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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



WINTER SQUASHES. 



Mr. Editor : — I would like to be informed of 

 the best kind of winter squash ; I mean a good 

 kind, and one that keeps the best. 



I raise a kind they call here the marrow squash, 

 a very good kind, and I am well satisfied with the 

 quality, but never have been able to keep it longer 

 than into January. E. G. Crowell. 



Canaan, Me., 1856. 



Remarks. — We have seen to-day, March 12, a 

 fine marrow squash — to be kept long they must be 

 placed in a dry place, above the freezing point, and 

 where the temperature is somewhat even. The 

 "Canada crook-neck" is a fine variety, and will keep 

 a year. 



RED CEDAR. 



Can you give me information about the Red Ce- 

 dar ? Where can the seed be obtained ? Will it 

 bear transplanting ? C. W. s. 



Wisconsin, 1856. 



TO RAISE EARLY CUCUMBERS AND TOMATOES. 



Place pieces of inverted turf just beneath the sur- 

 face of the soil in a hot-bed, and on these plant 

 the seed. As soon as the time for spring frost has 

 passed, lift out carefully the pieces of turf with the 

 growing plants, and place them in highly manured 

 ground where they are to complete their growth. 

 No check is received by this removal. If there ap- 

 pears afterwards any probability of a night frost, 

 cover them with boxes, or other things most conve- 

 nient. If the foregoing operations have been con- 

 ducted with tolerable care, cucumbers may be gath- 

 ered in eight or nine weeks from the seed, and to- 

 matoes in fifteen or sixteen weeks. Do not, ordi- 

 narily, plant anything between the hills, as lettuce, 

 radishes and cabbages ; they will be sure to make the 

 bed too thick and close before they have got their 

 growth. M. H. Y. 



jSTorth Berwick, Me., 1856. 



PAINTING ROOFS — MEADOW MUCK. 



C. E. L., High^ate, Vt. — An article in the last 

 number speaks of painting roofs. Several recent 

 numbers of the Farmer give the information you 

 desire about meadow muck. See a letter on white- 

 washing roofs in this number. 



Charles S. Webster, Kennebunk, Me. — You 

 can obtain the Japan potato of Mr. Wm. R. Prince, 

 Flatbush, L. I., five for five dollars. Send to this 

 office and we will furnish the report you inquire for. 

 Mr. Webster adds : 



"I would also add my mite in testimony of cut- 

 ting feed for cattle. I have tried it for two win- 

 ters, and I am satisfied that I can save one-fifth 

 of the food, or I can keep five cattle on the same 

 feed cut.that would keep five without ; and this is 

 the result of taking the papers. 



We have had a cold dry winter ; the snow is 

 near three feet deep on a level in the woods, it has 

 not settled any yet ; we had a heavy fall last night, 

 the 2d ; there has been no rain since December, 

 and the springs and wells are very low. 



March, 1856." 



WASHING FRUIT TREES — CAN A COW DRAW WATER 

 FOR HERSELF. 



I would like to be informed if it is best to wash 

 fruit trees with strong soap suds, and how soon it 

 ought to be done, and when is the best time to set 

 out strawberry A-ines ? I would like to be informed 

 if a cistern holding from eighty to one hundred 

 barrels can be so rigged as that a cow, by stepping 

 on the platform, can raise the water herself ? If it 

 can be done, I would like to see a plan in the Far- 

 mer, and the probable cost, without the cistern. 



Cotuit Port, 1856. D. Child. 



Remarks. — Wash fruit trees in April or May, 

 with soap diluted to the thickness of good cream. 

 We cannot answer the other question — who can ? 



HOW TO MAKE BUTTER COME. 



A subscriber wants to know how to make but- 

 ter come. 



Ansiver. — Scald the milk when new by setting it 

 on the stove, or in the stove oven; if the latter, may 

 leave the oven doors open that the milk may not 

 burn. • 



Erratum. — In the article, "Organic and Inor- 

 ganic Matter," in the monthly Farmer for March, 

 30th line from top, read inorganic for organic. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



DOMESTIC RECEIPTS. 



Improvement l\ Soap. — The wife of an Amer- 

 ican agriculturist has been experimenting in soaps, 

 and finds that the addition of three-quarters of a 

 pound of borax to a pound of soap, melted without 

 boiling, makes a saving of one-half in the cost of 

 soap, and of three-fourths the labor of washing, im- 

 proves the whiteness of the fabrics, besides the 

 usual caustic effect is thus removed, and the hands 

 are left with a peculiar soft and silky feeling, leav- 

 ing nothing more to be desired by the most ambi- 

 tious washerwoman. 



To Preserve Lard Sweet. — Instead of putting 

 it into large vessels, put it in stone crocks, or jars, 

 of from one to four gallons each ; when cooling or 

 thickening, put in your salt, which will mix through 

 the lard, instead of settling on the bottom of the 

 crock. The next day take clean bits of cotton 

 cloth, rather larger than the top of the vessel, and 

 after putting it smoothly down, and pressing the 

 edges snugly around so as to exclude all air, pack 

 in a close layer of salt, then lay over another piece 

 of cotton cloth, and turn over it a plate or a cover 

 which will fit tightly; then tie over two thicknesses 

 of paper, and set it in a cool, dry place. In this 

 way I have kept lard perfectly sweet eighteen 

 months. Crocks of butter should be kept in the 

 same way. — Cor. of Michigan Farmer. 



Beet Steaks. — The beets, after being washed 

 carefully, may be baked either whole like sweet po- 

 tatoes, or in shces, and then served up hot with 

 butter, pepper, &c., to the taste. There is a deli- 

 cious flavor in beets cooked in this way, which is 

 lost when they are boiled. The best sorts for this 

 purpose, are Bassano, Waite's dwarf black, and tur- 

 nip blood beet. — Ohio Cultivator. 



