davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Profit in Cows.

There are but few farmers who fully
realize the true value of good COW we'll
kept. As general practice three COWS do
not produce as much milk, butter or cheese
as any one would if treated rightly and
pro6tably. No account is kept Of the
amount Of milk or butter produced by each
COW 10 the year. The farmer with his COWS
is in the same situation as he is with the bal.
auce Of his farm. He keeps no account and
knows nothing about his business. Two
hundred and Fifty pounds of butter per COW
per year is not large yield, yet there are
more that do not produce more than half
that amount than there are that exceeds one
half. There is no poorer policy than starv-
ing and freezing milch COW. There can
be no more improvidence in any branch of
agriculture than half.starvng and exposing
to the storms of winter the COW that is ex-
pected to furnish the family with milk, but
ter and groceries. We have seen in the
spring from three to five COWS staggering
about straw stacks of farmers, which will re-
quire nearly all the summer to repair wasted
nature, without supplying any of the rich,
nutritious milk which only comes from a
healthy, well-fed COW. Such a farmer
should either keep less number or provide
better shelter and more rich food. One COW
well provided for is better than three starved
ones. One will furnish more milk Chill
dren should never be fed on milk drawn from
poor COW, reduced to the bare possibility
of sustaining vitality. 1t is cruelty to ami
mails to thus treat them, and it is murder to
the innocent children to feed them on such
food. The profit, the morality and respecta-
iblity Of itrequire that a man who keeps cows
should provide better than is done in most
cases in cold climates. A man that would
cheat his poor old COW, which has thus far
raised his children, should be considered re-
spectacle in no society. There may be cases
where drought, flood or devouring insects
have rendeed it impossible to provide boun-
tifully for all the animals on the farm, but
in such cases the owner should not be COM
PEELED to see the poor old COW shaking her
horns at him in his night dreams. We plead
for the COW, and if three or FIVE cannot be
provided for, sell off, and one well fed will
provide more than the three or five. Iowa
State Register.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Wheat after Potatoes.

Where potatoes are grown extensively it
has become common and very good prac-
tice to have few acres Of early potatoes
ready to clear off and SOW to wheat. This
can readily be done with Early Rose, and
sometimes with early planted later varieties.
1t is best, however, not to try to get out
large field of potatoes in time for wheat, as
the labor is so great that it is apt to delay
wheat sowing till late in the season. Wher-
ever ground can be fitted for sowing by the
25th Of September, potato crop makes an
excellent preparation for wheat. The ground
is in the best possible mechanical condition
from previous cultivation, and if the soil is
rich enough good crop is apt to result.
With the complete pulverizatiOn Of the
soil, as hoeing, cultivating and digging, little
after preparation is necessary to fit it for
wheat. The old fashioned way both on corn
and potato ground, was to highly cultivate,
and sometimes only to drag the surface, SOW
ing the wheat broadcast and covering with
the drag. This was reckoned slpshod aud
lazy practice, and therefore abandoned, but
we remember very well that some extra
large crops were grown in this way, and it
is quite certain that the deeper cultivation
which has become fashionable has not been
SO generally successful. Wherein is the ad-
vantage of plowiug potato ground for wheat2
If properly cultivated during the summer
there will be few or no weeds in potatoes at
digging time, and a light cultivation, or even
dragging to level the surface, is all that is
needed-much better, we suspect, than a
deeper plowing, which turns the finely pull
verified surface soil to the bottom Of the fur
row.
On land not deficient in potash there is
always good clover catch with wheat after
potatoes. If the clover falls on potato ground
thu. probability is that potash is wanting and
hard wood ashes should be sown. If these
cannot be obtained the German potash salts
are good substitute, and may be proftably
used on such land.-[Rural New Yorker.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Weight of Pigs for Market.

