davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
It Ia Not Too Late

To FIX the pump and water-works SO they
will not freeze and cause you great trouble
and loss; to bank up the house or pile some
henlock boughs about II and thereby save
your potatoes and apples to put in the light
Of glass that was broken last summer, and
nail a strip Of board over each crack In the
barn, and thereby sage fodder and add to
the comfort of your stock (; to fix warm
place for the hens TO roost away from the
cattle, horses and hogs to procure bedding
for your stock and hogs and increase your
manure pile by taking into the barn the
bushels Of fallen leaves which are within easy
reach to clear the garden of the old pea
brush and bean poles and get il ready to
plOw 10 the spring to pick up cord or two
Of old boards and sticks which are kicking
round the premises aud take them to the
woOdshed for kindling; to put the bars and
gates in position so the snow will not crush
them to take down and prune the grape
vines to mend the stable floor aud hunt up
the tie-chains to build rack TO feed the
sheep in to see that the drains 10 the cellar
and barn.yard are clear and will not clog up
and bother when the cold weather comes |;
to build if you have not barn CELLAR a
rough shed over the manure heap to get a
bit of mortar and point up the cellar wall
where the rats, and other causes, have made
holes in the wall to sort the apples and got
them down cellar before they freeze to hunt
up and house all'the farming tools which you
own; to put salt trough where it will be
within daily reach Of all your stock; TO sort
the sheep and sell or skin the pelters; to
patch the shed roof where the shingles are
off to make the corn barn rat proof; to
make a few good meal and feed boxes; to
build high fence on the north and west
sides of the barn.yard, if it is an exposed
one, and do just about hundred other simi-
lar things which need to be done before
winter sets in.
If your cellar does not freeze, put your
apples in the coolest and airiest part Of it (;
they will keep much longer warm, damp
cellars are fatal to fruit.
Don't undertake to winter a hundred
sheep in one pen; they will do much better
in three or four Aocks. Put those of nearly
tho same age, size and strength together.
Mirror and Farmer.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

TO the soil and the fsture crops. In plov-
ing common soils, our practice Is 20 gauge
the PlOw 50 as TO lay its furrOWs at an angle
Of shout fOrty-6ve degrees or 10 other words
10 have one furrOw lap over the other one a
little 80 that beneath the furrOw there will
be small open space, this serves as drain
age from the top Of the ground, likewise for
The circulation Of air and has tendency to
keep tbs ground light and porous, but in
plowing light soils the reverse course ought
10 be adopted, laying the burrows as Cat as
possible, keeping the ground more compact
and solid for the better protection Of crops
through our hot, dry sNasons Having
adopted the use Of the swivel plOW to do all
my plowing on level land as we'll as side.hills,
1 have found but few men who could ever
give the first idea how a swivel plOw ought
70 be adjusted. Most hands will hitch on
the team and ifthe plOw runs well, all right
IL not the pillow comes in for very large
oueto VI AAuuc ahu Cufuoos Au untuk u
reversible plow il is we'll known that there
ia no way Of adjusting the plow by the
clevis TO take wide or narrow furrow and
IL ouS horse should be inclined 10 travel
wider on the land than the other, it is almost
impossible to plow even and no blowing is
we'll done without being even; therefore the
only way to gauge the reversible ploW for q
vide or narrow furrOw is by means of q
long or short evener. Likewise it often hap.
pens that one horse is much taller than the
other, and however bad this may be on q
common plow, it is much worse on swivel
plow, being reversible. The tall horse will
bc on the land, and the small horse in the
furrow, every other time, and under those
circumstances it is almost impossible for a
professional expert to plow the land even
tOlerably well. This difficulty may be Obvi-
ated to certain extent by using swivel
link to connect the clevis with the evener,
instead of a common link, as link is sure
to kink and twist by reason Of the uneven
ness of the height Of the horses. .
..-g WILLIAM s. TMoRP.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
For the vERHoSr FAHsua
Portable Fence. .

