t4 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



August 1, 1828. 



jVEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1828. 



TAKING HONEY. 



A ^vriter for the American Farmer, vol. v. ]i. 72, 

 ■gives the following description of a mode of taldng 

 honey adopted by a gentlemen of his acquaintance. 

 " lie has no need of cap, mask, or gloves — so far 

 from shielding himself, he rolls his sleeves up above 

 his elbows, and goes at it when the sun is at itsme- 

 ridian, knowing that the bees are all at that time 

 from home. The brighter the sun the better, and 

 the month of August is his honey harvest. When 

 he goes, at mid-day, he takes oft' the lop of tlie 

 hive, and takes out as much honey as he thinks 

 proper — nails on the top, and goes on to another, 

 and another, until he is done. The honey is as 

 nice and wiiite as it can be — the bees immediate- 

 ly fill up the vacant place, and the next year you 

 have nice new honey again." 



William Prince, Esq. Proprietor of the Linnoean 

 Botanic Garden, near New York, and his sons Mr 

 WilUam Robert Prince and Alfred Stratton Prince, 

 have each been elected members of the Paris Hor- 

 ticultural Society, which is now progressing in its 

 operations witli the greatest success, and has al- 

 ready published nine immbers of its Transactions. 

 Triplicate copies of these works have been trans- 

 mitted to the gentlemen above named by the Che- 

 valier Soulange Bodin, who has been appointed 

 Secretary of the Society ; and one copy has been 

 presented by the Mess. Princes to the Hon. John 

 Lowell of Roxbury. 



TO PRESERVE HAM, &c. 



A writer in a Southern paper states that he has 

 for more than twenty years past kept meat hang- 

 ing up in his smoke house, through the siunnier 

 season, and no fly, worm or bug has injured it. 



" To prevent such injury about this time of year 

 I take a strong ley made of wood ashes. I com- 

 monly boil it lo make it stronger than it generally 

 runs oft'; then I take my bacon and smoked beef 

 liaving two or three gallons of the ley in a large 

 iron bottle, and take each piece of meat and dip it 

 into the ley, so that it is completely wetted with it, 

 then I let it dry — then I hang the meat in its for- 

 mer place. By this process I have invariably 

 found that it kept the meat free from hugs and 

 worms, and no taste of ley is ever perceived, even 

 on the outside." 



FINE FRUIT. 



Scotch Gooseberries measm-ing^itr and a half 

 inches in circumference, picked a few weeks since 

 from the bushes, can be seen at the New England 

 Farmer Seed store, preserved. They are of the 

 same kind of those advertised and sold at this 



No specific time can, in this country, where, on 

 account of the variety of its soil and climate, veg- 

 etation is more or less rapid, in different parts, and 

 also in different seasons, be fixed upon for the 

 gathering, or iiicking of hojjs : — good judgement, 

 and experience, therefore, are the surest guides to 

 be followed. Their ripeness is to be ascertained, 

 by their strong scent, their hardness, and the 

 brownish colour of their seed. When they arrive 

 at this state of maturity, no time should be lost in 

 having them expeditiously picked, as in the event 

 of a heavy rain falling, they would be bruised and 

 discolored, and thus rendered less valuable in the 

 market, than such as are picked, bright and clear. 

 Special care ought to be observed, also, to pick 

 the ho))s when they are dry, and the weather fair. 

 The drying of the hops is the next part of the 

 process to be attended to. After having been 

 picked, they ought to be immediately carried to 

 the oast or kiln. This building is similar in its 



place last spring. Likewise white and red Dutch j construction to a brick-lay'd kiln, for the drying 



of oats ; oidy, that the ffoor is overlaid with a cov- 



Currants one inch in circumference, bushes of 

 which will be for sale at this place the ensuing 

 autumn and spring. 



CLOVER— Q«e»T/. 



It has been suggested by a German farmer that in 

 Holland, in an unfavorable season for making hay, 



ering of hair cloth. The oast, i>re\-ious to the 

 hops being laid upon it, ought to be moderately 

 heated by a fire of charcoal, and the heat not suf- 

 fered to be diminished, during the course of dry- 

 ing, but rather increased. The hops are to be 

 laid on, a foot, or a little more, thick, and allowed 



it is customary to put down clover, green salted, ,p remain, without being turned, for the space of 

 in vats. It is eaten with avidity by cattle, during I 

 the winter. A correspondent in Salem wishes to 

 know if any thing similar has ever been adopted i , 

 in this country ? 



DR. COOPER'S AXIOMS IN FARMING. 



1. Two crops of grain should not succeed each 

 other ; they should be separated by potatoes, clo- 

 ver, grass, turnips, beets, or carrots for fall feed- 

 ing. 



2. Good agriculture requires no naked fallows : 

 fallow crops [any hoed crops] that compel you to 

 keep the ground clean while thev are growing, 

 answer the purpose. 



