IC25.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARME11, 



'61 



gr:ii>G. I do not nmkitMke lo s;iv il will l^e ex- 

 oollunt wine ; for" ihe praclical knovvicilarH" on 

 whicli "• depend enlirely the I'lihire fjualiljes ol' 

 the wine," wo hnve lo acquire. VVe tm^y pro 

 cure French tracliers in lhi< art as wwll as in 

 the art of danrin? ; and our ronulrympn can 

 learn. Owins lo the want of this ''practical 

 knojvleds^e"' our first speriniens of wine may not 

 comiiare well with the wines of Italy and France; 

 neither did our first specimens of luoadclolh 

 compare well wiih Ihe brinulclollis of Britain, 

 and of France. "Practical knovvledcje'' lias ac- 

 quired a hiijh reputation for our manufacturers 

 in i short period of time : it is not impossible that 

 a moderate share of alleulion to the cullivalion 

 of the gripe and the alta nment of *' practic.il 

 knowledgfe" in lUc. an oi makinsf wine, may en- 

 able us in a few years to make something verj' 

 wholesome and good from our native vines. 



W. C. 

 N. B. Cider is the fermented juice of the 

 apple; wine, of Ihe grape. The process of 

 mikin<»bi)th is in its principal features the same. 

 Make wine us you would make the best bottled 

 cider. 



nes arose in my mind, which il" any of your, i> oua circuuislanco I would mention before we 

 readers, who are acquiinted with the circiitn-, part. For Ihe l.i^t llni-e years uf my life I have 

 •jiance, can unsiver, you will obliije me, and per- 1 enjoyud more lieallli, strength, and happiness 

 haps prnmiile the selilement of a (iwestion of!;4)U/ioti« ardent spirits, than in any six former 

 ■.rreal importance to the communily, by mserl- j years Willi even a mudrrate use of it. And i( is 

 iiiff. 1 my heliet', that if the price of rum and other ar- 



Whal were l!ie positions of the tree, chimney, dent spirits could be raised to jJSO per i^allon, 

 lightning rod, ami cloud? what were the re- 1 in a few y«ars we should have but few pooi' 

 spective heights of the three former, and Iheir ; fanners in old Massachiisetis, when her yeoman- 

 horizontal distances froni- each other? was the 



Kill capped, if so what with? in what condition 

 were the point, stem, and base of it ? how large 

 was it, and in what manner attached to the 

 house? and lastly at what height did the fluid 

 leave the tree for the house? 



Yours respectfully A — x. 



ry would take Ihat prond station designed them 

 by their Creator — the benefactors as well as 

 J'ecdec.s of their species. Yours, P. 



THE SLUG WORM. 

 Mr Ff.ssf.ndbn — ! had well nigh exhausted my 

 patience in crushing* Ihe slug worm while de- 

 vouring the foliage of my Pear and Cherry 

 Trees; when by a hint from your paper (1 h6- 

 lieve) I concluded to try them with a very strong 

 soap suds, after Ihey had taken up their winter 

 quarters at the root of the trees. Lest this should 

 not have the desired effect, I gave them a little 

 white wash sweetened with a tew pailfulls from 

 the reservoir at the cow house. This season, 

 at the period when they had heretofore made 

 their appearance, not a single slug was to be 

 seen. I think. Sir, we must admit that some 

 one, or all, of the above ingredients gave them 

 such a pep(iering as to do the job for them — 

 besides making the Iruit much fairer ami larger 

 than it before had been — much lo the pleasure 

 and comfort of UAL. 



Riinarks by the Editor. — After tlie slug has 

 finished its depredations on fruit trees, &c. aud 

 gone through certain changes, it enters the 

 earth (according to Professor Peck's account of 

 the insect) to Ihe depth of I'rom one to four in- 

 ches. No doi'.bt they may then be assailed lo 

 advantage, \)y soap suds, as slated by our corres- 

 pondent. Thev may also be destroyed by a de- 

 coction of tobacco and by other means while on 

 the iree. See New England Farmer, vol. iii. p. 

 390, 398. 



TO THR EDITOR OF THE NE'.V EN(jL.lND FARMER. 



QUERIES ON LIGHTNING RODS. 



jYeTS'to-jon, {Pa.) Sept. 5, 1325. 



J^iR, — Hfiving observed in your paper of the 



2Gth ult. an jiccount of Dr. Barflett's house being 



elruck by lightning, slating that there was a c^n- 



ductor atinched to the house ; the following qne- 



• I ask pardon of the dandy fanners, (as Mr Powf-1 of 

 rowelton. Pa. has so aptly styled some of our kid-j;love 

 gentry) ooe of wtiom not long siuce was on the eve ol 

 a hysteric fit, becanse some one bad the imprudence 

 to mention that the surest way to stop a youngs caler- 

 pillay from eating was to pull his head off with his 

 iands — when it could be done eo much more genUdly 



FOR THE NEW EXGL.VND FARJIER. 



INTEMPERANCE. 



