Newspaper Page Text
During the three months under consideration,
34,864 persons, or 370 daily, sailed from the
ports of the United Kingdom ; but of these only
12,464 were of English origin. This fact, how
ever, showed that about a fifth part of the natu
ral increase of the population leaves the coun
try. The greater proportion of English emi
grants, however, settle in English colonies.—
Thus, by extending trade, they add to the means
of subsistence at home, and really increase the
numbers and the strength they appear to lessen
and to weaken.
It is a fact that the population of France in
creases very slowly. Between Ist of July, 1851,
and the same day in 1856, it increased from 35,-
781,628 to 36,039,364, or only 250,736, say
51,547 annually, or not quite one-fourth of the
annual increase of England and Wales, after al
lowing for emigration. The rate of increase in
France is only about 0.17 per annum, that of
England and Wales 1.20, having regard to the
aggregate population of both countries, or about
as one to eight.
■m -
WINTERING STOCK ON CORNSTALKS.
T. C. Peters, of Darien, N. Y., expresses the
opinion, in the Rural New Yorker, that we can
winter four times as much stock upon an acre of
com and stalks, as upon the hay from an acre,
and that there is no profit in growing hay for
stock on land that will produce good com. But
the com must be ground , and the stalks cut and
cooked with the meal! He tells how someone
(probably himself) wintered his stock last win
ter, “having a good pile of cornstalks well
saved; a little straw and less hay.” A good
warm stable was provided for the cattle, and
feeding tub 3 made by sawing good stout barrels
in two. The cutter used was Fowler & Day’s,
of Fowlerville. He says:
“ The stalks were all cut, and more or less
straw was cut with them. Each cow was al
lowed all she could eat three times a day, and
the mess night and morning was fixed in this
wise: The cows at noon had a feed of dry cut
stalks and straw, which they would eat pretty
clean except the coarser bits. At about three
o’clock these were gathered into the tubs, and
enough more added to make the evening meal.
To this was added two quarts of corn meal and
two quarts of bran, and hot water turned on, as
much as would well moisten the whole, and all
well mixed. The morning meal was the same,
being mixed over night or early in the morning.
In this way no stalks were wasted, the cows
gave a good supply of milk, and increased in
condition.”
We have known Mr. Peters personally for
more than twenty-five years. Some twenty
years ago he commenced sending milk from his
excellent farm in Genessee county to Buffalo,
(some twenty-two miles,) and selling it at two
cents a quart He was the founder and editor
of the Wool-Grower, and has long been an active
friend of agricultural progress and improve
ment.
—
MR. MECHI'S FARMING.
TIIE CHEAT LIQUIDATOR.
The water employed in the manurial opera
tions at Tiptree Hall, comes from a spring of
30,000 gallons estimated daily flow. It has suf
ficient head, if lam not mistaken, to carry the
water into the buildings, but the services of tho
engine and force pumps are required in its furth
er disposal.
Tho first operation, as has been already inti
mated, is to force a jet into the tank under the
sparred or boarded floors. It thoroughly stirs
up, dilutes and intermingles tho mass there ac
cumulated ; and the whole runs off into the out
side cistern—a structure 30 feet deep from the
crown of the dome which rises some feet above
the ground, and 30 feet in diameter at its widest
part. The difficulties, only developed by expe
rience, in carrying out this system of manuring,
must have been very great, but a brief account
of how they have been overcome, will illustrate
the perfection which has now been attained, not
less than tho pertinacity by which It has been
reached. One of these difficulties was to keep
the mass in fluid form after it reaches the tank.
This is finally accomplished by attaching an air
pump to the engine, which forces a strong and
constant current through gutta-percha tubing,
having an iron collar at the end to keep it be
neath the surface of the liquid. This flexible
material is found better than any other, because
the end can at any time be withdrawn without
delay or trouble, if its action is clogged or for
other reasons. The air-current keeps up a con
stant boiling and commotion, and coming in near
the perforated bulb of the exit pipe for the liquid,
prevents the gathering and crusting of solid mat
ters here, that would otherwise take place. An
other difficulty was to obviate the odor arising
from this tank, which proved to be excessively
pungent and diffusive—a difficulty overcome by
the agency of the waste stream from the engine,
which, entering above the sendee of the liquid
mass, “ cooks the smell as it rises,” acting as a
complete disinfectant, if I am to judge by the
fact that no offensive odor was perceptible, even
when the tank was opened for my inspection. I
was told, however, that sometimes there was
more of it.
