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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ARSENICAL SOAP— ELM TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have boon a subscriber to the 

 Farmer from its commencement, and I have re- 

 ceived much valuable information from its pages. 

 The last monthly number I think contains more 

 interesting and useful articles than any which have 

 preceded it. 



I was much pleased with Mr. French's article 

 on stuffing birds ; the recipe, however, for making 

 arsenical soap is not quite definite enough for prac- 

 tical application — viz., one-third soap, two-thirds 

 arsenic, melted with one ounce of camphor gum. 

 Will Mr. P. please correct, for one who wishes to 

 prepare it. 



DISEASE OF ELM TREES. 



In our nursery we have lost quite a number of 

 young elm trees from some cause unknown.- The 

 disease commenced at the ends or near the ends of 

 the limbs, and extends downward to the trunk. — 

 First the leaves curl up and turn black, the wood 

 under the bark next turns to a dark brown color, 

 which extends through the wood, and the whole 

 branch dies. This process continues till the whole 

 tree is dead. 



No cure can be effected unless the whole dis- 

 eased part is taken off, the cut being made in the 

 green and healthy wood ; and even then the dis- 

 ease strikes other parts of the same tree, often en- 

 tirely destroying it. We have had trees affected 

 of sizes from two to ten feet high. No insect or 

 trace of any can be found on either the wood or 

 leaves. 



Can you or any of your subscribers throw any 

 light on this subject ? L. E. Noyes. 



Abington, Aug. 11, 1852. 



Remarks. — If not already so, Mr. French will 

 make all plain about the soap. Perhaps some of 

 our readers have found a remedy for the diseased 

 elm trees, and will communicate it for the benefit 

 of friend Noyes and the "rest of mankind." 



A PROLIFIC COW. 



A correspondent informs us that Benj. George, 

 Esq., of Plastow, N. 11., has a cow five years old 

 this spring, which brought at one birth three 

 calves, all of which are now living, about three 

 months old, and doing well. Two are heifers and 

 one a bull. He bought the cow when two years 

 old from an eastern drover. She had a calf in 

 May, 1849 ; another in 1850 ; a third in 1851 ; and 

 the three on the third day of April, 1852. They 

 weighed almost 110 lbs. when dropped. The cow 

 is of middling size. Mr. George states that the 

 first season she gave milk, twenty-seven pounds of 

 butter were made of her milk in three weeks. The 

 calves are now running at pasture with the cow, 

 and are thriving, of good size, and of about the 

 same weight, though of different color, and are for 

 sale. 



Fine Barley. — Mr. Samuel Dtngley, of Colum- 

 bia, California, has just arrived from that place, 

 and brought us a stool of barley, which is some- 



what of a wonder in the vegetable world. It is 

 the product of a single seed, and measures near the 

 roots thirteen inches in circumference. From this 

 one root there sprung one hundred and twelve 

 vigorous straws or stems, one hundred and thirty 

 one heads, and fourteen thousand one hundred and 

 forty-eight kernels of barley ! The stool grew near 

 a spring where it found plenty of water, and threw 

 up stalks about six feet high. Each head lias six 

 rows of kernels. 



SUFFOLK PIGS. 



This breed of swine is deservedly popular ; the 

 animals are quiet, cheaply and easily kept, and the 

 pork commands a higher price in the market than 

 any other. A day or two since we saw a lot from 

 J. L. Lovering, Esq., of Hartford, Vt., directly 

 out of the Stickney importation, which were as 

 handsome as any style of beauty usually conceded 

 to pigs. We think we have never seen handsomer 

 than many from this gentleman's stock. 



To our friends in that part of Middlesex county, 

 we would say that Mr. D. G. Merriam, of Chelms- 

 ford, has a pair from this stock, which for perfec- 

 tion of form and manners have scarcely been sur- 

 passed in this State. 



Mr. Raynolds, one of the proprietors of this 

 paper, has just sent a pair to Georgia, from the 

 same stock. These we have seen, and pronounce 

 them the most perfect models in all pigdom. — 

 They are to be exhibited at an annual fair in that 

 State. 



WHITE CLOVER. 



We are satisfied that our farmers do not appre- 

 ciate the white clover or white honeysuckle, as 

 some call it, so highly as they ought, nor take so 

 much pains as they should to cultivate it. In fact 

 but very few sow it, when they lay down their 

 lands to grass. They trust to nature to supply 

 them with it. 



When once seeded with it, the soil will retain it 

 a long time, for the low short stems will bear heads 

 full of seeds, and those become scattered out into 

 the soil, and thus the seed is kept in the ground 

 and spring up whenever circumstances are favor- 

 able for its development. A moderately clayey 

 loam is congenial for it, and if this be dressed with 

 an occasional dressing of plaster it will bring it out 

 abundantly. It affords an excellent pasturage for 

 bees, the best honey in the world being obtained 

 by these little insects from white clover. 



It also affords the best pasturage for cattle, es- 

 pecially cows from whose milk cheese is manufac- 

 tured, as experiments have proved that cows that- 

 graze upon this species of clover yield milk that 

 contains casein, or cheesey particles, in greater 

 abundance than they do when fed on the common 

 grasses. We throw these hints out for our readers 

 to think of. Four or five pounds, mingled with a 

 due quantity'of other grass seeds, will be sufficient 

 for an acre, and it can lie obtained at reasonable 

 prices at the agricultural seed stores. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



