38 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



August 22, 182«r, 



CANADIAN AGRICULTURAL REPORT, 

 FOR JULY. 



Haymaking, vvliich is generally the most plcas- 

 ,nnt of all rural affairs, has, during the past month, 

 been the most unpropitious ever remcmhered by 

 the oldest farmer in all the country. Hay making 

 began -as early as the 5th of the month, at which 

 time the weather broke, so that we had hardly 

 two dry days together at a time, and there is 

 scarcely a tenth part of the hay housed, but what 

 is more or less damaged. Owing to the exces- 

 sively deluged state of the lands, many fields of 

 potatos are greatly injiu-ed, as the rain fell in sucli 

 abundance, that the ditches could not carry it off 

 as fast as it fell ; the consequence is, that grain of 

 all kinds, osi fat lands, stood up to tlie middle in 

 water for several hours together. Wheat is much 

 rusted where strong, so that the quality will not 

 be so good as expected at the middle of last 

 month. Oats and Barley are ripening, but are ! 

 knocked down in a shocking state ; many fields 

 are lying as flat as if they hacj been passed over 

 by a roller. Stock all in good condition, but the 

 produce of dairies is very low. Fruit has suffer- 

 ed much from the heavy rains, as well as from 

 the high winds, and will not be so abundant as 

 vvas expected. In fact, we have seldom known a 

 time in which farmers liave suffered more, or in 

 which their minds have been kept in such a state 

 of anxiety as during the past month. 



Method of roasting eels. — Having skinned and 

 washed some of the finest large eels, cut them 

 in three, four, or five pieces, according to their 

 lengths. Make a seasoning of grated imtmeg, 

 pepper, and salt, with a little thyme, sage, aim 

 lemon peel, all well beaten and mixed plentifully 

 with crundjs of bread. Strew this well on the 

 eels, stick tlicm across on skewers, tie the skewers 

 to the s])it, baste them continually, and let theui 

 roast till they begin to crack and appear white at 

 the bone. When taken up, send them to the ta- 

 ble with melted butter and lemon juice, which 

 will make the best sauce for them. They may 

 be fried or boiled thus seasoned, with very good 

 effect. 



JVEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1828. 



LONDON IN OLDEN TIMES. 



Sir William Davenaiit thus describes London, 

 as it was before the great fire. 



" Sure your ancestors contrived your nan-ow 

 streets in the days of wheelbarrows, before those 

 greater engines carts, were invented. O, the good- 

 Jy landscape of Old fish-street ! which had it not 

 had the ill-luck to be crooked, vvas narrow enough 

 to have been your founders' perspective ; and 

 ■Vfhere the garrets (|)erhaps not for want of archi- 

 tecture, but through abimdance of ainity) are so 

 made, that opposite neighbors may shake hands 

 without stirring from home. Then for uniformi- 

 ty of building — yours looks as if they were raised 

 in a general insurrection. Here stands one that 

 aims to a palace, and next to it another that pro- 

 fesses to be a hovel. Here a giant, there a dwarf, 

 here slender, there broad ; and all most admirably 

 different in their faces, as well as in their height 

 and bulk. As for your ceilings, they are so low, 

 that I presutne your ancestors were very manner- 

 ly, and stood bare to their wives, for I cannot dis- 

 cern how they could wt ai- their high-crowned hats. 



" I now leave your houses, and am passing 

 tlu-ough your streets ; but not in a coach, for they 

 are uneasily hung, and so narrow, that I took 

 them for a sedan upon wheels ; nor is it safer for 

 a stranger to use them till the quarrel be decided, 

 whether six of your nobles, sitting together, shall 



stop and give |)lace to as many bottles of beer 



Your city is the only metropolis of Europe, where 

 there is a wonderful dignity belonging to carts." 



TO RENDER CUOUIMBERS WHOLESOME. 



Slice cucumbers into a basin of cold .spring 

 water, and it will not only make them eat by 

 far more cris|> and fine, hut will also render them 

 much more wholesome, and cflijctually prevent 

 tjieir ri.sing in the stomach. The water will com- 

 pletely extract and take away the pernicious juice 

 of the cucumber, whioh is the (irincipal cause of 

 rhoir so often disagreeing willi the stomach. 



EXTIRPATING CHICCORY, or SUCCORY. 



A correspondent wishes us to "publish the best 

 mode of exterminating succory which prevails a 

 great deal this season." 



j Chiccory has been highly recommended by 

 agricultural writers, both in Europe and America, 



I as a valuable plant for cultivation. But every 



j plant which gro^vs where it is not wanted, is, in a 



j relative sense of the word, a weed. 