The engine force-pumps take the manure from
the tank, and propel it through underground
iron pipes over the whole farm, in the same way
that the water in a city is carried around through
its streets. A pipe of four inches diameter car
ries it first a distance of several rods, where
there is an air chamber to relieve and equalize
the pressure; then three pipes branch off in dif
ferent directions, of three-inch diameter, and dis
tributing the liquid through hydrants, one hyd
rant being allotted for every ten or twelve acres.
Abrupt corners in these pipes, present much
greater resistance than gentle curves, and are
therefore avoided. The exit pipe within tho
tank, and the perforated bulb with which it ter
minates, are Doth of gutta-percha, and a rope is
attached to the latter by which an occasional
shake can be given when in operation, if neces
sary to clear it from any incumbrance, or the
whole may be drawn up and examined if desired.
The bulb is three feet long and two in diameter,
with inch perforations about 200 in number, so
that the “ entrance of this manure may be easy
and gradual." It is found well in cold weather,
moreover, to lift this bulb above the surface of
the water before the engine stops pumping; the
air is then drawn in, forced out through the lines
of the pipe, and the whole emptied of their li
quid contents and put out of danger from the
power of the frost.
It is only by means of a most abundant sup
ply of water, that so much solid matter may be
carried out by means of this underground car
tage. Os course the manure may be diluted in
different degrees; it requires about fifteen tons
of water, I think I was told, to make one ton of
• tho manure run easily, but in hot summer
weather, when the purpose is really ono more of
irrigation than of actual manuring, as well as to
obviate any danger from the too great strength
of the mixture, sometimes fifty hogsheads of wa
ter are admitted to one of manure. Not only
wvnmui mem &nrs vxusxas.
fsd
does the water thus float out all the stable accu
mulations, but whenever these fall short and gu
ano is wanted, it is also sent by the same road,
and, still more strange, the carcasses of dead an
imals come likewise into this common receptacle,
are macerated by degrees, and pumped at length
over the fields—so that at one time the tank ac
tually contained, says Mr. M., between twenty
and thirty dead horses itnd cows. During the
winter, or upon fallow land, there is no danger
from tho too great strength of the liquid, while
in a dry time, on the contrary, it is perhaps true
that the weaker the solution, and consequently
the greater its quantity, the better.
TIIE PROCESSES OF IRRKUTIOX —THE CROP OF RYE
GRASS.
As wo are still standing over this immense
vat of all that is foul and putrid, and apparent
ly given over to destruction, in the machinery
of animated Nature, we cannot overlook the pro
vidential character of those processes of. organ
ism and mutation, by which the filthy and disa
greeable surplusage of oue kind of life, becomes
the vivifying nutriment of another; and—change
succeeding change, and the same elements cloth
ing themselves in turn with activity, decay and
resurrection —a regulated and immutable econ
omy is clearly shown to exist where confusion
and metamorphosis seem most prevalent and
puzzling.’ He who best understands, and makes
most clear, this unending procession of events,
goes the farthest in untangling the chains by
which the advancement of agriculture is still fet
tered; for—however easily Chemistry may anal
izo and classify in-doors —with the changing
heavens as the only roof for her wider laborato
ry, she is beset with intricacies and modifica
tions which must yet require much toil and
study to surmount. Here, at least, we are safe
—however the problem of exhaustion turns,
whether mineral or nitrogenous food is the more
certain to fatten the soil, these waters must be
healing; tho detrita and ruins of the animal
framework cannot fail to serve as building ma
terials, so to speak, out of which new vegetable
organization is to rise—once again to fulfil its
office in supplying and sustaining the fabric of
man and beast.
They were employed itfthe irrigation of a field
of rye grass, containing eight acres, the day of
my visit, and I could have desired no better ex
emplification of tho system. To the hydrant in
the center of the field, is attached a hose long
enough, with the force of the jet, to sprinkle over
the whole area. A man, with the aid of a boy,
in moving the hose, Jce., was giving all parts a
most thorough wetting. The droppings of the
animals instead of remaining to kill off the vege
tation they chance to cover, are washed into the
surrounding earth by a minute’s application
of the stream. Seeds of all sorts, by the way,
which get into this liquid manure, will do no
harm when they come out upon the land, for a
saturation in the tank has lieen shown to destroy
their vitality. The vegetation around us seems
already to have received a new impulse of life
within the hour since it was showered, and yon
der, wnere the hose is now in play, the herbage
brightens up as it might after a summer show
er.
