The farmers want an experiment made which

in following the instructions of such men. Their locks have whitened in the service; and although shall decide for them this question, because if the energies of their muscles may falter, the energy nothing is gained, the expense of boilers, fuel and of their minds is unimpaired. much labor will be saved. April 22, 1854.

I wish Mr. Howe, Mr. Holbrook, or some oth er extensive raiser of pork, would institute a fair and careful experiment, and give us small farmers the benefit of it.

For the New England Farmer. COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD. MR. BROWN:-The communication from Mr. perience of many good farmers, whom I have conSo far as my experience has been, and the exHowe, in the N. E. Farmer of 18th inst., is cer sulted, the practice of feeding swine with all the tainly an important one, inasmuch as the very ac- common articles raised upon the farm, without curate and conclusive experiment with uncooked cooking, has been pursued with success. The meal, for the feeding of swine, goes very far to grains, most roots and fruits are readily eaten, in establish the question that it is better than cooked; their natural state. a question which has been very much debated. It contravenes the generally received opinions and practice of most raisers of pork.

If there are some which swine refuse, it is probable they are more suitable for some other kinds of farm stock, and would not do swine much good if they were forced to eat them. Topsfield, March 28, 1854.

M

SETTING OUT CABBAGE, TOMATO,
AND OTHER PLANTS.

The

I wish Mr. Howe, or some other extensive far mer, would extend the experiment to the various other articles, which are usually fed to swine. The expense and labor of cooking food for swine, as usually practised, is no small item in the cost, more especially for small farmers. I shall never believe, till I see some satisfactory experiment, that the food for swine, or other stock, requires to be Last spring we saw a farmer setting ont a hun cooked in order to be eaten by them, or that the dred cabbage plants in the following manner. process of cooking imparts additional nutriment. plants were pulled up from the seed bed without should rather expect that the process of cook-loosening the ground around them, and as this ing might dissipate, by evaporation, some of the was pretty compact, three-fourths of the fibrous essential properties of the articles cooked. roots were broken off. He then made a round The boiling or steaming of hay and straw, hole with a stick about half an inch in diameter, which has been heretofore suggested and recom-thrust in the plant, dropped in earth to fill up the mended, seems to me to be a wild fancy. hole, packed it down, poured on a considerable Shall we undertake to pamper the appetites of quantity of water, and then covered up the plants our cows and horses with all the refinements of a with a burdock leaf te keep off the sun's rays, and French cook? Man departs from the original in- left them to grow as best they could. We requestentions of nature, by calling to his aid the vari- ted the privilege of setting out twenty plants for ous processes of the culinary art. The more plain him, and proceeded thus: and simple his food, the more perfect is man, in all the essential attributes of his nature. Those stick loosened and lifted up a quantity of dirt aFirst, we went to the seed bed, and with a flat who indulge in the gratification of a pampered ap- round the roots, taking care to break very few of petite are not the most efficient members of the the most delicate fibres. We next went to the community, and the direct tendency is to deprecia- cabbage ground, and with a hoe prepared a place tion; hence, the continued revolutions in the so- for each plant by mellowing and pulverising the cial relations of society-the lesser indulgent earth several inches in diameter. classes go up while the more luxurious go down. a large hole with the hand, deep enough for a We scooped out The rich cannot resist the temptation to ease and plant, and set it in carefully, with considerable indulgence which their riches give to them, and by loose earth still clinging to it. The roots were which they are enervated and, consequently de- left spread out just as they had grown, finely pulscend in the scale of their social relations. verised soil was then sprinkled in to fill up the

I had written thus much before seeing the ar-hole, and carefully pressed down around the plant. ticle from Mr. Holbrook, of Vermont, in your We then added about half a pint of filthy water last. He has given us a very valuable communi- from the swill-pail, and requested that the plants cation, on the management and feeding of swine, should be left without any protecting covering. and of the amount of pork made by a bushel of Our farmer friend said he could never spend so cooked Indian meal, which he thinks is better much time with a few plants. But mark the rethan uncooked meal. This is at variance with the sult.

