Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-12-09
THE AGRICULTURIST.
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Rnrls for the sensosl .

without them. Agriculture in its ever presen
cares and its bookings ahead, is business fer tn
whole wear and the difference between the success
full and the unsuccessful farmer is that one is can
slant and provident taking due care for the present
ane looking out for the future laying his plans wise
" and carrying them out persistently, while tn
other tolls perhaps more hardly than any on
ought half or two-thirds of the year, but lie
things 20 waste the other half or third. In tn
remarks here to be thrown out, self inprOuemer
may well be topic. Long evenings, already come
and still longer ones coming, viii afford time fo
reading. Read the agricultural papers Their editor
may know less for practical agriculture than yol
do, and yet you may derive the greatest advantage
from perusal of their publications. Take moth
ing on authority give candid hearing; compar'
all with the results of your own experience anC
you viii be less liable TO make mistakes, anC
more likely to excel in your business for reading
books and well conducted papers concerning it
The annual fairs, the farmers clubs, the frequen
social intercourse Of farmers among themselves are
all well and are important bur reading is impor
tant also, not only to give knowledge, but to shar
pen the intellect. The mind to direct the farm ope
rations contributes at least as much to success as
the hands that perform the labor.
Kindred with self improvement is the education OF
the children Are they at school? are they under
the care of a competent teacher is he man whom
you would wish your children to be like? Do you
countenance and encourage his efforts is the school
house all right, comfortably warmed, neat and tidy
in its arrangements, such, in short, as your wish
would desire it to be- if you were to spend your
days there instead Of being represented by your
children! All these are questions for you to con-
slider but as they belong to each one of many as
much as to any other they apt to fall into the
category of what everybodys business, and SO no.
bodyis Incidence is seldom vice of childhood.
Children will be doing something. They will be
merry and they ought to be- See that they have in
innocent amusements that when these tire, they
have something useful to do; and that instructive
and interesting books always within their reach
1t is long stride fIom these objects of our love
and hope to the cattle in the herds and FOLDS but
it must be made The lower animals contribute not
little to our welfare. We should regard them as
God-given, and not without obligations on cur part
partly for their sake flor they deserve it, but
for your own, provide them with comfortable quar-
tiers. Feed them with variety, and not with one
,
meat, vegetables and fruits we enjoy our meals bet
ter, and promote our health more, than by any one
of these good things. Sameness in food is not
ducve to pleasure or health; nor is the consumption
Of of dainties at meal favorable to either
crave variety, now this, at another time that 1t
is so with cattle Nearly every barn contains
a varity of food. There are the good articles Of
early cut, well cured hay the root crop, corn meal
&C. and there are the inferior articles of stalks
straw hay too late and injured in the curing and
some others Fattening cattle, and cows giving
milk have plenty of the latter; and horses that
work should have clean hay. cut straw with oat-
meal or 3 mixture Of cat ana corn meal and a few
carrots # you have them, as this root has been
fully proved to be favorable TO the horse, by
promoting good digestion Of his other food
In feeding these classes Of animals the tatfs ming
IN, mix giving and the working it is better that
the murrIng noon and night meals should b. varI-
cd SO that the mon fare shall not &c exactly tie
same the m'rning nor The night meal the same a.
either Of the OILERS. bug varrtyis more ImPo TAT
Tor the geocral stock You l>h 10 get them aiOn-
CHI, apply If you were to feed them wholly on fint.
juicy food the expense would exceed the value ut
their growth. They must therefore be turned !,
part but should Be 1ohoy with inferior arti
Giles and important point to the economy of
stock growing, is, to make thUse articles such as
straw and some classes of hay that in reality
better, avail something towards the wintering of
stock. This is TO be effected not by feeding them
exclusively for a single week and hardly for an en-
tire day. A growing animal that receives hand
full of early cut hay and little corn meal or oil
cake, mornings and evenings, will eat almost any
thing through the day, and what is will thrive
upon such treatment whereas, with the inferior
alone, he viii fall into bad condition will loose all
pluck, and if he grows at ALL it VIII be in the derec
ton which cows tails grow-downwards. At any
rate he will grow into an animal worth precious little
if any thing more in spring than the previous fall.
The treasures of their bran in autumn, from the
worst to the best avail at least fifty per cent more if
distributed with little and good deal of sound
judgment. than if thrown out at random All this is
no with me matter of theory. have wintered hun
dreds of cattle, on miserable poor feed for the most
part such as rye straw, oat straw, wheat straw,
and hay entirely below the demands Of working,
fattening milk giving animals, and have seen them
grow all winter, come out well IN the spring, and go
to the butcher, (such were Of the suitable age)
in July or August and sometimes in June even, but
always in time to relieve the pastures soon enough
to permit good growth of grass for fall and early
spring forage 1t was always by varying the food
giving little first best hay and corn or oatmeal
once or twice day, and thus keeping them resolute
and hardy enough to stuff themselves with anything
better than oak shavngs for the rest of their living
and when say that this is the ray and that there is
no other way in which stock can be wintered IN
fairly paying conditions, say but what do know,
not from looks alone, but the courts say, of my
own personal knowledge. In this way, and in no
other the last husk and corn stalk the coarsest hay,
even if spoilt IN curing and the toughest straw, may
be made to return something in the growth of ami
mails, and be at the same time converted into the
best form for enarging the next years crops. But
more of this and kindred subjects hereafter.