II was only few years ago that swine
feeders were vieing with each other for the
greatest weight of carcass but this is now
all changed. Hogs that will weigh 500 lbs
are sold at less price per pound than those
of $50 to 800 lbs. The market in England
has long favored light weights London is
chiefly supplied with pigs Of less than 200
lbs weight. And this tendency of the mar
ket to pigs well fatted, but Of small weight,
is Just what the farmer should encourage,
for it is exactly in the line of his interest.
1t costs more to make the second hundred
pounds on pig than the FIRST, to make the
third hundred than the second, and SO every
pound added becomes more expensive.
Several years have proved that well fat.
tened pigs Of $50 lbs weight fnd the great
est favor in the market, and this fact should
change the whole system Of pig raising and
fattening. lustead Of keeping them until
eighteen or twenty months old, they should
never be kept beyond twelve months, except
for breeding, and seldom beyond nine or ten
months. The great effort should be to in
duce early maturity in our pigs, and thus
shorten the period of feeding, and eOnse-
quently lessen the cost per pound of produc.
ing pork, This is matter Of much greater
Importance than pork raisers generally reall J
realize. We think any well conducted ex,
pertinent would show that ten pigs carried
over the winter in store condition, as il
usual, and fattened at eighteen or twenty
months, cost, per pound Of live weight, twice
as much as another ten Of equal quality, fil
fed, and iattened at nine or ten months
There would not be so much difference il
cost per pound if the pigs were full fed fo
the whole eighteen or twenty months bu
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
The Profit of Growing Potatoes.

Take Rensselaer,, Washington and Sara
toga, the three great potato producing coun-
ties of the state, aud the profit is not so large
as given recently in the article in the Rural
from the Vermont Record and Farmer.
The average yield of the above counties is
not over 100 bushels per acre. Why? There
are so many acres planted that the farmer
cannot keep his ground in as good state OF
cultivation as would produce 200 bushels per
acre. One-half of the area planted and well
manured would produce more than double
tho present yield in this section. Potatoes
take everything off and leave nothing for
the farmer to make manure of. The profit,
no doubt, is good from potatoes, better than
from any other crop, as long as the land
will produce 100 bushels per acre, bat it will
not be great many years before the above
counties will have to abandon raising pota-
toes. The yield will be so small that it will
not pay. The cost of raising an acre of po-
tatoes with US is 50 for plowing, SO for plant
ing, 81 for seed, So for cultivating and hoe
ing, S5 for digging, 81 for marketing, inter-
est S4.20 $3.50 per acre., making S57 20 per
acre of 100 bushels at 500. per bushel,
which leaves s22,S0 and nothing to make
manure Of There is no crop that will pay
better to mannre than potatoes, fifteen or
twenty loads will more than double the yield
Of last year. applied twenty loads of man
ure on an acre of corn stubbe, and marketed
265 bushels of Early Rose at so cents per
bushel, and had left sixty bushels small ones
for hogs to feed early. Land that was as
good adjoining, without the manure, did not
yield over l25 bushels per acre. The pres
ent system as followed by farmers of 100
acres or more is to break up about twelve
acres, plant to Peach Blows, next year put
on what manure they have (which is not
much from few head Of stock), and plant
again to Rose or Peerless, the third year
SOW to oats, and in the fall to rye SELLING
tho straw, next letting lie two years, and
planting and sowing as before. The system
is very exhaustive, and cannot be followed a
great many years with profit.
Can the above mode of farming be fol.
lowed, and the land kept good with clover
and commercial fertilizers 2-T Rural New
Yorker.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01

sheep were taken of aud to-day august
2d) the field is tented thick with punches Of
the very best hay, averaging over one tor to
the acre. have since sold the field to one
Of my friends, and asked him yesterday il
he expected to get another crop from the
field without dressing it again. His reply
was, "Yes, expect 70 get several more
yet"
Now, Mr.. Editor, what wish to impress
upon the minds of the farmers is this, that
instead Of running wild about raising fast
horses and getting up cheese factories, it is
better for them to give more attention to
sheep husbandry; for If we put them upon
our impoverished lands II in fact costs moth
ing to keep them through the summer sea
son, as they more than pay for their cost in
reclaimiug these lands.
Let each farmer decide for himself what
breed is best for him to keep. 1t depends
upon our nearest market. The grade Me-
rino will do better on short pastures than
any breed that | am acquainted with.-TH.
g. Abbott, in Germantown Telegraph.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
sheep as Enrichers.