experience of Mr. Howe, who made a pretty fair During the latter part of summer we visited the experiment with five pigs. As has been before said, does the cooking add one had been injured by a careless blow from the "cabbage patch," and found that of the 20 plants, anything to the material stuff? I do not know but swine or other stock might them bore large, solid heads of cabbage. Of the hoe, and one had grown feebly, while seventeen of eat a little more of some food, when cooked, than eighty other plants set out at the same time in when not, or when mashed up with the more pal- the same soil, fifteen only had large heads, twenatable, might take some articles which they would ty-nine bore heads of medium size, fourteen had refuse when given alone. But then it becomes a barely lived and were not worth harvesting, while question whether those articles which would be twenty-two had not survived the transplanting. refused alone, afford much appropriate nourishment. The Author of nature has given them in-set out cabbages is, to first grout them.-Ameican The next best preferable method we know of to stincts to discriminate between what is suitable Agriculture. for their support and what is not.

For the New England Farmer. by medical treatment, to reduce her weight--but without success. Next in this group, is Miss LUSUS NATURÆ. Richardson, of Alstead, N. H. She is nineteen FRIEND BROWN-Knowing that you take a years old, and weighs six hundred and seventydeep interest in all the productions of nature, four pounds; which is sixty-four pounds more whether natural or unnatural-normal or abnor- than the great English giant weighed. The mothmal, I will give you an account of what I have er of Miss R. accompanies her, and is a small and met with, which seems to partake of the Lusus lean woman. The father is said also not to be Nature Imprimis. Near the Crystal Palace, in above the ordinary size; she rises and walks with New York, a pair of oxen were exhibited, said to apparent ease. Mrs. S. cannot rise without assisweigh 9000 pounds. They came from the fertile tance. West, where animals and vegetables, having abundance of room and no lack of nutriment, seem dis posed to expand themselves. The keeper said they had been accustomed to hard work till within one year. He thought they had some Durham blood, There is also, in this group, Mrs. Ellen Briggs, but mostly native. What a contrast between of Ohio, 32 years of age, the mother of three chilthese noble looking animals, and the little rats, dren, and but 30 inches in height. She is well we often meet with in some portions of our coun- proportioned-very graceful in form-has a good try, which become venerable with age, before countenance, speaks English, French, and Gerthey acquire sufficient size and strength to sustain man, dances perfectly, and all that.

a yoke!

What man has done, man may do. Every farmer may raise good cattle; he may not make them all weigh forty-five hundred pounds each, but 'twould be well if he were to aim at it.

So you see, Mr. Editor, New Hampshire produces not only great men, but great women; and New Jersey, too, may boast of women as great as any other sister State.

Now have not I proved that Nature, in the world of matter, plays some fantastic tricks? And does not every day's observation show, that in mind there are no less wonderful vagaries?

I

At the President's levee, on Friday evening last, There was also a Shetland cow, eight years old, witnessed some rare specimens of animated naand but thirty inches high. By her side was a ture without paying an admission fee. calf nineteen months old, not yet weaned, nor hav- The President seemed in good health and fine ing had a calf, though giving milk. This calf was spirits. He certainly does the honors of the Exhalf Ayrshire, and somewhat larger than its moth-ecutive mansion with ease and dignity. er. Here is a case for dairymen and physiolo- The assemblage furnished a fine illustration of

gists.

There were also Bakewell sheep with wool full three feet long. Query.-Why does not wool, like the covering of other animals, fall off when it ceases to be needed and becomes a burthen?

into the famous "East Room," side by side, shoulthe levelling tendency of Republicanism. Jammed der to shoulder, were representatives of every grade in society. Whigs, Democrats, Free Soilers Last of all was a Jewish abomination-a pig, Progressives, Liberals and Ramrods, military and Unionists,-Hards and Softs,-Hunkers and one-fourth Berkshire, three-fourths native, weigh-chieftains and soaplock dandies,-gentlemen and ing fourteen hundred and seven pounds. Among boors,-philosophers and dolts, stately matrons the Irish tenantry, the pig, being set apart for the and coy maidens, beauty and deformity, pride payment of taxes, is called the "Rent-payer," or and humility, wisdom and folly, Catholic and the "Rent;"-such a "pig" at the present prices Protestant, American and European, all hudof pork would pay the rent of a larger estate than dled together, cheek by jowl, in truly democratic an Irish potato patch. style.

