid. The North and the South. Picaresco

Romances. Xantippe and Socrates. Causes of

Sectional Discontent. Davis and Lee. Book Notices.

This very able Review maintains the high position it took on its first appearance. It should be the pride of Baltimoreans to sustain a publication of such character, and to give it the most liberal support. Bledsoe & Browne, publishers. $5 per annum, in advance.

BLACKWOOD, FOR JUNE.-The contents of this number are-Brownlow's Part VI. The Reign of Law. My Hunt of the Silver Fox. Was George III. a Constitutional King? Strikes and Trades Unions. Dante in English Terza Rima. The Reform Bill. Clause III. and M. Lowe. Blackwood and the four leading British Reviews are re-published at the very low price of $15 for all-for Blackwood alone $4-by the Leonard Scott Publishing Co., 140 Fulton street, N. York.

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW, Quarterly, for April. Contents-Italy and the War of 1866. The Papal Drama. Thomas Hobbes. Contemporary Music and Musical Literature. New America. Mr. Swinburne's Poetry. The Hopes and Fears of Reformers. Contemporary Literature.

"TURF, FIELD AND FARM.”—This publication comes to us enlarged and improved, and we take pleasure in its evident prosperity. While the "Sports of the Turf and the Field" are its leading feature, this Journal has taken a decided stand for morality and elevated principles. There are such things as legitimate sports, which have been brought into disrepute by the rascalities and evil practices which commonly accompany them. The Journalist who clearly distinguishes between the principal and its adjuncts, and while he advocates the former, discourages and condemns the latter, does a good service to the community, and a special service to those who love true sport.

We noticed with gratification, that when nearly all the leading dailys and weeklys had their columns burdened with the disgusting details of the brutal mill between Collyer and Aaron, the "Turf, Field and Farm" treated the infamous exhibition with only such denunciation as it

merited.

Seed Bed for Wheat.

The importance to the farmer of understanding the habits and peculiar characteristics of the plants he cultivates, as well as the nature and quality of his soil, is frequently illustrated. Let us take the wheat plant for instance, and we find, by almost common consent, it is best provided for in a shallow seed bed. Very deep plowing is thought to be, not only unnecessary, but absolutely injurious. The young plant seems to need a firm understratum not far from the surface to imbed its roots in, and with this advantage withstands the "throwing out," produced by alternate thawings and freezings, better than when the soil has been recently stirred to a very considerable depth.

No one at this time of day can overlook, or be ignorant of the great advantages to the soil generally, of deep ploughing. 1st. It opens a much larger amount of soil to the range of roots, giving much more liberal pasturage than they could otherwise get.

2d. It increases very largely the supply of nutriment, by allowing the access of air, and by the process of weathering, acting upon the mineral elements of the soil.

3d. It preserves an equal quantity of moisture in the soil. We seldom have a rain so great as to produce an unhealthy stagnation of water about the roots of plants set in a soil seven or eight inches deep, and, on the contrary, we seldom have a drought of so long continuance as to extract all the moisture to that depth.

These, and other known advantages from deep ploughing, we might dwell upon; and, apart from the well known fact above alluded to, it would hardly be supposed that any crop, of whatever character, would be exempted from the good influences of the practice.

We must make a proper distinction, however, between a natural subsoil, indurated and rendered impervious to the action of the air by centuries of rest-its orignal hardness and impenetrability aggravated by a long course of continuous treading, in ploughing the surface soil-and that firm, mellow body of earth, which is produced by deep cultivation.

It is this firm, yet generous subsoil, which forms so valuable a matrix for the roots of the wheat plant, and enables them to resist the loosening effects of alternate frosts and thaws during winter. This important distinction, it will be observed, allows nothing to be detracted from the argument in favor of deep ploughing. It is only when the previous working has been, indeed, most thorough, that the wheat reaps a due advantage from the shallow ploughing. The

understratum, though somewhat compacted in comparison with the loose surface soil, is so enlivened by the former breaking up, that the tender rootlets take firm hold and keep their place. The advantage of this comparative firmness of the substratum is apparent in the practice, now so common, of seeding corn land to wheat, without any plowing beyond what has been given to the corn. The action of the tines of the wheat drill, or any such scratching of the surface as will give the seeds a slight covering, is found to answer all necessary purposes even on tolerably tenacious clays. It is insisted, indeed, after much experience, that this is the most successful practice for corn land seeding.

Take Care of the Tools.

There is no use in trying to carry on a farm, or to do anything else well, without system and order. And the care of tools is an important part of that system. One cannot accomplish much without a set of tools, larger or smalleras for borrowing them unnecessarily, that should be regarded as next to stealing them. And the purchase of tools should be followed up by a scrupulous care of them. A tool room is a great convenience. It may be an apartment by itself in the carriage house or wood house.

Here let there be a row of pegs for saws; there is the bench for planes; yonder is a drawer, with separate compartments, for screws, washers, nuts, rivets, etc. Here is a place for bolts, there for screws. The hammers, chisels, screw driver, auger, broad axe, adz, files—all have their appointed locality, and are kept there and nowhere else. The law should be laid down and enforced, that` whoever uses a tool must put it back, so that it can always be found at a moment's notice; nay, even if it be in the dark.

And this care of tools should lead and will lead on to system with regard to other things about the premises. Here is a corner for extra plough handles, and there a box for plough points; there are bolts of all sizes, ready in case of a break down; yonder are hooks with extra pieces of harness. Notice, too, the crow bar, beetle and wedges, and log chains, the grindstone always in its place, and always in order; the scythes, hoes, spades, shovels, forks, rakes and what not have so long been kept in their respective places that they would almost cry out if carelessly left in an unaccustomed spot.

The time spent in carrying back tools is not lost. If tools are not carried back, they would many of them be lost. And the moral influence of system and order is almost beyond computation.-American Agriculturist.

« AnteriorContinuar »