wish through your columns to state to
you my experience in fertiizng grassland
with sheep. | stated my treatment of
piece of "woru.out" grass field, as we term
It, in convention Of the Board of Agricul.
ture in Lewiston, Me-, in the year 1869,
which was noticed by many of the papers
throughout the country and having received
q great many letters for further information
concerning the same, | will give you the
history Of the treatment and condition Of the
field up to the present date.
Ain 1865 had field of ten acres that
had been moved some ten years in success
sion without particle Of dressing put upon
it the grass had completely died out,
and nothing was to be seen but white weed and
yellow weed, or butter-cup and ox.eyed
daisy. The soil was a cayey loan canting
little to the south and west, was in the
smoothest possible condition, without stump
or stone, and bordering upon stream Of wa
ter. In the spring Of the same year put
upon this field Of ten acres forty one-year-
old sheep without lambs. These sheep kept
everything down as smooth as barn floor.
The next year put on the same number
and kept them on until time to come to the
barn. They were not taken from the field
at any time during the season, neither did
they have any grain Of any kind, but were
in spleAdid condition. They were grade
Merinos.
In the spring of 1867 noticed that the
field looked green the last Of April and the
first of May, so much so that in consulting
with my neighbors l was induced to keep
the sheep off from it and let it come up to
grass for the scythe. The field in the mean
time had been sowed over with light dress.
ing Of plaster, about one bushel to the acre,
and small quantity Of grass seed-timothy
and red top, Nothing else has been done to
the field in any shape up to the present
time. Now for the result. The first year
after taking the sheep of had the greatest
yield Of grass that ever had from any Of
my fields under other treatment, and Of the
best quality, mixture oftimothy, redtOp,
white clover aud some grass that l cannot
name. Hardly head Of white weed or yel.
low weed was seen on the field.
But what is the most remarkable to me
and my neighbors is, that the field has CON
tiDued to produce bOuntifully up to the
present time, which is eight years since the
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01

could not do II if over three miles from the
bay.
have induced some to pillow in clover,
with splendid results, but they dare not fol-
low il up, for fear their fathers or grand
fathers will appear to them for Innovations.
know a farmer in Michigan that began
poor when young, on section (64O acres)
of as light, sandy soil as can be found on this
island. He died at forty years Of age, worth
$4,000. l have heard him say that as
long as he could get clover to grow he would
not haul barn-yard manure one mile, if he had
a mountain Of it to 60 to. He had another
eccentric popularity he made it rule to
go into any crop just as every one else was
dropping it.
You see that farming pays; but you want
TO first be sure that you are right, then 60
ahead. But don't drive too fast for there
is no pocket so deep but there is a bottom.
A. j. HINDs.
Pachogue, L.. l., September, 1876.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01

has faith enough in horizontal farming TO
raise them. 1t is our belief that their value
over turnips and beets is over-estimated.
Farmers sometimes allow their cattle to
top the roots. 1t works very well if the
conditions are favorable. The cattle learn
after a while to 60 for the root first. They
should be turned in for short time each
day.
Roots that have been topped are more
exposed to the frost, and receive more injury
if they are frozen The tops are Of great
value as food for stock, and It pays we'll to
cart them to the barn to be fed.
Beets should not be suffered 10 stand until
frozen. Turnips may be frozen in and the
top of the bulb frozen solid without injury so
long as the top remains and they are thawed
out before being topped and pulled. Tur-
nips continue to grow in cold weather until
the ground freezes up.
Provision should be made for ventilation
of root cellars. Roots may be kept in
trenches in dry we'll drained soil or in piles
on the surface, by covering we'll with straw
and twelve or fifteen inches Of dirt.
Tops and other green fodder such as fod-
der corn or clover may be kept sound for a
year in trenches. In France it is common
to store beet tops and pulp from the beet
sugar factories in trenches, four feet deep
and six wide. They arc wilted little, then
trod in solid, and piled up three or four feet
above the surface and covered with str aw
and dirt so as to shed rain, and will keep a
year.
1t is hoped that the value Of roots as win
ter feed for stock will come TO be bette r
understood and more generally raised. An
acre of turnips can be raised and harvested
with as little labor as an acre of corn.
There is little more work 10 cutting and
feeding out an acre Of turnips than in thresh-
ing and feeding an acre Of corn, because
there is more weight to handle. The hon
est miller takes no toll of root crop. 1t is
our belief that an acre of turnips aud an
acre of corn are worth far more for stock
than two acres Of corn.
Farmers have to hear these things great
many times before they heed. Many never
will heed them and others will not act when
they do. We would be glad if any farmer
who doubts the value OF the turuip would
SOW patch four rods square in his corn
field next year putting on more manure than
for corn or potatoes-say u load Of old rot.
ten manure free from weed seeds, narrowed
in on piece that size, and feed them to his
calves and yearlings the following winter,
four quarts to peck each day, accOldin g
to size, and watch the effect. If any man
will do that faithfully and say at the end ol
the winter that he don't believe in turnips
then we take back all we say in their praise
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Brook Trout.