But obesity and monstrosity are not confined to the brute creation.

It is well that the "dear people" have access to their rulers, and well would it be, if their pruCol. WOOD, of Cincinnati, has now on exhibi-dence should keep them mindful of the source tion in this city some rare specimens of humanity, whence they derive their power, and thus prevent -which prove conclusively that there are ex- them from enacting unrighteous laws. tremes in human nature.

Baltimore, Feb. 27, 1854.

R. B. H.

It is a common remark that Miss, or Mrs. Soand-so, is a great lady. Now the greatest lady living, Col. Wood says, is Mrs. Scholey, a native of SPECIFIC FERTILIZERS. New Jersey, now a resident of Ohio. She weighs We would suggest to our friends who are about seven hundred and sixty-four pounds; one hundred and fifty pounds more than the celebrated to use guano, poudrette, super-phosphate of lime, Daniel Lambert. Her naked arm measures three plaster, salt, salt-retre, or any other highly confeet and two inches, and her waist nine feet and centrated manure, to omit, in all cases, the applia half. Truly her husband has his arms full, if cation of them on a portion of the same field, so not his basket full of blessings. Mrs. S. has a that it may be plainly seen whether the crop is good countenance, is highly intelligent, and con

verses with freedom and great propriety. She is any better where they are applied than where they of German descent; says her grandfather weighed are not. It is only through the aid afforded by more than four hundred pounds; has two sisters such experiments that we shall be able to come who weigh more than two hundred pounds each; to satisfactory conclusions as to their value. It is and a brother who weighs two hundred and fifty

pounds. She has always enjoyed good health, eats very important for us to know, not only that these no more food than other people, and much less manures are valuable, but also to know how valuthan a dwarf who accompanies her, and is but thir-able they are, in comparison with the common. ty inches in height. She has tried, by dieting and manures of the farm. In order to obtain this

knowledge, we must not only grow crops side by side, with and without the guano or other fertilizer, but must weigh and measure the crops themselves, grown on equal portions of ground. In such a process we can obtain valuable results, whether favorable or unfavorable.

THE THRIFTLESS FARMER. "Stop them hogs-what in the

the rea

son you didn't patch up that fence better, when you were about it? 'Stu-boy, 'stu-boy-yank 'em, Tiger, I'll learn 'em to keep out of the garden! Now fix up the fence and keep them hens out, or you'll ketch it."

We agree with the American Agriculturist, that, in applying commercial super-phosphate, which Such were the ejaculations of Farmer Thriftis in a finely-divided state, we do not think it nec-less, on a bright May morning, when the hogs essary to mix it with any other substance, unless and hens for the hundredth time had broken into it is to come directly in contact with the seed. In the latter case, it should be well mixed previously, with a considerable quantity of muck, or rich earth, or even with loam.

the miserable garden; but he had uttered these words as many times before, and the scene did not disturb his equanimity so much but that he resumed his seat under the dilapidated porch, and "It is hardly worth while to apply less than 200 began to charge his old pipe with a new fill of lbs. to an acre; on poor soils, or those of ordinary tobacco. But his poor wife, whose sweet looks and quality, 400 or 500 pounds per acre would not be too much. We prefer the latter quantity for ex- confusion which had reigned supreme about her sweetness of temper had been sorely tried by the perimental trials, though we would advise using for many years, could not look on undisturbed. different quantities on adjacent plots, in order to She loved order and quiet, and her meck and genbetter mark the effects. 200 lbs. per acre would tle spirit must soon leave the revels of creaking only allow about one pound to 218 square feet, hinges and flapping doors, and all the wild disorwhich is a plot a little less than 15 feet square. der about her, for the undisturbed realms of the This is only two-thirds of an ounce to a square peaceful and quiet grave. Her last entreaty falls yard. Double this quantity would be little enough from which to judge anything of its effects."

upon the ear of Farmer Thriftless like water upon the flinty rock. Young Hercules, with his club, and Tom Careless, with his hammer, were despatched in the words with which we commenced, to rout the enemy and repair damages!