Brother Farmers Let us ind the cheap.
and best plan for portable fence, and do IL
in this way Let each that has q good plan
present it in the FAEMEH and then select the
best. I will give my plan hoping TO draw
out others. IoH
Take two sticks each six feet long. Cross
them like blacksmiths tongs staudingou the
handles. Nail strips Of boards across below
the place where they are halved and pinned
or boltOd together for the lower poles or rails
10 rest on. These are set in row with poles
laid from one TO the other, one lying in the
forks and the other on the strips below.
These horses can be set to long or short rails,
as necessary. A strip nailed up aud down
on each side of the rail below will prevent
slipping from side TO side. Such fence is
easily moved to prevent suow drifts and is
better than posts on heavy land.
T. q. NARAMoRH.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
Echo Farm Again.
North Montpelier, VI.

EDITOR VERMONT FARMER win you
inform your correspondent "HOpkins" who
seems 30 skeptiCal in regard to the facts, that
"Echo farm is a beautiful place." that it is
all, and produces all that l claimed for it,
In my letter Of October 18th. On receipt
Of last weeks FARMER, l wrote a gentle
man in New York, who is personally familiar
with said farm aud its proprietor, sending
Hopkins queries, and asked for an snswer
expressing "what he knew about (thisl farm
ing" The following is his reply-"Ths
facts in regard to the milk, cream, pals,
butter, etO, on Echo farm, you have correctly
stated. The only error was in the number
Of cows, Mr. Starr keeps but about fifty,
As to the price Of butter, tell your dOubtsr
that thing is worth what it brings in mar
ket, and Mr. Starts butter sells within gun,
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
BREVITIEs.

The cows in many sections of Maine arc
being attacked with the epizo6tic, in some
cases fatally.
The Michigan Farmer reports three
year-old steer which weighed 2,300 pounds
when turned out to grass last spring He
belongs to Mr. Beach of Livingston county,
Mich.
Mr. Daniel II. Parker Of New Bedford,
has 65 hens that have paid him S15849 in
ten months. He has paid for food for them
S5S.lS, leaving himself profit of Sl00.31.
Eighty-6ve COWS and calves have died
recently at Morrstown, N. j., from disease
caused by eating the half.decayed aftermath
on the overAowed meadows.
Ducks can be kept without running water,
and will thrive we'll where chickens will if
they can have bit of grass
The editor of the Massachusetts, Plough
man, says he has known fowls so infested
with lice as to drop dead off of tho roosts.
Col. John b. Clark says, New England
can raise the best carriage horses and the
best gentlemens driving horses in the couu-
try.
The Fancier's Journal says. there is no
denying the fact that breeders Of Jerseys
are very much prejudiced in favor of whole
colored. If the value Of Jersey stock is to
rest on color, deterioration Of useful quali-
ties will surely follow.
Hogs are scarce. The unusual prevalence
of fatal disease has greatly reduced the num-
beTs, and in spite of great crop of corn,
pork is, and will continue high.
A. S. Fuller writes to the Agriculturist a
description of several varieties of native rasp-
berries. Concluding he says; "Having
gone through the whole catalogue of varie-
ties, numbering several dozen, would rest
on the following three, ripening in the order
named Doolittle's, Mammoth Cluster and
Seneca,
A dArning machine has been perfected
which does its work well and costs only ten
dollars.
Wooden fence posts can be nude as im-
perishable as iron for less than two cents
each, by painting with boiled linseed oil and
pulverized charcoal.
German experiments have established the
fact that silica, which forms 50 large part
of the ash Of cereals, and which was supposed
. to be essential in their growth, is not neoes-
sary, and that oats and corn with perfectly
stiff straw may be grown without 1t. The
! : iron in plants is essential, and in its absence
= they cease to grow.
!, The Boston Journal of Chemistry states
n that zinc-lined water pipes are poisonous.
n A general failure Of crops and impending
II famine are reported in Russia.
y N. w. Riker writes to the Rural New
Yorker that he cured severe case Of mill
i fever with three doses INSIDE Of two hours
. of one-third Of pint each Of coal oil, ant
this remedy is successful whenever tried
y. We believe the medicine would kill a wei
4 COW. Might cure sick one Tor all that.
i Rev W. H. II. Murray says, "The bes
h remedy for the epizO0tie is to feed the hors
y with soft food, blanket warmly, bandage hi
Q, legs loosely, give him two or three table
J, spoOnfuls Of ginger in his food morning an
% night, and keep the horse doctors Of tn
10 neighbOrhood at least half a mile off
d your horse dies under such treatment sen
y the bill to US, and We-Win think it over
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
Weeds in the West.