Mr. A. Palmer Of Boscobel, Wis, gives
the following instructions in trout culture
"They are easily bred and grow rapidly,
although they don't produce as much spawn
as some fish, yet sufficient amount TO
trouble the breeder to find water TO raise the
fish in, each female producing from five to
eight hundred spawn at two years old and
about double that amount at three years old !;
but they cannot be raised TO advantage in
any other than spring or brook water. This
may be either hard or soft, but not largely
impregnated with minerals. Trout, in their
natural state, prefer active water of even
temperature, but still they do well in pond
water if there is continual supply Of fresh
water running into it, and will stand tenn
perature of sixty-fve or seventy degrees
but water which runs up to high tempera-
ture will not raise as many trout as that Of
more even temperature. The same applies
to still water. They are great consumers of
oxygen, aud cold water contains more than
warm water, and running water more than
pond water. In building ponds we try to
have fall from one pond to another to
carry this property into the water. We find
in transporting trout that as long as the
cars are moving they need little attention,
but if they stop for a short time the water
must be agitated. They are cheaply raised
Being cold blooded, they waste no food in
keeping up the heat of the body, and ponds
which have been built few years, as well
as brooks, produce large amount Of insects
and crustacea, aud nearly enough to feed
what trout the water will bear. / am feed
ing about fifty thousand, ranging from two
to eighteen inches in length, the larger pro.
portion small, aud they will not eat beeI
liver a day. Milk curds, any lean meat that
is fresh, or other kinds Of fish, make good
food for them.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Woodchucks.

Take equal parts of gunpowder or blast
ing powder, sulphur and saltpeter pulverized
and we'll mixed together. Then take per-
haps three or four tablespoonfuls of the mix
ture, lay it on a cloth Of sufficient size to do
it up in. Cut off a piece of fuse about
eighteen inches long, place one end in the
mixture and do it up and tie the package
to stick near the end of sufficient size and
length to run into the woodchuck hole five
or six feet, more or less. Take spade
with you to the hole, and cut some sods or
dirt all ready to stop up the hole, touch fire
to the fuse and place the thing as far in the
hole as you can and stop the hole up, and
by the time you have dOneit the powder will
explode and the woodchucks won't know but
the world has come to an end-it will be all
the same to them. They never dig QUIT
takes but little time to do il. Last spring,
there were FIVE or six holes near my melons
and peas, and the prospect was they would
be destroyed if the woodchucks were not
so told the boy to mix some of the above,
and at noon we went out and finished the job,
and do not know that a woodchuck has
touched my vines SINCE NJ. Heath in the
New England Farmer.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Sanitary Drainage.