For the New England Farmer. THE FLOWERS AND THE BIRDS. FRIEND BROWN:-"The flowers appear on the Now, reader, behold them. First, the house, earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, the Farmer, and his poor, over-worked, heartand the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." broken wife,-the patched barn,-the doors,-the So sang the great monarch of Israel, whose eyes weathervane and the roof; the stacks, horse and were not too exalted to behold the beauties of na- cattle mingled in with broken wheels and other ture and the exquisite beauties of the springtime trumpery. Then in the foreground see the fightthereof; whose ears were not so lofty but that he could listen, with delightful praises, to the great ing cocks, the skeletons of diseased cows and hogs! God who made him, to the sweet voices of the See Tom cock his eye and scratch his head in bebeautiful birds. holding the youthful Hercules break the ribs of The splendid garniture of periodical birth, has the hungry pigs, and put the fowls in a tremenagain come to beautify the earth, the blithe birds dous flutter. There is a life and truthfulness in have returned, bringing their sweet minstrelsy the scene too sad for mirth, ludicrous as it is. with them, to revisit the orchard, the meadow, the

garden and the wood. Let them not be regarded Will any of our friends confess that they sat for the as unworthy of the protection of the husbandman, picture! We have endeavored to improve a little and beneath his notice; nay, they are the friends upon the suggestion of our excellent brother of of the farmer, and the companions of the cultiva- the Pennsylvania Farm Journal, and hope to retor, and "my Father made them all." ceive his approval. The Fort Wayne Times comes Let not the modest flowers be trodden under to our aid, too, in the life-like portrait before us foot, or be passed by as a thing of nought, for they are beautiful; why then, should the farmer Now "look on this picture, and then on that" neglect them entirely? Rather let him cause some which we shall give next week, and judge for border to bloom with beauty; the affections will yourselves of the merits of each.

not suffer thereby, the heart will not become hard- The thriftless farmer provides no shelter for his ened by such labor; they will be a source of pleas- cattle during the inclemency of the winter; but ure to the household, and will catch the eye of the traveller passing by; in short, where the flow-fence, or lie in the snow, as best suits them. permits them to stand shivering by the side of a ers are cultivated and loved so well, stratagems and spoils can scarcely dwell.

4th mo.,

1854.

I. S.

He throws their fodder on the ground, or in the mud, and not unfrequently in the highway; by which a large portion of it, and all the manure,is wasted.

There is nothing more dangerous to the He grazes his meadows in fall and spring, by virtuous than association with the guilty who which they are gradually exhausted and finally ruined.

possess amiable and attractive qualities.

His fences are old and poor-just such as to or a hammer, or an augur, but knows not where let his neighbor's cattle break into his field, and to find them, and thus loses much time. teach his own to be unruly and spoil his crop. He loiters away stormy days and evenings when He neglects to keep the manure from around he should be repairing his utensils, or improving. the sills of his barn-if he has one-by which his mind by reading useful books or newspaper. they are prematurely rotted, and his barn destroyed.

He tills, or skims over the surface of his land. antil it is exhausted, but never thinks it worth while to manure or clover it. For the first, he has no time, for the last he is not able."

He spends much time in town, at the corner of the street, or in the "snake holes," complaining of hard times, and goes home in the evening, "pretty well tore."

