1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



203 



the machine and expense of keeping in repair 

 will not be so great but that it will pay. 



If "W. D. B.," or others, who are posted on 

 this subject, will let their light shine, they will 

 oblige many readers of the Farmer, s. D. C 



Sunderland, Mass., 1859. 



JARVIS' AND BAKER'S ISiAWD GUANO. 



In our advertising columns, the reader may 

 find this guano offered for sale, — and we call at- 

 tion to it in order to refer those persons who de- 

 sire to use some specific fertilizer, to an article 

 which we think may be used moderately with 

 safety. There are thousands of farmers T»ho 

 would be glad to employ some manurial agents 

 beside what they derive from the natural re- 

 sources of the farm, if they could resort to them 

 with confidence. In various particulars such 

 agents may be profitably used. 



From the results of an experiment on our own 

 farm, and from analyses by diff'erent chemists, 

 we are inclined to think that this guano may be 

 used advantageously. It does not yield ammo- 

 nia, but its principal ingredients are the phos- 

 phates and sulphates of lime, the articles which 

 confer a lasting benefit on the soil, instead of 

 stimulating and exhausting its properties. 



We have been careful, as our readers well 

 know, about recommending specific fertilizers for 

 general use, — but we have no doubt that this 

 guano is safe and valuable, used as an auxiliary 

 to our common manures. Let each use it in 

 small quantities, but dress liberally whatever 

 ground is attempted to be gone over. 



We shall take occasion to speak of it again. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BARLEY FOR HORSES. 



In Portugal, and, I suppose, in the Peninsula, 

 generally, barley is the principal food for horses 

 and asses. Nowhere do these animals appear 

 fatter and sleeker than in and about Lisbon. 

 Gentlemen's horses, whether native to the coun- 

 try, or brought from England and Germany, as 

 many of their carriage horses are, are the pride 

 of their owners and grooms, and certainly seem 

 extremely well cared for. Yet their food is near- 

 ly or quite all barley straw, and the grain served 

 to them as oats are with us. The barley is 

 threshed by being trodden out under the feet of 

 oxen and horses, and is made as fine as the old 

 straw from an under bed. 



When upon the road the usual baiting is bread, 

 coarse wheat bread — occasionally dipped in the 

 cheap wine of the country. 



The barley crop appears stout and heavy as it 

 stands in the field ; and yet the land is ill-man- 

 ured and far from rich. I do not see anything 

 to prevent as large crops on ordinary lands ; and 

 I do not know why animals here should not find 

 it as nutritious and as palatable food as it is 

 there. H. 



West Lebanon, N. H. 



We give above the illustration of a new device 

 to protect cucumber, melon, squash and other 

 vines from the depredations usually made upon 

 them by swarms of hungry bugs. It is simple, 

 cheap, and we think must prove eff'ectual. The 

 inside hoops in the round one are rattan, and 

 the outside ones are made of tough white ash. 

 These are covered with gauze, with the meshes 

 sufficiently small to prevent the entrance of the 

 striped bug. The three upright pins are simple 

 pieces of pine that may be whittled out in one 

 minute ; the upper end has a notch cut in it, 

 while near the lower end a hole is bored, which 

 is slipped upon the bottom screw, and the pro- 

 tector is set up. 



The one at the left hand has four sticks, each 

 sawed out lengthwise, so as to admit the gauze, 

 and fastened at the top with bits of leather. The 

 points of the sticks in this and the round one 

 are thrust into the grou'hd until the gauze touches 

 the surface, when there is no room for the ac- 

 cess of bugs. 



While it appears to us that these protectors 

 will be more eff'ectual than anything we have be- 

 fore seen, intended for the purpose, they have 

 some advantages not po><sessed by others. The 

 first, is their compactness when not in use, as they 

 may be "collapsed" instantly, and some one or 

 two hundred packed into a flour barrel, hearrd 

 up and put away for another year. There bei ig 

 gauze on the sides as well as the top, the air \< ill 

 have a free circulation among the plants, so th.it 

 they may grow about as vigorously as they would 

 were nothing about them. They are also light, 

 yet strong, cheap, and convenient to handle, either 

 in placing, or taking them from plants, and in 

 packing them away. 



These protectors were invented, and are man- 

 ufactured by Mr. Caleb Bates, of Kingston, Mass., 

 who has taken measure to secure a patent. 



Sewing Machines in England. — Great ex- 

 citement prevails at Staff"ord and Northampton, 

 in England, in consequence of the introduction 

 of sewing machines in the manufacture of boots 

 and shoes. At a meeting in Stafford, attended 

 by 20()() makers and binders, it was stated that 

 5000 persons had been thrown out of employ- 

 ment in Northampton, and 1000 in Staff'ord, by 

 the introduction of machine-sewn tops, and a 

 union was formed for resisting the innovation. 