In 1858 this field was in wheat; I did not as
certain the precise yield obtained upon it, but
the bailiff ou consulting his books for me, found
that the average for the whole area under wheat
upon the farm, was forty-six bushels per acre—
rather a smaller production than a really good
year will bring. In May, Italian rye grass had
been sown upon the wheat. After harvest it
would probably have received an irrigation,and in
March this year eleven bullocks, five horses and
fifty sheep began to feast upon it —continuing to
graze here for three weeks. Then an intermis
sion of a fortnight was given for irrigation and
growth ; the stock again admitted for about the
same period as before, thus terminating this sec
ond feeding about the middle of May. After a
fortnight of further respite, tho third was begun;
it was nearly or quite concluded when I was
there, and the fourth was being urged along.
The third feeding, however, was a longer and
closer one than either of the others, and full
three weeks were then to be allowed—bringing
the fourth at harvest time, when a growth of full
two feet would be ready for consumption. The
grazing could then be continued at intervals ac
cording to the season, the condition of the stub
bles, Arc.; occasionally, indeed, a fifth regular
cropping has been taken, but the yield of the
second year would not probably be benefitted by
pressing the first too closely. The second year
indeed, the produce has sometimes been larger
than the first, but Mr. Mechi’s experience has not
been favorable to more than two year’s growth
of this crop.
OTHER CROPS, THEIR APPEARANCE, «tC.
Now that we are fairly abroad in the fields, it
may be added that Mr. Mechi’s farm was this
year employed as follows, nearly:
Wheat. CO acres. Mangolds, IS acres.
Oats, 2 “ Clover, 26 “
Bariev 6 “ Hay meadow.
Beans,’ 20 “ Italian rye grass 8 “
The remaing 16 acres in Rape, Swedes, Gar
den, &c.
But it should be added that whenever Mr. M.
publishes himself an account of his crops or the
yield obtained, he gives the areas precisely in
acres and roods—the above is the steward’s ap
proximation without any such minute exactness.
When we returned from the fields, I had the cu
riosity to get from him the precise average of
the crops of 1858 ; that of wheat I have mention
ed—46 bushels per acre—the area covered being
54 acres; 13 acres of oats averaged 88 bushels
per acre; 20 acres of beans, 44 bushels; 20 acres
of barley, on a patch of light land, 52 bushels;
13 acres of Mangolds, 35 tons per acre; 6 acres
clover, 2 tons per acre. Twelve acres of rye
grass seem actually to have been cut and fed
according to my memoranda, in all, six times,
during that season, and 6£ acres of swedes, 11£
of tares, and s|of pasturage, were also devoted
to feeding purposes. According to the memory
of my informant, the best crops of wheat the farm
ever yielded were 64 bushels per-acre, on one
occasion through a field of six acres, and “near
ly seven quarters ”or 56 bushels per acre over
an area of 25 acres. The average production
year with year they aim to make as nearly six
quarters (48 bushels) as possible— not bad for
land on which, according to Mr. M., one-half of
this would have been a good yield when his ef
forts were commenced. Os oats the steward
rated 88 bushels as a fair average one season
with another—the maximum crop obtained was
120.
The appearance of the crops was such, I then
thought, as to justify almost any estimate of their
production, and ifit had been possible I should
much like after harvest to have revisited Tiptree
Hall and learnt the final result. But this was
almost the first sight I had had of first-class
English grain fields; subsequently I saw others
that seemed to me equally as good, and unless
one has had long experience in' estimating ‘the
comparative productiveness of different fields, in
a succession of those of such excellence, the la
test seen is not unlikely for this reason alone to
seem the best. I began, at Mr. Mechi's, to un
derstand why some of our American machines
might have found it dillicult to harvest an Eng
lish crop. I was pleased to learn, however, that
he has found th.ni a source of serviceable and
highly valued assistance. In August, 1858, he
stated that his machine —a Hussey manufactur
ed by Garrett—had not for five years cost ten
shillings sterling in repairs. The two previous
years, his men did not understand it so well,and
had consequently had some trouble, arising from
their lack of experience. Its “ great economy is
time, which it certainly saves in harvest.”