He has no shed for his fire wood-consequently his wife is out of humor, and his meals out of seaHe plants a few fruit trees, and his cattle forth

He has a place for nothing, and nothing in its son. place. He consequently wants a hoe or a rakel

cost. He has to beg and promise, and promise and beg, to get them on any terms. The merchants dread to see his wife come into their stores, and the poor woman feels depressed and degraded.

The smoke begins to come out of his chimney late of a winter's morning, while his cattle are suffering for their morning's feed.

Manure lies in heaps in his stable; his horses are rough and uncurried, and his harness trod under their feet.

His bars and gates are broken, his buildings unpainted, and boards and shingles falling off-he has no time to replace them-the glass is out of the windows, and the holes stopped with rags and old hats.

He is often in a great hurry, but will stop and talk as long as he can find any one to talk with. He has, of course, little money; and when he He is a great borrower of his thrifty neighbor's must raise some to pay his taxes, &c., he raises it implements, but never returns the borrowed artiat a great sacrifice, in some way or other, by pay-cle, and when it is sent for, it can't be found. ing an enormous shave, or by selling his scanty He is, in person, a great sloven, and never aterop when prices are low. tends public worship, or if he does occasionally do so, he comes sneaking in when the service is half

He is a year behind, instead of being a year ahead of his business-and always will be.

out.

When he pays a debt, it is at the end of an He neglects his accounts, and when his neighbor execution; consequently his credit is at a low ebb. calls to settle with him, has something else to atHe buys entirely on credit, and merchants and end to.

all others with whom he deals, charge him twice Take him all in all, he is a poor farmer, a poor or thrice the profit they charge prompt paymas-husband, a poor father, a poor neighbor, and a ters, and are unwilling to sell him goods at any poor Christian.

MER.

HOMESTEAD OF THE THRIFTY FAR- an animated scene the fore-ground presents! How stout and sleek are the horses-how vigorous the In contrast with the homestead of farmer Slack, men-how appropriate the implements they are already presented, we now give a view of the beau- using! Children, reared and educated in such a tiful grounds and residence of farmer Thrift. And home, will carry out influences with them to mako what an attractive home it is. What an air of the world a better and happier one. And then, to neatness and comfort pervades the buildings; every adopt the language of the Pennsylvania Farm board is tight, and every door swings true to its Journal, the provident and thrifty farmer has place. No broken windows or dangling gates, no three rules for regulating his business, which he old pots or pans, no old carts and wheels, mar the observes himself and enforces on those around him, general appearance of order which prevails. What viz. to do every thing in the right time, convert

everything to its proper use, and put every thing together with soil from his headlands, convenient in its proper place.

He buys only the improved breeds of cattle, horses, sheep and swine, and keeps no more than he can keep well, either in summer or winter.

He always drives on his work and never lets his work drive him.

to his barn-yard, to compost with his manure heap, through the winter.

He does not allow the liquid manure to escape into the nearest stream, a quarter or half a mile from his barn-yard.

His barn, and sheds, and dwellings are all sup

His animals are never under fed or over plied with good spouting. worked.

His fences are always in good order, and mate

His outhouses, wood-shed, poultry house, pig terials for repairing or renewal, are collected and pen, wagon house, spring house, and corn crib made during winter..

are nicely white-washed or painted on the outside, and kept clean and neat within.

He has a tool house, and a place for every tool in it, which may be wanted for any ordinary farm

His wood-shed is supplied with wood, cut in August, always one year ahead.

His wife never scolds, because she never has occasion to.

purposes, such as mending implements, making Her cellar and pantry are always supplied with axe or hoe or fork handles, &c., and also for stow- the needful raw material, which she works up ining carefully away, such as will not be wanted for to a palatable form to fill up vacuums at meal another season.

He has sheds around his barn-yard, to protect his cattle from the weather, and warm, well ventilated stables for his cows and young stock, and also a cellar or shed, to protect his manure heap. He has leaves or other refuse vegetable matter,

times.

Heavy bread, cold buckwheat cakes and rancid butter are novelties which her gude man and the children have heard tell of by some of the neighbors, but have never seen.

When a friend or two calls to lodge, a plate of