Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-04-25
Farming and Gardening.

| luuCl uOuTlSHl1eHG as WIeaG DreauI There
is no other so palatable to most persons, and
at the same time, that can be eaten so long
without palling on the appetite, as the bread
Of wheat flour. There is no crop, also, more
easily raised on suitable lands, or that may be
| grown to more profit to the farmer or more
| benefit to the state. 1t sometimes fails, as do
most other crops, but even this failure is lutte
| likely to be considerably checked, when we
come to understand its true mode of cultva-
tion,-Such, perhaps, as the preparation of the
seed and getting it into the ground early.
In England, one Of the best farming coun-
tries of the world, wheat is the principal crop,
that upon which the farmer mainly relies,
says Mr.. Colman, for his money returns, and
for the payment of his labor and rent, and to
which his attention is principally directed
In France an immense crop of wheat is gath
cred. Statistical accounts have shown that in
England upwards of one hpnRrcd and elereu
mtlltonS OF bushels have been raised in a
year, and in France about ttcO hundred mil
hons of bushels!
In all our states, out of New England, this
crop, in Great Britain, is the money crop.
In the western states farmer who has a crop
of wheat in the ground, gets what he wants
for his family at the nearest store, on the cred
it of the wheat, and when ready for market it
is hauled to the store and received III pay
memt, and the balance, if any, credited to the
farmer, passing thus as the medium of pay
ment in the dealings of the farmer at the
store; or otherwise is carried to the nearest
mill and sold for cash. 1t is always a cash
article where nothing else is, and always as
easily transferable as cash. or as the best and
readiest medium in exchanges. In the mid
die states, in Pennsylvania, New York, Mary
land; in Virginia and Ohio, it is on about the
same footing in commerce, and is, in like
manner, relied upon as the thing needful to
the farmer to pay for those articles of neces-
sary use which he does not raise and is COM
PEELED to buy. 1t may undoubtedly be made
as important in the produce of Massachu-
sets farm.
1t should be remembered by every farmer
that it is not so much the amount of what he
produces that enables him to succeed in his
business as what he is able to retain and use
for his own pleasure. His first effort there
fore, it seems to US, should be to produce HIM
self everything required for use in his own
family; that is, everything adapted to the eli
mate and his own peculiar location and soil
This saves transportation, loss in exchanges,
and loss Of time in marketing. 1t would re-
quire considerable amount of all these to
raise corn or potatoes enough TO exchange
for the flour for year required for a family of
for New England farmers, as general thing,
to devote an acre to wheat, save all the cost
incident upon exchanging, and eat the pro-
duct of their own field? We think it would
A farmer needs good deal of skill to trade
advantageously with those whose wits are
sharpened by making trade the business of
life, and who are too often INSCRIPTIONS in
their transactions. The more directly the
farmers products come from his fields to his
table, the more profit he will find in them
". E. Farmer.
RAISE ASPARAGUS.
No family in the country, that has square
rod of land to spare, should do without bed
of asparagus-1. Because it is wholesome as
food; 2. Because it is profitable; 8. Because
it is easily and cheaply produced.
A bed once well prepared and tended will
last for many years-we do not know how
man perhaps twenty. If one has an old
bed, it would be advisable to preserve seed
and SOW it, to start a new one. If not, it
would be cheaper to purchase the roots than
to wait for plants from the seed The seeds
may be sown as soon as the ground will per-
nit in the spring, or just before the frosts set
in, in the fall. Cover the ground with muck
or litter, and then with branches to keep it
from blowing off. Take off the litter in the
spring, and the plants will soon appear.
In planting the roots, set the plants 10 or
II inches apart in straight lines, and the rows
Is or go inches apart. Put the crown of the
roots or 4 inches below the surface andthen
level the bed with a rake. The bed should
be spaded 10 or 20 inches deep, and manure
plentifully mingled with the earth. If it were
thoroughly trenched, two feet deep, it would
pay we'll The plants should not be cut at all
the first year, and but sparingly the second.
The third they will produce splendid crop.
In cutting, let the knife pass down under the
ground nearly to the crown of the root. Ev-
cry autumn the bed should be cleared of the
dead stems, and the ground covered with ma
nure an inch or two deep. In the spring this
should be carefully forked in and well min
gled with the SOIL and the bed kept
HOW TO COOK ASPARAGUS.
Boil it in salt and water. When young it
will cook sufficiently in fifteen or twenty min
utes. Toast white bread and dip it into the
water the asparagus was boiled in. Lay the
toast into the dish, and the asparagus on top
of it, adding a little butter to each as you pro-
coed. Such dish, with some trifing accom-
paniments will make an excellent dinner three
or four times week.
From the Maine Farmer.
AYRSHIRE SToCK.-We have received
Catalogue of Ayrshire CATTLE belonging to H.
H. Peters, scarborough, Mass" which COM
prises the pedgrees of fifteen bulls, and sew
enty cows and heifers, forming, without doubt
the largest and most valuable herd of Ayr
shires in this country, all of which have been
imported or bred by Mr.. Peters, at great ex-
pense and with much care.
Prefacing his catalogue, Mr.. Peters gives
some account of his experience with native
cows as mixers, and also his opinion of the
Ayrshires for the same purpose. His leading
object in cattle-raising has been to furnish
milk for market. For years he obtained the
best native animals to be had, often paying as
high as $85 per head, rearing the heifer
calves from the best Of the cows. But he
found when these heifers came to be cows,
''their qualities varied greatly-a few being
good mixers, but the MAJ ority inferior" At
ter this he tried Short-horns with unsatisfac-
tory results, and in 1856 started with the Ayr
shire He was so well pleased with these that
in 1859, he imported from Scotland two
thorough bred bulls and twenty five cows.
Mr.. Peters remarks CATER having four years
experience with these imported Ayrshires, can
unhesitatingly say, they have considerably
exceeded my expectations. Compared with
my former stock, they yield much more milk
in proportion to the food consumed. When
not giving milk, they are much more cheaply
Kept. They thrive on less food, and thrive
better on that of an inferior quality, than the
common stock" From the catalogue we
learn that thirty of these cows, in the month
OF June last, IN pasture, averaged thirty three
pouhuS OF milk day; some of them being