Taking with Western farmer, two or
three years ago. we asked him why the West
universally preferred the mammoth corn,
rather than the smaller size grown in York
state. With not as rich land we weaveraged more
bushels per acre than we got at the West.
With laugh at the revelation he was max
ing. our friend frankly confessed that one
important advantage Of western corn was
that it grew faster than the weeds, which
would rise up and choke the smaller variety,
but were themselves kept down by the mon
strous growth of stalks and leaves on the
corn now grown. ...
1t was only few years ago that western
farmers had an important advantage over US
at the East on the. freedom Of their farms
from weeds. This is still true 10 many
places as respecting Canada thistles, quack
aud other perennial weeds, but the whole
tribe Of ANNALS, especially rag.weed, is more
numerous on western fields than any where
else. This is the double result of careless
culture and the great fertility of the soil
On western corn fields rag.weed often grows
nearly as high as mans head aud filled
with seed while by eastern woodside and
stubble fields it is found from six inches to 1
foot and half high. This filling up oi
western soil with Weeds---even ANNALS, is q
great loss to farmers. They hurt the corr
crop, especially 10 such seasons as the pres
ent, and they make the growing Of small
grains moro and more precarious. At the
West As we'll as here, clean, thorough cul
ture is the only live policy and pays bes
in the long run.-RurGL Ne'O Yorker.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
White Crested Black Polish Fowls.

Mr. Andrew Lugden writes to the Fan
cier's Journal Of the breed which he makes
e speciality, from which we make the fol-
lowing extract; .# -
The White Crested Black Polands are
said to be natives of Holland, although they
are known to be very numerous in Poland,
and we are inclined to think they derived
their name from that place, as many other
birds derive their names from some city or
country. We cannot give them the credit
of being very hardy, but they thrive well
with comfortable, airy coops and range Of
high, dry, gravelly soil. They are non-sit.
ters, and continuous layers from mid-winter
to September or October Of white medium
sized eggs Their weight averages about
Eve pounds. Their flesh is tender and juicy
and cannot fail TO please the most fastidIous
But while the Black Polish serve their kind
master with liberal amount of food, they
are also a continual source of pleasure and
amusement, with their tameness, freedom
aud, above all, with their expressive beauty
In feeding them they gather round us, all
confident and conscious that they are to us a
family Of pets, and will caressingly fly up
to our arms and eat from our hands. Their
bodies are sleek and compact, resting on
neat leaden.hued legs. The plumage trim
and glossy black but when near to them
on sunny day the black changes to pearly
opalescent aspect, in which subdued shades
of blue, green, purple, etc, commingle with
each other; and to contrast with the dark
plumage of the body and pompous tail, a
white rosy plume or crest crowns the head
bordered with black in front, as if Nature
had provided this to prevent the snowy
feathery tuft from being stained while eat
| ina .#..
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
How Much Meal to Feed.


A villager wants to know how much meal
it is profitable to give new milch COW, per
day meal at Us cents bushel and hay at
Sl5 ton.
The only man who eau answer that quss-
ton with any degree of accuracy is the one
who takes care of the COW. His information
upon the subject to be obtained by varying
the feed and noting the effect. There Is q
wide difference in the capacity Of cows for
assimilating food. Aud as great a variA-
tion in the power to convert it into butter.
Some COWS never pay for their keeping, be
it what it may.
II may be stated as rule that II pays TO
feed milch COWS meal with liberality, espe-
cially so if both hay and meal are bought
Much depends on the quality Of the hay
Early cut june grass hay will make as
much milk as fair quality Of timothy hay
aud two or three quarts Of meal . day
From two to four quarts, per day, Of meal
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

