■^68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



Could some President of an Agricultural So- 

 ety, or some pattern farmer, be induced to try 

 he experiment of tarring seed corn, I doubt not 

 . lat in less than ten years, scarecrows would be 

 ■nong the missing. Some farming editors re- 

 .ommend the planting of 8 or 10 kernels to the 

 hill, as a safeguard against worms and insects. 

 The expense to thin out is great, and a field thus 

 dealt with never stands equally in all the hills. 

 By tarring your corn, you need plant no more 

 kernels than you wish to grow. When we des- 

 troy the crow, we lose one of our best friends ; 

 when will the farming community pause and con- 

 sider on this matter ? Let us have your opinions, 

 based, as far as may be, on facts ; especially let 

 us have failures, so as to bring together both 

 sides of the question. R. Mansfield. 



West Needham, April, 1859. 



Remarks. — Friend Mansfield has not given 

 us the mode of tarring, which might be adopted 

 if persons understood the precise mode of prep- 

 aration. Our neighbors practice in this way : 

 they fill a pail half full of boiling water, add 

 about half a pint of common tar — coal tar is just 

 as good — stir it until the tar is melted and thor- 

 oughly mingled with the water, then add the 

 corn, stirring it well for about ten minutes, or 

 until it is completely coverd with the tar. Take 

 the corn out and roll it in plaster or fine ashes, 

 and the process is complete. 



ROBINS AND WOHMS. 



While so much is said and written in reference 

 to the destructiveness of the robin, an Albany 

 cultivator thus writes his opinion : — "The robins 

 are so industrious to feed their young with the, 

 cut-worm, bugs and insects, so destructive to the 

 garden, that I consider every robin's nest in or 

 near my garden to be w'orth a dollar." Still 

 another: — A Vermont farmer says, "If we would 

 consult our real interest, as well as the finer feel- 

 ings of our nature, it would be by defending the 

 innocent robin from the attacks of both boys and 

 men." And in reference to the "larger species" 

 of grubs or muck-worm, he continues, "Provi- 

 idence seems to have provided an antidote to 

 this evil, in the common robin. This innocent 

 and useful bird preys with peculiar avidity upon 

 this species of worms. This fact may be ascer- 

 tained by visiting a nest of young robins in the 

 vicinity of a corn-field, when it will be perceived 

 that they are fed lavishly upon this kind of worm." 



Tar as a Disinfectant. — The editor of the 

 Medina Gazette tells of a skunk being captured 

 in a house by a dog, with the usual result of dis- 

 gust to the victors. The terrible scent was neu- 

 tralized by burning tar upon live coals of fire by 

 which the air was purified as if by magic. If 

 this kind of fumigation is a sure specific, it de 

 ';erves to be known and put upon record. 



EXTRACTS AND BUPLIES. 

 GROWING OF ONIONS. 



My neighbors are anxious to know something 

 more about Mr. Emerson's discovery, "whereby 

 he secured a good crop of onions." They do not 

 believe that a plant, once impregnated or attacked 

 by the maggot, can be saved by the ai)plication of 

 guano, in any form or any quantity. They believe, 

 where there are jdants enough on the ground, 

 some of them may be perforated by the worms, 

 while others are not — and that those plants which 

 are not thus attacked, may be improved in their 

 growth by the application of guano — this is their 

 theory and interpretation of Mr. E.'s discovery. 

 Some of these cultivators have been engaged in 

 the business of growing onions for thirty years 

 or more — and during all this period, have raised 

 from one to four thousand bushels each, a year. 

 If Mr. E., or any other gentleman of N. H., has 

 had a more enlarged or critical experience in 

 this class of culture, I should like to know it. 

 The truth is, they know every rope in the ship 

 about the onion. To grow and preserve them 

 has become a second nature. I would as soon 

 undertake to teach a Marblehcad fisherman how 

 to hook a cod, or a Kentucky hunter how to use 

 a rifle, as to teach a Danvers gardener how to 

 grow onions. SouTU Danvers. 



Ai)ril 9, 1859. _ 



draining a meadow. 



I have a meadow in which the mud is about 

 one and a half feet deep resting upon a thin 

 stratum of clay, and under this is quicksand. 

 Will an undergrour d drain, laid with stone, be 

 safe, or will it be likely to soon fill ? The quan- 

 tity of water discharged is considerable. How will 

 it answer to plow in summer, put on a little sand 

 or manure, and seed down ? s. 



,S. //., March, 1859. 



Remarks. — An underground drain made of 

 stone will be quite likely to get filled up and be- 

 come useless in the course of a few years. But 

 properly drained, with tile or pipe, it will be 

 among the best lands. 



Summer plowing and seeding is a capital op- 

 eration — but even that ought to succeed thor- 

 ough draining. 



laying land to grass — grape vine. 



I have a piece of land rather low and some- 

 what clayey, which I wish to lay down to grass 

 this year, and want to know the best time and 

 way. Corn has been raised on the same piece 

 for two years, a thing that I do not often do. 

 Barley does not do very well here, and there are 

 objections to oats when sown with grass seed" 

 How would it do to put on guano and oats, this 

 spring, and after the oats are off, put on manure 

 and sow grass seed ? If this course would do, 

 how much guano should be used, and how and 

 when should the manure be applied and the 

 grass seed sown ? 



I have a native white grape vine which has 

 borne for several years, and ripened its fruit fine- 

 ly ; but last year, after the fruit was fully grown 

 it began to wither, and very few if any of the 

 grapes were fit for use. If you can tell the cause, 