As to rotation of crops, Mr. Mechi, and indeed
the other “high-farmers” with whom I came in
contact, were apparently of the opinion that this
becomes altogether a secondary consideration
after a form reaches a certain pitch of produc
tiveness. Mr. M. recommends “ the growth of
oats or barley after wheat, on such portions of the
soil as are over-luxuriant,” and adds, “if the
land will, in such cases, produce seven quarters
(56 bushels) of barley, or eleven quarters (88
bushels) of oats per imperial acre, there is evi
dently no exhaustion by such forming.” The
difficulty which “ high farming ” is most puzzled
to overcome, is the “laying” or lodging of the
crop; the moment the condition oftheland reach
es a certain point, its yield can be no farther in
creased, because the risk from this cause,
especially in a season of storms, becomes so
great.
A second difficulty, beside “ the inadequacy of
soluble silica to glaze the straw,” when repeated
crops of the cereals are grown|on the same
ground, is that of keeping it clean. To both
these we shall occasion to refer hereafter.
CUTTING AND COOKING FEED.
Before going farther in the practice and prin
ciples which Mr. Mechi’s farm brings to our no
tice, it was my design to speak briefly of liis
way of preparing the feed for his bullocks. He
is a strong advocate, in the first place, for the
cutting of the fodder, either dry or green, which is
given to stock of any kind, considering that the
cost of this prearation “is far more than compen
sated by the advantageous conversion of the
food, by the animals that consume it.” He was
feeding in the early summer, ten bullocks of the
Short-Horn or Short-Horn grade description,
which come over from Irish breeders in large
numbers to supply the demand of the English
feeders. They were then getting daily the fol
lowing amount of feed, according to the notes I
made upon the spot:
210 gallons cut wheat straw. •
Bli pounds rape cake.
malt combs,
TX “ bran, moistened and boiled with
20 gallons of water.
Before the roots were used up they had had 30
lbs. a piece of mangolds, in addition to the above
and in summer receive an equivalent in green
clover or other forage. He strenuously insists
upon the provision of comfortable shelter in cold
weather for all stock, as most important to their
flesh-gathering and growth, and by administer
ing their nourishment as above, moist and warm
we obtain animal heat, he says, cheaper from fuel
than from food.
Mr. M.’s cooking apparatus consists in his
own words of “ a number of cast-iron pans, or
copjiers, each capable of containing 250 gallons”
—set in brick with a four inch space around
them, “ each space connected with the adjoining
one by a six inch earthen pipe. Into these spa
ces and around these coppers, circulate a por
tion of the waste steam from the engine,” which
has previously served to keep nearly at the boil
ing temperature a vessel of water connected with
the supply tank. After doing this double work
it is allowed to escape. “ The coppers are all
sunk into the eartli so as to stand level with
the floor,” and when an extra supply of food is
required, it may be prepared and piled away
compactly, when the heat will be retained for
two or three days.
“ Tho straw chaff, cut fine ami sifted, is thrown dry in
to the copper, twenty-seven gallons at a time, and then
the proiH>rtion of ma’lt-coinbs, bran and raj*' cake strew
ed over it; then a pail of hot-water, (drawn from the hot
water vessel close at hand) is thrown over it. and it is all
incorporated by mixing with a steel fork, and well trod
den down; then another twenty-seven gallons of chaff,
with the other materials and hot water; another mixing
and another treading down, until the copper is full and
solid; and if extra quantities are required, it may be con
tinued ill the same way above and around the coppers,
but it must be moist and solid, (if too wet the animals
will not cat it). The larger the mass the longer it remains
hot.
“ Practically, we find we can in winter manage if our
engine only goes twice a week; but as a general rule we
work it for grinding, irrigating, thrashing, Ac., more often
than that. The mass of subterranean brick-work ab
sorbs the heat from the waste (tram, and holds It for sev
eral days.”
In feeding roots they are first cut by machine,
and then “ mixed in the manger with the warm
steamed chaff. There will be no blowing, grip
ing, or scouring with food so prepared, and the
animals will eat it ns hot as they can bear it.”
