550 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



daily supplies at wholesale prices, ■which, it is con- I see that one of your correspondents attributes 



tended, can be done at a much lower rate than they 

 can supply themselves. So it is quite possible 

 that a reduction in the price of bread may ensue, 

 The wholesale price for the very best quality is 

 fixed at 1 1 cents per loaf of 3| pounds, and 5t cts. 

 for If pounds loaves — to be retailed at 6 1 to 12^ 

 cents. This, it is claimed, give'^ the public about 

 40 per cent, more bread, and of a better quality, 

 than they have heretofore received. The economy 

 of labor effected by this invention is surprising, 

 when the number of hands employed is contrasted 

 with the results accomplished. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A LETTER FROM EASTERN VERMONT. 



Mr. Editor : — I observe in the Farmer that you 

 have had reports of the season and crops from al- 

 most all. parts of N. England, but none, as yet, from 

 this region. With the exception of the drought in 

 midsummer, we have had an unusually fine season 

 for farmers. The hay crop was much larger than 

 last year, and is very good in quality, and some 

 very fine wheat has been raised on our hill farms. 

 1 would like to have you eat some of the bread and 

 butter produced here, and if you will make us a 

 call, we will give you a chance, and I am sure you 



the failure of the crop entirely to the curculio, and 

 prophesies that New England will never again pro- 

 duce large crops of apples on account of the in- 

 crease of this insect. Now this poor creature is 

 guilty of sins enough, and deserves the "extreme 

 penalty," if any living thing ever did, but do not 

 let us blame him for crimes he did not commit. 

 Now I learn that in Maine they have a good crop 

 of apples. Can it be that some good St. Patrick 

 has driven the venomous insect from that State ? 

 I trow not, for I do not believe that the down-east- 

 ers are good Catholics enough for that. Nor will 

 I believe that it is a paradise as yet uninvaded by 

 this marauding Turk, for he follows civilization, and 

 is about as universal as the original sin of the cat- 

 echism — 



"In Adam's fall 



We sinned aU." 



Then again, the apples have a deformed, starved 

 look — stunted in their growth, like the inhabitants 

 of the polar regions, wheve the sun is so miserly of 

 his heat and light. When the young fruit was 

 growing it lacked light and heat, and like every 

 thing thus deprived of these essentials, it made but 

 an abnormal growth. There is a great flutter 



will pronounce them -sweeter and more palatable among the housekeepers for the lack of materials 



than the finest flour from your city mills, and the 

 butter sweetf^r than can be made from the pastures 

 on the sea-board. 



Raspberries have been very abundant, more so 

 than for many years before ; for three or four weeks 

 our table was abundantly supplied with them from 

 the fields and the road-side. Blackberries were 

 scarce and inferior. The drought commenced the 

 latter part of July; for ten or twelve days the 

 thermometer stood 90^ and upwards, with scarce- 

 ly a shower to relieve the intense heat. The corn 

 on light soil sufi"ered much, but owing to the favor- 

 able fall a medium crop will be gathered. 



There was no frost until September 27th, and 

 then so light as to be only perceptible on the ten- 

 derest vines ; the next was October 5th, and even 

 then did not kill the tomato vines. The night of 

 October 14lh was the first severe frost, and that 

 was hard enough to make our gardens and fields 

 turn very pale. We have had frequent rains, and 

 warm, sunny weather between, that has kept the 

 grass good, and butter ought to be good and cheap, 

 but there seems to be an effort to keep this almost 

 necessary of life at a high price. 



Our apple crop is very short ; they are selling 

 now at higher prices than have ever been known 

 in this State before. Four dollars per barrel for 

 winter fruit, and that not as good as usual. The 

 trees blossomed well, but we had a great deal of 

 cold, windy weather while the apple was forming, 

 and this, combined with the curculio, apple-worm 

 and rose-bug, has deprived us of our usual supply. 



for pies and preserves. As to the latter article, 

 we would not advise very deep mourning for their 

 loss ; we shall be as strong in body and mind 

 without them — and those who consider them a 

 sine qua non can, if they will take plenty of refined 

 sugar and lemons, make as handsome preserves out 

 of water mellon rinds and pumpkins as one would 

 wish to see. And if they only look nice, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, on the table, why they will do to place beside 

 the rich loaf-cake, and you and I will compliment 

 these ladies on the prettiness of their table, and 

 come home to satisfy the appetite with some of that 

 aforesaid bread and butter. 



Speaking of sugar reminds me of some exper- 

 iments we have made here in raising the Chinese 

 sugar cane. We had a small quantity in our gar- 

 den that grew well — and here last Monday my 

 husband had an original idea occur to him. Now 

 I do wish men wouldn't have original ideas on 

 Monday, or want to make experiments just as we 

 are taking the clothes from the boiler. But then 

 we were told that this experiment might be for the 

 good of the country, and as it was on the eve of 

 Pennsylvania election, when a great effort was to 

 be made for free labor there, we consented that our 

 experiment should be cotemporary with that; or 

 rather, entre nous, if we indulge a husband in some 

 of his notions, we may reasonably hope for more 

 indulgence in our own. So amid the "noise and 

 confusion" of washing-day the cane was cut and 

 pounded in a most primitive manner in the wood- 

 en tray, and boiled and strained till a thick, rich 