Since the Prince of Wales came so near
losing his life, aud Great Britain her future
king, through the bad drainage of his prem
ises, the scientific papers have been discuss
ing the matter with renewed zeal. What is
dangerous to a prince may be, and frequently
is, fatal to people less carefully guarded.
Too much attention cannot be given to that
cleanliness which is next to godliness. u
Cleanliness not merely of tho person, but Of
everything which may taint the air we
breathe and the water we drink. Thousands
of persons live in houses enveloped the year
round with the efluvia Of the debris Of
kitchens and the waste of farm-yards, and
die of typhoid and other low.grade fevers
without suspecting that they owe their deaths
to a neglect Of proper drainage. Everything
that is not actually consumed in the house
and barn should find its way to the compost
bin--not only because it is valuable, but for
the better reason that its presence elsewhere
is dangerous. Dig and wall up covered
sewer, so that the DRAWINGS of the kitch en-
and wash-house may flow into the compost
bin instead OF the well.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Sheep on a Farm.

Sheep are under-valued by the mass of
land-holders as means of keeping up the
fertility of the soil and putting money into
the pockets of the farmers. The moment
one begins to talk of sheep husbandry, tho
listener or reader begins to look for wool
quotations, as it the wool is all that yields
profit from sheep. One might as we'll look
for wheat quotations alone when there il
talk about the profits of farming. Sheep on
farm yield both wool and mutton. They
multiply with great rapidity. They are the
best OF farm scavengers, "cleaning a field
as no other class Of animals will. They
give back to the farm more in proportion "a
what they take from il than any other ami
NAL, aud distribute it better with view to
future fertility Of the soil. Prove this !
There is no need Of proof to those who have
kept sheep and know their habits aud profits
they yield. To prove it to those who have
not had the experience. il is necessary they
should try the experiment or accept the tes
timony Of an experienced shepherd.--[N New
York World.
Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-10-01
Harvesting Root Crops.

If any farmer has not dug his potatoes,
the best thing to be done with them is to
put them in the cellar without delay. They
are safer from decay, worms and frost. A
tendency to decay is aggravated by lying in
the ground exposed to the cold, wet condi-
tion of the soil likely to prevail. In some
sections the wire worms are doing much
injury to potatoes. The writer's father had
his potatoes frozen into tie ground on the
twelfth Of October, three seasons (when his
farm was leased), 50 hard that it was impos-
sible to dig them for several days. Potatoes
may be frozen and thawed in the ground and
come out sound, but the keeping quality is
impaired 1t is the best way to sort pota-
toes as they are picked. Gather the good,
merchantable, table potatoes first and put
them in bin by themselves. The small
ones, those that are sun.burned, rough and
rusty ones-all that arc suitable for feeding
to stock - can be picked afterwards and
stored where they can be got when wanted.
The difference in time required for sorting
over, piling them all in together, is but a
triae, and it is a great saving of after work,
besides the convenience. 1t is also a good
plan to keep different varieties separate.
Potatoes and all other roots should be stored
dry, unless they can be spread in the cellar
to dry before being covered up by others.
A very little moisture on potatoes in the bin
will keep them sweating, and generate more,
causing decay.
A screen for sitting out dirt as they pass
in at the cellar window will be found to
improve the quality of potatoes and other
roots. 1t may be made 10 half an hour.
Take two pieces of sound plank two by three
inches and SIX feet long. Lay them on the
floor, on the edge, side by side, two feet
apart, or thereabouts. The Stats shonld be
sound, straight-grained lumber, one inch by
two, and ranging from two feet to three feet
six in length. Nail these on to the planks,
one inch apart For sides take two boards
as long as the screen, and six or eight inches
wide. They can be fastened on by mailing
through the Stats into their edges. The
planks are Of course on the under side when
in use. The lower ends of the sides and ol
the plpnks may be cut off tapering to let the
screen into the cellar window. Then thu
potatoes may be thrown on to the screer
from the cart with scoop shovel scarcely
any will be injured by the shovel after thu
bottom of the cart is reached Other root
are to be thrown on by hand.
1t is very easy to harvest roots, BY top
ping with hoe, ground sharp, and pulling
with hook shaped like the letter V, mad
of an old hoe. Any root crop that must b
pulled and topped by hand is not worth rails
ing, Carrots may be plOwed out if a maj