In these notes and extracts, Mr. Mechi’s pres
ent practice is described, as the perfected result
of his long experience, and it seems to me that
every former with us, who employs steam, can
not but profit by these hints, while its availability
for uses so diverse may lead others to purchase
an engine for thraslung]and similarwork when
they learn how great is the assistance it can oth
erwise render. It will not be going out of my
province, I am sure, to add, byway of pa
renthesis, that none of the engines I saw any
where, either portable or stationary, seemed to
me superior in any respect to those manufactur
ed at Utica, by Messrs. Wood A Hurlburt, who
have been frequent exhibitors at our State Fairs,
and whose prices are certainly lower than simi
lar workmanship can be bought for in Great
Britain or on the continent. The high prices of
implements and machinery surprised me, indeed,
when one would suppose that cheapness of ma
terials, fuel and labor would combine to produce
a precisely opposite effect. Some instances of
this will occur in the course of our further obser
vations.
Mr. Mechi considers the cost ot cutting a toss
of fodder to a length of a quarter-inch —and this
is the degree of fineness which he thinks essen
tial—steam power being employed, at from 50
cents for hay to $1 for straw. In an article
under the date of 28th February last, he gives a
computation of the cost of the cooked food ; the
proportions then given are different from those
which I took down in my note-book, and are per
haps worth the repeating: daily consumption of
ten head,
216 gallons cut wheat straw $
6 do rape-cake 68
8 do malt-combs 09
5 do bran 10
300 lbs. of mangel worzel 83
The whole moistened with 20 gallons hot water
for wheat straw, and twice this quantity if bean
straw is used.— [Country Gentleman.
SOUTHERN FIELD AND FIRESIDE,
A LITERARY AND AGRICULTURAL PAPER,
Published Weekly, in Augusta, Georgia.
Dr. D. LEE, Agricultural Editor.
W. W. MANN, Literary Editor.
WM. N. WUITE, Horticultural Editor.
Devoted to Agriculture, Literature, and Art. It is in
quarto form of eight pages, folio size—each issue con
taining forty columns of matter. In mechanical execu
tion, it is in the best style of the typographical art. In
utility, it will be all that the best agricultural science and
practical knowledge of the South can ftirnish. A weekly
visitor to the homes of Southern Planters and Farmers,
it will be more useful and acceptable to them than any
monthly journal of equal merit.
In mental attractions, it will be all that a ppirit of 'en
terprise on my part, and a laudable emulation on the part
of others, can evoke from Southern intellect and cultiva
tion.
Too long the Southern people have been content to look
to Northern periodicals lor instruction in agricultural
matters, and to Northern literary papers for mental rec
reation. There is, however, a growing spirit of inde
pendence and of self-reliance at the South. Our people
are awaking to the conviction that we have tho elements
of snecess in the experience, knowledge, and scientific
investigation, of the dwellers in our own Southern homes.
The truth is gleaming upon us, that we have literary re
sources of own worthy to be fostered —that among South
ern writers should be divided some portion of that vast
stream of Southern money that flows perpetually north
ward to sustain Northern literature.
My aim is to establish a paper that will be a vehicle of
information useftil to Southern Planters and Farmers, and
a repository of Southern thought, imagination and taste,
in the realms of Literature and Art; and to obtain for it
-uch an extent of patronage and success, as will justify
•the most liberal compensation to all its contributors.
Able and experienced editors are engaged, and steps are
in progress to secure contributions from the most pleasing
Southern writers, of both sexes. Much latent talent will
be brought to light, and ftirnish some agreeable surprises
to Southern people.
“ Full many a gem, of purest ray serene,”
will flash before their admiring eyes, and cause a gen
erous glow of pride in Southern genius.
The Agricultural Editor is Dr. Daniel Lee, the dis
tinguished Professor of Agriculture in the Univerity of
Georgia—editor for many years past of the Southern
Cultivator . and a leading contributor to many Northern
agricultural journals of the highest reputation.
The HorticulturalEditorisMr. Wm. N. White,askill
ftil and experienced cultivator of fruits, flowers, and vege
tables—a writer of repute in these departments, and au
thor of that popular work, “Gardening for the South.”