FEEDING Hay TO HoRsEs.-By cutting
truss of hay into chaff, every blade Of it
will be consumed, and it will be found that
three-quarters of a pound Of cut hay will
60 as far as one pound of uncut hay in
the daily rations of horse. Coachmen
and grooms in private stables do not like the
system of feeding horses on mixed forage,
namely on bruised oats, chaf and maize
given ogether-because, owing to the bulk
Of forage supplied being more easily weighed,
the facilities of fraud are diminished. The
General Omnibus Company have, we believe,
for many years adopted the plan Of "mixed
forage" and no one can look at their horses
without being struck by their admirable con-
dition notwithstanding their hard work.
Farmers Journal.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
For the vHRMosr FARHER.
What Breed of Cattle shall the Dairy
ing Of Vermont Consist OFF, f

l noticed 10 the VERMONT FARMER Of No
vcmber 5th communication from w. s.
Thorp, saying, he was surprised to see the
increased number Of Jersey cattle, compared
with the number shown a few years ago.
He says, judging from this, they are coming
into favor among the dairymen.
Now, brother farmers, do not be discour-
aged after reading the remarks Of Mr. Thorp,
but keep right along with your Jerseys.
As he admits their peculiar fitness for the
dairy, and that the dairy is the leading busi-
ness Of the Vermont farmers at the present
day, SO far we agree. and after that our ex-
perience does not, at the present time L
have thirty head of full bloOds and grades,
and am satisfied that they keep easier, and
do better, on the same feed, than the Dur
hams, or their grades. They will thrive
and do we'll, where larger cattle would look
as IL they were on tho north side of tho
fence eating meadow hay. Mr. Thorp draws
a very cold picture Of the conveniences for
tho dairy stock Of the Vermont farmers. l
had supposed the time had past for winter
ing stock on the north side Of the fence, by
the looks Of the new and improved barns
that one sees on every hand, as he travels
through the country, and as for their being
small, it is an established fact that all rumin-
ating animals will consume three per cent Of
their live weight of good English hay pei
day, or its equivalent in grain or roots to
sustain growing condition, and when you
wish to fat them, you have only to increase
their feed with fat producing material, and
it cssts no more to make one thousand pounds
Of beef from two small cows than one lNrg'
one. The Jersey COW has been bred for but
ter making as long as the Durhams have foI
beef and as firmly established, and as the Wes
can furnish us beef at less price than VI
can raise it, why not take breed that ha
been bred to our wants.
At the present prices Of grain it does moi
pay to make beef from an old COW that hal
been MIXED until she becomes unfit for th'
dairy. The go-ahsad farmer disposes of al
such cows before they become useless for tn
dairy.
Now brother farmers, as you are repler
ishing your dAiries, before purchasing, loo
around and see who is getting the high price
. for their butter and who is making their tw
aud three hundred pounds per COW, and
the Jersey stock predomiuates in these dai
ries, then you are not making mistake |
purchasing them. My advice would be,
you intended to raise your own stock, vi
none but thoroughbred bulls, and you wi
soon raise up q lot of cows that will be q
! improvement on our now existing dairies, q
Q if you feel disposed purchase you some thol
= ough.bred COWS Of some reliable dairymaI
9 as at this time there will be some stock sol
, for thorough bred that is not, as every ms
Q would naturally wish to keep his best ther
= fore pay a good price and get good anima
Q ANDREW J. HoLMsTER.
e North Montpelier, W.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

Why HENS DoN'T PAY.--A correspon-
dent of the Live Stock Journal says It
seems to me there are three reasons why
many farmers do not get pay for keeping
their hens. One is the failure to supply
sufficient amount of suitable food and water
another may be found in their neglect to Sc
cure the eggs which are laid and to sell the
chickens early in the season, when they will
command good price while the third is
the general neglect to provide suituble
place for the comfort and convenience of the
hens. There may be few cases where some
other cause can be assigned, but 1 think
most Of them are covered by the reasons I
have named. If this view Of the case is
correct, it follows that the trouble is not with
the hens, but with their owners, and that
instead of complaining that it don't pay to
keep hens they should comply with the con-
ditions upon which success depends, and
thus make this part of their business profit
able.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