Weeds may be divided into annuals, biennials, 

 and i)er8nnials, or weeds which will endure one, 

 two, or more j'ears without being renewed from 

 the seed. All annuals and biennials are effectual- 

 ly destroyed by cutting or mowing the plant, ai 

 any point below that from which the seed leaves 

 originated, in proper season to prevent the seeds 

 from becoming so far matured that they will 

 grow when lodged in the soil. With regard to 

 perennial weeds, such as couch-grass, charlock, 

 colts-foot, white-weed, and we believe chiccory, 

 their destruction can only be effected by repeated 

 ploughing, harrowing, and extracting the r ots 

 from the soil, aiid either binning, or exposing 

 them in such a manner as to ensure their destruc- 

 tion. Wo have, however, but little personal ac- 

 quaintance with this chiccory. either in its capac- 



i ity of an useful plant or a pernicious weed ; but 

 should be much obliged to any friend or corres- 

 pondent for information on the subject. 



calves, and that one cow will do as much work a- 

 nn ox of equal size. He however, allows that the 

 :liniinution of milk and labor may be one fourth. 

 but still eight working cows would perform the 

 labor of six o.ifen, and at the same time give as 

 much milk as six cows that did not work — which 

 would, in a year, amount to a considerable saving 

 to the poor farmer. An elaborate article on this, 

 lubjeet will be found in the New England Farm- 

 «r, vol. ili. page 326. 



FRENCH MODE OF T.\KING HONEY. 



The following easy method of taking houey, 

 without destroying the bees, is the method gener- 

 illy adopted throughout France. In the dusk of 

 tlie evening, when the bees are quietly lodged, 

 approach the hive and turn it very gently over ; 

 having steadily placed it in a small pit, previously 

 dug to receive it, with its bottom uppermost, cov- 

 er it with a clean new hive, which has been pre- 

 viously prepared, with two small sticks stuck 

 across its middle, and rubbed with some aromatic 

 hsrbs. Having carefully adjusted the mouth of 

 each hive with the other, so that no aperture re- 

 nains between them, take a small stick, and beat 

 aeutly round the sides of the lower hive for ten 

 I'linutes or a quarter of an hour, in whicli time 

 tiic bees will leave their cells in the lower hive, 

 ascend and adhere to the upper one. Then gent- 

 ly lift the new hive with its tenants, and place it 

 on the stand from whence the other hive was tak- 

 en. This should be some time in the week pre- 

 ceding midsumnu:r day, that the bees may have 

 time before the summer flowers are faded, to la), 

 in a new stock of honey, Avhich they will not fail 

 to do, for their subsistence through the winter. — 

 As many as have the humanity and good sense tn 

 adopt this practice, will find their revvfard in an 

 increase of their stock and their valuable property. 



TRANSFUSION. 



Some successful experiments are now maldng. 

 by a gentleman in Herefordshire, with the \iew 

 of preserving fruit trees from decay, by planting 

 young trees in the vicinity, and transfusing the 

 sap of the young plants through the bark of the 

 decaying tree, and thus uniting the circulation 

 of both. 



SILK. 



Eslracl of a Idler lo the Editor of ihe New England Farmer, 

 dated Rochester, N. Y. Aug. 12, 1828. 

 Last year I commenced on a small .scale Ihe 

 rearing of the silk worm, and have produced some 

 beautiful specimens of silk ; they do well in this 

 country. I have now a nursery of about 2000 

 white mulberry trees. From all the information 

 I can obtain, either by observation or otherwise. 

 I believe that this section of country will provi 

 fidly equal to any other, (either Italy or France) 

 for the raising of silk worms. The pamphlet ' i 

 this subject, published by our government las- 

 winter, should be in the hands of every farnipi 

 and friend to the country, it is plain and practical. 

 The grape vine also flourishes here and promises 

 well — we have a soil jieculiarly adapted to it. 



The Editor of the Wilmington (N. C.) Reporter, 

 states that he has seen a water melon, a present 

 to a gentleman of that town, which weighed 41v!, 

 lbs. measuring in circumference one way 3 feet ! 

 inches, and the other 3 feet 7 inches. 



COW TEAM. 



An intelligent gentleman at Geneva, Switzer- 

 land, proposes to substitute the labor of cows for 

 that of oxen and horses ; and he maintains that it 

 would increasB both the quantity of milk and the 



GARDENING. 



The nianageineiit of a garden, summarily 

 .speaking, consists in attention and application ; 

 the first should be of that useful and provident 

 kind, as not only to do well in the present, but 

 tor the future ; and the latter should be of that 

 diligent nature as willingly " never to defer that 

 rill tomorrow which may be done today." Pro- 

 '■rastination is of serious consequence to garden- 

 ing ; and neglect of times and seasons will be 

 fruitful of disappointment and complaint. It will 

 ften happen, indeed, that a gardener cannot do 

 what he wouLn.; but if he does not do what he 

 CAI4, he will be most justly blamed, and perhaps 

 censured by none more than by himself. 



Weeding in time is a material tiling in culture, 

 and stirring the ground al out plants, as also 

 earthing uji where necessary, must be attended 

 to..' Breaking the surface will keep the soil in 



