50 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jai, 



of water daily. Thinking that they drank more 

 than was favorable for the deposition of fat, we 

 confined them to a less quantity of water for one 

 week. The result was that during that time they 

 eat less food and lost weight. This result satis- 

 fied us that sheep knew better than man, though 

 he were scientific, how much water they required. 

 But we need not quote experiments. The 

 common sense of every man tells him that sheep, 

 as well as all other animals, should be abundant- 

 ly supplied with good, fresh water. Cov/s and 

 • sheep, if possible, should have free access to it 

 at all times. For, unlike the horse, they will not 

 always drink at stated times, however regularly 

 observed. A well, pump and troughs would seem, 

 therefore, to be necessary appendages to every 

 well-managed barn-yard or sheep-fold. Kind 

 reader, ad on this matter, and your sheep and 

 cows will bless you, if not in words, at least in 

 wool, milk and profit. — Genesee Farmer. 



EXTKACTS AND REPLIES. 

 THE APPLU AND PEACH TPvEE BORER. 

 Is there any application in use which will pre- 

 vent the ravages of the borer ? AVhat is the 

 most direct method to dislodge them and stop 

 their depredations ? A Subscriber. 



Nov., 1858. 



Remarks. — Various remedies have been pre- 

 scribed, such as whitewashing the tree, washing 

 with spirits of turpentine, with whale oil soap, 

 &c., but it is doubtful whether with beneficial re- 

 sults. Some persons insert a bit of camphor gum 

 into the hole and then plug it up with a piece of 

 soft wood, while others cut out the grub with a 

 knife or gouge. The latter remedy is a rough one 

 for the tree, iu unskilful hands — but often is ef- 

 ficacious in dislodging the enemy. One of the 

 oldest, safest, and most successful methods that 

 ■we have adopted, is killing the worm by thrust- 

 ing a pliable wire into the holes it has made. 

 This does no injury to the tree, is cheap, conve- 

 nient, and quite often eff"ects the desired object. 



Below v.'e give an article from the Genesee 

 Farmer on the subject of borers, merely adding 

 that we have often expressed the opinion tliat the 

 borer will attack an xmliealtliy tree in preference 

 to a liealtliy one, and this we believe to be in ac- 

 cordance with that law of nature, that when ani- 

 mals or vegetables begin to decay, there are im- 

 mediately agencies at work to hasten their de- 

 struction. 



THE APPLE tree BORER. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — Conversing 

 with an intelligent friend, who is largely engaged 

 in apple growing, the conversation turned upon 

 the apple tree borer. His opinion in regard to 

 this insect was, that it would never attack a iper- 

 fectly liealthi/ tree. There was a vast diff'erence 

 between a thrifty tree and a healthy one. A 

 healthy trae, according to his idea, is one that has 

 received nothing but vegetable manure, whereas 

 a thrifty tree may have received animal manure.* 

 It was his opinion that the borer would not mo- 



lest a tree which had been grown wholly by the 

 aid of vegetable manures. 



To illustrate this theory, he referred to one of 

 his orchards, which was set out on unbroken pas- 

 ture land, receiving but one plowing and no man- 

 ure. Receptacles were dug and partly filled with 

 fragments of turf, on which the tree was set, cov- 

 ered with earth, and thoroughly mulched with 

 strav/, brakes, leaves, and other refuse vegetable 

 matter, which was repeated as often as necessary. 

 In this orchard the borer is not to be found ; 

 while in others, which have been repeatedly 

 plowed and fertilized with animal manure, they 

 commit their yearly depredations. 



Has any one else noticed a similar result ? 



Belfast, Me., Nov., 1858. G. E. Brackett. 



* By animal, we understand common barn-yard manure, 

 made up in part by the droppings of animals. Wliy such man- 

 ure is unhealthy, we cannot conceive. — Eds. Genesee Farmer. 



disorder among laying hens. 



For some years past, but the last more partic- 

 ularly, my hens have been taken, in the season of 

 laying, with a dangerous disorder which often 

 proves fatal. The sick hen will lose her eggs 

 prematurely, but will continue to set on her nest 

 daily, and sometimes lays an egg, though seldom. 

 I have sometimes found under the roost two or 

 three eggs partly developed. Frequently the egg 

 will break in the passage, in which case the hen 

 often dies or suffers very much, drooping around 

 for a number of days. I think that sometimes 

 the passage itself is broken, so that the broken 

 egg runs in among the intestines, as I have dis- 

 sected a number that were filled up with the yolk 

 of eggs. Out of about a dozen hens, I have lost 

 the use of, or had die, as many as seven. This 

 winter I have commenced with twelve, and I have 

 already had one attacked. I first found her sit- 

 ting and unable to walk ; but she got up and ap- 

 peared as well as ever next day, but she has not 

 laid from that time, and probably she will never 

 be worth much more as a layer. If any one can 

 tell of a preventive or a cure for this disorder, I 

 hope he will give us the benefit of his knowledge. 



C. T. Paine. 



East Randolph, Vt., Dec, 1858. 



Remarks. — We can think of no cause of the 

 disorder you describe, but a want of proper food 

 and shelter. It may not be either, but these are 

 the points to which we should especially direct 

 your attention. Fowls will not prosper well iu 

 damp places, or without a variety of nutritious 

 food, and access to plenty of gravel or shell- 

 forming substances. Look, also, to the breed, 

 and learn whether your present stock is from 

 those long kept together on the same farm or 

 neighborhood. See article in another column 

 entitled, '^How to keep Fowls." 



DRAINS and wire FENCES. 

 Would you advise underdraining and subsoil- 

 ing, either or both, on a side hill, the soil of 

 which is a gravelly loam ? It is new land. In the 

 Farmer of Aug. 14, there is an article taken from 

 the Working Farmer, entitled "Restoration of 

 Exhausted Soils," wherein the writer advocates 