The Kentucky Live Stock Journal is of
opinion that farmers make grave mistake
in not breeding carriage horses, from fifteen
and one-half to sixteen and oue.half hands.
Such horses are comparatively scarce, and
command good prices. The risk of disap-
pointmeut is far less than in breeding trot-
ters. They should possess substance, well
placed, deep and well proportiOucd bodies,
strong and clean bone under the knee, open,
sound and tough feet, with fine knee action,
lifting the feet high. Such horses cannot be
produced by breeding to Indifferent sires.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

A farm in Maine owned ten.acre field,
clay loan, which had been mown ten years
without application of any fertilizers. The
grass had all run out, leaving nothing but
white weed, yellow weed and Ox-eye daisy
In the spring of 1866 he turned in forty
yearling grade MeriuO steep and kept them
in the field through the summer. The next
year the same number were kept in the field,
getting nothing only what grew there, aud
they came to the barn in splendid condition
In the spring Of 1867 about bushsl Of
plaster to the acre was sown. and a light
seeding Of timothy and redtop. That year
he cut on this field the heaviest crop Of grass
and of the best quality. that he ever cut
and it has continued to produce bountifully
up to the present time, cutting this year, the
ninth crop, over a ton to the acre, as hi
writes to the Germantown Telegraph.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

The people Of Vergennes have decided to
apply to Gov Peck to call special session
of the Legislature for the purpose of making
provision for the representation Of Vermont
At the centennial. A state that raises as
good cattle as any in the country, the best
horses, the best Merino sheep, and the very
best men and women 10 the world, ought to
take her own proud, proper place among her
sisters on the grand birthday of the republic
but she won't If this was manufacturing
state, like Massachusetts,, the hum of busy
preparation would be heard but, being al
agricultural community, we move slow, and
shall get fully walked up after the event
The good people of Vergennss ought tc
remember that the Legislature had ful
notice, aud fair chance TO act, when IL
session; that the space in the eentennia
buildings is already all engaged, and then
the mischief which might be done in an eItr'
session Better give it up, little city Of th'
reform school.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19

shot Of my house, 10 New York, daily, at one
dollar per pound, and can't be bought here
for less. cannot afford to buy II, but that
Is no reason Why l should not tell the truth
about IT,. II your critic wants further proof,
let him seud to Mr. F. Starr, ''Echo Farm, +"
LitohHeld, Conn.,, and he will then be salts.
fed t3.I
l claim to be = matter.of-fhct.man.
never write fiction nor imagine facts, but
always state what think l know.
q c Yours truly, AeRIooLA.
NOvember 9, 1875.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
why pOrk.Rai,ing Does Not Pay.

The Live Stock Journal gives as rea-
son that pigs are condemned by Eastern
feeders is that they keep them too long,
mostly in a store condition, wherein they
are always kept at loss. The pig, to be
profitable, must in no case be kept beyond
twelve months, and ten months is the better
rule at which latter age they should weigh
300 pounds. We have no domestic ani-
NAL that Utilities its food better than the pig,
and none that pays better profit unless the
product brings s-higher price. In the case
of poultry, the product brings 50 much
higher price that the profit is greater il the
stock is kept healthy. Dairy products also
bring higher price and pay better, but the
pig is the best animal to utilize the refuse
of the dairy. When farmers learn that the
pig is simply machine to make pork out
Of vegetable food, and they adopt the eco
nomical principle recognized in running
other machinery, to keep it going to its ca
pacity, there will be no disappointment
about the profits. The simple point to be
made is, the farmer takes nearly or quite
twice the length Of time necessary to reach
a given weight, say 300 pounds, and the
loss is in the keeping the pig half of the
time without growth.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-11-19
WHOLE NO. 25S.

lin steaming, manipulating and feeding, L
found there was an average profit Of fully
twenty-five per cent, that is, in feeding the
variety Of animals named but in feeding
milch cows 10 cold weather with warmed,
steamed food Of every description, there was
profit Of over thirty per cent, when the
animals were kept at proper temperatures,
and fed with proper proportions of nutritious
e