1859. 



XEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



199 



and efficiency, with no springs or wood-work to 

 get out of order. It requires little power or skill 

 to run it. It will grind saleratus, cream tartar, 

 white sugar, bones, grain, coffee, and as a chic- 

 cory and spice mill has no equal. Any part of 

 it can be duplicated Ht small expense. The grind- 

 ing surfaces are very durable, and can be dupli- 

 cated v/heu worn out at the expense of a single 

 pecking of a burr stooe, witu no delay of the 

 mill. 



"There are two sizes ; the small hand mill,'suit- 

 ed to the wants of the farmer, is of sufficient 

 power and capacity to do all his milling at home 

 at his leisure, and saving in tolls enough in a 

 short time, to pay for the mill. 



"The large mill is of great strength and power, 

 and can be driven by horse or other power to do 

 great execution." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE ONION MAGGOT. 



Mr. Editor : — Reflecting upon the inquiry 

 you made of me yesterday morning, I thought 

 it might be useful to answer with more distinct- 

 ness, in a form that you can make known to those 

 seeking the information. Your inquiry was, as 

 I understood it. Has any mode of destroying the 

 maggot or worm that depredates upon the onion 

 yet been discovered? My answer was. None, or 

 none that has come to my knowledge. 



The last season, I made particular inquiry on 

 this subject of Mr. D. Buxton, Jr., I. Bushby 

 and I. Stone, three of the most intelligent culti- 

 vators in this county, and their answer, uniformly, 

 was like that given by Gov. Lincoln, in 1845, at 

 the close of a discussion of the potato rot ; the 

 only thing certain about it is, ''it is death to the 

 potato." Be this as it may, I have never had 

 better potatoes than this past season ; and al- 

 though many hundred bushels of onions have 

 been destroyed by the maggot, there are still 

 enough left fair and bright for all reasonable 

 purposes. A still more blasting and mysterious 

 influence pervades some fields, known as the 

 black vomit or the rust ; to which, two years ago, 

 I called the attention of the savans of the Essex 

 Institute at Salem, and induced them to view the 

 premises ; but their Report thereon has not yet 

 appeared. J. W. Proctor'. 



South Danvers, Jan., 1859. 



SQUASHES VS. PUMPKINS. 

 Cultivators often lose sight of the distinction 

 between species and varieties, hence they recom- 

 mend the "importance" of planting all the melon, 

 squash and cucumber tribe of plants away from 

 each other, with the idea that they will mix. The 

 Marrow, Valpariaso, Hubbard and Acorn, called 

 squashes, will mix with each other, and also with 

 the Connecticut Field and hard-shelled pump- 

 kins, but not, as we have ever found, with the 

 crook neck, the last of which we consider the true 

 type of squashes. This variety may have more 



affinity to the family of gourds ; we have heard 

 that it will degenerate if grown in connection 

 with the bottle gourd ; of this we know nothing 

 personally. As for any of the above hybridizing 

 with the melon or cucumber, if this should have 

 possibly taken place, Ave think it doubtful whether 

 the seeds from these abortions, (if they should 

 have any,) would vegetate. 



If the analogy in the animal and vegetable 

 world hold good, they would not, any more than 

 the eggs of the mongrel Canada goose crossed 

 with our native bird, or a colt could be obtained 

 from the mule. 



BOYS' DEPxiRTMENT. 



A STORY FOB BOYS. 



"When I was six years old," says a well-known 

 merchant, "my father died, leaving nothing to my 

 mother but the charge of myself and two young 

 sisters. After selling the greater part of the 

 household furniture she had owned, she took two 



small upper rooms in W Street, and there, 



by her needle, contrived in some way — how I 

 cannot conceive, when I recollect the bare pit- 

 tance for which she worked — to support us in 

 comfort. Frequently, however, I remember that 

 our supper consisted simply of a slice of bread, 

 seasoned by hunger, and rendered inviting by 

 the neat manner in which our repast Avas served, 

 our table always being spread with a cloth, which, 

 like my good mother's heart, seemed ever to pre- 

 serve a snow-white purity." 



Wiping his eyes, the merchant continued : 



"Speaking of those days reminds me of the 

 time when we sat down to the table one evening, 

 and my mother had asked the blessing of our 

 Heavenly Father on her little defenceless ones, 

 in tones of tender pathos which I remember yet, 

 and which, if possible, must have made the an- 

 gels Aveep, she divided the little remnant of her 

 only loaf into three pieces, placing one on each 

 of our plates, but reserving none for herself. I 

 stole around to her, and was about to tell her 

 that I Avas not hungry, when a flood of tears 

 burst from her eyes, and she clasped me to her 

 bosom. Our meal Avas left untouched ; we sat 

 up late that night, but what aa'b said 1 cannot tell. 

 I know that my mother talked to me more as a 

 companion than a child, and that when we knelt 

 doAvn to pray, I consecrated myself to be the 

 Lord's, and to serve my mother. 



"But this is not telling you how ntatness made 

 my fortune. It was sometime after this that my 

 mother found an advertisement in the newspaper 

 for an errand boy in a commission store in 



B Street Without being necessitated to wait 



to have my clothes mended, for my mother al- 

 ways kept them in ])erfect order, and although, 

 on minute inspection, they l)ore traces of more 

 than one patch, yet on the Avhole they had a very 

 respectable air ; Avithout being obliged to Avait 

 even to polish my shoes, for my mother always 

 kept a box of blacking Avith Avhich my coAvhides 

 must he set oft' befon' I took rny breakfast ; Avi'li- 

 out, waiJng to arrange my hair, for I had been 