Mr Editor — We Yankees have yet one great 

 evil under the sun — Our brethren of the plough 

 handles in an especial manner — I need not per- 

 haps, mention Ihe too free use of N. E. Rum or, 

 as some emphatically style it, skin head. 1 have 

 observed the last season Ihat mention is made 

 (in your paper I believe) of a premium otYered 

 to encourage the disuse of this bane of society. 

 How lar such a proceeding would be beneficial, 

 I will not pretend lo judge — hut the exertion 

 merits applause from every friend to morality. 



I, sir, can look around in this vicinity, and 

 count farm after farm that has gone, or is going 

 (to use not Ihe most elegant figure) out of the 

 bung hole of a gallon bottle — the very worst 

 article in the world, to mend broken windows, 

 lences, or make Ihe sheriff wait longer for an 

 old debt. But, sir, we have still left us a cheer- 

 ing prospect lo relieve the troubled vision of the 

 inind's-eye while viewing this moral waste. A 

 young, respectable farmer, disgusted with the 

 picture before him, says to his best men — " un- 

 der such a forfeiture we will drink no ardent 

 spirits, during the a[iproaching haying season". 

 Agreed to by the other parly. The other hands, 

 during Ihe excessive heat were anxiously watch- 

 ing to discover a failure of strength in our tivo 

 resolute reformers : but instead of a loss of 

 strength, it augmented as their appetite for food 

 increased. 



This, uilh many other instances (for Ihe hon- 

 our of humanity, I trust there are many) will 

 put to rest the absurd belief among the laboring 

 farmers that ardent spirits are necessary — even 

 in the hot season of haying. If they need other 

 proof, let them call to mind the many sudden 

 deaths by heat, and on close inspection, a ma- 

 jority of its victims will be found literally par- 

 boiled with spirits at the time of dissolution. — 

 1 have been much astonished that our store- 

 keepers (men, otherwise of an excellent moral 

 character) should so far forget themselves, as to 

 have hogshead after hogshead, trundled into the 

 country while they confess the prolit is nest to 

 nothing. 



But, Mr Editor, here I am writing a halfsheet 

 of paper over, and railing against intemperance 

 without pointing out a remedy. Tfcis is a task 

 of too great roagnilude for mv abilities. There 



with -pistoU — if loaded with powder only ! Some of 

 these powdered .agriculturists put one in mind of Harry 

 Hotspur's description of a courtier herald af Henry IV. 

 ofKngland, sent to demand the prisoners of fercy of 

 JNonhumberlaud. 



TO THE EUITOR OF THE NEW CNGLAKD TARMEK. 



SHEEP. 

 A[.)i,linerino, Sept. 2, 1U2.5. 



Mr FicssENDEN — Rfading in your useful paper 

 of August 19, an article recommending "a de- 

 coction of Scotch snuff and assalajtida to be ia- 

 jecled up Ihe nostrils of the sheep in order to 

 ilislodge the worm, the progeny of the family oc 

 genus known by the name of Gad-tly, Bot-fly, 

 &.C." I deem it not amiss to put some of my im- 

 pressions on this subject at your disposal, and, 

 if by so doing I shall have advanced the interests 

 of agriculture, I shall feel myself repaid by the 

 refleclion that I have done my duly. 



About 12 years since I wintered over about 

 200 merinoes and native sheep ; at the opening 

 of spring I di«co\ cred many that were small and 

 feeble, affected with a disease manifesting its 

 power by Ihe heaviness of the eye, with occa- 

 sional dizziness and total loss of appetite. They 

 lived but a short time after this. On dissecting 

 Ihe head 1 discovered the worm, which (pene- 

 trating the brain,) had been the cause of death 

 in the shee(). — Common sense seemed to point 

 to no other remedy for those yet alive, than 

 some substance to be injected by the syringe 

 up the nostrils. This was done without suc- 

 cess, as 1 lost all that had advanced to diz- 

 ziness, perhaps 10 or 12 in number. — In a few 

 days when speaking with the butcher on the 

 subject he informed me he had frequently dis- 

 covered Ihe worms in the heads nf very fat 

 sheep. — This, with Ihe above circumstances, 

 led to a close inspection of the motions of the 

 flock while eating the corn given them on the 

 clean grass ground ; time about the first of 

 April. I soon observed some of the most rugged 

 sheep by a slight kind of sneei'.e, throw out the 

 matured norm — and as the flock soon went out 

 lo grass I discovered no particular inconveni- 

 ence Ihe remainder of the seasoD, lo the sheep 

 from the worm. 



The above circumstances impressed the be- 

 lief on my mind, that fat sheep cared very 

 little for the worm, and that there was suffi- 

 cient moisture for the worm to mature, without 

 perforating the region of the brain io such 

 sheep. 



As a "pound of prevention is better than a 

 ton of cure," I think we may safely recommend 

 the following to all dealers in sheep, whether 

 Native or Irish, Merino or Saxon. 



Let your sheep come to the racks at the 

 setting in of winter in high flesh. — let them, 

 through our hard winters be welt atleii<led, 

 and have as much good, fine clover hay as they 

 will eat clean from the rack three tiroes a day, 

 without grain, till Ihe first of April, unless som« 

 have previously lambed; — if you should think 

 proper to ndd a dose of tar to the noiie, it nill 



