34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



They are now taken down and rubbed all over, on 

 a table or bench, with some fine salt, black pepper, 

 and cloves, all ground together. About one ounce 

 each of salt and pepper, and half an ounce of 

 cloves, are sufficient for thirty pounds of meat, but 

 the exact quantity cannot be given. No person 

 can go wrong if he rubs every part of the whole 

 surface of the ham with some of this salt and pep- 

 per composition. The ham is now fit to be rolled. 

 This is accomplished by rolling it into cylindrical 

 form, swilling it round from the narrow to the 

 thickest end, and hanging it up to dry for about ten 

 days before it is used. It is cut in round sHces for 

 frying by commencing at the butt end. A stout 

 cord is used to swill, or tie such hams, and it must 

 be looped or turned under on both sides along the 

 coils of the cord, so as to have every coil firmly 

 bound and held in place when the ham is being cut 

 in slices for daily use. Hams made in this manner 

 are the finest in the world — a luxury. 



Smoked beef is to be found in abundance in our 

 markets, but it is a poor eatable of the meat kind 

 in comparison with beef prepared as described. 

 We hope some of our farmers will make some such 

 beef hams this fall for family use. They will not 

 keep in summer weather so well as smoked beef — 

 80 it is said — but of this we are not certain. 



For the New England Farmer. 



REMEDY FOR THE ONION MAGGOT. 



Dear Sir: — I noticed in the JVew England 

 l^armer, a question, asking "What could be done to 

 get rid of the onion maggot ?" I will give you 

 my experience. Some few years since, I should 

 think the second or third year of the potato rot, 

 my gardener came to me and told me the onions 

 •were being eaten up by maggots at the root ; said 

 he had put ashes, and also lime on them, but they 

 did no good. I went to the garden and found, as 

 he said, the roots full of maggots. I then exam- 

 ined the sound ones, and found the joints full of 

 fly-blows, quite a number in each joint close to the 

 main stock ; they were then from six to eight inches 

 high. I told the gardener first to water the plants 

 with the watering pot until quite wet, and another 

 to sift the ashes thickly over them ; he did so, and 

 saved every one that was left standing. I never 

 had a better crop, and have continued to grow them 

 on the same ground ever since, and have never lost 

 any. 



I had a bed of top onions paralled with the 

 others, — I found fly-blows on them, and also where 

 they had hatched and gnawed a circle round just 

 enough to leave a white mark, but the onion tops 

 were too hard for them to penetrate. I then 

 thought, as the potatoes were rotting, I would ex- 

 amine them. I found where the vines were decay- 

 ed, the roots were full of the same kind of mag- 

 gots, and where they were not decayed, there were 

 unmistakable marks where they had tried, without 

 success, to gnaw into the heart of the vine. 



I noticed that spring that there were vast swarms 

 of slender black flies in the garden, and have no 

 doubt they blew the onions. The currant bushes 

 were also badly handled by them, or some other 

 insect. One of my neighbors soaked a paper of 

 onion seeds and found 40 live maggots on the top 

 of the water, very small, but discernible with the 

 naked eye. 



Can you, or any of your correspondents, tell of 



any method to destroy the inch worm, green and 

 black, that eats up all the foliage of the currant 

 bushes ? They have eaten ours two seasons ; the 

 second season the bushes died ; there are myriads 

 of them. 



Also a cure for mildew on grape vines. 



M. C, Pavilion House. 



Montpelier, JVov., 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARMING ON POOR LAND. 



Mr. Editor : — In volume 10, No. 28 of the 

 weekly Farmer, I gave you a statistical account of 

 the expenses and profits of a piece of land which I 

 had tilled for two years pre^'ious, which left me a 

 nett profit of $8,07. I now send you the amount 

 of another crop, with the expense of raising it, to 

 show that farming <hts pay, even on the hard lands 

 of our hilly town. 



1855. Dr. 

 May 7 — 8. To \\ days' labor with boy and oxen to 



plow and harrow, . - - . _ $3,00 



May 8. To 1 bushel wheat, sown, - - - - 2,50 



May 14. To 1 day's labor with boy and oxen to 



plow and harrow, ------ 2,00 



May 14. To 2 bushels barley sown, ... 1,75 



May 14. To 4 bushels clover seed in chaff, - - 60 



May 14. To 6 qts. herdsgrass seed, - - . 75 



May 14. To 30 lbs. guano and 2 bufhels ashes sown, 1,30 

 Aug. 14. To 1 day's labor mowing barley and 



cradling wheat, ------ 1,50 



Aug. 16. To 1 day's labor, binding whtat and get- 

 ting in barley, ------ 2,25 



Aug. 21. To getting in 33 stocks wheat, - - 50 

 Oct". 11. To threshing 25 bushels grain at Is. per 



bushel, -- - 4,17 



Total expenses in 1855. ... $20,22 



1855. Cr. 



By 8 bushels of wheat at $2,50 per bushel, - - $20,00 



By 17 bushels barley, at 874cts per bushel, - - - 14,87 



To 1 ton wheat straw, at $6 per ton, - - - 6,00 



To J of ton of barley straw, at $9 per ton, - - 6,75 



Add profits on previous crops, - - . - 8,07 



$55,69 

 Deduct expenses 20,22 



Leaving a balance in my favor, of - - - $35,47 



Showing a fair remuneration for the use of the land. 

 I had a small crop, owing to the heavy rains dur- 

 ing the month of July, the land being naturally wet 

 and hea^■}•. 



I ask you to publish the above to show to our 

 brother farmers that farming does pay, even with 

 ordinary crops. Harvey Barber. 



Warivick, JSfov., 1855. 



NUTRIMENT IN THE APPLE. 



With us (says the editor of the Albany Journal) 

 the value of the apple, as an article of food, is far 

 underrated. Besides containing sugar, mucilage 

 and other nutriment matter, apples contain vegeta- 

 ble acids, aromatic qualities, &c., Avhich act power- 

 fully in the capacity of refrigerants, tonics and an- 

 tis eptics ; and when freely used at the season of 

 mellow ripeness, they prevent debility, indigestion, 

 and avert, -without doubt, many of the "ills that 

 flesh is heir to." The operators of Cornwall, Eng- 

 land, consider ripe apples nearly as nourishing as 

 bread, and far more so than potatoes. In the year 

 1801 — which was a year of much scarcity — apples, 

 instead of being converted into cider, were sold to 

 the poor ; and the laborers asserted that they could 

 "stand their work" on baked apples, without meat, 