The Literary Editor is Mr. W. W. Mann, of this
city, an accomplished writer, of fine taste, and scholarly
attainments, who, having retired from the active duties
of the legal profession, spent many years in Europe, and
was for several years the jPaiis Correspondent of the Na
tional Intelligencer and Southern Literary Messenger
THE SOUTHERN FIELD AND FIRESIDE will
combine the nseful and the agreeable. It will furnish
the Southern Farmer information useful in every field he
cultivates, and the Southern family choice literature, the
offspring of Southern intellect, worthy of welcome at
every fireside. It will be. In all respects, a first class pa
per—on a scale of expenditure more liberal than has yet
oeen attempted in the South, and designed to rival, in its
merits, tho most distinguished of the North.
Teems— Tico dollars per annum, in advance.
No club rates allowed. No credit allowed in any case.
Bills current in the State from which they are sent, re
ceived at par.
Postmasters will be allowed fifteen per cent, on the
amount of subscriptions obtained by them.
On all subscriptions exceeding twenty, sent from one
office, twenty-five per cent, will be allowed.
Contributions solicited from the pens of Southern wri
ters.
A special appeal is made to the ladies of the South for
their patronage and good wishes.
This paper will be entirely silent on politics.
On mntters pertaining to their respective departments,
address the Editors. On matters of business generally,
Address, JAMES GARDNER.
Augusta, Ga., May, 1559.
——-OHv-
The Southern Field .and Fireside.
PERSONS subscribing to the above paper, can be supplied
with the BACK NUMBERS. Thus the. will have the
first volume complete.
Person* desirous to advertise, are notified to send in their
favors by THURSDAY AFTERNOON, preceding each issue.
The large and widelv extended, and steadily increasing, circa
Utiono. the SOUTHERN FIELD AND FIRESIDE, ren
ders it a very advantageous advertising medium.
TziuisFor ten line*, (or less), ONE DOLLAR for each
Insertion. Exceeding ten line*, at the rate often cents per line.
JAMES GARDNER, Proprietor.
anglO dAitf
—
BACK NUMBERS.
Persons subscribing to the Field and Fireside can
Re supplied with all the back numbers.
PLAN FOR A GRANARY.
We give, in the above wood engraving, an.
excellent plan for an elevated granary, so that
the same roof answers as a good shelter for carts,
wagons, plows, and other farm implements.
The buildings can be made large or small, to suit
one’s wants and circumstances.
HORTICULTURAL.
WN. N. WHITE, Editor.
SATURDAY, DEC. 31, 1859.
PEAR—THEODORE VAN MONS.
This Pear fruited with us the lirst time the
present season, and from its vigorous growth
and well known productive habit, may be con
sidered a very promising variety. It succeeds
well on the pear or quince. Size large, obovate
pyriform, often more elongated than in the fig
ure; skin greenish yellow, becoming yellow
when ripe, somewhat russeted; stem an inch
long, inclined, inserted by a lip; calyx open, set
in a very slight depression; flesh white,granular,
juicy, melting and vinous; quality very good;
ripens here in September.
-m—
- LAURE DE GLYMES
This is a new European pear, one of the seed
lings of Tan Mo.vs, that at his death passed into
the hands of M. Bivort, with whom it first bore
fruit. It has not yet been much tested in this
country. M. Bivort describes it as of exquisite
quality. It is a good grower on the quince, and
also has proved itself abroad a good orchard
pear, bearing profusely in clusters. Wo append
Mr. Wilder’s description:
“ Size medium ;' form oval turlenate, calyx
open, moderately sunk, stem short, less than an
inch in length, and inserted without depression;
color dull yellow, ground almost completely cov» .
ered with onmge russet: skin handsome; flesh
white, melting, not very juicy ; flavor sweetish,
with pleasant aroma.”
It will probpbly ripen here the last of Au
gust. Worthy of trial.
—
RECIPES.
Picklin<j rork. —With many vegetables pickled
pork is preferable to bacon, and as soon as they
become accustomed to it, servants like it very
much for a change. By the following mode, we
have kept it sweet two years :
Cut each of your bacon sides across into three
long pieces. Place on the bottom of a tight
oak cask, made perfectly sweet and clean, a lay
er of salt on inch deep. We use alum salt and
a syrup barrel. Place on the salt a layer of the
pieces of pork each piece on its edge, with the
skin outwards. Cut off a piece to fill out the
centre, and your layer is nearly level if packed
ightly. Cover this with a layer of salt, on
t
255