-3. Manure once in four years. 



THE BEE MILLER. 



The following method of destroying a very per- 

 nicious insect has been recommended, and is at 

 least worth the trial. To a pint of sw( etened wa- 

 ter (sweetened with sugar or honey) at'd half a gill 

 of vinegar ; set this in an open vessel on the top 

 of the hive, and at night, when the n:Uler comes 

 to his work of destruction, he will prefer this com- 

 position, and, diving into it, inuiiediately drown. 



BRAKES. 



A friend in Andover informs us that common 

 brakes can be destroyed effectually, by pulhng 

 them up by the roots, in the month of Jime, when 

 their roots are short, and they start very easily. — 

 It may be necessary, m some cases, to go through 

 the process the second year, though they seldom 

 requue this trouble. 



LUXURIANT GROWTH. 



Mr. J. W. Warren, of Weston, has left several 

 spires of 'I'imothy or Herds-grass, at the office of 

 the New England Farmer, measuring^«c_/ee< three 

 inches in length ; the heads of which measure be- 

 tween nine and ten inches. 



Exrai'l from a letter lo ilie Editor of the New Eugland Farmer, 

 daied Brownsville, N. Y. July 20, 18&. 



THE SEASON. 



This has been the wettest season remembered 

 in this part of the country. Our wheat for many 

 miles around is badly ru!^ted, so that we shall not 

 get half a crop. The price of wheat for several 

 years, has been with us from fitiy to seventy-five 

 cents per bushel ; it is already a dollar, and in- 

 stead of sending a large supply to the New York 

 market, we shall not raise enough for our own 

 consiunption. Our hay crop is very good, but we 

 have difficulty in harvesting it without damage 

 from rain. 



GARLIC K. 



A writer in a Philadelphia paper states that 

 when the fall fever raged violently in the neighbor- 

 hood of a canal, then in a state of progress, num- 

 bers of the workmen engaged on it cat plentifully 

 ofgarlick, and whoJly escaped, while those who 

 abstained froin the use of this article were severe- 

 ^ftafflicted by the disorder. 



/ 



CULTURE OF HOPS. 



The New Brunswick Courier, in reconmiending 

 the culture of Hops m that province, as an article 

 of export, gives the following information respect- 

 ing the best mode of gathering, drying and bag- 

 ging, which we copy for the benefit of our agri- 

 cultural readers. 



As the culture of the hop plant concerns the 

 individual who follows it, as a means of hving, 

 more than those who could, from convenience, 

 and other local circumstances, render it an item of 

 profitable domestic produce, our obser\'ations at 

 this time, are confined to preparing it for a mar- 

 ket, under the diflfereiit heads of gathermg, dry- 

 ing, and bagging. 



nuie hoius, and in two or three hours afterwards, 

 they will be fit for bagging. This nuiy be ascer- 

 tained by the brittleuess of the stalks, and the 

 easy falling oft' of the hop leaves. The turning of 

 the liops at all, is considered to be injurious rath- 

 er than otherwise ; to prevent this, therefore, oasts 

 ought, where hop-curing is carried on upon an 

 extensive scale, to be furnished with a moveable 

 tin cover, let down to within a foot of the surface 

 of the hops, — this will render the oast close, and 

 the heat will be reflected upon the hops, in nearly 

 an equal degree, on the top as at the bottom. 



The mode of bagging is simple, and can be 

 managed to suit convenience, and particular cir- 

 cumstances. It ought to be attended to, immedi- 

 ately on the hops being removed from the oast, 

 and put into strong coarse linen bags ; the bags 

 must be placed in such a situation, as to admit of 

 persons stepping into them, in order to tread the 

 hops down, as they are gradually put in. Thus 

 put up, they will keep for several years, provided 

 they be lodged in a dry place, and defended from 

 the ravages of vermin. 



IMPROVEMENT IN VEGETABLES. 



There is scarely a vegetable wliich we at pres- 

 ent employ that can be found growing naturally, 

 Buff'on states that our wheat is a factitious produc- 

 tion, raised to its present condition by the art ol" 

 Agriculture. Rice, rye, barley, or even oats, are 

 not to be found wild, that is to say, growing natu- 

 rally in any part of the earth, but have been alter- 

 ed by the industry of manliind, from plants not 

 now resembling them even in such a degree as to 

 enable us to recognise the relations. The acid 

 and disagreeable apium graveolens has been thus 

 transformed into delicious celery ; and the colewort 

 a plant of scanty leaves, not weighing altogether 

 half an ounce, has been improved into cabbage, 

 whose leaves alone weigh many pounds, or into a 

 cauUflower of considerable duiiensions, being only 

 the embryo of a few buds, wltich, in the natural 

 state, would not have weighed many grains. The 

 potato, again, whose introduction has added ma- 



